CHAPTER XVI THE RESCUE

“Tavia, get up! It’s seven o’clock, and I must go up to the stables!”

So Dorothy called the next morning, but whether Tavia was too much awake to do anything so “foolish” as to get up, and interview Jake, or whether she was still sleeping, Dorothy took no further time to inquire, for if she did so her own time would go with the effort. Instead, she dressed hastily, and, slipping a coat on, for the morning was heavy with dew, she quietly went up the gravel¹ path toward the stable. There was a wind and a turn in the road, and from this spot, where big white stone marked “danger” for auto² or carriage, the public road opened in a short, sharp “V.”

On either side was heavy shrubbery, the pride of the gardener, and the pleasure of the girls who loved late or early blossoms, for the hedge was composed of such shrubs³ as sent forth⁴ both.

The soft, lavender, feather-blossom was plentiful⁵ now, and as Dorothy passed along she121 stopped to gather a spray. As she did so she heard something like a whine⁶.

She listened! It could not be a cat. There was Jake waiting at the stable door. What should she say to him? She did not hurry off, for that cry certainly came from the bush.

Carefully she pushed back the brambles. Then she called softly, as to some animal.

The answer came. It was a faint bark! A dog surely. She glanced up to the stable, to see if Jake was still there so that she might call him; but he had gone.

Then she whistled the call for a dog, but could see nothing but a movement of the briars.

“He must be in there,” she told herself, “and I will have to crawl in and get him. Something must have him fast.”

Tucking her skirts about her as best she could, she raised bush after bush, until she was well within the hedge. Then she could see where the sound came from.

It was under a hawthorn⁷!

She raised that, and there beheld⁸ little Ravelings!

“Oh, you poor little thing!” she said aloud. “How ever did you get there?”

In spite of her anxiety that the precious animal might be injured, it must be admitted that Dorothy was glad to see him.

122 Now she would have to tell nothing to Jacob. She would just hand him his dog.

“Come, Ravelings,” she coaxed⁹, and the white fuzzy head moved but the legs refused to do so.

“Not a trap, I hope,” she murmured.

One more perilous¹⁰ forward motion, for at every move she was being scratched and torn with the briars, then she had her hand on Ravelings.

His long shaggy fur was completely wound up in a wiry bramble, and the little creature could no more move than if he had been in a trap.

My, how dirty and bedraggled he was! However could he have gotten back to Glenwood?

“Wait,” she said as if he might understand, “I’ll get you out without hurting you.”

Making her way clear of the shrubs, through the path she had made crawling in, Dorothy ran back to the hall, and up the outside stairs to her room.

“Tavia! Quick!” she called. “Give me the scissors!”

“Mercy sakes! What’s this? Suicide!” exclaimed the lazy one, not yet dressing¹¹. “Wait. I’ll get you something easier.”

Too impatient to talk with her, Dorothy got to her own work basket and procured¹² the scissors. Then back she went to the damp nest where Ravelings waited.

“It’s a shame to cut your pretty fur so,” she123 talked as she snipped¹³ and snipped each knot of curly silk—the pride of Jake. “But you have got to get out. I just hope it is only your fur, and that there are no bones broken.”

It took some time to get him entirely¹⁴ free, but as Dorothy worked the grateful animal licked her hand and tried to “kiss” her, so that she felt quite as happy to release him as he must have been to be free. At last she had him in her arms.

She must not let him run, and it was not easy to hold him, and get out herself.

“There,” she exclaimed, when on the path, “now we will go to Jake.”

She could scarcely hold him when he saw the barn. And what a big, muddy blue bow of ribbon was around his neck! Wait until she told the girls! They would be afraid to go up to the stable to make certain, and they would surely not believe her.

Dorothy was flushed with pleasure and excitement.

“Jake!” she called at the barn door.

The man came out.

“Here he is! Here is Ravelings!”

“Where on earth——”

But the dog had leaped from her, and was “kissing” Jake so eagerly that he could not say another word.

1 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

2 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

3 shrubs   

灌木( shrub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gardener spent a complete morning in trimming those two shrubs. 园丁花了整个上午的时间修剪那两处灌木林。
• These shrubs will need more light to produce flowering shoots. 这些灌木需要更多的光照才能抽出开花的新枝。

4 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

5 plentiful   

adj.富裕的，丰富的

参考例句：

• Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
• Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。

6 whine   

v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣

参考例句：

• You are getting paid to think,not to whine.支付给你工资是让你思考而不是哀怨的。
• The bullet hit a rock and rocketed with a sharp whine.子弹打在一块岩石上，一声尖厉的呼啸，跳飞开去。

7 hawthorn   

山楂

参考例句：

• A cuckoo began calling from a hawthorn tree.一只布谷鸟开始在一株山楂树里咕咕地呼叫。
• Much of the track had become overgrown with hawthorn.小路上很多地方都长满了山楂树。

8 beheld   

v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟

参考例句：

• His eyes had never beheld such opulence. 他从未见过这样的财富。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soul beheld its features in the mirror of the passing moment. 灵魂在逝去的瞬间的镜子中看到了自己的模样。 来自英汉文学 - 红字

9 coaxed   

v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱

参考例句：

• She coaxed the horse into coming a little closer. 她哄着那匹马让它再靠近了一点。
• I coaxed my sister into taking me to the theatre. 我用好话哄姐姐带我去看戏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

11 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

12 procured   

v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条

参考例句：

• These cars are to be procured through open tender. 这些汽车要用公开招标的办法购买。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• A friend procured a position in the bank for my big brother. 一位朋友为我哥哥谋得了一个银行的职位。 来自《用法词典》

13 snipped   

v.剪( snip的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He snipped off the corner of the packet. 他将包的一角剪了下来。 来自辞典例句
• The police officer snipped the tape and untied the hostage. 警方把胶带剪断，松绑了人质。 来自互联网

14 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。