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   Chapter 18

   NOW FOR WINDY PASS!

   NEXT morning the children peeped cautiously through the fern-fronds to see if by any chance Pepi was on guard again. But there was no sign of him.

   "I do wonder what Juan and Luis thought when they got back to their hut, unlocked it — and found the prisoner flown," said Jack with a grin. "They'll be astonished to find he went through a locked door."

   "Oh, they'll guess one of us rescued him," said Dinah. "Won't they be wild? I do hope they don't find him in that cowshed. He might tell tales of us."

   "He wouldn't," said Jack at once. "He's got a nice trustable sort of face — rather like Bill's but not so strong."

   "I wish Bill would suddenly arrive here," said Lucy-Ann with a sigh. "I do really. I know you boys have managed things awfully well, but somehow when Bill comes along I feel really safe."

   "Well, you're safe enough now, aren't you?" demanded Jack. "Didn't I find you a jolly good hiding-place?"

   "Yes, fine," said Lucy-Ann. "Oh, look, Philip — Kiki's after Lizzie!"

   Lizzie had appeared down Philip's leg, and Kiki, who happened to be sitting near, had given a delighted squawk and pecked at her — but the lizard was a little too quick. She ran into Philip's shoe.

   "Stop it, Kiki!" said Philip. "Well — now we'd better get busy."

   "Busy, dizzy Lizzy," said Kiki at once, and the children laughed.

   "Really, Kiki's awfully clever at putting the same-sounding words together," said Lucy-Ann. "Busy, dizzy Lizzy — I'd never have thought of that. Clever Kiki!"

   Kiki squawked and raised her crest high. She rocked herself from side to side, as she often did when she felt very pleased with herself.

   "Vain bird! Conceited bird!" said Jack, and scratched her poll. "You leave Lizzy alone. She's about the most harmless pet Philip's ever had."

   "Well, she's better than those awful rats and mice and spiders and beetles and hedgehogs he's had running about him," said Dinah with a shudder. "I really quite like Lizzie, compared with them."

   "Gracious!" said Lucy-Ann, astonished. "You are improving, Dinah!"

   Lizzie and Kiki both joined in the breakfast the children had, though Kiki kept a sharp eye to see that Lizzie didn't take anything she wanted. When they had all finished they made their plans for the day.

   "We'll fetch Otto first," said Jack. "Philip and I, I mean. No need for you girls to come. Perhaps you could pack up a few tins for us all to take with us when we go to look for the pass through the mountains. We shall want a meal on the way."

   "Right," said Dinah. "I hope you'll find Otto better. Then when you bring him here, we'll have a snack before we set out. Then over the pass we'll go, and find Julius — and somehow manage to send off a message to Mother and Bill. Maybe Bill will fly over in his plane. . . ."

   "And join the treasure-hunt and let us help," said Lucy-Ann. "What a nice plan!"

   It did seem a very nice one indeed. The boys set off, leaving Kiki behind with the girls. They went quickly over the mountain slope, keeping a good look-out, however, for Pepi and the others.

   But they saw nobody. They made their way carefully to the cowshed. Jack left Philip on guard near by to give warning if anyone came near. Then he tiptoed to the shed and peeped in. There was no sound in there at all.

   He could not see the last cow-stall from where he stood. He walked softly in, stepping over the fallen rubble. He spoke softly.

   "Otto! I'm back! Are you better?"

   There was no reply. Jack wondered if the man was asleep. He made his way to the last stall.

   It was empty. Otto was not there. Jack glanced round quickly. What could have happened?

   The boy saw that the opened tins of meat and fruit that he had left for Otto were untouched. Otto had not eaten anything left for him. Why?

   "Blow! Those men must have come looking for him when they found that he was gone from the hut," thought Jack. "And they found him here. Gosh! — what have they done with him? We'd better look out for ourselves, in case the men are on the watch for us. They'll know someone must have set Otto free, even if he has held his tongue about me."

   He went back to Philip. "Otto's gone," he said. "Dare? we have a squint at the hut? We might find out something then — what they've done with Otto, for instance."

   "Let's shin up that big tree we've climbed before," said Philip. "The one that we can see the plane from. If we saw all the men round about the plane, we'd know it was safe to go to the hut; but I don't feel inclined to run into danger if we think the men are by the hut. They might be watching for us to come again. If we're captured, the girls wouldn't know what to do."

   "All right. I'll climb the tree," said Jack, and up he went, with Philip close behind him. He put his field-glasses to his eyes to focus them on the plane — and then he gave a loud exclamation.

   "Gosh! The plane's gone again! It isn't there!"

   "No — it isn't," said Philip in surprise. "Well — I never heard it go this time, did you, Jack?"

   "Well, I did think I heard a throbbing noise last night when I was half asleep," said Jack. "Yes, now I come to think of it, it must have been the plane I heard. Well, we've probably frightened the men away. They got the wind up when they knew other people were here — in a hiding-place they couldn't find — people who rescued their prisoner."

   "Yes — and when they found they couldn't get at the treasure because a rock-fall had apparently blocked the entrance to it, I suppose they thought it wasn't much use staying," said Philip. "So they've gone. Thank goodness! Now we can go back to the girls, and shoot off to the pass quickly. To tell you the truth, I was a bit worried about taking Otto with us, because from what you said it didn't sound as if we'd be able to go very fast with him. And if he'd had a heart-attack by the way we wouldn't have known what to do."

   "I wonder where they've taken him to," said Jack. "Let's hope that now they find they can't get any more out of him they've taken him back to where he belongs, and will get a doctor to him."

   They climbed down the tree, and set off back to the girls as fast as they could. Now for the pass.

   The girls were most surprised to see the two boys back so soon — but they were even more surprised to see they were alone.

   "Where's Otto?" asked Dinah.

   "Down the well," said Kiki. Nobody took any notice of her and she screeched.

   Jack explained. "The plane's gone — and Otto's gone — so I suppose they've all gone off, disgusted at not being able to get at the treasure. Good riddance to them!"

   "Hear! hear!" said Dinah, very much relieved to know that their enemies were safely out of the way. "Well, what are we going to do now?"

   "Go and look for the pass," said Jack. "I've got the map Otto drew. What a mercy he gave it to me! We'd never find the pass by ourselves without a map, I'm sure of that. I mean, the pass out of these mountains might be anywhere. Apparently there is only one pass, and that's this one — the Windy Pass. Come on, let's go. Packed up a few tins, Dinah?"

   "Yes," said Dinah. "Now, where do we go from here? Up or down?"

   "Up," said Philip, poring over the map that Jack took from his pocket. "Up — to where the waterfall begins — here, look. Then we go along a rocky ledge — see, Otto's drawn it — then we come to a thick wood, look — and then up a steep bit to another ledge. Then we come to a proper road — the pass road that I suppose all the people of the valley used when they wanted to leave this district and visit another. Once we're on that road I shall feel better."

   "So shall I," said Dinah fervently. "It will be nice to see a road. We might even see somebody walking on it."

   "Shouldn't think so, as we haven't seen anyone in this valley at all except ourselves and the men," said Jack. "It strikes me as a bit queer, I must say, to think that, although there's a perfectly good pass in and out of this lovely valley, it appears to be quite deserted. I wonder why."

   "Oh, I expect there's a good reason," said Dinah. "Come on, do let's go. The first part will be easy, because we've only got to keep near the waterfall."

   But it wasn't quite so easy as she thought, for the mountain-cliff was exceedingly steep there, and the children had to do a lot of stiff climbing. Still, they managed it, for their legs were well used to walking and climbing by now.

   The waterfall roared by them all the way. It made a terrific noise as it fell, and Lucy-Ann thought how nice it would be when they reached the top, and didn't have to listen to quite such a colossal din.

   After some time they came to where the waterfall began. It gushed out of a great hole in the mountainside and fell sheerly down, tumbling against huge rocks on the way. It was really a marvellous sight to see.

   "Goodness, it does give me a funny feeling to see that great mass of water suddenly coming out of the mountain," said Lucy-Ann, sitting down. "It's so sudden, somehow."

   "I suppose when the snows melt, and the rain pours down, there is a terrific amount of water soaking down into the mountain-top," said Jack. "And it all collects and has to get out somehow. This is one way it gets out — through this hole — making a tremendous waterfall."

   "Where do we go now?" asked Dinah, who was very impatient to get out of the valley.

   "We go up on that rocky ledge," said Jack. "Golly, it looks a bit narrow — it runs right over the waterfall! Lucy-Ann, don't you dare look down, in case you feel giddy."

   "I don't much feel as if I want to walk along there," said poor Lucy-Ann.

   "I'll help you," said Jack. "You'll be all right as long as you don't look down."

   They went along the rocky ledge quite safely, Lucy-Ann holding tightly to Jack's hand. Kiki flew above their heads, squawking encouragement.

   "See how they run, see how they run!" she called, having apparently remembered the second line of "Three Blind Mice."

   Lucy-Ann gave a giggle. "We're not exactly running, Kiki," she said. "Oh, thank goodness the ledge has come to an end. Now we go through that wood, don't we?"

   Jack looked at his map. "Yes — apparently we go straight through. Where's my compass? I'll set it so that we walk in a straight line in the direction Otto has put on his map."

   They entered the wood. It was a pine-wood rather dark and silent. Nothing grew under the tall pine-trees. The wind blew them and they made a loud whispering noise, which upset Kiki.

   "Sh!" she called. "Shhhhhhhh!"

   "Here's the end of the wood!" called Jack. "Now for another steep bit to another ledge — and we'll look down on the road. Come on, everybody!"

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