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

СYes. We thought we would,Т said Julian. СJust to see where it goes to. And itТs a nice straight way to follow. We canТt lose our way if we keep near the railway!Т
СHave a good time, Henry,Т said George, with a grin. СDo they call you Henrietta?Т
СYes,Т said poor Henry, putting on a pair of gloves. СWell, good-bye. For goodnessТ sake donТt stay away too long. Thank goodness youТre all such a hungry lot. YouТll simply have to come back and get more food in a couple of days!Т
They grinned and left her, Timmy at their heels. They made their way to the moor, intending to cut out the part of the railway that ran to Milling Green, and join it some way before that.
СNow weТre off,Т said George, contentedly. СWithout that chatterbox of a Henry.Т
СSheТs really not too bad,Т said Dick. СAll the same, itТs fine to be on our own, just the Famous Five together!Т


Chapter Twelve

THE LITTLE RAILWAY

It was a very hot day. The five had had their lunch before they started, as Mrs Johnson said it would be easier to carry that inside than outside!
Even Timmy carried something. George said that he ought to do his share, and had neatly fastened a bag of his pet biscuits on his back.
СThere now!Т she said. СYouТve got your load too. No, donТt try and sniff the biscuits all the time, Timmy. You canТt walk with your head screwing round like that. You ought to be used to the smell of biscuits by this time!Т
They set off to the railway line, or where they hoped it would be. It took a little time to discover it running under the heather. Julian was glad. He didnТt want to walk right into Milling Green to find the beginning of it and then walk all the way up again!
Anne found it by tripping over it! СOh!Т she said, Сhere it is! I caught my foot in a bit of rusty line. Look you can hardly see it!Т
СGood,Т said Julian, and stepped in between the narrow pair of old, rusty lines. In some places they had rusted away, and there were gaps. In other places the heather had grown completely over the lines, and unless the children had known that they must keep straight forward, they would have lost them completely. As it was they sometimes missed them and once had to do quite a bit of scrabbling about in the heather to see if they could feel them.
It was very hot. Their packs began to feel distinctly heavy. TimmyТs biscuits began to slide round his body and eventually hung below his tummy. He didnТt like that, and George suddenly spied him sitting down trying to prise open the bag with his teeth!
She put down her own pack and adjusted TimmyТs. СIf only you didnТt keep chasing rabbits, and making your pack swing about, it wouldnТt slip,Т she said. СThere now, itТs all right again, Tim. Walk to heel and it wonТt slip any more.Т
They went on and on up the railway lines. Sometimes the rails took a curve round an unexpected rock. Soon the soil began to look sandy, and the heather did not grow so thickly. It was easier to see the lines, though in some places the sand had sifted over them and hidden them.
СI really must have a rest!Т said Anne, sitting down in some heather. СI feel I want to pant and hang my tongue out like Timmy!Т
СI wonder how far these lines go,Т said Dick. СItТs so very sandy now underfoot that I feel we must be getting near the quarry!Т
They lay back in the heather and felt very sleepy. Julian yawned and sat up.
СThis really wonТt do!Т he said. СIf we fall asleep weТll never want to start off with our heavy packs again. Stir yourselves, lazy-bones!Т
They all got up again. TimmyТs biscuits had slithered round to his tummy once more, and George had to put them right again. Timmy stood quietly, panting, his tongue hanging out. He thought the biscuits were a great nuisance. It would be much easier to eat them!
The sand got deeper and soon there were big sandy patches with no heather or grass at all. The wind blew the sand up in the air, and the five found that they had to shut their eyes against it.
СI say! The lines end here!Т said Julian, stopping suddenly. СLook, theyТre broken, wrenched out of place, the engine couldnТt go any farther.Т
СThey may appear again a bit farther on,Т said Dick, and went to look. But he couldnТt find any, and came back to look at the lines again.
СItТs funny,Т he said. СWe arenТt at any quarry yet, are we! I quite thought that the line would run right to the quarry, the trucks would fill up there, and the engine would pull them back to Milling Green. Where is the quarry? Why do the lines stop so suddenly here?Т
СYes. The quarry should be near here, shouldnТt it?Т said Julian. СWell, there simply must be more lines somewhere! Ones that go to the quarry. LetТs look for the quarry first, though. We ought to see that easily enough!Т
But it wasnТt really very easy to find because it was behind a great mass of thick tall gorse-bushes. Dick rounded them and stopped. Behind the enormous spread of bushes was a great pit, a sandy pit, quarried and hollowed for its beautiful sand.
СHere it is!Т called Dick. СCome and look! My word, thereТs been some quarrying here for sand. They must have taken tons and tons out of it!Т
The others came to look. It certainly was an enormous pit, deep and wide. They put their packs beside it and leapt down. Their feet sank into the fine sand.
СThe sides are pitted with holes,Т said Dick. СI bet hundreds of sand-martins nest here in May!Т
СThere are even some caves,Т said George, in surprise. СSand-caves! Well, we can easily shelter here if we have rain. Some of these caves seem to go quite a long way back.Т
СYes. But IТd be a bit afraid of the sand falling in and burying me, if I crawled in,Т said Anne. СItТs quite loose, look!Т She scraped some down with her hand.
СIТve found the lines!Т called Julian. СHere, look. The sand has almost covered them. I trod on a rail and it was so rotten it broke beneath my foot!Т
The others went to see, Timmy too. He was quite delighted with this place. The rabbit-holes in it! What fun he was going to have!
СLetТs follow these lines,Т said Julian. So they kicked away the sand from the rails and followed them slowly out of the quarry and towards the ends of the other broken lines.
About ten yards from these the lines they were following were wrenched apart. Some were flung into nearby heather, and could be seen there, bent and rusty.
The children stared at them. СI guess the gypsies did that, when the Bartles were here years ago,Т said Dick. СThe day they attacked them perhaps. I say look, whateverТs that great lump over there, with gorse growing over it?Т
They went to see. Timmy saw the lump and couldnТt make it out. He growled warningly at it.
Julian took up a broken piece of rail and forced back the gorse bush that had grown over and around the great lump, almost hiding it.
СSee what it is?Т he said, startled.
They all stared. СWhy, itТs the engine! The little УinjinФ old Ben the blacksmith told us about!Т said Dick. СIt must have run right off the broken lines and over-turned here, and through the years these great gorse-bushes grew up and hid it. Poor old engine!Т
Julian forced the gorse back a little more. СWhat a funny old-fashioned affair!Т he said. СLook at the funnel, and the fat little boiler. And see, thereТs the small cab. It canТt have had much power, only just enough to puff along with a few trucks!Т
СWhat happened to the trucks?Т wondered Anne.
СWell, they would be easy enough to set upright again and put on the rails, and hand-pushed to Milling Green,Т said Dick. СBut this engine couldnТt be lifted, except by some kind of machinery. Not even a dozen men could lift it and set it on the rails!Т
СThe gypsies must have set on the Bartles in the mist, having first broken up the lines so that the engine would run off and overturn,Т said Julian. СThey may even have used the broken rails to attack them with. Anyway, they won the battle, because not one of the Bartles ever returned.Т