“There’s the plane!” said Jack. “And look out — isn’t that one of the men walking over to it? Lie down flat, all of you!”
They all promptly lay down flat. Jack had his field-glasses on and he put them to his eyes. He could now see clearly that the man was the one called Juan. He had a pasty white face, black oily-looking hair and a small black moustache. His neck was thick and his body was thick too. He disappeared into the plane.
“He’s got into the plane. Wonder if he’s going off?” said Jack. “Will he leave the other man behind? He hasn’t started up the engines yet.”
After a minute or two the man came out again, carrying something, though Jack could not see what it was. He walked off in the direction of the smoke. There was a thicket of trees nearby and he disappeared into this.
“He just went into the plane to get something,” said Jack. “Now he’s gone again. I think perhaps we’d better go another way, because if we can see him he could certainly see us, if he looked up. See that gully over there? We’ll go that way. We shall be well hidden there.”
They made their way to the gully, which was a regular sun-trap. There had obviously been a way up there at some time or other. The children followed it, climbing higher. They came to a ledge that ran rather dangerously round part of the mountainside. Jack went first.
It wasn’t as dangerous as it looked. “I think it’s all right,” he called. “It’s wider than it appears. Come on. I’m sure it leads to somewhere.”
They made their way round the ledge, and came to where the hillside gave them a marvellous view down into the valley and all around.
It was completely deserted. Not a cow or sheep or goat was to be seen. A little higher up was a black, charred building that had clearly been a very large farm-house. Only the blackened beams were left, and part of the stone walls. Everything else had fallen to the ground and lay in a miserable ugly ruin.
“Another ruin!” said Jack, in awe. “What has been happening in this beautiful valley? I simply can’t understand it. Why should houses be burnt like this? I’m beginning to think there isn’t a soul here besides ourselves and those two men.”
“I think you’re right,” said Philip. “There’s no smoke to be seen anywhere, and not a single domestic animal, not even a dog. But what I can’t make out is why no one has come here from the surrounding valleys to rebuild the houses and graze their cattle on this marvellous grass.”
“Perhaps there’s something bad about this valley,” said Lucy-Ann with a shiver. “I don’t like the feel of it very much,”
They sat down in the sun, which was now climbing high. They suddenly felt terribly hungry. Dinah unexpectedly produced biscuits and chocolate from a bag she carried.
“I guessed we’d all be hungry soon,” she said. “So I brought half the biscuits and choc we had with us.”
“Jolly good idea,” said Philip, pleased. “Hey, Lizzie, come out and have a crumb!”
Dinah at once went a good distance away. Lizzie came out from Philip’s open collar and ran down his front. It was plain that she meant to stay with Philip.
“Lizzie’s down the well,” remarked Kiki, pecking a piece of chocolate from Jack’s fingers.
“Kiki! Give that back!” cried Jack. “Where are your manners?”
“Down the well, down the well,” said Kiki, who seemed to have got the well on her brain.
They were all thirsty after the chocolate and biscuits. “I wish we could find something to drink — nice cool clear water like we found in the spring,” said Jack.
“Down the well,” said Kiki.
“All right. You find us a well of water,” said Jack.
“Would it be safe to have a snooze?” asked Dinah, suddenly feeling very sleepy. “It’s nice here in the sun.”
“Well — only just a little one,” said Philip. “I should think we’re safe enough here. Those men wouldn’t come up as far as this.”
“You know — I think I can hear water somewhere,” said Lucy-Ann as she lay flat on her back, the sun shining on her freckled face. “Not very near. Listen, all of you.”
They listened. Certainly they could hear something that was not the wind blowing round. What could it be? It didn’t sound like the gurgling of a spring.
“We’ll go and see,” said Jack. “You stay here, girls, if you like. Philip and I will go.”
“Oh no,” said Lucy-Ann at once. “I’d rather come with you. You might lose us.”
So all four went off together in the direction of the curious noise. They climbed higher, and came to a rocky, stony part which was steep and hard to climb. But the noise was now much louder.
“Once we round the next corner, we’ll see what it is,” said Jack. “Come on!”
They climbed a little higher and then the path led abruptly round a crag of rock. It widened out a little the other side, and all four children stood gazing in awe at what was making the noise they had heard.
It was a waterfall — but what a big one! It fell from a great height, almost sheerly down the mountainside, and cascaded far below them, fine spray rising high in the air. It wetted their faces as they stood there, and yet they were quite a good way from the mass of water.
“What a wonderful sight!” said Philip, awed. “I’ve never seen such a big waterfall in my life. What a noise it makes! I almost have to shout. Isn’t it grand?”
Far below the waterfall resolved itself into a winding river that curved round the foot of the mountain. The children could not see where it went to. The tumbling water shone and sparkled as it fell, and here and there rainbows shimmered. Lucy-Ann thought she had never seen a lovelier sight.
She licked the spray off her face. It formed into little drops and ran down to her mouth. “I’m drinking the spray,” she said. “Oh, look! — there’s a puddle in that rock, made of the continually falling spray. Do you think it would be all right to drink it?”
It was very clear and sparkling. Jack tasted it. “Yes, it’s fine,” he said. “Have some.”
They watched the waterfall for some time. Kiki was simply thrilled with it. For some reason or other it filled her with mad delight. She flew near to it, getting splashed with the drops, squawking loudly.
“It’s a magnificent sight!” said Dinah, gazing at the roaring waterfall. “I could watch it all day.”
“We’ll come again tomorrow,” said Jack. “But I really think we ought to be getting back now to that cowshed. Come on — it’s plain there’s nobody to help us just here.”
Chapter 6
WHAT ARE THE TWO MEN UP TO?
LUCY-ANN was half afraid they might lose their way going back. But the boys had taken good note of everything. It was when they got to the wood that difficulty might have arisen, but here the notched trees soon set them right.
They saw that the plane was still down in the valley. So the men were somewhere about. It would be as well to be careful, and Jack told Kiki to be quiet. The waterfall seemed to have gone to her head, and she had been very noisy coming back, singing and squawking loudly.
“There’s our shed,” said Lucy-Ann thankfully. It felt quite like home, coming back to it from that enormous mountainside. “I hope all our things are safe.”
They want inside. Yes, their things were there, exactly as they had left them. Good!
The sun was now sliding down the sky. It was about tea-time. The children wondered whether to finish the rest of their chocolate and biscuits.
“Better not,” said Jack. “We’ll have them before we go to sleep tonight if we’re terribly hungry. Oh — wait a minute — what about the stuff Aunt Allie packed for us? Haven’t we still got that? We haven’t eaten it?”
“No, of course we haven’t,” said Dinah. “I was saving it up. We’ve got so little that I thought we’d better not start on that picnic packet yet.”
“But all the sandwiches will be stale,” objected Philip, who was feeling very empty indeed. “What’s the good of that? We might as well eat them whilst they’re eatable.”
“Well — we could eat the sandwiches, and leave the cake and the chocolate and biscuits for tomorrow,” said Dinah. “But first let’s get this place ready for us to sleep in tonight. It’s filthy.”
“I don’t want to sleep here,” said Lucy-Ann. “I don’t like it. Why can’t we sleep outside? We’ve got our macks to lie on, and four rugs — and we can unpack some of our clothes and have them for pillows.”