chamber, where were seats and a plain wood table. Upon the latter he
placed the little 'watch.'
'The wood acts as a sounding-board, and we shall hear better,' he
explained.
He touched a spring and a lid flew open. Then he touched other springs,
and at once there was heard the sound of little bells or gongs not
unlike those of a repeater watch. He repeated this performance several
times, waiting a little while between, as though expecting some reply
which did not come.
The others stood around, looking on with perplexed curiosity and
wondering what it was all about.
'It seems to me it is a repeater watch,' said Jack presently. 'The
gongs are beautiful and silvery in tone; but how in the world they are
going to'----
'Hush!' exclaimed Alondra, with a warning gesture. He had placed the
instrument on the table and left it to itself; and now, lo! the little
gongs were ringing away on their own account. Alondra bent over it and
listened intently, holding up his hand the while to enjoin strict
silence on his companions. Then, when the sounds ceased, he manipulated
the gongs himself in turn; immediately he left them alone they again
rung out by themselves.
It appeared to the onlookers as though a sort of conversation were being
carried on in some mysterious fashion between Alondra and the curious
little machine.
Then a thought flashed into Jack's mind. 'Wireless telegraphy--or I 'm
a Dutchman!' he breathed. Still the curious performance went on, and the
longer it continued the graver grew Alondra's face. His brow clouded
over, and at last, when there came a pause, and he drew himself up, it
could be seen that his face was flushed and his eyes flashing.
'Treason!' he cried. 'Foul treachery is at work! Agrando has made an
attempt to seize my whole party! Some of them he has indeed already
basely captured; and he has now actually attacked some of our airships.
Monck is in difficulties himself, he tells me; but he hopes to be able
to send my yacht to our aid soon, now that I have told him where we are.
Whether he can do more than that, he says, he really does not yet know.'
There were exclamations of amazement at these sinister tidings, and the
friends stared at one another in bewildered perplexity.
'I can scarcely, even now, believe it!' cried Alondra.
'You are sure there is no mistake? Or may it be that some one is
playing a joke upon you?' suggested Gerald rather vaguely.
'No one would dare to attempt such a thing!' Alondra asserted haughtily.
'But--it sounds impossible,' said Jack helplessly.
'It wouldn't if you knew our master as well as we do,' Malandris put in.
'I have had an idea for some time past that something of the kind was
hatching.'
'If it be as you say, Prince, our position is critical indeed,' Malto
declared. 'Agrando will not hesitate now to send one of his airships
against us--the very thing I thought we were safe from so long as
daylight lasted. I am afraid we must make up our minds to the
inevitable--we shall all be his prisoners before another hour is over.
And what that means you can now guess; although what we have already
told you is but a small portion of the actual truth.'
'My father will rescue us; and they dare not harm us meantime!' cried
Alondra proudly. 'Agrando knows too well the terrible vengeance that
would be exacted.'
Malto shook his head.
'Do not count too much upon that, Prince,' he said. 'It was partly the
fear that some such plot was brewing which made me wish to see King
Ivanta in order that I might warn him. I had hoped that in return he
would be willing to assist me in another matter on which my heart is
set--to right a great wrong. But I fear it is useless to dream of it
now.' And he sighed.
'But is there no other way of escape open to us?' Jack asked. 'Surely,
if it be that our friends cannot come to our aid, we should do better to
try some other plan rather than stay on here to be tamely captured
whenever it pleases Agrando to send an airship to take us prisoners!'
'Yes, it might be better even to risk a run across the enclosure where
your monster lives,' Gerald put in. 'It is only a choice of
monsters--that or Agrando.'
'Very likely both--Agrando will give us to him later on,' said Malandris
grimly.
'Well, then, what is this place that we are in?' Jack went on. 'Is it
empty? Is there nothing in the place that might be useful to help us to
defend ourselves?'
'This pavilion is a sort of grand stand--a place of vantage from which
the privileged spectators obtain a good view--and a safe one--of what
takes place in the enclosure when there is anything exciting going on,'
Malandris explained. 'It is not used for any other purpose, and is
empty'----
'Wait a moment!' Malto interrupted, with a sudden light in his eyes. 'I
am not so sure that it is quite empty. Is there not a store-place
below, where they keep'----
'You are right, Malto,' the other answered in some excitement. 'I had
forgotten it. There may be some arms and things there which would be
useful indeed if we have to try to hold out for a time till assistance
can reach us. But I am afraid the place is locked up'----
'Perhaps my key will fit; if not, we must break it open.'
Just then there came a great gust of wind and another and louder growl
of thunder; and a little later there was heard an outburst of shouting
outside. Malto ran out on to the balcony to see what it meant.
There was a good deal of excitement amongst their enemies below. People
were talking one to another, and some were pointing up at the pavilion,
while a few were huddled together in a knot. In the middle of these last
were seen two men who were doing something with some wings, seemingly
preparatory to taking a flight in the air.
'They have thrown off all thought of concealment,' said Malto, coming
inside again. 'You can see that. So what you told us, Prince, must be
only too true! They are going to send a couple of fliers up to attempt
our capture.'
'But in that case, why does not Agrando send an airship and settle the
matter at once?' Gerald asked.
'I expect just now all his airships are busy fighting my friends,' said
Alondra. 'They will attend to us presently, I suppose, if the people
here don't succeed.'
'Well, we will make a fight of it, anyway!' cried Malto sturdily. 'I
believe we may find the means down below, if you can keep them at bay
for a little time while we search'----
'We can manage that, I think,' Jack answered him. 'Do you go below and
see what you can find to help us.'
Again there came a blustering gust of the fast-rising wind. Then there
was a blinding flash, followed by a deafening crash of thunder which
shook the whole building to its foundations.
*CHAPTER XXVII.*
*A DESPERATE VENTURE.*
Malto and Malandris disappeared down a stairway; and Alondra and the two
chums strolled on to the outside gallery to watch their foes.
The wind was now very high, and the darkening sky grew blacker every
minute. The swirling gusts whistled and shrieked amongst the outer
metal framework, and moaned dismally through the windows and doors.
On each floor of the pavilion there was one of these galleries which ran
the whole way round on the outside, being partitioned off from the
interior by glass windows only. Hence there was almost as good a view
from the inside as from without; except that one could not look over and
see what was going on immediately beneath.
'The storm seems likely to be a bit of luck for us,' Jack observed, as
he watched the preparations which were going on below. 'They don't seem
to find it to their liking.'
So boisterous had the weather become that they found wings almost
unmanageable. The two men were trying their best to manipulate some
contrivances of the kind, but with scant success. Every time an attempt
was made at a start, a blast would come along, swishing and buffeting
the outspread wings, and dashing one or other of them to the ground ere
the aeronaut could rise high enough to use them properly.
'Why, it doesn't seem much use to think of attacking us in that way in
such a wind!' exclaimed Gerald. 'If they even succeed in making a
start, they will only run a risk of being either dashed against the
building or carried past it out of sight. And they couldn't hope to fly
back in face of this wind, could they?'
'No, you are quite right,' Alondra returned. 'I must say those two
fellows must be either unusually clever or uncommonly foolish, to think
they can attack us under such circumstances. Nevertheless, we must be
on our guard. One of them might, by some chance, get blown against the
framework here, and cling to it. Then, with his trident, he would make
short work of us if he caught us within reach.'
'And if we were idle meantime,' put in Jack, between his teeth. 'There,
look at that!'
One of the daring aeronauts had taken advantage, as he thought, of a
slight lull, and had sprung up into the air. But a sudden gust caught
one of the wings and dashed it violently to the ground again, causing
him to fall heavily.
'If that's all they can do, we haven't much to fear from them!' cried
Gerald, rubbing his hands.
But his rejoicing came too soon, for even as he spoke there came another
lull; and the other aeronaut rose into the air and came straight towards
them.
Alondra laid a hand upon both of his companions and dragged them
promptly back through the door, and closed it. Jack, who had been about
to fire at the assailant, looked not a little surprised.
'Another moment--before you could use your weapon--he would have had the
three of us!' exclaimed the young prince. 'We had better watch him from
behind the glass, where we are safe, and wait to see what happens next.'
The two chums could but recognise the wisdom of this advice. They had
not at first realised that the man had risen high enough to bring them
within range. They had been in imminent danger, therefore--supposing
their foe had been able to use his trident--of being assailed and
rendered helpless before their bullets could take effect. Inside the
glass they were safe, for the fateful flash could not penetrate it.
The attacker seemed to be coming on gaily, or, at least, without any
great trouble, when another blast caught him and spun him round like a
great top. Then, ere he could reach the gallery, it carried him
downwards with a sudden swoop, and left him helpless, but unhurt, at the
foot of the building.
He picked himself up, and a crowd of his friends seized upon him and
half-carried, half-dragged him back to a distance which they considered
necessary for another attempt.
'We had a narrow escape,' Alondra declared. 'He is a plucky fellow; and
he was as cool and unflustered just then as if there had been no roaring
wind playing around. I saw it in his eye. It was lucky I did see it,
and rushed you two into shelter in time.'
'We have to thank you for being so prompt, then,' Jack answered. 'We
must be more careful next time. He 'll have another try, I suppose?'
'I don't know. I almost doubt if he will risk it, plucky as he
evidently is. You can hear how the wind is increasing.'
He opened the door a little way as he spoke, and such a gust came in as
almost forced it out of his hand.
'It's a regular tempest!' cried Gerald. 'The building itself seems to
rock about with it and almost feels as if it might blow over.'
'Yes, it will certainly stop any further attempts of that kind,' Alondra
decided. 'No man who is not a fool or a madman would trust himself on
wings in such a storm. His life would not be worth a minute's purchase.
He would be likely to be blown against the first thing that came in his
way, and have his brains dashed out. No airship, even--unless it were
the great _Ivenia_--could make headway against such a wind.'
'What you say is true enough, Prince; yet I am afraid we shall have to
show ourselves mad enough to risk it,' said Malto, who had re-entered
the apartment unperceived. 'If the chance were offered you of trying to
escape on wings, now, at this moment, or waiting to be pounced upon by
Agrando's people later on, which would you choose?'
'What is the use of asking such a question?' Alondra queried in return,
somewhat impatiently. 'Surely we have something more urgent to think of
just now than'----
'Not at all,' answered Malto coolly. 'It happens to be the most urgent
question of the moment. To cut the matter short, Prince, we have met
with a great find. We have discovered, besides the tridents and things
I had hoped for, several complete flying-outfits. They are motor-wings,
and if you have the courage to try your luck with them in this storm,
there is no reason why we should not bid Agrando's people a cheery
"Good-bye," and flit off before his airships come buzzing about our ears
in real earnest.'
The friends stared at one another in blank astonishment. Here was an
unexpected turn indeed! Truly, it was a most momentous decision which
they were called upon to make--to do that which Alondra but a minute
before had pronounced none but a fool or madman would dare to risk, or
stay and take their chance of being rescued.
'Honestly, it seems to me our only plan,' Malto declared. 'Malandris
and I have been discussing it downstairs, and we came to the conclusion
that your friends would have been here before this if they were coming
at all. I am sorry to say I fear they must have got the worst of it;
and Agrando is only waiting till the wind drops to come and seize us.
He thinks he is sure of us; and need not, therefore, risk one of his
airships in such a storm.'
'I fear you must be right, my friend,' said Alondra sadly. 'In that
case, your plan, wild as it would otherwise be, is the only one open to
us. For my part, I will risk it.'
'And I!' exclaimed Gerald and Jack together.
'Then the sooner we act upon that decision the better,' said Malto. 'At
any moment the wind may drop, and our chance will have gone. Everything
is ready. From the top outside gallery we can get a better send-off
than those chaps down there had. We can slip out upon the farther side,
and be off and away before they have time to understand what's afoot.
Then we must trust to the very force of the wind to carry us well beyond
their reach. There is one suggestion I have to make. It is that we
shall be all five roped together with double ropes, so that we shall
keep together; in that way, if one is in trouble, the others may be able
to help him. Otherwise, we shall probably be blown about like flies,
and lose touch with one another in the first ten minutes.'
No time was lost in further discussion. They all set to work with a
will, dragging the necessary equipage up to the top floor. There they
speedily completed their arrangements, went out on to the outside
gallery, and, after some preliminary manoeuvring, Malto gave the signal.
Being on the lee side, sheltered for the moment from the gale, they
managed to make a fairly good start. They threw themselves fearlessly
from the gallery, and a great shout of rage and astonishment which came
to their ears from below told them that their foes had just caught sight
of them.
A moment more and the howling tempest had caught them and was whirling
them madly forward. Upwards they sailed with poised wings, like immense
birds, while their bewildered enemies below gazed after them with
staring eyes and open mouths.
There was another flash of lightning, followed on the instant by a crash
that seemed to shake the very rocks around; and then there were cries
and shrieks from the crowd as stones and pieces of metal-work came
flying through the air.
The lightning had struck the pavilion and wrecked it!
*CHAPTER XXVIII.*
*SAILING ON THE STORM-WIND.*
The five adventurous fliers were borne along by the wind in a fashion
which can be better imagined than described.
To Gerald and Jack, at least, it was an absolutely novel experience,
whatever it may have been to the others. Every time they glanced down
it almost made them giddy to see the rate at which the various features
of the landscape were racing, as it were, past them.
Of the wrecking of the pavilion by lightning they knew nothing. They
had been dazzled by the awful flash, and almost deafened by the terrible
crash which followed; but they were then already two or three hundred
yards from the scene. A minute or two later, and they were a mile or
more away; and the place itself would have been out of sight even if
they could have looked round.
But they had no time to look round. They scarcely seemed to have time
to look ahead. No sooner did they catch sight of something--a large
building, a group of trees, or what not--in the distance, than, lo! it
seemed to make a mad rush towards them. One moment it was half a mile
away; the next it had vanished behind them.
But it was very difficult to distinguish any individual object.
The whole landscape beneath them was one vast blur. Cities, villages,
trees, fields, woods, streams, lakes, hills, valleys--all seemed to be
merged into a vague mass, and there was no time to single out details
before they had slipped past.
Curiously enough--and contrary to all expectations of the two visitors
from Earth--their progress, wild and mad as it seemed when they looked
down, was serene, easy, almost quiet, when they looked up. So long as
they made no effort to stop or turn they scarcely felt any wind at all;
and so long as they could keep clear of possible obstacles in their
course by sailing over them there appeared to be no immediate danger.
Below them all was a wild, mad race amid a continuous, low, booming
roar; above, everything looked quiet, almost stationary, for the black
clouds travelled noiselessly and kept exact pace with them.
Whether they would be able to continue to travel thus so long as the
storm should last was another matter--as also was the question of where
they were being carried. They had no control over their course, no idea
of what their ultimate destination was likely to be, no possible means
of arresting their wild career. To have ventured on a lower course,
nearer the ground, in the hope of stopping, would have meant certain
death.
Nor could they so much as speak to one another. They were all roped
together, it is true, and this proved a very wise precaution, for
without it they would undoubtedly have quickly become separated and
hopelessly lost to one another. Malto had left plenty of rope between
each, and this was now extended to its utmost, leaving too great an
interval to permit even of shouting. They all looked to Malto--who was
in the centre--for guidance; and he conveyed his directions and advice
by signs.
Of other fliers, or of airships of any kind, they saw none. It was the
custom to send warnings ahead in such case, and for all air-craft to
seek shelter until the storm had passed.
The wings they had found and appropriated were a sort of
combination--that is to say, they were supplied with electric motors,
but could also be used as ordinary wings when the supply of electricity
stored in the batteries ran out, just as one can work a motor-cycle with
one's feet. At present the travellers were husbanding their power
carefully, using only just enough to keep them at what seemed to be a
safe height.
It had been Malto's hope, when they had started, that the storm would
not continue in such fury for any length of time. But this expectation
proved to be delusive. Hour after hour passed, and still they were
carried along at a pace which would have rendered any attempt at
stopping sheer madness. Cities and towns had long disappeared;
villages, even, now seemed to be no more. The ground became hilly, and
less and less cultivated till they came upon a region which was little
more than a rocky desert. Here the hills were growing into mountains;
and some of these towered up to such a height that possible collision
with their rocky peaks became a very ugly possibility.
Malto grew alarmed, and signalled to his companions to ascend yet
higher. Upwards they mounted accordingly, and passed into the midst of
the swirling clouds. Here they were in a thick mist, but presently, to
Malto's relief, they struck into an upper current free from cloud, and
there they entered a region of perfect calm.
They could now even talk, and look round, and take rest of a sort. The
sun was shining, and everything was bright and cheerful. Beneath their
feet they could see nothing save great masses of sombre, heavy-looking
clouds scurrying furiously onwards.
'Whew!' Jack uttered a long whistle of relief. 'This is a change indeed!
I began to wonder where on Earth--h'm, I mean where on Mars--we were
rushing to! Where do you suppose we 've got to? I mean, supposing we
dropped straight down, what part of your world should we be in?' He
asked the question in a general sort of way, and Malto answered him as
vaguely, by admitting frankly that he had not the least idea.
'I confess I 've lost count of all landmarks,' he declared. 'I am very
much afraid we are now near what is known as the Great Desert. It is a
more or less waterless tract which is uninhabited, save by some roaming
tribes of wanderers who do not bear the best of characters.'
'Ha! You have deserts, then, as we have?' said Gerald.
Malto looked at him in surprise.
'Why, of course; I thought everybody knew that! Fully one-third of our
globe is waterless desert, and, what is worse, the tract is gradually
extending. Our scientific men prophesy that the proportion will grow
larger and larger until the whole planet becomes a dried-up waste. That
is the cheerful sort of doom they predict for future generations!'
'Curious, isn't it?' murmured Jack, glancing at Gerald. 'That is
exactly what our earthly scientists have prophesied as likely to happen
to Mars in the future!'
'And to our own planet also, some day, I suppose,' Gerald rejoined.
'Only, here, I suppose, the process has gone farther than it has with
us.'
'Well, desert or no desert, it will be better than Agrando's dungeons,'
said Jack. 'We shall have to go down into it, I suppose, when the storm
subsides? We can't stop up here indefinitely. What are we to do
meanwhile? Can't we try to work back in this upper current?'
Malto shook his head.
'It would probably be of very little use, and would certainly be
unwise,' he counselled. 'We have come hundreds of miles--much farther
than our whole store of electric force would carry us. If we expend it
all in trying to work back we shall be in bad case if, when we come to
the end of our store, we still find ourselves where we do not want to
be. Now, to support ourselves up here quietly will take but very little
of our reserve force, and we shall have a good stock left for
emergencies. That is my advice; in fact, that is practically all we can
do. We must wait here till the storm below has blown itself out. Then
we will go down and try to find out what country we have got into.'
'I think you are right,' Alondra agreed.
'It is already well on in the afternoon--judging by the sun--and we have
had nothing to eat. I 'm getting hungry!' Jack grumbled. 'Don't you
have aerial inns up in the clouds here, where storm-tossed travellers
can get a meal?'
Needless to say, they were all hungry, but there was nothing to be done
but wait. So, to pass the time, they began to compare notes, and
Alondra related his adventure of the early morning in the pool in the
glass-house. Malto and Malandris nodded their heads significantly as
they listened.
'Ah, there are strange tales afloat about that glass-house and the
deadly plant it shelters,' the elder man declared. 'I have never seen
it myself, but I have heard quite enough concerning it.'
The talk went on, and an hour or two slipped by; and then, just as the
sun drew near the horizon, Malto, looking down, suddenly ventured an
opinion that the wind below had subsided.
To test the point, they swept downwards, passed through several strata
of dense cloud, and found, sure enough, that the guess had been correct.
Below the cloud all was now almost as calm as above. There was scarcely
breeze enough to carry them along.
They finally descended, just before sunset, in a gloomy, forbidding
valley of rocks, where there were no signs of Martian inhabitants to be
seen in any direction. They found, however, a small stream--a fact
which surprised Malto--and this enabled them to quench their thirst.
But how to obtain the wherewithal to satisfy their hunger was another
and more hopeless matter.
*CHAPTER XXIX.*
*ATTACKED IN THE DARK.*