19

the king of the mountain

‘look at that!’ said jack. ‘somebody’s been having a meal here – three people – and look at whatthey’ve left!’

‘can’t we have some?’ said lucy-ann, eyeing a great bowl of fresh strawberries and a jug halffull of cream. near by was a plate of cooked lobsters, and two dishes of mixed salads.

it was clear that three people had been having a meal there, judging by the plates and glasses, allof which were really beautiful.

‘i call this a feast – a royal feast!’ said dinah, and she picked up a cake with cream icing on thetop in the shape of a rose, and dug her teeth into it. ‘i don’t know who this stuff belongs to – butthere’s nobody to ask permission to share it – and i’m too hungry to wait!’

‘so am i! we’ll get bill to pay for it if anyone objects,’ said jack, and set to work on a lobster.

there were dishes of things the children had never seen before. they tasted one or two, but theywere spiced in a way they disliked.

there were peaches and nectarines, pineapples and plums of all kinds. ‘the helicopter must bepretty busy bringing all these!’ said philip, biting into the sweetest peach he had ever tasted in hislife. ‘i must say the king of this mountain does himself proud!’

nobody came to interrupt them at all. kiki feasted well, enjoying the food as much as thechildren. snowy ate all the salad offered him, and for a treat was allowed to be on philip’s knee,with his forefeet on the table. he badly wanted to get on the table itself, and could not understandwhy kiki was allowed there when he wasn’t.

‘if you eat any more, kiki, you’ll get the hiccups properly!’ said jack. ‘stuffing yourself likethat! greedy!’

‘pop goes polly,’ agreed kiki, and would have given a cackle of laughter if jack hadn’t shushedher.

‘well – what about trying to find our way out again?’ said jack at last. ‘i don’t know whetherit’s anything to do with that strange feeling we had when the floor of the big pit was pushed back,and we saw that extraordinary mass of brilliance below – but i feel rather don’t-carish now – notscared any more. i don’t even feel that it’s terribly urgent to get out of here, though i know it is!’

‘it was a very unusual feeling,’ said philip. ‘i thought i was going to float up into the air thenext minute! i hung on to that balcony for dear life!’

they had all felt the same – and now they felt as jack did – very ‘don’t-carish’. but thatwouldn’t do at all – it was imperative that they should find their way out as soon as possible.

they left the curious dining-room, with its laden table. they went into a passage that was muchmore brightly lit than the others they had walked down. hangings decorated the rocky walls, greatcurtains that swayed a little in the draught that ran through the passages.

‘this must be the king’s own quarters,’ said jack. ‘maybe we shall come to the throne-roomsoon.’

he was quite right. they did. but this time the throne-room was not empty. it was full!

men stood there silently. there were all kinds, and a tough-looking lot they were! they were ofmany nationalities. some had the maroon beret that paratroopers have when in uniform. thepeeping children thought that probably they were all old paratroopers. there were about twenty ofthem. sam was there too, and philip gave a little start when he saw him. now it would be knownthat he, philip, had escaped! whoever had gone to bring sam down here would have seen theunbolted door and found that he was gone.

blow! now he would be carefully hunted for, and it would be very difficult to escape. henudged jack and pointed out sam to him. jack, peeping through the curtains that hung beforethem, nodded and frowned. the same thought occurred to him as had occurred to philip.

he debated whether to go off straight away now and try to find the way out. but either theywould have to go back the way they had just come, which obviously would not take them to theentrance they knew – or else they would have to go into the throne-room – where they wouldcertainly be seen. no – they would have to stop where they were till this meeting, or whatever itwas, was over.

besides the paratroopers there were guards, men who looked like soldiers standing in anelaborate uniform down each side of the great hall. the throne was empty. there was no sign ofthe man meier.

but suddenly there came a whispering among the men gathered there. the great curtains nearthe throne were flung back by two soldiers and the king of the mountain entered!

he seemed very tall, for he had a great crown that stood up from his head, embroidered withglittering stones. his wore a rich suit and cloak, and looked more like an indian prince at somesplendid festival than anything else. his yellowish face looked out impassively from below hisgreat crown, and a mass of black hair swung down on each side. he sat down on the throne.

beside him stood two men. philip was sure that one was meier. he didn’t know the other, buthe didn’t like the ape-like face and enormous, burly figure. meier’s hawk-like eyes swept theroom. he began to speak in a penetrating, most incisive voice, in a language that the children didnot know. then he paused and spoke in english.

the children listened, spell-bound. meier spoke of the king and the wonderful gift he wasgiving to mankind – the gift of flying. he spoke of the grand men who were helping them in theirexperiment – the paratroopers willing to try the ‘wings’. he spoke of the great wealth the menwould receive, the honours that would be piled on them. then he said it all again in a thirdlanguage and then in a fourth.

he seemed to hypnotize everyone as he spoke. jack could not help feeling that a lot he said wassheer nonsense – but he couldn’t do anything but believe it whilst he heard it, and it was obviousthat all the men there drank every word in, whether it was spoken in their own language or not.

what a spell-binder, thought jack!

then volunteers were called for. all the men stepped forward at once. the king then rose and,apparently at random, picked out two or three. he spoke a few inaudible words in an unexpectedlythin, reedy voice that didn’t seem to go at all with his kingly presence.

then meier took charge again. he said that these men, among the first to fly with wings, wouldbe sent back to their own countries after the experiment, with wealth enough to last them for alifetime. all the others who had tried out the wings were now safely back in their homes, and wererich and honoured men.

‘i don’t think!’ muttered jack to philip, remembering what sam had related.

the king then walked majestically out and meier and the other man followed. the guardsushered the paratroopers away and soon the great throne-room was empty.

when everyone had gone and there was complete silence, jack whispered to philip, ‘we knowthe way out from here. come on!’

they went to the huge laboratory, where the wheels and wires were still at their secret work.

the children stood in the gallery above the big work-room and looked down at the strange lamp inthe middle. dinah suddenly clutched jack and made him jump. he looked at her.

she pointed to where there was a great cluster of glass jars, with tubes running from one to theother. jack saw somebody there.

it was an old man with a very large forehead, larger and rounder than any forehead jack hadseen in his life. the man was quite bald, which made his head seem more curious than ever. hebent over the glass jars and looked searchingly into them.

‘come on before he sees us,’ whispered jack, and pulled the others towards the passages thatwould lead them to the entrance. they went along them and at last came to the little chamberwhere the pitchers of water and the mugs were. now to get down the rope-ladder and escape!

‘what about snowy?’ whispered dinah. ‘how can we get him down?’

‘i wonder how he got up before?’ said philip. ‘and the dogs too. i never thought of that. i wasjust pushed up in the dark, and i was so scared i didn’t think of snowy or the dogs. they couldn’thave climbed that ladder!’

‘there’s probably some hole somewhere that they went into,’ said dinah. ‘a hole outside, imean – too small for us, but big enough for snowy and the dogs.’

as it turned out afterwards, dinah was right. there was a small hole near the crack, and it wasthrough this and up a narrow little tunnel that snowy had passed with the dogs, who knew the wayvery well. the dogs’ tunnel led eventually into one of the passages, and that was how snowy hadgot into the mountain but had not been imprisoned with philip.

snowy was still with them. he knew the way he had come in by, but he wasn’t going to leavethe others. jack switched on his torch and felt above for the rope-ladder.

‘where is the wretched thing?’ he said. ‘surely it was just here!’

snowy came and pressed close to him, and nearly sent him headlong down to the black pool.

‘hold snowy!’ he said to philip. ‘i almost went over then. i can’t seem to find the ladder. it shouldbe hanging down somewhere about here.’

‘let me look,’ said philip, giving snowy to dinah. he felt about too, and jack flashed his torchall round and about to see if he could spy the rope-ladder up which they had all come.

but it wasn’t there – or if it was, nobody could see it! jack flashed his torch down into the holeas far as he could. no ladder at all!

‘what’s happened to it?’ he said, exasperated.

‘perhaps someone has turned that little wheel in the pond the other way – and the ladder rolledup and put itself away,’ suggested dinah.

this was a dreadful thought. jack began to look round the little chamber to see if the rope-ladder had been pulled up by the machinery set in motion by the wheel – but he couldn’t see itanywhere.

his hand touched a spike on the wall. he focused his torch on it. ‘this may be a lever!’ he saidto the others. ‘look!’

he pulled and pressed at the spike, and it suddenly gave way, pulling downwards. a slab ofrock was moved smoothly – and there behind was the rope-ladder! how it worked with the wheelbelow the children could not imagine.

it certainly wouldn’t work with them. it was evidently coiled or folded neatly in the hollowbehind the rock – but how to get it from there nobody could make out. it needed some machineryput in motion to set it free. then, jack supposed, it would come sliding smoothly out of the place itwas in, fall over the edge of the rock, and uncoil all the way to the bottom – hanging ready for anyclimber to come up.

‘how does it work from up here though?’ said jack, for the twentieth time. all of them hadpulled and twisted and tugged at the ladder, lying so snugly in its hiding-place – but it was quiteimpossible to move it.

‘give it up!’ said jack gloomily at last. ‘no good! we’re done for. it’s absolutely maddening,just when we are almost out of this beastly mountain.’