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

They all followed, some more carefully than others. George and Wilfrid were least careful, and poor Wilfrid lost his footing and slid quite a long way on his behind. He didn’t like it at all, and looked quite scared!
‘Watch your feet, now, Wilfrid,’ said Julian. ‘It’s getting a bit dark, so don’t try any funny tricks. You tried to jump over that big stone instead of stepping over carefully. I really don’t want to send Timmy down to the bottom of the cliff to pick up your pieces!’
At last they were all down the cliff, and on the rocks below. The tide was out, so that waves did not splash up and soak them. Anne suddenly slipped into a pool and made her shoes wet, but that didn’t matter. They were only rubber ones.
‘Now - exactly where did you see those men, Wilfrid?’ asked Julian, stopping on a big flat rock. Wilfrid jumped beside him, and pointed.
‘See the cliff over there? See that funny rock shaped rather like a bear? Well, that’s where I saw the men. They went by that rock, and disappeared.’
‘Right,’ said Julian. ‘Now, no more talking please - though this wailing sound would drown almost anything. Follow me!’
He went over the rocks towards the big bear-like one that Wilfrid had pointed to. The others followed, a little tide of excitement welling up inside them. Anne caught hold of Wilfrid’s hand, and squeezed it. ‘Exciting, isn’t it?’ she said, and Wilfrid nodded eagerly. He knew he would have been scared stiff by himself - but with the others it was an adventure - a really exciting adventure!
They came to the bear-like rock. Near it was a dark place in the cliff - a way in? ‘That’s where the men came out, Julian,’ said Wilfrid, keeping his voice low. ‘Do we go in there?’
‘We do,’ said Julian. ‘I’m going in first and I’m going to stand quite still and listen, as soon as I get the sound of the wind and sea out of my ears. If I hear nothing I’ll whistle, see? Then you can all come in too.’
‘Right!’ said everyone, thrilled. They watched as Julian went to the dark slit-like opening. He paused and looked inside. It was so dark that he knew they would all need their torches! He switched on his powerful one and shone it into the passage. He saw a ditch that ran slanting upwards for some way, and on either side, a rocky ledge, not too rough. Water ran down the rocky ditch and bubbled out beside him, to join the sea over the rocks.
‘I’m just going into the cliff tunnel a little way, to see if I can hear anything or anyone,’ he said. ‘Wait here.’ He disappeared inside the dark opening and everyone waited in impatient excitement.
A gull suddenly swooped down close to their heads. ‘Ee-ooo, ee-ooo, EEE-OOO!’ it screeched and made them all jump violently. Wilfrid almost fell off his rock, and clutched at George. Timmy growled, and looked up angrily at the seagull. Silly bird, frightening everyone like that!
There came a low whistle, and Julian appeared again, his torch switched on. ‘All clear,’ he said. ‘I can’t hear a sound inside the opening, and I’ve been some way along. It’s not hard going. There’s a funny little stream flowing down, and a ledge either side we can walk on. Very convenient! Now, no talking please - and be careful even of your whispers - every sound seems to be magnified in here. Keep hold of Timmy, George, in the steepest places.’
Timmy gave a little whine of surprise when George took him inside the cliff. At once his whine was magnified all round them, and everyone jumped. Timmy didn’t like it at all.
George took firm hold of Timmy’s collar. ‘You’re to keep close by me,’ she whispered, ‘and you’re not to make a sound. This is an adventure, Timmy - a big adventure - and you’re in it as much as any of us. Come along!’
And there they go, all of them, climbing up the dark passage into the cliff! What will they find - what will they see? No wonder their hearts beat fast and loudly, no wonder Timmy keeps close to George. An adventure? He must be on guard then - anything might happen in an adventure!


Chapter Sixteen
A QUEER JOURNEY UNDERGROUND

It was very dark inside the cliff. The children’s torches made bright streaks everywhere, and were very useful indeed for seeing the safest places to tread. As Julian had told the others, there was a curious little stream flowing down the middle of the steep passage, with uneven ledges on each side of it. It had worn this little channel for itself during the many many years it had flowed down inside the cliff!
‘It’s probably water draining from the surface of the cliffs,’ said Julian in a low voice, picking his way carefully. ‘Be careful here - the ledges are very slippery!’
‘Oooh!’ said Wilfrid, treading on a slippery bit, and finding one of his feet in ice-cold water.
The echo took up the noise at once. ‘OOOOH-OOOOOOH-OOOOOH!’ Poor Wilfrid’s little ‘Oooh’ echoed up and down and all round them! It was very weird indeed and nobody liked it. Anne pressed close to Julian, and he squeezed her arm comfortingly.
‘Sorry about my Oooh,’ said Wilfrid, in a low voice. ‘My oooh, oooh, oooh!’ said the echo at once, and George simply couldn’t help giving a giggle, which at once repeated itself a score of times!
‘You really will have to be quiet now,’ came Julian’s serious voice, almost in a whisper. ‘I have a feeling we’re coming to some big opening. There’s suddenly a great draught blowing down this steep passage - I can feel it round my head.’
The others felt it too, as they climbed higher up the steep passage, trying to avoid the tiny stream that splashed down its worn channel. It made a nice little noise - very cheerful, Anne thought - and gleamed brightly in the light of their torches.
Julian wondered how in the world anyone could take crates or boxes down such a steep dark passage! ‘It’s wide enough, I suppose,’ he thought. ‘But only just - and the bends in it must be very awkward for boxes to get round! I do hope we don’t meet anyone round a bend, carrying a crate or two! My word - the draught is quite a wind now. There must be an opening somewhere.’
‘Ju - we’ve not only gone upwards, we’ve gone a good way forward too,’ whispered Anne. ‘Wasn’t the old castle somewhere in this direction?’
‘Yes - I suppose it would be,’ answered Julian, stopping to think. ‘Gosh - I wonder if this passage comes up in one of its cellars! An old castle like that would have huge cellars - and probably a dungeon or two for prisoners! Let me think - we must have left the cliff behind now - and yes - I think we may be heading for the castle. Why didn’t I think of that before!’
‘Well, then - the well-wall must run down beside the castle foundations!’ said Dick, in much too loud a voice. The echo made everyone jump violently, and Julian stopped climbing and hissed at Dick. ‘Whisper, can’t you, idiot! You nearly made me jump out of my skin!’
‘Skin, skin, skin!’ said the echo, in a peculiar whisper that made George want to laugh.
‘Sorry!’ whispered back Dick.
‘I think you may be right about the well-wall running down beside the foundations of the castle,’ Julian said, whispering again. ‘I never thought of that. The castle wasn’t very far from the well. It would probably have enormous cellars spreading underground.’
‘The wall in the well that that queer little door was in, was terrifically thick,’ said Dick. ‘I bet I was looking into one of the castle cellars, when I peeped through it!’
This was all very interesting. Julian thought about it as they went on and on through the endless passage. It ran more or less level now, and was easy to walk through, for it was much wider.
‘I think this part of the passage was man-made,’ said Julian, stopping and facing the others, his face bright in the light of their torches. He went on in a loud whisper, ‘Up through the cliff the passage was a natural one, awfully dificult to climb - but here it’s quite different - look at these old bricks here - probably put there to strengthen the tunnel.’
‘Yes - a secret way from the castle to the sea!’ said Dick, almost forgetting to keep his voice down, in his excitement. ‘I say - isn’t it thrilling!’
Everyone began to feel even more excited - all except Timmy, who didn’t much like dark, secret passages, and couldn’t imagine why Julian was taking them for such a gloomy and peculiar walk. He had splashed solemnly through the stream the whole time, finding the stone ledges much too slippery for his paws.
The draught grew stronger and was very cold indeed. ‘We’re coming near to the opening where the draught comes from,’ whispered Julian. ‘All quiet, now, please!’
They were as quiet as possible, and Anne began to feel almost sick with excitement. Where were they coming to? Then suddenly Julian gave a low exclamation.
‘Here we are! An iron gate!’
They all tried to crowd round Julian to see. The gate was a big strong one, with criss-cross bars of iron. They could easily see between the bars, and they shivered in the draught that swept through the great gate.
Julian shone his torch through the bars, his hand shaking in excitement. The bright ray of light ran all round what looked like a stone room - quite small - with a stout, nail-studded door at the far end. This door was wide open, and it was through this that the steady draught blew.
‘This is a cellar - or a dungeon, more likely!’ said Julian. ‘I wonder if the gate is locked.’
He shook it - and it swung open quite easily, as if it had been well-oiled! Julian stepped into the dungeon flashing his torch all round the dark and dismal little place.
He shivered. ‘It’s cold as ice, even on this warm day!’ he said. ‘My word, I wonder how many poor, miserable prisoners have been kept down here in the cold!’
‘Look - here’s a staple in the wall,’ said Dick, standing beside him, examining the half-hoop of iron, deeply embedded in the stone wall. ‘I suppose the unhappy prisoner was tied up to this, to make his punishment even worse.’
Anne shivered. ‘How could people be so cruel?’ she said, her vivid imagination seeing wretched men here, with perhaps only crusts of bread to eat, water to drink, no warmth, no bed, only the stone floor!