"Blyton, Enid - Famous Five 12 - Five Go Down to The Sea" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

СNo, you donТt come too,Т said Julian. СYou buzz off. See? Off you go. We donТt want you today.Т
YanТs face took on a sullen look. He turned to Anne. СI come too?Т he said, pleadingly.
Anne shook her head. СNo, not today,Т she said. СAnother time. Take this sweet, Yan, and go away.Т
Yan took the sweet and turned away, his face sulky. He disappeared over the field and was soon lost to sight.
The four children and Timmy went on together, glad of their warm jerseys when the wind blew strongly. Julian gave a sudden groan.
СI shall be jolly glad when weТve had our lunch,Т he said. СThis bag of food is so heavy itТs cutting into my shoulders.Т
СWell, letТs wait till we get to the tower and we can put the bags down,Т said Dick. СWeТll do a little exploring before we have our lunch. I should think Mrs Penruthlan meant us to stay out to dinner, tea and supper, the amount sheТs packed for us!Т
They hoped they were going in the right direction. They had looked at a map, and found various lanes which they thought would eventually lead to the tower, and had worked out which was the best direction to take.
Julian had his compass and was going by that, leading them down lanes, across fields, along little paths, and sometimes along no paths at all! He felt sure, however, that they were going right. They were making for the coast, anyway.
СLook, there are two hills side by side, or cliffs, are they?Т said Anne, pointing. СI believe they are the hills between which we saw that tower.Т
СYes, youТre right,Т said Dick. СWeТre nearly there. I wonder how people got there when the tower and the house were lived in. There appears to be no proper road at all.Т
They walked on, over a rough field. They soon found themselves in a very narrow, overgrown lane, deep-set between hedges that almost met overhead.
СA green tunnel,Т said Anne, pleased. СLook out for those enormous nettles, Ju.Т
At the end of the lane an overgrown path swung sharply right, and there, not far from them, was the tower! They stood and stared at it. This was where the light had flashed a hundred years ago to bring ships to their doom, and where the light had flashed only the other night.
СThe towerТs falling into ruin,Т said Dick. СLarge pieces have dropped out of it. And I should think the house is in ruin, too, though we canТt see enough of it at the moment, just a bit of the roof. Come on. This is going to be fun!Т
The tower didnТt look the frightening thing it had seemed on the stormy night when the boys saw the flashing light. It just looked a poor old ruin. They made their way to it through high thistles, nettles and willow-herb.
СDoesnТt look as if anyone has been here for years,Т said Julian, rather puzzled. СI rather wish weТd brought a scythe to cut down these enormous weeds! We can hardly get through them. IТm stung all over with nettles, too.Т
They came to the house at last, and a poor, tumbledown ruin it was! The doors had fallen in, the windows were out of shape, and had no glass, the roof was full of holes. An enormous climbing rose rambled everywhere, throwing masses of old-fashioned white roses over walls and roof to hide the ugliness of the ruin.
Only the tower seemed still strong, except at the top, where parts of the wall had crumbled away and fallen. Julian forced his way through the broken doorway into the house. Weeds grew in the floor.
СThereТs a stone stairway going up the tower!Т he called. СAnd I say, look here! WhatТs this on each stair?Т
СOil,Т said George. СSomeoneТs been carrying oil up in a can, or a lamp, and has spilt it. Julian, weТd better be careful. That somebody may be here still!Т


Chapter Thirteen

IN THE WRECKERSТ TOWER

Dick and Anne came hurriedly up to the old stone stairway when they heard what Julian and Georgie had said. Oil! That could only mean one thing, a lamp in the tower.
They all stood and looked at the big splashes of oil on each step.
СCome on up,Т said Julian at last. СIТll go first. Be careful how you go because the towerТs in a very crumbly state.Т
The tower was built at one end of the old house, and its walls were thicker than the house walls. The only entry to it was by a doorway inside the house. In the tower was a stone stairway that went very steeply up in a spiral.
СThis must once have been the door of the tower,Т said Dick, kicking at a great thick slab of wood that lay mouldering away beside the stone doorway. СThe tower doesnТt seem to hold anything but this stone stairway, just a look-out, I suppose.Т
СOr a place for signalling to ships to entice them on the rocks,Т said George. СOh, Timmy, donТt push past like that; you nearly made me fall, these stone steps are so steep.Т
As Dick said, the tower seemed to hold nothing but a stairway spiralling up steeply. Julian came to the top first and gave a gasp. The view over the sea was astonishing. He could see for miles over the dark cornflower-blue waters. Near the coast the churning of the waves into white breakers and spray showed the hidden rocks that waited for unwary ships.
George came up beside him and stared in wonder, too. What a marvellous sight, blue sky, blue sea, waves pounding over the rocks, and white gulls soaring on the stiff breeze.
Then Dick came up, and Julian gave him a warning. СBe careful. DonТt lean on the walls at all, theyТre crumbling badly.Т
Julian put out his hand and touched the top of the tower wall near him. It crumbled and bits fell away below.
Big pieces had fallen away here and there, leaving great gaps in the wall round the top of the tower. When Anne came up also, Julian took her arm, afraid that with such a crowd up there someone might stumble against a crumbling wall and fall from the tower.
George had hold of TimmyТs collar and made him stand quite still. СDonТt you go putting your great paws up on the wall,Т she warned him. СYouТll find yourself down in the nettles below in no time if you do!Т
СYou can quite well see what a wonderful place this is for flashing a light at night over the sea,Т said Dick. СIt could be seen for miles. In the old days, when sailing ships got caught in the storms that rage round this coast at times, they would be thankful to see a guiding light.Т
СBut what a light!Т said Julian. СA light that guided them straight on to those great rocks! Let me see now. Are those the rocks near those coves we went to the other day?Т
СYes, I think so,Т said Dick. СBut there are rocks and rocks, and caves and coves round here. ItТs difficult to tell if they are the same ones we saw.Т
СThe ships that sailed towards the light must have been wrecked on the rocks down there,Т said Julian, pointing. СHow did the wreckers get there? There must have been a path from here somewhere.Т
СThe WreckersТ Way, do you think?Т said Dick.
Julian considered. СWell, I donТt know. I imagine that the WreckersТ Way must have been a way leading to the sea from inland somewhere, certainly a way that was convenient for the villagers to use. No, IТll tell you what I think happened!Т
СWhat?Т said everyone.
СI think, on a stormy night long ago, the people who lived here in this house went up into the tower and flashed their false light to any ship that was sailing out on the waters. Then, in great excitement, they watched it sailing nearer and nearer, perhaps shown up by lightning, perhaps by the moon.Т
Everyone imagined such a ship, and George shivered. Poor wretched ship!
СWhen the ship reached the rocks and crashed on them, the signallers in the tower gave a different signal, a signal to a watcher up there on the hills,Т said Julian, pointing behind him. СA watcher who was standing on the only spot from which the flash could be seen! Maybe the light gleamed steadily to entice a ship in, but was flashed in code to the watcher on the hills, and the flashing said, УShip on rocks. Tell the others, and come to the feast!Ф Т
СHow simply horrible!Т said Anne. СI canТt believe it!Т