But the night passed away silently and no one came to disturb them in their cell-like room. The lamp burned steadily, giving a soft light to the curious, high-roofed room. It burned until the day — and even then it still lit the room, for no daylight, no sunlight ever entered the heart of the Secret Mountain.
Mafumu Makes A Discovery
Jack was almost beside himself with alarm and despair. Mafumu kept close beside him, saying nothing at all, looking at Jack out of his big dark eyes. Both boys beat again and again on the great rock that hid the entrance to the Secret Mountain. They heard the door behind slide back into place once more — and then all was silent.
“Come,” said Mafumu at last, and he took Jack’s arm. He led him to where everyone had left their packs, and the two sat down together.
“What are we to do?” said Jack at last, burying his head in his hands. “I can’t bear to think of everyone captured, and we can’t get at them.”
Mafumu did not understand. He sat there looking at Jack, muttering something in his own language. Then he made a kind of bed of the packs, and pushed Jack down on them.
“We sleep now. I find way soon,” said the younger boy flashing his white teeth in the moonlight. They must wait until the morning.
Jack fell asleep at last. As soon as Mafumu saw that his eyes were closed, and heard his regular breathing he crept away from Jack. He stood upright in the brilliant moonlight and looked at the great mountain. How was he going to find a way inside?
Mafumu was not yet ten years old, but he was the sharpest boy in his tribe. He was mischievous, disobedient and wilful, but he had brains. He had lain thinking and thinking of how he might get into the Secret Mountain without going through the entrance of the sliding rock.
And into his mind had come a picture of the great waterfall. He saw it springing from the mountain-side, a great gushing fall of silvery water. He was going to see if it came from the heart of the Secret Mountain!