Chapter 18
A LITTLE EXPLORING
THERE was a long pause after this strange story. It was very hard to believe — and yet they had seen and heard such strange things the last few days that they felt anything might be true of this lonely mountain.
“But what’s the idea?” asked Jack, after a while. “And why all the wheels and wires and things? I just don’t get the hang of it all.”
“Nor do I. But Sam reckons that if the experiment came off, and men could really fly with these wings, somebody would make a most colossal fortune!” said Philip. “Everyone would want them. Everyone would fly.”
“It sounds lovely,” said Lucy-Ann. “I should love to fly like the birds do — much, much better than going in an aeroplane!”
They all felt the same — but nobody could really believe in these “wings” that Sam had talked of.
“How did he escape?” asked Jack, nodding at the black man.
“He did an absolutely mad thing — as dangerous as jumping off a helicopter to try the ‘wings,’ ” said Philip. “He got a parachute out of the stores, came in here, fitted it on — and jumped!”
Everyone shuddered. “What! Jumped out of this cave, right from the top of the mountain?” said Jack. “Gosh, he’s a brave man!”
“He is. His parachute opened, and he floated down to earth, landing with an awful bump. But he’d learnt how to fall, and he soon recovered. The next thing was — to find safety somewhere.”
“He couldn’t have found a lonelier, more deserted bit of country than in these mountains,” said Jack. “I suppose he didn’t even know where he was.”
“He hadn’t the faintest idea,” said Philip. “I told him we were in Wales — but he didn’t know there was such a place.”
“And then the dogs got after him, I suppose?” said Jack. “Poor Sam!”
“Yes. He knew about them, because they live up on the mountain-top with the men. He says they’re used to scare any possible wanderer who comes near this mountain — and, of course, to hunt anyone who does escape — or find anyone who crashes if the wings don’t work.”
“That’s more likely,” said Jack. “Gosh, what a horrible, callous lot of men there must be behind all this! I never heard of anything like it in my life.”
“Sam says there’s a king,” said Philip. “The king of the mountain! Isn’t it incredible? That throne must be for him. Sam’s never seen him. He must be the spider at work, catching all these fellows and making them try out his mad experiments.”
“We thought there was some colossal brain behind all this,” said Jack. “I suppose that hawk-eyed man — Meier — isn’t the king, is he?”
“Oh no! I don’t know what you’d call him — sort of organiser, I suppose. He sees to everything — the stores — all the arrangements — shuts up the men when the helicopter arrives — and so on. There are two men, apparently, who work together on these things. The king is somebody who only appears on state occasions — such as when another pair of wings is produced, and the men have to go down to that great state-room, listen to some harangue they don’t understand, and watch one of their number being picked to try out the wings.”
“Picking out a victim for sacrifice, it sounds like!” said Jack grimly. “I don’t like this at all. It’s so mad.”
“Sam was ill the last time the king picked out his victims,” said Philip. “So he hasn’t seen the king of the mountain, as I said. He must be a queer sort of chap — really callous and cruel, to make these fellows try out wings that can’t possibly be any good.”
“I agree with you!” said Jack. “And I think the sooner we get out of here and get into touch with old Bill the better. I don’t feel safe in this mountain. No wonder Lucy-Ann got ‘feelings’ about it. I’ve got quite a lot of feelings about it myself now!”
“Look — Sam’s waking up,” said Lucy-Ann. They all looked at the Negro. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. He looked across the cave and seemed surprised to see so many children.
Then he recognised Lucy-Ann as the little girl who had seen him up in the tree. He smiled, and then shook his head.
“I done told you go “way,” said Sam, looking solemn. “Bad mountain, dis. Bad men too.”
“We’re going now, Sam,” said Philip. “As soon as we think it’s safe. Will you come too? We know the way out.”
Sam looked frightened. “Sam ‘fraid of the dogs,” he said. “I safe here.”
“You’re not. I bet you’ll be the very next one chosen to try out the ‘wings’ you told me about,” said Philip.
“Wings better dan dogs,” said Sam.
Voices came past the door. The children fell silent and listened till they had gone past. Sam listened too.
“Dat Pete and Jo,” he said.
“Well, Pete and Jo have gone up to the mountain-top again,” said Jack. “Come on. It seems a good time to go now. We didn’t meet anyone coming here — and the chances are we shan’t meet anyone going back. What a tale we’ll have to tell Bill!”
They opened the door cautiously. Snowy bounded out at once. Kiki was on Jack’s shoulder, having kept silence for a surprisingly long time. She did not seem to like this peculiar mountain!
They went quietly down the spiral stairway, following its many turns round and round. They came to the openings where the stores were kept. It made them feel very hungry to see all the tins of food; but there was no time to think of eating now. They had to escape as quickly as possible.
Snowy led them down the dimly-lit passages. The children expected to see the curious library of books at the end of them, but Snowy had apparently taken them a different way. They stopped after a while in dismay.
“I say — this isn’t right. We didn’t see that cave there before — I’m sure we didn’t!” said Jack. They hesitated, not knowing whether to go on or go back. It would be awful to get lost in the heart of that mountain!
“I can hear some kind of noises,” said Lucy-Ann, listening. “Let’s creep on and see what they are.”
They went on down a wide passage that at times ran very steeply downhill. The air suddenly grew hot.
“Phew!” said Philip, mopping his forehead. “I can hardly breathe.”
They came out on a kind of balcony that overlooked a great deep pit, so vast that it took the children’s breath away. Far down in the middle of it men were at work, though what they were doing the children couldn’t possibly tell. They were as small as ants.
Great lamps lit up the pit. The children gazed in astonishment. What could be going on down there?
Suddenly Jack nudged Philip. “Look — the men have slid aside the floor of the pit — do you see? What’s that under it?”
Philip might well ask! Out of the hole in the pit floor shone a brilliant mass of colour — but a colour the children did not know! It was not blue or green, not red or yellow, not any colour they had ever seen before. They gaped at it in surprise.
Then suddenly they felt a queer feeling — a feeling of lightness, as if they were in a dream, and not quite real. They clutched the balcony rail, afraid. At the same moment the men down below slid the great floor over the hole in the pit again, and shut out the brilliant mass of unknown colour. At once the strange feeling passed away from the children, and they were themselves once more.
They felt a little weak. “Let’s go,” said Jack, scared. “I don’t like this.”
But before they could go there began that now familiar Tumbling noise from the very depths of the mountain! The children clung to one another. It was so much louder now that they were inside the mountain. It was louder than thunder, an angry, unearthly noise. Then the balcony they were on began to shake.
Jack took one last look down into the strange pit. The men had disappeared — probably hidden safely behind rocky walls. Jack caught Lucy-Ann’s hand and fled! After him came Philip and Dinah. Kiki clung to Jack’s shoulder, more scared than any of them. Snowy had disappeared completely.
The four children tore up the steep wide passage that had led them down to the pit. The floor of it shook beneath their feet as they ran. The children felt sure that the whole of the great mountain was shaking. What powers were being used by these men? Surely they must have discovered some scientific secret unknown to anyone before!