“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.”