The Secret of Killimooin - - Страница 13

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“Look here!” he said.

The others came to him and looked down at the ground, where his torch made a round ring of bright light. In the light was the print of a small bare foot. Jack swung his torch here and there, and on the floor of the temple other footprints could be seen — all small and bare, the toes showing clearly.

“Someone comes here quite a lot!” said Jack.

“More than one person,” said Mike, kneeling down and looking closely at a few prints with his torch. “These are not the prints of the same person’s feet. Look at this print here — all the toes are straight — but this one has a crooked big toe-print. And that one is a little larger than the others.”

“It couldn’t be Beowald’s prints, could it?” asked Nora, remembering the bare feet of the goatherd.

“No. His feet are much bigger than those shown in these prints,” said Mike. “I remember thinking what big feet he had.”

“Well — could it be the robbers’ footprints?” cried Peggy, suddenly.

“It might be,” said Jack. “But they are plainly not here — not living here, I mean! Anyway, they would be discovered easily enough if they did live here. Beowald would know.”

Ranni called the children. “Come along. Tea is ready. We must hurry now, because it looks as if a mist is coming up.

The children hurried out of the dark temple into the bright sunshine. They sat down to have their tea, telling Ranni and Pilescu what they had seen. But the two big Baronians were not much impressed.

“The prints are probably made by the feet of the goatherds sent to search every nook and cranny of the mountain-side, to look for the robbers’ hiding-place,” said Ranni.

This was disappointing. The children had quite made up their minds that they must belong to the robbers! Mike pointed down the hillside.

“Look at the clouds down there below us,” he said. “They seem to be creeping up towards us.”

“They are,” said Pilesco, beginning to gather up the tea things. “Come along. I don’t want to get lost in a mountain mist!”

They all set off down the mountain-side. Jack suddenly spied some juicy wild raspberries, and slipped off the path to get them. Before he had eaten more than a dozen he found himself surrounded by a thick grey mist!

“Blow!” said Jack, making his way back to the path. “I can’t even see the others now! Well, I know the path, that’s one thing!”

He shouted, but could hear no answer. The others had gone round a bend, and could not hear him, though usually a shout in the mountains echoed round and round. But the thick mist muffled the sound, and Jack could hear no reply to his yell.

“I’ll just go on and hope to catch the others up,” thought the boy. He set off, but after a while he had no idea of the right direction at all. The mist became thicker and thicker and the boy felt cold. He pulled his fur-lined cloak round him, and wondered what to do.

Something familiar about the rocky face of the mountain caught his eye. “Well — look at that! I’m right back at the old temple!” said Jack, in astonishment. “I’ve doubled back on the path somehow, and reached the temple-cave again. Well, I can’t do better than shelter inside till the mist clears. Maybe it won’t be long. They come and go very quickly.”

He went inside the cave where the old stone images were. He found a corner where he could sit, and he squatted down to wait. He yawned and shut his eyes. He hoped Ranni and Pilescu would not be very angry with him.

He dozed lightly, whilst the mist swirled round outside. He was awakened by the sound of voices, and sat up, expecting to see the other children coming into the temple to look for him. He half got up — and then sank back in the greatest astonishment.

The cave was full of strange, hoarse voices, speaking in the Baronian language, but using a broad country accent that Jack could not understand. It was dark there, and the boy could not see the people to whom the voices belonged. He dared not switch on his torch.

Then one of the men went to the entrance of the cave and looked out, calling back that the mist was still there, but was clearing rapidly. Jack looked at him in amazement. He was small and wiry, and wore no clothes at all except for a strip of skin round his middle. The boy crouched back in his corner, suddenly scared.

The mist thinned outsided the cave, and the man at the entrance was joined by others. They went out, and Jack saw that each man had a wolf’s tail behind him, dyed red. They were the robbers!

There were many of them. Where had they come from? They had not been in the cave when the boy fell asleep, and if they had entered, he would have heard them. Where had they come from? There must be some secret entrance in the temple itself. But where could it be?

The cave was now empty. Jack got up cautiously and crept to the entrance. The mist was almost gone. Not a sign of the strange men was to be seen.

“They must have gone off to rob someone again!” thought the boy. “I’ll take a good look round the cave now I’m here and find out where those men came from. There must be some hidden entrance at the back. Possibly there’s a big cave farther in, where they live. This is awfully exciting!”

But before he could put on his torch and look round he heard the sound of shouts outside.

“Jack! Jack! Where are you?”

It was Ranni’s voice. Jack ran out of the old temple-cave. Ranni was some way down the mountain-path. The boy shouted loudly.

“Ranni! I’m here, quite safe! I got lost in the mist.”

“Come along quickly, before the mist comes again!” ordered Ranni.

“But Ranni, wait! I’ve made a discovery!” yelled Jack.

“Come along at once,” shouted Ranni, sternly. “Look at the mist coming up. It will be thicker this time. Come now, Jack.”

There was nothing for it but to go to Ranni. Jack leapt down the path, and as soon as he reached the big Baronian, he began to tell him what he had seen. But Ranni, anxious about the returning mist, paid little heed to the boy’s excited chatter, and hurried him along as fast as he could go. Jack had no breath left to talk after a while, and fell silent. He could see that Ranni was cross with him.

The others had reached the castle safely. Ranni hurried Jack inside the door, just as the mist swirled up again, thick and grey.

“And now!” he said sternly, turning to Jack. “Will you kindly tell me why you left us all? I had to go back and find you, and I might have hunted the mountain-side for hours. I am not pleased with you, Jack.”

“I’m sorry, Ranni,” said Jack, humbly. “I just went to pick some raspberries, that’s all. Ranni, I saw the robbers!”

“I do not want to talk to you,” said Ranni. “You have displeased me.” He went to his own room, leaving Jack behind.

Jack stared after the Baronian, rather hurt, and feeling decidedly small. He went to find the others.

“Jack! What happened to you?” cried Nora, rushing to him. “We lost you, and Ranni went back.”

“I’ve some news,” said Jack, and his eyes gleamed. “Strange news, too!”

“What?” cried everyone.

“I wandered about a bit, when the mist overtook me,” said Jack, “and suddenly I found I was back at the old temple. So I went in out of the mist, and sat down to wait till it cleared. I dozed off for a bit — and suddenly I awoke and found the cave becoming full of voices! I heard more and more of them, and then a man went to the entrance of the cave and looked out — and it was one of the robbers!”

“Jack! Not really!” cried Peggy.

“Yes, really,” said Jack. “When the mist cleared a bit, they all went out of the entrance, and I saw the wolves’ tails they had, dyed red. They did look extraordinary.”

“Did they come into the cave to shelter then?” asked Mike.

“No — that’s the funny part,” said Jack. “They didn’t! I feel absolutely certain that they came into the cave by some secret way — perhaps at the back of the temple. I believe there must be a big cave further in, where they live.”

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