The aeroplane rose high again to clear the other side of the mountain ring. The forest dwindled smaller and smaller. “Go back again over the forest, Ranni, please do!” begged Jack. “It’s weird. So thick and silent and gloomy. It gives me a funny feeling!”
Ranni obligingly swung the big plane round and swooped down over the forest again. The trees seemed to rise up, and it almost looked as if the aeroplane was going to dive down into the thick green!
“Wouldn’t it be awful if our plane came down in the forest, and we were lost there, and could never, never find our way out and over the Killimooin mountains?” said Nora.
“What a horrid thought!” said Peggy. “Don’t say things like that! Ranni, let’s get over the mountains quickly! I’m afraid we might get lost here!”
Ranni laughed. He swooped upwards again, just as Jack spotted something that made him flatten his nose against the window and stare hard.
“What is it?” asked Nora.
“I don’t quite know,” said Jack. “It couldn’t be what I thought it was, of course.”
“What did you think it was?” asked Paul, as they flew high over the other side of the mountain ring.
“I thought it was a spiral of smoke,” said Jack. “It couldn’t have been, of course — because where there is smoke, there is a fire, and where there is a fire, there are men! And there are no men down there in the Secret Forest!”
“I didn’t see any smoke,” said Mike.
“Nor did I,” said Paul. “It must have been a wisp of low-lying cloud, Jack.”
“Yes — it must have been,” said Jack. “But it did look like smoke. You know how sometimes on a still day the smoke from a camp fire rises almost straight into the air and stays there for ages. Well, it was like that.”
“I think the Secret Forest is very, very strange and mysterious,” said Peggy. “And I never want to go there!”
“I would, if I got the chance!” said Mike. “Think of walking where nobody else had ever put their foot! I would feel a real explorer.”
“This is Jonnalongay,” called Ranni from the front. “It is one of our biggest towns, set all round a beautiful lake.”
The children began to take an interest in the map again. It was such fun to see a place on the big map, and then to watch it coming into view below, as the aeroplane flew towards it. But soon after that they flew into thick cloud and could see nothing.
“Never mind,” said Ranni. “We have turned back now, and are flying along the other border of Baronia. It is not so interesting here. The clouds will probably clear just about Tirriwutu, and you will see the railway lines there. Watch out for them.”
Sure enough, the clouds cleared about Tirriwutu, and the children saw the gleaming silver lines, as Pilescu took the great plane down low over the flat countryside. It was fun to watch the lines spreading out here and there, going to different little villages, then joining all together again as they went towards the big towns.
“Oh — there’s the big palace by the lake!” said Nora, half-disappointed. “We’re home again. That was simply lovely, Paul.”
“But the nicest part was Killimooin and the Secret Forest,” said Jack. “I don’t know why, but I just can’t get that mysterious forest out of my head. Just suppose that was smoke I saw! It would mean that people live there — people no one knows about — people who can’t get out and never could! What are they like, I wonder?”
“Don’t be silly, Jack,” said Mike. “It wasn’t smoke, so there aren’t people. Anyway, if people are living there now, they must have got over the mountains at some time or other, mustn’t they? So they could get out again if they wanted to! Your smoke was just a bit of cloud. You know what funny bits of cloud we see when we’re flying.”
“Yes, I know,” said Jack. “You’re quite right, it couldn’t have been real smoke. But I rather like to think it was, just for fun. It makes it all the more mysterious!”
The aeroplane flew down to the runway, and came to a stop. The mechanics came running up.
“You have had the best of it today!” one called to Ranni, in the Baronian language, which the children were now beginning to understand. “We have almost melted in the heat! This sun — it is like a blazing furnace!”
The heat from the parched ground came to meet the children as they stepped out of the plane. Everything shimmered and shook in the hot sun.
“Gracious!” said Nora. “I shall melt! Oh for an ice-cream!”
They walked to the palace and lay down on sunbeds on the terrace, under the big colourful umbrellas. Usually there was a little wind from the lake on the terrace — but today there was not a breath of air.
“Shall we bathe?” said Jack.
“No good,” said Mike. “The water was too warm to be pleasant yesterday — and I bet it’s really hot today. It gets like a hot bath after a day like this.”
A big gong boomed through the palace. It was time for lunch — a late one for the children. Nora groaned.
“It’s too hot to eat! I can’t move. I don’t believe I could even swallow an ice-cream!”
“Lunch is indoors for you today,” announced Ranni, coming out on to the terrace. “It is cooler indoors. The electric fans are all going in the play-room. Come and eat.”
None of the children could eat very much, although the dishes were just as delicious as ever. Ranni and Pilescu, who always served the children at meal-times, looked quite worried.
“You must eat little Prince,” Ranni said to Paul.
“It’s too hot,” said Paul. “Where’s my mother? I’m going to ask her if I need wear any clothes except shorts. That’s all they wear in England in the summer, when it’s holiday-time and hot.”
“But you are a prince!” said Ranni. “You cannot run about with hardly anything on.”
Prince Paul went to find his mother. She was lying down in her beautiful bedroom, a scented handkerchief lying over her eyes.
“Mother! Are you ill?” asked Paul.
“No, little Paul — only tired with this heat,” said his mother. “But listen, we will go to the mountains to the little castle your father built there last year. I fear that this heat will kill us all! Your father says he will send us tomorrow. How we shall get there with all the children and the nurses I cannot imagine! But go we must! I don’t know what has happened this last few years in Baronia! The winters are so cold and the summers are so hot!”
Paul forgot that he had come to ask if he could take off his clothes. He stared at his mother, thrilled and excited. To go to the mountains to the new little castle! That would be fine. The children could explore the country on mountain ponies. They would have a great time. The winds blew cool on the mountain-side, and they would not feel as if they wanted to lie about and do nothing all day long. “Oh, mother! Shall we really go tomorrow?” said Paul. “I’ll go and tell the others.”
He sped off, forgetting how hot he was. He burst into the play-room, and the others looked at him in amazement.
“However can you possibly race about like that in this heat?” asked Jack. “You must be mad! I’m dripping wet just lying here and doing nothing. It’s hotter than it was in Africa — and it was hot enough there!”
“We’re going to the new little castle in the mountains tomorrow!” cried Paul. “There’s news for you! It will be cool there, and we can each have a pony and go riding up and down the mountains. We can talk to the goatherds, and have all kinds of fun!”
Jack sat up. “I say!” he said. “Did you hear Pilescu say that your new little palace was near Killimooin? Golly, what fun! We might be able to find out something about the Secret Forest!”
“We shan’t!” said Paul. “There’s nothing to find out. You can ask the goatherds there and see. Won’t it be fun to go and stay in the wild mountains? I am glad!”
All the children were pleased. It really was too hot to enjoy anything in the big palace now. The idea of scampering about the mountains on sturdy little ponies was very delightful. Jack lay back on the couch and wondered if it would be possible to find out anything about the Secret Forest. He would ask every goatherd he saw whether he could tell anything about that mysterious forest, hidden deep in the heart of Killimooin.
“If anyone knows anything, the goatherds should know,” thought the boy. Then he spoke aloud. “Paul, how do we go to the mountains where the little castle is? Do we ride on ponies?”
“No — we drive most of the way,” said Paul. “But as there is no proper road within twenty miles, we shall have to go on ponies for the rest of the way. I don’t know how the younger children will manage.”
“This is a lovely holiday!” said Nora, dreamily. “Living in a palace — flying about in aeroplanes — peering down at the Secret Forest — and now going to live in a castle built in the wild mountains, to which there is not even a proper road. We are lucky!”
“It’s getting hotter,” said Mike, with a groan. “Even the draught from the electric fan seems hot! I hope it will get a bit cooler by the time the evening comes.”
But it didn’t. It seemed to get hotter than ever. Not one of the five children could sleep, though the fans in their big bedrooms went all night long. They flung off the sheets. They turned their pillows to find a cool place. They got out of bed and stood by the open windows to find a breath of air.
By the time the morning came they were a heavy-eyed, cross batch of children, ready to quarrel and squabble over anything. Paul flew into a temper with Ranni, and the big man laughed.
“Ah, my little lord, this heat is bad for you all! Now do not lose your temper with me. That is foolish, for if you become hot-tempered, you will feel hotter than ever! Go and get ready. The cars will be here in half an hour.”
The boys went to have cool baths. It was too hot to swim in the lake, which was just like a warm bath now. They came out of the cold water feeling better. Mike heard the noise of car engines, and went to the window. A perfect fleet of cars was outside, ready to take the whole family, with the exception of Paul’s father. The five older children, the five younger ones, Paul’s mother, three nurses, and Ranni and Pilescu were all going.
“Come on!” yelled Paul. “We’re going. Nora, you’ll be left behind. Hurry up!”
And into the cars climbed all the royal household, delighted to be going into the cool mountains at last.