When they saw Jack they sprang to their feet in the greatest amazement! They stared as if they could not believe their eyes. They felt they must be dreaming.

“Jack! Jack! Is it really you?” asked Mrs. Arnold at last. “Where are the others — Mike, Peggy and Nora?”

Mike, Peggy and Nora were Mrs. Arnold’s own children, though she counted Jack as hers too, because he had once helped the others when they were in great trouble. Jack stared at Captain and Mrs. Arnold in joy. He flung his arms round Mrs. Arnold, for he was very fond of her.

“There isn’t time to talk,” said Captain Arnold quickly. “Jack has opened our prison door. We’d better get out whilst we have the chance! Follow me. I know where we can go and talk in safety.”

He led the way out of the room, taking with him some flat cakes and a pitcher of water. He stopped to fasten the bolts behind him, so that anyone coming that way would not notice anything unusual. Then, instead of going down the rope ladder, Captain Arnold took a little dark passage to the right that led steeply upwards. Before very long, much to the two boy’s amazement, they came into a vivid patch of sunlight!

“There are sun-windows cut into the steep sides of this mountain here and there,” said Captain Arnold. “The Folk of the Mountain use them for sun-bathing. It is impossible to escape through them because the mountain falls away below them, and anyone squeezing out of a sun-window would roll to the bottom at once! We are safe here. Sometimes my wife and I have been taken here to get a bit of sun, and no one ever comes by.”

“Tell us everything, Jack,” begged Mrs. Arnold. “Quick — what about the others?”

Jack and Mafumu were very glad indeed to curl up in the warm sunshine and feel the light and warmth of the sun once more. They munched the cakes and drank the water whilst Jack quickly told his whole story. Captain and Mrs. Arnold listened in the greatest astonishment.

“Well, you have had amazing adventures before — but, really, this is the most extraordinary one you children have yet had!” said Captain Arnold. “And now, let me tell you our adventures!”

He told them how he had been forced down to mend something that had gone wrong with the White Swallow. Whilst he was mending it, the Folk of the Mountain had come silently up and captured them. They had been taken off to the secret mountain, and had been kept prisoners ever since.

“We don’t exactly know why,” said Captain Arnold. “But I’m afraid that the Folk of the Mountain don’t mean us any good! They are worshippers of the sun, and I believe they have a great temple-yard up on the top of this mountain where they make sacrifices to the sun. I only hope they don’t mean to throw us over the mountain-top to please the sun-god, or something like that!”

“Good gracious!” said Jack, going pale. He had read in history books of ancient tribes who had worshipped strange gods and made sacrifices to them. He had never dreamed it could happen today. “What about the others? Will the Mountain Folk do that sort of thing to them too?”

“Well, we must see that they don’t,” said Captain Arnold. “The others are in the mountain somewhere — and we must find them! Have you finished your cakes, Jack? Well, we will leave this warm sun-trap now and explore a little. I don’t expect anyone will find out that we are gone until the morning, as our guards had already brought us our food for the day. We have a good many hours to hunt for the others!”

At first Mafumu was very shy of the two strange people, but when he saw how Jack chattered to them he soon began grinning and showing his white teeth.

“Me Mafumu,” he said. “Me Mafumu. Me Jack’s friend!”

“Well, come on, Mafumu. You must keep with us,” said Captain Arnold. “Follow me along this passage, and we’ll see where it leads us to!”

Meanwhile, what had happened to the others? They had slept restlessly in their underground room, with the lamp burning beside them. They only knew when morning came because their watches told them that it was six o’clock.

“I’m hungry,” said Mike, yawning. “I hope they give their prisoners plenty to eat in this Secret Mountain!”

No sooner had he spoken than the door was unbolted and two red-haired men came in, the folds of their brightly coloured robes swishing all around them. They carried fresh water and some more of the flat cakes in a big dish. They also brought fruit of all kinds, which the children were delighted to see.

“I do wonder what has happened to Jack and Mafumu,” said Mike. “What will they do, do you think, Ranni?”

“I can’t imagine,” said Ranni, taking some of the fruit. He and Pilescu were far more worried than they would tell the children. They hated the sight of the queer red-haired folk — though both Ranni and Pilescu looked curiously like them sometimes, with their bright red hair and beards. But their eyes were not green, nor was their skin yellow.

Towards the end of the long and boring day, the door was flung open, and one of their guards beckoned the little company out. They followed their guide down long, winding passages, cut out of the mountain rock itself, and at last came to a great door that shone green and blue in the light of the swinging lamps above.

The door slid to one side as they came near it, and behind it the children saw a great flight of steps going up and up. The steps shone with a strange golden colour, and shimmered from orange to yellow as the little company began to climb them.

At every two-hundredth step the stairway, still wide and golden, curved round, and ascended again. The children were soon tired of the endless climb. They sat down to rest.

Behind them came a company of the Folk of the Mountain, chanting a strange and doleful song. Nobody liked it at all. It was horrid.

Many times the company sat down to rest. Ranni and Pilescu felt sure that the stairway led to the summit of the mountain. It was a marvellous piece of work, that stairway, beautiful all the way. Here and there, set at the sides, were glittering lamps in the shape of a rayed sun. These were so bright that the children could hardly bear to look at them.

“I think we must be going to the very top of the mountain,” said Ranni. “It’s soon sunset — and sunworshippers usually pray to the sun at sunrise or sunset. We shall probably see them at their worship!”

Ranni was right — but he did not guess what an extraordinary place the summit of the mountain was!

Panting and tired, the little party climbed the last of the flight of steps. They came out through a great golden door into a vast corridor, with tall yellow pillars built in two rows.

“Goodness!” said Mike, stopping in amazement. “What a view!”

That was the first thing that struck everyone. The view from the top of the Secret Mountain was simply magnificent. All around rose other mountains, some high, some lower, and in and beyond stretched the green valleys, some with a blue river winding along. It took the children’s breath away, and made them feel very small indeed to look on those great mountains.

After they had feasted their eyes on the glorious scenery all around them, they turned to see what the summit of the Secret Mountain was like. It was very strange. For one thing, it had been levelled till it was completely flat. There was an enormous wide space in the centre, floored with some kind of yellow stone that shone yellow and orange like the flight of steps up which they had come. Around this wide space, on three sides, were long pillared corridors — and on the fourth side was a great temple-like building, overlooking the steepness of the eastern side of the mountain.

The children, with Ranni and Pilescu, were taken to the great temple. The wind was very rough and cold on the top of the mountain and everyone shivered. A red-haired man came up and flung shimmering cloaks around their shoulders. These were lined with some kind of wool, and were very warm indeed.