“And when we get there, fly as low down as you can, so that we can get as near to the Secret Forest as possible,” begged Nora.
Ranni and Pilescu smiled. They climbed up into the aeroplane. “We will go all round Baronia,” said Pilescu, “and you will see, we shall fly over Killimooin country. It is wild, very wild. Not far from it is the little palace the King built last year, on a mountain-side where the winds blow cool. The summers have been very hot of late years in Baronia, and it is not healthy for children. Maybe you will all go there if the sun becomes much hotter!”
“I hope we do!” said Paul, his eyes shining. “I’ve never been there, Pilescu. We should have fun there, shouldn’t we?”
“Not the same kind of fun as you have in the big palace,” said Pilescu. “It is wild and rough around the little palace. It is more like a small castle. There are no proper roads. You can have no car, no aeroplane. Mountain ponies are all you would have to get about on.”
“I’d like that,” said Jack. He took his seat in the big plane, and watched the mechanics finishing their final checks on the plane. They moved out of the way. The engine started up with a roar. Nobody could hear a word.
Then off went the big plane, as smoothly as a car, taxiing over the grass. The children hardly knew when it rose in the air. But when they looked from the windows, they saw the earth far below them. The palace seemed no bigger than a doll’s house.
“We’re off!” said Jack, with a sigh. “Where is the map? You said you’d bring one, Paul, so that we could see exactly where we are each minute.”
It really was interesting to spread out the map, and try to find exactly where they were. “Here we are!” said Jack, pointing to a blue lake on the map. “See? There’s the lake down below us now — we’re right over it — and look, there’s the river flowing into it, shown on the map. Golly, this is geography really come alive! I wish we could learn this sort of geography at school! I wouldn’t mind having geography every morning of the week, if we could fly over the places we’re learning about!”
The children read out the names of the towns they flew over. “Ortanu, Tarribon, Lookinon, Brutinlin — what funny names!”
“Look — there are mountains marked here. We ought to reach them soon.”