“I suppose it’s safe to drink the juice of this funny fruit,” said Peggy doubtfully.
Ranni nodded. “Mafumu knows what is good or not,” he said. “Taste it and see what it’s like. If it’s nice I’ll have some too!”
Peggy tipped up the queer green fruit. It was full of some thick, fleshy juice that trickled out rather like treacle. At first the taste was bitter, like lemon — but as the little girl sucked hard, a delicious coolness spread over her mouth and down her throat.
“Golly!” said Peggy. “It makes me feel as if I’ve got ice-cream going down me, but not at all sweet. Do have some, you others!”
Soon everyone was sucking the strange fruit. Nobody liked the bitter taste at first, but they all loved the glorious coolness that came afterwards.
“Mafumu, you are very, very clever,” said Jack sleepily to the little boy, who was, as usual, curled up as near to his hero as he could manage. Mafumu grinned in delight. A word of praise from Jack made him very happy.
Soon everyone was sleeping soundly — except Ranni, who was on guard, though he found it very difficult to keep awake in such heat. The heat danced round, and everything shimmered and quivered. If it had not been for the coolness that blew over from the nearby waterfall it would have been quite unbearable.
Even the monkeys were quiet — but when they began to move in the tree and to chatter again Ranni awoke everyone. The great heat of the day was gone. If they were going to do any more exploring they must set off at once.
And soon they had a great surprise — for when they rounded a rocky corner of the yellow mountain they heard voices! They all stopped still at once, hardly daring to breathe. Voices! Could they be natives — or folk from the Mountain.
The voices were deep and harsh — like the voices of rooks, Jack thought. Ranni waved Mafumu forward, for he knew that the boy could move as silently as a shadow. Mafumu slid down on to his tummy and wriggled forward like a snake. It was marvellous to watch. The other children could not imagine how he could get along as quickly as he did.