"Blyton, Enid - Adventure 01 - The Island of Adventure" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

The girls had already exclaimed over the other holes in the ground, and the queer tumbledown erections beside them. There must have been some sort of shaft-head, said Jack, considering. Now, where's that pile of tins? It was somewhere near here. Oh there's the shaft, girls!
Everyone hurried to the big round hole and peered down it. There was no doubt but that the ladder leading down it was in very good condition. This is the shaft the men are using, said Philip. It's the only one whose ladder is safe.
Don't talk too loudly, said Jack, in a low voice. You don't know how sound might carry down this shaft.
Where are those tins you told us about? said Lucy-Ann.
Over there by that rock, said Philip, pointing. Go and see them if you want to.
He shone his torch down the shaft, but could see very little. It looked rather sinister and forbidding. What was it like down there? Were there really men down there? The children mustn't be discovered by them grown-ups were always angry when children poked their noses into matters that didn't concern them.
Jack I can't find the tins, said Lucy-Ann. Philip made an impatient noise. How silly girls were! They never could find anything. He strode over to show them the pile.
Then he stopped in astonishment. The place under the rock was empty. There was nothing there at all. The tins had been removed.
Look at that, Jack, said Philip, forgetting to speak softly. All those tins have gone. Who took them? Well that just shows there are people on this island people who have been here since we last came too. I say isn't this exciting!


Chapter 19
DOWN IN THE COPPER-MINES

Lucy-Ann looked round her fearfully as if she half expected to see somebody hiding behind a rock.
I don't like to think there may be people here we don't know anything about, she said.
Don't be silly, said Jack. They're down in the mines. Shall we go down this shaft now, and see what we can discover?
The girls didn't want to, but Lucy-Ann felt that it would be worse to stay up above ground, all alone with Dinah, than it would be to go down and keep with the boys. So she said she would go, and Dinah, who wasn't going to be left all alone, promptly said she would go too.
Philip spread the map of the underground mines out on the ground, and they all knelt down and studied it. See this shaft goes down to the centre of a perfect maze of passages and galleries, said Philip. Shall we take this passage here? it's a sort of main road, and leads to the mines that were worked right under the sea.
Oh no, don't let's go there, said Lucy-Ann, in alarm. But the other three voted to go there, so the matter was decided.
Now, Kiki, if you come with us, you are not to make a noise, warned Jack. Else, if we go anywhere near the miners, they will hear you, and we shall be discovered. See?
Eena meena mina mo, said Kiki solemnly, and scratched her poll hard.
You're a silly bird, said Jack. Now mind what I've told you don't you dare to screech or shout.
They went to the head of the shaft. They all peered down, feeling rather solemn. An adventure was exciting, but somehow this one seemed a bit frightening, all of a sudden.
Come on, said Philip, beginning to go down the ladder. Nothing can happen to us really, even if we are discovered. After all, we first came to this island to see if we could find a Great Auk for Freckles. Even if we were caught we could say that we'd keep our mouths shut. If the men are friends of Bill Smugs, they must be decent fellows. We can always tell them we are his friends.
They all began to climb down the long long shaft. Before they were half-way down they wished they had never begun their descent. They had not guessed they would have to go so far. It was like climbing down to the middle of the earth, down, down, down in the darkness, which was lit now by the beams from four torch lights.
You girls all right? asked Philip, rather anxiously. I should think we must be near the bottom now.
My arms are terribly tired, said poor Lucy-Ann, who was not so strong as the others. Dinah was more like a boy in her daring and strength, but Lucy-Ann was small compared with her.
Stop a little and rest, said Jack. Golly, Kiki feels heavy on my shoulder. That's because my arms are a bit tired too, I expect, with holding on to the ladder-rungs.
They rested a little and then went on downwards. Then Philip gave a low exclamation.
I say! I'm at the bottom!
With great thankfulness the others joined him. Lucy-Ann promptly sat down on the ground, for her knees were aching now, as well as her arms. Philip flashed his torch around.
They were in a fairly wide passage. The walls and ceiling were of rock, gleaming a coppery colour in the light of the torches. From the main passage branched many galleries or smaller passages.
We'll do as we said and keep to this main passage, which looks like a sort of main road of the mines, said Philip.
Jack flashed his torch down a smaller passage. Look! he said. The roof has fallen in there. We couldn't go down that way if we wanted to.
Golly, I hope the roof of this passage won't fall in on top of us, said Lucy-Ann, looking up at it in alarm. In places it was propped up by big timbers, but mostly it was of hard rock.
Come on we're safe enough, said Jack impatiently. I say isn't it thrilling to be hundreds of feet below the earth, down in a copper-mine as old as the hills!
It's funny that the air is quite good here, isn't it? said Dinah, remembering the musty-smelling air in the secret passage at Craggy-Tops.
There must be good air-ways in these mines, said Philip, trying to remember how the air-ways in coal-mines worked. That's one of the first things that men think about when they begin to work mines underground how to get draughts of air moving down the tunnels they make and channels to drain off any water that might collect and flood the mine.
I'd hate to work in a mine, said Lucy-Ann, shivering. Philip, are we under the sea yet?
Not yet, said Philip. About half-way there, I should think. Hallo, here's a well-worked piece quite a big cave!
The passage suddenly opened out into a vast open cave that showed many signs of being worked by men. Marks of tools stood out here and there in the rock, and Jack, with a delighted exclamation, darted to a corner and picked up what looked like a small hammer-top made of bronze.
Look, he said proudly to the others. This must be part of a broken tool used by the ancient miners it's made of bronze a mixture of copper and tin. My word, won't the boys at school envy me this!
That made the others look around eagerly as well, and Lucy-Ann made a discovery that interested everybody very much. It was not an ancient bronze tool it was a stub of pencil, bright yellow in colour.
Do you know who this belongs to? said Lucy-Ann, her green eyes gleaming in the torch-light like a cat's. It belongs to Bill Smugs. I saw him writing notes with it the other day. I know it's Bill's.
Then he must have been down here and dropped it by accident, said Philip, thrilled. Golly, our guess was right then! He's no bird-watcher he's living on the coast with his car and his boat because he's friends with the men working this old mine, and brings them food and stuff. Artful old Bill he never told us a word about it.
Well, you don't go blabbing everything out to children you meet, said Dinah. Well, well how surprised he would be if he knew we knew his secret! I wonder if he's down here now?
 'Course not, silly, said Philip, at once. His boat wasn't on the shore, was it? And there's no other way of getting here except by boat.
I forgot that, said Dinah. Anyway I don't feel afraid of meeting the secret miners now that we know they are friends of Bill's. All the same, we won't let them know we're here if we can help it. They might think that children couldn't be trusted, and be rather cross about it.
They examined the big cave closely. The ceiling was propped up with big old timbers, some of them broken now, so that the roof was gradually falling in. A number of hewn-out steps led to a cave above, but the roof of that had fallen in and the children could not get into it.