The Secret Mountain tss-3

by Enid Blyton

  They were there, of course! They were in the temple, eating some of the fruit that had been brought to them, having wrapped themselves up well in the rugs, for the wind that blew across the mountain at that time of year was strong and cold, despite the hot sun.

  It was Prince Paul who saw the strange and surprising sight of the cage-lift coming up in the middle of the courtyard! He was looking out through the open doorway of the temple, and to his very great amazement he saw what seemed to be a big trap-door slowly open and bend itself back. He swallowed his mouthful in surprise, and choked. Mike banged him on the back.

  “Don’t! Don’t! Look! Look!” choked poor Paul, trying to point through the doorway. But everyone thought he was upset because he was choking, and Peggy took a turn at banging him between the shoulders.

  Paul saw the golden cage rise up through the trap-door opening. He saw Captain and Mrs. Arnold, Jack and Mafumu get out, with their four guards, and his eyes nearly fell out of his head with amazement and delight. He went quite purple in the face, and leapt to his feet.

  “Look!” he yelled to the others. And at last they looked. When they saw the unexpected appearance of eight people in the middle of the smooth courtyard, and when Mike, Peggy and Nora saw that two of them were their own father and mother, what an excitement there was!

  With shouts and shrieks the children rushed down the temple steps and ran towards the little company in the courtyard. In half a minute they were hugging their father and mother, exclaiming over them, thumping Jack on the back, shouting a hundred questions, and hugging little Mafumu, who was quite overjoyed at seeing all his lost friends so suddenly again.

  “This is a surprise! This is a surprise!” everyone kept saying. And, indeed, it was!

  The Escape Of Ranni And Pilescu

  When everyone had calmed down a little, they looked round to see what had become of the four guards who had come up in the cage-lift with Jack and the others. But they were gone! They had silently stepped into the golden cage once more, and had disappeared from sight into the heart of the mountain!

  Captain Arnold ran to where the trap-door lay smoothly in the floor of the courtyard. He tried to get his fingers between the edges of the door and the stone of the courtyard — but they fitted so exactly that it was impossible.

  “In any case it will be locked and bolted the other side,” he said. “There’s no way of escape there. How did you get here, Mike? Through this trap-door?”

  Mike told him about the enormous flights of shining steps that led up to the golden door. He showed the newcomers the door itself, but no matter how they tried they could not slide it back.

  The children were all so excited at seeing their father and mother again, and at having Jack and Mafumu once more, that they forgot their worries and chatted happily, telling one another their adventures. Only the grown-ups looked grave, and talked solemnly together, apart from the children.

  “Somehow we must think of a way to escape,” said Pilescu. “These Folk of the Secret Mountain are savage and ignorant. They think that the sun is angry with them, and they want to give him a servant to make their peace with him. Which of us will be chosen for that? I don’t like to think.”

  “None of us is safe,” said Captain Arnold. “Is it possible to lie in wait for the guards who come to give you food, Pilescu, overpower them, and escape down the golden stair?”

  “We could try,” said Ranni doubtfully. “But I fear it would be no use. Still, it seems the only thing to do.”

  At that moment Jack came up. He had been showing the other children the queer pot of yellow paint that he had taken from the storeroom among the caves in the mountain. He looked very peculiar because he had tried out some of the paint on his own face, and his skin was now as bright yellow as the Folk of the Mountain!

  Ranni and Pilescu, who did not know about the pigment, stared at him in horror.

  “Jack! What is the matter with you?” cried Pilescu. “Are you ill?”

  “Very!” grinned Jack. “I think I must have got yellow fever, Pilescu! Have you got any medicine to make me better?”

  The other children crowded round, giggling and laughing, and Pilescu knew it was a joke. He looked closely at Jack.

  “You have got yellow paint on your face,” he said. “You look like one of the Folk of the Mountain!”

  “And you, Pilescu, would look exactly like one if you painted your face,” said Jack, “because you have a flaming red beard as they have. But yours is a real red beard, not a dyed one!”

  No sooner had Jack said these words than the same thought flashed into Pilescu’s head and Captain Arnold’s at the same moment. Pilescu snatched the pot of pigment from Jack and looked at it. He dipped his finger into it and rubbed it over the back of his hand. At once his skin gleamed the same yellow as the skin of the Mountain Folk.

  “I’ve thought the same thing as you, Pilescu,” said Captain Arnold, in excitement. “If you used this paint you would pass for one of the Secret Mountain people! You and Ranni both have the bright red hair and beards of Baronian men — if you paint your skin yellow, you will look very like the Folk of the Mountain — and maybe our way of escape lies through you!”

  Immediately all was excitement. Everyone talked at once. Everyone thought it was a simply marvellous idea. In the end Captain Arnold silenced the party and spoke seriously to them all.

  “We must lose no further time in talk,” he said. “I propose that both Ranni and Pilescu paint their faces with this yellow pigment and try to escape with the guards when they come. If only they can find their way back to where our planes are, they may be able to find some way of rescuing us all. It’s the only chance that I can see.”

  “There are some robes in the temple with the rugs!” cried Mike. “I tried them on this morning. They would fit Ranni and Pilescu. Come and try them!”

  In the greatest excitement the little company went to the temple. Ranni and Pilescu tried on the coloured robes and they fitted well enough. The flowing garments looked strange on the two big men, and everyone laughed.

  Captain Arnold carefully rubbed the curious yellow pigment into the skin of the Baronians’ faces, necks and hands. With the flowing robes, yellow skin and flaming beards they looked exactly like the Folk of the Secret Mountain! Poor Mafumu, unused to extraordinary happenings of this sort, could hardly believe that it was still Ranni and Pilescu, and he shrank away from them in fear.

  “It is getting near the time when sun-worshippers come to pray to the sun at sunset,” said Captain Arnold looking over the mountains to where the sun was swinging down towards the edge of the world. “Maybe many of the Mountain Folk will come, and then you can mix with them easily enough when they go!”

  It was decided that Ranni and Pilescu should hide behind two great pillars near the sliding door. If they were not discovered they could mix with the Mountain Folk as they went down the stairs again, and might escape unseen in that way.

  The sun swung lower — and suddenly, from behind the great golden door came the sound of chanting. It was the Mountain Folk coming to sing their prayers to the sun! The door slid to one side, and up the shining stairway came scores of the curious Folk, their beards gleaming red in the setting sun.

  The leader went to the tower of the temple. All the rest spread themselves out on the flat courtyard, and flung themselves down on their faces when the man in the temple sounded a loud and echoing bell. They chanted a sad and doleful dirge for about ten minutes, whilst Captain Arnold and the rest looked on.

  Behind the big pillars Ranni and Pilescu waited their chance. As soon as the sun disappeared over the edge of the world and darkness fell on the mountain the people stood up and ranged themselves in lines. Then still singing, led by their tall leader, they made their way back to the stairway that led down into the dark mountain.

  And, slipping to the end of the lines, went two red-bearded folk that did not belong to the mountain! Ranni and Pilescu joined the company, and tried to do exactly
as the men in front did. They passed through the shining doorway and down the golden stairs. The door slid back silently into place — and Ranni and Pilescu were gone from sight!

  “They’ve gone!” said Jack, slipping his hand through Mike’s arm. “They’ve gone! Oh, I do wonder how they’ll get on. I do hope they won’t be caught!”

  No one came to disturb them again that evening. The little party went into the temple and tried to find the most sheltered corner. The mountain wind blew without stopping, day and night, and it was difficult to find anywhere that was not full of draughts. The girls cuddled up to Mrs. Arnold, and the boys and Captain Arnold found a bigger corner and piled rugs over themselves.

  They all slept soundly that night, in spite of the cold. Captain and Mrs. Arnold were glad to be with their children again, and hoped against hope that somehow Ranni and Pilescu would find a way to escape from the mountain and bring help to the prisoners.

  For two days nothing happened. The Folk of the Mountain came up once at sunrise and once at sunset to chant their strange songs and prayers. Guards came to bring food and water. Curiously enough they did not miss Ranni and Pilescu at all — partly because Captain Arnold had told the party to split up, and be in various places on the summit of the mountain, instead of all together.

  “Then when our guards come, they will not be able to count us up, because we shall be all over the place!” said Captain Arnold. “And unless they actually go to look for everyone they will not guess that two of our party are missing!”

  But the guards did not think for one minute that anyone could be missing! After all, no one could escape down the trap-door for it was bolted underneath — and no one, so they thought, could escape down the golden stairway without being seen. So the little party lived peacefully for two days, with no excitements at all.

  Then things began to happen. The golden cage once more came up through the trap-door in the centre of the vast courtyard! Mrs. Arnold happened to be standing nearby and she had a great surprise when she saw the trap-door suddenly rise up and the golden cage appear. She ran to tell the others. They came to watch who was coming.

  The chief himself walked from the golden lift! He was very tall, and very thin. His beard flamed in the sun, and his clothes swung round him like shimmering water as he walked. His yellow skin was wrinkled and drawn. He was an old, old man, but powerful and with piercing, eagle-like eyes.

  He gave a sharp order. Men stepped out from the cage and came behind him. He walked solemnly to the temple, where he chanted several prayers to the sun in a strong harsh voice. Then he turned to his servants rounded up the little company of prisoners, and brought them before the chief. He ran his strange eyes over them and then looked at his servants in surprise. It was quite plain that he thought someone was missing!

  He asked a sharp question. The servants hurriedly counted the prisoners and then sent two of their number to search the summit of the mountain thoroughly.

  “They’ve gone to find Ranni and Pilescu,” whispered Jack. “Well, they won’t find them here!”

  And they didn’t, of course, though they hunted in every corner and cranny. Ranni and Pilescu had disappeared completely.

  The chief was angry. His eyes flamed, and his mouth became hard and straight. He addressed his servants fiercely, and they flung themselves on their faces before him. No one but Mafumu could understand what he was saying, and even Mafumu could not understand everything!

  The chief walked majestically over to the company of prisoners and looked into each one’s face. No one flinched except poor Mafumu, who was in a state of real terror, partly because he was afraid of the yellow-skinned chief and partly because he knew something that the others didn’t know!

  The chief was choosing who was to be the servant of the sun! He glared into Jack’s face. He stared closely at poor Nora and Peggy. He took Paul’s chin in his hand and peered at him. Nobody liked it at all.

  Mafumu was very sad. Whom would the chief choose? Somebody must be the sacrifice to the sun. And poor Mafumu would have to break the news, for no one else understood what the yellow-skinned chief was doing!

  The Servant Of The Sun

  The tall chief took hold of the little prince and called out some strange words to his followers. At once two men stepped forward and took the frightened boy. He did not know what they were going to do with him, but he was determined not to show that he was afraid.

  So, rather white, he stood up proudly and looked the chief straight in the face. Mike and the others felt proud of him.

  Paul was marched off alone. He was taken to the golden door, which slid back silently. Then he disappeared down the stairway, and the door once more shut like magic. Captain Arnold stepped forward angrily.

  “What are you going to do to the boy?” he cried. “Bring him back!”

  The chief laughed then turned on his heel. He went up to the tower of the temple and began what seemed like a long prayer to the sun.

  It was left to poor trembling Mafumu to break the news to the others. In his few English words he tried to explain that little Paul was to be the servant of the sun. Everyone listened in amazement and horror. Captain and Mrs. Arnold who had feared that something like this could happen ever since they had been brought to the temple on top of the mountain, looked despairingly at one another.

  “I can’t see how we can possibly save him,” said Captain Arnold at last. They all sat down in the shade, and Peggy and Nora began to cry. If even grown-up people couldn’t do anything, then things were indeed in a bad way!

  Mike and Jack and Mafumu talked together. Jack would never give up hope. He was that kind of boy. But Mike was full of dismay, and as for Mafumu, he was simply shivering with worry and fright. He kept as close to Jack as he could, as if he thought that Jack would protect him from everything.

  Jack was very edgy, though he didn’t show it. “I wish you’d do something instead of shivering all over me,” he said to Mafumu, pushing the boy away.

  “Give him a pencil or a notebook to play with,” said Mike. “He’s only a little kid, and you can’t blame him for being a bit scared.”

  Jack put his hand into his pocket and brought out a diary. He had been keeping the tale of their adventures there, day by day. He handed it to Mafumu.

  “Here you are. Play with this over in the corner there,” he said. Mafumu took the notebook eagerly. He turned over each page one by one, rubbing his fingers over the pages in which Jack had written. He could not understand anything, of course, because he could not write or read.

  He came to where Jack had written the day before. After that the pages were blank. Mafumu was puzzled. Why was nothing written in one half of the book? He rolled himself over beside Jack and pointed to the blank pages.

  Jack tried to explain to Mafumu. “Today I write, tomorrow I write, but not till the day has gone,” he said.

  “Jack, what’s the date today?” asked Mike idly. “I’ve really lost count of the days, you know! I don’t know if it’s Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, or what — or if it’s the tenth, eleventh, twenty-first, or thirtieth of the month!”

  “Well, I can tell you, because I’ve written down our adventures every day,” said Jack. “It’s Wednesday — and it’s the sixteenth. Look.”

  Mike took the diary. He glanced at the next day, and gave an exclamation.

  “Oh, Jack! Look what it says for tomorrow!”

  “What?” asked Jack, surprised.

  “It says there will be an eclipse of the sun,” said Mike. “I do wonder if we’ll see it here?”

  “Let’s ask your father,” said Jack. So the two boys went across to Captain Arnold, with the faithful Mafumu following at their heels.

  “Dad! It says in Jack’s diary that there is an eclipse of the sun tomorrow!” said Mike. “Do you think there is any chance at all of seeing it here?”

  “What’s an eclipse of the sun?” asked Peggy. “I know we’ve learnt about it in school, but I’ve quite forgotten what happens.�
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  “It’s quite simple,” said Mike. “All that happens is that the moon on its way through the sky passes in front of the sun, and blocks out the sun’s light for a little while. It eclipses the sun’s light, and for a time the world looks queer and strange because there is no sunlight in the daytime!”

  Captain Arnold sprang to his feet. To Mike’s enormous surprise he snatched Jack’s diary from him and looked at what was printed there in the space for the next day.

  “Eclipse of the sun, 11.43 a.m.,” he read. “Is this this year’s diary? Yes! My word! Eclipse of the sun tomorrow! It’s unbelievable!”

  He spoke in such an excited voice that everyone came round him at once.

  “What’s the matter? Why are you so excited?” cried Mike. Only Mrs. Arnold guessed. Her eyes were bright and hopeful.

  “I’ll tell you. Listen carefully,” said Captain Arnold. He lowered his voice, for although he did not think that any of the Mountain Folk were listening anywhere, or could understand a word he said, he was not taking any chances.

  “Mike has told you what an eclipse of the sun means. It means that the moon passes exactly in front of the sun, and it only happens rarely. If we were in England the sun would not be completely hidden by the moon — but here in Africa it will, and the whole countryside will become as dark as night!”

  The children listened in excitement. What a strange happening it would be!

  “Now these Mountain Folk are sun-worshippers,” said Captain Arnold. “It is quite plain that they have the custom of throwing unfortunate people over the mountain-side to sacrifice to the sun, when they want to please him, or ask him to grant a prayer. I am afraid that our little Paul has been chosen, and will be beyond our help tomorrow unless we do something. And now I see what we can do!”

  “What?” cried everyone.

  “Well, we will get Mafumu to explain to these people, when they next come up here, that I will kill the sun tomorrow, unless they set Paul free!” said Captain Arnold.