When they saw Jack they sprang to their feet in the greatest amazement! They stared as if they could not believe their eyes. They felt they must be dreaming.
“Jack! Jack! Is it really you?” asked Mrs. Arnold at last. “Where are the others — Mike, Peggy and Nora?”
Mike, Peggy and Nora were Mrs. Arnold’s own children, though she counted Jack as hers too, because he had once helped the others when they were in great trouble. Jack stared at Captain and Mrs. Arnold in joy. He flung his arms round Mrs. Arnold, for he was very fond of her.
“There isn’t time to talk,” said Captain Arnold quickly. “Jack has opened our prison door. We’d better get out whilst we have the chance! Follow me. I know where we can go and talk in safety.”
He led the way out of the room, taking with him some flat cakes and a pitcher of water. He stopped to fasten the bolts behind him, so that anyone coming that way would not notice anything unusual. Then, instead of going down the rope ladder, Captain Arnold took a little dark passage to the right that led steeply upwards. Before very long, much to the two boy’s amazement, they came into a vivid patch of sunlight!
“There are sun-windows cut into the steep sides of this mountain here and there,” said Captain Arnold. “The Folk of the Mountain use them for sun-bathing. It is impossible to escape through them because the mountain falls away below them, and anyone squeezing out of a sun-window would roll to the bottom at once! We are safe here. Sometimes my wife and I have been taken here to get a bit of sun, and no one ever comes by.”
“Tell us everything, Jack,” begged Mrs. Arnold. “Quick — what about the others?”
Jack and Mafumu were very glad indeed to curl up in the warm sunshine and feel the light and warmth of the sun once more. They munched the cakes and drank the water whilst Jack quickly told his whole story. Captain and Mrs. Arnold listened in the greatest astonishment.
“Well, you have had amazing adventures before — but, really, this is the most extraordinary one you children have yet had!” said Captain Arnold. “And now, let me tell you our adventures!”
He told them how he had been forced down to mend something that had gone wrong with the White Swallow. Whilst he was mending it, the Folk of the Mountain had come silently up and captured them. They had been taken off to the secret mountain, and had been kept prisoners ever since.
“We don’t exactly know why,” said Captain Arnold. “But I’m afraid that the Folk of the Mountain don’t mean us any good! They are worshippers of the sun, and I believe they have a great temple-yard up on the top of this mountain where they make sacrifices to the sun. I only hope they don’t mean to throw us over the mountain-top to please the sun-god, or something like that!”
“Good gracious!” said Jack, going pale. He had read in history books of ancient tribes who had worshipped strange gods and made sacrifices to them. He had never dreamed it could happen today. “What about the others? Will the Mountain Folk do that sort of thing to them too?”
“Well, we must see that they don’t,” said Captain Arnold. “The others are in the mountain somewhere — and we must find them! Have you finished your cakes, Jack? Well, we will leave this warm sun-trap now and explore a little. I don’t expect anyone will find out that we are gone until the morning, as our guards had already brought us our food for the day. We have a good many hours to hunt for the others!”
At first Mafumu was very shy of the two strange people, but when he saw how Jack chattered to them he soon began grinning and showing his white teeth.
“Me Mafumu,” he said. “Me Mafumu. Me Jack’s friend!”
“Well, come on, Mafumu. You must keep with us,” said Captain Arnold. “Follow me along this passage, and we’ll see where it leads us to!”
On The Top Of The Mountain
Meanwhile, what had happened to the others? They had slept restlessly in their underground room, with the lamp burning beside them. They only knew when morning came because their watches told them that it was six o’clock.
“I’m hungry,” said Mike, yawning. “I hope they give their prisoners plenty to eat in this Secret Mountain!”
No sooner had he spoken than the door was unbolted and two red-haired men came in, the folds of their brightly coloured robes swishing all around them. They carried fresh water and some more of the flat cakes in a big dish. They also brought fruit of all kinds, which the children were delighted to see.
“I do wonder what has happened to Jack and Mafumu,” said Mike. “What will they do, do you think, Ranni?”
“I can’t imagine,” said Ranni, taking some of the fruit. He and Pilescu were far more worried than they would tell the children. They hated the sight of the queer red-haired folk — though both Ranni and Pilescu looked curiously like them sometimes, with their bright red hair and beards. But their eyes were not green, nor was their skin yellow.
Towards the end of the long and boring day, the door was flung open, and one of their guards beckoned the little company out. They followed their guide down long, winding passages, cut out of the mountain rock itself, and at last came to a great door that shone green and blue in the light of the swinging lamps above.
The door slid to one side as they came near it, and behind it the children saw a great flight of steps going up and up. The steps shone with a strange golden colour, and shimmered from orange to yellow as the little company began to climb them.
At every two-hundredth step the stairway, still wide and golden, curved round, and ascended again. The children were soon tired of the endless climb. They sat down to rest.
Behind them came a company of the Folk of the Mountain, chanting a strange and doleful song. Nobody liked it at all. It was horrid.
Many times the company sat down to rest. Ranni and Pilescu felt sure that the stairway led to the summit of the mountain. It was a marvellous piece of work, that stairway, beautiful all the way. Here and there, set at the sides, were glittering lamps in the shape of a rayed sun. These were so bright that the children could hardly bear to look at them.
“I think we must be going to the very top of the mountain,” said Ranni. “It’s soon sunset — and sunworshippers usually pray to the sun at sunrise or sunset. We shall probably see them at their worship!”
Ranni was right — but he did not guess what an extraordinary place the summit of the mountain was!
Panting and tired, the little party climbed the last of the flight of steps. They came out through a great golden door into a vast corridor, with tall yellow pillars built in two rows.
“Goodness!” said Mike, stopping in amazement. “What a view!”
That was the first thing that struck everyone. The view from the top of the Secret Mountain was simply magnificent. All around rose other mountains, some high, some lower, and in and beyond stretched the green valleys, some with a blue river winding along. It took the children’s breath away, and made them feel very small indeed to look on those great mountains.
After they had feasted their eyes on the glorious scenery all around them, they turned to see what the summit of the Secret Mountain was like. It was very strange. For one thing, it had been levelled till it was completely flat. There was an enormous wide space in the centre, floored with some kind of yellow stone that shone yellow and orange like the flight of steps up which they had come. Around this wide space, on three sides, were long pillared corridors — and on the fourth side was a great temple-like building, overlooking the steepness of the eastern side of the mountain.
The children, with Ranni and Pilescu, were taken to the great temple. The wind was very rough and cold on the top of the mountain and everyone shivered. A red-haired man came up and flung shimmering cloaks around their shoulders. These were lined with some kind of wool, and were very warm indeed.
Everyone was taken to the top of the temple, where a tall, rounded tower jutted. From this tower they could see the setting sun, falling over the rim of the western sky. As the sun disappeared, the Folk of the Secret Mountain fell on to their knees and chanted a weird song.
“A sort of prayer to the sun, I suppose,” said Ranni grimly. He spoke to Pilescu in his own language. “I don’t much like this, do you, Pilescu?”
Prince Paul pricked up his ears. “Why don’t you like it, Ranni?” he asked. Ranni would not tell him. All of them watched the sun. It disappeared suddenly over the edge of the world. At once the countryside was plunged into darkness, the valley and mountains disappeared from sight, and only the shimmering of the golden floor lighted the summit of the queer mountain.
A tall, red-haired man went into the centre of the shining courtyard, and spoke loudly and violently. Ranni listened and tried to understand as much as he could.
“What is he saying?” asked Mike.
“As far as I can make out he is asking the sun to stay away and let the rain come,” said Ranni. “It seems that the rain is very much overdue, and these people are praying to the sun to dress himself in the thick clouds that will bring the rain they want. I expect they have crops somewhere on the mountain-side and are in danger of losing them if the rains don’t come!”
That night the little party slept on rugs in the cold, wind-swept temple. They were all alone on the mountaintop, for their guards disappeared behind the yellow sliding door, slid it back into place again and fastened it with great long bolts. Ranni and Pilescu explored the temple, the courtyards and the corridor by the light of a torch — but there was no other door down into the mountain save the big shining one. It was as impossible to leave the top of the mountain as it had been to leave their underground room the night before.
How everyone wondered where Jack and Mafumu were, and if Captain and Mrs. Arnold were anywhere near! They did not know that the four were together! When they had left the sun-trap, they had taken the passage that led inwards, and walking as quietly as they could, had come across a queer collection of store-rooms. No one was there, so they had explored them thoroughly.
In one store-room, cut out of the solid rock, were dyes and paints of all kinds. Captain Arnold examined them closely. “Look,” he said, “this explains the red hair of the Folk of the Mountain. This is a very strong red dye, and these people use it for their hair, to scare any strangers they meet. And see — this is the curious yellow pigment they use for their skins!”
Everyone looked at the flat pots he was holding. They were full of the yellow ointment that the Secret Mountain Folk used on their skin! No wonder the Folk looked so very queer! They dyed their hair and painted their skin yellow!
When Jack knew this he no longer felt afraid of the curious appearance of the mountain people. Golly! If it was only paint and grease there was nothing strange to be afraid of! He took one of the flat pots of yellow grease and put it into his pocket. “It will be interesting to take home!” he said cheerfully.
“If we ever do get home,” thought Captain Arnold to himself. They left the store-rooms and went on down a curving passage that had a very high roof. Soon they heard a noise — and they came to the banks of the underground river, which swirled along through the mountain, black and swift. It was strange to see it there, running through an enormous cave.
“We shall get lost in this mountain if we are not careful,” said Captain Arnold, stopping and looking round. “I wonder if we are getting anywhere near where this river rushed out of the mountainside, Jack.”
Jack asked Mafumu, and the boy shook his head. “Long, long, long way,” he said mournfully. “Mafumu not know way.”
The party of four went across the cave and left the swirling river behind. They were not sure that it was the same one that made the waterfall. Captain Arnold felt certain that the mountain held two or three rivers, that all joined to make one. It was no use to follow the one they had just left.
Soon they came to a curious door, quite round and studded with a strange pattern of suns. Behind it they heard voices! “What are they saying, Mafumu?” whispered Jack.
Mafumu pressed himself as close to the door as he dared. His sharp ears picked up the voices — and as he listened Mafumu grew pale under his dark skin! He crept back to the others.
“They say that the sun-god is angry,” whispered Mafumu. “They say that he is burning up the mountains because he has no servant. He needs a servant before he will hide his head in the great clouds and bring rain. And it is from one of us that he asks for a servant!”
Mafumu spoke partly in his own language and partly in Jack’s. The other boy understood him and told Captain and Mrs. Arnold what he had said. The Captain was silent for a long time.
“It is what I feared,” he said. “One of us will be thrown down the mountain-side to lessen the anger of their sun-god! We must try to reach Mike, Peggy, Nora and the others at all costs, as soon as we can. We must warn them!”
A Strange Journey — And A Surprise
As Captain Arnold was speaking the round door was flung open, and a tall, red-bearded man came out. It was dark in the passage, and he did not see the little company pressed against the wall. He was about to step out into the passage when there came the sound of running feet — and someone with flowing robes rushed up from the opposite direction.
There was a sharp talk, and then an excited shouting and calling. Mafumu pressed himself against Captain Arnold and whispered in his ear.
“We run quick, quick!”
Captain Arnold knew at once that their escape had been discovered, and that they must get away from there quickly. But where were they to go?
“Back to the river!” he whispered to Mrs. Arnold, and the four of them made their way silently and swiftly down the passages to the dark river. Behind them they felt sure they heard the sound of voices and footsteps.
They went right to the bank of the river. “We could get in and go across to the other side, where that high rock is, and hope that our heads wouldn’t show above the water,” said Jack.
But just then Mafumu made a curious discovery. He ran to Jack, caught hold of his arm, and whispered something excitedly, pulling at Jack all the time to make him follow him. The boy went — and saw what Mafumu had so unexpectedly found. It was a small boat, of a curious shape, painted in curving stripes.
“Look! Let’s get in and go down the river!” said Jack. “I can hear someone coming now, quite plainly!”
There didn’t seem anything better they could do. So they all packed themselves into the funny rounded boat and pushed off down the dark river. There were paddle-like oars in the boat, but Captain Arnold did not need to use them because the current took them along strongly.
That was a very strange journey through the heart of the Secret Mountain. Sometimes the river ran through big caves, which gleamed with green phosphorescent light. Sometimes it ran through dank tunnels, and the four in the boat could feel the slimy walls as they floated through. Once the river opened out into an enormous pool, whose sides lapped the walls of a high cave.
Mafumu was terrified. He clung to Jack tightly, and muttered strings of strange-sounding words, fingering his necklace of crocodile teeth. Jack was sorry for the other boy, especially as he felt afraid too!
The river swirled along fast. Sometimes the boat knocked against rocks and nearly upset. Once Mrs. Arnold almost fell overboard, and Captain Arnold only just snatched at her in time. Everyone wondered where the journey would end.
It ended in a most astonishing manner. The river suddenly became much less violent, and the current seemed to fall away to nothing. The boat almost stopped and Captain Arnold had to use the paddles to get it forward. They were in a fairly wide tunnel with a low roof, and not far ahead there seemed to be an archway, through which a bright light shone.