human
Luata! she exclaimed.
gpt
How came you here?
human
Here I am, he said;
gpt
It cannot be,
human
That is what I thought when they dropped me into the Blue Place of Seven Skulls, replied Bradley.
gpt
Can't be done. I did it.--Here! You're mussing up the floor something awful, you. This last to the dead Wieroo as he stooped and dragged the corpse to the central shaft, where he raised it to the aperture and let it slip into the tube. Then he picked up the head and tossed it after the body.
human
Don't be so glum, he admonished the former as he carried it toward the well;
gpt
But how can he smile? questioned the girl, a half-puzzled, half-frightened look upon her face.
human
He is dead.
gpt
That's so, admitted Bradley,
human
Come! said the Englishman.
gpt
We've got to get out of here. If you don't know a better way than the river, it's the river then.
human
But how could he smile when he was dead?
gpt
I thought we English were supposed to have the least sense of humor of any people in the world, he cried;
human
I do not fear you, she said;
gpt
--she sighed--
human
I escaped from the Blue Place of Seven Skulls, Bradley reminded her.
gpt
Come! And he turned toward the shaft and the ladder that he had ascended from the river.
human
We cannot waste time here.
gpt
There are half a dozen of them coming up; but possibly they will pass this room.
human
No, she said,
gpt
What's that go to do with it?
human
They fear blue, she replied.
gpt
In every room where murder has been done you will find blue--a certain amount for each murder. When the room is all blue, they shun it. This room has much blue; but evidently they kill mostly in the next room, which is now all blue.
human
But there is blue on the outside of every house I have seen,
gpt
Yes, assented the girl,
human
And the skulls with blue upon them? inquired Bradley.
gpt
Did they belong to murderers?
human
They were murdered--some of them; those with only a small amount of blue were murderers--known murderers. All Wieroos are murderers. When they have committed a certain number of murders without being caught at it, they confess to Him Who Speaks for Luata and are advanced, after which they wear robes with a slash of some color--I think yellow comes first. When they reach a point where the entire robe is of yellow, they discard it for a white robe with a red slash; and when one wins a complete red robe, he carries such a long, curved knife as you have in your hand; after that comes the blue slash on a white robe, and then, I suppose, an all blue robe. I have never seen such a one.