“Both planes are fit to fly off at a moment’s notice,” said Ranni, appearing beside Pilescu, very oily and black, his red hair hanging wet and lank over his forehead.
“Ought we to leave anyone on guard?” asked Mike. “Suppose we come back and find that the planes have been damaged?”
Ranni frowned. “We will lock them of course, but I don’t think anyone would damage them. I just hope a herd of elephants doesn’t come and trample through them! We must just leave the planes and hope for the best.”
Pilescu had got ready big packages of food and a few warm clothes and rugs. Paul laughed when he saw the woollen jerseys.
“Good gracious, Pilescu, what are we taking those things for? I’d like to go about in a little pair of shorts and nothing else, like that small boy wears!”
“If we go into the mountains it will be much cooler,” said Pilescu. “You may be glad of jerseys then.”
The day passed slowly by. The children thought it would never end.
“Why is it that time always goes so slowly when you are looking forward to something lovely in the future?” grumbled Mike. “Honestly, this day seems like a week.”
But it passed at last, and the sudden night-time came. Monkeys chattered somewhere around, and big frogs in the washing-pool set up their usual tremendous croaking.
Next day, at dawn, their guide arrived, and behind him, as usual, came the little boy, his nephew, wearing his scanty shorts. The boy wore no hat at all, and the five children wondered why in the world he didn’t get sunstroke.
“I suppose he’s coming too,” said Jack, pleased. “I wonder what his name is. Ask him, Ranni.”
The boy grinned and showed all his white teeth when Ranni shouted to him. He answered in a shrill voice:
“Mafumu, Mafumu!”
“His name is Mafumu,” said Ranni. “All right, Mafumu, don’t shout your name at us any more!”
Mafumu was so overjoyed at being spoken to by the big Ranni that he kept shouting and wouldn’t stop.
“Mafumu, Mafumu, Mafumu!”
He was stopped in the usual way by his uncle, who slapped him hard on the head. Mafumu fell over, made a face at his uncle’s back, and got up again. The children were very glad he was coming with them. They really couldn’t help liking the cheeky little boy, with his twinkling black eyes and his flashing smile.
Ranni closed and locked the entrance door of the cockpit. Then, with a few backward glances at the two gleaming planes, the little company set off on their new adventure. They were silent as they left the camp, for all of them were wondering what might happen in the near future.
Then Mafumu broke the silence by lifting up his shrill voice and singing a strange slow song.
“Sounds a bit like one of the hymns we have in church,” said Mike. “Oh no — his uncle is going for him again. Golly, how I wish he’d stop — he is always hitting poor Mafumu.”
Mafumu was slapped into silence. He came behind the whole company, sulking, carrying a simply enormous load. His uncle also carried a great many packages, balanced most marvellously on his head. Ranni explained that the natives were used to carrying goods this way and thought nothing of taking heavy loads for many, many miles.
Soon the open space where the planes had landed was left behind. The little company came towards what looked like a wood, but which was really a small forest that reached almost to the foot of the nearest mountain.
It was very dark in the forest after the glare of the sunlight. The trees were so thick, and heavy rope-like creepers hung down from them everywhere. The children could see no path at all to follow, but the tribesman led them steadily on, never once upsetting any of the many packages piled up on his head.
The chattering of monkeys was everywhere. The children saw the little brown creatures peering down at them, and laughed with delight to see a mother monkey holding a tiny baby in her arms. Other wild creatures scuttled away, and once their guide gave a loud shout and flung his spear at a large snake that slid silently away.
“Oooh,” said Nora, startled. “I forgot there might be snakes here. I hope I don’t tread on one. I say, isn’t this an exciting forest? It’s like one in a fairy-tale. I feel as if witches and fairies might come out at any moment.”
“Well, just make sure you don’t wander off looking for fairy castles,” said Pilescu. There are probably lots of snakes and insects in the undergrowth, and you can be sure our guide is taking us by the safest path.”
Mafumu was enjoying himself. He was a long way behind his uncle, for the guide led the way, and Mafumu came at the tail of the company. Next to him was Jack, and Mafumu was doing his best to make friends with him.
He picked a brilliant scarlet blossom from one of the trees and tried to stick it behind Jack’s ear. Jack was most annoyed, and the others laughed till they cried at the sight of Jack with a red flower behind his ear. Mafumu thought that Jack didn’t like the colour of the flower, so he picked a bright blue one and tried that.
Jack found himself decorated with this flower, and he took it from his ear crossly, whilst the others giggled again.
“Shut up, Mafumu,” he said.
Mafumu was very quick at picking up what he heard the children say, even though he did not understand the words. “Shutup, shutup, shutup,” he repeated in delight. He called to Ranni. “Shutup, shutup, shutup!”
Nobody could help laughing at Mafumu. He was so silly, so cheerful, so quick, and even when his uncle was unkind to him he was smiling a moment later.
He still badly wanted to make friends with Jack, and the next present he made to the boy was a large and juicy-looking fruit of some sort. He pressed it into Jack’s hand, flashing his white teeth, and saying some thing that sounded like “Ammakeepa-lotti-loo.”
Jack looked at the fruit. He smelt it. It had a most delicious scent, and smelt as sweet as honey. “Is it safe to eat this, Ranni?” he called.
Ranni looked round and nodded. “Yes — that is a rare fruit, only found in forests like these. Did Mafumu find it for you?”
“Yes,” said Jack. “He keeps on giving me things. I wish he wouldn’t.”
“Well, tell him to give them to me instead,” cried Peggy. “I’d love to have those beautiful flowers and that delicious-looking yellow fruit. It looks like a mixture of an extra-large pear and a giant grape!”
Jack tasted it. It was the loveliest fruit he had ever had, so sweet that it seemed to be made of honey. The boy gave a taste to the two girls. They made faces of delight, and Nora called to Mafumu.
“Find some more please, Mafumu; find some more!”
“Shutup, shutup, shutup,” replied Mafumu cheerfully, quite understanding what Nora meant, and thinking that his answer was correct. He disappeared into the forest and was gone such a long time that the children began to be alarmed.
“Ranni! Do you think Mafumu is all right?” shouted Jack from the back of the line. “He’s been gone for ages. He won’t get lost, will he?”
Ranni spoke to the guide in front. The man laughed and made some sort of quick answer.
“He says that Mafumu knows his forest as an ant knows its own anthill,” translated Ranni. “He says, too, that he would not care at all if Mafumu were eaten by a crocodile or caught by a leopard. He doesn’t seem at all fond of his small nephew, does he?”
“I think he’s a horrid man,” said Peggy. “My goodness — are there leopards about?”
“Well, you needn’t worry even if there are,” said Ranni. “Pilescu and I have guns, and our leader has plenty of spears ready.”
It was cool and dark in the forest and the little company were able to go for a long way without resting, twisting and turning through the trees. Frogs croaked somewhere, and birds called harshly. Jack spotted some brightly coloured parrots, and there were some rather queer squirrel-like creatures that hopped from branch to branch. The monkeys were most interested in the children, and a little crowd of them swung through the trees, following the company for quite a long way.