Ranni halted after a while. He flashed his torch here and there. He had gone from the path!
“We are not very far from it,” he said. “I saw the axe-marks in a tree only a little way back. We must look for them.”
It was anxious work looking for the axe-marks which would tell them they were once more on the right path. Mike felt very uncomfortable as he wondered what would happen if they really got lost in that enormous forest! He thought he saw two gleaming eyes looking at him from between the trees and he jumped.
“Is that a wolf?” he whispered to Jack. But it was only his imagination! There was no wolf, merely a couple of shining leaves caught in the light of Ranni’s brilliant torch!
“Ah!” said Ranni, at last, in a glad voice. “Here is the path again. And look, there are axe-marks on that tree. Now we can go forward again. Keep a look-out, all of you, for the axe-marks that tell us we are on the right path.”
Everyone watched anxiously for the marks after that. It was impossible to stray far from the path if they followed the marks. They were made at regular intervals, and the little company soon made steady progress.
“We must be near the encampment!” said Ranni at last, in a low voice. “Can you hear the lapping of water? I think we are nearing that big pool.”
In another minute his torch shone on to the glittering waters of the pool. They had reached the cluster of huts. If only the robbers did not see or hear them!
A Way of Escape?
Everything was quiet. There were only a few small night-sounds — the lapping of the water, the squeal of some small animal, the splash of a fish jumping. There was nothing else to be heard at all.
The five stood quite still beside the big pool, listening. A curious sound came on the air, and the boys clutched one another.
“It’s all right,” whispered Ranni, a laugh in his voice. It’s only one of the robbers snoring in the nearest hut!”
So it was. The sound came again, and then died away. Ranni, who had switched off his torch, switched it on again. He wanted to find the raft that Paul had told him about. Luckily it was quite near him, about ten yards away, tied to a tree.
“Did you come down the mountain river on a raft like that?” whispered Paul to Ranni. The big man answered in a low voice.
“We came on a raft only as far as the outlet of the river, just where it leaves the mountain. The men steered the raft to the bank there, and we all jumped off. They tied up the raft and we walked the rest of the way to the Secret Forest. Apparently, whenever the robbers go up to the Temple Cave they walk along the ledge beside the mountain river, and drag a raft up with them, floating it on the rushing water. It must be hard work!”
“Oh! Then that’s why there are no rafts to be seen on this pool,” said Jack, who had been puzzling about this. “They only use them inside the mountain, to bring them down quickly.”
“Sh!” said Pilescu, warningly. “We had better not talk any more. Hold your torch higher, Ranni, so that I can see to untie the raft.”
It did not take long to free the raft. Ranni found a broken branch to use as a paddle. He did not want to be completely at the mercy of the river. With the branch to use, he could steer a little, and, if necessary, bring the raft to the bank.
“Get on the raft,” whispered Ranni. They all got into the hollowed-out piece in the centre. It was a tight fit! Ranni pushed the raft into the centre of the big pool, where it was caught in the current that flowed through it. The raft swung along at once, very slowly but surely. Soon it was out of the pool and on the river, which ran through the Secret Forest for miles.
It was very weird and mysterious, swinging along on the swift river, through the heart of the dark forest. Sometimes branches of trees swept down low and bumped the heads of the travellers, scraping their faces. It was impossible to prevent them. Ranni tried shining his torch so that they might have warning of overhanging boughs but the river was swift, and the down-sweeping branches were on them before they knew.
The boys huddled against one another, stiff and uncomfortable. When a big branch nearly took Paul overboard and gave him a great bruise on his forehead, Ranni decided to moor the raft till the night was over. He did not expect the robbers to pursue them down the river, because they had no boats.
So he tied the raft to a tree, and the five of them nibbled bread and talked in low voices. Ranni fell off to sleep after a while, but the boys were wide-awake now. Pilescu kept watch. It seemed a long long time till dawn, but at last it came. The trees were so thick just there that the boys could see no sunlight, only a gradual lightening around them, as the tree trunks began to show, and the leaves to take on colour.
“We’ll go on now,” said Ranni. He untied the raft and on they went again, caught by the strong current. Now they could see when branches of trees would scrape over the raft, and Ranni steered to avoid them.
The river wound in and out, and suddenly took a great curve, almost doubling back on itself.
“I hope it doesn’t flow back very far!” said Pilescu. “We don’t want to land back near the robber camp!”
The river did wind back a good way, and at one part, although the little company did not know it, it was only about a mile from the robbers! It had a strange course in the Secret Forest. It flowed half-way through, doubled back, and finally flowed out of the trees about six miles from where it first flowed in. The travellers did not know this, though Ranni could tell, by the position of the sun, that they were now travelling almost in the opposite direction.
The trees suddenly thinned, and sunshine flooded down here and there, almost dazzling the two men and the three boys. The river flowed more rapidly, and the raft bobbed about.
“We are coming out of the Secret Forest!” said Jack, shading his eyes and looking forward. “The trees are getting thinner and thinner. Where does this river go, I wonder? I do wish it would take us right through the mountains somewhere and out at the other side. Then we could just walk round them till we come to Killimooin Castle.”
“Not so easily done!” said Pilescu.
A shout made them turn their heads. To their horror, between the trees, they saw one of the robbers! He called out something, and then ran off to tell his comrades, his red wolf-tail swinging behind him.
Six or seven more came running with him after a few minutes, and they stood watching the raft as it swung along in the distance.
One robber yelled something after them. “What did he say?” asked Jack. Ranni looked a little solemn.
“He speaks a curious dialect,” he said, “But I think I understood him to say, “Soon, soon, you will be in the middle of the earth!” I wonder what he meant.”
Everyone thought about it. “Do you think it means that the river goes down underground?” asked Jack. “Well if it does, it’s what we want, isn’t it?”
“It depends on whether there is room for the raft or not,” said Ranni. “We must keep a sharp look-out.”
The river ran on. The boys saw the mountains of Killimooin around them. In front of them, slightly to the left, was the one they knew, on the other side of which Killimooin Castle was built. It looked very different from this side, but the summit was the same shape.
Suddenly they heard a terrific roaring sound ahead of them. Quick as thought Ranni plunged the tree-branch into the water and tried to steer the raft out of the current. But it was very swift and the raft kept on its course.
Jack saw that the big Baronian looked pale and anxious as he tried in vain to swing the raft from its steady course. “What’s the matter?” he asked.