A Trip to Mars

'If any one addresses you, say nothing, but leave it to me,' he said to Alondra and his friends. 'Your speech would betray you at once.'

As they drew near the gates they were pushed open, and a number of men in the purple dresses they had seen inside marched in, with soldierly bearing and military precision.

One, who seemed to be an officer, stopped and spoke to Malto; and again Alondra heard the strange tongue which he had noted before.

Malto remained a short time in talk, while his companions walked on with as good an imitation of carelessness as they could summon up on the spur of the moment.

When Malto came up with them he was smiling quietly to himself.

'It's lucky they did not see us come out of that door,' he said to Malandris, 'or they would have asked awkward questions as to how I came to have a key.'

'Ah, that is what has been puzzling me all this time,' observed Malandris.

'That is my secret for the present,' returned Malto. 'It is a little secret which would interest Kazzaro even more than it does you, if he happened to be aware that I had such a key.'

'What has been puzzling me,' said Alondra, addressing Malandris, 'is how you came to be in that cage, and in such an extraordinary dress – if one can call it a dress. I suppose some one must have placed you there. Who could have been guilty of such an atrocious act?'

Malandris, who was a tall, elderly man, with grizzled hair and a worn, haggard-looking face, shook his head with a sigh, as he answered, 'That you should wonder, young sir, only shows that you must be a stranger hereabouts – one who knows not the master we serve, or what he is capable of.'

'Hark! what is that?' exclaimed Malto suddenly. 'I 'm afraid they 've got upon our track! Do you see that tower yonder?'

Before them lay a wide, grassy expanse, at the end of which was a sort of ornamental pavilion or small tower.

'That is the place we have to make for,' he went on. 'If we can reach it, we shall be safe – at all events, for a time – till assistance comes. If necessary, we must run for it.'

As he spoke, the low murmur which he had noted behind them grew into a clamorous shouting, and a moment later a crowd of pursuers came running through the gateway they had so recently passed through.

CHAPTER XXIV

AT THE PAVILION

'You said a little while ago that you could run if needs were,' said Malto, addressing Malandris. 'You must try now, at any rate. I will help you.'

'I am quite recovered,' was the answer. 'We must look after these young people.'

'Oh, that I had my wings! Why did I leave them behind this morning!' exclaimed Alondra.

'You may as well throw off those disguises,' Malto advised. 'They are of no use now, and will only hamper you.'

As yet their pursuers were a long way off, for after the reconnoitre at the gateway the fugitives had stepped out briskly, and had covered nearly half the distance to the pavilion before the alarm had been given.

They now set off at a run, after discarding their disguises, and at first it seemed as though there would be no difficulty in reaching the tower well ahead of their pursuers. Indeed, the latter seemed, at one time, to have almost given up the chase; for only a few were to be seen coming towards them; the rest had halted.

A few moments later, however, the cause of the delay became clear. Suddenly a man rose in the air on motor-wings and began to sail rapidly towards them. He was armed with a trident. Convinced that he would easily effect the capture of the fugitives, who had, as could be seen, neither shields nor tridents, the remainder of the crowd followed quietly in the rear. They would be in plenty of time, they reckoned, to pick up the unconscious bodies when the man with the trident had dealt with them.

Malto muttered something between his set teeth.

'I 'm afraid it is no use,' said Malandris despondently, as he ran along beside the others. 'He is bound to overtake us, and we are all unarmed.'

'Not quite,' Jack answered. 'If they think we are, so much the better; it may give us a chance to get on equal terms with that flying chap. His trident is no good at more than twenty yards. We have something here which reaches farther than that.'

He and Gerald had drawn their revolvers, and were looking to the hammers as they raced onwards, to make quite sure that they were in working order. Everything would depend upon making good practice with their first shots.

'You aim at one wing, Gerald,' said Jack; 'I will aim at the fellow's arm which carries the trident. Take it easy! Don't run too fast; it will make your hand shake.'

They continued on their way for some distance farther. The pavilion was now not far off; so also, unfortunately, was the flying man with his trident.

Jack gave a sign to Gerald, and they both turned and faced him. Alondra stopped too; and the others, although they did not exactly understand what was likely to happen, immediately halted, because they would not leave the three to their fate.

As it happened, this was the best thing they could have done. The flying man interpreted their action as an abject surrender. He slackened speed and came on carelessly.

Then two shots rang out. Jack's aim was true; his bullet struck the man's right arm, and the trident flew from the hand which had grasped it. Gerald's first shot missed, but his second struck one wing and smashed the light framework. The wing drooped, and the flier fell heavily to the ground.

'Good! Good! Capital!' Malto and Malandris cried out, in surprised wonder and delight at this turn of affairs, for neither of them understood anything about pistols.

'Now, run for it, my friends! We shall get there first yet!' Jack called out.

'Let me have his trident, though,' said Alondra, as he picked up the fallen man's weapon. 'This may come in useful, you know.'

There was a great outcry behind them as the pursuers witnessed the discomfiture of the aeronaut. The crowd at once took up the chase in a manner which showed how confidently they had been counting upon his ability to capture the fugitives without their aid.

As has been stated, the men in the dark-purple dresses were big, fine men, all of them. There was that in their aspect, too, which betokened a fierce nature, used to warfare.

They quickly made it evident that they were good runners, and they started off now in earnest and came on swiftly. But they had lost whatever chance they might at first have had of overtaking those they were chasing, by trusting too confidently to the man with the wings.

By the time they reached the base of the tower the fugitives had already dashed up the steps leading to the entrance, had opened and passed through some barred gates, fastened them behind them, and gained the shelter of the doorway.

A minute or two afterwards they appeared upon a balcony, of which there were several running round the tower on the outside, one above the other, and complacently smiled down upon their baffled foes.

'Well, we 've beaten 'em so far,' exclaimed Malto. 'I had almost given up hope. We should have been done for if it hadn't been for those noisy playthings of yours, young gentlemen. May I ask what they are, and where they come from? I have never met with that kind of weapon before.'

'They come from a far country, so far that your head would scarcely carry the tale of the figures if I were to attempt to give them to you,' Alondra declared laughingly. 'Now, what is to be done next? Our foes will be sending an airship against us, I suppose; and if assistance doesn't reach us pretty soon I am afraid they will have the best of it, after all.'

'No, I don't think there is any fear of that. They won't send an airship against us,' said Malto.

Malandris shook his head too. 'Not during the day,' he assented. 'They might when it gets dark, if we are still here.'

'Why not?' asked Jack, in surprise.

'It would attract attention. You see, our master has visitors. Prince Alondra, the son of King Ivanta, is staying here; and he, or some of his people, might be cruising about in his air-yacht or in some of the airships which came with him. If they caught sight of an airship engaged in fighting operations down here their curiosity might be aroused, and they might come and ask inconvenient questions.'

At this Gerald and Jack glanced at one another and then at Alondra, and nearly burst out laughing; but the latter made a sign, and they turned away and said nothing. The young prince wished to keep his identity a secret a little longer, in order that he might have an opportunity of quietly probing farther into the meaning of the extraordinary events of that eventful morning.

'What, then, do you suppose they will do?' Alondra went on.

'Oh, very likely nothing at all! Just loaf about to make sure that we don't get away during the day. They know they can't break into this pavilion; it has been strongly built on purpose. Then at night they will make sure of us. Our best hope is that we may see some passing airship and attract the attention of the people in her, and that they may come and take us off.'

'That doesn't sound very hopeful. It might be one of Agrando's airships,' Jack pointed out.