*CHAPTER XXXVI.*
*THE OLD WELL.*
Like weird, gigantic night-birds the fleet of flying craft sailedonwards through the night. The two moons of Mars--to which ourastronomers have given the names of Deimos and Phobos--were just then insight at the same time. The former was near to setting, while thelatter had but just risen. Together they were throwing a faint, mellowlight over the landscape, dimly illuminating hill and dale, rocky heightand sombre valley, slumbering villages and isolated dwellings, as theyseemed to slip away beneath the swift, silent airships.
Alondra was busy on board his yacht serving out tridents and shields andother necessary articles.
'You are forgetting me, Prince,' Jack presently observed, afterpatiently waiting some time, and finding that he had been left out inthe distribution.
'And me,' Gerald put in. 'What have we done, friend Alondra, that weshould be left out?'
Alondra looked perplexed.
'Well, you see,' he said hesitatingly, 'you are our guests. It is notfair to you to call upon you to take part in our quarrels, or help infighting 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 defendourselves.'
'Because there was no help for it. My followers were far away, and wehad to do the best we could. Here it is we who are going out to make anattack, 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 yourarms--or would you prefer that we should trust to our pistols?'
'Better have our usual weapons, if you are determined, and keep your ownas a reserve,' Alondra decided.
And so it was settled; and not only the two chums, but Clinch andReid--who had, during their visit, learned the use of the Martianweapons--were duly fitted out after the fashion of the rest of Ivanta'sfollowing.
As they proceeded, the exact direction and other necessary instructionswere signalled from the leading yacht by means of curious devices incoloured points of light, which appeared from time to time like tinycoloured fireworks upon the masts.
After a run of a couple of hours, a halt was called, and Alondra wassignalled to come alongside the king's yacht.
One moon had set, and the other had become obscured by clouds. Thelandscape was now in shadow, and the squadron was almost invisible frombelow; for, save the occasional twinkling of the signals, the flyingcraft showed no lights.
'The place we are going to attack,' Ivanta explained, when the leadershad been assembled in his cabin, 'may be, as our friend Fumentadeclares, 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 oneshould know this better than I,' he continued, a little bitterly,'because I myself designed the fortress and its defences. I knew thatit lay in a very exposed region, where it would be difficult to keep alarge garrison, and where a surprise might at any time be attempted. SoI did everything that my ingenuity could devise to render it practicallyimpregnable.'
'I know all that to be true, sir,' observed Fumenta quietly.
'It is neither more nor less than a great cavern--or, rather, series ofcaverns--in the side of a precipitous mountain,' Ivanta went on. 'Onecan neither approach it nor leave it except by flying-machine. There isno path, no ledge, which anything but a fly could cling to. There isonly one defensive wall--that which closes the outer side of thecaverns--and this has been so built in as to resemble a continuation ofthe precipice. One cannot tell by looking which is the natural rock andwhich is the artificial stone wall. There are gates, or rather irondoors, and these are specially defended by being connected with theelectric storage batteries. When the current is turned on--as issupposed always to be the case at night, or when the doors are not inactual use--it is death to any one who touches them.'
'All that I know, oh king!' said Fumenta. 'There is also an undergroundwaterfall--an immense body of water ever tumbling through the greatcaverns.'
'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 adisagreeable, brackish taste. Therefore, there is a well of freshwater. 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 wasfound. When this was met with it rushed into the bottom of the well andfound its own way out, thus affording an ample supply for the garrisonwithout further trouble. So no one bothered himself further about it asto whence the stream came or whither it went. But all that was manyyears ago. Since then, however, this fresh-water stream has beengradually drying up; and now there is not enough to supply the people onguard there. That is one reason why the garrison is now so small. Thenanother well was bored in another part, which gave a sufficient supplyfor the reduced garrison, and the very existence of the first well wasalmost forgotten. But where the stream once ran there is now anunderground passage or tunnel, which starts from a grotto high up inanother 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 thatthe drying up of this stream has opened a back way, so to speak, intothe stronghold, which renders it possible to attack it by a surprisevisit. No one seems to have troubled about it, or to have made it hisbusiness to report that so simple a fact has rendered useless all thework and time and trouble expended upon your elaborate defences.'
At this Ivanta frowned a little; then a smile passed over hiscountenance, and he cried, 'Said I not that you were a man after my ownheart, friend Fumenta? Of a truth, the next time I design a fortress Ishall ask you to look at my plan, and tell me of all its weak pointsbefore I carry it out. But this seems to happen most fortunately forus. Do you mean to say we can make our way in by the channel of thatdried-up watercourse? Can you guide us to it?'
'That is my plan. It is a very simple one, after all,' returned theoutlaw chief modestly; 'but I think you will find that it will sufficefor our purpose. I suggest that you send out two parties, one to attackthe place in front, while I will guide the rest, so that they can creepin by the route I have indicated. The other party must show no signtill we have gained the interior and manipulated the levers which cutoff the electric current from the doorways. Then they can make a dashand help us to overpower the garrison.'
'And thus easily,' murmured Ivanta, with, a sigh--'thus simply are allmy elaborate and complicated defences to be set at nought andovercome--laughed at, in fact! However, so be it! 'Tis a good plan;and if it succeeds, the possession of such a stronghold, with itsmachinery and underground waterfall, will be a piece of good fortuneindeed.'
'And we will take good care,' said Alondra, laughing, 'to have that backentrance well guarded in future. Now, I want to be one of your party,friend Fumenta. That will suit me better than waiting about with therest till some one else, having done all the fighting, opens the door tous.'
At this Gerald and Jack and their party asked to be allowed to go withAlondra, and pressed their claims so eagerly that at last Ivantaacceded.
'I shall myself make one,' he said. 'And since you so much desire it,you shall all join.'
Later on, the fleet of airships divided into two bodies, and one, thesmaller portion, made direct for the heights of the mountain in whichthe stronghold was situated. The rest were to wait about till the timeshould come for making their presence known by a direct frontal attack.
Fumenta led his section into a small cave, which opened out, first intoa gallery, and then into a spacious grotto. All were provided withsmall glow-lamps, ropes, metal staples for climbing, and otherrequisites, in addition to their arms, which consisted of tridents,shields, and the usua
l swords or spears.
The grotto had several galleries running out of it, and selecting one ofthese, Fumenta followed its windings for some distance, till he came toa small stream running into a deep cutting. A little farther on, thislittle watercourse took a sudden turn and disappeared into a hole on theleft.
'That,' said the outlaw chief, 'is all that is left of the stream whichformerly completely filled the tunnel it here plunges into. Nowadaysyou can walk along its bed and the water will not in any place reach toyour knees.'
'How do you know?' Ivanta asked.
'I have traversed the whole distance,' was the answer. 'I even climbedup the sides of the well to see whether it was fenced off in any way,and I found it quite open. Moreover, the place where I emerged wasempty and deserted. One could see it is never used now.'
Fumenta then directed that some of the tridents and shields should betied into bundles, and these were given to bearers to carry on theirshoulders clear of the water. By this means the leading adventurerswere left free to climb the sides of the well and attach ropes, whichcould then be utilised, first to pull up the bundles, and afterwards toassist the ascent of the rest of the party.
These details having been duly arranged, they entered the waterway intwos and threes, wading in the water, which at first reached nearly totheir knees, but became much more shallow as they proceeded.
Presently those in front arrived at the well and halted, the otherscrowding up as closely as they could get, some passing into the waterwayon the farther side, where they stood awaiting orders.
Fumenta and his lieutenants, Duralda and Landris, began the ascent,pushing iron staples into the chalk sides to assist those who came afterthem. Behind them followed Malto, Malandris, and others. Upon anotherside of the well Ivanta and Alondra, with the two chums and the sailors,imitated this operation. All worked in perfect silence, and almost indarkness, only the carefully screened gleams from their glow-lamps beingvisible.
The leaders reached the top in safety, and found themselves in a roomycavern, which was in complete darkness. No sound was to be heard; and,satisfied that their presence was unsuspected, they secured one of theropes they had brought with them and threw the end down, that thebearers below might attach their bundles to it.
Not until they had hauled up these indispensable weapons, and had themin their hands, could they hope, should they be discovered and attacked,to hold the mouth of the well long enough for the body of followersbehind to climb up to their assistance. Every one lent a hand, for itwas necessary that their plan should be carried out as expeditiously aspossible.
Tom Clinch and Bob Reid were hauling up the first bundles, when theformer, in his zeal, leaned over too far, lost his balance, and fellheadlong into the well. About half-way down, coming into collision withone of the bundles, he managed to grip the rope, and thus saved himselffrom going farther. His weight, however, broke away the cord by whichit was fastened, and sent the whole lot of tridents clattering to thebottom, where they created a panic by falling upon the heads of thecrowd waiting there. A chorus of cries and shouts, mingled with groansand shrieks of pain, followed, which sounds were magnified as they cameup the well as though it had been an immense speaking-trumpet, and wereechoed back from the rocky roof of the cavern.
There followed a brief silence--deep, tense, and anxious. Then a high,wide door swung open, the place was flooded with light, and a number ofarmed men burst in and made a rush at the group gathered round the mouthof the well.