It took quite a time to pack in all the five younger children. One of the nurses had the baby in a big basket beside her. The other nursery children chattered and laughed. They looked pale with the heat, but they were happy at the thought of going to a new place.
Ranni and Pilescu travelled with the four English children and Prince Paul. There was plenty of room in the enormous blue and silver car. Nora was glad when at last they all set off, and a cool draught came in at the open windows. The little girl felt ill with the blazing summer heat of Baronia.
“The new castle is called Killimooin Castle,” announced Paul. “I’ve never even seen it myself, because it was built when I was away. It’s actually on one of the slopes of Killimooin. We can do a bit of exploring.”
“You will not go by yourselves,” said Ranni. “There may be robbers and wild men there.”
“Oh, Ranni — we must go off by ourselves sometimes!” cried Jack. “We can’t have you always hanging round us like a nursemaid.”
“You will not go by yourselves,” repeated Ranni, a little sternly, and Pilescu nodded in agreement.
“Killimooin is about two hundred miles away,” said Paul. “We ought to get there in four or five hours — as near there as the roads go, anyway.”
The great cars purred steadily along at a good speed. There were five of them, for servants had been taken as well. Behind followed a small van with a powerful engine. In the van were all the things necessary for the family in the way of clothes, prams and so on.
The countryside flew by. The children leaned out of the windows to get the air. Ranni produced some of the famous Baronian chocolate, that tasted as much of honey and cream as of chocolate. The children munched it and watched the rivers, hills and valleys they passed. Sometimes the road wound around a mountain-side, and Nora turned her head away so that she would not see down into the valley, so many hundreds of feet below. She said it made her feel giddy.
“I don’t know what we would do if we met another car on these curving roads that wind up and up the mountain-side,” said Peggy.