“Tell us everything, Jack,” begged Mrs. Arnold. “Quick — what about the others?”
Jack and Mafumu were very glad indeed to curl up in the warm sunshine and feel the light and warmth of the sun once more. They munched the cakes and drank the water whilst Jack quickly told his whole story. Captain and Mrs. Arnold listened in the greatest astonishment.
“Well, you have had amazing adventures before — but, really, this is the most extraordinary one you children have yet had!” said Captain Arnold. “And now, let me tell you our adventures!”
He told them how he had been forced down to mend something that had gone wrong with the White Swallow. Whilst he was mending it, the Folk of the Mountain had come silently up and captured them. They had been taken off to the secret mountain, and had been kept prisoners ever since.
“We don’t exactly know why,” said Captain Arnold. “But I’m afraid that the Folk of the Mountain don’t mean us any good! They are worshippers of the sun, and I believe they have a great temple-yard up on the top of this mountain where they make sacrifices to the sun. I only hope they don’t mean to throw us over the mountain-top to please the sun-god, or something like that!”
“Good gracious!” said Jack, going pale. He had read in history books of ancient tribes who had worshipped strange gods and made sacrifices to them. He had never dreamed it could happen today. “What about the others? Will the Mountain Folk do that sort of thing to them too?”
“Well, we must see that they don’t,” said Captain Arnold. “The others are in the mountain somewhere — and we must find them! Have you finished your cakes, Jack? Well, we will leave this warm sun-trap now and explore a little. I don’t expect anyone will find out that we are gone until the morning, as our guards had already brought us our food for the day. We have a good many hours to hunt for the others!”
At first Mafumu was very shy of the two strange people, but when he saw how Jack chattered to them he soon began grinning and showing his white teeth.
“Me Mafumu,” he said. “Me Mafumu. Me Jack’s friend!”
“Well, come on, Mafumu. You must keep with us,” said Captain Arnold. “Follow me along this passage, and we’ll see where it leads us to!”