"Blyton, Enid - Famous Five 20 - Five Have a Mystery to Solve" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

‘Just the noise of whispering!’ said George. ‘Well - what do we do now? We’ll have to wait an hour or two till the tide turns again!’
‘Shall we explore?’ said Dick. ‘After all, we’ve got Timmy with us. No one is likely to attack us if they see him!’
‘They can shoot him, can’t they, if they have guns?’ said George. ‘If he growled one of his terrifying growls, and ran at them, showing his teeth, they’d be scared to bits, and fire at him.’
‘I think you’re right,’ said Julian, angry with himself for landing them all into what might be serious trouble. ‘Keep your hand on Timmy’s collar, George.’
‘You know what I think?’ said Dick suddenly. ‘I think we ought to try and find the guards, and tell them the tide swept us on to the island quite by accident - we couldn’t stop the boat surging on! We’re not grown-ups, come to snoop around, so they’re sure to believe us - and we’d be safe from any chasing or shooting then.’
They all looked at Julian. He nodded. ‘Yes - good idea. Give ourselves up, and ask for help! After all, we hadn’t any real intention of actually landing - the tide simply threw the boat into that sandy cove!’
So they walked up to the back of the cove and into the wood, whose whispering was very loud indeed, once they were actually among the trees. No one was to be seen. The wood was so thick that it was in parts quite difficult to clamber through. After about ten minutes very hard walking and clambering, Julian came to a stop. He had seen something through the trees.
The others pressed behind him. Julian pointed in front, and the others saw what looked like a great grey wall, made of stone.
‘The old castle, I imagine!’ Julian whispered, and at once the trees themselves seemed to whisper even more loudly! They all made their way to the wall, and walked alongside it. It was a very high wall indeed, and they could hardly see the top! They came to a corner and peeped round. A great courtyard lay there - quite empty.
‘Better shout, I think,’ said Dick, beginning to feel rather creepy, but before they could do that two enormous men suddenly came down a flight of great stone steps. They looked so fierce, that Timmy couldn’t help giving a blood-curdling growl. They stopped short at once, and looked all round, startled.
‘The noise came from over there,’ said one of the men, pointing to his left - and, to the children’s great relief, both swung off in the wrong direction!
‘We’d better get back to the cove,’ whispered Julian. ‘I don’t at all like the look of those men - they look proper thugs. Quiet as you can, now. George, don’t let Timmy bark.’
They made their way back beside the stone wall, through the whispering trees, and there they were, at the cove.
‘We’d better row back as quickly as we can,’ said Julian. ‘I think something’s wrong here. Those men looked like foreigners. They certainly weren’t game-keepers. I wish we hadn’t come.’
‘Ju - where’s our boat?’ said Dick, in a shocked voice. ‘It’s gone. This can’t be the right cove!’
The others stared round. Certainly there was no boat! They must have come to the wrong cove.
‘It looks the same cove to me,’ said George. ‘Except that the sea has come in a bit more. Do you think it took our boat away - gosh, look at that big wave sweeping right in - and sucking back!’
‘My word, yes! Our boat could easily have been dragged out on a wave like that!’ said Julian, very worried. ‘Look out - here comes another!’
‘It is the same cove!’ said Anne, looking under a bush at the back. ‘Here are our clothes, look! We hid them here!’
‘Take them out quickly!’ called Julian, as another big wave swept right in. ‘What an idiot I am! We should have pulled our boat as far up as we could.’
‘I’m cold now,’ said Anne. ‘I’m going to dress. It will be easier to carry a bathing-suit than a heap of clothes!’
‘Good idea!’ said Dick, and they all promptly dressed, feeling warmer at once.
‘We might as well leave our bathing-things under the bush where we left our clothes,’ said George. ‘At least we’ll know it’s the same cove, if we find them there!’
‘The thing is - what are we going to do now?’ said Julian, worried. ‘No boat to get back in - and why on earth did we choose one called Adventure! We might have known something would happen!’


Chapter Ten
THE FIVE ARE IN A FIX

Julian went to the mouth of the cove and looked out over the waves, hoping that he might see their boat bobbing somewhere. ‘I could swim out to it if so,’ he thought, ‘and bring it in. No - there’s not a sign of a boat! I could kick myself for being so careless!’
Dick came up, looking worried. ‘I suppose it’s too far to swim back to the mainland, isn’t it?’ he said. ‘I could have a shot - and get another boat and come back for everyone.’
‘No. Too far,’ said Julian. ‘The tide’s too strong for any swimmer at the moment. We’re certainly in a fix!’
‘We can’t signal, I suppose?’ said Dick.
‘What with?’ asked Julian. ‘You could wave a shirt for an hour and it wouldn’t be seen from the mainland!’
‘Well - we must think of something!’ said Dick, exasperated. ‘What about trying to find a boat here? Surely those men must have one to get to and fro.’
‘Of course!’ said Julian, clapping Dick on the back. ‘Where are my brains? They seem to be going soft or something! We could snoop round and about tonight, to see if there’s a boat anywhere. They may have two or three. They’d have to get food from the mainland at times.’
The two girls and Timmy came up then, and Timmy whined. ‘He doesn’t seem to like this island,’ said George. ‘I think he smells danger!’
‘I bet he does!’ said Dick, putting his hand on Timmy’s firm head. ‘I’m jolly glad he’s with us. Can you girls think of any good ideas - we can’t!’
‘We could signal,’ said George.
‘No good. A signal from here couldn’t be seen,’ said Dick. ‘We’ve already thought of that.’
‘Well - if we lighted a fire here on the beach tonight, when the tide’s out, surely that would be seen?’ said Anne.
Dick and Julian looked at one another. ‘Yes!’ said Julian. ‘If we lighted it on a hilly bit it would be better still - on that cliff up there, for instance.’
‘Wouldn’t the guards see it?’ asked Dick.
‘We’d have to chance that,’ said Julian. ‘Yes - we could do that. Good idea, Anne. I say - we’re going to get jolly hungry, aren’t we? Anyone got anything to eat?’
‘I’ve two bars of chocolate - a bit soft now though,’ said George, digging into the pocket of her shorts.
‘And I’ve some peppermints,’ said Anne. ‘What about you boys? You always take barley-sugars about with you, Dick - don’t say you haven’t any just when we could all do with them!’
‘I’ve a new packet!’ said Dick. ‘Let’s all have one now!’ He pulled the packet from his pocket and handed it round. Soon they were all sucking barley-sugars. Timmy was given one too, but his was gone in a flash!
‘Wasted on you, Tim, absolutely wasted!’ said Anne. ‘Crick-crack, swallow - that’s all a barley-sugar means to you! Why can’t dogs suck a sweet as we do! They never seem to suck anything. No, Timmy, don’t go sniffing into Dick’s pocket for another!’
Timmy was disappointed. He went snuffling round the cove, and then, scenting a rabbit smell, he followed it with his nose to the ground. The children didn’t notice that he had disappeared, but went on talking, trying to solve their very real difficulty.
No boat. No food. No way of getting help except by signalling in some way. Not very funny, thought Dick.