21

on the mountain-top

both the soldiers had got hold of poor lucy-ann. she was screaming wildly, and the two boysflew at the men. but to their great surprise they were thrown back as easily as if they had beenfeather-weights. just a twist of the men’s arms, and back they went, falling headlong to the floor.

they were up again in a trice – but this time one of the soldiers caught philip in a vicious grip,and the boy found himself turning over in the air, and flying right over the man’s head! he landedwith a crash on the table, and sent all the dishes into the air.

what with lucy-ann’s screams, the boys’ yells, and the crashes of the dishes there was aterrific commotion. kiki added to it by screeching loudly. then she flew down and attacked one ofthe men. he fended her off.

four more soldiers suddenly appeared, and that was the end of the children’s resistance. theywere all captured. kiki flew off somewhere, still screeching. snowy had disappeared completely.

the four children were marched out of the room and taken to a bigger room, well furnished, butnot nearly so elaborate as the king’s rooms. hangings covered the walls, but they were plain andsimple. the roof of the cave was not covered, and the children could see the rough rock abovetheir heads.

lucy-ann was sobbing. dinah looked very pale and the boys were angry and defiant. theywere all stood in a row against the wall. philip felt in his pocket to see if his slow-worm was hurtin the scuffle. sally slithery had not liked life in the mountain. she had become lethargic and dull.

but she would not leave philip.

she was still there, coiled up. philip wondered where kiki and snowy were. it was not like kikito fly off like that. she must have been very scared – or perhaps one of the dishes had struck her asit flew off the table.

in a few minutes meier and erlick, the two men who were the real power behind the poor old‘king’, came into the room. meier was glowering, and his piercing eyes glanced from one child toanother sharply.

‘so! there are four of you! three of you came to find this boy, i suppose – and let him out ofthe cave he was in. you thought you could all escape – you thought it would be easy, so easy. andit was not?’

he fired this question at them, with a twisted smile on his hawk-like face.

nobody answered. ‘how did you find the way to let down the rope-ladder?’ the man fired thisquestion at them so suddenly that they jumped. ‘who told you how to get it down?’

nobody said a word. meier’s eyes began to narrow, and the girls felt uneasy. he was horrid!

‘i asked you a question,’ he said. ‘you, boy, answer me!’

‘i used my brains,’ said jack shortly, seeing meier looking at him.

‘does anyone else know of that entrance?’ said erlick suddenly. the children looked at himwith dislike. he was like an ape, they thought! meier was bad enough – but erlick was ten timesworse.

‘how do we know?’ said philip, beginning to boil at the way these two men spoke to them.

‘what does it matter if they do? is what you’re doing here so shameful that you need to hide eventhe entrance to the mountain?’

erlick stepped forward and slapped philip across the face. lucy-ann stopped crying, in greaterfright than ever. philip did not flinch. he looked the man boldly in the face, and did not even rubhis smarting cheek.

‘leave him alone, erlick,’ said meier. ‘there are better ways of bringing a boy like that to heelthan by slapping his face. and now we will send out the dogs to scour the countryside. if thesechildren have friends anywhere near, the dogs will find them, and bring them in.’

the children’s hearts sank. would the alsatians capture bill and david then – and bring them tothe mountain to make them prisoners too? that would be dreadful.

from somewhere outside came a hollow cough. meier and erlick jumped. meier went to theentrance to the cave and looked out. there was nobody there at all.

‘is there another of you?’ asked meier. ‘is it boy or girl?’

‘neither,’ said jack, who had recognized kiki’s cough, and was hoping she would keep out. itwould be just like these men to wring her neck.

‘pooh! gah!’ came kiki’s voice, and then a cackle that was enough to make the men’s bloodcurdle. they went to the entrance of the cave again, and had a good look round, but kiki wassafely perched on a shelf of rock above their heads, and they could not see her at all.

‘send for the doctor,’ said kiki, in a sepulchral voice, that sent shivers down the men’s backs.

‘send for the doctor.’

‘good heavens! who is it?’ said erlick. he looked threateningly at the four children. ‘if that’sanother boy out there, being funny, i’ll skin him alive!’

‘there are only four of us, two boys and two girls,’ said jack.

‘and here we all are,’ said philip, in an insolent voice. he knew it was foolish to talk like this tothe two men, but he couldn’t help it. both he and dinah were foolhardy when their tempers wereup.

‘oh! and here you’ll all stay!’ said meier. ‘and i’ll think up something to take the spirit out ofyou, my boy. you may have gone through your life cheeking everyone and throwing your weightabout – but you won’t do it with me. now – walk in front of us, and keep going!’

the children were forced to walk out of the cave in front of the two men. they soon foundthemselves stumbling up the stone spiral stairs, going up and up. they came to the openings wherethe stores were, and then went on past those till they came to the door of the cave in which philiphad been bolted.

‘hey, you, boy! you’re to go into that cave again,’ ordered meier. ‘a few days without much toeat will soon take the insolence out of you. you others go on up.’

poor philip! he was shut once more into the cave that looked out to the sky – but this time hehad no sam to keep him company. he sat down, wishing he hadn’t been so foolish as to cheek thetwo grim men. then he was glad he had. he wasn’t going to kow-tow to two rogues like that. allthe same it was a pity he wasn’t with the others – especially as now there was only jack to be withthe girls.

the other three were forced to go on higher, climbing steadily. and then – what a surprise!

they came up a broad flight of steps hewn out of the rock, on to the very top of the mountainitself. they stood there, catching their breath at the sight of the amazing panoramic view all roundthem. the top of the world! surely they must be touching the sky itself!

the three forgot their troubles for a moment as they gazed round in wonder. everywhere theylooked there were mountains, rising high. valleys, deep in shadow, lay far far below. it waswonderful to be up there in the blazing sunshine and cool breeze, after being in the dark mountainfor so long.

the top of the mountain was extraordinarily flat. on three sides rose steep rocks, like teeth. jackknew in a flash what mountain it was – fang mountain, the one he had noticed when they had setout. he looked round the mountain-top. nothing grew there at all. it was bare, flat rock, the size ofa great courtyard. at one side, playing cards in the shade, were the paratroopers.

they stared in surprise at the children. runaway sam was with them and he pointed to jack andwas evidently telling his companions about him and the others. jack was glad that philip had toldsam so little about himself and the other three. he did not want meier to know any more than healready did.

there was an awning rigged up on the side opposite the paratroopers. meier pushed the childrentowards it.

‘you will stay here,’ he said. ‘you will not talk to those men over there at all. you will not gonear them. you are prisoners, you understand? you have forced your way in here, where you arenot wanted, and now we shall keep you here as long as we wish.’

‘can’t philip come with us?’ begged lucy-ann. ‘he’ll be so lonely away from us.’

‘is that the other boy? no. he needs a little punishment,’ said meier. ‘a little starvation diet!

then we will see if he will talk civilly.’

meier and erlick then left the three and disappeared into the mountain again. jack and the girlssat down, looking doleful. things weren’t too good! it was a thousand pities that poor philip wasapart from them.

evidently the paratroopers had been warned that they were not to go near the children, for theymade no attempt even to shout to them. it was obvious that meier and erlick were used to beingobeyed.

there was a natural parapet of rock near where the children were, that ran round the edge of themountain just there. jack got up and went to it. he sat on it and put his field-glasses to his eyes. ifonly he could spot bill! and yet he was afraid that if bill was there anywhere, the dogs might seton him and find him. he wondered where all the dogs were.

then he sat up a little straighter on the parapet and focused the glasses on a small spot on theslope of the mountain. he had seen a movement. could it be bill and david and the donkeys?

no, it wasn’t. it was the dogs! they had evidently already been let loose and were ranging thecountryside. if bill was anywhere about, they would soon find him! blow! then bill would becaptured too. jack wished he knew some way of preventing this happening, but he couldn’t thinkof anything.

he wondered about poor old dapple. thank goodness they had tied him up so very loosely. hehad plenty of range, and there was grass and water for him. but how the donkey would wonderwhat had happened to everyone!

something touched jack’s hand and he jumped and looked down. it was snowy! the kid hadfound his way to them and was nuzzling jack in a half-scared manner.

‘hallo, snowy! have you been looking for philip?’ said jack, rubbing the kid’s soft nose. ‘he’sin that cave again. you can’t get to him.’

snowy knew that very well. he had already been to bleat outside philip’s door. he looked sodismal that jack took him to the girls and they all made a fuss of him.

‘what do you suppose has happened to kiki?’ asked lucy-ann after a time.

‘oh, she’ll turn up all right,’ said jack. ‘she knows how to take care of herself. trust kiki forthat! she’s probably leading those two men a fine old dance, coughing and sneezing and cacklingand making a noise like an express train screeching in a tunnel!’

jack was perfectly right. kiki had been playing a fine game with meier and erlick, and as theyhad no idea that the children had a parrot, they were two extremely puzzled men. a voice withouta body to it – how very strange!

nothing happened for some time. then, when the sun was sinking, there came a clamour ofhowls and barks, and the pack of alsatians was brought up to the top of the mountain by two ofthe soldiers. the children watched to see if bill had been caught, but there was no sign of anyprisoner with the dogs. they heaved a sigh of relief.

the dogs were taken to a big wire enclosure some way off the children. ‘you be careful ofdogs,’ said one of the guards to the children. ‘they bite hard. you be careful!’