'I expect just now all his airships are busy fighting my friends,' said Alondra. 'They will attend to us presently, I suppose, if the people here don't succeed.'
'Well, we will make a fight of it, anyway!' cried Malto sturdily. 'I believe we may find the means down below, if you can keep them at bay for a little time while we search'——
'We can manage that, I think,' Jack answered him. 'Do you go below and see what you can find to help us.'
Again there came a blustering gust of the fast-rising wind. Then there was a blinding flash, followed by a deafening crash of thunder which shook the whole building to its foundations.
CHAPTER XXVII.
A DESPERATE VENTURE.
Malto and Malandris disappeared down a stairway; and Alondra and the two chums strolled on to the outside gallery to watch their foes.
The wind was now very high, and the darkening sky grew blacker every minute. The swirling gusts whistled and shrieked amongst the outer metal framework, and moaned dismally through the windows and doors.
On each floor of the pavilion there was one of these galleries which ran the whole way round on the outside, being partitioned off from the interior by glass windows only. Hence there was almost as good a view from the inside as from without; except that one could not look over and see what was going on immediately beneath.
'The storm seems likely to be a bit of luck for us,' Jack observed, as he watched the preparations which were going on below. 'They don't seem to find it to their liking.'