"Blyton, Enid - Famous Five 18 - Five On Finniston Farm" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

‘We sleep out there,’ said the Harries, both together, and scowled just like George.
‘Well, you shouldn’t,’ said their mother. ‘I told you to take your mattresses to the little room off the dairy.’
‘It’s too stuffy,’ said the twins.
‘I say, look here - we don’t want to cause trouble,’ said Julian, feeling that the twins were too unfriendly for words. ‘Can’t we sleep in the room off the dairy?’
‘Certainly not,’ said Mrs Philpot, and sent the Harries a warning glance. ‘There’s room for you all in the big barn. Go on, now, twins, do as I tell you, take the four up to the top bedroom, with the cases, and then out to the barn.’
The twins went to pick up the suitcases, still looking mutinous. Dick interposed himself between them and the cases. ‘We’ll carry them,’ he said stiffly. ‘We don’t want to be any more trouble to you than we can help.’
And he and Julian picked up a suitcase each, and set off after the Harries, who looked suddenly surprised. George followed with Timmy, more amused than cross. Anne went to pick up a spoon that Mrs Philpot had dropped.
‘Thank you, dear,’ said Mrs Philpot. ‘Look - don’t get upset by the twins. They’re a funny pair - but good at heart. They just don’t like strangers in their home, that’s all. Promise you won’t mind them? I do want you to be happy here.’
Anne looked at the kindly, tired face of the woman beside her, and smiled. ‘We’ll promise not to worry about the twins - if you’ll promise not to worry about us!’ she said. ‘We can look after ourselves, you know - honestly, we’re used to it. And please do tell us when you want anything done!’
She went out of the room and up the stairs. The others were already in one of the two bedrooms at the top of the house. It was a fairly big room, whitewashed, with rather a small window and boarded floors. Julian looked at the boards he was standing on. ‘I say! Look at the wood this floor’s made of - solid old oak, worn white with the years! My word - this farm-house must be very old. And look at the beams running across the walls and into the roof. Hey, twins, this is a fine old house of yours!’
The twins unbent enough to nod in time together. ‘Seems as if you two go by clockwork - you speak the same words at the same time, you walk in time, you nod your heads in time!’ said Dick. ‘But, I say - do you ever smile?’
The twins looked at him with dislike. Anne nudged Dick. ‘Stop it, Dick! Don’t tease them. Perhaps they’d show you the barn now. We’ll unpack some clean things we’ve brought for you in our case, and come down with them when we’re ready.’
‘Right,’ said Dick, and he and Julian went out of the room. Opposite, with its door open, was the other room, where the American boy slept. It was so very untidy that Dick couldn’t help exclaiming, ‘Gosh - how does he get his room into all that mess?’
He and Julian went down the stairs, and Dick turnecl back to see if the Harries were following. He saw them standing at the top, each shaking a furious fist at the door of the American boy’s room. And what a furious look on their faces, too!
Whew! thought Dick. The Harries have got some sort of hate on there - let’s hope they don’t get one for us, too. ‘Well - now for the barn,’ he said aloud. ‘Don’t go so fast, Ju. Wait for the twins - they’re just falling over themselves to look after us!’


Chapter Three

OUT IN THE BARN

The twins stalked out of the farm-house and took the two boys round the dairy shed, and up to an enormous barn. One of them pushed open the great door.
‘I say!’ said Julian, gazing into the dark barn. ‘I never saw such a fine barn in all my life! It’s as old as the hills - look at those beams soaring up into the roof - it reminds me of a cathedral, somehow. I wonder why they built the roof so high. What do you store in here, twins?’
‘Sacks of meal,’ said the Harries together, opening and shutting their mouths as one. The two boys saw a couple of camp-beds in a corner of the barn.
‘Look here,’ said Julian, ‘if you really would rather sleep here alone, we’ll sleep in the little room off the dairy that your mother spoke of.’
Before the twins could answer, a shrill barking came from the direction of the camp-beds, and the boys saw a tiny black poodle there, standing up, quivering in every hair.
‘What a tiny thing!’ said Julian. ‘Is he yours, twins? What’s his name?’
‘Snippet,’ came the answer from both at once. ‘Come here, Snippet!’
At once the tiny black poodle hurled hunself off the camp-bed and raced over to them. He fawned on them all, barking in delight, licking everyone in turn. Dick picked him up, but the twins at once clutched Snippet themselves.
‘He’s OUR dog!’ they said, so fiercely that Dick backed away.
‘All right, all right - you can have him. But be careful Tim doesn’t eat him!’ he said. A look of fear came over the faces of the Harries, and they turned to one another, anxiously.
‘It’s all right,’ said Julian, hastily. ‘Tim’s gentle with small things. You needn’t be afraid. I say - why do you have to be so dumb? It really wouldn’t hurt you to be a bit friendly. And do let us sleep in your old room - we really don’t mind.’
The twins looked at each other again, as if reading one another’s thoughts, and then they turned gravely to the boys, not looking quite so unfriendly.
‘We will all sleep here,’ they said. ‘We will fetch the other camp-beds.’ And off they marched, Snippet running excitedly at their heels.
Julian scratched his head. ‘Those twins make me feel peculiar,’ he said. ‘I somehow don’t feel they are quite real. The way they act and speak together makes me feel as if they’re puppets or something.’
‘They’re just jolly rude and unfriendly,’ said Dick, bluntly. ‘Oh well - they won’t get in our way much. I vote we explore the farm tomorrow. It looks quite a big one - spreading out over the hill-slopes everywhere. I wonder if we could get a ride on a tractor?’
At that moment a bell rang loudly from the direction of the house. ‘What’s that for?’ said Dick. ‘Tea, I hope!’
The twins came back at that moment with two more camp-beds, wkich they proceeded to set up as far from their own as possible. Dick went to give a hand, but they waved him off, and put up the beds most efficiently and quickly by themselves.
‘Tea is ready,’ they said, standing up when the beds were finished, and blankets and pillows set out on them. ‘We will show you where to wash.’
‘Thanks,’ said Dick and Julian together, and then grinned at one another. ‘Better be careful,’ said Julian, ‘or we’ll catch their habit of speaking exactly at the same moment. I say - isn’t that poodle an amusing little fellow - look at him stalking that jackdaw!’
A black jackdaw, the nape of his neck showing grey as he ran in front of Snippet, had flown down from somewhere in the roof of the barn. As Snippet danced after him he ran behind sacks, scurried into corners, and led the little dog such a dance that the two boys roared. Even the twins smiled.
‘Chack!’ said the jackdaw, and rose into the air. He settled himself neatly on the middle of the poodle’s back, and Snippet promptly went mad, and tore about the barn at top speed.
‘Roll over, Snippet!’ shouted the Harries, and Snippet at once flung himself on his back - but the jackdaw, with a triumphant ‘chack’ rose at once into the air, and alighted on one twin’s head.
‘I say - is he tame?’ said Dick. ‘What’s his name?’
‘Nosey. He’s ours. He fell down a chimney and broke his wing,’ said the twins. ‘So we kept him till it was well and now he won’t leave us.’
‘Gosh!’ said Dick, starring at them. ‘Did you really say all that - or was it the jackdaw? You can talk properly, after all.’
Nosey pecked at the twin’s ear nearest to him, and the twin gave a yell. ‘Stop it, Nosey!’ The jackdaw rose into the air, with a ‘chack-chack-chack’ that sounded very like a laugh, and disappeared somehere in the roof.
Just then the two girls came to find the boys in the barn, sent by Mrs Philpot, who was sure they hadn’t heard the bell. Timmy was with them, of course, sniffing into every corner, enjoying the farm-smells everywhere. They came to the barn and looked in.
‘Oh, there you are!’ called Anne. ‘Mrs Philpot said we...’
Timmy began to bark, and she stopped. He had caught sight of Snippet sniffing behind the sacks, still hunting for the cheeky jackdaw. He stood still and stared. What in the wide world was that funny little black creature? He gave another loud bark and shot over towards the poodle, who gave a tenified yelp and leapt into the arms of one of the twins.