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

The girls looked very different in the evening, because they had to change out of their dirty, smelly jodhpurs or breeches and put on dresses. Anne, Henry and George hurried to change before Mrs Johnson rang the supperbell again. She always gave them ten minutesТ grace, knowing that they might sometimes have a job to finish with the horses, but everyone was supposed to be at the table when the second supper-bell had finished ringing.
George looked nice, because her curly hair went with a skirt and blouse quite well, but Henry looked quite wrong, somehow, in her frilly dress.
СYou look like a boy dressed up!Т said Anne, and this pleased Henry, but not George. The talk at the suppertable was mainly about all the wonderful things that Henry had done in her life. Apparently she had three brothers and did everything with them, and according to her own tales, she was considerably better than they were!
They had sailed a ship up to Norway. They had hiked from London to York.
СWas Dick Turpin with you?Т inquired George, sarcastically. СOn his horse, Black Bess? I expect you got there long before him, didnТt you?Т
Henry took no notice. She went on with wonderful tales of her familyТs exploits, swimming across wide rivers, climbing Snowdon to the top, goodness, there wasnТt a single thing she didnТt seem to have done!
СYou certainly ought to have been a boy, Henry,Т said Mrs Johnson, which was exactly what Henry wanted everyone to say!
СHenry, when youТve told us the story of how you climbed Mount Everest and got there before anyone else, perhaps you would finish your plateful,Т said Captain Johnson, who got very tired of HenryТs tongue.
George roared with laughter, not that she thought it was very funny, but because she loved any chance to laugh at Henry. Henry tackled the rest of her food at top speed. How she did love to hold everyone spellbound with her extraordinary tales! George didnТt believe a word, but Dick and Julian thought it quite likely that this tall, wiry girl could do things just as well as her brothers.
There were a few jobs to be done after supper, and Henry kept well away from George, knowing quite well that she would have a few cutting things to say. Well, she didnТt care! Everyone else thought she was marvellous! She tore off her frilly dress and put on jodhpurs again, although it would only be a short time before they all went to bed.
George and Anne went with the boys to their stable. They were in pyjamas and dressing-gowns, both yawning as they went. СGot your torches?Т said George. СWeТre not allowed to have candles in the stables, because of the straw, you know. Good night! Sleep well! And I hope that that fathead of a Henry doesnТt come along early in the morning, whistling like a paper-boy, and wake you up!Т
СNothing will wake me up tonight, nothing at all!Т said Julian, with a huge yawn. He lay down in the straw and pulled an old rug over him. СOh, what a bed! Give me stable straw every time to sleep in!Т
The girls laughed. The boys really did look very comfortable. СSleep tight,Т said Anne, and walked off with George to the house.
Soon all the lights were out everywhere. Henry was asleep and snoring as usual. She had to have a separate room, otherwise she kept everyone awake! But even so, Anne and George could hear her, snoring away - rrrumph - rrrumph! rrrumph - RRRRUMPH!
СBlow Henrietta!Т said George, sleepily. СWhat a row she makes. Anne, sheТs not to come with us when we go riding tomorrow. Do you hear, Anne?Т
СNot very well,Т murmured Anne, trying to open her eyes. СGТ night, George!Т
Timmy was on GeorgeТs feet as usual. He lay snuggled there, eyes shut and ears asleep too. He got as tired as everyone else, running over the hills all day, scrabbling at scores of rabbit-holes, chasing dozens of remarkably fleet-footed rabbits. But at night he too slept like a log.
Out in the stable the two boys slept peacefully, covered by the old rug. Nearby the little skewbald horse moved restlessly, but they heard nothing. An owl came swooping over the stable, looking for mice down below. It screeched loudly, hoping to scare a mouse into sudden flight. Then it would swoop down and take it into its talons.
Not even the screech awakened the boys. They slept dreamlessly, tired out.
The door of the stable was shut and latched. Clip, the horse, suddenly stirred and looked round at the door. The latch was moving! Someone was lifting it from the outside. ClipТs pricked ears heard the sound of a little shuffle.
He watched the door. Who was coming? He hoped it was Sniffer, the boy he liked so much. Sniffer was always kind to him. He didnТt like being away from Sniffer. He listened for the sniff-sniff that always went with the little gypsy boy, but he didnТt hear it.
The door opened very slowly indeed. It gave no creak. Clip saw the night sky outside, set with stars. He made out a figure outlined against the darkness of the starry night, a black shadow.
Someone came into the stable, and whispered СClip!Т
The horse gave a little whinny. It wasnТt SnifferТs voice. It was his fatherТs. Clip did not like him, he was too free with cuffs and kicks, and slashes with the whip. He lay still, wondering why the gypsy had come.
The man had no idea that Dick and Julian were sleeping in the stable. He had come in quietly because he had thought there might be other horses there, and he did not want to startle them and make them stamp about in fright. He had no torch, but his keen gypsyТs eyes made out Clip at once, lying in his straw.
He tiptoed across to him and fell over JulianТs feet, sticking out from the straw bed he was lying on. He fell with a thud, and Julian sat up very suddenly indeed, awake at once.
СWhoТs there! What is it?Т
The gypsy shrank down beside Clip, keeping silent. Julian began to wonder if he had been dreaming. But his foot distinctly hurt him. Surely somebody had trodden on it, or fallen over it? He woke Dick.
СWhereТs the torch? Hello, look, the stable door is open! Quick, Dick, where on earth is the torch?Т
They found it at last and Julian clicked it on. At first he saw nothing, for the gypsy was in ClipТs stall, lying down behind the horse. Then the torch picked him out.
СHallo! Look there - itТs that gypsy, SnifferТs father!Т said Julian. СGet up, you! What on earth are you doing here, in the middle of the night?Т

Chapter Five

GEORGE GETS A HEADACHE!

The man got up sullenly. His ear-rings shone in the light of the torch. СI came to get Clip,Т he said. СHeТs my horse, isnТt he?Т
СYou were told he wasnТt fit to walk yet,Т said Julian. СDo you want him to go lame for life? You ought to know enough about horses to know when one can be worked or not!Т
СIТve got my orders,Т said the man. СIТve got to take my caravan with the others.Т
СWho said so?Т said Dick, scornfully.
СBarney Boswell,Т said the man. СHeТs boss of our lot here. WeТve got to start off together tomorrow.Т
СBut why?Т said Julian, puzzled. СWhatТs so urgent about all this? WhatТs the mystery?Т
СThere ainТt no mystery,Т said the man, still sullen. СWeТre just going to the moor.Т
СWhat are you going to do there?Т asked Dick, curiously. СIt doesnТt seem to me to be the place to take a lot of caravans to. ThereТs nothing there at all, is there? Or so IТve heard.Т
The man shrugged his shoulders and said nothing. He turned to Clip as if to get him up. But Julian rapped out at him at once,
СOh no, you donТt! If you donТt care about injuring a horse, I do! YouТve only got to be patient for a day or two more, and heТll be quite all right. YouТre not to take him tonight. Dick, go and wake Captain Johnson. HeТll know what to do.Т
СNo,Т said the man, scowling. СDonТt go waking anybody. IТll go. But just you see that Clip is given to Sniffer as soon as itТs possible, or IТll know the reason why! See?Т
He looked at Julian in a threatening way.
СTake that scowl off your face,Т said Julian. СIТm glad youТve seen sense. Clear out now. Go off with the others tomorrow and IТll see that Sniffer has the horse in a short time.Т
The man moved to the door and slid out like a shadow. Julian went to watch him across the yard, wondering whether, out of spite, the man might try to steal a hen, or one of the ducks sleeping beside the pond.