"Blyton, Enid - The Five Find-Outers 15 - The Mystery of Banshee Towers 1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

Just before ten o'clock there came knockings on the door of Fatty's workroom. He had lighted the stove, and had set out a variety of biscuits. As Fatty said, "It's so much _easier_ to talk when you've got something to eat as well!"

In came Larry, Daisy, Pip and Bets, looking eager and excited. Buster and Bingo gave them a most uproarious greeting, and upset the plate of biscuits.

"Now listen, you two dogs." said Fatty, sternly, "I don't know which of you had the bright idea of upsetting biscuits all over the floor, but I tell you this - not _one_ biscuit do you have till we've finished our Meeting. I know dogs consider it clever to upset plates of biscuits and cats think it is smart to upset milk, so that they can help themselves but I'm just a bit smarter than you are, see? SIT!"

The dogs sat, eyeing the biscuits mournfully. Bets felt sorry for them and patted them. "Do begin the Meeting, Fatty," she said. "We're LONGING to hear about this new Mystery. Is it _really_ one?"

"Well, that's what we're going to decide," said Fatty. "If it is, we must make our plans to solve it. If it isn't, we just don't bother any more. Now, listen to what Ern discovered yesterday when we went up to Banshee Towers. Ern, would you like to take over - and tell what happened?"

"Oh, no thanks, Fatty," said Ern, uneasily. "You're the one to talk. There's nobody talks like you. I could listen for ages. My uncle, Mr Goon always said you had the gift of the gab and he's right. You could talk the hind leg off a donkey, you could, or the tail off a horse, or the..."

"Well, really, Ern - anyone would think _you_ had the gift of the gab," said Larry, surprised. "Do go on!"

"No," said Ern, and subsided. So Fatty took over, and began the tale of Ern's strange discovery.

"Ern went to look at that big sea-picture that he and Bets liked so much," he said. "Do you remember it, Bets?"

"Oh _yes_ - every bit of it. It was lovely!" said Bets.

"Well, describe it," said Fatty. "And don't leave even the smallest detail out, Bets. It's important."

"It was a picture of a stormy sea, with waves lashing against a very high cliff," said Bets. "The sky was blue in parts, and white in others. It was so full of spray that it almost made me feel wet."

"Anything else?" asked Fatty.

"Well no - except that there was a tiny red boat bobbing on a wave." said Bets. "When I saw that I suddenly realized how enormous the cliff was, and I thought the artist must have put it there on purpose - to make the cliff grander and the sea more - well, more magnificent, you know."

"Bets - that's just what we wanted you to remember - the _boat_," said Fatty, "because the boat is the only clue we have. That little boat is no longer in the picture. It's gone. It isn't there!"

There was an astonished silence. "Well, what's happened to it?" said Pip. at last. "Did some artist there wash it out - or paint over it? Perhaps he didn't like it?"

"No, he didn't wash it out, it seems," said Fatty. "There are _no_ marks and _no_ erasures. Now - isn't that a peculiar little Mystery?"

"It's impossible!" said Pip. "Perhaps Bets and Ern are mistaken - the little boat must have been in another of the sea-pictures. After all, there are masses of them up in that big hall."

"Yes. _That's_ the solution!" said Larry. "It's obvious! Ern's mistaking one picture for another. There must be _another_ picture there, with the little boat in it - there can't have been a boat in the one Ern thinks there was. Yes, I _know_ that Bets saw it as well - but she too may have seen it in a different picture, that's all. After all, she didn't go up with you and Ern yesterday. If she had, she would probably have pointed out that it was in a different picture, and even taken you to it."

"I tell you," said Ern, exasperated, "I tell you the boat was in THAT PARTICULAR PICTURE I SAW YESTERDAY AND THE DAY BEFORE. I ought to know! I stood in front of it for ages. I feel as if I could almost paint the same picture myself!"

"All right, Ern, calm down," said Fatty. "Now, Find-Outers, any ideas?"

"You're _sure_, Ern, that it's the same picture, and is in exactly the same place?" asked Daisy. "Same cliffs, same waves, same sky, same frame, everything?"

"Same everything," said Ern, rather sulkily. "Goodness knows I looked at it long enough. It's just the _boat_ that is missing - the little tiny boat."

"Well, I simply don't see any answer to this particular puzzle," said Fatty. "It's certainly a mystery - but rather a silly little mystery, with no rhyme or reason - just a sea-picture from which a very small red boat has gone. We must give it up."

"The smallest mystery we've ever had, and the only one impossible to solve - what a pity!" said Larry.