Everyone laughed. They had put on woollen jerseys now and were glad of them, especially when clouds rolled down the mountain-side and covered them in mist. They were glad of hot drinks, too, heated over a fire of sticks.
Mafumu always knew where water was, and he brought it to the fire in the saucepan that Ranni gave him. It was easy to make hot cocoa with plenty of sugar in it from one of the packages, and how good it tasted!
They slept in a cave that night, stretched out on the rugs. The girls cuddled together for it was very cold. Mafumu slept on nothing at all, and did not seem to feel the cold in the least. He really was a most tough little boy.
Ranni and Pilescu did not both sleep at the same time, but took turns at keeping watch — not only for any mountain leopard that might come into the cave, but also for any of the Folk from the Secret Mountain! They did not know what such strange people might do.
Mafumu was curled up on the rocky ground by Jack. Jack had offered him a share of the rug, but the boy would not take any of Jack’s coverings. He even tried to cover Jack up, much to the amusement of everyone else.
“He wants to be your nurse,” chuckled Mike.
“Oh, do stop making jokes like that,” grumbled poor Jack. “I can’t help Mafumu behaving like this, can I? He will keep on doing it.”
“Tomorrow we shall see the Secret Mountain,” said Nora sleepily. “I’m just longing to get my first glimpse of it. I wonder what it will be like.”
“I wonder if Mafumu’s unpleasant uncle can possibly tell us any way to get into it,” said Mike. “It’s not going to be much good gazing at a secret mountain, if we don’t know the secret of getting into the middle of it!”
“Do you suppose there are halls and rooms and passages in it?” said Peggy, cuddling closer to Nora to try and get warm. “How I do love secret things!”
Mafumu took hold of Jack’s rug and pulled it more closely over the elder boy and for once in a way Jack did not stop him. The boy was almost asleep. He lay there in the cave, his eyes closing.
“Goodnight, Mafumu,” said Jack sleepily.
“Hallo, goodnight,” answered Mafumu, happy to be with his new friends.
“Tomorrow we shall see the — the — Secret — Mountain,” murmured Jack, and then fell fast asleep.
Tomorrow — yes, tomorrow!
The Secret Mountain
The next day dawned very misty. White clouds rolled round about the mountain pass, and it was difficult to see very far ahead. The children were most disappointed.
But as they walked steadily upwards towards the rocky pass between the two mountains, the sun began to shine more strongly through the mists, and soon the last fragments disappeared.
“Isn’t everything glorious!” cried Mike, looking round. Below them lay the great hillside they had climbed, and in the distance, stretching for miles, they could see the rolling country of Africa. Above them towered the mountains and overhead was the blazing sky.
“All the colours look so much brighter here,” said Peggy, picking a brilliant orange flower and sticking it into her hat. “Oh, Mafumu, for goodness sake!”
Mafumu had darted forward when he saw Peggy picking the flower, and had plucked a great armful of the orange flowers, which he now presented to her. The little girl laughed and took them. She didn’t know what to do with them, but in the end she and Nora stuck them all round their hats.
“I feel like a walking garden now,” said Nora. “I wish Mafumu wouldn’t be so generous!”
“Soon we shall arrive at the place from which we get our first glimpse of the Secret Mountain,” said Ranni.
That made everyone walk forward even more eagerly. For three hours they climbed towards the rocky pass, the guide leading the way, finding a path even when it seemed almost impossible to get by. Sometimes there was hard climbing to be done, and Ranni and Pilescu had to pull and push the children to get them up the hillside or over big rocks. Sometimes they passed through thick little copses of strange trees, where brilliant birds called to one another. It was all unknown country and most exciting.
At last they reached the top of the pass. From here they could see the other side of the range of mountains. Truly it was a marvellous place to stand! From this mountain peep-hole the little company could see both east and west — rolling country behind them for miles, disappearing into purple hills — and in front another range of mountains towering high into the sky, with a narrow valley in between the mountains they were on, and the range opposite.
Everyone stood silent, even the guide. It was surely the most wonderful sight in the world, the children thought, Then Paul spoke eagerly.
“Which is the Secret Mountain? Where is it? Quick, tell us!”
Ranni spoke to the guide, and he raised his spear and pointed with it. He spoke shortly to Ranni.
Ranni turned to the listening children. “Do you see that mountain over there, with clouds rolling round it? Wait till they clear a little, and you will see that the mountain has a curiously flat top. You will also see that it has a yellowish look, because, so this fellow says, a rare yellow bush grows there, which at some season of the year turns a fiery red.”
This all sounded rather weird. The children gazed across to the opposite mountains — and each saw the one that had clouds covering it. As they watched, the clouds uncurled themselves, and became thinner and thinner, at last disappearing altogether. And then everyone could see the curious Secret Mountain!
It stood out baldy from the other because of its yellow appearance, and also because of its strange summit. This was almost flat, like a table-top. The guide raised his spear again, and pointed, muttering something to Ranni.
“He says that he has heard that the Folk of the Mountain sometimes appear on the top of it, and that they worship the sun from there,” said Ranni. “Though how anyone could see people so far away I can’t imagine. However, it is quite possible that there is a way up inside the mountain to the top.”
“Isn’t it strange to think of a tribe of people taking such a queer home, and living there apart from everyone else?” said Jack in wonder.
“Oh, that has often happened,” said Pilescu. “Sometimes there are tribes living apart from others in the middle of dense forests — sometimes on islands — sometimes even in deserts. But a mountain certainly seems one of the strangest places to choose.”
“I suppose they come out to hunt, and that is how the other people know about them,” said Mike.
“I think you are right,” said Ranni. “Well — there’s the wonderful Secret Mountain — and here we are. The mountain won’t come to us, so we must go to the mountain. Shall we set off again, Pilescu?”
The guide spoke rapidly to Ranni, making faces and waving his arms about.
“He says he doesn’t want to come any further,” said Ranni. “Is it any good his coming?” He swears he doesn’t know any way into the mountain.”
“He’s going to come with us all the way,” said Pilescu firmly. “He may find that he knows the way in after all, once we get there! Anyway, he won’t get paid if he doesn’t come.”
“Where is the money?” asked Nora. “It’s not being carried along with us, is it?”
“Of course not,” said Ranni with a laugh.
“Well, did you put it back into the cabin of the plane?” said Jack. “You locked that.”
“No. I wrapped up the money carefully and hid it under the low brances of that big tree by the washing-pool before we left,” said Ranni. “I shall tell our guide where it is when he has done his job — but not before!”
“That’s a clever idea,” said Peggy. Ranni turned to the man and spoke to him again. He shook his head violently. Ranni shrugged his shoulders, and bade the little company set off.