"Cooper, Susan - Dark is Rising 01 - Over Sea, Under Stone" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cooper Susan)

'Believe that when I see 'n,' said the fisherman with a twinkle. 'Now look, you run and take your liddle sister home and wash that leg, don't know what scales and muck have got into it of here.' He scuffed at the quay with his glistening boot.

Yes, come on, Jane,' Simon said. He took one more look out at the quiet line of boats; then put up his hand to peer into the sun. 'I say, that oaf with the bicycle, he's going on board the yacht!'

Jane and Barney looked.

Out beyond the far harbour wall, a dark shape was bobbing against the long white hull of the silent yacht. They could just see the boy climbing up the side, and two figures meeting him on the deck. Then all three disappeared, and the boat lay deserted again.

'Ah,' said the fisherman. 'So that's it. Young Bill were buying stores and petrol and all, yesterday, enough for a navy, but nobody couldn't get it out of him who they was for. Tidy old boat, that'n - cruisin', I suppose. Can't see what he made all the mystery about.'

He began to walk along the quay: a rolling small figure with the folded tops of his boots slapping his legs at every step. Barney trotted beside him, talking earnestly, and rejoined the others at the corner as the old man, waving to them, turned off towards the village.

'His name's Mr Penhallow, and his boat's called the White Heather. He says they got a hundred stone of pilchard last night, and they'll get more tomorrow because it's going to rain.'

'One day you'll ask too many questions,' said Jane.

'Rain?' said Simon incredulously, looking up at the blue sky.

'That's what he said'

'Rubbish. He must be nuts.'

'I bet he's right. Fishermen always know things, specially Cornish fishermen. You ask Great-Uncle Merry.'


But Great-Uncle Merry, when they sat down to their first supper in the Grey House, was not there; only their parents, and the beaming red-cheeked village woman, Mrs Palk, who was to come in every day to help with the cooking and cleaning. Great-Uncle Merry had gone away.

'He must have said something,' Jane said.

Father shrugged. 'Not really. He just muttered about having to go and look for something and roared of in the car like a thunderbolt.'

'But we've only just got here,' Simon said, hurt.

'Never mind,' Mother said comfortably. You know what he is. He'll be back in his own good time.'

Barney gazed dreamily at the Cornish pasties Mrs Palk had made for their supper. 'He's gone on a quest. He might take years and years. You can search and search, on a quest, and in the end you may never get there at all.'

'Quest my foot,' Simon said irritably. 'He's just gone chasing after some stupid old tomb in a church, or something. Why couldn't he have told us?'

'I expect he'll be back in the morning,' Jane said. She looked out of the window, across the low grey wall edging the road. The light was beginning to die, and as the sun sank behind their head- land the sea was turning to a dark grey-green, and slow mist creeping into the harbour. Through the growing haze she saw a dim shape move, down on the water, and above it a brief flash of light; first a red pinprick in the gloom, and then a green, and white points of light above both. And she sat up suddenly as she realised that what she could see was the mysterious white yacht, moving out of Trewissick harbour as silently and strangely as it had come.



Chapter 2


Next day, as they sat eating breakfast, Great-Uncle Merry came back. He loomed in the doorway, tall and hollow-eyed under the thatch of white hair, and beamed at their surprised faces.

'Good morning,' he said cheerfully. 'Any coffee left?' The ornaments seemed to rattle on the mantelpiece as he spoke; Great-Uncle Merry always gave the impression of being far too big for any room he was in.