Five On Kirrin Island Again Chapter Three OFF TO KIRRIN ISLAND（在线收听）

Chapter Three OFF TO KIRRIN ISLAND

NEXT day was fine and warm.

'We can go across to the island this morning,' said Aunt Fanny. 'We'll take our own food, because I'm sure Uncle Quentin will have forgotten we're coming.'

10

'Has he a boat there!' asked George. 'Mother – He hasn't taken my boat, has he?'

'No, dear,' said her mother. 'He's got another boat. I was afraid he would never be able to get it in and  out  of  all  those  dangerous  rocks  round  the  island,  but  he  got  one  of  the  fishermen  to  take him, and had his own boat towed behind, with all its stuff in.'

'Who built the tower?' asked Julian.

'Oh,  he  made  out  the  plans  himself,  and  some  men  were  sent  down  from  the  Ministry  of Research to put the tower up for him,' said Aunt Fanny. 'It was all rather hush-hush really. The people here were most curious about it, but they don't know any more than I do! No local man helped in the building, but one or two fishermen were hired to take the material to the island, and to land the men and soon.'

'It's all very mysterious,' said Julian. 'Uncle Quentin leads rather an exciting life, really, doesn't he? I wouldn't mind being a scientist myself.  I want to be something really worthwhile when I grow up. I'm not just going into somebody's office. I'm going to be on my own.'

'I think I shall be a doctor,' said Dick.

'Off to get my boat,' said George, rather bored with this talk. She knew what she was going to do when she was grown-up - live on Kirrin Island with Timmy!

Aunt  Fanny  had  got  ready  plenty  of  food  to  take  across  to  the  island.  She  was  quite  looking forward to the trip. She had not seen her husband for some days and was anxious to know that he was all right.

They all went down to the beach, Julian carrying the bag of food. George was already there with her  boat.  James,  a  fisher-boy  friend  of  George's,  was  there  too,  ready  to  push  the  boat  out  for them.

He grinned at the children. He knew them all the old days he had looked after Timmy for George when  her  father  had  said  the  dog  must  be  given  away.  George  had  never  forgotten  James's kindness to Timmy, and always went to see him every holidays.

'Going off to the island?' said James. 'That's a queer sort of thing in the middle of it, isn't it? Kind of lighthouse, it looks. Take my hand, Miss, and let me help you in.'

Anne took his hand and jumped into the boat. George was already there with Timmy. Soon they were all in. Julian and George took the oars. James gave them a shove and off they went on the calm, clear water. Anne could see every stone on the bottom! Julian and George rowed strongly.

11

They sent the boat along swiftly. George began to sing a rowing song and they all took it up. It was lovely to be on the sea in a boat again. Oh holidays, go slowly, don't rush away too fast!

'George,' said her mother nervously  -  'you will be careful of these awful rocks, won't  you? The water's so clear today that I can see them all - and some of them are only just below the water.'

'Oh  Mother!  You  know  I've  rowed  hundreds  of  times  to  Kirrin  Island!'  -  laughed  George.  'I simply  couldn't  go on a  rock!  I know them all, really  I do.  I could  almost  row blindfold to  the island now.'

There was  only one place to  land on the island in  safety. This  was a little cove,  a natural  little harbour  running  up  to  a  stretch  of  sand.  It  was  sheltered  by  high  rocks  all  round.  George  and Julian worked their way to  the east  side of the island, rounded a low wall of very sharp  rocks, and there lay the cove, a smooth inlet of water running into the shore! Anne had been looking at the island as the others rowed. There was the old ruined Kirrin Castle in the center, just the same as ever. Its tumbledown towers were full of jackdaws as usual. Its old walls were gripped by ivy.

'It's  a lovely place!' said Anne, with  a sigh. Then she  gazed at  the  curious  tower that now  rose from the centre of the castle yard. It was not built of brick but of some smooth, shiny material, that  was  fitted  together  in  sections.  Evidently  the  tower  had  been  made  in  that  way  so  that  it might be brought to the island easily, and set up there quickly.

'Isn't  it  queer?'  said  Dick.  'Look  at  that  little  glass  room  at  the  top  -  like  a  look-out  room!  I wonder  what  it's  for?'  'Can  anyone  climb  up  inside  the  tower?'  asked  Dick,  turning  to  Aunt Fanny.

'Oh  yes. There is  a narrow spiral staircase inside,' said his aunt.  'That's  about all there is inside the  tower  itself.  It's  the  little  room  at  the  top  that  is  important.  It  has  got  some  extraordinary wiring there, essential to your uncle's experiments. I don't think he does anything with the tower

-  it  just  has  to  be  there,  doing  something  on  its  own,  which  has  a  certain  effect  on  the experiments he is making.'

Anne couldn't follow this. It sounded too complicated. 'I should like to go up the tower,' she said.

'Well, perhaps your uncle will let you,' said her aunt.

'If he's in a good temper,' said George.

'Now George - you're not to say things like that,' said her mother.

The boat ran into the little harbour, and grounded softly. There was another boat there already -

Uncle Quentin's.

12

George leapt out with Julian and they pulled it up a little further, so that the others could get out without wetting their feet. Out they all got, and Timmy ran up the beach in delight.

'Now, Timmy!' said George, warningly, and Timmy turned a despairing eye on his mistress.

Surely she wasn't going to stop him looking to see if there were any rabbits? Only just looking!

What harm was there in that?

Ah  -  there  was  a  rabbit!  And  another  and  another!  They  sat  all  about,  looking  at  the  little company  coming  up  from  the  shore.  They  flicked  their  ears  and  twitched  their  noses,  keeping quite still.

'Oh, they're as tame as ever!' said Anne in delight. 'Aunty Fanny, aren't they lovely? Do look at the baby one over there. He's washing his face!'

They  stopped  to  look  at  the  rabbits.  They  really  were  astonishingly  tame.  But  then  very  few people came to Kirrin Island, and the rabbits multiplied in peace, running about where they liked, quite unafraid.

'Oh, that one is began Dick, but then the picture was spoilt. Timmy, quite unable to do nothing but look, had suddenly lost his self-control and was bounding on the surprised rabbits. In a trice nothing could be seen but white bobtails flashing up and down as rabbit after rabbit rushed to its burrow.

'Timmy!'  called  George,  crossly,  and  poor  Timmy  put  his  tail  down;  looking  round  at  George miserably.

'What!' he seemed to say. 'Not even a scamper after the rabbits? What a hard-hearted mistress!'

'Where's Uncle Quentin?' asked Anne, as they walked to the great broken archway that was the entrance to the old castle. Behind it were the stone steps that led towards the centre. They were broken and irregular now. Aunt Fanny went  across  them carefully, afraid of stumbling, but the children; who were wearing rubber shoes, ran over them quickly.

They passed through a ruined doorway into what looked like a great yard. Once there had been a stone-paved floor, but now most of it was covered by sand, and by close-growing weeds or grass.

The castle had had two towers. One was almost a complete ruin. The other was in better shape.

Jackdaws circled round it, and flew above the children's heads, crying 'chack, chack, chack'.

'I  suppose  your  father  lives  in  the  little  old  room  with  the  two  slit-like  windows,'  said  Dick  to George. 'That's the only place in the castle that would give him any shelter. Everywhere else is in ruins except that one room. Do you remember we once spent a night there?'

13

'Yes,' said George. 'It was fun. I suppose that's where Father lives. There's nowhere else - unless he's down in the dungeons!'

'Oh, no one would live in the dungeons surely, unless they simply had to!' said Julian. 'They're so dark and cold. Where is your father, George? I can't see him anywhere.'

'Mother,  where  would  Father  be?'  asked  George.  'Where's  his  workshop  --  in  that  old  room there?' She pointed to  the  dark, stone-walled, stone-roofed room, which  was  really all that was left of the part in which people had long ago lived. It jutted out from what had once been the wall of the castle.

'Well, really, I don't exactly know,' said her mother. 'I suppose he works over there. He's always met me down at the cove, and we've just sat on the sand and had a picnic and talked. He didn't seem to want me to poke round much.'

'Let's  call him,' said  Dick. So they shouted loudly.  'Uncle QUEN-tin! Uncle QUEN-tin! Where are you?'

The jackdaws flew up in fright, and a few gulls, who had been sitting on part of the ruined wall, joined in the noise, crying 'ee-oo, ee-oo, ee-oo' over and over again. Every rabbit disappeared in a trice. No Uncle Quentin appeared. They shouted again.

'UNCLE QUENTIN! WHERE ARE YOU?'

'What a noise!' said Aunt Fanny, covering her ears. 'I should think that Joanna must have heard that at home. Oh dear - where is your uncle? This is most annoying of him. I told him I'd bring you across today.'

'Oh well - he must be somewhere about,' said Julian, cheerfully. 'If Mahomet won't come to the mountain,  then  the  mountain  must  go  to  Mahomet.  I  expect  he's  deep  in  some  book  or  other.

We'll hunt for him.'

'We'll look in that little dark room,' said Anne. So they all went through the stone doorway, and found themselves in a little dark room, lit only by two slits of windows. At one end was a space, or recess, where a fireplace had once been, going back into the thick stone wall.

'He's not here' said Julian in surprise. 'And what's more - there's nothing here at all! No food, no clothes, no books, no stores of any sort. This is not his workroom, nor even his store!'

'Then  he  must  be  down  in  the  dungeons,'  said  Dick.  'Perhaps  it's  necessary  to  his  work  to  be underground -  and with  water all round! Let's go and find the entrance. We know where it is  -

not far from the old well in the middle of the yard.'

14

'Yes. He must be down in the dungeons. Mustn't he, Aunt Fanny?' said Anne. 'Are you coming down?'

'Oh no,' said  her aunt.  'I can't bear those dungeons.  I'll sit out  here in  the sun,  in  this  sheltered corner, and unpack the sandwiches. It's almost lunch-time.'

'Oh good,' said everyone. They went towards the dungeon entrance. They expected to see the big flat  stone  that  covered  the  entrance,  standing  upright,  so  that  they  might  go  down  the  steps underground.

But the stone was lying flat. Julian was just about to pull on the iron ring to lift it up when he noticed something peculiar

'Look,' he said. 'There are weeds growing round the edges of the stone. Nobody has lifted it for a long time. Uncle Quentin isn't down in the dungeons!' 'Then where is he?' said Dick. 'Wherever can he be?'