Five On Kirrin Island Again Chapter Six UP ON THE CLIFF（在线收听）

Chapter Six UP ON THE CLIFF

THE next day was rainy. The four children put on their macintoshes and sou'-westers and went out  for  a  walk  with  Timmy.  They  never  minded  the  weather.  In  fact  Julian  said  that  he  really liked the feel of the wind and rain buffeting against his face.

'We forgot  that Uncle Quentin  couldn't  flash to  us if the weather  wasn't  sunny!' said  Dick.  'Do you suppose he'll find some way to signal instead?'

'No,' said  George.  'He just won't  bother.  He thinks we're  awful  fussers anyway,  I'm  sure. We'll have to watch at half past ten tonight to see if he signals.'

'I say! Shall I be able to stay up till then?' said Anne, pleased.

'I shouldn't think so,' said Dick. 'I expect Julian and I will stay up - but you kids will have to buzz off to bed!'

George gave him a punch. 'Don't call us "kids"! I'm almost as tall as you are now.'

'It's not much use waiting about till half past ten now to see if Uncle signals to us in any way, is it?' said Anne. 'Let's go up on the cliff - it'll be lovely and blowy. Timmy will like that. I love to see him racing along in the wind, with his ears blown back straight!'

'Woof,' said Timmy.

'He says he likes to see you with yours blown back too,' said Julian, gravely.

Anne gave a squeal of laughter. 'You really are an idiot, Ju! Come on - let's take the cliff-path!'

They went up the cliff. At the top it was very windy indeed. Anne's sou'-wester was blown to the back of her head. The rain stung their cheeks and made them gasp.

'I should think we must be about the only people out this morning!' gasped George.

'Well, you're wrong,' said Julian. 'There are two people coming towards us!'

So  there  were.  They  were  a  man  and  a  boy,  both  well  wrapped  up  in  macintoshes  and  sou'-

westers. Like the children, they too wore high rubber boots.

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The children took a look at them as they  passed. The man was tall and well built, with shaggy eyebrows and a determined mouth. The boy was about sixteen, also tall and well built. He was not a bad-looking boy, but he had rather a sullen expression.

'Good morning,' said the man, and nodded. 'Good morning,' chorused the children, politely. The man looked them over keenly, and then he and the boy went on.

'Wonder who they are?' said George. 'Mother didn't say there were any new people here.'

'Just walked over from the next village, I expect,' said Dick.

They  went  on  for  some  way.  'We'll  walk  to  the  coastguard's  cottage  and  then  go  back,'  said Julian. 'Hie, Tim, don't go so near the cliff!'

The  coastguard  lived  in  a  little  whitewashed  cottage  on  the  cliff,  facing  the  sea.  Two  other cottages stood beside it, also whitewashed. The children knew the coastguard well. He was a red-faced, barrel-shaped man, fond of joking.

He was nowhere to be seen when they came to his cottage. Then they heard his enormous voice singing a sea-shanty in the little shed behind. They went to find him.

'Hallo, coastguard,' said Anne.

He looked up and grinned at the children. He was busy making something.

'Halo  to  you!'  he  said.  'So  you're  back  again,  are  you?  Bad  pennies,  the  lot  of  you  --  always turning up when you're not wanted!'

'What are you making?' asked Anne.

'A  windmill  for  my  young  grandson,'  said  the  coastguard,  showing  it  to  Anne.  He  was  very clever at making toys

'Oh, it's lovely,' said Anne, taking it in her hands. 'Does the windmill part go round  -- oh yes --

it's super, coastguard!'

'I've  been  making  quite  a  bit  of  money  out  of  my  toys,'  said  the  old  fellow,  proudly.  'I've  got some new neighbours in  the next  cottage  - man  and a boy  -  and the man's been buying all the toys I make. Seems to have a lot of nephews and nieces! He gives me good prices too.'

'Oh - would that be the man and the boy we met, I wonder?' said Dick. 'Both tall, and well built -

and the man had shaggy eyebrows.'

'That's right,' said the coastguard, trimming a bit of his windmill. 'Mr. Curton and his son. They came here some weeks  ago. You ought  to  get  to know the son,  Master Julian. He's  about  your age, I should think. Must be pretty lonely for him up here?'

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'Doesn't he go to any school?' asked Julian.

'No. He's been ill, so his father said. Got to have plenty of sea-air and that sort of thing. Not a bad sort of boy. Comes and helps me with my toys sometimes. And he likes to mess about with my telescope.'

'I do too,' said George. 'I love looking through your telescope. Can I look through now? I'd like to see if I can spot Kirrin Island.'

'Well, you won't see much this weather,' said the coast guard. 'You wait a few minutes. See that break in the clouds? Well, it'll clear in a few minutes, and you'll be able to see your island easily.

That's a funny thing your father's built there, Miss. Part of his work, I suppose.'

'Yes,'  said  George.  'Oh  Timmy  -  look  what  he's  done,  coastguard  -  he's  upset  that  tin  of  paint.

Bad boy, Timmy!'

'It's not my tin,' said the coastguard. 'It's a tin belonging to that young fellow next door. I told you he comes in to help me sometimes. He brought in that tin to help paint a little dolls' house I made for his father.'

'Oh dear,' said George, in dismay. 'Do you think he'll be cross when he knows Timmy spilt it?'

'Shouldn't think so,' said the coastguard. 'He's a queer boy though  - quiet and a bit sulky. Not a bad boy, but doesn't seem very friendly like.'

George  tried  to  clear  up  the  mess  of  paint.  Timmy  had  some  on  his  paws,  and  made  a  little pattern of green paw-marks as he pattered about the shed.

'I'll tell the boy I'm sorry, if I meet him on the way back,' she said. 'Timmy, if you dare to go near any more tins of paint you shan't sleep on my bed tonight.'

'The  weather's  a  bit  clearer  now,'  said  Dick.  'Can  we  have  a  squint  through  the  telescope, coastguard?'

'Let me see my island first,' said George at once. She tilted the telescope in the direction of Kirrin Island. Slit looked through it earnestly, and a smile came over her face. 'Yes, I can see it clearly.

There's  the  tower  Father  has  had  built.  I  can  even  see  the  glass  room  quite  clearly,  and  there's nobody in it. No sign of Father anywhere.'

Everyone  had  a  turn  at  looking  through  the  telescope.  It  was  fascinating  to  see  the  island appearing so close. On a clear day it would be even easier to see all the details.

'I can see a rabbit scampering,' said Anne, when her turn came.

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'Don't  you let that dog of  yours squint  through the telescope then,' said  the coastguard  at  once.

'He'll try to get down it after that rabbit!' Timmy cocked his ears up at the mention of the word rabbit. He looked all round and sniffed. No, there was no rabbit. Then why did people mention them?

'We'd better go now,' said Julian. 'We'll be up here again sometime, and we'll come and see what toys you've done. Thanks for letting us look through the telescope.'

'You're  welcome!'  said  the  old  fellow.  'You're  not  likely  to  wear  it  out  through  looking!  Come along any time you want to use it.'

They said good-bye and went off, Timmy capering round them.

'Couldn't  we  see  Kirrin  Island  well!'  said  Anne.  'I  wished  I  could  see  where  your  father  was, George. Wouldn't it be fun if we spotted him just coming out of his hiding-place?'

The  four  children  had  discussed  this  problem  a  good  deal  since  they  had  left  the  island.  It puzzled them very much indeed. How did it happen that George's father knew a hiding-place that they  didn't  know?  Why,  they  had  been  over  every  inch  of  the  island!  It  must  be  quite  a  big hiding-place too, if he had got all his stuff for his experiments with him. According to George's mother, there had been quite a lot of this, to say nothing of stores of food.

'If Father knew a place I didn't know, and never told me about it, I think he's jolly mean,' George said half a dozen times. 'I do really. It's my island!'

'Well, he'll probably tell you when he's finished the work he's on,' said Julian. 'Then you'll know.

We can all go and explore it then, wherever it is.'

After they left the coastguard's cottage, they turned their steps home. They made their way along the cliff, and then saw the boy they had met before. He was standing on the path looking out to sea. The man was not with him.

He  turned  as  they  came  up  and  gave  them  a  pale  kind  of  smile.  'Hallo!  Been  up  to  see  the coastguard?'

'Yes,' said Julian. 'Nice old fellow, isn't he?'

'I say,' said George, 'I'm so sorry, but my dog upset a tin of green paint, and the coastguard said it was yours. Can I pay you for it, please?'

'Goodness, no!' said the boy. 'I don't mind. There wasn't much of it left anyway. That's a nice dog of yours.'

27 'Yes, he is,' said George, warmly. 'Best dog in the world. I've had him for years, but he's still as young as ever. Do you like dogs?'

'Oh yes,' said the boy, but he made no move to pat Timmy or fuss him, as most people did. And Timmy did not run round the boy and sniff at him as he usually did when he met anyone new. He just stood by George, his tail neither up nor down.

'That's an interesting little island,' said the boy, pointing to Kirrin. 'I wish I could go there.'

'It's my island,' said George, proudly. 'My very own.'

'Really?' said the boy, politely. 'Could you let me go over one day then?'

'Well - not just at present,' said George. 'You see, my father's there working - he's a scientist.'

'Really?' said the boy again. 'Er - has he got some new experiment on hand, then?'

'Yes,' said George.

'Ah - and that queer tower is something to do with it, I suppose,' said the boy, looking interested for the first time. 'When will his experiment be finished?'

'What's that to do with you?' said Dick, suddenly.

The others stared at him in surprise. Dick sounded rather rude, and it was not like him.

'Oh nothing!' said the boy, hastily. 'I only thought that if his work will, soon be finished, perhaps your brother would take me over to his island!'

George  couldn't  help  feeling  pleased.  This  boy  thought  she  was  a  boy!  George  was  always gracious to people who made the mistake of thinking she was a boy.

'Of  course  I'll  take  you!'  she  said.  'It  shouldn't  be  long  before  I  do  -  the  experiment  is  nearly done.'