Five On Kirrin Island Again Chapter Five A MYSTERY（在线收听）

Chapter Five A MYSTERY

EVERYONE stared at Uncle Quentin. There he was, intently watching the jackdaws, his hands in his trousers pockets. He hadn't seen the children or his wife.

Timmy leapt to his feet, and gamboled over to George's father. He barked loudly. Uncle Quentin jumped and turned round. He saw Timmy - and then he saw all the others, staring at him in real astonishment.

Uncle Quentin did not look particularly pleased to see anyone. He walked slowly over to them, a slight frown on his face. 'This is a surprise,' he said. 'I had no idea you were all coming today.'

'Oh  Quentin!'  said  his  wife,  reproachfully.  'I  wrote  it  down  for  you  in  your  diary.  You  know  I did.'

'Did  you?  Well,  I  haven't  looked  at  my  diary  since,  so  it's  no  wonder  I  forgot,'  said  Uncle Quentin, a little peevishly. He kissed his wife, George and Anne, and shook hands with the boys.

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'Uncle  Quentin  -  where  did  you  come  from?'  asked  Dick,  who  was  eaten  up  with  curiosity.

'We've looked for you for ages.'

'Oh, I was in my workroom,' said Uncle Quentin, vaguely.

'Well,  but  where's  that?'  demanded  Dick.  'Honestly,  Uncle,  we  can't  imagine  where  you  hide yourself. We even went up the tower to see if you were in that funny glass room at the top.'

'What!'  exploded  his  uncle,  in  a  sudden  surprising  fury.  'You  dared  to  go  up  there?  You might have  been  in  great  danger.  I've  just  finished  an  experiment,  and  all  those  wires  in  there  were connected with it.'

'Yes, we saw them acting a bit queerly,' said Julian.

'You've no business to come over here, and interfere with my work,' said his uncle, still looking furious. 'How did you get into that tower? I locked it.'

'Yes, it was locked all right,' said Julian. 'But you left the key in, you see, Uncle - so I thought it wouldn't matter if...'

'Oh, that's where the key is, is it?' said his uncle. 'I thought I'd lost it. Well, don't you ever go into that tower again. I tell you, it's dangerous.'

'Uncle  Quentin,  you  haven't  told  us  yet  where  your  workroom  is,'  said  Dick,  who  was  quite determined to know. 'We can't imagine 'where you suddenly came from.'

'I told them you would turn up, Quentin,' said his wife. 'You look a bit thin, dear. Have you been having regular meals. You know, I left you plenty of good soup to heat up.'

'Did  you?' said her husband. 'Well, I don't know if I've had it or not. I  don't worry about meals when I'm working. I'll have some of those sandwiches now, though, if nobody else wants them.'

He  began  to  devour  the  sandwiches,  one  after  another  as  if  he  was  ravenous.  Aunt  Fanny watched him in distress

'Oh Quentin - you're starving. I shall come over here and stay and look after you!'

Her husband looked alarmed. 'Oh no! Nobody is to come here. I can't have my work interfered with. I'm working on an extremely important discovery.'

'Is  it  a  discovery  that  nobody  else  knows  about?'  asked  Anne,  her  eyes  wide  with  admiration.

How clever Uncle Quentin was!

'Well - I'm not sure about that,' said Uncle Quentin, taking two sandwiches at once. 'That's partly why  I  came over here  -  besides the  fact that  I  wanted water  round me and above me.  I  have a feeling that somebody knows a bit more than I want them to know. But there's one thing  - they 20

can't  come here unless they're shown the way  through all those rocks that  lie round the island.

Only a few of the fishermen know that, and they've been given orders not to bring anyone here at all. I think you're the only other person that knows the way, George.'

'Uncle Quentin - please do tell us where your workroom is,' begged Dick, feeling that he could not wait a single moment more to solve the mystery.

'Don't keep bothering your uncle,' said his aunt, annoyingly. 'Let him eat his lunch. He can't have had anything forages!'

'Yes, but Aunt Fanny, I' began Dick, and was interrupted by his uncle.

'You obey your aunt, young man. I don't want to be pestered by any of you. What does it matter where I work?'

'Oh, it doesn't really matter a bit, sir,' said Dick, hurriedly. 'It's only that I'm awfully curious to know. You see, we looked for you simply everywhere.'

'Well, you're not quite so clever as you thought you were then,' said Uncle Quentin, and reached for a jammy bun. 'George, take this dog of  yours away from me. He keeps breathing down my neck, hoping I shall give him a tit-bit. I don't approve of tit-bits at meal-times.'

George  pulled  Timmy  away.  Her  mother  watched  her  father  gobbling  up  the  rest  of  the  food.

Most of the sandwiches  she had saved for tea-time had gone already. Poor Quentin! How very hungry he must be.

'Quentin, you don't think there's any danger for you here, do you?' she said.  'I mean - you don't think anyone would try to come spying on you, as they did once before?'

'No.  How  could  they?'  said  her  husband.  'No  plane  can  land  on  this  island.  No  boat  can  get through the rocks unless the way through is known, and the sea's too rough round the rocks for any swimmer.'

'Julian, see if  you can make him promise to signal to me night and morning,' said Aunt Fanny, turning to her nephew. 'I feel worried about him somehow.'

Julian tackled his uncle manfully. 'Uncle, it wouldn't be too much of a bother to you to signal to Aunt Fanny twice a day, would it?'

'If you don't, Quentin, I shall come over every single day to see you,' said his wife.

'And  we  might  come  too,'  said  Anne,  mischievously.  Her  uncle  looked  most  dismayed  at  the idea.

'Well, I could signal in the morning and in the evening when I go up to the top of the tower,' he 21

said. 'I have to go up once every twelve hours to re-adjust the wires. I'll signal then. Half past ten in the morning, and half past ten at night.'

'How will you signal?' asked Julian. 'Will you flash with a mirror in the morning?'

'Yes  -  that  would  be  quite  a  good  idea,'  said  his  uncle.  'I  could  do  that  easily.  And  I'll  use  a lantern  at  night.  I'll  shine  it  out  six  times  at  half  past  ten.  Then  perhaps  you'll  all  know  I'm  all right and will leave me alone! But don't look for the signal tonight. I'll start tomorrow morning.'

'Oh Quentin dear, you do sound cross,' said his wile. 'I don't like you being all-alone here, that's all. You look thin and tired. I'm sure you're not...'

Uncle  Quentin  put  on  a  scowl  exactly  like  George  sometimes  put  on.  He  looked  at  his wristwatch. 'Well,' I must go,' he said. 'Time to get to work again. I'll see you to your boat.'

'We're going to stay to tea here, Father,' said George.

'No, I'd rather you didn't' said her father getting up. 'Come on -- I'll take you to your boat.'

'But Father - I haven't been on my island for ages!' said George, indignantly. 'I want to stay here a bit longer. I don't see why I shouldn't.'

'Well, I've had enough interruption to my work,' said her father. 'I want to get on.'

'We shan't disturb you, Uncle Quentin,' said Dick, who was still terribly curious to know where his uncle had his workroom. Why wouldn't he tell them? Was he just being annoying? Or didn't he want them to know?

Uncle Quentin led them all firmly towards the little cove. It was plain that he meant them to go and to go quickly.

'When shall we come over and see you again, Quentin?' asked his wife.

'Not till I say so,' said her husband. 'It won't take me long now to finish what I'm on. My word, that dog's got a rabbit at last!'

'Oh Timmy!' yelled George, in distress.

Timmy dropped the rabbit he had actually managed to grab. It scampered away unhurt. Timmy came to his mistress looking very sheepish.

'You're a very bad dog. Just because I took my eye off  you for half a second! No, it's no good licking my hand like that. I'm cross.'

They all came to the boat. 'I'll push her off,' said Julian. 'Get in, all of you. Well, good-bye, Uncle Quentin. I hope your work goes well.'

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Everyone  got  into  the  boat.  Timmy  tried  to  put  his  head  on  George's  knee,  but  she  pushed  it away.

'Oh, be kind to him and forgive him,' begged Anne.

'He looks as if he's going to cry.' 'Are you ready?' cried Julian. 'Got the oars, George? Dick, take the  other  pair."  He  shoved  the  boat  off  and  leapt  in  himself.  He  cupped  his  hands  round  his mouth. 'Don't forget to signal, sir! We'll be watching out morning and evening!'

'And if you forget, I shall come over the very next day!' called his wife.

The  boat  slid  away  down  the  little  inlet  of  water,  and  Uncle  Quentin  was  lost  to  sight.  Then round the low wall of rocks went the boat, and was soon on the open sea.

'Ju, watch and see if you can make out where Uncle Quentin is, when we're round these rocks,'

said Dick. 'See what direction he goes in.'

Julian tried to  see his  uncle, but  the  rocks just there hid  the cove from sight,  and there was no sign of him at all.

'Why didn't he want us to stay? Because he didn't want us to know his hiding-place!' said Dick.

'And why doesn't he want us to know? Because it's somewhere we don't know, either!'

'But I thought we knew every single corner of my island,' said George. 'I think it's mean of Father not to tell me, if it's somewhere I don't know. I can't think where it can be!'

Timmy  put  his  head  on  her  knee  again.  George  was  so  absorbed  in  trying  to  think  where  her father's  hiding-place  could  be  that  she  absent-mindedly  stroked  Timmy's  head.  He  was  almost beside himself with delight. He licked her knees lovingly.

'Oh Timmy - I didn't mean to pet you for ages,' said George. 'Stop licking my knees. You make them feel wet and horrid. Dick, it's very mysterious, isn't it - where can Father be hiding?'

'I can't imagine,' said Dick. He looked back at the island. A cloud of jackdaws rose up into the air calling loudly, 'Chack, chack, chack!' The boy watched them. What had disturbed them? Was it Uncle Quentin? Perhaps his hiding-place was somewhere about that old tower then; the one the jackdaws nested in? On the other hand, the jackdaws often rose into the air together for no reason at all.

'Those jackdaws are making a bit of fuss,' he said. 'Perhaps Uncle's hiding-place is not far from where they roost together, by that tower.'

'Can't be,' said Julian. 'We went all round there today.'

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'Well, it's a mystery,' said George, gloomily, 'and I think it's horrible having a mystery about my very own island - and to be forbidden to go to it, and solve it. It's really too bad!'