“Yamen, tell us all you know about the Secret Forest,” begged Nora, as she buttered a rusk. “We have seen it when we flew over in an aeroplane. It was so big and so mysterious.”
“The Secret Forest!” said Yamen. “Ah, no one knows anything of that. It is lost in the mountains, a hidden place unknown to man.”
“Doesn’t anyone live there at all?” asked Jack, remembering the spire of smoke he thought he had seen.
“How could they?” asked Tooku, in his deep, hoarse voice, from the end of the table. “There is no way over Killimooin Mountains.”
“Hasn’t anyone ever found a way?” asked Jack.
Tooku shook his head. “No. There is no way. I have heard it said, however, that there is a steep way to the top, whence one can see this great forest — but there is no way down the other side — no, not even for a goat!”
The children listened in silence. It was disappointing to hear that there really was no way at all. Tooku ought to know, for he had lived among the mountains for years.
“Ranni won’t let us go about alone,” complained Paul. “It makes us feel so babyish, Tooku. Can’t you tell him the mountains are safe?”
“They are not safe,” said Tooku, slowly. “There are robbers. I have seen them from this very castle. Ah, when this place was built last year, the robbers must have hoped for travellers to come to and fro!”
“What robbers?” asked Jack. “Where do they live? Are there many of them?”