The Secret of Killimooin tss-4 Read online

  The five travellers left the curious place, and went to sit by a sun-warmed rock to dry their spray-wet clothes once more.

  “The robbers must think we are all lost in the depths of the earth now,” said Pilescu. “They will not be on the watch for us any more. That is something to the good, at any rate.”

  “What are we going to do?” asked Paul

  “There is only one thing to do, my little lord,” said Pilescu. “We must go back the way we came!”

  “What! Up into the mountain, beside the river all the way, and back to the temple-cave?” cried Paul. “Oh, we shall never do that!”

  “We must,” said Ranni. “It is the only way out. I am going to climb a high tree so that I may see where the river flows out of the mountain.”

  He climbed up the biggest tree nearby, and shaded his eyes for a long time. Then he came down.

  “I cannot see where the river comes forth from Killimooin,” he said. “It is too far away. But I can see where the water enters the Secret Forest — or I think I can. We must go to the east, and walk until we come to the river. We cannot miss it, for it will lie right across our path!”

  “Let us have something to eat first,” said Paul. “Where is the bread? There is plenty left, isn’t there?”

  There was not plenty, but there was enough. They sat and ate hungrily. Then Ranni rose, and everyone got up too.

  “Now to find the river again,” said Ranni. “We will skirt the Secret Forest until we come to the rushing water. Then we will follow it upwards to the mountain!”

  The Terrible Storm

  Meanwhile, what had happened to the two girls? They had done as the boys had suggested, and had awakened Tooku and Yamen at once. The couple sat up in their bed, bewildered at the children’s extraordinary story. Ranni and Pilescu captured by the robbers! The statue that split into two! All the boys gone! It seemed like an unbelievable nightmare to Yamen and Tooku.

  “We can do nothing tonight,” said Tooku, nursing his injured arm. “The servants would be of no use to hunt for the boys and the others. They would be too afraid. Tomorrow, early, we must send the servants to gather together the villagers of the mountain-side.”

  The girls did not want to wait so long, but there was nothing else to be done. They went back to bed, but not to sleep. They cuddled together on a small couch, covered with a warm fur rug, and talked together, worried about the boys. At last, just before dawn, they dozed off, and were awakened by Yamen.

  Soon everyone in the castle knew what had happened the night before. The servants went about with scared faces. Paul’s mother heard the girls’ story again and again, tears in her eyes as she thought of how Paul had marched off to rescue his men.

  “He is a true little Baronian!” she said. “How glad I am that Mike and Jack are with him! Oh, why didn’t they wait until we could send soldiers or armed villagers to find Ranni and Pilescu?”

  A band of people came climbing up on mountain ponies, fetched by servants of the castle and by the goatherd, Beowald. They had been amazed at the tale told to them, but all of them were determined to rescue their “little lord” as they called Paul.

  Beowald was with them. He led them up the hill to the old temple-cave. The villagers shrank back in fear when they saw the queer stone images. The statue of the sitting man, at the back, was now whole again. The robbers that the boys had seen the night before had come up to the cave, found the statue in half, and, fearing that their secret had been discovered, had closed the two halves together once more and gone back into the cave below.

  Peggy and Nora watched Blind Beowald put his finger into the right ear of the statue. The villagers cried out in wonder when they saw the stone man split in half, and divide slowly. Beowald pointed down to the hole that the statue hid so well.

  “That is the way,” he said.

  The villagers went to the hole and looked down. They shivered. They did not want to go down at all. Thoughts of mysterious magic, of mountain-spirits, filled their heads.

  But one bolder than the rest slid down the rope, calling to the others to follow. One by one they went down. The girls wanted to go too, but Tooku and Yamen forbade them sternly. “This is men’s work,” they said. “You would only get in the way.” So the girls had to go back to the castle, where Paul’s mother sat waiting for news, white and anxious.

  Nora and Peggy tried to comfort her by telling her of the adventures they and the boys had had before, and how they had always won through in the end. The Queen smiled at them, and sighed.

  “You are adventurous children!” she said. “Wherever you go, you have adventures. I shall be glad when this adventure is over!”

  There was no news at all that day. The search party did not return. Beowald came down from the temple to say that although he had listened well by the hole, he had heard nothing. For the first time he was angry with his blindness, for he badly wanted to follow his friends into the mountain. But he did not dare to, because he would be completely lost in a place he did not know.

  Towards tea-time the sky suddenly darkened. The girls went to the window. Yamen was with them, and she looked out too.

  “A storm is coming,” she said, pointing to the west. “A great storm. You must not be frightened, little ones. Sometimes, when the weather has been hot, the big clouds blow up, and the lighning tears the sky in two, whilst the thunder roars and echoes round.”

  “We are not afraid of storms, Yamen,” said Nora. “It ought to be a wonderful sight, a storm in the Killimooin Mountains!”

  The sky grew so black that the girls could not see to read. Great clouds began to roll round the mountain itself, and soon the castle was completely swallowed up in the thick, swirling mists. Thunder rumbled in the distance. The little children in the nurseries of the castle began to cry.

  “There’s the lighning!” said Nora, as a vivid flash appeared, and everything was lighted up clearly for an instant. “Oh — what thunder! I’ve never heard anything like it!”

  Killimooin seemed to be in the midst of the storm. Thunder cracked round the castle, and the lightning shivered the sky to pieces. It was as dark as night between the flashes.

  “Although the two girls were not afraid of storms, they were awed by this one. The noise was so terrific and the lightning was so grand.

  Then the rain came. Rain? It sounded more like a waterfall pouring down on the castle, lashing against the windows, forming itself into rivulets that rushed down the hillside at top speed. Never in their lives had the two girls seen or heard such rain. It almost drowned the thunder that still rolled around!

  “Well, it’s a mercy the boys are not out in this, but are somewhere in a cave,” said Nora, trying to be cheerful.

  But the boys were not in a cave! No, they were making their way towards the river where it entered the Secret Forest! They were almost there, and could see its shining waters. They were glad, because now they felt that they knew their way. They had only to follow the river’s course backwards to the mountain, and climb up beside it as it flowed down through the heart of the hill!

  Then the sky darkened, and the storm blew up. First, it was very still, and Ranni glanced uneasily at the sky. He knew the Baronian storms! They were as grand as the mountains themselves!

  The storm broke, just as the little party reached the river and began to follow its swift course backwards to the mountain. Thunder cracked above their heads, and lightning split the darkened sky.

  “We had better shelter,” said Ranni, and looked about for somewhere to go. He did not want to stand under the trees in case they were struck by lightning. There were some thickly-growing bushes nearby with enormous flat leaves. The rain fell off the leaves as if they were umbrellas.

  “We’ll crawl under these bushes,” said Ranni. “We can draw our cloaks over our heads. The rain will not soak through the fur lining.”

  But it did! It soaked through everything, and once again the company were wet! The boys hated the fierceness of this rainstorm.
The drops pelted down, stinging them, slashing them, soaking through the bushes, their fur-lined cloaks, their clothes, and everything.

  “What a storm!” said Paul. “It is the worst I ever remember in Baronia. I don’t like it, Pilescu.”

  Pilescu pulled the small boy to him and covered him with his great arms. “You are safe with Pilescu,” he said. “Not even the worst storm can harm you now!”

  For two hours the rain poured down, never-ending. Jack was astonished to think that so much water could be held by clouds! It was as if someone up in the sky was emptying whole seas of water down on to the earth.

  At last a break came in the clouds and a bit of brilliant blue sky showed through. The thunder died away. The lightning no longer flashed. The clouds thinned rapidly, and the rain stopped. The boys heaved sighs of relief. They were wet, cold and hungry. Ranni felt about in his big pockets and brought out some chocolate. It was very welcome.

  “Now we must get on,” he said. “If the sun comes out strongly, before it sets, we shall soon be dry again. We have a long climb ahead before we reach the place where the river gushes forth from the mountain. Shall I carry you for a while, little lord?”

  “Certainly not,” said Paul. “I can walk as well as Mike and Jack!”

  But after three hours of hard walking the little prince was only too glad to be hoisted on to Pilescu’s broad back! They made their way slowly on and up, the noise of the water always in their ears. They saw no sign of the robbers at all, though they kept a sharp look-out for them.

  When evening began to fall they reached the place where the river flowed out of the mountain-side, rushing and roaring as if in pleasure to see the sun. They sat by the water and rested. They were all tired now.

  “Well, we must begin our watery climb now,” said Ranni, at last. “It will take us some hours to follow the river up to where it falls into the cave above. The way will be steep and often dangerous. Paul, I am going to tie you to me, for if you fall into the river, I cannot save you. You will be whirled away from me in an instant.”

  “Well, tie Mike and Jack to Pilescu, then,” said Paul. “I don’t want to be the only one.”

  In the end, all five were roped together, so that if one fell, the others might pull him up again to safety. Then the five of them entered the cavernous hole in Killimooin Mountain, and prepared to climb up beside the rushing torrent.

  There was a narrow ledge, as Ranni had guessed. It was wet and slippery, and sometimes so narrow that it seemed impossible to walk on it. But by finding firm hand-holds in the rocky wall of the tunnel, the climbers managed to make their way steadily upwards.

  Once Paul slipped and fell. He almost jerked Ranni off his feet, too. The boy half fell into the rushing water, but Ranni caught hold of the rope and tightened it quickly. The boy was pulled back to the ledge, and knelt there, gasping with fright.

  “You are safe, little Paul. Do not be afraid,” said Ranni, comfortingly, shouting above the rushing of the water.

  “I’m not afraid!” yelled Paul, and got to his feet at once. He had had a bad scare, but he would not show it. Ranni felt proud of the little prince.

  They toiled upwards, not saying a word, because it was soon too much effort to shout to make themselves heard above the noise of the river. It seemed as if they had been climbing up the narrow ledge for hours, with Ranni’s torch showing the way at the front, and Pilescu’s at the back, when the five saw something that startled them exceedingly.

  The light from Ranni’s torch fell on something swirling down the torrent! In surprise Ranni kept his torch pointed towards it — and the little company saw that it was a raft, on which were five or six of the small, wiry robbers, bobbing rapidly downwards to the Secret Forest!

  The robbers saw them too, and uttered loud cries of amazement. In half a minute they were swept away down the river, out of sight, lost in the long black tunnel through which the water rushed downwards.

  “They saw us!” yelled Jack. “Does it matter, do you think? Will they come after us?”

  Ranni and Pilescu stopped to consider the matter. They thought it was possible that the robbers would turn back and pursue them. It would be easy to swing their raft against the side and leap out. They could drag their raft up behind them, as they apparently did each time they climbed up to the temple-cave.

  “Ranni!” yelled Jack, again. “Do you think they’ll come after us?”

  “We think it is likely,” replied Ranni. “We must push on quickly. Come, there is no time to be lost.”

  The five of them set off again. It was a hard and tiring journey. They were splashed continually by the river, which also overflowed time and again on to the ledge so that their legs were always wet. Sometimes the tunnel was very low, and once the company had to go down on hands and knees and crawl like that round a bend of the ledge, their heads touching the roof of the tunnel!

  Ranni’s torch gave out and Mike was glad he had one with him to lend to Ranni, for it was necessary to have two, one at the back of the line and one at the front.

  “How much further have we to go?” groaned Paul. “How much further, Ranni?”

  A Journey up the Mountain River

  It was a long, long climb. Ranni shone his torch on to his watch, and saw that it was nearly midnight! No wonder poor Paul was groaning, and wondering how much further they had to go. Even the two men were tired.

  “Ranni, there’s a sort of platform place somewhere,” said Jack, remembering the broadening out of the ledge, where he and the others had slept in a recess at the back two nights before.

  Ranni and Pilescu did not know about this. Jack shouted into their ears, telling them about it, and the two Baronians hoped that they would soon come to it. Then they would all have a rest. One or other could be on watch in case the robbers came!

  Up they went again, stumbling over the rough, rocky ledge that ran beside the river. Once Mike slipped and fell headlong into the water. He pulled Jack right off his feet, and both boys disappeared. Paul gave a scream of fright.

  But Pilescu stood steady, and gripped the rope. He pulled Jack and Mike firmly back to the side and helped the soaking boys out. The were shivering as much with fright as with cold! It was not at all a nice feeling to take a plunge unexpectedly into the icy mountain water. They were glad that Ranni had had the idea of roping everyone together, Jack hoped that neither of the big Baronians would fall into the river, for he was sure that if they did they would jerk the boys in after them! But Ranni and Pilescu were sure-footed, having been used to climbing hills and mountains all their lives, and neither of them slipped!

  Paul was getting so tired that he could hardly stumble along. It was impossible for Ranni to carry him, for he needed both his hands, one to hold the torch, and the other to find hand-holds for himself. His heart ached for the tired boy stumbling along just behind him.

  It was a long time before they came to the platform. Ranni did not even know he had come to it. He went along the ledge, feeling the wall, not noticing at first that he was getting further from the river. Mike gave a shout.

  “I believe it’s the platform! Oh good! This ledge is widening out tremendously!”

  Ranni and Pilescu stopped and flashed their torches around. It was the platform, as the boys called it! Thank goodness for that.

  “There’s the recess where we slept, look!” shouted Mike. The men saw the hollowed-out recess in the wall at the back, lined with fur rugs. They saw something else, too. On the little shelf above was more bread, placed there by the robbers the company had seen swinging down on their raft two or three hours before!

  “Now this is really good,” said Ranni. He set Paul on his knee, took the bread, and broke it into pieces. Mike and Jack took some and began to eat hungrily. But Paul was too exhausted. He could eat nothing. His head fell forward on Ranni’s broad chest, and he was asleep at once.

  “You boys must rest on those rugs on that rocky couch there,” said Ranni, speaking to Mike and Jack. “I will
hold Paul in my arms to warm him. Pilescu will keep watch for the robbers in case they come back.”

  Mike and Jack flung themselves on to the strange resting-place at the back of the platform, and pulled the fur rugs over them. They were asleep in half a second. The two Baronians were sleepy too, but Pilescu was on guard and did not dare even to close his eyes.

  Ranni fell asleep holding Paul. Only big Pilescu was awake. He felt his eyes closing. He had switched off his torch, for he did not want the robbers to see any light, if they came back. It was difficult to keep awake in the dark, when he was so tired!

  His head nodded. He stood up at once. He knew it would be impossible not to sleep if he remained seated. He began to walk up and down the platform, like a lion in a cage. That kept him awake. He was not likely to fall asleep on his feet.

  He paced steadily for two hours. Then he stiffened and listened. He could hear voices! They echoed up from the tunnel below. It must be the returning robbers!

  “They have managed to get their raft to the side and land, and have turned back to come after us!” thought Pilescu. “What are we to do? They will be on us before we can escape. How I wish I had a gun with me!”

  But the robbers had taken away all the weapons carried by the Baronians. Neither Ranni nor Pilescu had anything to defend themselves with, except their bare hands. Well, they could make good use of those!

  The voices came nearer. Pilescu woke Ranni and whispered the news to him. Ranni put the sleeping Paul into the recess at the back, with the other boys. He did not wake.

  “We will cover ourselves with our cloaks and sit with our backs to the wall, on either side of the recess,” whispered Ranni. “It is just possible that the robbers may not see us, and may not guess that we are resting here. They would think that we were going ahead as fast as we could.”