When everyone had calmed down a little, they looked round to see what had become of the four guards who had come up in the cage-lift with Jack and the others. But they were gone! They had silently stepped into the golden cage once more, and had disappeared from sight into the heart of the mountain!

Captain Arnold ran to where the trap-door lay smoothly in the floor of the courtyard. He tried to get his fingers between the edges of the door and the stone of the courtyard — but they fitted so exactly that it was impossible.

“In any case it will be locked and bolted the other side,” he said. “There’s no way of escape there. How did you get here, Mike? Through this trap-door?”

Mike told him about the enormous flights of shining steps that led up to the golden door. He showed the newcomers the door itself, but no matter how they tried they could not slide it back.

The children were all so excited at seeing their father and mother again, and at having Jack and Mafumu once more, that they forgot their worries and chatted happily, telling one another their adventures. Only the grown-ups looked grave, and talked solemnly together, apart from the children.

“Somehow we must think of a way to escape,” said Pilescu. “These Folk of the Secret Mountain are savage and ignorant. They think that the sun is angry with them, and they want to give him a servant to make their peace with him. Which of us will be chosen for that? I don’t like to think.”

“None of us is safe,” said Captain Arnold. “Is it possible to lie in wait for the guards who come to give you food, Pilescu, overpower them, and escape down the golden stair?”

“We could try,” said Ranni doubtfully. “But I fear it would be no use. Still, it seems the only thing to do.”

At that moment Jack came up. He had been showing the other children the queer pot of yellow paint that he had taken from the storeroom among the caves in the mountain. He looked very peculiar because he had tried out some of the paint on his own face, and his skin was now as bright yellow as the Folk of the Mountain!

Ranni and Pilescu, who did not know about the pigment, stared at him in horror.

“Jack! What is the matter with you?” cried Pilescu. “Are you ill?”

“Very!” grinned Jack. “I think I must have got yellow fever, Pilescu! Have you got any medicine to make me better?”

The other children crowded round, giggling and laughing, and Pilescu knew it was a joke. He looked closely at Jack.

“You have got yellow paint on your face,” he said. “You look like one of the Folk of the Mountain!”

“And you, Pilescu, would look exactly like one if you painted your face,” said Jack, “because you have a flaming red beard as they have. But yours is a real red beard, not a dyed one!”

No sooner had Jack said these words than the same thought flashed into Pilescu’s head and Captain Arnold’s at the same moment. Pilescu snatched the pot of pigment from Jack and looked at it. He dipped his finger into it and rubbed it over the back of his hand. At once his skin gleamed the same yellow as the skin of the Mountain Folk.

“I’ve thought the same thing as you, Pilescu,” said Captain Arnold, in excitement. “If you used this paint you would pass for one of the Secret Mountain people! You and Ranni both have the bright red hair and beards of Baronian men — if you paint your skin yellow, you will look very like the Folk of the Mountain — and maybe our way of escape lies through you!”

Immediately all was excitement. Everyone talked at once. Everyone thought it was a simply marvellous idea. In the end Captain Arnold silenced the party and spoke seriously to them all.

“We must lose no further time in talk,” he said. “I propose that both Ranni and Pilescu paint their faces with this yellow pigment and try to escape with the guards when they come. If only they can find their way back to where our planes are, they may be able to find some way of rescuing us all. It’s the only chance that I can see.”

“There are some robes in the temple with the rugs!” cried Mike. “I tried them on this morning. They would fit Ranni and Pilescu. Come and try them!”

In the greatest excitement the little company went to the temple. Ranni and Pilescu tried on the coloured robes and they fitted well enough. The flowing garments looked strange on the two big men, and everyone laughed.

Captain Arnold carefully rubbed the curious yellow pigment into the skin of the Baronians’ faces, necks and hands. With the flowing robes, yellow skin and flaming beards they looked exactly like the Folk of the Secret Mountain! Poor Mafumu, unused to extraordinary happenings of this sort, could hardly believe that it was still Ranni and Pilescu, and he shrank away from them in fear.

“It is getting near the time when sun-worshippers come to pray to the sun at sunset,” said Captain Arnold looking over the mountains to where the sun was swinging down towards the edge of the world. “Maybe many of the Mountain Folk will come, and then you can mix with them easily enough when they go!”

It was decided that Ranni and Pilescu should hide behind two great pillars near the sliding door. If they were not discovered they could mix with the Mountain Folk as they went down the stairs again, and might escape unseen in that way.

The sun swung lower — and suddenly, from behind the great golden door came the sound of chanting. It was the Mountain Folk coming to sing their prayers to the sun! The door slid to one side, and up the shining stairway came scores of the curious Folk, their beards gleaming red in the setting sun.

The leader went to the tower of the temple. All the rest spread themselves out on the flat courtyard, and flung themselves down on their faces when the man in the temple sounded a loud and echoing bell. They chanted a sad and doleful dirge for about ten minutes, whilst Captain Arnold and the rest looked on.

Behind the big pillars Ranni and Pilescu waited their chance. As soon as the sun disappeared over the edge of the world and darkness fell on the mountain the people stood up and ranged themselves in lines. Then still singing, led by their tall leader, they made their way back to the stairway that led down into the dark mountain.

And, slipping to the end of the lines, went two red-bearded folk that did not belong to the mountain! Ranni and Pilescu joined the company, and tried to do exactly as the men in front did. They passed through the shining doorway and down the golden stairs. The door slid back silently into place — and Ranni and Pilescu were gone from sight!

“They’ve gone!” said Jack, slipping his hand through Mike’s arm. “They’ve gone! Oh, I do wonder how they’ll get on. I do hope they won’t be caught!”

No one came to disturb them again that evening. The little party went into the temple and tried to find the most sheltered corner. The mountain wind blew without stopping, day and night, and it was difficult to find anywhere that was not full of draughts. The girls cuddled up to Mrs. Arnold, and the boys and Captain Arnold found a bigger corner and piled rugs over themselves.

They all slept soundly that night, in spite of the cold. Captain and Mrs. Arnold were glad to be with their children again, and hoped against hope that somehow Ranni and Pilescu would find a way to escape from the mountain and bring help to the prisoners.

For two days nothing happened. The Folk of the Mountain came up once at sunrise and once at sunset to chant their strange songs and prayers. Guards came to bring food and water. Curiously enough they did not miss Ranni and Pilescu at all — partly because Captain Arnold had told the party to split up, and be in various places on the summit of the mountain, instead of all together.

“Then when our guards come, they will not be able to count us up, because we shall be all over the place!” said Captain Arnold. “And unless they actually go to look for everyone they will not guess that two of our party are missing!”