“I guess that’s the only way to get it off his head,” answered Mrs. Bonnell, still laughing. “Poor little fellow! He must have thought it contained something good to eat.”
This is what the two saw.
A little raccoon was backing about the platform under the eating table, his head thrust into the now dried neck of the clay vase which Natalie had moulded. She had brought it up on the boards, under the canvas, to keep the dew from moistening it.
The raccoon, either through curiosity or hunger, had thrust his slender snout into the opening, and now could not withdraw it. It went just far enough over his eyes so that he could not see, and the creature was rushing aimlessly about, doubtless wondering what queer trap he had blundered into. The banging of the clay vase against the legs of the sawhorses which held the table boards, and the thumping2 on the wooden floor had aroused the sleepers3.
“I’m going to get my vase!” exclaimed Natalie determinedly4 as she thrust her feet into a pair of bathing shoes and glided5 from the tent.
“Come back!” cried Mrs. Bonnell! “He’ll bite you!”
“He can’t,” answered Natalie coolly. “His mouth is inside the vase.”
“Then’ll he scratch you!”
“I don’t believe so. He’s too busy trying to paw that vase off. Anyhow I’ll grab him by the tail and pull. It won’t hurt him, and I don’t want my vase smashed, after all my work.”
“What’s the matter?” gasped Mabel, now awake.
“Is—is it the Gypsies?” demanded Marie.
“Where’s your ammonia gun?” cried Alice. “Shoot!”
“Hush! Or you’ll have the boys over here!” exclaimed Mrs. Bonnell. “It’s nothing but a raccoon who stuck his head into Natalie’s vase. She’s gone to free it.”
As she spoke6 the thumping noise outside increased.
“Oh!” cried Mabel.
“Quiet!” urged the Guardian7.
“There, there!” Natalie’s voice could be heard to murmur8 soothingly9. “I won’t hurt you. Wait a minute now, and I’ll have it off you.”
“She talks as if it were a pussy10 cat,” whispered Alice.
There was a little squeal11, a sort of grunt12 and then a hurried scurrying13 of feet over the boards.
“I fixed14 him!” exclaimed Natalie in triumph, as she came into the tent carrying her vase.
“However did you dare to it?” demanded Alice.
“Why, the raccoon couldn’t see me, so I just grabbed him by the tail in one hand, and took the vase in the other. Then I—well, I just pulled them apart.”
“Oh, dear!” laughed Marie. “Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” and she fell back on her cot in a paroxysm of laughter. “Oh, dear, girls! Hold me, some one!”
“What’s the matter now?” demanded Mabel.
“Oh, I just thought of the funniest thing!” and Marie redoubled her mirth.
“Be quiet!” commanded Mrs. Bonnell, and then she joined in the gale15 of laughter that now swept through the tent. “What is it, anyhow? Tell us and we’ll laugh with you.”
“Oh, dear!” sighed Marie, as the first spasm16 passed. “I just happened to think how dreadful it would be, if, when Nat was pulling on the raccoon’s tail, it had come loose instead of his head coming out of the vase. Oh, dear!”
“Silly!” exclaimed Natalie. “It couldn’t happen. Anyhow if it had the tail would have made a lovely dusting brush!”
And then there was more laughter.
“We’d better bring in all the clay vases,” suggested Natalie, when quiet had been somewhat restored. “Some other night prowler may come along and get caught in the same way.”
“I don’t believe that raccoon will,” was Marie’s opinion as she went off in another fit of laughter. “The idea of pulling him out by the tail!”
“It’s the only way I could grab him,” explained Natalie. “I didn’t want to get scratched. Bur-r-r-r! It’s chilly17!” and she crept back into bed, while the other girls made hurried trips out to bring in their handiwork.
There were no more disturbances18 that night, though Marie kept them all awake for some time, with her fits of laughter and her murmurings of:
“Suppose his tail had come off!”
“Suppose you go to sleep,” directed Mrs. Bonnell, trying not to laugh.
The clay ornaments19 were found hard enough by morning to harden in the fire, and while the girls were making a larger pit than the one Natalie had originally dug, the boys strolled over.
“Going to have a feast?” asked Blake.
“A feast? no,” replied Alice, who was scooping20 out the dirt. “Why do you ask?”
“Because you’re digging a hole, and you have a lot of clay around. I thought maybe you were going to clay a chicken.”
“Clay a chicken?” repeated Mrs. Bonnell. “Is that a new way of serving it?”
“It’s the camp version of a casserole,” explained Jack21. “You take a chicken, wrap a cloth around it, and then plaster it all over with clay. Then you make a fire in a hole, put the clayed chicken in, cover it with embers, and go fishing.”
“What has fishing got to do with it?” asked Mabel.
“You don’t have to think any more about your dinner,” said Jack. “It’s like a fireless cooker, with the fire still in it. The clay bakes hard you see, and the heat cooks the chicken through and through. When you come back you take out the clay ball with the chicken for a center, crack it open, and you dine sumptuously22. That’s a clayed-chicken.”
“It sounds good,” said Natalie.
“It is good,” declared Blake. “If you can get a chicken over at the store, we’ll fix it for you.”
The girls voted to do so, and after putting the clay vases in the firing pit, and having told the boys of the scare of the night, they prepared for the trip after supplies.
“You can cook an elephant’s foot the same way,” said Blake, seemingly appropros of nothing in particular, as the boys and girls were walking up from the lake shore to the grocery at the Point.
“Kindly23 elucidate,” suggested Natalie.
“I was thinking about the clayed chicken,” Blake explained. “I read somewhere that they do elephant’s feet the same way.”
“I should think it would hurt the elephants,” remarked Marie innocently.
“They don’t do it until the beasts have passed beyond all pain and suffering,” went on Blake. “Really, it’s said to be a delicious dish.”
“We’ll have it for breakfast,” declared Jack. “Phil, kindly get an elephant for our camp-cook.”
“At once, your majesty,” replied Phil, with a mock bow.
The girls spent some time buying needful supplies, as did the boys, for their stocks had run low. There were some chickens to be had, a farmer having brought in some fresh ones, and the girls decided24 to let the boys experiment with the clay method of cooking one.
“But I’ll fricassee the other to make sure of having a meal,” declared Mrs. Bonnell with a laugh.
It was just as the girls were getting ready to go back in their two boats, and the boys were yet lingering in the store, that Natalie uttered an exclamation25.
“What is it?” asked Marie.
“That man—the constable26 who nearly arrested me. There he is over by the rifle range. I’m going to ask him if he has located that Gypsy girl yet.”
“Oh, don’t, Nat!” exclaimed Mabel.
“Yes, I shall. I want to help get your mother’s ring. The boys don’t seem able to find the encampment. Perhaps we can,” and, before any one could stop her, Natalie hurried along the dock to where the constable was standing27 near a rifle range that served to while away time for some of the campers.
“Mr. Jackson!” she exclaimed, “have you found Hadee, the Gypsy, yet?”
“Hadee!” he exclaimed, startled. “Oh, I know you now. You’re the girl I mistook for her. Well, say, do you know I haven’t found them Gypsies yet! I’ve been hunting all over for ’em, but—guess they’ve skipped out. I’m on the track though. I’ll let you know if I do locate ’em. Why, do you want your fortune told?”
“Oh, no!” Natalie exclaimed quickly. “We’ve had all the fortune we want. We—we just want to see their camp.”
“I guess you wouldn’t mind hearin’ your fortunes,” murmured the constable. “Well, if I find ’em I’ll let you know,” and he nodded in a friendly fashion.
Rather disappointed, Natalie was going back to the others who awaited her in the boat, when she heard the captain of one of the lake steamers saying to his engineer:
“Say, where does that Italian chap want to get off?” for all the steamers stopped at the Point as a sort of half-way station, and continued on from there.
“He isn’t an Italian, he’s a Gypsy,” said the mate. “I’ve seen him before. His tribe is stopping somewhere in the woods near Bear Pond. He wants to get off at Madison’s dock. All right. I’ve got a box for there, too. All aboard!” and he hurried off.
Natalie looked into the steamer, and saw a tall, swarthy man sitting in the cabin. There were one or two other passengers.
“At Bear Pond!” she murmured. “There are Gypsies at Bear Pond! Perhaps Hadee is there. We must have a look, and we won’t tell the boys, or Mr. Jackson.”
Quickly she told her companions what she had overheard.
“Shall we try to find the camp?” she concluded.
“Yes!” agreed Mabel eagerly. “Only I should think that constable would know enough to inquire of the boat captains about the Gypsies.”
“Probably it was so simple that it didn’t occur to him,” said Mrs. Bonnell. “But I must consider about letting you girls go off on this wild-goose chase alone.”
“Oh, you’d come with us; of course!” exclaimed Marie. “I think it will be fun!”
“So do I!” agreed Alice. “And we can take along the ammonia gun, in case the dogs bark at us. There are always a lot of dogs about a Gypsy camp.”
“Wait a minute!” called Blake to the girls, as they were rowing away. “We’ll go with you. We’ve got some news for you!”
Quickly he and his chums sent their craft up to the boats containing the girls.
“What’s the secret?” demanded Natalie.
“We’re on the track of the Gypsies!” exclaimed Jack. “They’re over on Mt. Harry28, and we’re going to trail them to-morrow. Isn’t that great?”
“But Natalie—” began Marie, when her chum stopped her with a warning looking.
“We’ll find out all we can for you,” went on Phil, as none of the boys noticed Marie’s startled exclamation. “And if it’s safe we’ll take you to the camp later on. Mt. Harry is a nice place to go to anyhow,” and he nodded in its direction—in a direction directly opposite from Bear Pond.
“We’ll go to the pond,” decided Natalie when the boys had veered29 out of hearing. “And we’ll see whether the Gypsies are there. Maybe we can get ahead of the boys. Shall we go, girls?”
“Yes!” they chorused.
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收听单词发音
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1
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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2
thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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3
sleepers
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| n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环 | |
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determinedly
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| adv.决意地；坚决地，坚定地 | |
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glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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6
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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7
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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8
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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soothingly
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| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
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10
pussy
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| n.(儿语)小猫，猫咪 | |
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11
squeal
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| v.发出长而尖的声音；n.长而尖的声音 | |
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12
grunt
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| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
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13
scurrying
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| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 ) | |
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14
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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15
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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16
spasm
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| n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作 | |
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chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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18
disturbances
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| n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 )；打扰；困扰；障碍 | |
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19
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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20
scooping
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| n.捞球v.抢先报道( scoop的现在分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等） | |
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21
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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22
sumptuously
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| 奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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23
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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24
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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25
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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26
constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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27
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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28
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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29
veered
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| v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的过去式和过去分词 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转 | |
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