They now set off at a run, after discarding their disguises, and at first it seemed as though there would be no difficulty in reaching the tower well ahead of their pursuers. Indeed, the latter seemed, at one time, to have almost given up the chase; for only a few were to be seen coming towards them; the rest had halted.
A few moments later, however, the cause of the delay became clear. Suddenly a man rose in the air on motor-wings and began to sail rapidly towards them. He was armed with a trident. Convinced that he would easily effect the capture of the fugitives, who had, as could be seen, neither shields nor tridents, the remainder of the crowd followed quietly in the rear. They would be in plenty of time, they reckoned, to pick up the unconscious bodies when the man with the trident had dealt with them.
Malto muttered something between his set teeth.
'I 'm afraid it is no use,' said Malandris despondently, as he ran along beside the others. 'He is bound to overtake us, and we are all unarmed.'
'Not quite,' Jack answered. 'If they think we are, so much the better; it may give us a chance to get on equal terms with that flying chap. His trident is no good at more than twenty yards. We have something here which reaches farther than that.'
He and Gerald had drawn their revolvers, and were looking to the hammers as they raced onwards, to make quite sure that they were in working order. Everything would depend upon making good practice with their first shots.
'You aim at one wing, Gerald,' said Jack; 'I will aim at the fellow's arm which carries the trident. Take it easy! Don't run too fast; it will make your hand shake.'
They continued on their way for some distance farther. The pavilion was now not far off; so also, unfortunately, was the flying man with his trident.
Jack gave a sign to Gerald, and they both turned and faced him. Alondra stopped too; and the others, although they did not exactly understand what was likely to happen, immediately halted, because they would not leave the three to their fate.
As it happened, this was the best thing they could have done. The flying man interpreted their action as an abject surrender. He slackened speed and came on carelessly.