Thus was the compact made between these two, who, but a few days before had seemed so far apart—the great and powerful king, who had then been a ruler over more than half the planet, and the outlaw leader, who led the life of the hunted, and lived in burrows ’like a fox.’ While this talk was taking place the chums and Alondra were comparing notes with Monck and the two sailors. ’We’ve seen some queer sort o’ fightin’, Mr Gerald, since we lost sight o’ you,’ said Tom Clinch. ’The catamounts played every scurvy trick they could think of against us! But me and Bob Reid and Mr Monck, we give ’em as good as they brought, and we scraped through and got away somehow.’ ’Yes, but without Mr Armeath,’ said Gerald sadly. ’I am not reproaching you,’ he hastened to add, ’but I am terribly anxious about him. Will they harm him, do you think, Mr Monck? Why should they? He has nothing to do with this upset between King Ivanta and Agrando!’ ’Well,’ said Monck thoughtfully, ’Agrando and Zuanstroom have gone off to Ivenia, taking Kazzaro with them. They will have their hands pretty full for the present, at any rate, with organising their forces and establishing their position, not to mention the question of seizing and dividing out the diamonds. They have left Mr Armeath a prisoner behind them, and I do not suppose he is in any personal danger so long as they are absent.’ ’That is some little comfort, though not much,’ muttered Jack. ’If we could but find some way to get at him and rescue him from those brutes while they are away!’ ’Just what I was thinking of,’ said Alondra. ’If my father would allow me to take out my yacht, we might make a dash in the night, you know, eh? She and the _Nelda_ are the two fastest fliers in the whole world, except the _Ivenia_. What think you, Monck Affelda? There are others of our friends, too, you know—Aveena, and nearly a dozen besides, I hear.’ ’We will see, Prince. I will speak to the king about it, and if his consent can be gained I am quite ready to join in a forlorn hope of the sort on the chance of rescuing our friends.’ When, however, Ivanta was asked to sanction the ’forlorn hope,’ he said they must wait first to see the result of the expedition Fumenta had planned, for which the services of both yachts would be required. So, for the moment, the one enterprise had to give place to the other. The day was passed in telling one another their adventures on both sides. Scouts came in at intervals and reported the movement of the hostile airships. Some of the latter hovered about for some hours after daylight had come and the mist had cleared, as though half-suspicious that some trick had been played upon them. They even made a half-hearted attempt to approach the column of smoke which ascended steadily from the mouth of the ’volcano.’ But the smell of suffocating sulphur fumes was so strong that they came to the conclusion it would be safer to give the place a wide berth.