The children crowded round him, hugging him and raining questions. “You should have seen me yesterday!” yelled Paul, who was now very proud of his narrow escape. “I wore clothes of gold and sun-rays on my head!”
Captain and Mrs. Arnold were delighted too, though the Captain kept a stern eye on the Mountain Folk, who were crowded together, trembling, watching the aeroplane.
“They look as if they expect it to jump on them, or bark at them or something,” grinned Jack.
“I think it would be a good thing if we took off at once,” said Ranni. “You never know when these people will find their senses and start making things unpleasant for us! They’ve only got to damage our plane and we are done for!”
“Here comes Pilescu with my plane!” cried Paul in delight, as the big blue and silver aeroplane circled overhead, making a tremendous noise. The mountains around threw the echoes back, and the aeroplane sounded like a rumbling thunderstorm! Round and round it circled, and the Mountain Folk gave groans of terror and threw themselves on their faces again.
The little prince’s plane made just as good a landing as the White Swallow. It let down its wheels and lightly touched the ground, running along smoothly over the enormous courtyard.
“Really, it is a perfect landing-ground!” said Captain Arnold, watching. “Smooth, big, and with plenty of wind!”
The blue and silver plane came to a stop. The door of the cockpit opened as the engines stopped. Pilescu looked out, his eyes hidden by sun-glasses. Ranni had not worn them, and the sight of Pilescu gave the Mountain Folk an even bigger fright!
Half of them rushed to the big stairway and disappeared down it, shouting. The other half, with the chief, knelt on the ground, the chief muttering something.
“He say, ‘Big chief want mercy!’” grinned Mafumu, who was now enjoying himself immensely.
“Well, if he thinks I’m going to throw him down the mountain-side or take him off in the planes, he’s mistaken,” said Captain Arnold. “I shan’t take any notice of him at all. Come along — we really ought to get off at once. It is a miraculous escape from great danger.”
“The two planes will easily take us all,” said Mike joyfully. “Who’s going in which?”
“Ranni, Pilescu, Paul, Jack and the girls can go in Paul’s big plane,” said Captain Arnold. “I’d like Mike with us — and Mafumu had better come with me too. We can’t leave him here.”
They all began to climb up into the two cockpits. It didn’t take long. Pilescu took the controls of his plane and looked round.
“All ready?” he asked. Then he looked again. “Where’s Paul? I thought he was to come in this plane.”
“He’s not here,” said Jack. “I expect he climbed into the White Swallow. I know he always wanted to fly in her.”
“Right,” said Pilescu, and pulled at a handle. But Ranni stopped him.
“We must see if Paul is in the other plane!” he said. “We don’t want to arrive in England and find that Paul isn’t in either plane!”
Ranni opened the door of the cockpit again and leaned out. He yelled to the White Swallow. “Hallo there! Have you got Paul all right?”
“What?” yelled Captain Arnold, who was just about to take off.
“Is PAUL with you?” shouted Ranni.
“No,” shouted back Captain Arnold, after a quick look round his own plane. “I said he was to go with you. The White Swallow isn’t big enough for more than four.”
Ranni went white. He loved the little Prince better than anyone else in the world — and here they were, about to take off from the mountain-top without Paul! Whatever in the world had become of him?
Ranni leapt out of the plane. Nora called to him. “Look. Isn’t that Paul over there in the temple?”
Ranni rushed towards the temple, imagining that all kinds of dreadful things were happening to the little prince. He took out his gun, quite determined to give the whole of the Mountain Folk the worst shock of their lives if they were taking little Paul a prisoner again!
Nobody but Paul was in the temple. He was in a corner struggling with something. Ranni gave a roar.
“Paul! What is it? We nearly went without you!”
Paul stood up. In his arms was the beautiful shimmering robe of golden cloth that he had worn the day before, and over his shoulder he had slung his sun-ray headdress. Young Paul was determined to take those back to school with him, to show his admiring friends. How else would they believe him when he told them of his great adventure?
He had slipped away from his party when no one was looking, for he had felt certain that Captain Arnold would say no, if he asked if he might go and get the garments. The clothes had been difficult to gather up and carry, and Paul did not realise that the planes were starting off so soon!
“Hallo, Ranni! I just went to get these sun-clothes of mine,” said Paul. “You haven’t seen them, Ranni. Look, you must….”
But to Paul’s enormous astonishment Ranni gave him a resounding slap, picked up the boy, clothes and all, and ran back to the big blue and silver plane with him. The Mountain Folk, seeing Ranni run, began to jabber, and one or two picked up their spears.
A gleaming spear flew past Ranni’s big head. He dodged to one side, sprang up the ladder of the cockpit and threw Paul on to a seat.
“The little idiot had gone into the temple to get his sun-clothes!” said Ranni, angry and alarmed because they had so nearly gone without Paul.
Paul was angry too. He sat up on the seat. “How dare you hit me?” he shouted to Ranni. “I’ll tell the King, my father. He’ll, he’ll, he’ll…”
“Shut up, Paul,” said Jack. “I’ll slap you myself if you say any more! You might have stopped us escaping. The Mountain Folk are looking rather nasty now.”
Sure enough some of them were creeping towards the planes, spears in hand. Both planes started up their engines. The throbbing noise arose on the air again. The Mountain Folk shrank back in alarm.
The White Swallow took off first. Gracefully she rose into the air, circled round twice, and then made off over the mountains. Then the blue and silver plane rose up and she was off too.
Jack looked downwards. Already the Secret Mountain looked far off and small. He could just see the folk there running about like ants. How angry they must be because their prisoners had escaped in such an extraordinary way!
“Well, we’re off again,” said Jack to the girls. “And glad as I was to see the Secret Mountain, I am even gladder to leave it behind! Cheer up, Paul, don’t look so blue! We’re safe now, even though you nearly messed things up!”
Prince Paul was feeling very foolish. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t think. Anyway, thank goodness I’ve got the sun-clothes. Won’t the boys at school think I’m lucky! I shall dress up in them and show the Head.”
Everyone laughed. It was exciting to be in the plane again. Jack called to Ranni.
“Ranni! You haven’t told us your adventures yet. How did you escape from the Secret Mountain?”
“It was unexpectedly easy,” shouted back Ranni, who was sitting beside Pilescu. “No one suspected that Pilescu and I were anything but ordinary Mountain Folk when we went down the golden stairway with them. We went down and down for ages and at last came to a big cave where most of them seem to live.”
“Oh yes, Mafumu and I once saw that,” said Jack. “Go on, Ranni.”
“We didn’t like to go and sit in the cave in case somebody spoke to us and we couldn’t answer in their language,” said Ranni. “So we waited about in a passage until we saw a little party of the Mountain Folk going along with spears. We thought they must be going hunting so we joined them, walking behind them.”
“How exciting!” said Nora. “Didn’t they guess who you were?”
“Not once,” said Ranni. “We followed them down all kinds of dark passages until we came into the big hall-like place whose steps lead up to the rock-entrance. They worked a lever and the big door slid open. Then they set that great rock turning and sliding, and the way was open to us!”