CHAPTER XXVI

A FRIEND INDEED

THOUGH the giants, man for man, were no match for the travelers, collectively the horde proved too much. They had swarmed about the ship, and, by pa.s.sing the big cables over her, effectively held her down.

"Let me get out and I'll cut 'em!" cried Andy. "We must get away from these savages!"

"No, no, don't go out!" exclaimed the professor. "They would eventually kill you, though you might fight them off for a time. We must wait and see what develops. They can have no object in harming us, as we have not injured them."

"I'd rather fight 'em," insisted the old hunter.

But the professor had his way and Andy was forced to obey. The giants had withdrawn their big feet from the side door and Washington had closed it. But nothing else had been accomplished, and the ship could not rise. The gas and negative gravity machines were stopped, as they were only under a useless strain.

Suddenly, the colored lights which had been growing dimmer and dimmer, with the approach of night, went out altogether. Almost as suddenly, Mark, who was watching the giants from the conning tower, as they made fast the loose ends of the cables, saw them make a dash for the mound houses.

"They're afraid of the dark!" he cried. "Come on! We can go out now and loosen the ropes!"

He hurried to tell the professor what he had noticed.

"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Henderson. "Perhaps we can escape now!"

They waited a few minutes, listening to the sound of many big feet running away from the ship, and then, Bill cautiously opened the side door. The others were behind him, waiting, with knives and hatchets in their hands, to rush out and cut the restraining cables.

"All ready!" called Bill. "There doesn't seem to be a one in sight!"

He stepped out but no sooner had he set foot on the ground than there came a thud, and Bill went down as if some one had knocked his feet from under him.

"Go back! Go back!" he cried. "They hit me with something. I'm being smothered!"

"Bring a light!" cried the professor, for the sally had been started in the dark.

Jack brought the portable electric it having been repaired and flashed it out of the door. In the gleam of it, Bill was seen lying prostrate, half covered by an orange, about half as big as himself. The fruit was as soft and mushy as some of the giants themselves, or Bill would not have fared so easily.

Then, as the others stood watching, and while Bill arose and wiped some of the juice from his face, there came a regular shower of the monstrous oranges.

"Get inside quick! We'll be smothered under them!" Mr. Henderson cried.

Pausing only to rescue Bill, the adventurers retreated inside the ship, and made fast the door. Outside they could hear the thud as the oranges were thrown, some hitting the Flying Mermaid and many dropping all about her.

"I guess they are going to have things their own way," observed Bill, as he gazed down on his clothes, which were covered with juice from the fruit.

The night was one of anxiety. The travelers took turns standing guard, but nothing more occurred. The giants remained in their houses, and the heavy ropes still held the ship fast.

"We must hold a council of war," the professor decided as they gathered at breakfast, which was far from a cheerful meal.

With the return of the colored lights the giants again made their appearance. They came swarming from the mound houses, and a great crowd they proved to be. Several thousand at least, Jack estimated, and when he went up into the conning tower and took a survey he could see the strange and terrible creatures pouring in from the surrounding country.

"I'm afraid there will be trouble," he said, as he came down and reported what he had seen.

"We must hold a council of war," repeated the professor. "Has any one anything to suggest?"

"Get a lot of powder and blow 'em up!" cried Andy.

"Arrange electric wires and shock 'em to death!" was Bill's plan.

"Can't we slip the ropes in some way and escape?" asked Jack. "I don't believe we can successfully fight the giants. They are too many, even if they are weak, individually."

"I think you're right there," Mr. Henderson said. "We must try some sort of strategy, but what? That is the question."

For a few minutes no one spoke. They were all thinking deeply, for their lives might hang in the balance.

"I think I have a plan," said Mark, at length. "Did we bring any diving suits with us?"

"There may be one or two," the professor replied. "But what good will they do?"

"Two of us could put them on," continued Mark, "and, as they afford good protection from any missiles like fruit, we could crawl out on the deck of the ship. From there, armed with hatchets or knives we could cut the ropes. Then the ship could rise."

"That's a good plan!" cried the scientist. "We'll try it at once."

Search revealed that two diving suits were among the stores of the Mermaid. Jack and Mark wanted to be the ones to don them, but as the suits were rather large, and as the professor thought it would take more strength than the boys had to do the work, it was decided that Andy and Washington should make the attempt to cut the ropes.

The hunter and colored man lost little time in getting into the modern armor. In the meanwhile Jack, who had been posted as a lookout, reported that there seemed to be some activity among the giants. They were running here and there, and some seemed to be going off toward the woods, that were not far away.

"Now work quickly," urged the professor. "We will be on the watch, and as soon as the last rope is cut we will start the machinery and send the ship up. We will not wait for you to come back inside, so hold fast as best you can when the Mermaid rises."

"We will," answered Andy, just before the big copper helmet was fastened on his head, and Washington nodded to show he understood.

The two who were to attempt the rescue of their comrades were soon on deck. In the conning tower Jack and the professor kept anxious watch, while Mark, Bill and Tom were at the various machines, ready, at the signal, to start the engines.

The giants had now become so interested in whatever plan they had afoot, that they paid little attention to the ship. Consequently Washington and Andy, crawling along the deck in their diving suits, did not, at first attract any attention.

In fact they had cut several of the big ropes, and it began to look as if the plan would succeed, particularly as they were partly hidden from view by the upper gas holder. They were working with feverish haste, sawing away at the big cables with keen knives.

"I guess we'll beat 'em yet!" cried Jack.

"I hope so," replied the professor. "It looks----"

He stopped short, for at that moment a cry arose from the midst of the giants, and one of them pointed toward the ship. An instant later the air was darkened with a flight of big oranges, which the queer creatures seemed to favor as missiles. Probably they found stones too heavy.

"Well, those things can't hurt 'em much with those heavy suits on,"

observed Mr. Henderson. "There, Washington got one right on the head that time, and it didn't bother him a bit."

Jack had seen the fruit strike the big copper helmet and observed that the colored man only moved his head slightly in order to get rid of the orange.

In fact the giants, seeing for themselves that this mode of warfare was not going to answer, since the two men on the ship continued to cut the restraining cables, gave it up. There was a good deal of shouting among them, and a number ran here and there, seemingly gathering up long poles.

"I wonder if they are going to try the flailing method, and beat poor Andy and Washington," said Mr. Henderson. "It looks so."