"Blyton, Enid - Famous Five 06 - Five On Kirrin Island Again" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)
'Ah well it's difficult to explain, really,' said her uncle 'The fact is - I can't help feeling there's somebody else on this island besides myself!' 'Quentin! What in the world do you mean?' cried Aunt Fanny, in alarm. She looked over her shoulder as if she half expected to see somebody there. All the children stared in amazement at Uncle Quentin.
He took another sandwich. 'Yes, I know it sounds mad. Nobody else could possibly have got here. But I know there is someone!' 'Oh don't Uncle!' said Anne, with a shiver. 'It sounds horrid. And you're all alone at night too!' 'Ah, that's just it! I wouldn't mind a bit if I was all alone at night!' said her uncle. 'What worries me is that I don't think I shall be all alone.' 'Uncle, what makes you think there's somebody here?' asked Julian.
'Well, when I had finished the experiment I was doing last night - about half past three in the early morning it would be - but pitch dark, of course,' said Uncle Quentin, 'I came into the open for a breath of fresh air. And I could swear I heard somebody cough - yes, cough twice!' 'Good gracious!' said Aunt Fanny, startled. 'But Quentin - you might have been mistaken. You do imagine things sometimes, you know, when you're tired.' 'Yes, I know,' said her husband. 'But I couldn't imagine this, could I?' He put his hand into his pocket and took something out. He showed it to the others. It was a cigarette end, quite crisp and fresh.
'Now, I don't smoke cigarettes. Nor do any of you! Well then who smoked that cigarette? And how did he come here? No one would bring him by boat and that's the only way here.' There was a silence. Anne felt scared. George stared at her father, puzzled. Who could be here? And why? And how had they got there?
'Well, Quentin - what are you going to do?' said his wife. 'What would be best?' 'I'll be all right if George will give her consent to something,' said Uncle Quentin. 'I want Timmy here, George! Will you leave him behind with me?'
Chapter Eleven
GEORGE MAKES A HARD CHOICE
THERE was a horrified silence. George stared at her father in complete dismay. Everyone waited to see what she would say.
'But Father Timmy and I have never been separated once,' she said at last, in a pleading voice. 'I do see you want him to guard you and you can have him but I'll have to stay here too!' 'Oh no!' said her father at once. 'You can't possibly stay, George. That's out of the question. As for never being separated from Timmy, well surely you wouldn't mind that for once? If it was to ensure my safety?' George swallowed hard. This was the most difficult decision she had ever had to make in her life. Leave Timmy behind on the island where there was some unknown hidden enemy, likely to harm him if he possibly could! And yet there was Father too he might be in danger if there was no one to guard him.
'I shall just have to stay here, Father,' she said. 'I can't leave Timmy behind unless I stay too. It's no good.' Her father began to lose his temper. He was like George he wanted his own way, and if he didn't have it he was going to make a fuss! 'If I'd asked Julian or Dick or Anne this same thing, and they'd had a dog, they would all have said yes, at once!' he raged. 'But you, George, you must always make things difficult if you can! You and that dog anyone would think he was worth a thousand pounds!' 'He's worth much more than that to me,' said George, in a trembling voice. Timmy crept nearer to her and pushed his nose into her hand. She held his collar as if she would not let him go for a moment. 'Yes. That dog's worth more to you than your father or mother or anyone,' said her father, in disgust.
'No, Quentin, I can't have you saying things like that,' said his wife, firmly. 'That's just silly. A mother and father are quite different from a dog - they're loved in different ways. But you are perfectly right, of course -Timmy must stay behind with you and I shall certainly not allow George to stay with him. I'm not going to have both of you exposed to danger. It's bad enough to worry about you, as it is.' George looked at her mother in dismay.
'Mother! Do tell Father I must stay here with Timmy.' 'Certainly not,' said her mother. 'Now George, be unselfish. If it were left to Tim to decide, you know perfectly well that he would stay here - and stay without you. He would say to himself, "I'm needed here my eyes are needed to spy out enemies, my ears to hear a quiet footfall and maybe my teeth to protect my master. I shall be parted from George for a few days - but she, like me, is big enough to put .up with that!" That's what Timmy would say, George, if it were left to him.' Everyone had been listening to this unexpected speech with great attention. It was about the only one that could persuade George to give in willingly! She looked at Timmy. He looked back at her, wagging his tail. Then he did an extraordinary thing he got up, walked over to George's father, and lay down beside him, looking at George as if to say 'There you are! Now you know what I think is right!' 'You see?' said her mother. 'He agrees with me. You've always said that Timmy was a good dog, and this proves it. He knows what his duty is. You ought to be proud of him.' 'I am,' said George, in a choky voice. She got up and walked off. 'All right,' she said over her shoulder. 'I'll leave him on the island with Father. I'll come back in a minute.' Anne got up to go after poor George, but Julian pulled her down again. 'Leave her alone! She'll be all right. Good old Timmy you know what's right and what's wrong, don't you? Good dog, splendid dog!' Timmy wagged his tail. He did not attempt to follow George. No - he meant to stay by her father now, even though he would much rather be with his mistress. He was sorry that George was unhappy - but sometimes it was better to do a hard thing and be unhappy about it, than try to be happy without doing it.
'Oh Quentin dear, I don't like this business of you being here and somebody else, spying on you,' said his wife. 'I really don't. How long will you be before you've finished your work?' 'A few days more,' said her husband. He looked at Timmy admiringly. 'That dog might almost have known what you were saying, Fanny, just now. It was remarkable the way he walked straight over to me.' 'He's a very clever dog,' said Anne, warmly. 'Aren't you, Tim? You'll be quite safe with him, Uncle Quentin. He's terribly fierce when he wants to be!' 'Yes. I shouldn't care to have him leaping at my throat,' said her uncle. 'He's so big and powerful. Are there any more pieces of cake?' 'Quentin, it's really too bad of you to go without your meals,' said his wife. 'It's no good telling me you haven't, because you wouldn't be as ravenous as this if you had had your food regularly.' Her husband took no notice of what she was saying. He was looking up at his tower. 'Do you ever see those wires at the top blaze out?' he asked. 'Wonderful sight, isn't it?' 'Uncle, you're not inventing a new atom bomb, or anything, are you?' asked Anne.
Her uncle looked at her scornfully. 'I wouldn't waste my time inventing things that will be used to kill and maim people! No - I'm inventing something that will be of the greatest use to mankind. You wait and see!' George came back. 'Father,' she said, 'I'm leaving Timmy behind for you - but please will you do something for me?' 'What?' asked her father. 'No silly conditions now! I shall feed Timmy regularly, and look after him, if that's what you want to ask me. I may forget my own meals, but you ought to know me well enough to know I shouldn't neglect any animal dependent on me.' 'Yes I know, Father,' said George, looking a bit doubtful all the same. 'What I wanted to ask you was this when you go up in the tower to signal each morning, will you please take Timmy with you? I shall be up at the coastguard cottage, looking through his telescope at the glass room in the tower and I shall be able to see Timmy then. If I can catch just a glimpse of him each day and know he's all right, I shan't worry so much.' 'Very well,' said her father. 'But I don't suppose for a moment that Timmy will be able to climb up the spiral stairway.' 'Oh, he can, Father he's been up it once already,' said George.
'Good heavens!' said her father. 'Has the dog been up there too? -All right, George I promise I'll take him up with me each morning that I signal, and get him to wag his tail at you. There! Will that satisfy you?' 'Yes. Thank you,' said George. 'And you'll give him a few kind words and a pat occasionally, Father,' won't you...and...?' 'And put his bib on for him at meal-times, I suppose, and clean his teeth for him at night!' said her father, looking cross again. 'I shall treat Timmy like a proper grown-up dog, a friend of mine, George - and believe me, that's the way he wants me to treat him. Isn't it, Timmy?
You like all those frills to be kept for your mistress, don't you, not for me?' 'Woof,' said Timmy, and thumped his tail. The children looked at him admiringly. He really was a very sensible clever dog. He seemed somehow much more grown-up than George.
'Uncle, if anything goes wrong, or you want help or anything, flash eighteen times again,' said Julian. 'You ought to be all right with Timmy. He's better than a dozen policemen but you never know.' 'Right. Eighteen flashes if I want you over here for anything,' said his uncle. 'I'll remember. Now you'd better all go. It's time I got on with my work.' 'You'll pour that soup away, won't you, Quentin?' said his wife, anxiously. 'You don't want to make yourself ill by eating bad soup. It must he green by now! It would be so like you to forget all about it while it was fresh and good and only remember it when it was bad!' 'What a thing to say!' said her husband, getting up. 'Anyone would think I was five years old, without a brain in my head, the way you talk to me!' 'You've plenty of brains, dear, we all know that,' said his wife. 'But you don't -seem very old sometimes! Now look after yourself and keep Timmy by you all the time.' 'Father won't need to bother about that,' said George. 'Timmy will keep by him! You're on guard, Timmy, aren't you? And you know what that means!' 'Woof,' said Timmy, solemnly. He went with them all to the boat, but he did not attempt to get in. He stood by George's father and watched the boat bob away over the water. 'Good-bye, Timmy!' shouted George, in a funny, fierce voice. 'Look after yourself!' Her father waved, and Timmy wagged his tail. George took one of the pairs of oars from Dick and began to row furiously, her face red with the hard work.
Julian looked at her in amusement. It was hard work for him, too, to keep up with the furious rowing, but he didn't say anything. He knew all this fury in rowing was George's way of hiding her grief at parting with Timmy. Funny old George! She was always so intense about things furiously happy or furiously unhappy, in the seventh heaven of delight or down in the very depths of despair or anger.
Everyone talked hard so that George would think they were not noticing her feelings at parting with Timmy. The talk, of course, was mostly about the un known man on the island. It seemed very mysterious indeed that he should suddenly have arrived.
'How did he get there? I'm sure not one of the fishermen would have taken him,' said Dick. 'He must have gone at night, of course, and I doubt if there is anyone but George who would know the way in the dark or even dare to try and find it. These rocks are so close together, and so near the surface; one yard out of the right course and any boat would have a hole in the bottom!' 'No one could reach the island by swimming from the shore,' said Anne. 'It's too far, and the sea is too rough over these rocks. I honestly do wonder if there is anyone on the island after all. Perhaps that cigarette end was an old one.' 'It didn't look it,' said Julian. 'Well, it just beats me how anyone got there!' He fell into thought, puzzling out all the possible and impossible ways. Then he gave an exclamation. The others looked at him.
'I've just thought would it be possible for an aeroplane to parachute anyone down on the island? I did hear a throbbing noise one night was it last night? It must have been a plane's engine, of course! Could anyone be dropped on the island?' 'Easily,' said Dick. 'I believe you've hit on the explanation, Ju! Good for you! But I say whoever it is must be in deadly earnest, to risk being dropped on a small island like that in the dark of night!' In deadly earnest! That didn't sound at all nice. A little shiver went down Anne's back. 'I am glad Timmy's there,' she said. And everyone felt the same yes, even George!
Chapter Twelve
THE. OLD MAP AGAIN
IT was only about half past one when they arrived back, because they had had lunch so very early, and had not stayed long on the island. Joanna was most surprised to see them.
'Well!' said George. 'Do you really think any of us would let your good soup go bad, Joanna? You know jolly well we'd probably eat it up before we ought to!' 'That's true I wouldn't accuse any of you four or Timmy either of playing about with your food,' said Joanna. 'You make good work of it, the lot of you. But where is Timmy?' 'I left him behind to look after Father,' said George. Joanna stared at her in surprise. She knew how passionately fond of Timmy George was.
'You're a very good girl - sometimes!' she said. 'See now - if you're still hungry because your father has eaten most of your lunch, you go and look in the biscuit tin; I made you some of your favourite ginger biscuits this morning. You go and find them.' That was always Joanna's way! If she thought anyone was upset, she offered them, her best and freshest food. George went off to find the biscuits.
'You're a kind soul, Joanna,' said George's mother. 'I'm so thankful we left Timmy there. I feel happier about the master now.' 'What shall we do this afternoon?' said Dick, when they had finished munching the delicious ginger biscuits. 'I say, aren't these good? You know, I do think good cooks deserve some kind of decoration, just as much as good soldiers or scientists, or writers. I should give Joanna the O.B.C.B.E.' 'Whatever's that?' said Julian.
'Order of the Best Cooks of the British Empire,' said Dick grinning. 'What did you think it was? "Oh, Be Careful Before Eating"?' 'You really are an absolute donkey,' said Julian. 'Now, what shall we do this afternoon?' 'Go and explore the passage in the quarry,' said George.
Julian cocked an eye at the window. 'It's about to pour with rain,' he said. 'I don't think that clambering up and down the steep sides of that quarry in the wet would he very easy. No we'll leave that till a fine day.' 'I'll tell you what we'll do,' said Anne, suddenly. 'Do you remember that old map of Kirrin Castle we once found in a box? It had plans of the castle in it - a plan of the dungeons, and of the ground floor, and of the top part. Well, let's have it out and study it? Now we know there is another hiding-place somewhere, we might be able to trace it on that old map. It's sure to be on it somewhere - but perhaps we didn't notice it before!' The others looked at her, thrilled. 'Now that really is a brilliant idea of yours, Anne,' said Julian, and Anne glowed with pleasure at his praise. 'A very fine idea indeed. Just the thing for a wet afternoon. Where's the map? I suppose you've got it somewhere safe, George?' 'Oh yes,' said George. 'It's still in that old wooden box, inside the tin lining. I'll get it.' She disappeared upstairs and came down again with the map. It was made of thick parchment, and was yellow with age. She laid it out on the table. The others bent over it, eager to look at it once more.
'Do you remember how frightfully excited we were when we first found the box?' said Dick.
'Yes, and we couldn't open it, so we threw it out of the top window down to the ground below, hoping it would burst open!' said George.
'And the crash woke up Uncle Quentin,' said Anne, with a giggle. 'And he came out and got the box and wouldn't let us have it!' 'Oh dear yes and poor Julian had to wait till Uncle Quentin was asleep, and creep in and get the box to see what was in it!' finished Dick. 'And we found this map and how we pored over it!' They all pored over it again. It was in three parts, as Anne had said - a plan of the dungeons, a plan of the ground floor and a plan of the top part.
'It's no good bothering about the top part of the castle,' said Dick. 'It's all fallen down and ruined. There's practically none of it left, except for that one tower.' 'I say!' said Julian, suddenly putting his finger on a certain spot in the map, 'do you remember there were two entrances to the dungeons? One that seemed to start somewhere about that little stone room and the other that started where we did at last find the entrance? Well we never found the other entrance, did we?' 'No! We didn't!' said George, in excitement. She pushed Julian's finger away from the map. 'Look -- there are steps shown here somewhere where that little room is - so there must be an entrance there! Here's the other flight of steps - the ones we did find, near the well.' 'I remember that we hunted pretty hard for the entrance in the little room,' said Dick. 'We scraped away the weeds from every single stone, and gave it up at last. Then we found the other entrance, and forgot all about this one.' 'And I think Father has found the entrance we didn't find!' said George, triumphantly. 'It leads underground, obviously. Whether or not it joins up with the dungeons we know I can't make out from this map. It's a bit blurred here. But it's quite plain that there is an entrance here, with Stone steps leading underground somewhere! See, there's some sort of passage or tunnel marked, leading from the steps. Goodness knows where it goes, it's so smeared.' 'It joins up with the dungeons, I expect,' said Julian. 'We never explored the whole of them; you know -- they're so vast and weird. If we explored the whole place, we should probably come across the stone steps leading from somewhere near that little room. Still, they may be ruined or fallen in now.' 'No, they can't be,' said George. 'I'm perfectly sure that's the entrance Father has found. And I'll tell you something that seems to prove it, too.' 'What?' said everyone.
'Well, do you remember the other day when we first went to see Father?' said George. 'He didn't let us stay long, and he came to see us off at the boat. Well, we tried to see where he went, but we couldn't -- but Dick said he saw the jackdaws rising up in a flock, as if they had been suddenly disturbed -- and he wondered if Father had gone somewhere in that direction.' Julian whistled. 'Yes -- the jackdaws build in the tower, which is by the little room - and anyone going into the room would disturb them. I believe you're right, George.' 'It's been puzzling me awfully where Uncle Quentin could be doing his work,' said Dick. 'I simply could not solve the mystery - but now I think we have!' 'I wonder how Father found his hiding-place,' said George, thoughtfully. 'I still think it was mean of him not to tell me.' 'There must have been some reason,' said Dick, sensibly. 'Don't start brooding again!' 'I'm not,' said George. 'I'm puzzled, that's all. I wish we could take the boat and go over to the island at once, and explore!' 'Yes. I bet we'd find the entrance all right now,' said 'Dick. 'Your father is sure to have left some trace of where it is - a stone a bit cleaner than the rest -or weeds scraped off or something.' 'Do you suppose the unknown enemy on the island knows Uncle Quentin's hiding-place?' said Anne, suddenly. 'Oh, I do hope he doesn't! He could so easily shut him in if he did.' 'Well, he hasn't gone there to shut Uncle up -- he's gone there to steal his secret, or find it out,' said Julian. 'Golly, I'm thankful he's got Timmy. Timmy could tackle a dozen enemies.' 'Not if they had guns,' said George, in a small voice. There was a silence. It was not a nice thought to think of Timmy at the wrong end of a gun. This had happened once or twice before in their adventures, and they didn't want to think of it happening again.
'Well, it's no good thinking silly things like that,' said Dick, getting up. 'We've had a jolly interesting half-hour. I think we've solved that mystery. But I suppose we shan't know for certain till your father's finished his experiment, George, and left the island - then we can go over and have a good snoop round.' 'It's still raining,' said Anne, looking out of the window. 'But it's a bit clearer. It looks as if the sun will he out soon. Let's go for a walk.' 'I shall go up to the coastguard's cottage,' said George, at once. 'I want to look through his telescope to see if I can just get a glimpse of Timmy.' 'Try the field-glasses,' suggested Julian. 'Go up to the top of the house with them.' 'Yes, I will,' said George. 'Thanks for the idea.' She fetched the field-glasses, where they hung in the hall, and took them out of their leather case. She ran upstairs with them. But she soon came down again, looking disappointed.
'The house isn't high enough for me to see much of the island properly. I can see the glass top of the tower easily, of course -- but the telescope would show it much better. It's more powerful. I think I'll go up and have a squint. You don't need to come if you don't want to.' She put the glasses back into their case.
'Oh, we'll all come and have a squint for old Timmy-dog,' said Dick, getting up. 'And I don't mind telling you what we'll see!' 'What?' said George, in surprise.
'We'll see Timmy having a perfectly wonderful time, chasing every single rabbit on the island!' said Dick with a grin. 'My word - you needn't worry about Timmy not having his food regularly! He'll have rabbit for breakfast, rabbit for dinner, rabbit for tea and rain-water from his favourite pool. Not a bad life for old Timmy !' 'You know perfectly well he'll do nothing of the sort,' said George. 'He'll keep close to Father and not think of rabbits once!' 'You don't know Timmy if you think that,' said Dick, dodging out of George's way. She was turning red with exasperation. 'I bet that's why he wanted to stay. Just for the rabbits!' George threw a book at him. It crashed to the floor. Anne giggled. 'Oh stop it, you two. We'll never get out. Come on, Ju - we won't wait for the squabblers!'
Chapter Thirteen
AFTERNOON WITH MARTIN
By the time they reached the coastguard's cottage the sun was out. It was a real April day, with sudden showers and then the sun sweeping out, smiling. Every thing glittered, especially the sea. It was wet underfoot, but the children had on their rubber boots.
They looked for the coastguard. As usual he was in his shed, singing and hammering.
'Good-day to you,' he said, beaming all over his red face. 'I was wondering when you'd come and see me again. How do you like, this railway station I'm making?' 'It's better' than any I've ever seen in 1the shops,' said Anne, in great admiration. The coastguard certainly had made it well, down to the smallest' detail.
He 'nodded his head towards some small wooden figures of porters and guards and passengers. 'Those are waiting to be painted,' he said. 'That boy Martin said he'd come in and do them for me very handy with his paints he is, a proper artist but he's had an accident.' 'Has he? What happened?' said Julian.
'I don't quite know. He was half-carried home this morning by his father,' said the coastguard. 'Must have slipped and fallen somewhere. I went out to ask, but Mr. Curton was in a hurry to get the boy on a couch. Why don't you go in and ask after him? He's a queer sort of boy -- but he's not a bad boy.' 'Yes, we will go and ask,' said Julian. 'I say, coastguard, would you mind if we looked through your telescope again?' 'Now you go and look at all you want to!' said the fellow. 'I tell you, you won't wear it out by looking! I saw the signal from your father's tower last night, Miss George - just happened to be looking that way. He went on flashing for a long time, didn't he?' 'Yes,' said George 'Thank you. I'll go and have a look now.' 'She went to the telescope and trained it on her island. But no matter where she looked she could not see Timmy, or her father. They' must be down in his workroom, wherever it was. She looked at the glass room in the top of the tower. That was empty too, of course. She sighed. It would have been nice to see Timmy.' The others had a look through as well, but nobody saw Timmy. It was plain that he was keeping close to his master -- a proper little guard! 'Well -- shall we go in and see what's happened to Martin?' said 'Julian, when they had finished with the telescope. 'It's just about to pour with rain again - another April: shower! We could wait next-door' till it's over.' 'Right. Let's go,' 'said, Dick. He looked at George. 'Don't be afraid I shall be rude, George. Now that I know Mr. Curton is a journalist, shan't bother, about 'him.' 'All the same -- I'm not "blabbing" any more,' said George, with a 'grin. 'I 'see your point now even if it doesn't matter, I still shan't "blab" any' more." 'Good for you!' said Dick, pleased. 'Spoken like a boy!' 'Ass!' said George, but she was pleased 'all the same. They went through the front gateway of the next cottage. As they filed in, they heard an angry voice.
'Well, you can't! Always wanting to mess about with a brush and paint. I thought I'd knocked that idea out of your head. You lie still and get that ankle-better. Spraining it just when I want your help!' Anne stopped, feeling frightened. It was Mr. Curton's voice they could hear through the open window. He was giving Martin a good talking to about something, that was plain. The others stopped too, wondering whether to go in or not. Then they heard a bang, and saw Mr. Curton leaving the cottage from the back entrance. He walked rapidly down the garden there and made for the path, that led to the back of the cliff. There was a road there that went to the village.
'Good. He's gone. And he didn't see us!' said Dick. 'Who would have thought that such a genial, smiling fellow could have such a rough brutal voice when he loses his temper? Come on - let's pop in and see poor Martin while there's a chance.' They knocked on the door. 'It's us!' called Julian cheerfully. 'Can we come in?' 'Oh yes!' shouted Martin from indoors, sounding pleased. Julian opened the door and they all went in.
'I say! We heard you'd had an accident,' said Julian. 'What's up? Are you hurt much?' 'No. It's just that I twisted my ankle, and it was sc painful to walk on that I had to he half-carried up here, said Martin. 'Silly thing to do!' 'Oh - it'll soon be right if it's just a twist,' said Dick 'I've often done that. The thing is to walk on it as soon as you can. Where were you when you fell?' Martin went suddenly red, to everyone's surprise. 'Well -- I was walking on the edge of the quarry with my father -- and I slipped and rolled a good way down,' he said.
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