Mountain of Fire Read Online Free PDF

across the stream, the path became rocky with paved stones and the road led further up. There were large stones scattered over the stream to help people cross over. Agus jumped from stone to stone like a goat, splashing his already-wet shirt, crossed to the other side and came to a halt.
    â€œLook,” said Agus, pointing a little to the left.
    At first, Fitri saw nothing. She was focusing on the smell around her – rotten eggs! Just like Ayah had said.
    The early morning light was still faint and she did not know this part of the mountain well. Then she saw it. The earthquake had cracked open a large crevice in the ground. Through it, going into the ground, she could see...
    â€œSteps! These are steps!”
    â€œYes, I told you something is here,” said Agus, looking very pleased with himself.
    The steps seemed to disappear into a hole. Both kids looked in but pitch darkness stared back at them.
    â€œShould we go down?” Agus asked.
    â€œAre you out of your mind? What if it collapses on our heads!”
    â€œJust a quick peek. Pleeeease!” he begged with clasped hands.
    Fitri knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t help herself. “Okay, okay, Agus, just a quick peek.”
    The sun was rising now and a faint light had started filtering down into the hole. The two children held hands and slowly went down the steps, counting as they went. “One, two, three...”
    The rocky wall on either side felt cool and reassuring against their hands. They couldn’t really see where they were going.
    At the tenth step they felt flat ground. Fitri held Agus’ hand and stopped, not sure of what lay ahead. But Agus pushed past her before she could stop him. He stopped, staring at a hollow space enclosed by a wall.

    â€œAgus, wait. Don’t go any further,” Fitri pulled him back by his shoulder.
    â€œThere is no place to go. It’s just a blank wall.”
    He stared around him at the small cave-like space. Then something on the floor caught his eye, something was stuck in the mud, something shining. Agus went down on his hands and knees and started digging. It looked like a...
    â€œKnife! It looks like the handle of a knife,” exclaimed Fitri.
    â€œThat’s what I thought! I told you something was there in the ground!” Agus said triumphantly.
    By now Fitri had forgotten her initial fear about going into the hole. She enthusiastically joined Agus who was digging on the ground with his bare hands. Agus yelped in excitement. He had found something else! A gold coin!
    Fitri sat back on her haunches to think. Agus had clearly stumbled on something important. But what could it be? Why would there be pieces of treasure buried in the mountain? As she sat there thinking, her eyes wandered to a section of the wall. She looked at it and then looked again. That particular section did not look like mud. Instead, it looked like rock and stone.
    Fitri crawled over to the wall and touched it. Yes, this definitely felt like stone. She scratched off the mud and the green moss-like growth with her bare hands as best as she could.
    â€œAgus, here! Help me with this. There is something jutting out here.”
    Both children dug at it with their bare hands for what seemed like ages. Forgetting that they were in an unsafe place, forgetting an earthquake had hit the village barely a few hours ago, forgetting that the roof could collapse on their heads. They dug at it with loose pieces of rock and stone, until the thing in the wall began to take some shape.
    It looked like the trunk of an elephant!
    Agus was jumping up and down with excitement, but Fitri fell silent. Her face had become white, like she had swallowed a particularly nasty bug. She felt like she couldn’t breathe and grabbed Agus. “Let’s get out of here, Agus. I don’t feel so good.”
    â€œLeave now? Why? Maybe there are more things here. We just got started, Fitri.”
    â€œLater, Agus!