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

"The girls and Pip and Larry will send help for us," said Fatty. "What _I'd_ like to do is to get out of this room and wander round some of the upstairs rooms. I have a feeling we might find something interesting there!"

"That fellow locked the door. I heard him," said Ern.

"I know - but we _might_ be able to get to it, and unlock it from _this_ side," said Fatty. He walked unsteadily to the door and looked at the lock. Then he bent down and looked under the door. Ern watched him in interest. What was old Fatty up to now?

"I'm going to use an old trick - one I've used before, Ern," said Fatty. He went to the table and took a catalogue from the pile there. He tore out the middle pages, leaving only the stiff outer covers. These he took over to the door, knelt down again and pushed them flat underneath it, so that the greater part of the covers was on the other side of the door.

Then he stood up, and, with the end of his penknife blade, jiggled the key in the lock until it was in a position for him to give it a push, and send it out on the other side of the door! The key promptly fell out - and there was a little thud as it landed on the floor at the bottom of the door. Buster and Bingo barked loudly. What was happening now?

"Good!" said Fatty, pulling at the piece of stiff cover showing under the door on his side. Carefully he pulled it towards him, oh so gently - and, as the stiff covers came under the door, _the key lying on them came too_! There it was at last, safely on their side of the door. "Now," said Fatty, "We can unlock the door from our side, and do a little exploring I Come on. Ern. Can you walk all right?"



15 - FATTY DOES A LITTLE DETECTIVE WORK!


Fatty picked up the key that he had so carefully pulled under the bottom of the door. "Hope I can turn it!" he said, making a face as he put the key in the lock. "My wrist feels as if it hasn't even the strength to turn a key if the lock is stiff!"

But the key turned easily! Fatty opened the door and peered out cautiously into the Picture Hall. He knew that he had seen the car and the van go off but he didn't want to run into anyone who might still be in the place.

All was quiet. Buster and Bingo, very much on guard, stood close by the boys, ready to growl and fly at anyone who might be going to hurt them.

"There can't be anybody here now," said Fatty. "The dogs would be growling if there were. Hallo - look, there's a step-ladder over there - and a tin of something, with a brush in it. Looks as if somebody's been up to something. You remember we heard a ladder being pulled across the floor, Ern - and the slapping of a brush?"

They were puzzled when they came to the tin. They had expected it to be full of paint - but it wasn't! "It's some kind of gluey-paste," said Fatty, dipping his finger into the tin. "My word - don't get it on your clothes, Ern - it's about the strongest paste or glue I've ever felt. I just can't get it off my finger! Now - what on earth was it used for?"

They gazed at the two sea-pictures on each side of the tin. Nothing to help them there - but wait a minute! Fatty suddenly noticed a thin, shining streak of what looked like something sticky down the inner side of one of the frames. He touched it. It _was_ sticky!

He was very puzzled. Why had someone used glue of some kind - had the frame cracked, and needed a little glueing? Pictures weren't _glued_ into their frames - they were backed with board, and then the frames were neatly placed over them. Fatty gave up, putting the strange fact into a corner of his mind to consider later.

"Come on, Fatty - what are you dreaming about, standing there gazing down at that tin of glue, or whatever it is," said Ern, impatiently. "I want to get out of this place. So do the dogs!"

Bingo was whining. He didn't like Banshee Towers. He wanted to have a good long run and stretch his legs.

"All right, Bingo, old thing." said Fatty. "We'll soon be off and away. I just want to have a little look round - a 'snoop' is a better name, perhaps - and see if I can unearth a few of Mr Engler's queer little secrets!"

They went to a big staircase that had a very large board at the bottom with the words "PRIVATE. NO ENTRY."

Fatty took not the slightest notice of the big board, but went straight up the stairs. He went rather slowly, and so did Ern, for their ankles were still swollen and painful after the cruelly tight cords. The dogs raced up before them, barking.

They came to a big room. There was a large desk there, and a smaller one. Pictures and empty frames were stacked all over the place. There was a great pile of catalogues on the big desk, and a scattering of letters.

"Very interesting," said Fatty, turning over the canvases on which various pictures had been painted. "All sea-pictures, of course. Look here, Ern - remember this one?"

"Yes, it's a double of the one we saw in the frame by the tin of glue," he said. "Can't see any difference! That's a copy. I suppose. Done by that French artist. That's all he did, seems to me - sit there and copy somebody else's pictures! Funny - I should have thought a _real_ artist wouldn't want to copy."

"He might - if he were well paid, Ern," said Fatty. "Hallo - here's a pile of letters all neatly stacked together and tied with pink tape. Let's have a look and see who they're from!"

"Do you think you ought to look at other people's letters?" said Ern, uncomfortably.