And then the girls knew what it was. It was the waterfall, of course! How stupid of them not to think of that! But it sounded so different there in the mountain.
‘We’re not going into the heart of the mountain after all,’ said Dinah. ‘We’re coming out somewhere near the waterfall. I wonder where.’
They got a tremendous surprise when they did see daylight. The passage suddenly took one last turn and took them into subdued daylight, that flickered and shone round them in a curious way. A draught of cold air met them, and something wetted their hair.
‘Lucy-Ann! We’ve come out on to a flat ledge just behind the waterfall!’ cried Dinah in astonishment. ‘Look, there’s the great mass of falling water just in front of us! – oh, the colours in it! Can you hear me? The water is making such a noise.’
Overwhelmed by surprise and by the noise, Lucy-Ann stood and stared. The water made a great rushing curtain between them and the open air. It poured down, shining and exultant, never stopping. The power behind it awed the two girls. They felt very small and feeble when they watched the great volume of water pouring down a few feet in front of them.
It was amazing to be able to stand on a ledge just behind the waterfall and yet not to be affected by it in any way except to feel the fine spray misting the air. The ledge was very wide, and ran the whole width of the fall. There was a rock about a foot high at one end of the ledge, and the girls sat down on it to watch the amazing sight in front of them.
‘What will the boys say?’ wondered Dinah. ‘Let’s stay here till we see them coming back. If we sit on this rock, just at the edge of the waterfall, we can wave to them. They will be so astonished to see us here. There’s no way of getting to the ledge from above or below, only from behind, from the passage we found.’
‘Yes. We’ll surprise the boys,’ said Lucy-Ann, no longer frightened. ‘Look, we can see our cave up there! – at least, we can see the giant fern whose fronds are hiding it. We shall easily be able to see the boys when they come back.’
Kiki was very quiet indeed. She had been surprised to come out behind the great wall of water. She sat on a ledge and watched it, blinking every now and again.
‘I hope she won’t be silly enough to try and fly through the waterfall,’ said Lucy-Ann anxiously. ‘She would be taken down with it and dashed to pieces. I know she would.’
‘She won’t do anything silly,’ said Dinah. ‘She’s wise enough to know what would happen if she tried something like that. She may fly out round the edge of the waterfall, though. Still, there shouldn’t be much danger for her in that.’
The girls sat there for a long time, feeling that they would never get tired of watching the turbulence of the waterfall. After a long time Lucy-Ann gave a cry and caught Dinah’s arm.
‘Look – is that the boys coming? Yes, it is. They’ve got a sack between them. Good! Now we shall have plenty of food.’
They watched the two boys labouring up the rocks that led to the cave. It was no good waving to them yet. Then suddenly Dinah stiffened with horror.
‘What’s the matter?’ said Lucy-Ann in alarm, seeing Dinah’s face.
‘Look – someone is following the boys!’ said Dinah. ‘See – it’s one of the men! And there’s the other one too! Oh, my goodness, I don’t believe either Philip or Jack knows it! They’ll watch where they go and our hiding place will be found! JACK! PHILIP! OH, JACK, LOOK OUT!
She went to the very edge of the waterfall, and, holding on to a fern growing there, she leaned out beyond it, yelling and waving, quite forgetting that the men could see and hear her as well as the boys.
But alas, Jack and Philip, engrossed in the task of getting the heavy sack up the rocks, neither saw nor heard Dinah – but the men suddenly caught sight of her and stared in the utmost astonishment. They could not make out if she was girl, boy, or woman, for the edges of the waterfall continually moved and shifted. All they could make out was that there was definitely someone dancing about and waving behind the great fall.
‘Look!’ said one man to the other. ‘Just look at that! See – behind the water! That’s where they’re hiding. My word, what a place! How do they get there?’
The men stared open-mouthed at the waterfall, their eyes searching for a way up to it that would lead to the ledge where the excited figure stood waving.
Meantime, Jack and Philip, quite unaware of the following men, or of Dinah either, had reached the curtain of fern. Philip pushed the ferns aside, and Jack hauled the sack up through them, panting painfully, for it was heavy.
At last the sack lay on the floor of moss. The boys flung themselves down, their hearts thumping with the labour of climbing up steeply to the cave, dragging such a heavy sack. At first they did not even notice that the girls were not there.
Not far off, some way below, stood the two men, completely bewildered. In watching Dinah behind the waterfall, they had just missed seeing Jack and Philip creep through the ferns into their cave. So when they turned from gazing at the waterfall, they found that the boys they had so warily followed had utterly disappeared.
‘Where have they gone?’ demanded Juan. ‘They were on that rock there when we saw them last.’
‘Yes. Then I caught sight of that person waving down there, and took my eyes off them for a minute – and now they’ve gone,’ growled Pepi. ‘Well, there’s no doubt where they’ve gone. They’ve taken some path that leads to that waterfall. They hide behind it – and a clever place it is too. Who would think of anyone hiding just behind a great curtain of water like that? Well, we know where to find them. We’ll make our way to the water and climb up to that ledge. We’ll soon hunt the rats out.’
They began to climb down, hoping to find a way that would lead them to the ledge behind the waterfall. It was difficult and dangerous going, on the slippery rocks.
In the cave the boys soon recovered. They sat up, and looked around for the girls.
‘Hallo – where are Lucy-Ann and Dinah?’ said Jack in astonishment. ‘They promised to stay here till we got back. Surely to goodness they haven’t gone wandering about anywhere? They’ll get lost, sure as anything!’
They were not in the cave. That was absolutely certain. The boys did not see the hole in the fold of rock at the back. They were extremely puzzled. Jack parted the ferns and looked out.
To his enormous astonishment he at once saw the two men clambering about on rocks near the waterfall. His eyes nearly dropped out of his head.
‘Look there!’ he said to Philip, closing the fronds a little, fearful of being seen. ‘Those two men! Golly, they might have seen us getting in here! How did they get here? We saw them safely by the plane, on our way to the bush!’
Dinah had now disappeared from behind the waterfall. She could not make up her mind whether or not the men had seen the boys climbing in through the fern to their cave. In any case, she thought she ought to warn them of the men’s appearance. She felt sure that neither Jack nor Philip knew they were there.
‘Come on, Lucy-Ann,’ she said urgently. ‘We must get back to the boys. Oh, goodness, look at those men! I believe they are going to try and get over here now. They must have spotted me waving. Do come quickly, Lucy-Ann.’
Shivering with excitement, Lucy-Ann followed Dinah along the dark, winding passage that led back to the cave of echoes. Dinah went as quickly as she could, flashing her torch in front of her. Both girls forgot all about Kiki. The parrot was left sitting alone behind the waterfall, spray misting her feathers, watched the clambering men with interested eyes. She had not heard the girls going off.
Dinah and Lucy-Ann came out into the cave of echoes at last. Dinah stopped and considered. ‘Now, where exactly was that hole we came through?’ she said.
‘Came through, through, through,’ called the echoes mockingly.
‘Oh be quiet!’ cried Dinah to the echoes.
‘QUIET, QUIET, QUIET!’ yelled back the irritating voices. Dinah flashed her torch here and there, and by a very lucky chance s
he found the hole. In a trice she was in it, crawling along, with Lucy-Ann close behind her. Lucy-Ann had an awful feeling that somebody was going to clutch her feet from behind and she almost bumped into Dinah’s shoes in her efforts to scramble down the hole as quickly as possible.
Jack and Philip were peeping through the ferns watching the men, when the girls dropped out of the hole at the back of the cave, came round the fold of rock and flung themselves on the boys. They almost jumped out of their skin.
Philip hit out, thinking that enemies were upon them. Dinah got a stinging blow on the ear, and yelled. She immediately hit out at Philip and the two rolled on the floor.
‘Don’t, oh, don’t!’ wailed Lucy-Ann, almost in tears. ‘Philip, Jack, it’s us! It’s us!’
Philip shook off Dinah and sat up. Jack stared in amazement. ‘But where did you come from?’ he demanded. ‘Golly, you gave us an awful scare, I can tell you, jumping out like that! Where have you been?’
‘There’s a hole back there we went into,’ explained Dinah, giving Philip an angry look. ‘I say, do you two boys know that those men were following you? They were not very far behind you. We were scared stiff they would see you climbing in here.’
‘Were they following us!’ said Jack. ‘Golly, I didn’t know that. Peep out between these fronds, you girls, and see them hunting for us down there.’
13
Safe in the Cave
They all peeped out between the fern fronds, Lucy-Ann holding her breath. Yes, there were the two men, clambering about dangerously near the waterfall.
‘But what are they doing down there?’ said Jack in wonder. ‘Why look for us there? They must have know we didn’t go that way, if they were following us.’
‘Well, they must have seen me waving to you from behind the waterfall,’ said Dinah. ‘They must think that’s where our hiding place is.’
‘Waving to us from behind the waterfall?’ said Philip in the utmost amazement. ‘What are you talking about, Dinah? You must be bats.’
‘Well, I’m not,’ said Dinah. ‘That’s where Lucy-Ann and I were when you came up the slope there to climb into the cave. We were standing behind the waterfall, and I tried my hardest to attract your attention and tell you that those two men were following you.’
‘But – how in the world did you get behind the waterfall?’ asked Jack. ‘It was an idiotic thing to do. Fancy climbing up those slippery rocks, and getting behind the water! You might have been . . .’
‘We didn’t go that way, silly,’ said Dinah. ‘We went another way.’ And she told Jack and Philip all about the hole at the back of the cave that led down into the cave of echoes, and the passage that came out behind the roaring waterfall. The boys listened in the greatest amazement.
‘Gosh! How extraordinary!’ said Jack. ‘Well, I suppose the men just caught sight of you down there, Dinah, and took their eyes off me and Philip for a minute, and lost us. We must have climbed into this cave through the fern just as they were watching you. What a good thing!’
‘That’s why they’re messing about down there on those wet rocks,’ said Philip, grinning. ‘They think that that is our hiding place, behind the fall, and they want to get there and find us. They don’t guess that isn’t the right way. I can’t for the life of me see how they can possibly get behind the water from any of those rocks in front. If they’re not jolly careful, they’ll get swept off by the water – and down they’ll go like lightning.’
Lucy-Ann shuddered. ‘I don’t want to see them do that,’ she said, and wouldn’t peep out of the ferns any more.
But Dinah and the boys watched in glee. They felt safe up there in their fern-hidden cave, and it was fun to watch the two men slipping about on the rocks near the water, getting angrier and angrier.
Kiki was still behind the waterfall, watching them with interest. Suddenly she gave one of her dreadful cackles of laughter, and the men heard it even through the roar of the water. They looked at one another, startled.
‘Hear that?’ said Juan. ‘Somebody yelling their heads off, laughing at us. Wait till I get them, that’s all. They must be just behind the sheet of water. How do they get there?’
It was impossible to get behind the waterfall from above or below. Quite impossible. The men realised this after they had fallen many times, and once almost slipped off a wet rock into the cascading water itself. They sat down on a ledge a good way from the water and mopped their heads. They were hot and angry, and their clothes were soaked.
They were puzzled too. Where had those boys come from? Was there a whole camp of people somewhere? Were they hiding in the mountains? No, that could not be so, for they would have seen them roving the countryside in search of food. There could only be a few people. They must have sent out the boys to seek for food.
The children watched in delight. There was something very enjoyable in seeing their enemies at a loss, in being able to see their every action and yet not be seen themselves. Even Lucy-Ann had another peep now that she knew they were no longer slipping about the waterfall.
‘We’d better go,’ said Juan. ‘If that’s their hiding place they can keep it. We’d better get somebody else here to help us. We could put him to guard this place. If he sat here, he could see if anyone came up to get behind the water. Come on, I’m fed up with this.’
They stood up. Jack watched them through the fern fronds. Were they going back to their hut, or to the plane, perhaps? Then, seeing that they were going to pass rather near to the cave, the boy hastily closed the fronds and pushed the others back.
‘Keep quiet,’ he said. ‘They may come fairly near.’
They came extremely near. They took a way that led them right past the cave itself. The children sat as still as stone, hearing the men scrambling along outside. Suddenly the fern swayed and shook, and Lucy-Ann’s hand flew up to her mouth to stifle a scream.
‘They’re coming in, they’ve found us,’ she thought, and her heart almost stopped beating. The fern rustled again, and then there was quiet. The footsteps passed, and the children heard the voices of the two men saying something they could not catch.
‘Have they gone?’ wondered Dinah, and looking at Jack, she raised her eyebrows. He nodded. Yes – they were gone – but what a terrible fright everyone had had when they grasped hold of the fern to help them along! Little did Juan and Pepi dream that four silent children sat within two feet of them then.
Jack parted the fern again. There was no sign of the men. He felt sure they must have gone back, but he did not dare to go out and spy. ‘Better lie low for a bit,’ he said. ‘We’ll have a meal. I’ll creep out and spy around later on. Where’s Kiki?’
Nobody knew. Then Dinah remembered she had been with them behind the waterfall. They had gone back without her in their anxiety to warn the boys about the two men. She must still be there.
‘Blow! We’d better go and fetch her,’ said Jack. ‘I don’t really feel like moving just now, either – I’m really tired with dragging that heavy sack along so far.’
A voice spoke outside the cave . . . a gloomy, dismal, reproachful voice.
‘Poor Kiki! All alone! What a pity, what a Kiki, poor pity!’
The children laughed, and Jack parted the fronds cautiously, in case by any chance the men were still anywhere about. Kiki clambered through, looking very sorry for herself. She flew to Jack’s shoulder and nibbled his ear gently.
‘All aboard!’ she said more cheerfully, and cracked her beak. Dinah ruffled up the feathers on her head.
‘Kiki must have flown out from behind the waterfall and come straight here,’ she said. ‘Clever Kiki! clever old bird!’
‘God save the Queen,’ said Kiki. ‘Wipe your feet!’
Jack’s tin-opener came out again, and a choice of tins and jars was made. There was a small tin of biscuits still to be finished, and the children chose some pressed meat to go with them, and a large tin of juicy apricots. Jack opened the fronds just a little to let in enough daylight to s
ee by. Once again they thoroughly enjoyed their meal, and Kiki got into trouble for taking more than her fair share of apricots.
The children waited some time before they dared to creep out of the cave. When the sun was well down, Jack clambered out between the fronds, and had a good look round. There was no sign of the men at all. Jack found a high place from which, if he sat there, he could see for a good way in any direction.
‘We’ll take it in turns to keep watch,’ he said. ‘You can come in half an hour, Philip.’
They had a fine time clambering all about. They found some wild raspberries, and ate great quantities of them. They were delicious. Kiki ate them too, murmuring ‘Mmmmmmmmm’ all the time.
Each of them took turn at keeping watch, but there was nothing to see. The sun went down behind behind the mountains, and twilight came. They all went back to the cave.
‘It will be lovely to sleep here tonight,’ said Lucy-Ann, pleased. ‘This moss is so nice and soft. Like velvet.’
She stroked it. It felt like velvet too. She helped Dinah to put down macks and a rug to lie on, and made pillows of pullovers and jerseys.
‘A drink of apricot juice and a few biscuits for everyone,’ said Dinah, as they all sat down on the ‘bed.’ She handed out the biscuits. Jack parted the fern fronds and tied them firmly back.
‘Must have a little air in the cave,’ he said. ‘It will get jolly stuffy with four of us here.’
‘Five,’ said Dinah. ‘Don’t forget Kiki.’
‘Six,’ said Philip, producing the lizard. ‘Don’t forget Dizzy Lizzie.’
‘Oh, I really hoped you’d lost her,’ said Dinah crossly. ‘I haven’t seen her all day.’
They finished their biscuits and lay down. It was quite dark now outside. Their ‘bed’ felt warm and soft. They all snuggled down, making nice cosy places for themselves.