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

‘Let me go! Let me go!’
And then a stern, loud and threatening voice came ‘Who are you with? Where are they? You’re not alone, we’re certain of that!’
‘Quick - we must hide!’ said Julian, angry and worried. ‘Dick, look about for a good place and I will too.’
‘No good,’ said Dick. ‘They’ll beat everywhere for us. Better climb trees.’
‘Good idea!’ said Julian. ‘Anne, come with me. I’ll give you a shove up. Hurry, everybody! Hurry!’


Chapter Fourteen
WILFRID HAS AN ADVENTURE ON HIS OWN

What about Timmy? He can’t climb,’ said George, fearfully. ‘He might be shot.’
‘Put him under a bush and tell him to sit, sit, sit!’ said Julian, urgently. ‘He knows perfectly well what that means. Go on, George, quick.’
George took Timmy by the collar and led him to a very thick bush. She pushed him under it. He turned himself round, poked his nose out of the leaves, and looked at her in surprise.
‘Sit, Timmy! Sit, and keep quiet!’ said George. ‘Sit, sit, sit - and keep quiet. Understand?’
‘Woof,’ said Timmy, very quietly, and withdrew his nose, so that nothing of him could be seen at all. He knew perfectly well what George meant. Clever old Timmy!
Dick was giving Anne a shove up a tree with drooping branches thick with leaves. ‘Get as high as you can,’ he said, in a low voice. ‘And then stay put till you hear me call you. Don’t be afraid. Old Timmy’s down here to protect you!’
Anne gave him rather a small smile. She was not like George, fearless and always ready to rush into trouble. Anne was all for a peaceful life - but how could she have that if she was one of the Five!
The boys and George were now high up in trees, listening to the shouting going on. Apparently Wilfrid was not going to give away his friends - one up to him!
‘How did you get here?’ a man was shouting.
‘In a boat,’ said Wilfrid.
‘Who was with you?’ shouted another man.
‘Nobody. I came alone,’ said Wilfrid, perfectly truthfully. ‘I wanted to visit the island. I’m an animal-lover and I heard that all the wild creatures here were tame.’
‘A likely story that!’ sneered a man’s voice. ‘Huh! Animal-lover!’
‘All right then - look what I’ve got here in my pocket,’ said Wilfrid, and apparently showed the man his baby hedgehog. ‘He was trodden on by a horse - and I’ve been looking after him.’
‘Very well - you can go back to your boat, and row away,’ said the man. AT ONCE! mind. And don’t look so scared. We shan’t hurt you. We’ve business of our own here, and we don’t want strangers round - not even silly little kids with hedgehogs in their pockets!’
Wilfrid took to his heels and fled. He felt lost now. He would never find the others - or the cove where his boat was. WHY had he disobeyed Julian? Had the others heard the men shouting at him? Which way should he go?
He had entirely lost his sense of direction and had no idea whether to go to the left or the right. He began to panic. Where could the others be? He must find them, he must! He ran through the trees, wishing that Timmy was with him. Then he stopped. Surely this was quite the wrong way? He turned and went in a different direction. No, this couldn’t be right either, he didn’t recognize a thing!
He thought he heard voices in the distance. He stood and listened. Could it be the others? If only George would tell Timmy to find him! But she wouldn’t, in case he was shot at. Was that noise voices - or was it just the wind? Perhaps it was the others looking for him. Wilfrid rushed off towards the distant sound. But alas, it died down. It was only the wind!
The trees thinned out into bushes - and then Wilfrid suddenly saw the sea in the distance! Good! If he could get to it, he could walk round the shore till he came to his cove. He would know where he was then. He began to run towards the blue sea.
Through the bushes he went, and came out at last on to what seemed to be a very high cliff. Yes - there was the sea, below and beyond. If only he could scramble down the cliff he could bear to the right and at last come to his cove. He came to the edge of the cliff and looked down - and then he started back in fear. What was that noise - that awful, dreadful noise? It was like a giant wailing and wailing at the top of his voice, the wailing going up and down in the wind. Wilfrid found his knees were shaking. He simply didn’t dare to go on. He sat down and tried to get his breath, putting his hands over his ears to keep out the horrible wailing.
And then he suddenly remembered something and heaved a sigh of heartfelt relief. ‘Of course - these must be the Wailing Cliffs we were told about!’ he thought thankfully. ‘We heard about the Whispering Wood - and it does whisper - and the Wailing Cliffs - and they do wail! At least, it’s really the wind, of course. But goodness, what a queer, strange sound!’
He sat for a while longer, then, feeling much bolder, he went to the edge of the great cliff, and looked over. He stared down in surprise.
‘There’s somebody down there - three or four people! Mustn’t let them see me - they must belong to the men on the island! What are they doing down there?’
He lay down and peered over. Four men were there - but, as Wilfrid watched, they disappeared. Where had they gone? He craned over the cliff to see. ‘There must be caves in the cliff, I suppose,’ he said to himself. ‘That’s where they’ve gone! Gosh, I wish this wailing would stop. I shall start wailing myself in a minute!’
After some time voices came faintly up to him, as he lay watching, and he saw two men coming out on to the rocks below again. What were they carrying? A long, deep box - why, it looked exactly like one of the boxes in which the others had seen those beautiful little statues, packed in sawdust!
‘So that’s how they get them away from here - take them down through some passage in the cliffs - to a waiting boat. Where’s the boat, thought I can’t see one. Not arrived yet, perhaps.’
He watched with intense interest as the men carried out box after box and piled them on a great flat rock that abutted on a stretch of fairly calm water.
‘Big boxes - little ones - my word, those men have been busy lately!’ thought Wilfrid, wishing and wishing and wishing that the others were with him. ‘I wonder what’s in them. Not the bed of gold, that’s certain. I bet it would be far too big to put into a boat. Have to be pulled to pieces first! Hallo - here comes another box - a small one this time. Good gracious, they’ll soon need a steamer to take all these!’
Almost as he said the words, he saw a small steamer in the far distance! ‘Well! There’s the steamer, just as I said! I bet the boat will appear soon, and be loaded - and then chug off to the waiting steamer!’
But the steamer came no nearer, and no boats appeared. ‘Waiting for the tide, I expect,’ thought Wilfrid. ‘Goodness, what will the others say when I tell them all this! They won’t believe me! And I bet they won’t scold me for going off by myself!’
He decided to go back and find the others and tell them what he had seen. He set off trying to remember the way. Surely he must be near the place where he had left them? And then quite suddenly, someone leapt out from behind a tree and caught hold of him!
‘Let me go, let me go!’ shouted Wilfrid, in a panic. And then he gave a cry of relief, as he suddenly saw Timmy running towards him.
‘Timmy! Save me!’
But Timmy didn’t come running to save him. He stood there, looking up at him, rather puzzled, while poor Wilfrid went on struggling, really frightened!
Then Wilfrid heard a giggle. A GIGGLE? Who in the world could be giggling just then? He forced himself to look round - and saw Dick and Anne, doing their best not to laugh, and George holding her sides. His captor let go of him and began to laugh too. It was Julian!
‘I say - this is too bad! You gave me a most awful fright,’ said Wilfrid. ‘I’ve already been captured once this afternoon. Whatever do you think you’re doing?’
‘Where have you been, Wilfrid?’ said Julian, rather sternly. ‘I forbade you to go for a walk - and you went.’
‘I know. I went off by myself- and a man caught me and scared me. Then I ran away and lost myself. I couldn’t find any of you,’ said poor Wilfrid. ‘But my word, I saw something very very interesting on that walk of mine!’
‘What?’ asked Julian, at once.
‘Let’s sit down, and I’ll tell you,’ said Wilfrid. ‘I feel quite shaky. You really were beasts to jump on me like that.’