Five On Kirrin Island Again Chapter Four WHERE IS UNCLE QUENTIN?（在线收听）

Chapter Four WHERE IS UNCLE QUENTIN?

The four of them, with Timmy nosing round their legs, stood staring down at the big stone that hid the entrance to the dungeons. Julian was perfectly right. The stone could not have been lifted for  months,  because  weeds  had  grown  closely  round  the  edges,  sending  their  small  roots  into every crack.

'No one is down there,' said Julian. 'We need not even bother to pull up the stone and go down to see. If it had been lifted lately, those weeds would have been torn up as it was raised.'

'And anyway, we know that no one can get out of the dungeon once the entrance stone is closing it,'  said  Dick.  'It's  too  heavy.  Uncle  Quentin  wouldn't  be  silly  enough  to  shut  himself  in!  He'd leave it open.'

'Of course he would,' said Anne. 'Well - he's not there, then. He must be somewhere else.'

'But  where?'  said  George.  'This  is  only  a  small  island,  and  we  know  every  corner  of  it.  Oh  -

would he be in that cave we hid in once? The only cave on the island.'

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'Oh  yes  he  might  be,'  said  Julian.  'But  I  doubt  it.  I  can't  see  Uncle  Quentin  dropping  down through the hole in the cave's roof - and that's the only way of getting into it unless you're going to clamber and slide about the rocks on the shore for ages. I can't see him doing that, either.'

They made their way beyond the castle to the other side of the island. Here there was a cave they had once lived in. It could be entered with difficulty on the seaward side, as Julian had said, by clambering over slippery rocks, or it could be entered by dropping down a rope through a hole in the roof to the floor some way below.

They found the hole, half hidden in old heather. Julian felt about. The rope was still there.

'I'll slide down and have a look,' he said.

He went down the rope. It was knotted at intervals, so that his feet found holding-places and he did not slide down too quickly and scorch his hands.

He was  soon  in  the cave. A dim light  came in  from  the seaward side. Julian took  a quick look round. There was absolutely nothing there at all, except for an old box that they must have left behind when they were last here themselves.

He  climbed  up  the  rope  again,  his  head  appearing  suddenly  out  of  the  hole.  Dick  gave  him  a helping hand.

'Well?' he said. 'Any sign of Uncle Quentin?'

'No,'  said  Julian.  'He's  not  there,  and  hasn't  been  there  either,  I  should  think.  It's  a  mystery!

Where is he, and if he's really doing important work where is all his stuff? I mean, we know that plenty of stuff was brought here, because Aunt Fanny told us so.'

'Do you think he's in the tower?' said Anne, suddenly. 'He might be in that glass room at the top.'

'Well, he'd see us at once, if he were!' said Julian, scornfully. 'And hear our yells too! Still, we might as well have a look.'

So back to the castle they went and walked to the queer tower. Their aunt saw them and called to them. 'Your lunch is ready. Come and have it. Your uncle will turn up, I expect.'

'But  Aunt  Fanny,  where  is  he?'  said  Anne,  with  a  puzzled  face.  'We've  looked  simply everywhere!'

Her aunt did not know the island as well as the children did. She imagined that there were plenty of places to shelter in, or to work in. 'Never mind,' she said, looking quite undisturbed. 'He'll turn up later. You come along and have your meal.'

'We think we'll go up the tower,' said Julian. 'Just in case he's up there working.'

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The  four  children  and  Timmy  went  to  where  the  tower  rose  up  from  the  castle  yard.  They  ran their hands over the smooth, shining sections, which were fitted together in curving rows.

'What's this stuff it's built of?' said Dick.

'Some kind of new plastic material, I should think,' said Julian. 'Very light and strong, and easily put together.'

'I should be afraid it would blow down in a gale,' said George.

'Yes, so should I,' said Dick. 'Look -- here is the door.'

The  door  was  small,  and  rounded  at  the  top.  A  key  was  in  the  keyhole.  Julian  turned  it  and unlocked the door. It opened outwards not inwards. Julian put his head inside and looked round.

There was not much room in the tower. A spiral staircase, made of the same shiny stuff as the tower itself, wound up and up and up. There was a space at one side of it, into which projected curious hook-like objects made of what looked like steel. Wire ran from one to the other.

'Yes. It's lovely,' said Anne. 'But - where is Uncle Quentin? We still haven't found him. I suppose he is on the island.'

'Well, his boat was pulled up in the cove,' said George. 'We saw it.'

'Then he must be here somewhere.' said Dick. 'But he's not in the castle, he's not in the dungeons, he's not in the cave and he's not up here. It's a first-class mystery.'

'The Missing Uncle. Where is he?' said Julian. 'Look, there's poor Aunt Fanny still down there, waiting with the lunch. We'd better go down. She's signaling to us.'

'I should like to,' said Anne. 'It's an awful squash in this tiny glass room. I say - did you feel the tower  sway  then,  when  that  gust  of  wind  shook  it?  I'm  going  down  quickly,  before  the  whole thing blows over!'

She began to go down the spiral stairs, holding on to a little hand-rail that ran down beside them.

The stairs were so steep that she was afraid of falling. She nearly did fall when Timmy pushed his way past her, and disappeared below her at a remarkably fast pace.

Soon they were all down at the bottom. Julian locked the door again. 'Not much good locking a door if you leave the key in,' he said. 'Still - I'd better.'

They  walked over to  Aunt  Fanny.  'Well,  I thought  you were never  coming!' she said.  'Did  you see anything interesting up there?'

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'Only a lovely view,' said Anne. 'Simply magnificent. But we didn't find Uncle Quentin. It's very mysterious,  Aunt  Fanny  -  we  really  have  looked  everywhere  on  the  island  -  but  he's  just  not here.'

'And yet his boat is in the cove,' said Dick. 'So he can't have gone.'

'Yes, it does sound queer,' said Aunt Fanny, handing round the sandwiches. 'But you don't know your uncle as well as I do. He always turns up all right. He's forgotten I was bringing you, or he would  be  here.  As  it  is,  we  may  not  see  him,  if  he's  quite  forgotten  about  your  coming.  If  he remembers, he'll suddenly turn up.'

'But  where  from?'  asked  Dick,  munching  a  potted  meat  sandwich.  'He's  done  a  jolly  good disappearing trick, Aunt Fanny.'

'Well,  you'll  see  where  he  comes  from,  I've  no  doubt,  when  he  arrives,'  said  Aunt  Fanny.

'Another sandwich, George? No, not you, Timmy. You've had three already. Oh George, do keep Timmy's head out of that plate.'

'He's hungry too, Mother,' said George.

'Well, I've brought dog-biscuits for him,' said her mother.

'Oh, Mother! As if Timmy would eat dog biscuits when he can have sandwiches,' said George.

'He only eats dog biscuits when there's absolutely nothing else and he's so ravenous he can't help eating them.'

They  sat  in  the  warm  April  sunshine,  eating  hungrily.  There  was  orangeade  to  drink,  cool  and delicious. Timmy wandered over to a rock-pool he knew, where rain-water collected, and could be heard lapping there.

'Hasn't  he  got  a  good  memory?'  said  George  proudly.  'It's  ages  since  he  was  here  -  and  yet  he remembered that pool at once, when he felt thirsty.'

'It's funny Timmy hasn't found Uncle Quentin, isn't it?' said Dick, suddenly. 'I mean -- when we were  hunting  for  him,  and  got  "Warm"  you'd  think  Timmy  would  bark  or  scrape  about  or something. But he didn't.'

'I think it's jolly funny that Father can't be found anywhere,' said George. 'I do really. I can't think how you can take it so calmly, Mother.'

'Well, dear, as I said before, I know your father better than you do,' said her mother. 'He'll turn up in  his  own  good  time.  Why,  I  remember  once  when  he  was  doing  some  sort  of  work  in  the 18

stalactite  caves  at  Cheddar,  he  disappeared  in  them  for  over  a  week  -  but  he  wandered  out  all right when he had finished his experiments.'

'It's very queer,' began Anne, and then stopped suddenly. A curious noise came to their ears - a rumbling,  grumbling,  angry  noise,  like  a  giant  hidden  dog,  growling  in  fury.  Then  there  was  a hissing noise from the tower, and all the wires that waved at the top were suddenly lit up as if by lightning.

'There now I knew your father was somewhere about,' said George's mother. 'I heard that noise when I was here before -- but I couldn't make out where it came from.'

'Where did it come from?' said Dick. 'It sounded almost as if it was underneath us, but it couldn't have been. Gracious, this is most mysterious.'

No more noises came. They  each helped themselves  to  buns  with  jam in  the middle. And then Anne gave a squeal that made them all jump violently.

'Look! There's Uncle Quentin! Standing over there, near the tower. He's watching the jackdaws!

Wherever did he come from?'