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

‘Perhaps some of them escaped out of the gate, and went down the cliff-passage,’ she said, hopefully.
‘No - it’s much more likely that the passage was used to get rid of the prisoners,’ said Dick. ‘They could be dragged down to the sea and drowned - and nobody would ever know.’
‘Don’t tell me things like that,’ said Anne. ‘It makes me feel I shall hear groans and cries. I don’t like this place. Let’s go.’
‘I hate it too,’ said George. ‘And Timmy’s tail is right down. I feel as if this horrid dungeon is full of miserable memories. Julian, do let’s go.’
Julian walked over to the nail-studded door, and went through the doorway. He looked out on to a stone paved passage, with stone walls and ceiling. He could see other doors iron-barred, along a dismal stone passage. He came back to the others.
‘Yes - these are the castle dungeons,’ he said. ‘I expect the castle cellars are somewhere near too - where they stored wine and food and other things. Come on - let’s explore. I can’t hear a sound. I think this place is absolutely empty.’
They all followed Julian down the stone passage, looking in at each miserable dungeon as they passed. Horrible! Dirty, damp, cold, bare - poor, poor prisoners of long ago!
At the end of the passage was another iron-barred door, but that too was wide open. They went through it and came out into an enormous cellar. Old boxes were there, old worm-eaten chests, broken chairs, loose papers that rustled as their feet touched them - the kind of junk that can be found in a thousand cellars! It all smelt rather musty, though, as Julian said, the draught that blew everywhere took away some of the smell.
They came to some stone steps and went up them. At the top was another great door, with an enormous bolt on it. ‘Fortunately the bolt is our side,’ said Julian, and slid it out of its socket. He was surprised that it went so smoothly - he had expected it to be rusted and stiff. ‘It’s been oiled recently,’ he said, shining his torch on it. ‘Well, well - other people have been here not long ago, and used this door. We’d better go quietly in case they are still here!’
Anne’s heart began to beat loudly again. She hoped there was no one waiting round a corner to jump out at them! ‘Be careful, Julian,’ she said. ‘Somebody may have heard us! They may be waiting to ambush us. They...’
‘All right, Anne - don’t worry!’ said Julian. ‘Old Timmy would give us a warning growl if he heard a single foot-step!’
And good gracious - at that VERY moment Timmy did give a growl - an angry, startled growl that made everyone jump, and then stand still, holding their breath.
Dick looked round at Timmy, who was growling again. His head was down and he was looking at something on the floor. What was it? Dick swung down his torch to see. Then he gave a small laugh. ‘It’s all right. We don’t need to be scared yet. Look what Timmy’s growling at!’
They all looked down - and saw a great fat toad, its brilliant eyes staring steadily up at them. As they exclaimed at it, it turned aside, and crawled slowly and clumsily to a little damp spot in the corner of the wall.
‘I’ve never seen such a big toad in my life!’ said Anne. ‘It must be a hundred years old! Goodness, Timmy, you made me jump when you suddenly growled like that!’
The toad squatted down in its corner, facing them. It seemed to glare at poor Timmy. ‘Come away, Tim,’ said Dick. ‘Toads can ooze out a very nasty-smelling, nasty-tasting stuff. Never bite a toad!’
Julian had now gone through the door at the top of the steps. He gave a loud exclamation - so loud that the others rushed to him in alarm, wondering what was exciting him.
‘Look!’ said Julian, shining his torch into the dark space beyond. ‘See where we’ve come to! Did you ever see such a store-house of wonders!’


Chapter Seventeen
IN THE TREASURE CHAMBER

Julian’s torch shone steadily into the vast room, which seemed to have no end! The others shone their torches too, and Timmy pressed between their legs to see what the excitement was.
What a sight! They were actually in the enormous chamber that the boys had seen through the opening, in the well-wall! What a place it was - absolutely vast, thought Anne, awed at the size, the height and the great silence.
‘There are the golden statues!’ said Dick, going over to a group of them. ‘Wonderful! Queer faces they have, though - not like ours. And look how their slanting eyes gleam when we shine our torches on them. Makes them look as if they’re almost alive, and looking at us.’
Anne suddenly gave a cry and rushed over to something. ‘The golden bed!’ she said. ‘I wished I could lie on one - and now I shall!’ And with that she climbed on to a vast four-poster bed, with a great canopy, now rotting to pieces.
The bed gave a mournful creak, and the part that Anne was lying on, suddenly subsided. The canopy collapsed and Anne disappeared in a cloud of dust. The bed had, quite literally, fallen to pieces! Poor Anne.
The others helped her up and Timmy looked at the clouds of dust in surprise. What was Anne doing, making such a dust! He sneezed loudly, and then sneezed again. Anne sneezed too. She scrambled quickly out of the collapsed bed and dusted herself down.
‘It has a gold, carved head-piece, and gold legs and end-piece,’ said Dick, shining his torch on it. ‘What a monster of a bed, though - I should think six people could sleep in it at once! What a pity it has been lost here so long - all the hangings fell to pieces as soon as Anne climbed on the bed-part! What a dust!’
There was no doubt about it, there were priceless treasures in this vast, underground cellar. The children could not find the sword with the jewelled handle, nor the necklace of rubies, which Julian thought were probably locked away in one of the chests. But they found many other wonderful things.
‘Look in this chest - this beautiful carved chest!’ called Anne. ‘Gold cups and plates and dishes. Still bright and clean!’
‘And look what’s in here!’ shouted George. ‘Wrapped up in stuff that falls to pieces when I touch it!’
They crowded round a great enamelled box. In it was a set of animals carved out of some lovely green stone. They were absolutely perfect, and, when Anne tried to stand them up, each of them stood as proudly as once they did many many years ago when little princes and princesses played with them.
‘They’re made of green jade,’ said Julian. ‘Beautiful! Goodness knows how much they’re worth! They should be in some museum, not mouldering away in this cellar.’
‘Why didn’t those collectors take these - and the golden statues - and all the other things?’ wondered Anne.
‘Well, that’s obvious,’ said Julian. ‘For one thing this is a secret cellar, I should think, and nobody would be able to get into it unless they knew the secret way to it. There’s probably a sliding panel, or hidden door that leads to it, somewhere in the castle above. It’s very old, and ruined in many parts - and some of the walls have fallen in - so I suppose it was pretty impossible to get to the cellars, even if the secret way was known!’
‘Yes - but what about the way we came up,’ said Dick. ‘From the sea - up the cliff passage!’
‘Well - I don’t know exactly why that hasn’t been used before,’ said Julian, ‘though I could make a guess! Did you notice that great heap of fallen rocks near the entrance to the cliff passage? I should think that that part of the cliff fell at one time, and hid the passage completely - blocked it up. Then maybe a storm came, and the sea shifted some of the rocks - and lo and behold, there was the secret passage - open again!’
‘And somebody found it - somebody perhaps who had heard the old legends about the castle of Whispering Island!’ said Anne.
‘A collector of old things, do you think?’ asked George. ‘What about those two men on the island - the ones we saw in the courtyard - do you suppose they know of this entrance?’
‘Yes, probably,’ said Julian. ‘And it’s likely they were put on guard, in case anyone else found it, and came to rob the secret chamber. The things here are priceless! Those men are not there to guard the animals on the island, as they were in the old lady’s day. She had genuine keepers, like that nice old man Lucas, who told us about this island the other day.’
‘You think these men are in somebody’s pay then - somebody who knows about this great chamber under the castle, and wants to get the centuries-old treasures?’ said Dick.
‘Yes,’ said Julian. ‘And what’s more I don’t believe that the real owner of the island - the great-nephew of the old lady who owned it, even knows they’re here, or that anyone is taking things from his island. For all we know he may live in America or Australia, and not care tuppence about his island!’
‘How extraordinary!’ said Anne. ‘If I owned an island like this, I’d live here and never leave it. And all the animals and birds would be protected as they once were, and...’
‘Dear Anne - what a pity it isn’t yours!’ said Julian, ruffling her hair. ‘But now, the thing is - what are we going to do about all this? We’ll talk about it when we’re back at the cottage. My word, it’s getting late! It will be pitch dark outside, unless the moon is up and the sky is clear of clouds!’
‘Well, come on then, let’s go,’ said Dick, making for the great nail-studded door. Then, as Timmy suddenly gave a blood-curdling growl, he stopped in fright. They had shut the door - but now it was opening. Somebody was coming into the great underground chamber! Who could it be?
‘Quick - hide!’ said Julian, and he pushed the two girls behind a great chest. The others were near the golden bed and they crouched behind it at once, Dick’s hand on Timmy’s collar. He had managed to stop the dog from growling, but was afraid that Timmy would begin again at any moment!
A man came into the room - one of the two big fellows that the children had seen in the courtyard. He didn’t seem to have heard Timmy growling, for he sauntered in, whistling lightly. He shone his torch all round, and then called loudly.
‘Emilio! Emilio!’