“You’ll have to pardon me.” She smiled as she threw open the door. “Usually I arrive at the tick of the clock. But I had a blowout. The old bus described a parabola and nearly put me on the curb2. But hop3 in. We’ll get there all right now.”
Curlie climbed in and they were away. He was beginning to have a comfortable feeling about this new friend. “Here,” he told himself, “is unexpected aid.” And aid was what he needed. In spite of the fact that his youthful employer had treated him in a magnanimous manner, he felt morally responsible for the return of that mysterious, and supposedly priceless, package.
149
“If that Secret Service man knew what he was talking about,” he said to Grace Palmer, “those fellows were not only beating the Government out of thousands of dollars in customs duties, but were planning to use the whole proceeds for the purpose of striking what blows they might at the land that feeds, clothes and protects them. And if they get away with it, I’ll be to blame.”
* * * * * * * *
In the meantime, Johnny Thompson had not been idle. He meant to enter the tunnel where Curlie had, quite by accident, lost himself and nearly lost his life in the bargain.
It was, he found soon enough, quite an unusual thing for the entrance to be left unguarded. When he tried to go down, a watchman stopped him.
150
“Have to get a permit from Mr. Rusby,” he told the boy gruffly. “He’s the manager.”
“Where is he?”
“In the office.” The man jerked a thumb to the right. “No. Let’s see.” He consulted his watch.
“Nope. Gone home. You’ll have to come to-morrow.”
Johnny had no notion of waiting until to-morrow. The tunnel would, he reasoned, be used less at night. That would give him greater freedom in making his search.
“More than forty miles,” he grumbled5. “Forty miles of tunnel. Like looking for a pearl in a gravel6 pit.”
For all that, he hurried to the office, caught a belated office girl, secured Mr. Rusby’s telephone number from her and then hurried to a drug store.
But there he came to a halt. Mr. Rusby, he was informed, was out and was not expected back before eleven o’clock. And no one at his home could tell where he was to be found.
151
“So there you are.” Johnny banged down the receiver. “May as well go back to the shack7 and listen to a few tunes8 on the radio.”
He did just that. But he heard more than tunes on the radio that night. What he heard started a fresh mystery. It made him sit up and think sober thoughts, too. You may be very sure of that.
* * * * * * * *
Curlie and the college girl were on the island. A curious sort of island it was. The early explorers had not discovered it. There was reason enough for that; it had not been there.
Men had made that island, men and trucks, pile-drivers, dredgers, and more men. The refuse from a great city: ashes, old cans, glass, and the clay from beneath many a skyscraper9 had gone into its making. And with these, sand, much sand from the bottom of the lake.
It is strange how nature hates ugliness. Men had left this island ugly. Nature had added a touch of beauty. Wind had sifted10 sand over all. Cans, glass, ashes were buried. Trees and bushes had grown up. And now it was a place where one might stroll with pleasure.
152
But Curlie and the girl, as you know, had not come here for a stroll.
Almost at once they stumbled upon something. What? They could not tell.
They had climbed over a great heap of rocks, used as a breakwater, and were about to descend11 an even higher pile when the girl gripped Curlie by the arm and pulled him back. At the same time she put a finger to his lips.
He listened. At first he heard nothing save the distant, indistinct murmur12 of the city. And then there came the sound of heavy footsteps. After that, silence.
And into that silence came a voice. Low but distinct, it said, “Shall we bury it here?”
The girl gripped Curlie’s arm till it hurt. Yet he made no sound.
His heart raced. Bury what? The package of jewels, to be sure. What luck! Or was it so lucky after all? They were not armed. These were likely to be desperate men—men who stop at nothing.
153
What was to be done? They were in the midst of a pile of giant, jagged rocks. Beyond the rocks on one side was water, on the other, sand. On the sand, not five yards away were men, strange men. And in the darkness they were burying something.
“Can it be?” whispered the girl.
“Who knows?” Curlie whispered back.
He touched the girl’s arm for silence. What was to be done? The men were between them and the bridge that led to the island from the city.
It was a lonely spot. True enough, the lights of a great city, ten thousand lights, gleamed in the distance. But that distance was too great. The sandy surface of a man-made island, a deep lagoon13 and broad park spaces lay between.
“If we stir they will hear us,” the boy whispered. “Don’t move. They may go away.”
154
They heard the sound of scraping in the sand and the puffs14 of exertion15. Moments seemed hours. The girl felt a cramp16 taking possession of her right foot. She made a furtive17 attempt to relieve it. Then came catastrophe18. A stone, dislodged by her foot, rolled down with a thud which in that silence seemed a crash.
A muttered exclamation19 was followed by heavy footsteps. Curlie seized the girl’s arm and fairly hurled20 her over the rocks. The next instant, with the men in hot pursuit, they were dashing away over the sand.
“Some building over there,” Curlie panted. “Have to try for that.”
They did try. But Curlie could fly better than he could run. He was short of breath. The men gained on them, a yard, two, three, five yards. They almost felt the breaths of their pursuers.
Curlie tried to think what it would mean if they should stumble.
They rounded a second breakwater and there stood the building. But such a building as it was! A low structure of many sides and a large dome21. It seemed a tomb.
“And not a light!” The boy’s heart sank.
155
There was nothing to be done but to race on. Heavy footsteps, labored22 breathing were behind them; the city was far away. They reached the wall of dark marble. No doors there. They began circling this astonishing edifice23.
Their pursuers were all but upon them when they came at last to a door.
“It is not locked!” the girl said aloud. “It must not be!” She put out a hand and turned the knob. The door swung open. They tumbled in. Then, as if by magic, the door closed and locked itself.
“Well,” the boy whispered with a nervous laugh, “here we are. But where are we?”
And where, indeed, were they? Aside from a tiny gleam of red light that seemed far away, the place was utterly27 dark. This feeble light, casting not the faintest shadow, appeared to make the darkness more intense.
156
“Ah!” the girl exclaimed in an audible whisper.
“Ah—ah—ah,” came echoing back.
“Like some terrible cellar!” she whispered. “Let’s—let’s go back.”
“We will go to the light,” Curlie said. “This way. We’ll find our way out.”
Straight toward the staring red eye they marched. Twice they bumped into stone pillars and were obliged to detour29. But at last they reached the spot directly beneath the light.
“A door!” the boy exclaimed tensely.
“And not locked!” Grace Palmer had tried it.
The door opened and they passed beyond. Once more darkness confronted them, darkness and a stairway.
Up the stairway they went on hands and knees.
A third door, more darkness.
157
But no, not complete darkness. Off to the right was an oblong of pale light.
Toward this they moved with caution.
The oblong of light formed an open doorway30. The space beyond that door was more mysterious than anything they had yet seen. There were no lamps anywhere, but pale light was about them everywhere. A vast pale dome, like the sky, hung above them.
“Why! It is the sky!” whispered the girl. “See! There is the moon! And there the stars, pale stars!”
This seemed true. Surely there was the moon, and there the stars; yet Curlie was puzzled. The moon seemed too high, the stars too bright. What could it all mean? His head was in a whirl.
More was yet to come. As they stood there motionless, gazing upward, the entire firmament31, the moon, the planets and the stars began to move.
“Oh!” breathed the girl.
158
They did not move rapidly, this moon, these stars. There was something dignified32 and terrible about the slow and leisurely33 manner in which they traversed the great dome above.
For fully34 three minutes not a sound was uttered. But when the moon vanished beneath the horizon and a million stars shone with added brightness, the girl seized Curlie’s hand to drag him into the outer darkness.
She led on blindly until a second red light appeared. Followed by her companion, she passed through a door and mounted a long, winding35 stairway, to find herself at last out in the clear, cool air of night, with a very different sky above, a sky full of stars, all set with a gorgeous, golden moon that did not move, at least not so you could see it.
“Oh,” she breathed, “this is better!”
As Curlie, feeling the cool lake breeze on his cheek, gazed away at the island that lay before him and at the dark waters far and away beyond, he wondered what had really happened, after all.
159
When they had regained36 their composure they began an investigation37 which told them they were on a narrow circular promenade38 some thirty feet above the surface of the island.
Fortunate for them was the fact that workmen engaged in mounting statues on the ledge39 had left their scaffold standing40.
After a careful survey of the ground below, to make sure that their pursuers had left, they nimbly made their way down to earth and bounded away in a silent race for the car.
To their vast relief they found it unmolested.
“Well,” said Curlie, as they sat once more in the car, with the motor purring, ready for a dash at a moment’s notice, “what about that?”
“That,” said the girl, “is one of the strangest things I ever experienced. But of course,” she laughed softly, “you know what it was.”
“No,” said Curlie, slowly, “I don’t.”
“It’s a planetarium41.”
“A what?”
“A planetarium. You may come here any day and see the stars, the moon, the sun and all the rest do their stuff. The old man who runs it must have been practicing up a bit.”
160
Curlie was nonplussed42. He was obliged to admit that the place had had him guessing.
“Anyway,” he said, “it was a refuge. Question is, what are we to do next?”
“We might let the police in on this.”
“I don’t want to. Guess the thing is safe enough till morning. Either it is an important discovery, or it isn’t. Either they buried it, or they didn’t. If they did they’re not going to dig it up the same night.”
This was the way they left it. The girl was to pick Curlie up at seven o’clock. Curlie was to arm himself, and they were to return to the island to make a more thorough investigation.
“I’ll bring a garden spade,” the girl said in parting.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
chauffeur
|
|
| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
curb
|
|
| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
hop
|
|
| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
stoutly
|
|
| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
grumbled
|
|
| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
gravel
|
|
| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
shack
|
|
| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
tunes
|
|
| n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
skyscraper
|
|
| n.摩天大楼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
sifted
|
|
| v.筛( sift的过去式和过去分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
descend
|
|
| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
murmur
|
|
| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
lagoon
|
|
| n.泻湖，咸水湖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
puffs
|
|
| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
exertion
|
|
| n.尽力，努力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
cramp
|
|
| n.痉挛；[pl.](腹)绞痛；vt.限制，束缚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
furtive
|
|
| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
catastrophe
|
|
| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
exclamation
|
|
| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
hurled
|
|
| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
dome
|
|
| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
labored
|
|
| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
edifice
|
|
| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
budge
|
|
| v.移动一点儿；改变立场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
wrenched
|
|
| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
ominous
|
|
| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
futile
|
|
| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
detour
|
|
| n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
doorway
|
|
| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
firmament
|
|
| n.苍穹；最高层 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
dignified
|
|
| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
leisurely
|
|
| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
winding
|
|
| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
regained
|
|
| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
investigation
|
|
| n.调查，调查研究 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
promenade
|
|
| n./v.散步 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
ledge
|
|
| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
planetarium
|
|
| n.天文馆；天象仪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
nonplussed
|
|
| adj.不知所措的，陷于窘境的v.使迷惑( nonplus的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
chuckled
|
|
| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |