For answer the outlaw asked what was the length of the larger of the two vessels, and Ivanta gave him the measurement upon the Martian scale. ’I thought so. Then there is room,’ he declared. And so it turned out. By means of a little manoeuvring, the two vessels were induced to sink slowly through the opening, without touching the sides. And when once through the funnel there was plenty of room for them in the great dome-like space below to rest, all upstanding, on the ground. Then, upon some metal staging round the base of the funnel, high up in the domed roof, fires were lighted, and upon them, after a time, when they had started a sufficient draught, quantities of sulphur were thrown. The draught was so great from the maze of underground galleries that all the fumes were carried up into the sky, while below the air was fresh and pure. ’There!’ said Fumenta, in well-satisfied tones, when all was in working 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!’