Jack, Peggy, Mike and Nora are off on another exciting adventure when they run away to Africa, with their friend Prince Paul, in a desperate search for their parents who are being held captive in The Secret Mountain.
But where is the mountain? And who are the strange red-haired people who live there? The rescue mission seems destined to fail. Then, on top of everything, the children are taken captive. And one of them is to be sacrificed to the Sun-god.
Captain and Mrs. Arnold are flying off in their plane, the White Swallow, and apparently have crash-landed in a remote part of Africa. The children, home from school and in the care of Dimmy, team up with Prince Paul, and go flying off in his royal plane to Africa (together with Paul’s loyal and devoted courtiers, Ranni and Pilescu) to rescue the Arnolds – and get tangled up with a strange and secretive African tribe with flaming red hair and living within secret tunnels and caves inside a mountain.
Along the way they befriend the black African boy Mafumu, who acts as a guide, and without whose help they would never have succeeded in their mission. A total solar eclipse plays a crucial role in their efforts to escape imprisonment by the tribal people.
