order, 'those sulphur fumes are carried thousands of feet up into the
air. That I know to be the fact, because I have been up to make sure.
No airships will come near us--they cannot do so without running the
risk of asphyxiating every soul on board!'
King Ivanta laughed good-humouredly. His was just the nature to
appreciate a clever scientific stratagem such as he saw this was.
'Fumenta, you are a man after my own heart!' he cried. 'I love a man
who can use his brains and bend adverse circumstances to his will! You
and I ought to have been acquainted before. I can see you have the
capacity for ruling, by the way you have drilled and disciplined those
ragged followers of yours. By the stars, I would have made you a king!'
'Perhaps I have been nearer to that than you think, King Ivanta,' was
the unexpected answer.
Ivanta started and eyed him searchingly. He frowned and puckered his
lips, and seemed to be thinking deeply.
'It almost seems to me that we have met before, and that I ought to know
who you are,' he mused. 'Yet I don't see how such a thing could be.'
'Let us speak of the present and the future, oh king!' returned Fumenta,
evidently desirous of changing the subject. 'What are your plans, sir?'
'My friend, I have not yet formed any. Until I know where my great
airship is I am tied down, I fear me, to playing a waiting game. It is
a strange experience for one like myself, Fumenta,' he went on
philosophically, 'to find one's self a fugitive. I, who have solved the
great problem of navigating space itself, who have visited distant
planets, have been outwitted by men of grovelling instincts like Agrando
and Zuanstroom; tricked, deceived, betrayed, and driven to welcome the
protection and hospitality of outlaws!'
'Of outlaws, truly, but not of criminals, King Ivanta,' Fumenta answered
firmly. 'All my followers are honest men, patriots, honourable fighters
for their own and their country's rights, though their manner of life
has made them rough and perhaps somewhat soured. Now, sir, let me make
a suggestion. In Iraynia I have a much larger following than I have
here. Let us go and show ourselves together there, and I warrant you
the whole land will rise in your favour, and you will find you have at
least one country loyal to you.'
Ivanta looked curiously at the old man, and hesitated.
'But we have need of airships,' he said.
'They have them.'
'And--the sinews of war--money--gold, my friend, gold! My
treasure-house is by this time in the hands of my foes. Not only that,
but they have in their control the fascination of diamonds too. But
that would not matter so much if I had my own treasury. Without gold,
even a king is helpless, my friend. We can do nothing without gold.'
'That I can supply also,' was the startling reply, made quite quietly,
and without the least resemblance of boastfulness.
Again Ivanta started, and this time his keen eyes scrutinised the
other's face as if doubtful whether he were a madman or a magician.
Suddenly he inclined his head and said, 'That your statement astonished
me I need scarcely say. As, however, you have performed all that you
promised thus far, I will not pay you so poor a compliment as to doubt
you in this. Well, now then, since you say you have plenty of gold,
there is only one other thing necessary--machinery. Airships are of no
use without a supply-station.'
'We will seize one,' answered the outlaw chief, with unexpected
decision. 'Lend me your yacht and your outfit, and I will undertake to
seize one of Agrando's chief power-stations. It is, as I happen to
know, weakly held just now. But when we have captured it I will show
you how you can defend it against the whole strength of your enemies.
It is now daylight. The airships prowling around above us will draw off
during the day when they find you have disappeared; and at night I will
guide you to the place I have told you of, and we will seize it and hold
it for you.'
'If you do that, Fumenta, you shall be made'----
But the old chief held up his hand. 'I am asking for no reward, oh
king--or, at least, none of the kind you have in your mind. I have
lived a hard, adventurous life, and am now getting old. Those I loved
are dead, and I have none to care for, and no ambition for myself. I
may, however, ask for some recognition in another form; one which, when
the time comes, it will give you no trouble, cost you nothing, to grant.
I crave your permission to keep my own counsel, and say no more in the
meanwhile.'
'So be it, my friend,' said the king, simply and kindly. 'I have no
desire to inquire into your secrets before you are ready to reveal them
to me freely and of your own accord.'
Thus was the compact made between these two, who, but a few days before
had seemed so far apart--the great and powerful king, who had then been
a ruler over more than half the planet, and the outlaw leader, who led
the life of the hunted, and lived in burrows 'like a fox.'
While this talk was taking place the chums and Alondra were comparing
notes with Monck and the two sailors.
'We've seen some queer sort o' fightin', Mr Gerald, since we lost sight
o' you,' said Tom Clinch. 'The catamounts played every scurvy trick they
could think of against us! But me and Bob Reid and Mr Monck, we give
'em as good as they brought, and we scraped through and got away
somehow.'
'Yes, but without Mr Armeath,' said Gerald sadly. 'I am not reproaching
you,' he hastened to add, 'but I am terribly anxious about him. Will
they harm him, do you think, Mr Monck? Why should they? He has nothing
to do with this upset between King Ivanta and Agrando!'
'Well,' said Monck thoughtfully, 'Agrando and Zuanstroom have gone off
to Ivenia, taking Kazzaro with them. They will have their hands pretty
full for the present, at any rate, with organising their forces and
establishing their position, not to mention the question of seizing and
dividing out the diamonds. They have left Mr Armeath a prisoner behind
them, and I do not suppose he is in any personal danger so long as they
are absent.'
'That is some little comfort, though not much,' muttered Jack. 'If we
could but find some way to get at him and rescue him from those brutes
while they are away!'
'Just what I was thinking of,' said Alondra. 'If my father would allow
me to take out my yacht, we might make a dash in the night, you know,
eh? She and the _Nelda_ are the two fastest fliers in the whole world,
except the _Ivenia_. What think you, Monck Affelda? There are others
of our friends, too, you know--Aveena, and nearly a dozen besides, I
hear.'
'We will see, Prince. I will speak to the king about it, and if his
consent can be gained I am quite ready to join in a forlorn hope of the
sort on the chance of rescuing our friends.'
When, however, Ivanta was asked to sanction the 'forlorn hope,' he said
they must wait first to see the result of the expedition Fumenta had
planned, for which the services of both yachts would be required. So,
for the moment, the one enterprise had to give place to the other.
The day was passed in telling one another their adventures on both
sides. Scouts came in at intervals and reported the movement of the
hostile airships. Some of the latter hovered about for some hours after
daylight had come and the mist had cleared, as though half-suspicious
that some trick had been played upon them. They even made a
half-hearted attempt to approach the column of smoke which ascended
steadily from the mouth of the 'volcano.' But the smell of suffocating
sulphur fumes was so strong that they came to the conclusion it would be
safer to give the place a wide berth.
Soon afterwards they divided into two parties, one returning by the way
they had come, while the other went off in the direction of the
waterless desert, to which they finally concluded the fugitives must
somehow have managed to flee.
Towards evening the fires were extinguished in readiness for the
departure of the yachts, and the interior of the old crater was filled
with Fumenta's followers, who were paraded in honour of Ivanta.
'I need not call for volunteers, King Ivanta,' said their chief. 'Every
man is ready and willing to serve you! Select what men you have room
for, and the rest will remain here awaiting your commands. All are
ready to fight for you to the death.--Say, my men, is it not so?'
The great vaulted roof rang with the cheers and shouts which went up in
response to this appeal.
'Long live King Ivanta!' 'Long live Prince Alondra!' was heard on all
sides.
King Ivanta could not listen to their greetings given so heartily in his
present circumstances without emotion. 'My children,' he said, 'your
proffered devotion has touched my heart! That you are trustworthy and
brave I feel assured; and I cannot quarrel with Destiny when, in my
greatest need, it sends me such sturdy supporters.'
As soon as it was quite dark the party of hardy adventurers set out in
the two yachts, Fumenta acting again as pilot on board the _Nelda_.
Alondra was in charge of his own craft; and he had with him Gerald and
Jack, Monck, the two sailors, and Malto and Malandris. Their young
charge Freddy was left behind, with a couple of attendants to look after
him.
During the day Alondra had presented Malto to Ivanta, and explained that
he had some request to prefer; but Malto discreetly asked permission to
defer it to a more suitable season, and so the matter had dropped.
The two craft glided swiftly onwards for some hours over a country which
showed no signs of being inhabited. Then a few lights were seen here
and there, telling of scattered villages, and at last a cluster of
lights indicated that they were approaching a large town.
While yet some distance away, Fumenta called a halt, and at his request
the king ordered a small airship to be got out which acted the part
which a steam pinnace fulfils in regard to one of our men-of-war.
Ivanta, with Arelda and Abralda, two of his officers, entered this with
Fumenta, and they dropped gently and silently down through the air, and
landed on the ground near a large building which stood alone on the
outskirts of the town.
From the town itself came the hum and low murmur of many people.
Fumenta gave a curious signal, which sounded like the cry of some bird
of the night. At first there was no response, but after it had been
twice repeated, a door in the building opened, and a figure came out,
closed it, and advanced cautiously towards them.
There were further signs and countersigns given and received on both
sides, and then the stranger spoke. 'Is it the Chief?' he asked.
'It is the Chief,' Fumenta replied. 'You have heard the news, and know
that the hour has come? Is all prepared?'
'All is prepared, Chief,' answered the man, saluting. 'We have had
everything ready and waiting for you since the news came; for we thought
that you might be here to-night. Do you wish to speak to the men before
we start?'
'Yes. I have with me some one they will be very surprised to see. Lead
the way.'
With another salute, the man turned and led the way towards the door
from which he had just emerged.
*CHAPTER XXXV.*
*HOW IVANTA GAINED A FLEET.*
Fumenta and those with him passed through the doorway into a spacious,
well-lighted vestibule, in which other doors could be seen leading to
the interior of the building. In particular, there were two large ones
in the centre immediately opposite to that by which they had entered.
These were evidently very jealously guarded, for at the entrance of the
strangers some armed men, who had been standing in front of them,
advanced in a rather threatening manner.
The one who had gone out to meet Fumenta and had brought him in, spoke
to the officer in charge of these guards.
'Throw open the doors, friend Medro. It is the Chief.'
'The Chief! And who besides, good Lymento?' asked the officer
cautiously.
'One for whom I will be answerable,' answered Fumenta brusquely. 'Waste
not time in idle talk. This will be a critical night for us; and we have
no time to lose.'
Without other reply than a salute, the officer turned on his heel and
ordered his men to throw open the doors. And as they fell back he
advanced and cried in sonorous tones, 'Friends all, the Chief!'
Fumenta stepped past him, conducting Ivanta, and called out in ringing
accents, 'And with him the King! Friends, I bring into your midst King
Ivanta. He has been deserted by those he trusted. He is, indeed,
actually now being hunted by those upon whom he has conferred benefits,
and stands at the present moment in sore need of trustworthy friends. I
assured him he would find them here. Tell me, have I promised aright?'
Before them was a great hall filled with people in varied dresses, as
though they had been brought together from many different parts. There
were ragged, rough, but stalwart men, very much of the style of
Fumenta's followers; and there were others, both soldiers and civilians,
of different grades, some plainly, some richly dressed.
It was, in fact, a meeting gathered from far and near of those of the
inhabitants of Iraynia who had secretly sympathised with Fumenta and his
outlaws, and who had been hoping for, almost expecting, some such 'burst
up' as had now taken place between Agrando and Ivanta. And they had
been secretly planning to rise, when that time arrived, against Agrando
themselves, and endeavour to throw off his yoke once and for all.
But they had not exactly expected what had actually happened. King
Ivanta had always wielded such power, and had shown himself so strong,
that the possibility of his ever being in his present position had never
entered into their calculations. Consequently, Fumenta's words fell upon
the assembly almost as a bombshell might have done--that is to say, with
a temporarily stunning effect.
For a space there was silence--a dead silence, which seemed at first to
be chilling, irresponsive. Then suddenly some one in the body of the
hall jumped up and shouted, 'We have no quarrel with King Ivanta. We
are ready to help him against Agrando! Fumenta, you have done well to
tell the king that in his present difficulty he will find friends here.'
At once others seized the cue, and hastened to declare their approval of
the words spoken. A few moments more, and the scene at Fumenta's
stronghold was being repeated here.
'Long live King Ivanta!' was the cry which was taken up on all sides,
and repeated till the roof shook.
Fumenta turned to Ivanta with a slight smile upon his usually
hard-grained visage. 'You hear, oh king! These are the men of Iraynia!
You see that I did not act without reason in bringing you here. All
these will be henceforth your followers, and they, again, have more--a
thousand times more--at their backs, who will flock to us as soon as the
news spreads.'
Ivanta was visibly affected. Never in his life till this day had he
known what it meant to stand in need of a few true friends. He who had
led conquering armies, and had listened to the acclamations of vast
multitudes representing nearly half the nations of the planet, and
received the homage of their rulers as his vassals--he was now listening
with gladness and gratitude to the kindly welcome of those whom he
had--unknowingly, it is true--treated with injustice, and allowed
Agrando to tyrannise over!
He now addressed them, telling them in simple but dignified language how
he thanked them all for their welcome; and after a brief conference with
their chiefs he gladly agreed to their request that he should become
their leader himself, and for the future take the direction of the
operations they had planned.
Then they conducted him to a large enclosure where a number of airships
were lying.
'These we seized immediately we heard the news of Agrando's revolt,'
Lymento explained. 'Their crews we made prisoners, and they are under
lock and key. What we now need is a storage station to keep these craft
supplied with electricity. They have enough reserve power to last a day
or two, but not longer.'
'That station we can seize this very night,' Fumenta again declared.
'It is at a place called Crudia, some two hours' journey from here, and,
as I have already said, I happen to know that it is at the present
moment weakly held. But we have no time to lose, for one of the first
things Agrando will do will doubtless be to reinforce the garrison as a
precaution. Extra men and airships may even now be on their way there,
so if we desire to get there first we must hasten. Which of these
airships will you choose, sir, to sail in yourself?'
Rapidly Fumenta ran over the list of their sizes and special
characteristics. At the end of it, Ivanta decided that he would keep to
his own yacht.
'My two yachts,' he reminded his new friends, 'are, with the exception
of my great vessel, the _Ivenia_, the fastest craft in the world. When
they cannot fight they can always run away,' he went on meaningly. 'It
may sound strange, perhaps, to some of you to hear me talk thus of
running away; but there are others doubtless among you who will
understand my meaning. Of late years you have not seen much fighting in
the air, but you may nevertheless be aware that in such warfare
swiftness and quick manoeuvring often count for as much as size and
numbers.'
The cheers which greeted this speech showed that his words were
understood and their meaning appreciated; and the few remaining
preparations were quickly completed.
Half an hour later Ivanta and Alondra, in their respective yachts,
sailed off at the head of a strong squadron of airships, all filled with
crews of enthusiastic followers.
*CHAPTER XXXVI.*
*THE OLD WELL.*
Like weird, gigantic night-birds the fleet of flying craft sailed
onwards through the night. The two moons of Mars--to which our
astronomers have given the names of Deimos and Phobos--were just then in
sight at the same time. The former was near to setting, while the
latter had but just risen. Together they were throwing a faint, mellow
light over the landscape, dimly illuminating hill and dale, rocky height
and sombre valley, slumbering villages and isolated dwellings, as they
seemed to slip away beneath the swift, silent airships.
Alondra was busy on board his yacht serving out tridents and shields and
other necessary articles.
'You are forgetting me, Prince,' Jack presently observed, after
patiently waiting some time, and finding that he had been left out in
the distribution.
'And me,' Gerald put in. 'What have we done, friend Alondra, that we
should be left out?'
Alondra looked perplexed.
'Well, you see,' he said hesitatingly, 'you are our guests. It is not
fair to you to call upon you to take part in our quarrels, or help in
fighting our battles.'
'Pooh, what nonsense!' exclaimed Jack. 'Why, what new idea is this?
You did not talk like it in the pavilion, when we had to defend
ourselves.'
'Because there was no help for it. My followers were far away, and we
had to do the best we could. Here it is we who are going out to make an
attack, and'----
'And we are going to join and help all we can,' Jack declared stoutly.
'Your quarrel is ours. Please say no more, but give us our share of your
arms--or would you prefer that we should trust to our pistols?'
'Better have our usual weapons, if you are determined, and keep your own
as a reserve,' Alondra decided.
And so it was settled; and not only the two chums, but Clinch and
Reid--who had, during their visit, learned the use of the Martian
weapons--were duly fitted out after the fashion of the rest of Ivanta's
following.
As they proceeded, the exact direction and other necessary instructions
were signalled from the leading yacht by means of curious devices in
coloured points of light, which appeared from time to time like tiny
coloured fireworks upon the masts.
After a run of a couple of hours, a halt was called, and Alondra was
signalled to come alongside the king's yacht.
One moon had set, and the other had become obscured by clouds. The
landscape was now in shadow, and the squadron was almost invisible from
below; for, save the occasional twinkling of the signals, the flying
craft showed no lights.
'The place we are going to attack,' Ivanta explained, when the leaders
had been assembled in his cabin, 'may be, as our friend Fumenta
declares, weakly held so far as the number of the garrison is concerned,
but in other respects it is a most difficult place to assail. No one
should know this better than I,' he continued, a little bitterly,
'because I myself designed the fortress and its defences. I knew that
it lay in a very exposed region, where it would be difficult to keep a
large garrison, and where a surprise might at any time be attempted. So
I did everything that my ingenuity could devise to render it practically
impregnable.'
'I know all that to be true, sir,' observed Fumenta quietly.
'It is neither more nor less than a great cavern--or, rather, series of
caverns--in the side of a precipitous mountain,' Ivanta went on. 'One
can neither approach it nor leave it except by flying-machine. There is
no path, no ledge, which anything but a fly could cling to. There is
only one defensive wall--that which closes the outer side of the
caverns--and this has been so built in as to resemble a continuation of
the precipice. One cannot tell by looking which is the natural rock and
which is the artificial stone wall. There are gates, or rather iron
doors, and these are specially defended by being connected with the
electric storage batteries. When the current is turned on--as is
supposed always to be the case at night, or when the doors are not in
actual use--it is death to any one who touches them.'
'All that I know, oh king!' said Fumenta. 'There is also an underground
waterfall--an immense body of water ever tumbling through the great
caverns.'
'Yes. It works the engines which collect and store the electric power.'
'Exactly; and it cannot be used for any other purpose. It is of no use,
for instance, for drinking purposes, because the water has a
disagreeable, brackish taste. Therefore, there is a well of fresh
water. Is it not so, sir?'
'True,' returned Ivanta, eying him keenly. 'But what of that?'
'That well was made by boring downwards till a stream of pure water was
found. When this was met with it rushed into the bottom of the well and
found its own way out, thus affording an ample supply for the garrison
without further trouble. So no one bothered himself further about it as
to whence the stream came or whither it went. But all that was many
years ago. Since then, however, this fresh-water stream has been
gradually drying up; and now there is not enough to supply the people on
guard there. That is one reason why the garrison is now so small. Then
another well was bored in another part, which gave a sufficient supply
for the reduced garrison, and the very existence of the first well was
almost forgotten. But where the stream once ran there is now an
underground passage or tunnel, which starts from a grotto high up in
another part of the mountain.'
Ivanto started.
'Say you so? Are you sure?' he exclaimed.
'Certain am I of what I say, oh king! No one seems to have noted that
the drying up of this stream has opened a back way, so to speak, into
the stronghold, which renders it possible to attack it by a surprise
visit. No one seems to have troubled about it, or to have made it his
business to report that so simple a fact has rendered useless all the
work and time and trouble expended upon your elaborate defences.'
At this Ivanta frowned a little; then a smile passed over his
countenance, and he cried, 'Said I not that you were a man after my own
heart, friend Fumenta? Of a truth, the next time I design a fortress I
shall ask you to look at my plan, and tell me of all its weak points
before I carry it out. But this seems to happen most fortunately for
us. Do you mean to say we can make our way in by the channel of that
dried-up watercourse? Can you guide us to it?'