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 A ROYAL PROGRESS.

'There are the famous canals—the great waterways which the

astronomers of the Earth have seen through their telescopes and
puzzled over for so many years. The curious thing is that the
scientists of Mars have puzzled over them almost as much, and can
tell you practically just as little about them.'
Thus spoke Monck, as the Lokris sailed through the upper air on
her way to the country of King Agrando.
Below them the voyagers saw seas and continents spread out
as upon an enormous map. And there, quite plain to the eye, were
the strange channels Monck had referred to. They looked like great
arms of the sea; but there was that in their regular shape which
proclaimed, even to the unscientific eye, that they must have been
constructed artificially.
'Their origin is lost in the mists of past ages,' Monck explained.
'Some mighty race in the past must have made them at a time when
to be able to travel by water was all-important.'
Jack, who was looking through a powerful telescope, exclaimed
in surprise, 'I can see vessels going about on them! The curious
thing is that in one channel they are all going one way, and in the
other channel they are all moving along in the opposite direction.'
'Exactly!' Monck replied. 'And that, you perceive, seems to
suggest a reason for their construction. There are strong currents
running through them just as you see the vessels going—that is to
say, in opposite directions. It is supposed that the ancients, in the
days before mechanical propulsion was invented, saw in that fact an
easy way of getting about. At any rate, that is the general
supposition nowadays. Of course, it is only a guess.'
The Lokris had been at this time two days and nights on her
journey. She was accompanied by several airships, forming, in effect,
a small squadron. 'Escorted' would be perhaps a more fitting term,
for several of them were war-vessels, while others again were craft
in attendance, carrying supplies.
The progress of the whole fleet was methodical, and was
conducted with a good deal of ceremony. It was all ordered very
much as would be the case with the fleet of one of the Great Powers
on Earth escorting the yacht carrying the son of a powerful monarch
on a visit or tour to a distant realm. One of the war-vessels carried
the Diamond King and his party; while Armeath and his wards
travelled with Prince Alondra in his yacht.
As they continued their journey they passed over various cities
and countries. Sometimes strange war-vessels, seeing from a
distance that a small fleet was approaching, came soaring up to
inquire who and what they were. Continually, all day long, other
craft, of every size and kind, passed them. Some were great liners,
carrying passengers, going swiftly to and fro like our greyhounds of
the Atlantic; some were private yachts; and others again war-craft,
alone, or in twos and threes. All, as they went by, ran up signals;
and when they learnt from the answering signals who the illustrious
travellers were, saluted in token of respect.
Their progress was leisurely, and there were many halts. There
were certain places where their coming was expected, and
preparations had been made to give them a brilliant reception.
Airships, splendidly decorated, came up to welcome them, and beg
them to descend to receive addresses.
Then it was that the strangers saw how much diversity it was
possible to introduce into the decoration of the various air-craft, and
how their outward appearance could be varied and altered according
to the taste and ingenuity of the owners. Every kind of bird was
imitated upon a large scale. There were gigantic swans, eagles,
swallows, and other birds such as are familiar to us upon Earth, and
a number of strange bird-forms which exist only on Mars. There
were grotesque creatures, too, representations of beasts and fish,
and uncanny-looking monsters, some of the latter resembling what
we know as dragons, griffins, wyverns, and so on.
At night there would be fêtes, when all these creatures were
lighted up in curious and ingenious fashion, revealing to the
astonished and delighted travellers most weird and marvellous
effects, as they performed intricate evolutions and manoeuvres in
the air in the dark. Then there were fireworks such as have probably
never been dreamed of by even our most skilful pyrotechnists.
Illuminated airships soared up into the heavens and formed brilliant
constellations of huge coloured stars, or rained down showers of
fire, like colossal, inverted, fiery fountains. Chariots of fire sailed to
and fro and engaged in races, contests, or in sham-fights upon a
grand scale. Fiery monsters, which left long, shining trails of light
behind them like the tails of comets, darted to and fro with a roar
which startled those who heard it for the first time. Luminous clouds
—red, yellow, blue, or green—formed mysteriously, and aeronauts
played hide-and-seek amongst them with their lighted cars,
vanishing suddenly into them and reappearing quite unexpectedly in
a different place.
Such were some—only a few—of the spectacles with which the
travellers from our Earth were entertained by the hospitable
inhabitants of the countries over which they passed in the course of
their journey to Sedenia. It would require too much space to
describe all the marvellous sights they gazed upon, the novelties
they met with, the quaint costumes, manners, and customs of the
various nations they encountered, or the numerous zoological
curiosities which were brought under their notice. Weeks were
occupied in this manner, and it may safely be said that each day
brought some fresh surprise, something which was new,
unexpected, or curiously interesting to the visitors.
Altogether, the two chums and their guardian had a memorable
journey—one to be remembered with delight and wonder for the
rest of their lives, one which was in every sense a truly royal
progress. Not the least interesting part of it consisted in the frank
curiosity displayed by the inhabitants in themselves as natives of
another world. Many showed great surprise at finding that they were
just human beings, very much the same as the Martians were,
neither more nor less.
'I suppose,' remarked Gerald, 'they expected that we should
turn out to be monsters like those which that philosopher of theirs,
whose book I was reading on the way here, declared us to be: "ape-
like creatures, with blue skins covered with green hair."'
But whatever the expectations of the Martians had been, they
soon demonstrated that they were well pleased with the reality, for
they overwhelmed the visitors with the most lavish hospitality, and
accorded them places of great honour at every public function.
One note there was, however, not exactly of discord, but a
jarring note—an undercurrent—of disappointment and
dissatisfaction, nevertheless. In every place at which they arrived,
one of the first questions addressed to Monck was: 'Have you
brought the diamonds?' or 'When are the diamonds to be offered for
sale?' These, or some similar inquiries concerning the great shipload
of gems which it was now known throughout the Martian world had
been brought by King Ivanta from the 'evening star,' met them at
every halting-place.
It was evident that the answer which Monck, as the king's
messenger, was compelled to make to these queries, caused
considerable surprise and disappointment. In certain extreme cases
they even threw a certain air of restraint into the exhibitions of
public rejoicings.
'What has been done with the diamonds, Mr Monck?' asked Jack
one day. 'What is going to be done with them? If they were brought
here to be offered for sale to those who could afford to buy them,
why are they kept back?'
'At present they are under lock and key—that is to say, they are
deposited in the strong room of the treasury in the city of Ivenia.'
'When are they going to be brought out again?'
'That is more than I can say, young sir. It is at present a secret
known only to my royal master.'
'It's no business of mine, sir,' Jack went on modestly, 'and
perhaps you will think I have no right to say anything; but I can't
help seeing that keeping them locked up is causing a great deal of
ill-feeling. I know that Mr Armeath thinks—and I feel sure that he is
right—that it is a pity they were ever brought here at all. But since
they have been brought, it does seem a bit funny that so much time
should be allowed to go by without any one being allowed even to
see them.'
'It is the king's will, and that is all I can tell you. I may just hint
to you privately, however, that I have an idea—it is only my own
guess, mind you—that the king wishes to defer taking any decided
step till after his return from his visit to Kondris—that is, to the
planet you know as Saturn.'
Jack whistled. 'Oh, oh!' he cried, nodding his head shrewdly. 'I
see! Then he is really bent on making that trip?'
'Undoubtedly. At least, I believe he is now completing the
necessary preparations.'
'Mr Zuanstroom—he won't like that, will he?'
'He will have to wait the king's pleasure.'
'I suppose he will; but he won't like it. And you will find he will
begin to kick if something isn't done soon. I have heard hints to that
effect. Silas let it out in an indiscreet moment.'
'My royal master has a way of doing what he chooses without
regard to the opinions of private individuals,' was Monck's answer;
and it was given in a tone which effectually closed the conversation.

CHAPTER XIX.
A DARING PLOT.
In due course the travellers reached the country of Sedenia. They
were met upon—or rather over—its borders by the ruler of the
realm, King Agrando. He was accompanied by his chief councillor,
Kazzaro—otherwise the Ogre—Gorondo his chief General, and his
principal officers of State. He also had with him a number of war-
airships of various sizes.
Under his conduct the travellers passed on to his capital, the
city of Dyrania, a rambling town of considerable size, built upon the
slopes of a high mountain and overlooking a large lake.
The visitors left their airships, and took up their abode for the
time being in suites of apartments assigned to them for their use in
the royal palace.
Here King Agrando dispensed his hospitality with a sort of semi-
barbaric dignity. To Gerald, in particular, as may be imagined, it
seemed a curious thing to find himself attending his Court as a
guest. It cannot be said that it was a pleasant experience, and he
entered into it with very mixed feelings.
So far as the outward conduct of his host went, however, he
had nothing to complain of. He had come there with Prince Alondra
and Monck, King Ivanta's special representative; and he, Mr
Armeath, and Jack, were treated upon that footing with the strictest
regard to everything that courtesy and etiquette required. At the
same time, try as he would, he could not feel exactly comfortable.
Every time he attended any function, and saw before him King
Agrando and his chief officers, there came back to him the memory
of that time when he had been brought before those same men as a
helpless prisoner, and treated with contumely and insult. His cheeks
would flush, and the hot blood rush through his veins even now, as
he recalled how Kazzaro had prodded and pommelled him as a
farmer might a bullock offered for sale, and remembered the sinister
and forbidding aspect of the whole crowd as they gazed upon him.
Still, so far as they were concerned, all this might have been a
mere dream. Nothing in their behaviour showed that they even
recollected it. The king, indeed, in a certain fashion of his own,
seemed to wish to convey to Gerald that he desired the whole
'regrettable incident' to be forgotten.
As King Agrando plays an important part in this history, some
further particulars concerning him may be given here.
His had been one of the last countries to be brought under the
sway of the all-powerful, all-conquering Ivanta. He now occupied a
semi-independent position, one somewhat similar to that of some of
the richest and most powerful of the native princes of India. In his
time he had himself been a great fighter and conqueror, having
invaded and conquered several adjoining countries. He had ruled
over these—and over his own subjects also—with an iron hand; and
at times, it was said, with tyrannical cruelty. There had been, indeed,
dark rumours afloat of terrible deeds carried out by him with the aid
of the band of councillors he kept about him, of whom Kazzaro was
the chief. If these tales were anywhere near the truth, then the title
of Ogre, which the chums had bestowed upon Kazzaro, might have
been quite as suitably given to his master.
But those days were past—or supposed to be past. Agrando was
now on his best behaviour. Ivanta had insisted that there should be
no more fighting or quarrelling with his neighbours, and no more
cruelty and oppression within his realm. Thus the tyrant's
'occupation was gone,' and he had little left to him to do save to
occupy himself and his select circle with such more or less harmless
amusements as the circumstances permitted.
For one thing, he had become a great collector of curios of all
kinds, animate and inanimate. That is to say, he had got together
the finest collection of curios and zoological and botanical specimens
of any upon the planet. Some of these had been contributed by
Ivanta—brought by him from distant planets, Earth and Saturn—who
possibly thought it good policy to encourage his restless vassal in so
blameless a hobby. Thus the gardens surrounding the palace formed
a sort of glorified Zoo and Kew Gardens rolled into one. His palace,
too, was filled to overflowing with the most remarkable works of art
that money could buy and the countries of his globe could produce.
The fame of his collections had spread throughout the world of
Mars, and people travelled immense distances and made long
pilgrimages to see them.
It is scarcely a matter for surprise that such a man should now
be bitten with a craze for diamonds, with a burning, overmastering
desire—which later on became a determination—to become the
possessor of the finest collection of jewels upon his planet.
Now, it so happened that while Agrando's desires in this
direction had been growing and growing until they had almost
reached the length of becoming a sort of madness, Ivanta's thoughts
had been working in an exactly opposite direction. By degrees he
had come to wish he had never troubled himself about precious
stones at all. Certainly, what he had done had been planned with the
best intentions; but his sagacious instinct now began to lean to the
idea that for once in his life he had made a great mistake. Therefore,
he was casting about for some plausible excuse for undoing what he
had travelled all the way to Earth specially to accomplish.
Already, during the voyage home to Mars, he had noted many
incidents which his keen insight into human nature had told him
were the little seeds likely to grow into a big crop of future trouble.
He had seen, with sorrow and alarm, that even his most trusted
councillors and dearest friends were beginning to give their chief
thought and attention to 'dividing up' the cargo of diamonds they
were carrying back. Already envy, covetousness, and greed were
raising their ugly heads where before all had been amiability and
goodwill. And if this were so even before the distribution took place,
what was likely to be the state of things afterwards?
This alteration in his views had been greatly strengthened by his
conversations with Armeath. That honest sage, also deeply
experienced in human nature, fearlessly expressed his own opinions
on the subject. He gave Ivanta endless illustrations and 'modern
instances' of the crimes and misery which a covetous greed for
precious stones might be expected to introduce into his world.
Ivanta—convinced, yet, as an honourable man, hampered by his
own promises and undertakings—gladly jumped at Armeath's
suggestion of making artificial stones in such quantities as to render
them as 'common as pieces of glass.' Then, as Armeath had argued
in his talk with Monck, nobody would bother himself to be the
possessor of any of the 'gems,' whether real or artificial. For none
could tell the former from the latter when manufactured by
Armeath's process.
The great difficulty now seemed to be to get a sufficient
quantity of the necessary mineral; and to do this Ivanta would have
to pay a visit to Saturn, that being the only place he knew of where
it could be obtained.
Meantime, Ivanta had decided to keep the cargo he had
brought locked up; and to postpone its distribution until his return
from his projected journey.
Unfortunately, however, the mischief had already been done;
the seeds of serious trouble had been sown, and were now growing
to a far larger extent than King Ivanta knew of.
King Agrando, in particular, was hatching a double plot, which, if
it succeeded, was not only to gratify his newly-born craze for a big
collection of jewels, but to restore him to his former position of
independent ruler. Even, perhaps—who could tell?—it might raise
him to the position now occupied by Ivanta himself!
Into this conspiracy Zuanstroom had entered. That, at first
sight, may appear a little strange; but the so-called Diamond King
had newly awakened ambitions of his own. He saw that, as the
owner of this great cargo of precious stones, he was in a position
which was absolutely unique in the world of Mars. Upon Earth he
had only been the Diamond King in a relative sense; here he was
actually entitled to that name. But why should he stop there? Why
should he not use his unique position to make himself a king in
actual fact? Upon Earth, even with the help of all his diamonds, he
could never aspire to such a height; but here it was different. Ivanta,
he knew, would never fall in with such an idea; but Agrando, if
approached in the right way, might—and he did.
The result of the conferences between the two plotters may be
summed up thus: Agrando had said, 'Let us use your diamonds to
depose Ivanta and put me in his shoes, and give me the biggest
share of the treasure; and I will then put you into a position similar
to that I now myself occupy. You shall be king over a large tract of
country, subject only to me as your overlord.'
And Zuanstroom's ambition and unscrupulous nature had
determined him to seal the compact and risk the consequences.
The visitors to Agrando found plenty to amuse and interest
them during their stay. The palace gardens alone were a never-
ending source of wonder and delight to the two chums. Rumour had
not exaggerated when it had spread reports of the marvels to be
seen there. The friends spent a good deal of their time exploring and
investigating—for the gardens were of very great extent—and every
day they came upon something fresh.
At the beginning, Monck had given them this curious warning:
'Kazzaro has asked me to put you on your guard,' said he. 'King
Agrando remembers the dangers which you, Gerald, so narrowly
escaped during our journey in the Ivenia; and he does not wish that
a similar unhappy occurrence should cast a reflection upon any of
his people here. So he has instructed Kazzaro to remind me that
there are many specimens and scientific curiosities in the gardens
which may be dangerous to strangers unacquainted with their
characteristics—not merely among the animals, and reptiles, and so
on, he says, but even amongst the trees and plants. For King
Agrando has devoted an immense amount of money and trouble to
collecting and cultivating specimens of most out-of-the-way kinds,
some of them with qualities never known or heard of before. Apart
from this consideration, you have the king's permission to go about
freely wherever you choose!'
 Later on, Gerald asked Jack his private opinion of this warning.
'What does it mean?' he asked doubtfully. 'Is it genuine, do you
think, or does it conceal some crafty trick?'
'Sounds straightforward enough!' Jack declared. 'Where can the
trick come in?'
'I don't know,' Gerald mused. 'I have no right, perhaps, to
suspect any trickery; yet, somehow, I don't trust the Ogre!'
'No more do I, for that matter! We'll keep our eyes open!' said
Jack.
A few days later, Alondra, wandering alone in the gardens, one
morning, came upon an immense round glass-house, the door of
which, he noticed, was standing open for the first time. He had
paused at the place two or three times before; but the door had
always been shut and locked. Moreover, there was a label upon it,
which read: 'Private. Contents Dangerous.'
Naturally, such a placard had aroused his curiosity, and he had
made attempts to see what was inside; but everywhere the glass
was screened off within, and he could discover nothing. Here, this
morning, was an opportunity to see for himself what the mysterious
'contents' were. He had his trident with him—he had carried it every
day in consequence of the warning that had been given—so what
had he to fear?
He passed through the open door, and came to a second door
at one side. Opening this, he made his way amongst a lot of thick
shrubs, and came out in an open space paved with white marble. In
the centre was a large marble pool, with steps leading down into it.
In the pool a fountain was playing; the whole looking very cool and
inviting. It had the appearance of a plunge-bath; and seemed to
tempt the stranger to take a dive into its bubbling waters.
Alondra looked round. Nothing was to be seen on any side but
flowering shrubs, the scent of which filled the air. But the most
beautiful blooms of all, he noticed, were some large white lilies
growing amongst clusters of immense leaves in the pool.
Surprised and fascinated at the extreme beauty of these
blooms, the like of which he had never seen before, he walked down
the steps as far as the edge of the water, and put his hand amongst
the green leaves to pluck a flower. Immediately the leaf curled over
upon his hand, and to his astonishment and dismay he found he
could not withdraw it! Not only that, but the leaf was exercising a
distinct pulling power; it was steadily dragging him towards the
water! Then he put the other hand down to try to free the first one,
when another leaf curled round it, and he found himself held as
though his hands had been tied together with a strong rope. He
struggled hard, but he could not cast off that deadly grip; and, little
by little, the horrible leaves dragged him forward until he was forced
into the pool. Other leaves then began to curl round his body, and
forced him down, down, step by step, until the water encircled his
neck!

CHAPTER XX.
THE DEATH POOL.
It was well for Alondra that Gerald and Jack happened to be walking
in the gardens that particular morning. They had, in fact, strolled out
to look for him, and Providence must have led them into the
neighbourhood of the large glass-house just at the critical moment.
They also noticed—as he had done—that the outer door was
standing open; and they were reading the warning notice with great
curiosity, and considering whether, in despite of it, they should
venture on a peep inside, when a terrible cry rang out from within, a
cry as of some one in urgent need of help.
'It's Alondra's voice!' exclaimed Gerald. 'He's inside there, and
must be in some trouble! Come on, Jack!'
The two pushed open the inner door and rushed along the
pathway amongst the shrubs.
A moment later they came in sight of the pool with the fountain
playing in the middle; and there they saw Alondra—or, rather, his
head, for that was all there was above the water—with a look of
terrible, deadly horror upon his face.
'Help me quickly!' he gasped. 'Some awful thing is clinging
round me and is dragging me down! Your knives! Get out your
knives! But be careful, or you may get drawn in yourselves—both of
you!'
The two friends acted upon the hints thus given; and, drawing
their knives and joining hands, Gerald went boldly down the steps
and seized hold of the young prince just as he was being drawn
completely under the water.
The task of setting him free, however, proved a tougher one
than they had expected. The clinging leaves, as though directed by
some dreadful, sinister intelligence, closed upon Gerald's extended
arm, and, exercising a strength and tenacity which had about it
something almost superhuman, endeavoured to drag him in too.
A terrible struggle for dear life ensued between the three, on
the one side, and the horrible, silent power which they had to fight
against, on the other.
Gerald managed to free one of Alondra's arms, and gave him his
own knife, taking Jack's in place of it. The two then hacked and
slashed at the slimy, slippery, but wonderfully tough leaves. As fast
as they cut themselves free from some, others laid hold of them;
and it seemed at one time as though all three would be dragged
bodily into the water.
Just then Jack caught sight of a coil of strong rope lying upon
the floor in a corner, and he made a dart and possessed himself of it.
In a trice he had passed one end to Gerald, and secured the other
round one of the columns supporting the roof.
Gerald, in his turn, managed to slip the end round Alondra and
pass it back to Jack, who caught hold of it, and, standing himself on
the steps out of reach, hauled with all his might. This enabled the
two who were struggling in the water—for by this time Gerald had
also been drawn in—to use both hands. Little by little, step by step,
they struggled backwards, until at last they reached the water's
edge and were free.
Panting and exhausted, the three sat down on a low marble
balustrade, and looked first at the pool, then at one another. Then
they stared once more at the treacherous pool, where all now was
silent and still, save for the bubbling and splashing of the water as it
fell from the fountain.
 'Jupiter!' cried Jack at last. 'Of all the awful death-traps I ever
saw or heard of, commend me to this! A horrible death pool! But
what in the name of all that is fiendish is that awful plant?'
'It's some kind of cannibal plant, I suppose,' said Gerald.
'Yes, that is right,' Alondra agreed. 'I have heard there are such
plants on our globe in some remote corners, but I have never seen
one before.'
'What does anybody want to keep such a monstrous, uncanny
affair for?' queried Jack indignantly.
'I never heard that they grew to such a size,' Alondra added.
'This must have been growing here many years to become so large,
I should say.'
'A nice sort of pet to cultivate and pamper!' Jack grumbled.
'What do they feed it on, I wonder? Such a thing ought not to be
allowed! It's a public danger!'
'There's a warning on the door,' Gerald reminded him. 'After all,
it's our own fault, I 'm afraid people will say, for coming here.'
'My fault, you mean—for I was the one who yielded first to
curiosity, and so drew you here,' Alondra confessed.
'Oh, we should have come in on our own, you may be pretty
sure of that,' Jack declared. 'We were just discussing the point when
we heard you call out.'
'It's a very beautiful flower,' Gerald observed, looking attentively
at the large, handsome blossoms, 'and the scent is delicious. Who
would imagine that anything so lovely to look at could be so
treacherous—so deadly?'
He walked cautiously up near to it to get a clear view, and Jack
followed him—partly, as it seemed, to satisfy his own curiosity, and
partly to see that his chum did not become too venturesome and get
unwittingly caught again.
Meantime, Alondra was evidently thinking deeply. He began to
look and search about, first in this direction, then in that. Presently
the others noticed his proceedings, and, leaving the side of the pool,
went across and asked him what he was doing.
'Before I tell you,' was the reply, 'you must promise that you will
say nothing to any one else. If what I am thinking of was mere
fancy, I don't wish to be laughed at; and if it turns out that it was
not fancy—well, then I still wish that nothing should be said about it
just now. Do you understand?'
The two friends readily gave the required promise. 'Well, then,
what is troubling me is this: Just as I called out—when I was
struggling up to my neck in the water—when, as it seemed to me, I
was at my last gasp, and all hope had gone—I saw, or imagined I
saw, some one peering at me from among those thick bushes!'
'My stars! That sounds funny!' was Jack's comment. 'D'you
mean to say that there was some one in here, some one so cold-
blooded as to stand by and look on at you, and never offer to help?'
'That is my—er—impression; but'——
'Who was it, then? Anybody you know?'
Alondra hesitated. Then he said slowly, 'I cannot say. I could
hardly see more than the eyes, if I saw any one. But, understand
me, I cannot declare positively that I saw any one at all. I was in
such a state of horror that I may have imagined it. I was ready to
imagine anything.'
Jack looked at him attentively.
 'I don't think you are one to lose your wits to that extent, my
friend,' he declared, shaking his head, 'though I admit it would be no
discredit to you if you did. I can't imagine a more frightful
predicament, or one better calculated to try the nerves of the
bravest man.'
'Let's all set to work and have a good hunt round,' suggested
Gerald. 'If any one was here, he must be somewhere in hiding now,
unless there is another way out. If there is, let's find it!'
They searched the place in all directions, but for some time
could find nothing to reward their trouble. They could see no trace
of any person other than themselves having been there.
They were about to give it up and go away, when Jack suddenly
uttered a cry. 'See! What is that on the floor!' he exclaimed. 'Ah, I
thought so! A diamond—a small diamond!' He exhibited upon the
open palm of his hand a little sparkling stone. While his companions
were busy looking at it, he went on to examine attentively a number
of slabs of carved marble which stood up from the floor some four or
five feet, forming a many-sided enclosure. They made a ring, as it
were, fifteen feet in diameter or thereabouts, and upon each slab
were figures or scenes carved in bas-relief.
It was not unlike a huge, many-sided flower-pot; and it
appeared to be intended for a similar purpose; for the space it
enclosed was filled with mould up to the level of the top of the slabs,
and this again was thickly planted with large shrubs.
Jack walked all round this affair, peering keenly into the dense
leafy screen. It was so thick that nothing could be seen of what was
in the middle. Then he returned to the starting-point—that opposite
to the place where he had picked up the diamond. He caught hold of
the branches and pulled them apart. Then he uttered a low whistle.
'Come and look at this!' he cried.
The other two ran up to the place and peered in. There, upon
the loose mould, could be seen a footprint, and a little beyond it
another.
Jack pointed to one of the bas-relief figures on the slab. It was
in a kneeling position, and the head formed a convenient step to any
one wishing to mount to the top of the slab. 'Do you see?' he cried.
'This has been used as a step! You place a foot on it—thus, take
hold of these branches—so, pull them apart—so, and you can spring
up and through quite easily. Then the branches close up after you
and hide all trace. But the last one who passed this way was in a
great hurry. He was in such haste to get through that he snapped off
a twig—here it is—and another twig caught against his breast, and
tore off a little diamond, and cast it on to the floor where I found it.'
While talking, Jack had suited actions to words, and shown, by
practical illustration, how easily what he had suggested might
happen.
'Where, then, is that person now, do you suppose?' asked
Gerald, in a low tone. 'Hiding in the middle of those bushes?'
Jack shook his head. 'I should say not,' he replied. 'I should say
there must be a secret passage leading to this curious place, and
that those bushes conceal the entrance to it. However, that's a
question we'll soon put to the test. I 'm going in to see what's in the
middle. You fellows come after me!'

CHAPTER XXI.
 A SECRET TREASURE-HOUSE.

Jack's theory proved to be well founded. In the middle of the clump

of bushes they discovered a portion of an old tree-trunk. It was
about three feet high by, perhaps, four feet in diameter. A glance
over the side showed that it was hollow, and that inside it there
were some steps leading downwards.
Jack pointed to them in quiet triumph. 'Are you going to explore
farther?' he asked Alondra, in a low tone scarcely above a whisper.
'Because, if you are, I should suggest that we go very quietly.'
'Yes; I 'm going to find out what it all means,' said Alondra
firmly.
'What about arms?' queried Jack dubiously.
'I have my trident, or I had,' Alondra answered. 'I must have left
it somewhere about on the floor.'
Jack went back to look for it, and Alondra followed; but it was
nowhere to be seen.
'It has disappeared!' exclaimed Alondra, bewildered. 'What can
have become of it? I remember putting it down when I went,
towards the pool to pick one of those terrible flowers. Are you sure
you have not picked it up, either of you?'
'What should we do with it—put it in one of our pockets?'
laughed Jack. 'No; this is one more proof that what you saw was
reality and not a vision of your fanciful brain. Some one was here—
some one who coolly looked on while you were struggling for your
life in the grasp of the dreadful floral monster beside yonder pretty-
looking fountain. Some one who wears diamonds on his breast, and
was in too great a hurry to notice that the bushes had scratched one
off in passing. Some one, finally, who has walked off with your
trident.'
'True. But why did he take that?'
'It seems to me that the reason is not difficult to guess at. It
tells a little tale to me by itself. He considered that you were as good
as dead, and would have no further use for your trident. So, as it is
a very beautifully ornamented one, he thought he might as well
have it.'
'I 'm afraid you must be right!' Alondra rejoined, with a slight
shiver. 'Yet, I don't understand it! However, let us see what we can
find out. As to arms, who would dare to lay a hand openly on me?'
As Alondra asked this last question he drew himself up proudly,
and his eyes flashed.
'It's not for me to say,' Jack remarked, with a philosophical air.
'Gerald and I have our own arms—what we call revolvers when we
are at home. They're not like yours, though. They hurt if they are
used properly, as you know.'
The two went back to where they had left Gerald, and a little
later they were all three creeping noiselessly down the steps inside
the hollow tree-trunk. At the bottom they found themselves in
another passage, which they calculated must run under the floor of
the glass-house, and then under the garden. It was in darkness,
save for a little glimmer which came down the steps they had
descended.
'Now, I wonder where this goes to?' muttered Jack. 'It doesn't
seem to me to lead to the palace. I fancy it runs in the opposite
direction.'