"Blyton, Enid - Famous Five 19 - Five Go to Demon's Rock" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

‘I expect he thinks this place is absolutely full of screeching monkeys,’ said Anne, sorry for the terrified little creature. ‘It’s only the echo, Mischief.’
‘He’ll soon get used to it,’ said Tinker, hugging the monkey close to him.
‘You want to hear the echo just round the next bend of the tunnel!’ said Jeremiah, stroking the little monkey, and very foolishly gave an enormous yell just as they got there!
The yell came back ten times as loud, and the tunnel seemed suddenly full of shouts tumbling over one another. Everyone jumped violently, and Mischief leapt high in the air in terror. He sprang to the ground, and scampered away at top speed, wailing in his little monkey-voice. He tore down the tunnel, tail in air, and disappeared round the corner. Tinker was very upset.
‘Mischief! Come back!’ he yelled. ‘You’ll get lost!’
And along came the echo at once. ‘Get lost, get lost, get lost - lost - lost!’
‘Don’t you worry about your monkey,’ said Jeremiah, comfortingly. ‘I’ve had a score of monkeys in my time - and they always come back!’
‘Well, I’ll jolly well stay down here till Mischief does come back!’ said Tinker in rather a shaky voice.
They came out into a cave. This too was lighted by lanterns, though very poorly. They had all heard the murmur of voices as they came to it, and wondered who was there.
Three other visitors were in the cave, sight-seeing, like the children. A big burly fellow was with them, with jet-black hair, deep-set dark eyes, and a surly mouth - so like Jacob that Julian guessed at once that he was the brother, Ebenezer.
As soon as Ebenezer set eyes on Jeremiah, he roared in fury.
‘You get out! This is my job - you get out. I’ll show the caves to those youngsters!’
And with that such a battle of words followed that the Five were almost deafened, especially as the echo repeated everything very loudly indeed! The three visitors fled away up the tunnel, fearing a fight. Anne was very frightened, and clung to Julian.
Ebenezer came shouting up to old Jeremiah, his hand raised. ‘Haven’t I told you more’n a hundred times to keep out of these caves? Haven’t I told you I’m the one to show folks around - and Jacob too?’
‘Don’t take no notice of him!’ said Jeremiah, turning his back on the angry man. ‘He’s nought but a Big Mouth, same as his brother Jacob!’
‘Look out!’ yelled Julian, as the angry Ebenezer rushed at Jeremiah, his fist raised to strike him. ‘LOOK OUT!’


Chapter Seventeen

MISCHIEF AGAIN - AND A SURPRISE!

Jeremiah saw the angry man coming at him, and very neatly side-stepped. Ebenezer couldn’t stop, stepped heavily on a strand of very slippery seaweed - and went sprawling into a corner!
‘Ho!’ said Jeremiah, delighted. ‘Very nice, Ebenezer! Get up, and run at me again!’
‘He’d better not,’ said Julian, in his most grown-up voice. ‘I shall report him to the police if he does - and that will make a pair of them in two days. Jacob got into trouble yesterday - and now it will be Ebenezer.’
Ebenezer got up, scowling, and glared at Jeremiah, who grinned back in delight. ‘Coming at me again, Ebby?’ he said. ‘It’s grand fun to hit an old man, isn’t it?’
But Ebenezer was very much afraid that Julian would do what he had threatened, and report him to the police. He rubbed his shoulder where it had struck a piece of rock, and debated what to do.
‘Come along,’ said Jeremiah, to the five watching children. ‘I’ll take you down to the Wreckers’ Cave. Ebby can come too, if so be he can behave hisself. But mebbe he’d like to run away home, and get his shoulder looked to!’
That was enough for Ebby! He determined to follow the little company, and made rude remarks all the time. So he tailed them, and shouted at them from a safe distance. How they wished they had Timmy with them! He would have made short work of the rude Ebenezer!
‘Don’t take any notice of him,’ said Julian, ‘Lead on Jeremiah. My word, isn’t it dark in this tunnel! Good thing we all brought good torches!’
The tunnel came to an end at last and opened out into an extraordinary cave. The roof was unexpectedly high, and the irregular sides were ridged with shelves of rocks. On the shelves were dirty old boxes, a crate or two and some sacks.
‘What in the world are those?’ asked Dick, shining his torch on them.
‘Well young sir, they’re just what they look like - ordinary boxes and sacks,’ said Jeremiah. ‘Put there by Ebenezer and Jacob to fool people! They tells everybody they’re what the old wreckers got out of ships they wrecked, years ago! Hoo-hoo-hoo! Anybody that believes those lies deserves to be fooled. They’re all from Ebby’s back-yard. Seen them lying there meself! Hoo-hoo-hoo!’
His hoo-hooing laugh echoed round the cave, and Ebenezer made an angry growling noise rather like a dog.
‘I’m not going to fool these kids,’ said Jeremiah. ‘You and your sacks and boxes! I know where the old things are, the real old things - oh yes I do!’
‘They’re no better than the sacks and boxes there, wherever they are!’ said Ebby, in a growling voice. ‘You’re lying, old Jeremiah - you don’t know nothing!’
‘Take us on farther,’ said Dick. ‘There must be more caves. I think this is exciting. Is this really where the old wreckers hid the things they salvaged from the wrecks they caused - or just a tale?’
‘Oh, this is their cave, that’s true enough. Dressed up a bit by Ebby there!’ said Jeremiah. ‘But I know the caves farther on. Ebby doesn’t! He’s too skeered to go farther under the sea. Aint’ you, Ebby?’
Ebby said something that sounded rude. Julian turned to Jeremiah eagerly. ‘Oh do take us farther - if it isn’t dangerous!’
‘Well, I’m going farther on, anyway,’ said Tinker, suddenly. ‘Mischief hasn’t come back - so he must be lost - and I’m going to find him!’
Julian saw that Tinker was quite determined. ‘Right,’ he said. ‘We’ll come with you. Jeremiah, lead the way! But it’s not really dangerous, is it? I mean - we don’t want to find the sea sweeping through these caves, right up to where we are!’
‘Tide’s not on the turn yet,’ said Jeremiah. ‘We’re all right for a while. When it comes in, it swirls up this passage here - but it stops at the Wreckers’ Cave - that’s just too high for it, see? The tunnel runs downwards fast now. It goes right under your light-house, have you seen it down at the bottom of the shaft?’
‘Good gracious, yes!’ said Julian, remembering. ‘I went down it - and the sea was swirling in and out at openings in the bottom of the shaft. Do you mean to say that the sea that rises in the shaft at high tide, comes racing up into these tunnels too?’
‘Aye, that it does,’ said Jeremiah. ‘You can get from here to the lighthouse under the rocky sea-bed right to that foundation shaft. But nobody dares! Tide comes in so quickly, you might get caught and drownded!’
Ebby at once shouted something rude again - it sounded as if he was telling Jeremiah to go and ‘get drownded too’!
‘Do let’s go on farther,’ said Dick. ‘Come on, Jeremiah.’
So Jeremiah led them farther on under the rocky bed of the sea. It was strange and rather frightening to hear the constant noise of the water racing over the roof of the winding tunnel. Their torches lighted up slimy walls, and rocky shelves and hollows.
‘You know - this would have been a very good place to hide treasure,’ said Julian, glancing up at a dark hollow in the roof of the tunnel. ‘Though I don’t know how anyone would set about looking for it - there are hundreds of nooks and crannies - and isn’t it cold in this tunnel!’
‘Well, the sun’s rays never penetrate down here,’ said Dick. ‘My word, the sea sounds pretty loud now!’
‘I wish we could find Mischief,’ said Anne to George. ‘Look at poor Tinker. He’s crying. He’s pretending not to, but I could see the tears rolling down his cheeks last time I flashed my torch on him.’