“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 shall 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!”