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

‘What are you doing here?’ he shouted. ‘This is my cottage!’
Julian went quickly down the stairs, and there, facing them all, stood a boy of about ten, a scowl on his brown face.
‘Er - are you Wilfrid, by any chance?’ asked Dick, politely.
‘Yes, I am. And who are you? And where’s my aunt? She’ll soon chuck you out!’ said the boy.
‘Is your aunt Mrs Layman?’ asked Julian. ‘If so, she asked us to come and see her cottage, and decide if we’d like to keep you company. She said she had to go away and look after a sick friend.’
‘Well, I don’t want you!’ said the boy. ‘So clear off. I’m all right here alone. My aunt’s a nuisance, always fussing round.’
‘I thought there was a cook too,’ said Julian. ‘Where is she?’
‘She only comes in the morning, and I sent her off,’ said Wilfrid. ‘She left me some food. I want to be alone. I don’t want you. So clear off’
‘Don’t be a fathead, Wilfrid,’ said Julian. ‘You can’t live all alone here. You’re just a kid.’
‘I shan’t be living all alone. I’ve plenty of friends,’ said Wilfrid, defiantly.
‘You CAN’T have plenty of friends here in this lonely place, with only the hills and sky around you,’ said Dick.
‘Well, I have!’ said Wilfrid. ‘And here’s one - so look out!’ And, to the horror of the two girls, he put his hand into his pocket, and brought out a snake!
Anne screamed, and tried to hide behind Julian. Wilfrid saw her fright and came towards her, holding the snake by its middle, so that it swayed to and fro, its bright little eyes gleaming.
‘Don’t be scared, Anne,’ said Julian. ‘It’s only a harmless grass-snake. Put the creature back into your pocket, Wilfrid, and don’t play the fool. If that snake is the only friend you have, you’ll be pretty lonely here by yourself!’
‘I’ve plenty of friends, I tell you!’ shouted Wilfrid, stuffing the snake back into his pocket. ‘I’ll hit you if you don’t believe me.’
‘Oh no, you won’t,’ said Dick. ‘Just show us your other friends. If they’re kids like you, it’s just too bad!’
‘Kids? I don’t make friends with kids!’ said Wilfrid, scornfully. ‘I’ll show you I’m speaking the truth. Come out here on the hillside, and see some of my other friends.’
They all trooped out of the little cottage, on to the hillside, amazed at this fierce, strange boy. When they were in the open, they saw that he had eyes as bright blue as the speedwell in the grass, and hair almost as yellow as the celandines.
‘Sit down and keep quiet,’ he ordered. ‘Over there, by that bush. And don’t move a finger. I’ll soon make you believe in my friends! How dare you come here, doubting my word!’
They all sat down obediently beside the gorse-bush, puzzled and rather amused. The boy sat down too, and drew something out of his pocket. What was it? George tried to see, but it was half-hidden in his right hand.
He put it to his mouth, and began to whistle. It was a soft, weird whistle that grew loud and then died away again. There was no tune, no melody, just a kind of beautiful dirge that pulled at the heart. Sad, thought Anne, such a sad little tune - if you could call it a tune!
Something stirred a little way down the hill - and then, to everyone’s astonishment, an animal appeared - a hare! Its great ears stood upright, its big eyes stared straight at the boy with the curious little pipe. Then the hare lollopped right up to Wilfrid - and began to dance! Soon another came, but this one only watched. The first one then seemed to go mad, and leapt about wildly, utterly unafraid.
The tune changed a little - and a rabbit appeared! Then another and another. One came to Wilfrid’s feet and sniffed at them, its whiskers quivering. Then it lay down against the boy’s foot.
A bird fiew down - a beautiful magpie! It stood nearby, watching the hare, fascinated. It took no notice of the children at all. They all held their breath, amazed and delighted.
And then Timmy gave a little growl, deep down in his throat. He didn’t really mean to, but he just couldn’t help it! At once the hares, the rabbits and the magpie fled, the magpie squawking in fright.
Wilfrid faced round at once, his eyes blazing. He lifted his hand to strike Timmy - but George caught his fist at once.
‘Let go!’ yelled Wilfrid. ‘That dog scared my friends! I’ll get a stick and whip him. He’s the worst dog in the world, he’s...’
And then something strange happened. Timmy came gently over to Wilfrid, lay down, and put his head on the angry boy’s knee, looking up at him lovingly. The boy, his hand still raised to strike, lowered it, and fondled Timmy’s head, making a curious crooning noise.
‘Timmy! Come here!’ ordered George, amazed and angry. To think that her dog, her very own dog, should go to a boy who had been about to strike him!
Timmy stood up, gave Wilfrid a lick, and went to George.
The boy watched him, and then spoke to them all. ‘You can come and stay in my cottage,’ he said, ‘if you’ll bring that dog too. There aren’t many dogs like him - he’s a wonderful dog. I’d like him for one of my friends.’
Then, without another word, Wilfrid sprang up and ran away down the hill, leaving four most astonished people - and a dog who whined dismally because the boy had gone. Well, well, Timmy - there must indeed by something about that boy, if you stand looking after him as if you had lost one of your very best friends!


Chapter Four
SETTLING IN

The Five stared after Wilfrid in silence. Timmy wagged his tail and whined. He wanted the boy to come back.
‘Well, thank you, Timmy, old thing,’ said Anne, patting the big dog on the head. ‘We certainly wouldn’t have had this lovely little cottage, with its incredible view, if you hadn’t made friends with Wilfrid. What a funny boy he is!’
‘Jolly queer, I think!’ said George, still amazed at the way that Timmy had gone to Wilfrid, when the boy had been about to strike him. ‘I’m not sure that I like him!’
‘Don’t be an ass, George,’ said Dick, who had been very much impressed by the boy’s handling of the hares, the rabbits and the magpie. ‘That boy must have a wonderful love for animals. They would never come to him as they did, if they didn’t trust him absolutely. Anyone who loves animals as he does must be pretty decent.’
‘I bet I could make them come to me if I had that pipe,’ said George, making up her mind to borrow it if she could.
Anne went back into the cottage. She was delighted with it. ‘It must be very very old,’ she thought. ‘It stands dreaming here all day long, full of memories of the people who have lived here and loved it. And how they must all have loved this view - miles and miles of heather, great stretches of sea - and the biggest, highest, widest sky I’ve ever seen. It’s a happy place. Even the clouds seem happy - they’re scurrying along, so white against the blue!’
She explored the cottage thoroughly. She decided that the room above, under the thatch, should be for the three boys. There were two mattresses - one small, one larger. ‘The little one for Wilfrid - the big one for Dick and Julian,’ she thought. ‘And I and George can sleep down in the living-room, with Tim on guard. I wonder if there are any rugs we could sleep on. Ah - wait a bit - this couch is a pull-out bed - just right for us two girls! Good!’
Anne enjoyed herself thoroughly. This was the kind of problem she liked - fixing up this and that for the others! She found a little larder, facing north. It had a few tins in it, and a jug of milk, slightly sour. It also had two loaves of extremely stale bread, and a tin of rather hard cakes.
‘Mrs Layman doesn’t seem to be a very good housekeeper for herself and Wilfrid,’ thought Anne, seriously. ‘We’ll have to go down to the village and put in a stock of decent food. I might get a small ham - the boys would like that. Goodness - this is going to be fun!’
Julian came to the door to see what she was doing. When he saw her happy, serious face, he chuckled. ‘Acting “mother” to us, as usual?’ he said. ‘Deciding who’s going to sleep where, and which of us is to do the shopping, and which the washing-up? Dear old Anne - what should we do without you when we go off on our own?’
‘I love it,’ said Anne, happily. ‘Julian, we need another rug or two, and a pillow, and some food. And...’
‘Well, we’ll have to go back home and collect a few clothes and other things,’ said Julian. ‘We can shop on the way back, and get whatever we want. I wonder if that woman that Mrs Layman spoke about will be coming in to help?’
‘Well - Wilfrid said he sent her off,’ said Anne. ‘And I think perhaps as the cottage is so small, it might be better if we managed it ourselves. I think I could do a bit of cooking on that oil-stove in the corner - and anyway we can pretty well live on cold stuff, you know - ham and salad and potted meat and fruit. It would be easy enough for any of us to pop down to the village on our bikes, to fetch anything we needed.’