The moon passed further in front of the sun and a bigger piece became completely dark. A moan of fear came from the watching Mountain Folk. They did not understand what an eclipse of the sun was, and they really thought that their precious sun was being killed!
Not one of them guessed that it was merely the moon passing in front of the sun and blocking out its light for a while. They fell on their faces and muttered all kinds of strange prayers. And when they looked up again they saw that half of the sun was gone!
And now the world began to look queer and unearthly. The sunlight dwindled and died. A queer half-light came over the whole countryside. Birds stopped singing. The monkeys in the trees huddled together, frightened. The frogs thought that night was coming and began to croak.
The children were afraid too, although they knew quite well that it was only an eclipse they were watching. They had never seen one before, and this was a complete eclipse, with every bit of daylight and sunlight gradually going from the world they looked upon. As for poor Mafumu he had never in his life been so frightened. He crouched on the ground shivering like a jelly, and Jack did his best to comfort him.
The chief up on the tower was watching the dying sun with fear and amazement. He too was trembling. Could it be that this man was really killing their wonderful sun-god who shone so brightly in the sky each day? He could not understand it. He threw out his arms to the sun, and shouted to it, trying to comfort the failing sun, and to make it shine brightly again! Captain Arnold folded his arms, looked very stern, and it really seemed for all the world as if he were the conjurer who had worked the trick!
And now even stranger things happened! The sky became as black as night and the stars came out. They shone brilliantly, and starlight lighted the earth instead of sunlight.
“Don’t be afraid,” Mrs. Arnold said to the scared children, who had not expected this. “The sun is gone now, lost behind the moon — so, of course, it is like nighttime, and the stars shine out. You must remember that the stars are always in the sky, all through the day — but we don’t see them because daylight is so bright. But now that the daylight has gone, we can see the stars shining.
It all seemed simple enough when Mrs. Arnold explained it — but the terrified Mountain Folk had no idea of what was really happening, and they were quite mad with fear and terror. They shouted and moaned, and beat their foreheads and dropped to their knees.
Up on the tower it was quite dark. Captain Arnold caught hold of the astonished little prince and whispered in his ear.
“Go down the stone steps and join the others, Paul. No one will stop you now. You are safe,”