The raft rushed along, swinging and bobbing. Sometimes the water was smoother, and then the raft floated more slowly, but on the whole it rushed along at a terrific pace. Once the roof of the tunnel was so low that the boys had to crouch right down on the raft to prevent their heads being bumped hard against it.
“We’re going down and down,” said Jack. “The river must be running right through the mountain in a downward direction, and I suppose will come out at the other side.”
“The other side! Do you mean where the Secret Forest is?” cried Mike.
Jack nodded his head and his eyes gleamed eagerly in the light of Mike’s torch. “Yes! If the river does come out into the open, and I suppose it must at last, we shall be somewhere on the mountain-side overlooking the Secret Forest itself. So, you see, there is a way of getting there! And the robbers know it. I shouldn’t be surprised if that really was smoke I saw that day we flew over it in the aeroplane.”
The boys felt even more excited, if that was possible! They sat on the weird raft-boat and thought about their night’s adventure. It was stranger than any they had ever had. This mountain river seemed never-ending. How long did it go and on and on?
After about two hours a startling thing happened. Jack saw a light, bright and golden, far ahead of them. “Look!” he said. “What’s that?”
They floated rapidly nearer and nearer to the gleam, and soon they saw what it was. It was daylight, sunlight, bright and golden. They were soon coming out into the open air!
“We’ll be able to get off the raft and stretch our legs a bit!” said Jack, thankfully, for they were all beginning to feel very cramped indeed. But Jack was wrong. There was no getting off that raft yet!
It suddenly shot out into the open air, and the boys blinked their eyes, dazzled by the sudden bright sunshine. When they could see properly, they saw that they were indeed on the other side of the steep Killimooin Mountains!
Below them, not very far away, was the Secret Forest! The mountain river, after having flowed for miles through the mountain tunnels, was now flowing down the slopes of the hill, taking the raft with it. It spread out into a wide river, and the raft sailed along in the middle, where the current was swift and strong. There appeared to be no dangerous waterfall to navigate! That was very fortunate, Jack thought.
“Do you suppose this river goes right down to the Secret Forest?” said Mike, trying to see where it flowed, far ahead of them. He caught glimpses of silver here and there, near the forest. It really did look as if the river flowed to it!
“I believe it does,” said Jack, as the raft floated swiftly down the current. “We are getting nearer and nearer!”
After some time the river was very near to the great forest. The boys could see how wide and thick and dark it was. Now it no longer looked merely a great stretch of green; they could see the trees themselves, tall and close-set together. The river flowed on and on towards it.
The raft reached the outermost fringe of trees, and the river then disappeared into the forest. The boys were swept along on the raft, and as soon as they entered the forest, the sunshine disappeared, and a dim green light was all they had to see by.
“How dark and thick the trees are!” said Jack, awed. “The river must go right through this forest.”
“I wonder where it goes to,” said Mike. “Rivers all go to the sea. How can this one get out of this closed-in valley? You would think it would make a big lake — all this water flowing down the mountain-side like this, with nowhere to escape to!”
This was a puzzle, too. The boys thought about it as the raft swung along beneath the arching trees. Then, quite suddenly, they were in a big, wide pool, like a small lake, completely surrounded by trees. The river flowed through the pool, and out at the opposite side.
The raft swung to the side of the pool, and Jack gave a cry of surprise.
“This is where the robbers live! Look at those strange houses, or whatever you like to call them!”
The boys saw that round the lake-side were strange, beehive shaped houses, made of branches of trees and dried mud. From a hole at the top smoke appeared. Then Jack knew that he had been right when he thought he had seen a spiral of smoke from the aeroplane! The smoke from the bee-hive houses joined together as it rose into the air, and made a straight streak of blue smoke that hung almost motionless, for no wind came into that still valley.
No one was to be seen. If there was anyone in the huts, they must be sleeping, Jack thought! Their raft swung silently to the bank and the three boys leapt off at once. They crouched down in the bushes watching to see if anyone had noticed them. But nobody had. Not a soul appeared from the curious huts.
The boys were very hungry indeed, but they dared not go to ask for food. They whispered together, wondering what to do. Behind them was the deep, dark forest. In front was the great pool, out of which flowed the river, disappearing into the depths of the Secret Forest.
“Do you suppose all the robbers have gone up to the temple-cave?” whispered Mike. Jack shook his head. “No,” he said. “I only saw five or six. Hundreds must live here. Sh! Look, there are some children!”
The boys saw four or five children coming from the forest, going towards the huts. They had nothing on at all, except for a strip of skin round their waists. They were dirty, and their bright hair was tangled and long. They wore bright bird-feathers behind their ears, and looked real little ruffians.
A woman appeared at the door of one hut, and the children shouted to her. Paul turned to the others.
“Did you understand what those children said? They said they had been to see the big men who were prisoners! So Ranni and Pilescu must be here somewhere. Shall we try going along that path where the children came from?”
“We should get completely lost in the Secret Forest,” said Mike, feeling scared. “There are probably wolves here too. I almost wish we hadn’t come. We should have waited and come with the others!”
“We will go down the forest path,” said Paul, suddenly becoming the Prince of Baronia again. “Stay here if you do not wish to follow me. I, myself, will find Ranni and Pilescu!”
There was nothing for it but to follow Paul. He skirted the pool carefully and then found the narrow path down which the robber-children had come. It ran between the thickly-growing trees, and was evidently much used. Here and there the trees were curiously marked as if with an axe.
“Perhaps it’s the way the robbers have of marking their way through the forest,” said Paul.
“Yes — sort of signposts,” answered Jack, who had thought the same thing. “Well, as long as I see those marks, I shan’t feel lost!” They went on down the narrow, twisting path. It curved round trees, wandered between the thick trunks, and seemed never-ending. Now and again the children saw the axe-marks on a tree-trunk again. The forest was very quiet and still. No wind moved the branches of the trees. No bird sang. It was very mysterious and silent.
Jack’s sharp ears heard the sound of voices. “Someone’s coming!” he said. “Shin up a tree, quick!”
The three chose trees that did not seem too difficult to climb quickly. They were up them in a trice. A squirrel-like animal bounded away in alarm from Jack. The boy peered down between the branches.
He saw three more children going along, fortunately towards the pool they had left. They shouted to one another, and seemed to be playing some sort of hopping game. They soon passed, and did not guess that there were three pairs of anxious eyes following their movements from the branches above them.
As soon as the robber-children were out of sight the boys jumped down and went on again. “I hope that they haven’t hidden Ranni and Pilescu too far away!” said Jack, with a groan. “I’m getting tired again and awfully hungry!”
“So am I,” said Mike. Paul said nothing. He meant to go on until he found his men. He did not seem to be tired, though he looked it. Jack thought he was a very plucky boy indeed, for he was younger and smaller than the other two, and yet managed to keep up with them very well.
Jack stopped again and motioned to the others to listen. They stood still, and heard voices once more. Up a tree they went at once, but this time the voices did not come any nearer. Paul suddenly went red with excitement. He leaned towards Jack, who was on the branch next to him.
“Jack! I think that is Pilescu’s deep voice. Listen!”
They all listened, and through the forest came the deep tones of Pilescu’s voice, without a doubt. In a trice the boys had shinned down the tree again and were running down the path towards the voices.
They came out into a small clearing. In the middle of this there was a hole, or what looked like a hole from where the boys stood. Across the top of the hole were laid heavy beams of wood, separated each from the other by a few inches, to allow air to penetrate into the hole.
It was from this hole or pit that the voices came. Mike took a quick look round the clearing to see if anyone was there. But it seemed to be completely empty. He ran across to the pit.
“Ranni! Pilescu?” he cried, and Paul tried to force apart the heavy logs of wood.
“Ranni! Are you there? Pilescu, are you hurt?” cried Paul, in a low voice.
There was an astonished silence, and then came Ranni’s voice, mingled with Pilescu’s.
“Paul! Little lord! What are you doing here? Paul, can it be you?”
“Yes — I’m here and Mike and Jack,” said Paul. “We have come to rescue you.”
“But how did you get here?” cried Ranni, in amazement. “Did you come through the mountain and down the river into the depths of the Secret Forest?”
“Yes,” said Mike. “It has been a tremendous adventure, I can tell you.”
“Are you all all right?” asked Pilescu.
“Yes, except that we’re awfully hungry,” said Jack, with a laugh.
“If you can move those logs, with our help, we will give you food,” said Ranni. “We have some here in this pit. The robbers put bread and water here, and we have plenty. Goodness knows what they meant to do with us. I suppose they captured us because they knew we had found the secret of their coming and going, and did not want us to tell anyone.”
The boys began to try and move the heavy logs. Ranni and Pilescu helped them. They shifted little by little, though it was as much as the whole five of them could do to move them even an inch! At last, however, there was enough space for Ranni and Pilescu to squeeze out of the pit, and haul themselves up on to the level ground.
They sat there panting. “Not a nice prison at all,” said Ranni, jokingly, as he saw tears in Paul’s eyes. The boy had been very anxious about his two friends, and now that he had Ranni’s arm about him again, he was so relieved he felt almost like crying.
“Funny boy, isn’t he!” whispered Mike to Jack. “So awfully brave, and yet he cries like a girl sometimes.”
“We’d better hide quickly,” said Ranni. “The robbers may come back at any moment and we don’t want them to find us all here. They would have five prisoners then, instead of two! Let’s push the logs back exactly as they were, Mike. It will puzzle the robbers to know how we escaped, when they see that the logs have apparently not been moved!”