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it up herself. Two minutes; they could have tied a string to the leg of a frog and sent him down to do the
searching. Three minutes; there was not a bubble on the water, and Amos surprised himself by deciding
the only thing to do was to jump in and at least try to save the prince. But there was a splash of water at
his feet!
Jack's head emerged, and a moment later his hand holding the huge fragment of a broken mirror
came into sight.
Amos was so delighted he jumped up and down. The prince swam to shore, and Amos helped him
out. Then they leaned the mirror against a tree and rested for a while. "It's well I wore these rags of
yours," said Jack, "and not my own clothes, for the weeds would have caught in my cloak and the boots
would have pulled me down and I would have never come up. Thank you, Amos."
"It's a very little thing to thank me for," Amos said. "But we had better start back if we want to be at
the ship in time for lunch."
So they started back and by noon had nearly reached the ship. Then the prince left the minor with
Amos and darted on ahead to get back to the cell. Then Amos walked out to the boat with the broken
glass.
"Well," he called up to the thin grey man who sat on the top of the trunk, waiting, "here is your mirror
from the bottom of the luminous pool."
The grey man was so happy he jumped from the trunk, turned a cartwheel, then fell to wheezing and
coughing and had to be slapped on the back several times.
"Good for you," he said when Amos had climbed onto the deck and given him the glass. "Now come
have lunch with me, but for heaven's sake get out of that circus tent before I get another headache."
So Amos took off the prince's clothes and the sailor took them to the brig and returned with Amos'
rags. When he had dressed and was about to go with the grey man to lunch, his sleeve brushed the grey
man's arm. The grey man stopped and frowned so deeply his face became almost black. "These clothes
are wet and the ones you wore were dry."
"So they are," said Amos. "What do you make of that?"
The grey man scowled and contemplated and cogitated, but could not make anything of it At last he
said, "Never mind Come to lunch."
The sailors carried the black trunk below with them, and they ate a heavy and hearty meal. The grey
man speared all the radishes from the salad on his knife and flipped them into a funnel he had stuck in a
round opening in the trunk: Fulrmp, Melrulf, Ulfmpkgrumfl
"When do I go after the next piece?" Amos asked when they had finished eating.
"Tomorrow evening when the sunset is golden and the sky is turquoise and the rocks are stained red
in the setting sun," said the grey man. "I shall watch the whole proceedings with sunglasses."
"I think that's a good idea," said Amos. "You won't get such a bad headache."
That night Amos again went to the brig. No one had missed the jailor yet So there was no guard at
all.
"How is our friend doing?" Amos asked the prince, pointing to the bundle of blankets in the corner.
"Well enough," said Jack. "I gave him food and water when they brought me some. I think he's
asleep now."
"Good," said Amos. "So one third of your magic mirror has been found. Tomorrow evening I go off
for the second piece. Would you like to come with me?"
"I certainly would," said Jack. "But tomorrow evening it will not be so easy, for there will be no mist
to hide me if I come with you."
"Then we'll work it so you won't have to hide," said Amos. "If I remember you right, the second
piece is on the top of a windy mountain so high the North Wind lives in a cave there."
"That's right," said Jack.
"Very well then, I have a plan." Again Amos began to whisper through the bars, and Jack smiled and
nodded.
V
They sailed all that night and all the next day, and toward evening they pulled in to a rocky shore
where just a few hundred yards away a mountain rose high and higher into the clear twilight.
The sailors gathered on the deck of the ship just as the sun began to set, and the grey man put one
grey gloved hand on Amos' shoulder and pointed to the mountain with his other. "There, among the
windy peaks, is the cave of the North Wind. Even higher, on the highest and windiest peak, is the second
fragment of the mirror. It is a long, dangerous, and treacherous climb. Shall I expect you back for
breakfast?"
"Certainly," said Amos. "Fried eggs, if you please, once over lightly, and plenty of hot sausages."
"I will tell the cook," said the grey man.
"Good," said Amos. "Oh, but one more thing. You say it is windy there. I shall need a good supply of
rope, then, and perhaps you can spare a man to go with me. A rope is not much good if there is a person
only on one end. If I have someone with me, I can hold him if he blows off and he can do the same for
me." Amos turned to the sailors. "What about that man there? He has a rope and is well muffled against
the wind."
"Take whom you like," said the grey man, "so long as you bring back my mirror." The well-muffled
sailor with the coil of rope on his shoulder stepped forward with Amos.
Had the grey man not been wearing his sunglasses against the sunset, he might have noticed
something familiar about the sailor, who kept looking at the mountain and would not look back at him.
But as it was, he suspected nothing.
Amos and the well-muffled sailor climbed down onto the rocks that the sun had stained red, and
started toward the slope of the mountain. Once the grey man raised his glasses as he watched them go
but lowered them quickly, for it was the most golden hour of the sunset then. The sun sank, and he could
not see them anymore. Even so, be stood at the rail a long time till a sound in the darkness roused him
from his reverie: Blmvghm!
Amos and Jack climbed long and hard through the evening. When darkness fell, at first they thought
they would have to stop, but the clear stars made a mist over the jagged rocks, and a little later the moon
rose. After that it was much easier going. Shortly the wind began. First a breeze merely tugged at their
collars. Then rougher gusts began to nip their fingers. At last buffets of wind flattened them against the
rock one moment, then tried to jerk them loose the next The rope was very useful indeed, and neither
one complained. They simply went on climbing, steadily through the hours. Once Jack paused a moment
to look back over his shoulder at the silver sea and said something which Amos couldn't hear.
"What did you say?" cried Amos above the howl.
"I said," the prince cried back, "look at the moon!"
Now Amos looked over his shoulder too and saw that the white disk was going slowly down.
They began again, climbing faster than ever, but in another hour the bottom of the moon had already
sunk below the edge of the ocean. At last they gained a fair-sized ledge where the wind was not so
strong. Above, there seemed no way to go any higher.
Jack gazed out at the moon and sighed. "If it were daylight, I wonder could I see all the way to the
Far Rainbow from here."
"You might," said Amos. But though his heart was with Jack, he still felt a good spirit was important
to keep up. "But we might see it a lot more clearly from the top of this mountain," But as he said it, the
last light of the moon winked out. Now even the stars were gone, and the blackness about them was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]