’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.