Читать книгу Five Go to Demon's Rocks - Enid blyton - Страница 7

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Mrs Kirrin thought that she might as well go immediately to the study, and see if her husband and Professor Hayling could talk about the children going away to this light-house of Tinker’s. Could it really be true? She knocked discreetly at the closed door.

She could hear voices inside the room, but nobody called ‘Come in!’ She knocked again.

‘What is it now!’ shouted Mr Kirrin. ‘If it’s you, George, go away and keep away. And if it’s Tinker, tell him to go to the garage and park himself there. I suppose it’s he who has been making all that row this morning!’

Mrs Kirrin smiled to herself. Well, well—if all scientists were like her husband and Professor Hayling, it was a wonder they were ever calm enough to get any work done!

She went away. Perhaps she could bring up the subject of the light-house at dinner-time. What a relief it would be to have a peaceful house for a few days!

She went into the kitchen to find Joan. The monkey was there, helping her! He had slipped away from Tinker and gone to see if there were any tit-bits about. Joan was talking away to him as she rolled out pastry.

‘See, I roll it like this—and like that—and I pick off a tiny bit for you!’ And she gave Mischief a snippet for himself. He was very pleased, and leapt on Joan’s shoulder. He lifted a piece of her hair and whispered in her ear. Joan pretended to understand.

‘Yes, Mischief. If you’re good I’ll give you another tit-bit in a minute. Now get off my shoulder, and stop whispering. It tickles!’

‘Well, Joan—I never thought to see you rolling pastry with a monkey on your shoulder!’ said Mrs Kirrin. ‘Joan, what do you think about this light-house idea? I haven’t been able to get into the study yet! Mr Kirrin thought I was Tinker, and told me to go and park myself in the garage!’

‘And a very good idea too,’ said Joan, rolling her pastry vigorously. ‘Isn’t that Tinker out in the hall now—sounds like a car of some sort! Well, ma’am, I’d say that if the light-house is habitable, why shouldn’t the Five go there, with Tinker and the monkey? They’d enjoy themselves all right, and Timmy would look after them. Sort of thing that they love—rushing off to a light-house! Ugh! Nasty lonely place, with waves crashing round and a wind fit to blow your head off!’

‘Yes, but do you think they’d be all right all alone there, Joan!’ said Mrs Kirrin.

‘Well, Julian and Dick are old enough to look after the others—though I must say I wouldn’t like the job of being in charge of that Tinker,’ said Joan. ‘All I hope is that he doesn’t imagine he’s an aeroplane all of a sudden, and take off from the top of the light-house!’

Mrs Kirrin laughed. ‘Don’t say that to him!’ she said. ‘His idea of being a car is bad enough. Well, Joan, I feel very mean sending George and the others away immediately they come here—but with two excitable scientists in the house, I don’t see that there’s anything else to do. Look out for that monkey—he’s found your bag of raisins!’

‘Oh you little Mischief!’ said Joan, and made a grab at the monkey. He shot off to the top of a cupboard with the bag of raisins firmly held in one paw. He made a tiny chattering noise, as if he were scolding Joan.

‘You come down with those raisins!’ said Joan, advancing to the cupboard. ‘Else I’ll tie you to a chair with that long tail of yours. You little monkey!’

Mischief said something in his funny little voice that sounded rather cheeky. Then he put his paw into the paper bag and took out a raisin. But he didn’t eat it—he threw it straight at Joan! It hit her on the cheek, and she stared at Mischief in astonishment.

‘What! You’d pelt me with my own raisins! Well, that I will not have!’ She went to the sink and filled a cup with water, while Mischief pelted both her and Mrs Kirrin with raisin after raisin! He danced about on the top of the cupboard, screeching loudly in glee!

A bowl on the top of the cupboard fell off as the monkey danced about, and crashed to the ground. The noise scared him, and, with a flying leap, he shot off the cupboard and landed on the top of the half-open door. He pelted the two women from there, making the most extraordinary noises.

The study door was flung open, and out came Mr Kirrin, followed by the Professor. ‘What was that crash? What’s happening here? How can we w ...’

It was most unfortunate that Joan should have thrown the cup of water at Mischief at that moment. He sat there on the top of the door—and the water fell all over him, splashed over the top of the door—and down on to Mr Kirrin’s head as he pushed the door open!

Joan was horrified. She disappeared into the scullery at once, not knowing whether to laugh or to make her apologies.

Mr Kirrin was astounded to find himself dripping wet. He stared angrily up at Mischief absolutely certain that it was the monkey who had emptied the water over him.

By this time the Five had come out of the living-room, wondering what the noise was. ‘It’s old Mischief,’ said Tinker. ‘Throwing water, I should think!’

‘Well, actually, I threw the water,’ began Joan apologetically, peeping out of the scullery, ‘because ...’

‘you threw it?’ said Mr Kirrin, amazed. ‘What is happening in this house? Things have come to a pretty pass if you start flinging water at people, Joan. You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Are you mad?’

‘Listen, Quentin,’ said his wife. ‘Nobody’s mad at present, but pretty soon we all shall be, if this sort of thing goes on! Quentin, are you listening? I’ve something important to say to you—and to you too, Professor.’

The Professor remembered his manners. He gave a slight bow to Mrs Kirrin. ‘Please go on,’ he said politely, and then flinched as a raisin hit him squarely on the head. Mischief had found one on the floor, and had taken a pot-shot at the Professor. Dick looked at the monkey admiringly—he really was a very good shot!

‘What’s that little fathead of a monkey throwing!’ said Mr Kirrin, fiercely, and at once knew when a raisin hit him smartly on the nose. ‘Get rid of him! Put him in the dustbin! Why have I to put up with monkeys that throw things and boys that chug about the house like cars gone mad? I tell you Fanny, I will not have it!’

Mrs Kirrin looked at him very sternly. ‘Listen Quentin, I have something to say. listen! Tinker says his father gave him a light-house for his own, and he suggests that he and all the others should leave here and go and stay in the light-house. Quentin, are you listening?’

‘A light-house! Are you mad? What, that little monkey of a boy says he owns a light-house? And you believed him?’ said Mr Kirrin, amazed.

‘Tinker’s quite right, as it happens,’ said Professor Hayling. ‘I bought a light-house to work in when I wanted to get right away from everywhere and concentrate—and when I’d finished, I couldn’t sell it—so as Tinker pestered me for it, I gave it to him. But not to live in!’

‘A light-house to work in!’ said Mr Kirrin, thinking what a truly marvellous idea this was. ‘I’ll buy it from you! I’ll ...’

‘No, Quentin, you won’t do anything of the sort,’ said his wife, firmly. ‘Will you please listen to me, both of you. Professor Hayling, is the light-house fit for these five to stay in—and if so, they want to know if they can go there until you two have finished your work here. They’re a nuisance to you—and to be quite honest, you’re a nuisance to them!’

‘Fanny!’ said her husband, astonished and angry.

‘Father, listen. We’ll all get out of your way as soon as possible, if you’ll say we can go to Tinker’s light-house,’ said George, planting herself firmly in front of her father. ‘Say one word—“yes”—that’s all we want.’

‘yes!’ shouted Mr Kirrin, suddenly tired of all the argument, and longing to get back to his papers with the Professor. ‘yes! Go to the light-house—go to the Tower of London—go and live at the Zoo, if you like! The monkeys will welcome that mischievous little creature, sitting grinning up there on the cupboard! But go somewhere!’

‘Oh thank you, Father!’ said George, joyfully. ‘We’ll go off to the light-house as soon as we can. hurray! three ch ...’

But before she could continue, the study door shut with a bang behind the two exasperated men. George bent down, took Timmy’s two front legs, and proceeded to dance all round the living-room with him, shouting ‘hurray! three cheers!’ over and over again.

Mrs Kirrin sat down suddenly in a chair, and began to laugh. Joan laughed too. ‘If we don’t laugh, we shall cry!’ she said. ‘What a hullabaloo! Well, it’s a good thing they’ll soon be off, ma’am. That loft is much too draughty for the boys, you know. Look at poor Julian—he’s got such a stiff neck he can hardly turn it this morning.’

‘Who cares?’ said Julian. ‘We’ll soon be off again together, all the Five—and two more to keep us company. It will be quite an adventure!’

‘An adventure?’ said Tinker, surprised. ‘But you can’t have adventures in a light-house—it’s out on the rocks, all by itself, as lonely as can be! There aren’t any adventures to be found there!’

Ah—you wait and see, Tinker! You don’t know the Five! If there’s any adventure about, they’re bound to be right in the middle of it!