CHAPTER XVIII IN THE TUNNEL AT NIGHT

 The narrow tunnels far beneath the din¹ of this vast city’s streets were built in the main to serve great enterprises. The steel cars that rattle² on and on through the night carry coal to factories and many-floored department stores. The lighter³ cars, with frames of wood, transport shipments of goods from the stores to outlying districts where they are loaded on trucks and delivered. Manufactured goods are hurried away to warehouses⁴ and depots⁵.

 

Thus it happened that Johnny, entering as he did at the dead of night, found men still toiling⁶ in these narrow burrows⁷ where the light of day never comes.

 

There are many entrances to these tunnels. Most of these are elevators wide enough to lift two or three cars from the depths below to the street level above.

 

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The one chosen by Johnny that night led through a soap factory. There the air was heavy with the clean, perfumed scent⁸ of soap.

 

A man in a shabby sheepskin coat received him in silence, motioned him to a place at the corner of a loaded elevator, clanged an iron gate, and set the elevator to sinking into the earth.

 

There is something deeply depressing about being lowered beneath the natural surface of the earth. Whether it be a well, a mine, a cave or a tunnel, it is all the same. Johnny Thompson was not free from this feeling of depression. Indeed, so powerful was its influence that it was with the utmost difficulty that he resisted an impulse to go straight back to the surface. As you will see later, he was to have reason to regret resisting this impulse.

 

However, once he had accustomed his eyes to the weird⁹ green and red lights of the place, and his ears to the great din when a train passed and the vast silence when there was no train, he found himself feeling more at home than he had imagined possible.

 

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“One can see,” he told himself, “why men might even enjoy working here. The air, circulated by powerful fans, is pure. It is not hot in summer nor cold in winter. There is no glaring light and no real darkness.”

 

He was taken to the portion of the tunnel which he wished to inspect. This portion was the one nearest the museum.

 

“There will be no trains on the spur leading to the museum,” the trainman told him. “On that track you’ll be safe enough. If you wait for the green lights, you’ll be fairly safe on other tracks.”

 

After imparting this information the engineer threw on his switch and went rattling¹⁰ away, leaving Johnny to the silence of a night in a tunnel.

 

Night in a tunnel. What strange life exists here to come creeping boldly about at night. A black bat, snapping his teeth at who knows what insect, goes whirring by. A mouse comes creeping forth¹¹ to munch¹² some morsel¹³ that has fallen from a workman’s lunch box. Two squealing¹⁴ rats go scurrying¹⁵ away.

 

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“Night,” Johnny murmured. “Night, half darkness, bats and rats. And who knows what greater perils¹⁶?” He shuddered¹⁷, then hurried on. In his right hand he gripped a large revolver, a relic¹⁸ of one of the raids made by Drew Lane.

 

“I’d hate to have to fire it,” he murmured. “Wow! What a rumpus it would kick up down here!”

 

He did not know that ere the night was over he would hear an explosion which would make the sound of his gun seem but the low pop of a pea-shooter.

1 din   

n.喧闹声，嘈杂声

参考例句：

• The bustle and din gradually faded to silence as night advanced.随着夜越来越深，喧闹声逐渐沉寂。
• They tried to make themselves heard over the din of the crowd.他们力图让自己的声音盖过人群的喧闹声。

2 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

3 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

4 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

5 depots   

仓库( depot的名词复数 )； 火车站； 车库； 军需库

参考例句：

• Public transportation termini and depots are important infrastructures for a city. 公交场站设施是城市重要的基础设施。
• In the coastal cities are equipped with after-sales service and depots. 在各沿海城市均设有服务部及售后维修站。

6 toiling   

长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉

参考例句：

• The fiery orator contrasted the idle rich with the toiling working classes. 这位激昂的演说家把无所事事的富人同终日辛劳的工人阶级进行了对比。
• She felt like a beetle toiling in the dust. She was filled with repulsion. 她觉得自己像只甲虫在地里挣扎，心中涌满愤恨。

7 burrows   

n.地洞( burrow的名词复数 )v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的第三人称单数 )；翻寻

参考例句：

• The intertidal beach unit contains some organism burrows. 潮间海滩单元含有一些生物潜穴。 来自辞典例句
• A mole burrows its way through the ground. 鼹鼠会在地下钻洞前进。 来自辞典例句

8 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

9 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

10 rattling   

adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词

参考例句：

• This book is a rattling good read. 这是一本非常好的读物。
• At that same instant,a deafening explosion set the windows rattling. 正在这时，一声震耳欲聋的爆炸突然袭来，把窗玻璃震得当当地响。

11 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。

12 munch   

v.用力嚼，大声咀嚼

参考例句：

• We watched her munch through two packets of peanuts.我们看她津津有味地嚼了两包花生米。
• Getting them to munch on vegetable dishes was more difficult.使他们吃素菜就比较困难了。

13 morsel   

n.一口，一点点

参考例句：

• He refused to touch a morsel of the food they had brought.他们拿来的东西他一口也不吃。
• The patient has not had a morsel of food since the morning.从早上起病人一直没有进食。

14 squealing   

v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Pigs were grunting and squealing in the yard. 猪在院子里哼哼地叫个不停。
• The pigs were squealing. 猪尖叫着。

15 scurrying   

v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• We could hear the mice scurrying about in the walls. 我们能听见老鼠在墙里乱跑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We were scurrying about until the last minute before the party. 聚会开始前我们一直不停地忙忙碌碌。 来自辞典例句

16 perils   

极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境）

参考例句：

• The commander bade his men be undaunted in the face of perils. 指挥员命令他的战士要临危不惧。
• With how many more perils and disasters would he load himself? 他还要再冒多少风险和遭受多少灾难？

17 shuddered   

v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动

参考例句：

• He slammed on the brakes and the car shuddered to a halt. 他猛踩刹车，车颤抖着停住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I shuddered at the sight of the dead body. 我一看见那尸体就战栗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 relic   

n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物

参考例句：

• This stone axe is a relic of ancient times.这石斧是古代的遗物。
• He found himself thinking of the man as a relic from the past.他把这个男人看成是过去时代的人物。