He flashed it on — and the boys jumped in fright. Even Ranni and Pilescu jumped. For there, at the back of the temple-like cave, was a big stone man, seated on a low, flat rock!
“Oooh!” said Paul, and found Ranni’s hand at once.
“It’s an old statue!” said Jack, laughing at himself, and feeling ashamed of his sudden fright. “Look — there are more, very broken and old. Aren’t they odd? However did they get here?”
“Long, long ago the Baronians believed in strange gods,” said Ranni. “These are probably stone images of them. This must be an ancient temple, forgotten and lost, known only to Beowald.”
“That sitting statue is the only one not broken,” said Jack. “It’s got a great crack down the middle of its body though — look. I guess one day it will fall in half. What a horrid face the stone man has got — sort of sneering.”
“They are very rough statues,” said Pilescu, running his hand over them. “I have seen the same kind in other places in Baronia. Always they were in mountain-side temples like this.”
“Let’s go home!” called Nora, who was beginning to be very tired. “What sort of stone men have you found? Come and tell us.”
“Only statues, cowardy custard,” said Jack, coming out of the ruined temple. “You might just as well have seen them. Gee-up, there! Off we go!”
Off they went again, on the downward path towards Killimooin Castle, which could be seen very plainly now in the distance. In a short while Beowald said goodbye and disappeared into the bushes that grew just there. His goats followed him. The children could hear him playing on his flute, a strange melody that went on and on like a brook bubbling down a hill.
“I like Beowald,” said Nora. “I’d like him for a friend. I wish he wasn’t blind. I think it’s marvellous the way he finds the path and never falls.”
The ponies trotted on and on, and at last came to the path that led straight down and round to the castle steps. Ranni took them to stable them, and Pilescu took the five tired children up the steps and into the castle.
They ate an enormous late tea, and then yawned so long and loud that Pilescu ordered them to bed.
“What, without supper!” said Paul.
“Your tea must be your supper,” said Pilescu. “You are all nearly asleep. This strong mountain air is enough to send a grown man to sleep. Go to bed now, and wake refreshed in the morning.”
The children went up to bed. “I’m glad we managed to see the Secret Forest,” said Jack. “And that funny temple with those old stone statues. I’d like to see them again.”
He did — and had a surprise that was most unexpected!
Robbers!
A few days went by, days of wandering in the lower slopes of the mountain, looking for wild raspberries and watching the swift shy little animals that lived on the mountain. Yamen and Tooku told the children more tales, and nodded their heads when Jack told them of the ruined temple and the queer statues.
“Ah yes — it is very old. People do not go near it now because it is said that the statues come alive and walk at night.”
The children screamed with laughter at this. They thought some of the old superstitions were very funny. It seemed as if Yamen really believed in fairies and brownies, for always when she made butter, she put down a saucer of yellow cream by the kitchen door.
“It is for the brownie who lives in my kitchen!” she would say.
“But, Yamen, your big black cat drinks the cream, not the brownie,” Nora would say. But Yamen would shake her grey head and refuse to believe it.
Yamen used to go to buy what was needed at the village near the foot of the mountain each week. She had a donkey of her own, and Tooku had two of these sturdy little creatures. Tooku used sometimes to go with Yamen, and the third donkey would trot along behind them, with big baskets slung each side of his plump body, to bring back the many things Yamen bought for the household.
One day Yamen and Tooku started out with the third donkey behind them as usual. They set off down the track, and the children shouted goodbye.
“We shall be back in time to give you a good tea!” called Yamen. “You shall have new-baked rusks with honey.”
But when tea-time came there was no Yamen, no Tooku. Ranni and Pilescu looked out of the great doorway of the castle, puzzled. The two should be in sight, at least. It was possible to see down the track for a good way.
“I hope they haven’t had an accident,” said Nora.
An hour went by, and another. The children had had their tea, and were wandering round the castle, throwing stones down a steep place, watching them bounce and jump.
“Look!” said Ranni, suddenly. Everyone looked down the track. One lone donkey was coming slowly along, with someone on his back, and another person stumbling beside him. Ranni ran to get a pony and was soon galloping along the track to find out what had happened.
The children waited anxiously. They were fond of Tooku and Yamen. As soon as the three climbed the steps of the castle, the children surrounded them.
“What’s the matter, Yamen? Where are the other donkeys, Tooku? What have you done to your arm?”
“Aie, aie!” wept Yamen. “The robbers came and took our goods and our donkeys! Tooku tried to stop them but they broke his arm for him. Aie-aie, what bad luck we have had this day! All the goods gone, and the two fine little donkeys!”
“They took all three,” said Tooku, “But this one, my own good creature, must have escaped, for we heard him trotting after us as we hastened back home on foot.”
“What were the robbers like?” asked Jack.
“Strange enough,” answered Yamen. “Small and wiry, with strips of wolf-skin round their middles. Each had a wolf’s tail, dyed red, hanging behind him. Aie-aie, they were strange enough and fierce enough!”
“We heard tales in the town,” said Tooku, to Ranni and Pilescu. “Many travellers have been robbed. These robbers take goods but not money. They come down from the mountains like goats, and they go back, no man knows where!”
“Have the villagers searched for their hiding-place?” asked Ranni. “Have they hunted all about the mountain-sides?”
“Everywhere!” said Yamen. “Yes, not a place, not a cave has been forgotten. But nowhere is there a sign of the fierce robbers with their red wolves’ tails!”
“Poor Yamen!” said Nora. The frightened woman was sitting in a chair, trembling. Pilescu bound up Tooku’s arm. It was not broken, but badly gashed. The children felt very sorry.
Paul’s mother soon heard of the disturbance and she was angry and upset. “To think that such things should happen in Baronia!” she cried. “I will send word to the king, and he shall send soldiers to search the mountainside.”
“The mountain-folk themselves have already done that,” said Ranni. “If they have found nothing, the soldiers will find even less! It is a mystery where these men come from!”
“Perhaps they come from the Secret Forest!” said Jack. The others laughed at him.
“Idiot! Come from a place where nobody can go to!” said Mike.
“You children will not stir from this place without Ranni or Pilescu!” said Paul’s mother.
“Madam, they have already promised not to,” said Ranni. “Do not be anxious. They are safe with us. We have always our revolvers with us.”