“Let us think carefully, little lord,” said Ranni. “Can there be any other way out of this Secret Forest, so well-hidden within the great Killimooin Mountains?”
Everyone was silent. It was quite impossible to climb the surrounding mountains, even if they could make their way through the depths of the forest towards them.
Jack spoke at last. “Ranni, where do you suppose this river goes to? It must go somewhere. If it was penned up in this valley, it would make a simply enormous lake, and it doesn’t do that, or we should have seen it from the air, when we flew over.”
Ranni sat and thought. “It must go somewhere, of course,” he said. “Maybe it finds its way underground, as it did in the mountain. You think perhaps it would be a good idea to follow the river, Jack, and see if we can float away on it, maybe through a tunnel in one of the mountains, to the other side.”
“We could try,” said Jack, doubtfully. “We could go back to the queer beehive-like houses tonight and see if our raft is still there. If it is, we could board it and go off on the river. The river won’t take us backwards, that is certain, so we shall have to go forwards with it!”
“Well, we will try that,” said Ranni, though he did not sound very hopeful. “Let us eat now, shall we? You must, as you said, be very hungry.”
The Baronians had brought the bread with them from the pit. All five began to eat, thinking of the adventure that lay ahead. Pilescu looked at the three boys. He saw that they were worn out.
“We will find a good hiding-place and rest there,” he said to Ranni. “We shall need to be fresh for tonight. Come, then. I will carry Paul. He is already half asleep!”
But before they could creep away, they heard the sound of voices, and saw three or four robber-women coming down the path, carrying pitchers of water and more bread! They had evidently come to bring food to the prisoners. Very silently the five vanished into the trees.
The women went to the pit and placed the food and water beside it. They had apparently been told to take it there and leave it, so that the men could hand it down to the prisoners when they came later, and could move the logs a little apart. It was beyond the women’s strength to move them.