The Secret of Killimooin

“So those footprints we saw must be theirs, after all,” said Paul. “Oh, Jack — this is awfully exciting, isn’t it! What did Ranni say when you told him?”
“He wouldn’t listen,” said Jack. “He was angry with me.”
“Well, he’ll soon be all right again,” said Paul, cheerfully. “Ranni’s temper never lasts long. I know that.”
Paul was right. Ranni forgot his anger in a very short time, and when he came into the children’s room, he was his usual smiling self. The boys went to him at once.
“Ranni! We know where the robbers hide!”
“Ranni, do listen, please. Jack saw the robbers.”
This time Ranni did listen, and what he heard made him call Pilescu at once. The two men were eager to hear every word that Jack had to tell.
“It looks as if we shall be able to round up the robbers quickly now,” said Ranni. “Good! You must be right, Jack — there is probably a secret entrance somewhere in the cave, leading from a big cave farther in.”
“We must make a search as quickly as possible,” said Pilescu. “Ranni, the moon is full tonight. You and I will take our most powerful torches and will examine that temple from top to bottom tonight!”
“Oh, Pilescu, let me come too?” begged Jack.
“And me!” cried Mike and Paul together.
Pilescu shook his big head. “No — there may be danger. You must stay safely here in the castle.”
Jack was angry. “Pilescu! It was my discovery! Don’t be mean. You must take me with you. Please!”
“You will not come,” said Pilescu, firmly. “We are responsible for your safety in Baronia, and you will not be allowed to run into any danger. Ranni and I will go tonight, and tomorrow you shall hear what we have found.”
The two men went out of the room, talking together. Jack stared after them fiercely. The boy was almost in tears.
“It’s too bad,” he said. “It was my discovery! And they’re going to leave me out of it. I didn’t think Ranni and Pilescu would be so mean.”
The boy was hurt and angry. The others tried to comfort him. Jack sat and brooded for a little while and then he suddenly made up his mind.
“I shall go, too!” he said to the others, in a low tone. “I shall follow them and see what they find. I won’t miss this excitement.”
“But you promised not to go out alone,” said Mike, at once. All the children thought the world of their promises and never broke one.
“Well, I shan’t be alone — I shall be with Ranni and Pilescu, and they won’t know it!” grinned Jack, quite good-tempered again now that he had thought of a way to join in the adventure. For adventure it had become, there wasn’t a doubt of that!
The others laughed. It was quite true. Jack would certainly not be alone!
So, that night, after they had gone to bed, Jack kept his ears pricked to listen to any sounds of Ranni and Pilescu leaving. The moon swam up into the sky and the mountain-side was as light as day. The boy suddenly heard the low voices of the two Baronians, and he knew they were going down the passage to make their way to the great front door.
He had not undressed, so he was ready to follow them. After them he went, as quietly as a cat. The others whispered to him:
“Good luck!”
“Don’t let Ranni see you or you’ll get a spanking!”
“Look after yourself, Jack!”
The big front door opened, and shut quietly. Jack waited for a moment, opened it, and crept after the two men. He had to be careful to keep well in the black shadows, for it was easy to see anyone in the moonlight.
Up the mountain track behind the castle went Ranni and Pilescu. They did not speak, and they made as little noise as they could. They kept a sharp look-out for any sign of the robbers, but there was none. Word had come to the castle that evening that a company of local people, returning from market, had been set upon and robbed that afternoon, and the two Baronians had no doubt that the robbers were the men that Jack had seen in the cave.
“If we can find the entrance to their lair, we can get soldiers up here, and pen the whole company in, and catch them one by one as they come out,” said Ranni, in a low tone. Pilescu nodded. He heard a sound, and stopped.
“What is it?” whispered Ranni.
“Nothing,” answered Pilescu, after a pause. “I thought I heard something.”
He had! He had heard the fall of a stone dislodged by Jack, who was following them as closely as he dared! The boy stopped when Pilescu stopped, and did not move again until the two men went forward.
In about an hour’s time they were at the old temple. The moon shone in at the ruined entrance. Ranni gave a startled exclamation as he went in, for the moon shone full on the face of the old stone image at the back. It seemed very lifelike!
“Now,” said Ranni, flashing his torch round the cave. “You take a look that side and I’ll take this. Examine every inch of the rock.”
The moon suddenly went behind a big cloud and the world went dark. Jack took the chance of slipping into the cave without the two men seeing him. He thought he could hide behind the images, as the men worked round the cave. He stood behind one near the entrance and watched Ranni and Pilescu examining the rocky wall, trying to find some hidden entrance to another cave beyond.
“I can find nothing,” said Pilescu, in a low voice.
Jack stood behind the statue and watched, hoping that one of the men would discover something. How he wished he could help too — but he was afraid of showing himself in case Ranni was angry again.
He stared at the big squatting statue at the back of the cave. The moon had come out again and was shining full on the image. As Jack watched, a very strange thing began to happen!
The statue’s face began to widen! It began to split in half! Jack stared in astonishment and horror. What could be happening? Was it coming alive? Were those old tales true, then?
Then he saw that the whole statue was splitting slowly and silently in half. The two halves were moving apart. It all happened so smoothly and silently that Ranni and Pilescu heard no sound at all, and had no warning.
Jack was so amazed that he could not say a word. The statue split completely in half, the two halves moving right apart — and then, from the floor of the flat rock beneath, a man’s shaggy head appeared, full in the moonlight — the head of one of the robbers!
Jack gave a yell. “Ranni! Pilescu! Look out! The robbers are coming! Look at the statue!”
Ranni and Pilescu, amazed at Jack’s voice, and at what he said, swung round quickly. They stared in the utmost amazement at the split statue, and saw the head and shoulders of the robber below. With a wild yell the robber leapt up into the temple, calling to his friends below:
“Come! Come! Here are enemies!”
In half a minute the cave was full of robbers. Ranni and Pilescu, taken completely by surprise, had their hands bound. They fought and struggled fiercely, but the robbers were too many for them.
Ranni remembered Jack’s voice, and knew that the boy must be somewhere about. He must have followed them! Ranni called out in English:
“Don’t show yourself, Jack. Go and give warning to the others.”
Jack did not answer, of course. He crouched down behind a statue, watching the fight, knowing that it would be useless to join in, and hoping that the robbers would not see him.
Before his astonished eyes, the boy saw the wolf-tailed men force the two Baronians down through the hole beneath the great statue. Every robber followed. Then the statue, smoothly and silently as before, began to move. The two halves joined together closely, and the image was whole once more, its cracked face shining in the moonlight.
“No wonder there was such a crack down the middle of it!” thought the boy. “It wasn’t a crack — it was a split, where the two halves joined! Golly, this is awful. I wonder if it’s safe to go.”