The Secret of Killimooin - - Страница 15

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He waited for a while and then stole quietly out of the cave, looking behind him fearfully as he went. But no robber was there to follow him. The boy sped swiftly down the track in the moonlight, anxious to get to the others.

They were all awake. Jack got them into his room and told them hurriedly all that had happened. Paul was shocked, and anxious to hear about Ranni and Pilescu, whom he loved with all his heart.

“I am going to rescue them,” he announced, getting into his clothes at once.

“Don’t be an idiot, Paul,” said Mike. “You can’t go after robbers.”

“Yes, I can,” said Paul, fiercely, and his big dark eyes gleamed. “I am a Baronian prince, and I will not leave my men in danger. I go now to find them!”

When Paul got ideas of this sort into his head, there was no stopping him. Jack groaned. He turned to the girls.

“We’d better go with Paul and keep the idiot out of danger. You go and wake Tooku and Yamen and tell them what has happened. They will think of the best thing to do. Don’t frighten Paul’s mother, will you?”

Paul was already out of the front door, running down the steps in the moonlight. Ranni and Pilescu were in danger! Then he, their little prince must rescue them. Mike and Jack tore after him. A big adventure had begun!

Mike and Jack soon caught up with Paul. The boy was struggling up the steep track as fast as he could go. He had no clear idea as to exactly what he was going to do. All he knew was that he meant to find Ranni and Pilescu and rescue them from the robbers.

“Paul! You’re going the wrong way,” panted Jack, as he came up to Paul. “You really are an idiot. You’d be lost in the mountains if we hadn’t come after you. Look — you go this way, not the one you’re taking.”

Paul was glad to have the others with him. He pulled his fur-lined cloak around him, for he was cold. The others were wearing theirs too. They climbed steadily up the mountain-side, the moon showing them the way quite clearly. Mike hoped that clouds would not blow up, for it would be impossible to find their way in the dark. He thought of Beowald, the blind goatherd. He did not mind the dark. It made no difference to him at all!

Up they went and up, and an hour went by. Paul did not seem to be at all tired, though Jack’s legs ached badly. But then he had already been to the temple-cave and back once before that night!

They came near the cave, and trod softly, keeping to the shadows, in case any of the robbers should be about. Suddenly a figure showed itself from behind a rock! Quick as lightening Jack pulled the other two down beside him in a big shadow, and the three of them crouched there, their hearts beating painfully. Was it a robber, left on guard? Had he seen them?

The moon went behind a small cloud and the mountainside lay in darkness. Jack strained his eyes and ears to find out if the night-wanderer was anywhere near.

Then he heard the plaintive notes of the little flute that Beowald played! It must be the goatherd, wandering at night as he so often did.

“Beowald!” called Jack, softly. “Where are you?”

The moon sailed out from behind the cloud and the boys saw the goatherd seated on a nearby rock, his head turned towards them.

“I am here,” he said. “I heard you. I knew you were friends. What are you doing up here at night?”

Jack came out from his hiding-place. He told Beowald in a few words all that had happened. The goatherd listened in amazement.

“Ah, so that is why I thought the stone men came to life at night!” he said. “It was robbers I heard coming forth from the temple, and not the stone men. There must be a deep cave below the floor of the temple. I will come with you to find it.”

The goatherd led the way to the cave. The moon went in again behind a cloud, and the boys were glad to be with Beowald for the last piece of their climb. They could not have found their way otherwise. But darkness did not matter to the blind youth. He found his way as surely as if he were seeing the path in daylight!

They came near to the temple, treading very cautiously. Not a sound was to be heard. “We’d better creep into the cave whilst the moon is behind a cloud,” whispered Jack. “Paul, ask Beowald if he thinks any robbers are about now. His ears are so sharp that surely he would know.”

Paul whispered to Beowald in the Baronian language. The goatherd shook his head. “There is no one near,” he said. “I have heard nothing at all, and my ears would tell me if a robber was in the cave. I should hear him breathing.”

The boys crept silently into the dark cave. When they were in, the moon shone out and lighted up the strange stone face of the big statue at the back. It seemed to look sneeringly at the three boys.

Jack went up to the image, and ran his fingers down the crack that he had seen widen into a split when the statue divided into halves. He wondered how he could find out the working of the strange image. There must be some way of opening it, both from above and below. What was it? He must find it, or he would not be able to find the place where the robbers had taken Ranni and Pilescu.

But no matter how he felt and pushed and pulled, the crack remained a crack, and did not widen into a split. The other two boys tried as well, but they had no more success than Jack. They looked at one another in despair.

“Let my fingers try,” said the voice of Beowald. “My eyes cannot see, but my fingers can. They can feel things that only the whiskers of a mouse could sense!”

This was perfectly true. The blind youth’s fingers were so sensitive that they could tell him more than the eyes of others could tell them. The boys watched Beowald run his fingers down the crack in the middle of the statue. They watched him feel round the staring stone eyes. They followed his quivering fingers round the neck and head, touching, feeling, probing, almost like the feelers of an enquiring butterfly!

Suddenly Beowald’s sensitive fingers found something and they stopped. The boys looked at him.

“What is it, Beowald?” whispered Prince Paul.

“The statue is not solid just here,” answered the goatherd. “Everywhere else it is solid, made of stone — but just behind here, where its right ear is, it is hollow.”

“Let me feel,” said Jack eagerly, and pushed away the goatherd’s fingers. He placed his own behind the right ear of the statue, but he could feel nothing at all. The stone felt just as solid to him there as anywhere else. The other boys felt as well, but to them, as to Jack, the stone was solid there. How could Beowald’s fingers know whether stone was solid or hollow behind a certain spot? It seemed like magic.

Beowald put his fingers back again on the spot he had found. He moved them about, pressed and probed. But nothing happened. Jack shone his torch on to the ear. He saw that it was cleaner than the rest of the head, as if it had been handled a good deal. It occurred to him that the ear itself might be the place containing a spring or lever that worked the statue so that it split in half.

The left ear was completely solid, Jack saw — but the right ear, on the contrary, had a hole in it, as have human ears! Beowald found the hole at the same time as Jack saw it, and placed his first finger inside it. The tip of his finger touched a rounded piece of metal set inside the ear. Beowald pushed against it — and a lever was set in motion that split the stone image silently into half!

Actually it was a very simple mechanism, but the boys did not know that. They stared open-mouthed as the statue split completely down the crack, and the two halves moved smoothly apart. Beowald knew what was happening, though he could not see it. He was afraid, and moved back quickly. He half-thought the statue was coming alive, when it moved!

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