The Secret Mountain. Страница 25

“Captain Arnold, will the eclipse start soon?” asked Jack nervously. He was terribly afraid that something would happen to Paul before they could prevent it. Captain Arnold glanced at his watch.

“It will begin in two minutes,” he said. “Now, I am going to take a hand in this game! Watch me!”

He ran with quick, light steps to the tower. The servants at the entrance were taken by surprise, and he slipped through easily. He raced up the stone steps and in a moment or two was standing beside the chief and Paul.

And then things began to happen! Captain Arnold turned to the great sun and shook his fist at it. He shouted at it! He snatched a knife from his belt and threw it high into the air at the sun! The knife made a great curve in the air and disappeared over the mountainside!

“He kills the sun, he kills the sun!” shouted Mafumu, who suddenly understood what Captain Arnold was pretending to do. The Mountain Folk understood Mafumu’s shout and rose to their feet in alarm and confusion. The servants of the chief ran to capture Captain Arnold — and then a strange thing happened.

A tiny piece seemed suddenly to be bitten out of the sun! A small black shadow appeared at one side! The moon was beginning to pass in front of it, and was hiding a very small piece.

Mafumu saw it and was astonished. He pointed at the sun, and shouted in alarm. “The sun is being eaten! See, see!”

A great silence fell on the mountain-top. Everyone was watching the sun in the sky, covering their faces with their hands, and looking through their fingers to avoid the brilliance. The servants who had come to capture Captain Arnold watched, too, trembling.

The moon passed further in front of the sun and a bigger piece became completely dark. A moan of fear came from the watching Mountain Folk. They did not understand what an eclipse of the sun was, and they really thought that their precious sun was being killed!

Not one of them guessed that it was merely the moon passing in front of the sun and blocking out its light for a while. They fell on their faces and muttered all kinds of strange prayers. And when they looked up again they saw that half of the sun was gone!

And now the world began to look queer and unearthly. The sunlight dwindled and died. A queer half-light came over the whole countryside. Birds stopped singing. The monkeys in the trees huddled together, frightened. The frogs thought that night was coming and began to croak.

The children were afraid too, although they knew quite well that it was only an eclipse they were watching. They had never seen one before, and this was a complete eclipse, with every bit of daylight and sunlight gradually going from the world they looked upon. As for poor Mafumu he had never in his life been so frightened. He crouched on the ground shivering like a jelly, and Jack did his best to comfort him.

The chief up on the tower was watching the dying sun with fear and amazement. He too was trembling. Could it be that this man was really killing their wonderful sun-god who shone so brightly in the sky each day? He could not understand it. He threw out his arms to the sun, and shouted to it, trying to comfort the failing sun, and to make it shine brightly again! Captain Arnold folded his arms, looked very stern, and it really seemed for all the world as if he were the conjurer who had worked the trick!

And now even stranger things happened! The sky became as black as night and the stars came out. They shone brilliantly, and starlight lighted the earth instead of sunlight.

“Don’t be afraid,” Mrs. Arnold said to the scared children, who had not expected this. “The sun is gone now, lost behind the moon — so, of course, it is like nighttime, and the stars shine out. You must remember that the stars are always in the sky, all through the day — but we don’t see them because daylight is so bright. But now that the daylight has gone, we can see the stars shining.

It all seemed simple enough when Mrs. Arnold explained it — but the terrified Mountain Folk had no idea of what was really happening, and they were quite mad with fear and terror. They shouted and moaned, and beat their foreheads and dropped to their knees.

Up on the tower it was quite dark. Captain Arnold caught hold of the astonished little prince and whispered in his ear.

“Go down the stone steps and join the others, Paul. No one will stop you now. You are safe,”

Paul made his way to the steps and went down them thankfully. He felt his way to the children, and clasped Mike’s hand in joy. Mike put his arms round him, and the others clustered round Paul, who felt strange in his flowing garments.

“The eclipse came just at the right moment to save you, Paul, old boy,” said Jack in his ear. “You’re safe now. You were brave. We were awfully proud of you.”

Paul’s heart glowed. He had often been laughed at because he was rather a baby — and now he felt a hero! He kept close to the children and watched the rest of the eclipse.

As soon as Captain Arnold saw that the sun was completely gone, he began to shout, pretending that he was threatening the lost sun. The chief went down on his knees and begged for mercy, quite certain that Captain Arnold was the most powerful magician in the whole world!

Then gradually the moon passed right across the sun, and a little bit of one side began to show again. The stars slowly disappeared as the moon passed from the sun, and the strange half-light appeared once more. This was too much for the Mountain Folk. It was bad enough to have seen the sun die, as they thought — but now something else was happening, and they could not bear it.

Shouting and groaning, they rushed to the golden stairway and poured down it, slipping and falling as they went. The two servants who had been on the tower went too, deserting their chief in their fear. He was left on the tower, kneeling down before Captain Arnold.

Gradually the sun became itself again as the moon passed right across it, and the black shadow fled. The glorious daylight flooded the mountains, and the golden sun poured its rays down once more. Birds sang again. The monkeys chattered in delight. The brief and unexpected night was gone, and the world was itself again.

Captain Arnold took the frightened chief by the shoulder and led him firmly down the steps. He called to Mafumu.

“Mafumu, tell the chief he must let us all go now, or I will kill his sun again,” commanded the Captain. Mafumu understood. He was feeling better now that the sun had come back, and he thought that Captain Arnold must be the most powerful man in all the world. No matter how often the others explained what had really happened, Mafumu would never, never believe anything but that Captain Arnold had done something to the sun!

Mafumu, feeling important and grand, said something to the chief. The man was angry that such a small boy should speak in that way to him, and he took no notice at all. He strode away from Captain Arnold and went towards the trap-door, which was still lying open, flat on the ground. The golden cage was there awaiting him.

“Mafumu, tell him that we are going down the golden stairway, and that his servants must let us out of the rock-entrance,” said Captain Arnold. Mafumu shouted at the chief. The man nodded, and entered the cage. In a trice he was gone, and the trap-door still lay flat on the ground, for he had not troubled to bolt it.

“Well, he’s gone, and so has everyone else,” said Mike, with a laugh. “My word — what an adventure! I don’t mind saying that I felt very queer myself when the sun began to disappear and the stars shone out. I could do with something to eat. Let’s go and get some of those flat cakes from the temple before we go down the stairs.”

“Well, hurry then,” said Captain Arnold. “I want to go whilst the going is good!”

The boys ran to get the cakes and some fruit. They brought it out in the flat dishes, and joined Captain and Mrs. Arnold and the girls, who were walking towards the golden door.