by Enid Blyton
The boys made their way with difficulty along the water-splashed tunnel. The water roared beside them in its hollowed-out channel. The noise was thunderous. Their feet were soon wet with the splashing of the strange river.
“The tunnel is widening out here,” shouted back Jack, after about an hour. “Our ledge is becoming almost a platform!”
So it was. After another minute or two the boys found themselves standing on such a broad ledge that when they crouched against the back of it, the spray from the river no longer reached them.
They rested there for a while. Paul was terribly tired by now. Mike looked at his watch. It was four o’clock in the morning! The sun would be up outside the mountain — but here it was as dark as night.
“I feel so sleepy,” said Paul, cuddling up against Mike. “I think we ought to have a good long rest.”
Jack got up and looked around the broad platform for a more comfortable resting-place. He gave a shout that quickly brought the others to him.
“Look,” said Jack, shining his torch on to a recess in the wall of the tunnel at the back of the platform. “This is where the robbers must sometimes rest before going on to wherever they live!”
In the recess, which was like a broad shelf of rock, lay some fur rugs. The boys cuddled into them, snuggled up to one another, closed their eyes and fell asleep at once. They were tired out with their night’s travel.
They slept for some hours, and then Jack awoke with a start. He opened his eyes and remembered at once where he was — on the inside of the mountain! He sat up — and suddenly saw the platform outside the recess where the boys were, was lighted brightly. Voices came to him — and he saw a flaring torch held high. What could be happening now?
The other boys did not wake. They were too tired to hear a sound! Jack leaned out of the rugs and tried to see who was holding the torch. He had a nasty shock — for it was held by one of the robbers! When Jack saw him turn round and his red wolf-tail swing out behind him, he knew without a doubt that the robbers were there within a few feet of him.
The boy tried to see what they were doing. They were at the edge of the river, at the end of the rocky platform. As Jack watched he saw two more men come up from the ledge that ran beside the river. It was plain that the broad platform they were on narrowed into the same sort of ledge that ran beside the upper part of the river. The men were coming up from lower down — and they were dragging something behind them, something that floated on the water. Jack could not see what it was, for the light from the torch flickered and shook, making shadows dance over everything.
The men called to one another hoarsely. They did something at the edge of the water, and then, without a glance toward the recess in which the boys were sleeping, they turned and made their way up the tunnel through which the boys had come, keeping along the ledge in single file. They were going up to the temple-cave, Jack was sure.
“Going to rob people again, I suppose!” thought the boy, excitedly. “They’ve taken Ranni and Pilescu somewhere further down, and tied them up, I expect — left them safe, as they thought. Golly, if only we could find out where they are, we could rescue them easily now that the robbers have left them for a while.”
He looked at his watch. It showed ten minutes to nine! It was morning. Would Yamen and Tooku, Beowald and the villagers have arrived at the temple-cave yet, and meet the robbers on their way? Jack could not imagine what would happen. He woke the others and told them what he had seen.
“The thing to do now is to get along as quickly as we can, and find out where Ranni and Pilescu are,” he said. “The robbers have gone in the opposite direction. Come on, I saw where they came from. It’s plain they follow the river.”
The boys shook off the warm rugs. Jack flashed his torch round the comfortable recess to make sure they had left nothing behind. The light fell on a tiny shelf at the back. In it was something wrapped in a cloth. Jack unwrapped it in curiosity. Inside was a big Baronian loaf, crusty and stale.
“We’d better soak it in water and eat some,” said Jack, pleased. “I’m hungry enough to enjoy bread and water, even if you two aren’t! I suppose the robbers leave bread here to help themselves to when they rest in these rugs.”
When they pulled off the crust of the big loaf they found that the bread was not too hard to eat after all. They did not even need to soak it in water. Paul, as usual, had a big packet of the honey-flavoured Baronian chocolate with him, and the three boys thoroughly enjoyed their strange meal beside the rushing mountain river.
There was a flattish sort of cup on the little shelf where they had found the bread, and the boys dipped this into the clear river water and drank. It was as cold as ice, and tasted delicious.
Jack bent down to fill the cup again and something caught his eye, as he flashed his torch round. He stopped and gave a surprised exclamation.
“Whatever’s that? Look — that thing over there?”
The others looked. Tied by a leather thong to a jutting rock was what looked like a hollowed-out raft. It was broad and flat, with a hollow in the middle. The sides were strengthened with strip upon strip of leather, bound tightly over the edges.
“It’s a raft-boat, or boat-raft, whatever you like to call it!” said Mike, surprised. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. Isn’t it odd? What’s it for?”
“To go down the river, I imagine!” said Jack, joyfully. “My word, we shall soon get along if we use that raft!”
“But how did the men get here on it?” said Paul, puzzled. “They couldn’t float against the current, and it’s very strong here.”
“They probably crept up on the narrow rocky ledge that seems to run beside the river all the way,” said Jack. “But behind them each time they come, they must drag a raft like this, which they use to get themselves back quickly. I say, this is getting awfully exciting! We can take the raft for ourselves, and that will mean that we leave the robbers I saw just now far behind us, for they will have to walk along the ledge as we did, instead of using their boat. Come on — let’s try it!”
“I shouldn’t be surprised if it takes us right to the place where Ranni and Pilescu are prisoners,” said Paul. “Undo that leather thong, Mike, and let’s get into the funny boat.”
The boys untied the leather strip, and got into the hollow centre of the solid raft. It was absolutely unsinkable, made out of wood from a big tree, hollowed out carefully in the middle. The boys soon found out why the edges were bound so thickly and firmly with strips of leather!
They let the raft go free on the rushing stream. At once they floated into the dark tunnel from which Jack had seen the robbers come. The raft swung round and round as it went, and bumped hard against the rocky sides of the strange dark tunnel. The leather edges took off the worst jolts, but even so, the boys had to cling tightly to the raft to prevent themselves from being jerked overboard!
“This is the most exciting thing we’ve ever done!” shouted Jack, above the roar of the water. “Golly, aren’t we going fast! I hope we don’t come to a waterfall!”
Down they went on the rushing mountain river, down and down in the darkness. The raft rushed along as fast as a speed boat, and the three boys gasped for breath. Where did the river flow to?
In the Secret Forest
The raft rushed along, swinging and bobbing. Sometimes the water was smoother, and then the raft floated more slowly, but on the whole it rushed along at a terrific pace. Once the roof of the tunnel was so low that the boys had to crouch right down on the raft to prevent their heads being bumped hard against it.
“We’re going down and down,” said Jack. “The river must be running right through the mountain in a downward direction, and I suppose will come out at the other side.”
“The other side! Do you mean where the Secret Forest is?” cried Mike.
Jack nodded his head and his eyes gleamed eagerly in the light of Mike’s torch. “Yes! If the river does come out into the open, and I suppose it must at last, we s
hall be somewhere on the mountain-side overlooking the Secret Forest itself. So, you see, there is a way of getting there! And the robbers know it. I shouldn’t be surprised if that really was smoke I saw that day we flew over it in the aeroplane.”
The boys felt even more excited, if that was possible! They sat on the weird raft-boat and thought about their night’s adventure. It was stranger than any they had ever had. This mountain river seemed never-ending. How long did it go and on and on?
After about two hours a startling thing happened. Jack saw a light, bright and golden, far ahead of them. “Look!” he said. “What’s that?”
They floated rapidly nearer and nearer to the gleam, and soon they saw what it was. It was daylight, sunlight, bright and golden. They were soon coming out into the open air!
“We’ll be able to get off the raft and stretch our legs a bit!” said Jack, thankfully, for they were all beginning to feel very cramped indeed. But Jack was wrong. There was no getting off that raft yet!
It suddenly shot out into the open air, and the boys blinked their eyes, dazzled by the sudden bright sunshine. When they could see properly, they saw that they were indeed on the other side of the steep Killimooin Mountains!
Below them, not very far away, was the Secret Forest! The mountain river, after having flowed for miles through the mountain tunnels, was now flowing down the slopes of the hill, taking the raft with it. It spread out into a wide river, and the raft sailed along in the middle, where the current was swift and strong. There appeared to be no dangerous waterfall to navigate! That was very fortunate, Jack thought.
“Do you suppose this river goes right down to the Secret Forest?” said Mike, trying to see where it flowed, far ahead of them. He caught glimpses of silver here and there, near the forest. It really did look as if the river flowed to it!
“I believe it does,” said Jack, as the raft floated swiftly down the current. “We are getting nearer and nearer!”
After some time the river was very near to the great forest. The boys could see how wide and thick and dark it was. Now it no longer looked merely a great stretch of green; they could see the trees themselves, tall and close-set together. The river flowed on and on towards it.
The raft reached the outermost fringe of trees, and the river then disappeared into the forest. The boys were swept along on the raft, and as soon as they entered the forest, the sunshine disappeared, and a dim green light was all they had to see by.
“How dark and thick the trees are!” said Jack, awed. “The river must go right through this forest.”
“I wonder where it goes to,” said Mike. “Rivers all go to the sea. How can this one get out of this closed-in valley? You would think it would make a big lake — all this water flowing down the mountain-side like this, with nowhere to escape to!”
This was a puzzle, too. The boys thought about it as the raft swung along beneath the arching trees. Then, quite suddenly, they were in a big, wide pool, like a small lake, completely surrounded by trees. The river flowed through the pool, and out at the opposite side.
The raft swung to the side of the pool, and Jack gave a cry of surprise.
“This is where the robbers live! Look at those strange houses, or whatever you like to call them!”
The boys saw that round the lake-side were strange, beehive shaped houses, made of branches of trees and dried mud. From a hole at the top smoke appeared. Then Jack knew that he had been right when he thought he had seen a spiral of smoke from the aeroplane! The smoke from the bee-hive houses joined together as it rose into the air, and made a straight streak of blue smoke that hung almost motionless, for no wind came into that still valley.
No one was to be seen. If there was anyone in the huts, they must be sleeping, Jack thought! Their raft swung silently to the bank and the three boys leapt off at once. They crouched down in the bushes watching to see if anyone had noticed them. But nobody had. Not a soul appeared from the curious huts.
The boys were very hungry indeed, but they dared not go to ask for food. They whispered together, wondering what to do. Behind them was the deep, dark forest. In front was the great pool, out of which flowed the river, disappearing into the depths of the Secret Forest.
“Do you suppose all the robbers have gone up to the temple-cave?” whispered Mike. Jack shook his head. “No,” he said. “I only saw five or six. Hundreds must live here. Sh! Look, there are some children!”
The boys saw four or five children coming from the forest, going towards the huts. They had nothing on at all, except for a strip of skin round their waists. They were dirty, and their bright hair was tangled and long. They wore bright bird-feathers behind their ears, and looked real little ruffians.
A woman appeared at the door of one hut, and the children shouted to her. Paul turned to the others.
“Did you understand what those children said? They said they had been to see the big men who were prisoners! So Ranni and Pilescu must be here somewhere. Shall we try going along that path where the children came from?”
“We should get completely lost in the Secret Forest,” said Mike, feeling scared. “There are probably wolves here too. I almost wish we hadn’t come. We should have waited and come with the others!”
“We will go down the forest path,” said Paul, suddenly becoming the Prince of Baronia again. “Stay here if you do not wish to follow me. I, myself, will find Ranni and Pilescu!”
There was nothing for it but to follow Paul. He skirted the pool carefully and then found the narrow path down which the robber-children had come. It ran between the thickly-growing trees, and was evidently much used. Here and there the trees were curiously marked as if with an axe.
“Perhaps it’s the way the robbers have of marking their way through the forest,” said Paul.
“Yes — sort of signposts,” answered Jack, who had thought the same thing. “Well, as long as I see those marks, I shan’t feel lost!” They went on down the narrow, twisting path. It curved round trees, wandered between the thick trunks, and seemed never-ending. Now and again the children saw the axe-marks on a tree-trunk again. The forest was very quiet and still. No wind moved the branches of the trees. No bird sang. It was very mysterious and silent.
Jack’s sharp ears heard the sound of voices. “Someone’s coming!” he said. “Shin up a tree, quick!”
The three chose trees that did not seem too difficult to climb quickly. They were up them in a trice. A squirrel-like animal bounded away in alarm from Jack. The boy peered down between the branches.
He saw three more children going along, fortunately towards the pool they had left. They shouted to one another, and seemed to be playing some sort of hopping game. They soon passed, and did not guess that there were three pairs of anxious eyes following their movements from the branches above them.
As soon as the robber-children were out of sight the boys jumped down and went on again. “I hope that they haven’t hidden Ranni and Pilescu too far away!” said Jack, with a groan. “I’m getting tired again and awfully hungry!”
“So am I,” said Mike. Paul said nothing. He meant to go on until he found his men. He did not seem to be tired, though he looked it. Jack thought he was a very plucky boy indeed, for he was younger and smaller than the other two, and yet managed to keep up with them very well.
Jack stopped again and motioned to the others to listen. They stood still, and heard voices once more. Up a tree they went at once, but this time the voices did not come any nearer. Paul suddenly went red with excitement. He leaned towards Jack, who was on the branch next to him.
“Jack! I think that is Pilescu’s deep voice. Listen!”
They all listened, and through the forest came the deep tones of Pilescu’s voice, without a doubt. In a trice the boys had shinned down the tree again and were running down the path towards the voices.
They came out into a small clearing. In the middle of this there was a hole, or what looked like a hole from where the boys stood. Across the top of the h
ole were laid heavy beams of wood, separated each from the other by a few inches, to allow air to penetrate into the hole.
It was from this hole or pit that the voices came. Mike took a quick look round the clearing to see if anyone was there. But it seemed to be completely empty. He ran across to the pit.
“Ranni! Pilescu?” he cried, and Paul tried to force apart the heavy logs of wood.
“Ranni! Are you there? Pilescu, are you hurt?” cried Paul, in a low voice.
There was an astonished silence, and then came Ranni’s voice, mingled with Pilescu’s.
“Paul! Little lord! What are you doing here? Paul, can it be you?”
“Yes — I’m here and Mike and Jack,” said Paul. “We have come to rescue you.”
“But how did you get here?” cried Ranni, in amazement. “Did you come through the mountain and down the river into the depths of the Secret Forest?”
“Yes,” said Mike. “It has been a tremendous adventure, I can tell you.”
“Are you all all right?” asked Pilescu.
“Yes, except that we’re awfully hungry,” said Jack, with a laugh.
“If you can move those logs, with our help, we will give you food,” said Ranni. “We have some here in this pit. The robbers put bread and water here, and we have plenty. Goodness knows what they meant to do with us. I suppose they captured us because they knew we had found the secret of their coming and going, and did not want us to tell anyone.”
The boys began to try and move the heavy logs. Ranni and Pilescu helped them. They shifted little by little, though it was as much as the whole five of them could do to move them even an inch! At last, however, there was enough space for Ranni and Pilescu to squeeze out of the pit, and haul themselves up on to the level ground.
They sat there panting. “Not a nice prison at all,” said Ranni, jokingly, as he saw tears in Paul’s eyes. The boy had been very anxious about his two friends, and now that he had Ranni’s arm about him again, he was so relieved he felt almost like crying.
