“Let’s shin up that big tree we’ve climbed before,” said Philip. “The one that we can see the plane from. If we saw all the men round about the plane, we’d know it was safe to go to the hut; but I don’t feel inclined to run into danger if we think the men are by the hut. They might be watching for us to come again. If we’re captured, the girls wouldn’t know what to do.”
“All right. I’ll climb the tree,” said Jack, and up he went, with Philip close behind him. He put his field-glasses to his eyes to focus them on the plane — and then he gave a loud exclamation.
“Gosh! The plane’s gone again! It isn’t there!”
“No — it isn’t,” said Philip in surprise. “Well — I never heard it go this time, did you, Jack?”
“Well, I did think I heard a throbbing noise last night when I was half asleep,” said Jack. “Yes, now I come to think of it, it must have been the plane I heard. Well, we’ve probably frightened the men away. They got the wind up when they knew other people were here — in a hiding-place they couldn’t find — people who rescued their prisoner.”
“Yes — and when they found they couldn’t get at the treasure because a rock-fall had apparently blocked the entrance to it, I suppose they thought it wasn’t much use staying,” said Philip. “So they’ve gone. Thank goodness! Now we can go back to the girls, and shoot off to the pass quickly. To tell you the truth, I was a bit worried about taking Otto with us, because from what you said it didn’t sound as if we’d be able to go very fast with him. And if he’d had a heart-attack by the way we wouldn’t have known what to do.”
“I wonder where they’ve taken him to,” said Jack. “Let’s hope that now they find they can’t get any more out of him they’ve taken him back to where he belongs, and will get a doctor to him.”
They climbed down the tree, and set off back to the girls as fast as they could. Now for the pass.
The girls were most surprised to see the two boys back so soon — but they were even more surprised to see they were alone.
“Where’s Otto?” asked Dinah.
“Down the well,” said Kiki. Nobody took any notice of her and she screeched.
Jack explained. “The plane’s gone — and Otto’s gone — so I suppose they’ve all gone off, disgusted at not being able to get at the treasure. Good riddance to them!”
“Hear! hear!” said Dinah, very much relieved to know that their enemies were safely out of the way. “Well, what are we going to do now?”
“Go and look for the pass,” said Jack. “I’ve got the map Otto drew. What a mercy he gave it to me! We’d never find the pass by ourselves without a map, I’m sure of that. I mean, the pass out of these mountains might be anywhere. Apparently there is only one pass, and that’s this one — the Windy Pass. Come on, let’s go. Packed up a few tins, Dinah?”
“Yes,” said Dinah. “Now, where do we go from here? Up or down?”
“Up,” said Philip, poring over the map that Jack took from his pocket. “Up — to where the waterfall begins — here, look. Then we go along a rocky ledge — see, Otto’s drawn it — then we come to a thick wood, look — and then up a steep bit to another ledge. Then we come to a proper road — the pass road that I suppose all the people of the valley used when they wanted to leave this district and visit another. Once we’re on that road I shall feel better.”
“So shall I,” said Dinah fervently. “It will be nice to see a road. We might even see somebody walking on it.”
“Shouldn’t think so, as we haven’t seen anyone in this valley at all except ourselves and the men,” said Jack. “It strikes me as a bit queer, I must say, to think that, although there’s a perfectly good pass in and out of this lovely valley, it appears to be quite deserted. I wonder why.”
“Oh, I expect there’s a good reason,” said Dinah. “Come on, do let’s go. The first part will be easy, because we’ve only got to keep near the waterfall.”
But it wasn’t quite so easy as she thought, for the mountain-cliff was exceedingly steep there, and the children had to do a lot of stiff climbing. Still, they managed it, for their legs were well used to walking and climbing by now.
The waterfall roared by them all the way. It made a terrific noise as it fell, and Lucy-Ann thought how nice it would be when they reached the top, and didn’t have to listen to quite such a colossal din.
After some time they came to where the waterfall began. It gushed out of a great hole in the mountainside and fell sheerly down, tumbling against huge rocks on the way. It was really a marvellous sight to see.
“Goodness, it does give me a funny feeling to see that great mass of water suddenly coming out of the mountain,” said Lucy-Ann, sitting down. “It’s so sudden, somehow.”
“I suppose when the snows melt, and the rain pours down, there is a terrific amount of water soaking down into the mountain-top,” said Jack. “And it all collects and has to get out somehow. This is one way it gets out — through this hole — making a tremendous waterfall.”
“Where do we go now?” asked Dinah, who was very impatient to get out of the valley.
“We go up on that rocky ledge,” said Jack. “Golly, it looks a bit narrow — it runs right over the waterfall! Lucy-Ann, don’t you dare look down, in case you feel giddy.”
“I don’t much feel as if I want to walk along there,” said poor Lucy-Ann.
“I’ll help you,” said Jack. “You’ll be all right as long as you don’t look down.”
They went along the rocky ledge quite safely, Lucy-Ann holding tightly to Jack’s hand. Kiki flew above their heads, squawking encouragement.
“See how they run, see how they run!” she called, having apparently remembered the second line of “Three Blind Mice.”
Lucy-Ann gave a giggle. “We’re not exactly running, Kiki,” she said. “Oh, thank goodness the ledge has come to an end. Now we go through that wood, don’t we?”
Jack looked at his map. “Yes — apparently we go straight through. Where’s my compass? I’ll set it so that we walk in a straight line in the direction Otto has put on his map.”
They entered the wood. It was a pine-wood rather dark and silent. Nothing grew under the tall pine-trees. The wind blew them and they made a loud whispering noise, which upset Kiki.
“Sh!” she called. “Shhhhhhhh!”
“Here’s the end of the wood!” called Jack. “Now for another steep bit to another ledge — and we’ll look down on the road. Come on, everybody!”
Chapter 19
A GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT — AND A PLAN
IT certainly was a stiff climb again, up the steep, rather stony slope to the ledge they could see some way above. Lucy-Ann almost cried because her feet kept slipping so.
“I take one step up, and slip two steps back,” she wailed.
“Well, hang on to me, then,” said Philip, and gave her a tug up each time she took a step.
They all wanted a rest when they came to the next ledge, and to their delight they saw a patch of wild raspberries growing there. They could sit down in the canes and feast as they rested. Lovely! Kiki liked the raspberries very much indeed, and ate so many that Jack called to her.
“Kiki! You’ll go pop!”
“Pop goes the weasel,” answered Kiki, and helped herself to a few dozen more raspberries.
Soon they all felt they could go on again. They were very high up now, and could see even more mountains towering behind the ones they knew. It was a most magnificent sight.
“I feel very small and lost somehow, with all those great mountains sitting there,” said Lucy-Ann, and the others felt the same. “Come on — let’s go round the ledge now. We shall soon see the road. Thank goodness this ledge isn’t narrow. It’s almost wide enough to take a car.”
It was not so easy walking round the ledge as Lucy-Ann thought, however, for there had been a fall of rocks there, further along, and there was a good deal of scrambling about to be done. The boys went first to find a safe way for the girls. They were thankful when they had got over the rock-fall and come to smoother ground again.
The ledge rounded a bend in the mountainside, and then, quite suddenly, the children saw the road below them. Yes, it was really a road! They stood and looked at it in delight.