But they did not return. There was no sound to make Ranni alert. The others slept peacefully, and the boys did not stir. Ranni glanced at his watch after a long time had passed. Six o’clock already! It was sunrise outside the mountain. The world would be flooded with light. Here it was as dark as midnight, and cold. Ranni was glad of his warm cloak.
Pilescu awoke a little while later. He spoke to Ranni.
“Have you heard anything, Ranni?”
“Nothing,” said Ranni. “It is nearly seven o’clock, Pilescu. Shall we wake the boys and go on? There is no use in staying here. Even if the robbers are lying in wait for us above, we must push on!”
“Yes,” said Pilescu, yawning. “I feel better now. I think I could tackle four or five of those ruffians at once. I will wake the boys.”
He awoke them all. They did not want to open their eyes! But at last they did, and soon sat munching some of the bread they had found on the little shelf nearby the night before.
Ranni told them how the robbers had gone by in the night without discovering them.
“It’s not very nice to think they’re somewhere further up, waiting for us!” said Mike, feeling uncomfortable. “I suppose they’ll be in one of the caves. “We’ll have to look out!”
“We’ll look out all right!” said Jack, who, like Pilescu, felt all the better for his night’s sleep. “I’m not standing any nonsense from wolf-tailed robbers!”
They left the platform, and made their way to the ledge that ran beside the river, beyond the platform. As usual Ranni went first, having tied them all together firmly.
“It’s not so very far up to the waterfall cave from here, as far as I remember,” said Jack. “About two hours or so.”
They began to stumble along the rocky ledge again, the water splashing over their feet. The boys were surprised to find that the ledge was now ankle-deep in water.
“It wasn’t when we came down this way,” said Mike. “Was it as deep as this when you and Pilescu were brought down by the robbers, Ranni?”
“No,” said Ranni, puzzled. “It barely ran over the ledge. Look out — it’s quite deep here — the river is overflowing its channel by about a foot. We shall be up to our knees!”
So they were. It was very puzzling and rather disturbing. Why was the river swelling like that?
In the Cave of the Waterfall
The higher they went, the deeper the water became that overflowed the ledge. The river roared more loudly, too. Ranni puzzled over it and then suddenly realized the reason.
“It is the terrific rainstorm that has caused the river to swell!” he called back, his voice rising over the roar of the water. “The rain has soaked deep into the mountain, and has made its way to the river. You know what a rainstorm we had yesterday — it seemed as if whole seas of water had been emptied down on the earth. The river is swelling rapidly. I hope it doesn’t swell much more, or we shall find it impossible to get along.”
This was a very frightening thought. It would be dreadful to be trapped in the mountain tunnel, with the rushing river rising higher and higher. The three boys put their best feet forward and went as quickly as they could.
When nearly two hours had gone by, they began to hope they were nearing the waterfall cave. The river by now had risen above their knees and it was difficult to stagger along, because the water pulled against them the whole time. Ranni and Pilescu began to feel very anxious.
But, quite suddenly, they heard the sound of the waterfall that fell down into the big cave! It could only be the waterfall they heard, for the noise was so tremendous. “We are nearly there!” yelled Ranni.
“Look out for the robbers!” shouted back Jack.
They rounded the last bit of the ledge, and, by the light of Ranni’s torch, saw that at last they were in the big cave, from which led the passage that would take them to the cave below the temple. They all felt very thankful indeed.
There was no sign of the robbers. The five of them went cautiously into the cave and looked round. By the light of Ranni’s torch the waterfall seemed to be much bigger than they had remembered. It fell from a great hole in the roof of the cave, and then ran down the channel to the tunnel, where it disappeared.
“It is greater now,” said Ranni. “It must be much swollen by all the rain that fell yesterday. It already fills the hole through which it falls.”
“What will happen if the hole can’t take all the extra water?” asked Jack, curiously.
“I don’t know,” said Ranni. “Now, what shall we do next? Where are those robbers? Are they lying in wait for us somewhere? Are they up in the cave below the temple — or have they gone out on the mountain-side to rob again?”
“Well there’s nothing for it but to go and see,” said Pilescu. You boys stay down here, whilst Ranni and I go through the passage to the other cave.”
“No — we’ll go with you,” said Paul, at once.
“That would be foolish,” said Pilescu. “There is no need for all of us to put ourselves in danger. You will stay here until I or Ranni come back to tell you that it is safe for us all to go back down the mountain-side to the castle.”
The boys watched the two big Baronians disappear into the narrow passage at the end of the cave opposite the great waterfall. It was difficult to stay behind and wait in patience. They sat in a corner and watched the tremendous fall of water at the other end of the cave.
“It’s roaring as if it was angry!” said Jack. “I don’t believe that hole is big enough now for all the volume of water to pour through. It will burst it bigger. I’m sure of it!”
“Well, the hole’s made through the solid rock,” said Mike. “It will have to burst the rock!”
Even as they spoke, a frightening thing happened. The water falling from the roof seemed suddenly to become bigger in volume and noise — and the boys saw a great mass of rock fall slowly from the roof! As Jack had said, the hole was no longer big enough to take the rush of water, and the force of its rush had burst away part of the solid, rocky roof!
Water at once flowed over the floor of the cave, almost to the feet of the astonished boys. They leapt up at once, staring at the water falling from the roof at the other end of the cave.
“I say! I hope the whole roof doesn’t give way!” said Jack. “There must be a terrific rush of water to burst through the rock like that.”
Nothing more happened, except that the extra volume of water made more noise and flooded the floor of the cave almost up to where the boys stood.
“Well, anyway, we’re safe,” said Mike. “We are just at the opening of the passage that leads upwards to the other cave. The water comes from the other direction. If it gets deep in here we’ll have to go up the passage, that’s all, away from it.”
It got no deeper, however, so the boys waited patiently. Twenty miriutes went by, and there was no sign of the return of Ranni or Pilescu. Mike began to feel worried.
“I wish they’d come back,” he said. “I feel as if I can’t stay here doing nothing much longer!”
“Whatever are Ranni and Pilescu doing?” said Jack, impatiently. “They must be right out on the mountainside by now!”
“Let’s go up the passage and find out,” said Paul, at last. “I simply can’t sit here any longer.”