FIVE RUN AWAY TOGETHER - by Enid Blyton

11 ON THE OLD WRECK

IT was quite a shock to have their plans spoilt. They knew there was no other room in the ruined castle that was sufficiently whole to shelter them. And they must find some sort of shelter, for although the weather was fine at the moment, it might rain hard any day or a storm might blow up.

"And storms round about Kirrin are so very violent," said Julian, remembering one or two. "Do you remember the storm that tossed your wreck up from the bottom of the sea, George?"

"Oh yes," said George and Anne, together, and Anne added eagerly: "Let's go and see the wreck today if we can. I'd love to see if it's still balanced on those rocks, as it was last year, when we explored it."

"Well, first we must make up our minds where we are going to sleep," said Julian, firmly. "I don't know if you realise it, but it's about three o'clock in the afternoon! We slept for hours on the sand, tired out with our exciting night, I suppose. We really must find some safe place and put our things there at once, and make our beds."

"Well, but where shall we go?" said Dick. "There's no other place in the old castle."

"There's the dungeon below," said Anne, shivering. "But I don't want to go there. It's so dark and mysterious."

Nobody wanted to sleep down in the dungeons! Dick frowned and thought hard. "What about the wreck?" he said. "Any chance of living there?"

"We might go and see," said Julian. "I don't somehow fancy living on a damp old rotting wreck... but if it's still high on the rocks, maybe the sun will have dried it, and it might be possible to have our bed and stores there."

"Let's go and see now," said George. So they made their way from the ruined castle to the old wall that ran round it. From there they would be able to see the wreck. It had been cast up the year before, and had settled firmly on some rocks.

They stood on the wall and looked for the wreck, but it was not where they had expected it. "It's moved," said Julian, in surprise. "There it is, look, on those rocks, nearer to the shore than it was before. Poor old wreck! It's been battered about a good bit this last winter, hasn't it? It looks much more of a real wreck than it did last summer."

"I don't believe we shall be able to sleep there," said Dick. "It's dreadfully battered. We might be able to store food there, though. Do you know, I believe we could get to it from those rocks that run out from the island."

"Yes, I believe we could," said George. "We could only reach it safely by boat last summer, but when the tide is down, I think we could climb out over the line of rocks, right to the wreck itself."

"We'll try in about an hour," said Julian, feeling excited. "The tide will be off the rocks by then."

"Let's go and have a look at the old well," said Dick, and they made their way back to the courtyard of the castle. Here, the summer before, they had found the entrance to the well-shaft that ran deep down through the rock, past the dungeons below, lower than the level of the sea, to fresh water.

The children looked about for the well, and came to the old wooden cover. They drew it back.

"There are the rungs of the old iron ladder I went down last year," said Dick, peering in. "Now let's find the entrance to the dungeon. The steps down into it are somewhere near here."

They found the entrance, but to their surprise some enormous stones had been pulled across it. "Who did that?" said George, frowning. "We didn't! Someone has been here!"

"Trippers, I suppose," said Julian. "Do you remember that we thought we saw a spire of smoke here the other day? I bet it was trippers. You know, the story of Kirrin Island, and its old castle and dungeons, and the treasure we found in it last year, was all in the newspapers. I expect one of the fishermen has been making money by taking trippers and landing them on our island."