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CHAPTER XXXII
IVANTA A FUGITIVE

Alondria's companions in his scouting expedition were Gerald and Jack, Malto and the outlaw chief Fumenta, the latter having taken the place of Malandris, who had been left behind.

'You will want some one who knows this region as a guide, or you will not be able to find your way through the mist,' Fumenta had pointed out. Alondra had been prompt to recognise the wisdom of the suggestion, and gladly accepted it.

It seemed that these outlaws were without flying apparatus of any kind except the roughest sort of wings. They lived the life of hunted men, and even if they had possessed airships or other flying machines, they were without the necessary means of utilising them.

All kinds of air-craft required electricity to work them; which, in its turn, as with us, required machinery to produce it. Throughout Ivanta's dominions there were stations here and there at which passing aeronauts could refill their storage batteries on payment of certain specified sums. At these stations gigantic engines of immense power were ever at work, day and night, accumulating the necessary force, and it was upon this constant supply that all airships were dependent. When they journeyed beyond the districts in which these stations were situated, travellers were compelled to be careful not to venture too far afield – no farther, that is, than they could travel back again with the storage power on board.

For the same reason, the outlaws had none of the usual weapons – those tridents which wielded such strange, mysterious power; or, if they possessed any, they were useless to them for want of the needful force.

Throughout the inhabited portion of the planet the same state of things prevailed. There were no small weapons other than the tridents, save swords, spears, and the like. Nor were there any large weapons like our cannon and big guns. Owing to their great weight, all such contrivances had long ago been abandoned as too heavy to be carried in the air, and as being no longer of any use on the ground. An airship depended for its means of offence either upon ramming an adversary, or being able to get above it, and drop upon it bombs, which, upon bursting, produced a similar effect upon living beings around it to that of the tridents – that is to say, they rendered them for the time being unconscious. Thus, warfare in the air resolved itself chiefly into a manoeuvring contest, the one which could soar uppermost, and get exactly over its adversary, usually – other things being equal – gaining the advantage.

Having no machinery for the production of electricity, and consequently no flying apparatus save the clumsy, slow wings without motors, Fumenta and the bands of which he was chief were for the most part restricted in their operations to nocturnal expeditions. They seldom ventured abroad in the daytime, but remained hidden in their underground retreats.

Fortunately for their purpose, their leader had discovered, amid the arid wilderness of rocky mountains into which he had been driven, an extinct volcano with an ancient crater open to the sky. Within was the immense cavity which they had made their chief hiding-place, and running into it from all points of the compass were endless galleries and passages – a veritable labyrinth which extended for miles in every direction. These led to numerous underground grottos, large and lofty caverns, which they had turned into dwelling-places. The whole formed a sort of subterranean town.

Not the least remarkable thing about this retreat was the ingenious ruse by which Fumenta had kept its existence unknown to his enemies. He had discovered, in some of the lower galleries, considerable accumulations of sulphur, and whenever, during the daytime, the approach of airships was signalled by his scouts, he had sulphur fires lighted in the crater just beneath the funnel-like opening, sending up columns of smoke and sulphur fumes.

As a consequence, the report had gone forth that the supposedly extinct volcano had become active again, and its neighbourhood was shunned as dangerous by all not in the secret. A few venturesome inquirers, who had attempted to make explorations, had been baffled by the sulphur fumes, and had returned declaring that there were evident signs of renewed volcanic activity.

Similarly, if, as sometimes happened, an occasional airship, driven out of her course by high winds, passed near the place at night, and saw a light coming up through the opening, it was put down to the same cause.

These notes are necessary to explain the events which follow.

The mist seemed to grow thicker as the adventurers sailed cautiously onwards, and it soon became obvious that they would quickly have lost themselves if they had not had Fumenta to guide them. He, however, seemed to know his way about in it with as much certainty as if it had been clear. He was aided, no doubt, by a dim radiance which struggled down from the moon above.

He led off to the right, mounting always upwards, till, after they had travelled perhaps a mile, he brought them to a halt beside a towering peak.

'Here,' he said, in low, guarded tones, 'you had better rest for a little time, while I reconnoitre from the top of the mountain, which rises yet some hundreds of feet into the air. It is one of the highest peaks about here, and these occasional ground-mists scarcely ever reach its top. It may be that we can get a view from its summit over the top of the mist, but at the same time we shall run some risk of being seen ourselves. Let me, therefore, make the trial first, as I am more used to this kind of thing than you are. I will return in a short time and let you know the result. Do not leave this spot, and, whatever you do, do not talk loudly. Voices travel far in this mist; you cannot tell how near our enemies may be.'

With that he started off, mounting silently upwards, and the four he left behind began discussing their recent adventures, and the possible future, in low tones.

'So that's the great outlaw chief!' said Jack. 'What do you think of him? I suppose he is to be trusted? I must say I am agreeably surprised! I like his looks; yet one never knows! He might betray you, Prince, to your enemies. How if he could buy off Agrando's hostility that way? It might be a great temptation!'

'I do not think he is one of that sort,' Alondra returned.

'Nor do I,' Gerald put in.

Malto had remained silent. He had seemed to be pondering deeply over something. At these words from the others he suddenly woke up, as it were, from his reverie, and spoke warmly. 'I would stake my life on his loyalty!' he exclaimed passionately. 'He is a good man – a great man – an upright, brave, honourable man! I feel it, I know it! But why do I know it? Why does he rouse such a tumult of strange thoughts and ideas in my breast? That is what has been puzzling me ever since I set eyes on him! Have I seen him before? It seems to me that I have – must have done so! Yet when? Where? How could it be? My head seems to go round puzzling it out, and trying to seize upon some thought, some memory, which I feel, but cannot put into words!'

The others looked in surprise at this outburst.

'Hush! We were warned to be quiet!' said Alondra. 'Our opinions are really the same as yours. What was said was only spoken in the way of ordinary caution. You need not take it to heart as though we were wronging a friend of yours!'

'A friend of mine!' Malto answered bitterly and somewhat incoherently. 'Would that I could call such a man my friend! I have no such friend in the world! My life, since I was a boy, has been passed among deadly enemies, who destroyed my father and brought me up as a slave! I have ever been a child of misfortune; and now, see how ill-fortune dogs me! I come across you, and you promise to take me to King Ivanta, to give me the opportunity of pleading my cause with him and asking for my rights; but what comes of it? At once treachery steps in again, and instead of your helping me, I only lead you into trouble and fresh misfortune!'

'Nay, it was no doing of yours,' said Alondra gently. 'Have patience, my friend, and all will yet come right! I feel sure it will! My father is not going to be beaten by people like Agrando and his confederates. He will soon come to our aid and rescue us, have no fear! Then you shall tell him your story, and he will see that right is done. Meantime, it seems to me, we have been fortunate in meeting with Fumenta. If he and his people are to be trusted – and I feel sure they are – we have found useful and faithful allies, and a secure hiding-place where we can await developments!'

As the young prince finished, he started. While he had been speaking the last few words there had been heard a tiny, muffled 'ting-ting,' and now, in the surrounding stillness, it was heard still more plainly.

'Ting – ting-ting – ting – ting!' it rang out.

'By Jove!' exclaimed Jack, 'that's your wireless telegraph affair!'

Alondra plunged a hand into his breast and brought out the little instrument they had seen when they had been in the pavilion.

He placed it on his outstretched palm, and again were heard the clear, silvery notes of the little gongs.

Excitedly he opened it and began to manipulate the miniature levers and pins.

'What did I tell you?' he breathed, in low accents. 'Said I not that my father would be soon on his way to our assistance?'

Just then Fumenta came gliding back like some weird, mysterious shadow.

'Follow me,' he said, 'and I will show you a strange sight!'

First, however, they told him the news.

'My father King Ivanta has come to seek us,' Alondra said joyously. 'He is not far away!'

To their surprise the outlaw chief nodded his head and answered slowly, 'I know. But he cannot help us. He is in hiding, as we are. He cannot aid us at present. I may, however, help him by offering him a temporary refuge, as I have done to you.'

Alondra turned and faced him in amazement, his eyes flashing, and his cheeks flushing with indignation.

'My father – in hiding? You – offering him a refuge?' he gasped. 'Sir, have you suddenly' —

'Peace, my son! You speak too loudly,' rejoined the old man quietly. 'However painful it may be to you to hear it, what I have said is but the exact truth, as I will prove to you presently. Come with me, and I will show you something that will surprise you.'

He commenced his upward flight as he spoke, and the others wonderingly followed. His words had, so to speak, struck them dumb; and no one uttered another word.

After a few minutes' flight it grew lighter, and they could tell that they were nearing the limits of the mist above them. Then Fumenta stopped upon a sloping rock, and, looking round at his companions to enjoin caution, signed to them to walk slowly up the incline.

They obeyed, and, behold! quite suddenly their heads were above the mist. It was almost as if they had put them up through a trap-door and looked around. The vapours closed round them below like a mantle. They could not see their own hands, but they could see for miles around on every side.

A large fleet of airships could be seen in the air above, going restlessly backwards and forwards. The moon which our astronomers call Phobos was throwing a rather feeble light over what seemed to be a pinkish-white sea, which was, in reality, the surface of the mist.

The airships were assisting the moonlight by throwing their searchlights around in all directions, prowling to and fro, and making sudden dashes here and there, exactly as might a swarm of huge birds of prey on the wing seeking for food.

'Those,' said Fumenta, indicating the airships, 'are the war-vessels of Agrando and the allies who have joined him. They know that King Ivanta, in his yacht – not his great "chariot of the skies," the mighty Ivenia, look you – is hiding somewhere in the mist below. He must have come hither to seek for you – why he should come in his yacht instead of the Ivenia I know not – and they have chased him here, and have lost him in the fog!'

CHAPTER XXXIII
A QUEER HUNT

Even as Fumenta spoke, two dark shapes rose quickly above the fleecy vapours as though to take a cautious observation.

Alondra and the two chums instantly recognised them as the two yachts the Nelda and the Lokris; but ere they could breathe a word both craft had dived back into the fog.

At once two or three of the hostile airships made a dart at the place where they had appeared, and so impetuous was their rush that they narrowly missed ramming one another. But for some reason they did not dive after the fugitives. They were evidently averse to trusting themselves in those foggy depths.

Fumenta nudged his companions, and they crept down the rocky slope into the concealment of the mist again.

'It wouldn't do to stay up there,' he said, when they had reached what he considered a safe distance. 'Now, Prince, if you can send a message to your friends, will you please ask them to remain in one place till we find them? You can explain to them that they have nothing to fear at present; evidently their enemies do not care to hunt for them down in the fog. They prefer to wait till it clears off, as they know it is pretty sure to do in an hour or two. In that hour or two we must manage to find your friends and conduct them to a place of safety.'

'How can you do that?' asked Alondra helplessly. 'I confess I feel bewildered. The world seems turned upside down! I could not have believed my father would' – He hesitated to finish the sentence.

'My son,' said the old chief kindly, 'you may comfort yourself with the thought that your august father is doing what he finds best in the circumstances. Now the fox is going to aid the eagle, and hide him in his burrow until the hunters have gone away. Then we must offer what assistance we can in finding and regaining possession of the Ivenia, from which – as I read it – King Ivanta has become separated, probably through a trick or some fresh treachery. If we can help him to do that, the eagle will then be able to turn on his enemies as though they were a host of small birds, and all will be well!'

Alondra looked fixedly for a moment at the outlaw leader, and then impulsively seized his hand and shook it, and there were tears in his eyes as he exclaimed, 'I don't know who you are, sir; but I know that you are a friend in need. I shall leave it to the king my father to thank you properly, later on; now I can only say your kindly words have filled my heart with gratitude.'

'Let us say no more, Prince, but set to work,' was the terse reply.

Alondra set to work accordingly, and after some delay, succeeded in getting into communication with his friends again.

My father has understood my message,' he presently said, 'and agrees to your suggestion. They are resting on a hill-top below, and will stay there until we get to them.'

'Good!' observed Fumenta. 'Now, the thing is to find out where that hill-top is.'

'Is there any way of telling by means of that little instrument whether, as we move about, we are getting nearer to them or farther away?' asked Jack. 'In our world, when, as children, we played at hide-and-seek, we used to say we were getting "cold" when we were on the wrong track, and "hot" when we were on the right one. Now, is there any way of telling with the help of that little contrivance whether, as we move about, we are getting "hot" or "cold"?'

'Why, yes, to some extent,' Alondra returned, but not without hesitation. 'I think I shall be able to form an idea, as we go on, by the sound it gives out. The nearer we are, the stronger the current, and the louder the little bells ring.'

'Exactly! That's what I was hoping for,' said Jack. 'With that to guide us, it ought not to be such a very long business.'

And then there began the most extraordinary hunt for the airships hidden in the mist that can well be imagined.

It proved to be more difficult and perplexing than the searchers had at first thought would be the case. They went up and down, to and fro, going too far in one direction, then turning, only soon to find that they had travelled too far in the opposite track. It was a veritable game of blindman's-buff, and as time went on, and Fumenta's prediction about the mist clearing seemed likely to be realised, the seekers became first anxious and then seriously alarmed. It was true that the sounds given out by Alondra's wondrous little instrument varied according to their distance from those who were signalling to them; but the differences were so slight as to be extremely difficult to detect.

At last, however, their perseverance was rewarded. Gerald was the first to catch sight of what they sought. A half-smothered exclamation from him drew the attention of the others to what seemed no more than a dark shadow. They were all actually passing it, and in another moment or two would have lost sight of it. But when Gerald pointed it out, Alondra made a dart towards it, and quickly called to his companions to follow him.

A few minutes later they were standing on the deck of the king's yacht, and Alondra was folded in his father's arms.

'What has happened, father?' he asked. 'Where is the Ivenia?'

'Ah, that is what I want to know!' Ivanta confessed. 'Some strange, unforeseen occurrence – an accident, or treachery, I know not what – has hidden her away. Thanks to the machinations of Agrando and Zuanstroom, the whole of the people of my realm seem to have gone mad and turned against me. For the time being, Alondra, your father is an exile, a fugitive, with scarce a friend in the world.'

'You have one friend, oh king! – one who has some followers you may depend upon,' said Fumenta, stepping forward. 'If you will accept my services' —

'Who are you?' the king asked, turning to him wonderingly.

Alondra explained, and Ivanta frowned.

'Fumenta! The one who is in rebellion against me!' he exclaimed, eying the outlaw chief keenly and coldly.

'Not so, oh king!' Fumenta answered, drawing himself up proudly. 'No rebel against you have I ever been! No one can say it! But against your vassal Agrando, yes! I have been his sworn enemy for many a year, and not without good reason; but against you I have had no other complaint to make than that you supported him against me. Doubtless you were misled by false and lying misrepresentations, and had you known the truth – But there is no time for the discussion of such matters now. I offer you safe asylum, not for yourself and your followers only, but for your airships. You will find that I and all my people are loyal to you, and will fight to the death against Agrando and his allies.'

'But how can you hide my airships away?' asked the king doubtfully.

'You shall soon see, oh king! Do not delay, I pray you. The mist is already getting thinner. A little longer, and our chance will be gone.'

Ivanta looked at Alondra, and the two conferred apart for a brief space. Then Ivanta returned to Fumenta, and, holding out his hand, said, 'I hear you have been a good friend to my son and his companions in the time of their need. That is enough for me! Henceforth you are my friends – you and all your followers.'

Fumenta thereupon took charge of the craft as a pilot might, issuing instructions in low tones to the officers. Under his guidance, the Nelda glided slowly through the mist, closely followed by the Lokris, which had been resting a few yards away.

Then, as they went along, Alondra asked for tidings of their friends, and heard bad news indeed.

Many of the party who had accompanied Alondra to Agrando's court had been treacherously seized.

Monck, it seemed, had got away in the Lokris, bringing with him the two sailors and – somewhat curiously – Zuanstroom's nephew Freddy, who had sought shelter with him and begged piteously not to be left behind. These were all safe on board the other yacht.

'But of others,' said the king, 'I am sorry to say that they are now held as prisoners by Agrando. Aveena and several of your friends, Alondra, are amongst them, and,' he went on, slowly and bitterly, 'most humiliating of all, for me to have to confess it – for it seems as though I had failed in a host's first duty – so, I am deeply pained to tell you, is our friend Armeath.'