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

asked George. „Or walk round the shore to see if there"s a boat anywhere? I"m getting bored, sitting here, talking."
    „Well - I suppose old Tim would give us warning at once if he heard anyone near," said Julian, who was also longing to stretch his legs. „We"ll go in single file, like Indians, and make as little noise as we can. Timmy can go ahead. He"l give us instant warning if we come near any of the keepers."
    They all stood up, and Timmy looked at them, wagging his nicked tail. „I"l look after you,"
    said his two bright eyes. „Don"t be afraid!"
    They made their way carefully and quietly through the whispering trees. „Sh, sh, sh, shoo, shooey," said the leaves above their heads, as if warning everyone to go as quietly as possible. And then suddenly Timmy stopped and gave a low, warning growl. They all stood stil at once, listening.
    They could hear nothing. They were in a dense part of the wood, and it was dark and sunless. What was Timmy growling at? He took a step forward, and growled softly again.
    Julian went forward too, as silently as he could. He stopped suddenly and stared. What in the world was that strange figure, gleaming out of the shadows? His heart began to beat loudly. The figure stood there, silently, an arm out-stretched as if pointing at him!
    He thought it moved and he took a step backwards in fear. Was it a ghost or something?
    It was so very very white and shone so queerly. The others, coming up behind, suddenly saw it too and stopped in fright. Timmy growled again, and al the hackles on his neck rose up. What was THIS?
    Everyone stood absolutely stil , and Anne gave a gulp. She took hold of Dick"s arm, and he held it tightly against him. And then George gave a very small laugh. To everyone"s horror she went forward, and touched the hand of the gleaming figure.
    „How do you do?" she said. „It is so nice to meet a well-mannered statue!"
    Well! A statue! Only a statue! It had looked so real standing there, and yet so ghostly.
    Everyone heaved a sigh of relief, and Timmy ran forward, and sniffed at the statue"s flowing robes.
    „Look around you," said Julian. „The wood"s full of statues just here - and aren"t they BEAUTIFUL! I hope they don"t suddenly come alive - they real y look as if they might!"

Chapter Eleven
A STRANGE DISCOVERY

    The children were astonished to see so many gleaming statues, standing in the darkness of the wood. They wandered round them, and then came to a large shed. They peeped inside.
    „Look here!" said Dick, excited. „Long, deep boxes, strong as iron! And see what"s in these two!"
    They all came to look. In the first, packed in what looked like sawdust, was a beautiful y carved statue of a boy. The next box seemed to be entirely ful of sawdust, and Anne had to scrape quite a lot away to see if anything was packed there too.
    „It"s a little stone angel!" she said, scraping sawdust from a quaint little face, a smal crown and the tips of smal wings. „Lovely! Why are these statues being packed away like this?"
    „Use your brain!" said Dick. „It"s obvious that they"re works of art - and are probably very old. They"re being packed to send away in some boat or ship - to be transported somewhere where they"l fetch a lot of money - America, probably!"
    „Did they come from the old castle, do you think?" asked George. „It"s quite near. I expect this shed belongs to it. But how was it that the police didn"t find them in the castle when they searched? They must have gone there, and looked into every corner! And what about the statues in the wood outside - why haven"t they been packed away?"
    „Too big, probably," said Julian. „And too heavy. A small boat wouldn"t be strong enough to take great things like that. But those little statues are quite perfect for transporting - they don"t weigh as much as the big ones - and they aren"t marked by the weather, through standing in rain, sun and snow! Not a mark on them!"
    „You"re right," said Anne. „I noticed