The Secret of Killimooin - - Страница 24

He paced steadily for two hours. Then he stiffened and listened. He could hear voices! They echoed up from the tunnel below. It must be the returning robbers!

“They have managed to get their raft to the side and land, and have turned back to come after us!” thought Pilescu. “What are we to do? They will be on us before we can escape. How I wish I had a gun with me!”

But the robbers had taken away all the weapons carried by the Baronians. Neither Ranni nor Pilescu had anything to defend themselves with, except their bare hands. Well, they could make good use of those!

The voices came nearer. Pilescu woke Ranni and whispered the news to him. Ranni put the sleeping Paul into the recess at the back, with the other boys. He did not wake.

“We will cover ourselves with our cloaks and sit with our backs to the wall, on either side of the recess,” whispered Ranni. “It is just possible that the robbers may not see us, and may not guess that we are resting here. They would think that we were going ahead as fast as we could.”

They could not hear any voices now. They guessed that the robbers were very near. They carried no torch but were coming along the ledge they knew so well, in complete darkness.

Ranni’s sharp ears caught the sound of panting. A robber was on the platform! The two Baronians sat perfectly still, hoping that the three sleeping boys would make no sound. They had covered them completely with the rugs so that any snoring might not be heard. It was amazing that Ranni had been able to hear the robbers, because the river made almost as much noise there as anywhere else.

There came the sound of a loud voice and it was clear that all the robbers were now on the platform. Ranni and Pilescu strained their ears for any signs that the wolf-tailed men were going to explore the wide ledge.

There appeared to be no more sounds at all. Neither Ranni nor Pilescu could hear panting or voices. They sat like statues, hardly breathing, trying to hear any unusual sound above the noise of the water.

They sat like that for ten minutes without hearing a sound. Then, very silently, Ranni rose to his feet. He felt for his torch, and pressed down the switch suddenly. The light flashed out over the platform. It was quite empty!

“They’ve gone,” whispered Ranni. “I thought they must have, for I have heard nothing for the last ten minutes. They did not think of searching this platform. They have gone higher up, probably hoping to catch us in the cave where the great waterfall is.”

“That’s not so good,” said Pilescu, switching off his torch. “If they wait for us there, they will catch us easily. Jack said that Beowald was going to fetch the villagers to hurry after us — it is possible that they might have got as far as the waterfall cave, and might help us. But we can depend on nothing!”

“We will let the boys rest a little longer,” said Ranni. “There is no need to rush on, now that the robbers are in front of us, and not at the back! I will watch now, Pilescu, whilst you sleep.”

Pilescu was thankful to be able to allow himself to close his eyes. He leaned his big head against the wall at the back, and fell into a deep sleep at once. Ranni was keeping guard, his eyes and ears on the look-out for anything unusual. It was a strange night for him, sitting quietly with his sleeping companions, hearing the racing of the mountain river, watching for wolf-tailed robbers to return!

But they did not return. There was no sound to make Ranni alert. The others slept peacefully, and the boys did not stir. Ranni glanced at his watch after a long time had passed. Six o’clock already! It was sunrise outside the mountain. The world would be flooded with light. Here it was as dark as midnight, and cold. Ranni was glad of his warm cloak.

Pilescu awoke a little while later. He spoke to Ranni.

“Have you heard anything, Ranni?”

“Nothing,” said Ranni. “It is nearly seven o’clock, Pilescu. Shall we wake the boys and go on? There is no use in staying here. Even if the robbers are lying in wait for us above, we must push on!”

“Yes,” said Pilescu, yawning. “I feel better now. I think I could tackle four or five of those ruffians at once. I will wake the boys.”

He awoke them all. They did not want to open their eyes! But at last they did, and soon sat munching some of the bread they had found on the little shelf nearby the night before.

Ranni told them how the robbers had gone by in the night without discovering them.

“It’s not very nice to think they’re somewhere further up, waiting for us!” said Mike, feeling uncomfortable. “I suppose they’ll be in one of the caves. “We’ll have to look out!”

“We’ll look out all right!” said Jack, who, like Pilescu, felt all the better for his night’s sleep. “I’m not standing any nonsense from wolf-tailed robbers!”

They left the platform, and made their way to the ledge that ran beside the river, beyond the platform. As usual Ranni went first, having tied them all together firmly.

“It’s not so very far up to the waterfall cave from here, as far as I remember,” said Jack. “About two hours or so.”

They began to stumble along the rocky ledge again, the water splashing over their feet. The boys were surprised to find that the ledge was now ankle-deep in water.

“It wasn’t when we came down this way,” said Mike. “Was it as deep as this when you and Pilescu were brought down by the robbers, Ranni?”

“No,” said Ranni, puzzled. “It barely ran over the ledge. Look out — it’s quite deep here — the river is overflowing its channel by about a foot. We shall be up to our knees!”

So they were. It was very puzzling and rather disturbing. Why was the river swelling like that?

In the Cave of the Waterfall

The higher they went, the deeper the water became that overflowed the ledge. The river roared more loudly, too. Ranni puzzled over it and then suddenly realized the reason.

“It is the terrific rainstorm that has caused the river to swell!” he called back, his voice rising over the roar of the water. “The rain has soaked deep into the mountain, and has made its way to the river. You know what a rainstorm we had yesterday — it seemed as if whole seas of water had been emptied down on the earth. The river is swelling rapidly. I hope it doesn’t swell much more, or we shall find it impossible to get along.”

This was a very frightening thought. It would be dreadful to be trapped in the mountain tunnel, with the rushing river rising higher and higher. The three boys put their best feet forward and went as quickly as they could.

When nearly two hours had gone by, they began to hope they were nearing the waterfall cave. The river by now had risen above their knees and it was difficult to stagger along, because the water pulled against them the whole time. Ranni and Pilescu began to feel very anxious.

But, quite suddenly, they heard the sound of the waterfall that fell down into the big cave! It could only be the waterfall they heard, for the noise was so tremendous. “We are nearly there!” yelled Ranni.

“Look out for the robbers!” shouted back Jack.

They rounded the last bit of the ledge, and, by the light of Ranni’s torch, saw that at last they were in the big cave, from which led the passage that would take them to the cave below the temple. They all felt very thankful indeed.

There was no sign of the robbers. The five of them went cautiously into the cave and looked round. By the light of Ranni’s torch the waterfall seemed to be much bigger than they had remembered. It fell from a great hole in the roof of the cave, and then ran down the channel to the tunnel, where it disappeared.

“It is greater now,” said Ranni. “It must be much swollen by all the rain that fell yesterday. It already fills the hole through which it falls.”