“Look here!” he said.
The others came to him and looked down at the ground, where his torch made a round ring of bright light. In the light was the print of a small bare foot. Jack swung his torch here and there, and on the floor of the temple other footprints could be seen — all small and bare, the toes showing clearly.
“Someone comes here quite a lot!” said Jack.
“More than one person,” said Mike, kneeling down and looking closely at a few prints with his torch. “These are not the prints of the same person’s feet. Look at this print here — all the toes are straight — but this one has a crooked big toe-print. And that one is a little larger than the others.”
“It couldn’t be Beowald’s prints, could it?” asked Nora, remembering the bare feet of the goatherd.
“No. His feet are much bigger than those shown in these prints,” said Mike. “I remember thinking what big feet he had.”
“Well — could it be the robbers’ footprints?” cried Peggy, suddenly.
“It might be,” said Jack. “But they are plainly not here — not living here, I mean! Anyway, they would be discovered easily enough if they did live here. Beowald would know.”
Ranni called the children. “Come along. Tea is ready. We must hurry now, because it looks as if a mist is coming up.
The children hurried out of the dark temple into the bright sunshine. They sat down to have their tea, telling Ranni and Pilescu what they had seen. But the two big Baronians were not much impressed.
“The prints are probably made by the feet of the goatherds sent to search every nook and cranny of the mountain-side, to look for the robbers’ hiding-place,” said Ranni.
This was disappointing. The children had quite made up their minds that they must belong to the robbers! Mike pointed down the hillside.
“Look at the clouds down there below us,” he said. “They seem to be creeping up towards us.”
“They are,” said Pilesco, beginning to gather up the tea things. “Come along. I don’t want to get lost in a mountain mist!”
They all set off down the mountain-side. Jack suddenly spied some juicy wild raspberries, and slipped off the path to get them. Before he had eaten more than a dozen he found himself surrounded by a thick grey mist!
“Blow!” said Jack, making his way back to the path. “I can’t even see the others now! Well, I know the path, that’s one thing!”
He shouted, but could hear no answer. The others had gone round a bend, and could not hear him, though usually a shout in the mountains echoed round and round. But the thick mist muffled the sound, and Jack could hear no reply to his yell.
“I’ll just go on and hope to catch the others up,” thought the boy. He set off, but after a while he had no idea of the right direction at all. The mist became thicker and thicker and the boy felt cold. He pulled his fur-lined cloak round him, and wondered what to do.
Something familiar about the rocky face of the mountain caught his eye. “Well — look at that! I’m right back at the old temple!” said Jack, in astonishment. “I’ve doubled back on the path somehow, and reached the temple-cave again. Well, I can’t do better than shelter inside till the mist clears. Maybe it won’t be long. They come and go very quickly.”
He went inside the cave where the old stone images were. He found a corner where he could sit, and he squatted down to wait. He yawned and shut his eyes. He hoped Ranni and Pilescu would not be very angry with him.
He dozed lightly, whilst the mist swirled round outside. He was awakened by the sound of voices, and sat up, expecting to see the other children coming into the temple to look for him. He half got up — and then sank back in the greatest astonishment.
The cave was full of strange, hoarse voices, speaking in the Baronian language, but using a broad country accent that Jack could not understand. It was dark there, and the boy could not see the people to whom the voices belonged. He dared not switch on his torch.
Then one of the men went to the entrance of the cave and looked out, calling back that the mist was still there, but was clearing rapidly. Jack looked at him in amazement. He was small and wiry, and wore no clothes at all except for a strip of skin round his middle. The boy crouched back in his corner, suddenly scared.
The mist thinned outsided the cave, and the man at the entrance was joined by others. They went out, and Jack saw that each man had a wolf’s tail behind him, dyed red. They were the robbers!
There were many of them. Where had they come from? They had not been in the cave when the boy fell asleep, and if they had entered, he would have heard them. Where had they come from? There must be some secret entrance in the temple itself. But where could it be?
“They must have gone off to rob someone again!” thought the boy. “I’ll take a good look round the cave now I’m here and find out where those men came from. There must be some hidden entrance at the back. Possibly there’s a big cave farther in, where they live. This is awfully exciting!”
But before he could put on his torch and look round he heard the sound of shouts outside.
“Jack! Jack! Where are you?”
It was Ranni’s voice. Jack ran out of the old temple-cave. Ranni was some way down the mountain-path. The boy shouted loudly.
“Ranni! I’m here, quite safe! I got lost in the mist.”
“Come along quickly, before the mist comes again!” ordered Ranni.
“But Ranni, wait! I’ve made a discovery!” yelled Jack.
“Come along at once,” shouted Ranni, sternly. “Look at the mist coming up. It will be thicker this time. Come now, Jack.”
There was nothing for it but to go to Ranni. Jack leapt down the path, and as soon as he reached the big Baronian, he began to tell him what he had seen. But Ranni, anxious about the returning mist, paid little heed to the boy’s excited chatter, and hurried him along as fast as he could go. Jack had no breath left to talk after a while, and fell silent. He could see that Ranni was cross with him.
The others had reached the castle safely. Ranni hurried Jack inside the door, just as the mist swirled up again, thick and grey.
“And now!” he said sternly, turning to Jack. “Will you kindly tell me why you left us all? I had to go back and find you, and I might have hunted the mountain-side for hours. I am not pleased with you, Jack.”
“I’m sorry, Ranni,” said Jack, humbly. “I just went to pick some raspberries, that’s all. Ranni, I saw the robbers!”
“I do not want to talk to you,” said Ranni. “You have displeased me.” He went to his own room, leaving Jack behind.
Jack stared after the Baronian, rather hurt, and feeling decidedly small. He went to find the others.
“Jack! What happened to you?” cried Nora, rushing to him. “We lost you, and Ranni went back.”
“I’ve some news,” said Jack, and his eyes gleamed. “Strange news, too!”
“What?” cried everyone.
“I wandered about a bit, when the mist overtook me,” said Jack, “and suddenly I found I was back at the old temple. So I went in out of the mist, and sat down to wait till it cleared. I dozed off for a bit — and suddenly I awoke and found the cave becoming full of voices! I heard more and more of them, and then a man went to the entrance of the cave and looked out — and it was one of the robbers!”
“Jack! Not really!” cried Peggy.
“Yes, really,” said Jack. “When the mist cleared a bit, they all went out of the entrance, and I saw the wolves’ tails they had, dyed red. They did look extraordinary.”
“Did they come into the cave to shelter then?” asked Mike.
“No — that’s the funny part,” said Jack. “They didn’t! I feel absolutely certain that they came into the cave by some secret way — perhaps at the back of the temple. I believe there must be a big cave further in, where they live.”
“So those footprints we saw must be theirs, after all,” said Paul. “Oh, Jack — this is awfully exciting, isn’t it! What did Ranni say when you told him?”
“He wouldn’t listen,” said Jack. “He was angry with me.”
“Well, he’ll soon be all right again,” said Paul, cheerfully. “Ranni’s temper never lasts long. I know that.”
Paul was right. Ranni forgot his anger in a very short time, and when he came into the children’s room, he was his usual smiling self. The boys went to him at once.
“Ranni! We know where the robbers hide!”
“Ranni, do listen, please. Jack saw the robbers.”
This time Ranni did listen, and what he heard made him call Pilescu at once. The two men were eager to hear every word that Jack had to tell.
“It looks as if we shall be able to round up the robbers quickly now,” said Ranni. “Good! You must be right, Jack — there is probably a secret entrance somewhere in the cave, leading from a big cave farther in.”
“We must make a search as quickly as possible,” said Pilescu. “Ranni, the moon is full tonight. You and I will take our most powerful torches and will examine that temple from top to bottom tonight!”
“Oh, Pilescu, let me come too?” begged Jack.
“And me!” cried Mike and Paul together.
Pilescu shook his big head. “No — there may be danger. You must stay safely here in the castle.”
Jack was angry. “Pilescu! It was my discovery! Don’t be mean. You must take me with you. Please!”
“You will not come,” said Pilescu, firmly. “We are responsible for your safety in Baronia, and you will not be allowed to run into any danger. Ranni and I will go tonight, and tomorrow you shall hear what we have found.”
The two men went out of the room, talking together. Jack stared after them fiercely. The boy was almost in tears.
“It’s too bad,” he said. “It was my discovery! And they’re going to leave me out of it. I didn’t think Ranni and Pilescu would be so mean.”
The boy was hurt and angry. The others tried to comfort him. Jack sat and brooded for a little while and then he suddenly made up his mind.
“I shall go, too!” he said to the others, in a low tone. “I shall follow them and see what they find. I won’t miss this excitement.”
“But you promised not to go out alone,” said Mike, at once. All the children thought the world of their promises and never broke one.
“Well, I shan’t be alone — I shall be with Ranni and Pilescu, and they won’t know it!” grinned Jack, quite good-tempered again now that he had thought of a way to join in the adventure. For adventure it had become, there wasn’t a doubt of that!
The others laughed. It was quite true. Jack would certainly not be alone!
So, that night, after they had gone to bed, Jack kept his ears pricked to listen to any sounds of Ranni and Pilescu leaving. The moon swam up into the sky and the mountain-side was as light as day. The boy suddenly heard the low voices of the two Baronians, and he knew they were going down the passage to make their way to the great front door.
He had not undressed, so he was ready to follow them. After them he went, as quietly as a cat. The others whispered to him:
“Good luck!”
“Don’t let Ranni see you or you’ll get a spanking!”
“Look after yourself, Jack!”
The big front door opened, and shut quietly. Jack waited for a moment, opened it, and crept after the two men. He had to be careful to keep well in the black shadows, for it was easy to see anyone in the moonlight.
Up the mountain track behind the castle went Ranni and Pilescu. They did not speak, and they made as little noise as they could. They kept a sharp look-out for any sign of the robbers, but there was none. Word had come to the castle that evening that a company of local people, returning from market, had been set upon and robbed that afternoon, and the two Baronians had no doubt that the robbers were the men that Jack had seen in the cave.
“If we can find the entrance to their lair, we can get soldiers up here, and pen the whole company in, and catch them one by one as they come out,” said Ranni, in a low tone. Pilescu nodded. He heard a sound, and stopped.
“What is it?” whispered Ranni.
“Nothing,” answered Pilescu, after a pause. “I thought I heard something.”
He had! He had heard the fall of a stone dislodged by Jack, who was following them as closely as he dared! The boy stopped when Pilescu stopped, and did not move again until the two men went forward.
In about an hour’s time they were at the old temple. The moon shone in at the ruined entrance. Ranni gave a startled exclamation as he went in, for the moon shone full on the face of the old stone image at the back. It seemed very lifelike!
“Now,” said Ranni, flashing his torch round the cave. “You take a look that side and I’ll take this. Examine every inch of the rock.”
The moon suddenly went behind a big cloud and the world went dark. Jack took the chance of slipping into the cave without the two men seeing him. He thought he could hide behind the images, as the men worked round the cave. He stood behind one near the entrance and watched Ranni and Pilescu examining the rocky wall, trying to find some hidden entrance to another cave beyond.
“I can find nothing,” said Pilescu, in a low voice.
Jack stood behind the statue and watched, hoping that one of the men would discover something. How he wished he could help too — but he was afraid of showing himself in case Ranni was angry again.
He stared at the big squatting statue at the back of the cave. The moon had come out again and was shining full on the image. As Jack watched, a very strange thing began to happen!
The statue’s face began to widen! It began to split in half! Jack stared in astonishment and horror. What could be happening? Was it coming alive? Were those old tales true, then?
Then he saw that the whole statue was splitting slowly and silently in half. The two halves were moving apart. It all happened so smoothly and silently that Ranni and Pilescu heard no sound at all, and had no warning.
Jack was so amazed that he could not say a word. The statue split completely in half, the two halves moving right apart — and then, from the floor of the flat rock beneath, a man’s shaggy head appeared, full in the moonlight — the head of one of the robbers!
Jack gave a yell. “Ranni! Pilescu! Look out! The robbers are coming! Look at the statue!”
Ranni and Pilescu, amazed at Jack’s voice, and at what he said, swung round quickly. They stared in the utmost amazement at the split statue, and saw the head and shoulders of the robber below. With a wild yell the robber leapt up into the temple, calling to his friends below:
“Come! Come! Here are enemies!”
In half a minute the cave was full of robbers. Ranni and Pilescu, taken completely by surprise, had their hands bound. They fought and struggled fiercely, but the robbers were too many for them.
Ranni remembered Jack’s voice, and knew that the boy must be somewhere about. He must have followed them! Ranni called out in English:
“Don’t show yourself, Jack. Go and give warning to the others.”
Jack did not answer, of course. He crouched down behind a statue, watching the fight, knowing that it would be useless to join in, and hoping that the robbers would not see him.
Before his astonished eyes, the boy saw the wolf-tailed men force the two Baronians down through the hole beneath the great statue. Every robber followed. Then the statue, smoothly and silently as before, began to move. The two halves joined together closely, and the image was whole once more, its cracked face shining in the moonlight.
“No wonder there was such a crack down the middle of it!” thought the boy. “It wasn’t a crack — it was a split, where the two halves joined! Golly, this is awful. I wonder if it’s safe to go.”