26

flight through the mountain

soon they were right down inside the mountain. they had passed philip’s cave, passed by thestores, and gone down the steep spiral stairway, cut in the rock.

it was very difficult to choose the right way to go, because all the dim lamps that lighted thepassages were out. it was quite dark everywhere. bill’s powerful torch sent a bright ray in front ofthem, but he had to use it cautiously in case someone saw the light, and was warned of theircoming.

there was a lot of standing still and listening, a good deal of argument on jack’s part anddinah’s about the right way to go. bill was very patient, but his voice was urgent as he told themto think hard and choose the right way.

‘if we followed snowy, we’d probably go right,’ said lucy-ann at last. ‘he would know theway.’

‘well – but he doesn’t know where we want to go,’ said jack. ‘i mean, if he knew we wanted togo to the rope-ladder cave, he could lead us there all right – but we can’t make him understandthat.’

they ended up being completely lost. they found themselves in a dark tunnel, with a very highroof that none of the children recognized at all.

bill began to feel desperate. if only he had been able to land without damage, this long trekthrough dark, unknown passages wouldn’t have been necessary.

they went down very deep, and, quite suddenly, came out on to the high gallery thatoverlooked the pit. bill drew in his breath sharply when he saw the mass of brilliance suddenlyshowing when the curious floor slid back for a moment. he and the children felt the strangefeeling of lightness at once, but it passed immediately the floor slid over the glowing mass again.

there was nobody in the pit. apparently the floor worked automatically by machinery of somekind, though there was none to be seen. that was the curious thing about the works in themountain – there was no heavy machinery anywhere. whatever power was used was not conveyedby iron or steel machines, and there was little noise except for the heavy rumbling that soundedbefore the shaking of the earth.

‘there’s obviously some metal in this mountain that can be used for that fellow’s experiments,’

said bill. ‘some rare metal or other – like uranium, which is used for splitting the atom. there area few mountains in the world which contain various rare metals – but usually they are mined for itand the stuff is taken out. in this case they haven’t mined it – they are using it where it is! it’spossible that they have to do that – in order to use the enormous thickness of the rocks in themountain to protect the outer world from whatever rays they are experimenting with. veryingenious!’

‘i think we know the way back now,’ said jack, quite thankful at having found some place theyrecognized, even though it was the frightening pit!

he pointed behind them, up the wide, uphill passage that he knew went up and up for a longway. bill switched his torch on it. ‘is that the way?’ he said. ‘well, come along then.’

they went up the wide, steep passage. they came to the narrow, twisty little tunnel they hadbeen in before and walked along till they came to the fork.

‘left-hand fork,’ said jack, and they took that. bill was amazed to see the beautiful silkenhangings that decorated the walls further on, and hung across the entrance to a cave.

jack put his hand on bill’s arm. ‘that’s the king’s bedroom, beyond,’ he whispered. ‘dinah,have you got snowy? don’t let him rush on in front.’

bill tiptoed to the curtains and parted them. a dim light shone beyond. bill looked with interestinto the king’s bedroom – and then closed the curtains quickly. he tiptoed back to the children.

‘there’s somebody lying on the couch there,’ he whispered. ‘an old fellow with a colossalforehead.’

‘that’s the king of the mountain!’ whispered back jack. ‘the great brain behind all theseinventions. i think he is an absolute genius, but quite mad.’

‘he seems to be asleep,’ said bill. ‘is there any way we can go round this cave without wakinghim up?’

‘no. i don’t know of any,’ said jack. ‘we’ve got to go through it, and then through a cavewhere he eats his meals, and then into the throne-room.’

bill thought for a moment. ‘we’ll have to risk it then,’ he said. ‘we’ll go through the room oneby one, but for heaven’s sake don’t make a sound!’

they went through the king’s bedroom one at a time, hardly daring to breathe. dinah had tighthold of snowy, praying that he wouldn’t bleat when he went through the room!

fortunately there were very thick carpets on the floor, so it was easy to make no sound. lucy-ann’s heart beat so loudly as she tiptoed across that she thought it must surely wake the king witha jump.

then they were in the room where the long table had held so much lovely food. but now it wasempty and there was not so much as a dish of fruit on it.

then on to the throne-room – and outside this, behind the lovely hangings patterned with thered dragons, the little company paused. a curious noise came to their ears – was it snoring? whatwas it?

bill peeped through the hangings very cautiously. he grinned. in the throne-room, sitting orlying, were the paratroopers. a very long table had been set down the middle, and on it were theremains of a lavish supply of food and drink. not a single man was awake!

‘so that’s where those fellows have been the last day or two!’ whispered jack. ‘i wonderedwhere they were. gosh, they’ve fallen asleep where they are – what a pretty sight!’

bill fumbled about in the hangings they were looking through. he was looking for a switch. hefound one and whispered to the children. ‘now listen – i’m going to switch off the light so that wecan get through the hall without being seen. keep close to one side of it and get through as quietlyas possible. even if we do make a noise and some of those fellows wake up it won’t matter –because they won’t be able to see who it is!’

this was a good idea. the light went out with a slight click and the great hall was in darkness.

the children, led by bill, moved quietly along one side, their feet making no noise on the softmats.

when they came to the immense laboratory bill stood still in amazement. he knew a great dealmore about these things than the children did, of course, and he could see what a brilliant,ingenious mind must be at the back of all the things at work there.

they stood in the gallery and looked down at the wires and wheels, the glass jars and the crystalboxes, and heard the quiet, purposeful humming going on.

‘what is it all doing, bill?’ whispered lucy-ann.

‘it’s transmuting, or changing, one power or energy into another,’ said bill soberly. ‘making itinto usable form, so that …’

‘so that it can be imprisoned in those “wings”, for instance?’ said jack.

‘something like that,’ said bill. ‘it’s an amazing set-up altogether.’

there was nobody there. it did seem extraordinary that all these humming, spinning, whirringthings should go on and on seemingly of their own accord, with just the king wandering roundthem occasionally.

bill was so fascinated that for a few moments he forgot the urgency of finding the way out ofthe mountain. there was something dream-like about all this – it didn’t seem real.

he was brought back to reality again by feeling snowy butting against him. he jumped a little.

then he took lucy-ann’s arm. ‘come along! what am i thinking of, stopping like this!’

jack had found the passage that led out of the laboratory. he led them down it and they came tothe great cave they had seen before. bill’s torch swept round it but there was nothing to see. thenthey went into the passage that led to the roofless cave! the children felt they really were gettingnear freedom again – if only, only, only they could find out how to get that rope-ladder out of itsplace in the wall!

they passed the dim lamps, which, for some reason or other, were lighted here. they came tothe roofless cave, and bill’s torch picked out the pitchers of ice-cold water standing at the back torefresh those who had had the long and exhausting climb up the rope-ladder.

‘this is the place where the ladder’s kept,’ said jack, and he took bill’s torch and swung it tofind the place in the rocky wall where they had seen it last.

but before he could spot it, lucy-ann tripped over something and fell with a thud. bill pickedher up. she had hurt her knees but she didn’t make a sound. bill told jack to flash his torch onlucy-ann to see what she had fallen over.

she had stumbled over the rope-ladder itself! there it lay, stretching from its place in the wall,over the floor and then disappearing downwards over the edge of the cave – down, down, down tothe cave with the pool far below!

‘look! the ladder’s out!’ cried jack, forgetting to whisper in his excitement. ‘oh, bill – let’scome on down at once!’

‘somebody must have gone out of the mountain tonight,’ said dinah, ‘and left the ladder downto come back by. i wonder who it was. we’d better be careful we don’t meet them!’

‘jack, you go down first,’ said bill, who had been examining with great interest the way theladder was attached to the hole in the wall. it was extremely ingenious. bill could see how wiresmust be run up from the wheel in the pool to a lever which released the ladder – whose weightthen compelled it to run out over the floor to the edge of the cave, where it fell and then pulleditself undone until it had come to its last rung. what made it able to roll itself up again bill couldnot imagine – but the brain that could devise all the amazing things inside that mountain wouldfind that a very simple problem!

jack went to the place where the ladder hung over the edge. he knelt down and put his feet oneafter another on a rung a little way down. the ladder felt as firm as before. it was very well madeand strong.

‘well, here i go,’ said jack. ‘send the girls next, bill, and then you come. snowy’s gonealready, down whatever little hole he and the dogs use! i don’t know where that is. i only wish iknew where poor old kiki was. i don’t like leaving her all alone in this beastly mountain.’

bill shone his torch on him. the girls watched his head disappear as he climbed down.

‘you go now, lucy-ann,’ said bill. ‘jack must be a good way down. you won’t tread on hishead. then dinah can go, and i’ll follow last of all. don’t attempt to leave the cave below till i amdown with you.’

jack was going steadily down. what a long long way it was! and then a very peculiar thinghappened. the ladder began to shake below him! jack stopped climbing at once.

‘gracious! somebody’s climbing up! and i’m climbing down! whoever can it be!’