They came to a door set fast in the side of the stone stairway. It was a stout wooden door, with great bolts on the outside. Snowy stopped beside this door and bleated loudly.
Then the children’s hearts jumped and they heard a familiar voice. “Snowy! I’m still here! I can’t get to you, Snowy, but never mind!”
“That’s Philip!” said Jack. He knocked gently on the door. “Philip! It’s us! We’re going to undo the bolts of this door.”
There was an astonished exclamation, and the sound of feet running across to the door. Then Philip’s excited voice came through the door, eager and thrilled.
“Gosh, Jack! Is it really you! Can you let me out?”
Jack shot the bolts back. They were well oiled and went back easily. Philip pulled him into the space beyond as soon as the door was open. The girls followed too, with Snowy.
“Jack! How did you get here? I’ve been shut in this strange place with that Negro. Look, there he is over there. He sleeps most of the time. He’s the one the dogs were after.”
Sure enough, there was the Negro, lying against the side of the cave, fast asleep. Jack and the girls looked round Philip’s prison in wonder.
It was nothing but a cave in the side of the top of the mountain. It opened onto the sky . . . or so it seemed! At first the children could see nothing but a vast expanse of blue when they gazed out of the opening opposite to the door.
“It’s almost at the top, this cave,” said Jack. “Isn’t it a miraculous view? You can see right over the tops of the mountains yonder. I’ve never been so high in my life before. It makes me quite giddy to look out for long.”
Dinah stepped to the edge of the cave but Philip pulled her back. “No, don’t go too near. There’s an almost sheer drop there. And if you look down it makes you feel very queer — as if you’re on top of the world and might fall any minute!”
“Hold my hand then, while I look,” said Dinah, and Jack wanted to see too.
“Lie down on the floor of the cave and look out of it that way,” said Philip. “You feel safer then.”
So all four lay down and peered over the edge of the cave that was almost at the top of the mountain. It certainly gave them a queer feeling. Far far down below were the slopes of the mountain, and far below that the valley. Lucy-Ann clutched Philip tightly. She felt as if she was toppling over downwards! But she wasn’t, of course. She was safe on the floor of the cave. It was just the terrific feeling of height that made her think she must be falling down and down!
“I don’t like it,” she said, and came away from the edge. The others were awed. They gazed until they too felt that they were going to fall, and then they pushed themselves back and sat up.
“Come with us quickly,” said Jack to Philip. “We know the way out — and Snowy will guide us if we don’t! We must go while there’s a good chance. The whole place seems deserted. It’s most peculiar.”
“Well, the men live on the very top of the mountain,” said Philip. “The Negro has been telling me quite a lot. This cave is very near the top — so near that I can sometimes hear men talking and laughing. There must be a plateau on the summit — or some kind of flat place — because the helicopter lands there.”
“Oh! Well, I suppose everyone must be up on the mountain-top then!” said Jack. “We didn’t meet a soul coming up here. Come on, let’s go, Philip. Don’t let’s waste a minute. We can tell each other everything when we’re safely out of this extraordinary mountain.”
They all went to the door — and then Jack pushed the others back quickly. He shut the door quietly and put his finger to his lips.
“I can hear voices!”
So could the others. Loud voices that were coming nearer their door. Would the owners of the voices spot that the bolts were undone?
The voices came nearer and nearer — and then passed! Evidently nobody had looked at the bolts of the door. The children breathed again.
“Thank goodness! They’ve gone past!” said Jack. “Shall we wait for a few minutes and then run for it?”
“No. Wait till the men come back and go up to the roof,” said Philip. “I think they are only the paratroopers gone to get some stores to take up to the top.”
Everyone stared at him. “Para-troopers!” said Jack, in amazement. “What do you mean? Why should there be paratroopers here?”
“The Negro told me. His name’s Sam,” said Philip, nodding towards the sleeping Negro. “Let’s wait till those fellows come back with their stores, or whatever they’ve gone to fetch. I don’t think they’ll even look at this door. They don’t know I’m here!”
“Well — for goodness’ sake tell us all about everything then,” said Jack, filled with intense curiosity. “Paratroopers! It sounds impossible.”
“Well, you know when I was caught, don’t you?” began Philip. “They took me to that steep wall, behind a thick screen of creeper, and in at an opening there. I was pushed up some kind of ladder in the dark — a rope-ladder, I should think, — and we went up for ages and ages.”
The others nodded. They knew all about that.
“We went through long passages, and came to a jolly frightening place — with wheels and things. . . . Did you see it too?”
“Yes. Most extraordinary. But there was no one there,” said Jack.
“I didn’t have time to see much,” said Philip. “Then we went round a gallery — the one that looks down on that place of wheels and wires and sparks and flames — and came into a most magnificent place — like a room out of a palace!”
“Yes — we saw it too. A room for a king, with throne and all,” said Jack. “But nobody there!”
“Well, then I was pushed up passages and steps to this cave,” said Philip. “And I was bolted in, and here I’ve stayed ever since! The Negro was pushed in too — but poor little Snowy was bolted out! He’s come and bleated outside my door dozens of times. I hated that. He sounded so lost and miserable.”
Snowy was very happy now, however! He was curled up on Philip’s knee, occasionally butting him gently to get a little more attention.
“I’ve had food pushed in through the door — all tinned stuff,” said Philip. “But nobody’s said a word to me, not even that nasty foreign-looking fellow who caught me. You should see his eyes! You often read in books about people with piercing eyes. Well, he’s really got them — they go right through you! I was glad he didn’t question me much, because I felt as if he’d know everything by reading my very thoughts.”
The others had been listening intently. Jack nodded towards the sleeping Negro. “What did he tell you?”
“Oh, a lot of peculiar things,” said Philip. “He said he saw an advertisement in the paper asking for men who had been paratroopers — you know, men who are trained to jump out of planes high in the air, and parachute to earth.”
“Yes. Go on,” said Jack, impatiently.
“Well, the hawk-eyed man — the one who captured me — he goes by the name of Meier by the way — interviewed him at some office in Mexico, and offered him a terrific sum of money if he’d come and try some new kind of parachute-jumping.”
“What kind?” asked Dinah.
“I don’t exactly know. Sam sounded a bit muddled when he told me — or else I didn’t understand him,” said Philip. “It’s something to do with flying through the air on wings — wings fixed to his arms. Apparently you can’t possibly fall to earth when you’ve got these wings on, and you can guide yourself where and how you like — just as birds do.”
“That’s impossible,” said Jack at once. “Quite mad.”
“Yes. That’s why I think Sam got hold of the wrong idea,” said Philip. “Well — this fellow Meier engaged a whole lot of ex-paratroopers, paid them fabulous sums, and brought them here, in helicopters, to the top of this mountain. And their job is to try out these wings — or so Sam says.”
“Has he tried them?” asked Jack.
“No. But three of his mates have. They had these queer wings fitted to their arms and were given orders to jump from the helicopter at a given moment — or else be pushed out,” said Philip.
“What happened?” asked Jack.
“Sam doesn’t know,” answered Philip. “You see, none of his mates came back. He’s pretty certain they fell to their death. He didn’t want to do the same — so he got away.”