CHAPTER XXII. THE FORTUNE OF THE TROUVILLES.

 As the fire-balls flashed upon many velvet-lined trays displayed by the lifting of the lid, all the colors of the rainbow seemed to combine in the dazzling surface—the white glitter of diamonds, the violet-purple of amethysts¹, the blue of the sapphire², the crimson³ of the ruby⁴, the deep rich green of the emerald, the changing tints⁵ of the opal—a very pool of gems⁶ shimmering⁷ under the eager gaze of the three boys.

“Carry me out of fairyland,” was Billy’s break of the silence that followed the first look into the chest.

[105]

Reddy was all eyes and no tongue, but Henri had to say something in his r?le of showman:

“Some rare stones there, eh? Many years’ gathering⁸, too. This,” picking up a gold-threaded bracelet⁹ of diamonds and amethysts, “is said to have been a later gift to the house from the royal gentleman that beat us to the bed upstairs. Whole lot of history here,” lifting a handful of jewels and letting them fall again into their glittering bed, “but we’ll keep all that for the campfire, if we ever get back to it.

“Here’s some hard cash, by the way,” moving a jewel tray and pulling out a buckskin bag. “I am afraid,” added Henri regretfully, “that we can’t carry a whole lot of this in a single trip where we have to travel light.”

“We can make a noble try at it,” stoutly¹⁰ maintained Billy, who did not relish¹¹ the idea of leaving anything in the chest.

Henri jerked loose the cord that closed the mouth of the bag and let the gold coins fall in a shining heap on the floor—a mixed collection of franc pieces of various values, of French minting; English sovereigns and the German mark.

This shower could have been repeated many times, for under the trays were long rows of the same kind of buckskin bags, with contents alike.

“Wish we had a tray.”

[106]

Billy realized that they had found more than they could carry.

“We will load first with the stones from the trays,” proposed Henri. “And then add all the cash we can.”

The boys proceeded to empty their knapsacks of the remains¹² of the rations¹³ they carried, and by way of proper economy seated themselves on the stone floor for the purpose of stowing all the food they could inside them.

“I won’t be hungry again for a week, I’m sure,” asserted Billy, shaking the crumbs¹⁴ from his blouse.

“Then let’s to business,” briskly remarked Henri, as he engaged in the pleasing pastime of stuffing diamond ornaments¹⁵ into his knapsack. Billy and Reddy followed the leader in the jewel harvest, and all three of the knapsacks were soon filled to capacity and the straps¹⁶ carefully buckled¹⁷.

That left only pockets, jacket lining¹⁸ and such space as could be used between clothing and skin for the coins.

“Remember, fellows,” advised Henri, “that we mustn’t anchor ourselves, for there is some lively effort ahead of us.”

Billy was compelled to acknowledge that he was loaded to the limit at that very moment, and Reddy certainly carried more weight in his clothes than he ever had before or ever did afterward¹⁹.

Shutting down the lid of the chest with a bang,[107] covering again the considerable amount of gold that the boys were compelled to leave, Henri was about to announce departure. An afterthought, however, induced him to lift the lid a second time. He removed the key of the padlock from the hoop²⁰ and tossed the rest of the keys into the chest. Again closing the lid, he snapped the padlock in place and slipped the key into the band of his cap.

“Now we’re off.”

“S-sh!”

Billy turned the dark slide in his lantern. Henri and Reddy followed the cue.

Somebody or something was moving in the passage on the other side of the wall.

That somebody or something suffered a bump of some sort or other—a sound like the overturning of a chair.

Then a muttered oath in French. The somebody or something was human, and French.

The boys backed up into the darkest corner of the treasure house.

The grated window cast only a dim light into the room, but that line streaked²¹ straight across into the opening in the wall directly opposite.

The head and shoulders of a man appeared in the opening!

Even in the half-light Henri recognized the soldier who had lost the flagon and the suspicious[108] tapper on the oak around the fireplace in the dining-hall.

From that panel in the dining-hall to the treasure house Henri, in his haste, had neglected to close the other slides, and even the plate over the stairway behind him.

He had carried a light chair from one of the upper chambers²³ so that he could get back into the treasure house without a boost. It was over this that the trailing chasseur had stumbled, and which also gave the red-trousered sleuth the very clew he needed as to the whereabouts of the mysterious party who had taken the flagon from under his very heels.

Here was a pretty howdy-do for the boys. A soldier, and no doubt an armed soldier, between them and the carrying out of their cherished project.

There was only one way out of the sealed chamber²², and that soldier was in it.

Could Reddy, the fox of the woods, suggest a trick that would win here?

1 amethysts   

n.紫蓝色宝石( amethyst的名词复数 )；紫晶；紫水晶；紫色

参考例句：

• The necklace consisted of amethysts set in gold. 这是一条金镶紫水晶项链。 来自柯林斯例句

2 sapphire   

n.青玉，蓝宝石；adj.天蓝色的

参考例句：

• Now let us consider crystals such as diamond or sapphire.现在让我们考虑象钻石和蓝宝石这样的晶体。
• He left a sapphire ring to her.他留给她一枚蓝宝石戒指。

3 crimson   

n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色

参考例句：

• She went crimson with embarrassment.她羞得满脸通红。
• Maple leaves have turned crimson.枫叶已经红了。

4 ruby   

n.红宝石，红宝石色

参考例句：

• She is wearing a small ruby earring.她戴着一枚红宝石小耳环。
• On the handle of his sword sat the biggest ruby in the world.他的剑柄上镶有一颗世上最大的红宝石。

5 tints   

色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹

参考例句：

• leaves with red and gold autumn tints 金秋时节略呈红黄色的树叶
• The whole countryside glowed with autumn tints. 乡间处处呈现出灿烂的秋色。

6 gems   

growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长

参考例句：

• a crown studded with gems 镶有宝石的皇冠
• The apt citations and poetic gems have adorned his speeches. 贴切的引语和珠玑般的诗句为他的演说词增添文采。

7 shimmering   

v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The sea was shimmering in the sunlight. 阳光下海水波光闪烁。
• The colours are delicate and shimmering. 这些颜色柔和且闪烁微光。 来自辞典例句

8 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

9 bracelet   

n.手镯，臂镯

参考例句：

• The jeweler charges lots of money to set diamonds in a bracelet.珠宝匠要很多钱才肯把钻石镶在手镯上。
• She left her gold bracelet as a pledge.她留下她的金手镯作抵押品。

10 stoutly   

adv.牢固地，粗壮的

参考例句：

• He stoutly denied his guilt.他断然否认自己有罪。
• Burgess was taxed with this and stoutly denied it.伯杰斯为此受到了责难，但是他自己坚决否认有这回事。

11 relish   

n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味

参考例句：

• I have no relish for pop music.我对流行音乐不感兴趣。
• I relish the challenge of doing jobs that others turn down.我喜欢挑战别人拒绝做的工作。

12 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

13 rations   

定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量

参考例句：

• They are provisioned with seven days' rations. 他们得到了7天的给养。
• The soldiers complained that they were getting short rations. 士兵们抱怨他们得到的配给不够数。

14 crumbs   

int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式

参考例句：

• She stood up and brushed the crumbs from her sweater. 她站起身掸掉了毛衣上的面包屑。
• Oh crumbs! Is that the time? 啊，天哪！都这会儿啦？

15 ornaments   

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 )

参考例句：

• The shelves were chock-a-block with ornaments. 架子上堆满了装饰品。
• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments. 一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 straps   

n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• the shoulder straps of her dress 她连衣裙上的肩带
• The straps can be adjusted to suit the wearer. 这些背带可进行调整以适合使用者。

17 buckled   

a. 有带扣的

参考例句：

• She buckled her belt. 她扣上了腰带。
• The accident buckled the wheel of my bicycle. 我自行车的轮子在事故中弄弯了。

18 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

19 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

20 hoop   

n.（篮球）篮圈，篮

参考例句：

• The child was rolling a hoop.那个孩子在滚铁环。
• The wooden tub is fitted with the iron hoop.木盆都用铁箍箍紧。

21 streaked   

adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹

参考例句：

• The children streaked off as fast as they could. 孩子们拔脚飞跑 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• His face was pale and streaked with dirt. 他脸色苍白，脸上有一道道的污痕。 来自辞典例句

22 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

23 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网