But the Folk of the Mountain went up the stairway, not down! The boys heard their footsteps and their voices disappearing into the distance. They crept back up the stairway to the door — and it was open!
“Golly! What a bit of luck!” Jack whispered to Mafumu, who, although he did not understand the words, knew what Jack meant all right. The boys slipped in through the open door and found themselves in an enormous gallery that ran round the most colossal hall they had ever seen.
“This must be a kind of meeting-hall,” thought Jack, gazing down from the rocky gallery to the great floor below. “I bet it’s right in the very middle of the mountain! Golly! What a strange place it is!”
Steps led up from the great hall in many directions. They led to fine wooden doors, studded and starred with gleaming metals. The Folk of the Mountain had a strange and mighty home! There was no one at all to be seen and the deep silence seemed very queer. Enormous lamps hung down from the roof, swinging slightly as they burned. Deep shadows moved over the floor as the lamps swung, and Mafumu stared, for he had never seen such a place in all his life.
“Mafumu! Those people will be coming back soon, I expect,” said Jack in his ear. “Come on. We must get down into this hall and go up a stairway to see if we can find where the others are. Hurry!”
The boys slipped down into the great hall. They stood there in the shadows, wondering which flight of steps to take. They chose the nearest one, a wide, shallow stretch that led to an open doorway.
Up they went, and through the doorway. A long, dark passage lay before them, with rocky walls and ceiling. They went down it, and turned into another one. They heard the noise of voices and stopped.
No one had heard them, so they crept on again, and came out through a big archway that led into a fine cave. Its walls were hung with the skins of animals and with curtains of shining material. The floor was covered with rich rugs. On them sat the Folk of the Secret Mountain.
How queer they looked in the light of the swinging lamps! The men all had flaming red beards and hair, and their faces looked a sickly yellow. The women were wrapped up to their noses, and showed neither hair nor chins! The boys knew they were the women because they spoke in high-pitched, shrill voices.
All of them were working at something. Some were making rugs. Others were weaving with bright-coloured strands that looked like raffia. Some were hammering at things that the boys could not see.