Five Have a Mystery to Solve by Enid Blyton Read Free Book Online Page A

They were al silent, astonished at the way that Wilfrid had rescued the little creature. How had the rabbit known that Wilfrid"s arms were ready to save it?
    He took it to the bracken, dropped it gently, and watched it race like lightning to the nearest burrow. Then he turned and patted Timmy, who stood silently by, watching.
    „Sorry, Tim," he said. „It"s so little, and you"re so big!"
    „Woof," said Tim, exactly as if he understood, and he gave Wilfrid"s hand a quick lick. Then he pranced round the boy, barking, as if he wanted a game, and Wilfrid raced off with him at top speed.
    The others fol owed, impressed once again by Wilfrid"s uncanny way with animals. He was such a horrid little boy in some ways - so rude, so mannerless, so selfish - then how was it that animals liked him so much? George frowned. She thought it was all wrong that animals should love Wilfrid and go to him - why, even Timmy was all over him! If she wasn"t careful he would spend more time with Wilfrid than with her! That would never do!

    Timmy found five more bal s, and soon Julian"s pockets were heavy with them. They made their way to the small club-house in the distance, meaning to give in the bal s. It was set in a little dip, and looked friendly and welcoming. They all went in at the door, and Julian walked over to the pro, who was checking some score-cards. He emptied his pockets of bal s and grinned. „A present from our dog!" he said.
    „My word - did he find all those?" said the pro, pleased. „Not bad ones, either. I"l stand you all some lemonade or orangeade - which wil you have?"
    They al had orangeade, and the pro sent a packet of biscuits to Timmy, who was waiting patiently outside. He was delighted!
    „We"re staying in that little cottage up on the hil side," said Dick. „Do you know it?"
    „Course I do!" said the pro. „My grandmother lived there once upon a time. You"ve a wonderful view there, haven"t you? One of the finest in the world, I reckon! You can see Whispering Island from there, too. Ought to be cal ed “Mystery Island”! It"s said that folks have gone there, and never come back!"
    „What happened to them?" asked Anne.
    „Oh well - maybe it"s all a tale!" said the pro. „There"s supposed to be priceless things there, packed away somewhere - and col ectors from all over the world have come here, and tried to get over to that island - not to steal, you understand, but just to see if they could find anything worth-while and buy it for museums - or maybe for their own collections. It"s said there are statues in the wood, white as snow - but that I never did believe!"
    „And didn"t the collectors ever come back?" asked Julian.
    „It"s said that a lot of them didn"t," said the pro, „but that may be all sil y tales. But I do know that two men came down here from some museum in London, and hired a boat to go across. They took a white flag with them so that the two keepers wouldn"t shoot at them - and after that nobody heard a word about them. They just disappeared!"
    „Well - what could have happened to them?" asked Julian.
    „Nobody knows," said the pro. „Their boat was found miles out to sea, drifting - and empty.
    So the police reckoned a mist came down, they lost direction, and ended by drifting way out to sea."
    „But did they jump out of their boat, and try to swim back - and get drowned?" asked Dick. „Or did a passing steamer or yacht save them?"
    „They weren"t picked up, that"s certain," said the pro. „Else they"d have arrived safely back at their homes, sometime or other. But they didn"t. No - I reckon the poor fel ows were drowned. Of course, maybe they were shot by the keepers, when they tried to land, and their boat was set adrift!"
    „Didn"t the police do anything?" asked Julian, puzzled.
    „Oh yes - they went across to the island in the coastguard patrol boat," said the pro. „But the keepers swore they"d seen nobody arriving, and that they were the only people on the place. The police