"What seems to be the trouble, Dick? Have you another hunch, or are you just rattled?" asked Crane.
"Rattled, I guess, but I sure do want to get going," he replied, as he worked the lever rapidly.
"Dottie," he sent out, and, the call being answered, "How long will you be? We're all ready and waiting, chewing our finger-nails with impatience."
"We'll soon be ready. The Karfedix is coming for us now."
Scarcely had the tiny sounder become silent when the air was shaken by an urgently-vibrated message, and every wireless sounder gave warning.
CHAPTER XVIII
The Invasion
The pulsating air and the chattering sounders were giving the same dire warning, the alarm extraordinary of invasion, of imminent and catastrophic danger from the air.
"Don't try to reach the palace. Everyone on the ground will have time enough to hide in the deep, arenak-protected pits beneath the buildings, and you would be killed by the invaders long before you could reach the palace. If we can repel the enemy and keep them from landing, the women will be perfectly safe, even though the whole city is destroyed. If they effect a landing we are lost."