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| Edition: | Hodder Childrens (Paperback) |
| Author: | |
| Published: | November 2001 |
| Pages: | 256 |
| ISBN 10: | 0340796316 |
| New: | $4.20 (16) |
| Used: | $0.02 (33) |
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Five Get Into A Fix is the seventeenth novel in The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1958.
Plot
Julian, Dick, George and Anne are ill during the Christmas Holidays, and are sent to recover in the Welsh mountains at a farm belonging to Mrs Jones, the aunt of their gardener, Jenkins, and her giant-like son, Morgan.
On the journey, when they are nearing the farm, and are on a hill close by a large old house which is locked and guarded by a fierce dog, their car inexplicably becomes very slow; the problem sorts itself out when the car leaves the hill. The next day Timmy is attacked by some of the farm dogs, prompting George to say she will return home the following day. While George and Anne stay at the farm nursing Timmy (who isn't really hurt) Julian and Dick walk up the nearby mountain to the Jones' "summer challet", where they get the idea to stay there, rather than at the farm. While at the challet they also meet a wild little girl called Aily and her pet lamb, Fany, and dog, Dave. Mrs Jones later tells the boys that Aily is the daughter of their shepherd, and that she runs wild in the mountains, and avoids school; often not being seen for weeks. The following day, all five move to the challet, and the scene is set for one of their adventures; the chalet has a view across the valley to the locked and guarded house which they had driven to on the way to the farm.
They meet Aily's mother who tells them she was housekeeper for the old lady who owns the house, but very suddenly the lady became a recluse, seeing no one, and locking the house and grounds; though apparently, mysterious cars go to and from the house at night. The five dismiss this as a village tale, though later, the shepherd (Aily's father) adds to the "mystery" by telling them that the hill the house is on has always been strange (causing cars and bikes to become heavy and slow, and even ploughs and spades to be difficult to use), and strange shimmerings and mists could sometimes be seen above it. He says that when he was a child his mother had said that witches lived on the hill and that their spells were the cause of the strange happenings. That evening the five see a shimmering mist over the hill and experience strange earthquake/"underground thunder"-like vibrations.
Aily later reveals she has somehow got into the grounds of the house (which is called Old Towers), and the old lady who owns it dropped paper with writing on it out of a tower window. Aily still has one of the papers, which says the lady is being kept prisioner in the tower by wicked men, who have killed her son.
Dick and Julian go back to the farm and tell Morgan everything. However, instead of saying he will go to the police, as the boys had thought he would, Morgan is aggressive and tells them to forget about everything or be sent home. This leads the five to decide Morgan (and later, the shepherd too) is mixed up in the whole thing, and they decide to start their usual own investigations. Aily leads them into Old Towers house itself via a pot hole in the hillside, which first leads to caves, and an underground river, via which, the magnetic metal deposits in the hill are being shipped. They find the old lady locked in the tower room, but she is too frail for them to lead her from the house without being seen. She does however, tell them that the men who keep her prisoner have killed her son, and are mining the magnetic metal for use in bombs. In the meantime, Aily has locked the caretaker in the kitchen; on their way back Julian has a coversation through the locked door with him; he says that the old lady's son is still alive, and is running the whole operation! (The old lady is being kept prisoner as she refused to sell the metal deposits (which are worth far more than gold)).
On the way back through the caves, the five are forced to hide, when they see Morgan and the shepherd approaching; the five suddenly realise that far from being involved, Morgan is trying to stop what is going on, and has come to rescue the old lady. Eventually all are captured by the miners, who suddenly appear, though all is saved when Morgan shouts extemely loudly and calls all his dogs from the surrounding hills, who arrive, and attack all the miners, and then hold them. The five, along with Aily, lamb and dog, are sent back to the farm to phone the police. Aily, however accidentally phones the dry cleaners by mistake, and tells them what has happened; so nothing is done for a while. When eventually the error is discovered, Fany the lamb is left to telephone the police, while everyone celebrates their victory with one of their usual feasts.
