Chapter 9
The Marvelous Four and a Shock
The children were soon in the underground part of the river. Priya looked around with interest, for of course, she had never been in this tunnel before. Katrina glanced at Priya for a moment and observed how fascinating she looked.
As Priya’s home was in a wild enough area, Katrina wasn’t surprised at Priya’s wild hair which seemed to be un-brushed for years; and the hair stuck out in all directions, making it look even wilder. Priya had a wild and stubborn look in her face; but Katrina knew how loving and kind she could be, if she wanted to. Although Priya looked very wild, she was very fascinating to look at.
Katrina looked at Harshit, and compared Harshit with Priya. Katrina could see that no one would ever think Harshit a wild boy. He looked neat and proper, “And,” thought Katrina, “honest and trust-worthy.”
Although, Harshit didn’t look as wild as Priya, the two had something thing in common and that was their strong and self-possessed look; and strong and self-possessed they were.
Soon the time came to get off, and the three of them pulled the raft high up the dry tunnel. Then the three went up the tunnel. Harshit was leading the way, and when the three came to the hole on the floor, he didn’t see the hole and fell right through it, landing on the floor of the cave with a bump.
Old Sumit was in the cave grinning, though he knew if he had been any nearer, Harshit would’ve landed right on his head. The girls jumped in, one by one. Sumit was a little startled when he saw Priya but Harshit hastily explained.
“You’ve been having a regular adventure down there I see,” said Sumit, grinning all over his face. “Well, you brought me some surprises,” he said, nodding at Priya, “and I’ve brought you some surprising news.”
“What do you mean, old boy?” asked Harshit, surprised.
“I’m coming to live with you in the ‘ring’,” was the surprising reply (which was a surprising news, all right).
Katrina gave a squeal of joy and flung herself on Sumit, who nearly shouted: “Help!”
“Why Katrina!” said Sumit, in a grown-up voice, “Be a little more behaved, my dear girl.”
Nevertheless, Katrina showed her joy quite plainly at Sumit coming to live with them.
“But why this sudden decision?” asked Harshit, “Are you tired of your guardians?”
“No,” said Sumit, “it’s because they are moving away to a different village. If they shifted their home then I’ll have to go with them too, leaving you behind; so I bolted.”
“Good!” said Katrina, pleased, “Now we’ll all be together. We’ll be a happy group, living together like this.”
“Let’s give a name to our group,” suggested Priya.
“Marvelous!” exclaimed Sumit, evidently pleased with Priya’s idea.
“Ok!” agreed Priya, grinning, “’Marvelous’ shall be its name.”
“Oh!” said Sumit, laughing, “I didn’t say it as a suggestion.”
“Let’s call ourselves ‘the Marvelous Four’!” said Harshit.
“Or ‘the Marvels’ in short!” said Katrina.
“Or just ‘the Four’!” added Harshit.
Everyone agreed; so Marvelous Four or the Marvels (or just the Four) they were, and always will be.
The Marvelous Four [or the Marvels (or just the Four)] spent their night in that cave, and had a good sound sleep.
Next morning, everyone awoke up, and had a good splash in a stream nearby. They lied down in a sunny spot to dry their wet cloths, and then, they all collected some fruits and had breakfast.
Then, the Marvels went into the cave, and jumped up into the tunnel and walked to the underground river.
When Harshit came into the cave after breakfast, he had dropped his sharp knife, which he had tied to a string which in turn was tied around his waist. So when the Marvels were in the “ring” again, they were without that useful knife.
The four children decided to go to the hut in which the men where, or in which they thought the men where, for as I had said before, the men had broken the door and so had escaped.
When the four Marvels entered the clearing where the hut was, they stared in surprised. The door was in pieces! They were just going to run to the hut when out of the helicopter (its door was still open downwards) came the two foreigners talking. They went to the hut and disappeared inside it. Thank goodness, they hadn’t noticed the children.
The four Marvels exchanged glances, and Priya went to the hut noiselessly; the others followed. They all stood on both sides of the window, huddled together, listening.
The men were evidently having a discussion as to where Priya had “vanished”.
“I think we ought to block that secret entrance as soon as possible, Bill,” the man called Pip was saying, “maybe old Priya is in this valley, though we have searched this valley well enough.”
“That’s what I think too,” agreed Bill, “or maybe Prairie…”
“Priya.”
“Whatever. Well, she must’ve found out the secret entrance already, and so maybe she’s out of this valley.”
“I don’t think so,” said Pip, “besides, we have to find that treasure, and we’ve got to fix this place up to be our gang’s storeroom for guns, you know, so we can’t waste much time on her.”
“Right! Let’s go and block that secret entrance, then.”
The Four stared at each other. They heard the men coming out of the hut; so they hurried to the back side of it. The men disappeared into the jungle, and the Four held a quick meeting at the back of the hut, a sort of council of war.