They were now all garbed in a quaint kind of costume, the chief points of which consisted of a high hat and a loose cloak, which hid the clothes they were still wearing underneath. It was one of the dresses worn by the attendants of the palace, so Malto briefly explained, while peering out through a grating in the door to see what was going on in the place they had just left.
As he had expected would be the case, the noise of the revolver shots had brought some people upon the scene. He could see a group gathered near the cage, staring at the dead monster, while others were moving about in search of a clue to the mystery of how it had come by its death.
'They will be in here directly,' Malto said in a low tone, after a brief inspection. 'We had better be off!--Do you think you can walk, Malandris?'
'Ay, ay, and run too, if needs be,' returned the rescued man briskly. 'I am all right now. I owe you my life'----
'Never mind that now. This is no time for talk,' Malto interrupted. 'Just take a last look round, to make sure we have left nothing to tell that we have been here, and follow me!'
He unlocked a door on one side, and they passed out in silence into a passage, which was almost in darkness. A little farther on there were several flights of steps, and, having ascended these, they came out, after some careful reconnoitring through another door, into the open air in a spacious courtyard.
Malto locked the door behind him, and, enjoining caution upon his companions, led the way to a large gateway which they could see in front of them.
'If any one addresses you, say nothing, but leave it to me,' he said to Alondra and his friends. 'Your speech would betray you at once.'
As they drew near the gates they were pushed open, and a number of men in the purple dresses they had seen inside marched in, with soldierly bearing and military precision.
One, who seemed to be an officer, stopped and spoke to Malto; and again Alondra heard the strange tongue which he had noted before.
Malto remained a short time in talk, while his companions walked on with as good an imitation of carelessness as they could summon up on the spur of the moment.
When Malto came up with them he was smiling quietly to himself.