"Blyton, Enid - Adv 02 - The Adventurous Four Again" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

He wished very much that Andy was with him. He couldn't make up his mind whether to go farther in or not. He was afraid of being caught by the whistling manЧor anyone else! The whistling man might not be the only person in the cliff. There might be someone else too.
"I don't knowЧI think I'll go back to the others after all," said Tom to himself. "It's a bit frightening being here in this cliff all by myselfЧand if I go farther in I might get lost. I'll go back."
He flashed his torch round the cave once moreЧand then suddenly noticed that the stream flowing in its channel across the floor of the cave, had quietly risen higher! It was now flowing over the rocky floor, almost reaching to where Tom stood.
"Look at that!" said Tom in surprise, and he stood watching the water. "Why has it risen like that? Golly, it's flooding all the floor of this cave!"
So it was. The water rose higher and swept over the floor. It began to make a noise. Tom felt alarmed.
"Gracious! I know what's happening! The torrent of water farther in must have suddenly been increased for some reasonЧand it's pushing its way out hereЧand will make that waterfall simply enormous again! If I don't go now I'll be swept out with the torrent and go down the cliff in the waterfall!"
This was not at all a pleasant thought. Tom ran over the flooding cave-floor back to the narrow tunnel into which the water flowed on its way to the open air. But already the narrow little tunnel was filling with water! The rocky ledge he had wriggled along could hardly be seen, for the water had risen high above it. In a few minutes the whole of the narrow opening would be blocked by the suddenly increased torrent of water!
"I daren't go along it now," thought Tom. "I simply daren't. I'd either be drowned or swept out and down the waterfall."
The water had now flooded the whole of the floor of the cave. It was up to Tom's knees. He felt frightened. Had he better go to the inner cave, the one his torch had shown him when he had flashed it on the water at the farther side of his cave? Perhaps he had. It wasn't safe in his cave now! Goodness knew how high the water would rise there, and there was no place he could climb up to and sit until the water went down again.
"I wish I hadn't explored in here," he thought in dismay. "Now I may be kept a prisoner for hours. The others will get worried about me. What an idiot I am!"
He made his way to the farther side of the cave he was in. Through a fairly high tunnel there the water came from an inner cave. Tom stepped into the water. It was up to his waist already. He would have to wade along until he came to the inner cave.
It was not very far inЧonly a matter of a few yards. Water flooded over the floor of this cave tooЧbut to Tom's surprise and delight, he saw rough steps cut in the wall, going upwards, at the back of this inner cave. He flashed his torch there. Yes, those steps led to an opening in the cave-roof. If he got up there he would be quite safe from the rising water. Good!
"Wonder if the steps lead into another cave!" thought the boy. "This is all very weird. Who would have guessed there were these caves leading one out of the other like this, in the heart of that enormous cliff!"
He went up the rough rocky steps. There was a hole in the roof, and iron footholds had been driven into the rock there, to act as a help in the climb. Tom put his torch between his teeth again, and hauled himself up. He came out into a dark and silent tunnel, that twisted in front of him, leading to he knew not where!
"WellЧI suppose I'd better go along," thought Tom, trying to sound much braver than he felt. "It must lead somewhere!"


CHAPTER 8.
The Hidden Cave.

TOM went down the winding passage. It smelt funny, and he didn't like it. He hoped his torch wouldn't suddenly go out. He was glad that it had a new battery in! It would be horrid to wander about in the dark, inside the cliff all by himself!
The tunnel twisted downwards. It was narrow most of the tune, and sometimes the roof went low so that Tom had to bend his head or he would have bumped it. Sometimes the roof became so high that Tom's torch showed him nothing but darkness. It was all very queer.
"I'd be enjoying this more if only the others were here!" thought Tom, still trying to feel brave. "I do so hope this tunnel leads somewhere! I almost wish I could meet that whistling man. I'd at least have someone to talk to!"
But he met nobody. The tunnel went on and on, always downwards. And then, stealing up it, came a curious, familiar smell!
Tom sniffed. "Tobacco smoke!" he thought. "Gracious! Somebody must be near thenЧsomebody smoking a cigarette or pipe. I'd better go carefully."
He trod as quietly as he could, shading the light of his torch with his hand. Then suddenly he switched it out. He could see a light in the distance! The tunnel must come out into a cave again, he thoughtЧand there was a light in that cave, which meant that people must be there!
He crept nearer. He could hear voices nowЧmen's voices. One of them was the growly voice of the man with the hairy legs. Tom didn't know what he was like to look at of course, because he had only seen his legs. But he knew that growly voice again, although he had only heard the man say a few words up on the cliff.
The boy's heart began to thump. He was very" glad indeed to think that people were nearЧbut somehow he felt that they wouldn't welcome him at all! Could they be smugglers?
He tiptoed to the end of the tunnel, and peeped cautiously into the cave. Two men were thereЧone of them plainly the hairy-legged man, for his legs were bare, and Tom could see his enormous feet. The boy gazed at the men, wondering if they would be angry at his sudden appearance or not.
He somehow thought they would not welcome him at all. The hairy-legged man was not the giant the children had imagined him to beЧhe was a curious-looking fellow, with a strong, stumpy body, hairy bare arms, a big head with hardly any neck, and a flaming red beard.
The other man looked like an ordinary fisherman, but wore something that fishermen rarely woreЧa pair of spectacles! They looked odd on his extremely brown face.
The men sat on boxes, talking. Tom could not hear what they were saying. He stared round the cave, astonished, for the sides of it were piled with wooden boxes and crates. Tom couldn't imagine what was in them. This was clearly a store-house of some kind. But why? And where did all the boxes come from?
There was a rough mattress in one corner of the cave. One or both men slept there, then. What a curious place to live in! Tom was completely puzzled by it all. But he did feel certain of one thingЧthat these men would not welcome his presence there at all! Whatever they were doing was something secret and private, something they wanted to be kept hidden.
"I daren't go in and ask them for help," thought the boy desperately. "I simply daren't. I hate the look of that man with the hairy legs. He looks as if he'd think as little of hurling me down the cliff, as of dropping and smashing those birds' eggs!"
He strained his ears to hear what they were saying. But he couldn't make out a word. Perhaps they were talking in some foreign language. Certainly the man in the fisherman's clothes, the one wearing glasses, looked like a foreigner. It was all most extraordinary.
Tom wondered if he could possibly be in some sort of very real dream. Then he got another whiff of tobacco smoke and knew he wasn't. Things never smelt as strong as that in dreams!
One of the men looked at his watch. He got up and jerked his head at the other. They made their way to a hole in the ground that Tom could not see clearly from where he stood, and seemed to drop right down. At any rate, they completely disappeared!
Tom waited a few moments and then cautiously crossed the floor of the cave and looked down the hole. There was nothing to be seen. The men had gone. Tom didn't feel at all inclined to follow them. For one thing he couldn't see how to get down the hole! There were no steps or footholds of any sort that he could see!
He looked round the cave. He could hardly see its walls, they were stacked so high with boxes of all sizes. What could be inside them?
The men had left a lantern burning on a box in the middle of the cave. Did that mean they were soon coming back? Perhaps it did. Tom felt that it would be a good thing if he were not there when they returned.
But where could he go? He stood still in the cave, thinkingЧand as he stood there, he heard a muffled sound. It seemed to come from somewhere to the left of the big cave.
"It's a kind of rushing watery sound," thought Tom. "Whatever can it be?"
There was a big stack of boxes on the left of the cave. Tom went to them, and saw the wall of the cave behind them. There was a hole in the wall, almost round, just about as high as Tom's waist. The rushing noise came from there.
Tom poked his head through the hole. He switched his torch onЧand saw a strange sight. An underground river flowed there, swift and rushing!
"WhyЧthat must be the river that comes out at the foot of the cliff," thought Tom. "GollyЧif I could follow it, I'd soon be out of here!"
He stood and gazed at the swiftly-flowing river by the light of his torch. The dark, strong torrent moved quickly. Tom wondered how far from the foot of the cliff it was. After all, the winding, twisting tunnel he had followed had come down and down and downЧmaybe he was almost level with the base of the cliff now, and this river would take him very quickly to the shallow bay outside, and the sunshine.
He went back into the lamp-lit cave and looked round. He hoped that he might see another torch that he could take with him. He felt sure his own would not last much longer! He didn't want to face another long journey without being sure he had plenty of light for it!
Before he could see anything in the shape of a torch, something startling happened. There came the sound of someone scrambling up the hole in the cave floor, down which the men had goneЧand, before Tom's alarmed eyes, the big, bearded face of the man with the hairy legs popped up out of the hole!
Tom stared at him, petrifiedЧand he stared back at Tom as if he really couldn't believe his eyes. A boy! A boy in his cave! Could he be dreaming?
Tom swallowed hard, and tried to say something, but he couldn't think what to say. The bearded face just above the hole opened its eyes wide, and then the mouth opened too, and a bellow came out.