"Blyton, Enid - Famous Five 13 - Five Go to Mystery Moor" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

They took the horses that needed shoeing. There were six of them, so they each rode one, and Julian led the sixth. Timmy ran happily along beside them. He loved the horses, and they regarded him as a real friend, bending their long noses down to sniff at him, whenever he came near.
They went slowly down the long lane to the blacksmithТs. СThere it is!Т said George. СA proper old smithy with a lovely fire! And thereТs the smith!Т
Old Ben was a mighty figure of a man, even though he was over eighty. He didnТt shoe many horses now, but sat in the sun, watching all that was going on. He had a great mane of white hair, and eyes that were as black as the coal he had so many times heated to a fiery flame.
СGood morning, young masters and Miss,Т he said and Julian grinned. That would please George and Henry!
СWeТve got some questions to ask you,Т said George, dismounting.
СAsk away!Т said the old man. СIf itТs about this place, thereТs nothing much old Ben canТt tell you! Give Jim your horses. Now, ask away!Т

Chapter Nine

THE BLACKSMITH TELLS A TALE

Well, began Julian, Сwe went riding on Mystery Moor yesterday, and for one thing weТd like to know if there is any reason for the curious name. Was there ever a mystery on that moor?Т
СOh, there be plenty of mysteries away there,Т said Old Ben. СPeople lost and never come back again, noises that no one could find the reason of...Т
СWhat kind of noises?Т said Anne, curiously.
СAh now, when I were a boy, I spent nights up on that moor,Т said old Ben, solemnly, Сand the noises that went on there! Screeches and howls and the like, and moans and the sweep of big wings...Т
СWell, all that might have been owls and foxes and things like that,Т said Dick. СIТve heard a barn-owl give a screech just over my head which made me nearly jump out of my skin. If I hadnТt known it was an owl IТd have run for miles!Т
Ben grinned and his face ran into a score of creases and wrinkles.
СWhy is it called Mystery Moor?Т persisted Julian. СIs it a very old name?Т
СWhen my Grandad was a boy it were called Misty Moor,Т said the old blacksmith, remembering. СSee, Misty, not Mystery. And that were because of the sea-fogs that came stealing in from the coast, and lay heavy on the moor, so that no man could see his hand in front of his face. Yes, IТve been lost in one of them mists, and right scared I was too. It swirled round me like a live thing, and touched me all over with its cold damp fingers.Т
СHow horrid!Т said Anne with a shiver. СWhat did you do?Т
СWell, first I ran for my life,Т said Ben, getting out his pipe and looking into the empty bowl. СI ran over heather and into gorse. I fell a dozen times, and all the time the mist was feeling me with its damp fingers, trying to get me, thatТs what the old folk used to say of that mist, it was always trying to get you!Т
СStill, it was only a mist,Т said George, feeling that the old man was exaggerating. СDoes it still come over the moor?Т
СOh ay,Т said Ben, ramming some tobacco into his pipe. СAutumnТs the time, but it comes sudden-like at any moment of the year. IТve knowed it come at the end of a fine summerТs day, creeping in stealthy-like, and my, if you donТt happen to see it soon enough, it gets you!Т
СWhat do you mean, it gets you?Т said George.
СWell, it may last for days,Т said old Ben. СAnd if youТre lost on them moors, youТre lost proper, and you never come back. Ah, smile if you like, young sir, but I knows!Т He went off into memories of long ago, looking down at his pipe. СLetТs see now, there was old Mrs Banks, who went bilberry-picking with her basket on a summerТs afternoon, and no one ever heard of her again, after the mist came down. And there was young Victor who played truant and went off to the moors, and the mist got him too.Т
СI can see weТd better watch out for the mist if we go riding there,Т said Dick. СThis is the first IТve heard of it.Т
СYes. You keep your eyes skinned,Т said old Ben. СLook away to the coast-side and watch there, thatТs where it comes from. But there baint many mists nowadays, l donТt know for why. No, now I think on it, there havenТt been a mist, not a proper wicked one, for nigh on three years.Т
СWhat IТd like to know is why was the name changed to Mystery Moor,Т said Henry. СI can understand its being called Misty Moor, but now everyone calls it Mystery, not Misty.Т
СWell now, that must have been about seventy years ago, when I were a bit of a boy,Т said Ben, lighting his pipe and puffing hard. He was enjoying himself. He didnТt often get such an interested audience as this, five of them, including a dog who sat and listened too!
СThat was when the Bartle Family built the little railway over the moor,Т he began, and stopped at the exclamations of his five listeners.
СAh! We wanted to know about that!Т
СOh! You know about the railway then!Т
СDo go on!Т
The blacksmith seemed to get some trouble with his pipe and pulled at it for an exasperatingly long time. George wished she was a horse and could stamp her foot impatiently!
СWell, the Bartle Family was a big one,Т said Ben at last. СAll boys, but for one ailing little girl. Big strong fellows they were, I remember them well. I was scared of them, they were so free with their fists. Well, one of them, Dan, found a mighty good stretch of sand out there on the moor...Т
СOh yes, we thought there might have been a sand-quarry,Т said Anne. Ben frowned at the interruption.
СAnd as there were nine or ten good strong Bartles, they reckoned to make a fine do of it,Т said Ben. СThey got wagons and they went to and from the quarry they dug, and they sold their sand for miles around, good, sharp sand it were...Т
СWe saw some,Т said Henry. СBut what about the rails?Т
СDonТt hurry him,Т said Dick, with a frown.
СThey made a mort of money,Т said Ben, remembering. СAnd they set to work and built a little railway to carry an injin and trucks to the quarry and back, to save labour. My, my, that were a nine daysТ wonder, that railway! Us youngsters used to follow the little injin, puffing along, and it were the longing of us all to drive it. But we never did. Them Bartles kept a big stick, each one of them, and they whipped the hide off any boy that got too near them. Fierce they were, and quarrelsome.Т
СWhy did the railway fall into ruin?Т asked Julian. СThe rails are all overgrown with heather and grass now. You can hardly see them.Т
СWell, now we come to that there Mystery you keep on about,Т said Ben, taking an extra big puff at his pipe. СThem Bartles fell foul of the gypsies up on the moor...Т
СOh, were there gypsies on the moor then?Т said Dick. СThere are some now!Т
СOh ay, thereТs always been gypsies on the moor, long as I can remember,Т said the blacksmith. СWell, itТs said them gypsies quarrelled with the Bartles, and it wasnТt hard to do that, most people did! And the gypsies pulled up bits of the line, here and there, and the little injin toppled over and pulled the trucks with it.Т
The children could quite well imagine the little engine puffing along, coming to the damaged rails and falling over. What a to-do there must have been up on the moor then!
СThe Bartles werenТt ones to put up with a thing like that,Т said Ben, Сso they set about to drive all the gypsies off the moor, and they swore that if so much as one caravan went there, theyТd set fire to it and chase the gypsies over to the coast and into the sea!Т
СThey must have been a fierce family,Т said Anne.
СYouТre right there,Т said Ben. СAll nine or ten of them were big upstanding men, with great shaggy eyebrows that almost hid their eyes, and loud voices. Nobody dared to cross them. If they did, theyТd have the whole family on their door-step with sticks. They ruled this place, they did, and my, they were hated! Us children ran off as soon as we saw one coming round a corner.Т
СWhat about the gypsies? Did the Bartles manage to drive them off the moor?Т asked George, impatiently.
СNow you let me go my own pace,Т said Ben, pointing at her with his pipe. СYou want a Bartle after you, young sir, thatТs what you want!Т He thought she was a boy, of course. He did something to his pipe and made them all wait a little. Julian winked at the others. He liked this old fellow with his long, long memories.