Chapter Seven A SUSPENSION BRIDGE

 The General fumed¹ and fussed over the delay caused by the broken wheel.

“It’s just one thing after another,” he grumbled². “If it isn’t one thing it’s something else.”

“Well, General, it won’t do a bit of good to worry,” said Tess Bone, one of the Red Cross Nurses. “We’ll have to do the best we can and that’s all anybody can do—even a Teenie Weenie can’t do more.”

“Of course, of course,” answered the General, as he paced up and down before his tiny tent. “I know it doesn’t do a bit of good to worry, but we must hurry if we ever expect to rescue the Lady of Fashion and the Poet.”

The anxious General had the army up before daylight the next morning. They ate a hurried breakfast and were well on the way before the sun came up. In fact, the Dunce marched nearly an hour before he was fully³ awake.

The big rain of the day before had left many puddles⁴ along the way and the little army often had to splash through them.

With the help of the scouts⁵, the army was able to find the best roads, for the Indian and the Cowboy, mounted on mice, rode ahead and picked out the best path. The Turk was of much help, too, in picking out the best roads, for he was able to see a great distance from the back of his bird airplane.

“General,” said the Cowboy one afternoon as he rode up to the commander of the little army, “I believe there’s more trouble ahead of us.”

“What!” shouted the General. “Great guns, now what’s the trouble?”

“Well, sir, there’s a stream of water and I’m afraid we’ll be forced to march a long way out of our road before we can find a place shallow enough to cross. I talked to a field mouse who seemed to be familiar with the country, and he said there was no place where the stream could be crossed for many miles in each direction.”

“I hope, sir, you were careful not to say where you were going,” said the General. “We are now nearing the land of our enemies and we are liable to meet with a spy at almost any time.”

“I was mighty⁶ careful, sir, and told him nothing that might be used against us,” answered the Cowboy.

The General ordered the Turk to fly up and down the stream on a scouting⁷ trip while the army stopped for lunch. Late in the afternoon the Turk reported to the General that they would have to take a two days’ march out of their road to a place where the stream could be crossed. The army pushed on and shortly after dark stopped near the stream, where camp was made for the night.

The next morning the Doctor, the Old Soldier, Paddy Pinn and the General gathered on the banks of the raging stream to see what plan could be made for crossing the water.

 

The banks were very steep and the water was quite too swift to ford⁸, although the stream was only two feet wide (in our measurement). It was finally determined⁹ that there was nothing to do but build a bridge.

“We can throw a sort of suspension bridge across the stream,” said the Old Soldier, who was quite an engineer. “It will take us about a day and a half to do the work, but we will save time, for it would take fully two or three days to march to a place where we could cross without a bridge.”

The war council thought the Old Soldier’s idea a good one and the General ordered the men to start work at once. Pulleys and ropes were brought out of the army wagons¹⁰ and some big logs for supports were cut from a bush near by. Several cattails, which grew near the stream, were sawed up into logs for the floor of the bridge. The bird airplane carried the workmen and ropes to the other side of the stream, where work was soon started on a bridge fifty-two Teenie Weenie feet long.

1 fumed   

愤怒( fume的过去式和过去分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟

参考例句：

• He fumed with rage because she did not appear. 因为她没出现，所以他大发雷霆。
• He fumed and fretted and did not know what was the matter. 他烦躁，气恼，不知是怎么回事。

2 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：

• He grumbled at the low pay offered to him. 他抱怨给他的工资低。
• The heat was sweltering, and the men grumbled fiercely over their work. 天热得让人发昏，水手们边干活边发着牢骚。

3 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

4 puddles   

n.水坑， （尤指道路上的）雨水坑( puddle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The puddles had coalesced into a small stream. 地面上水洼子里的水汇流成了一条小溪。
• The road was filled with puddles from the rain. 雨后路面到处是一坑坑的积水。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

6 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

7 scouting   

守候活动，童子军的活动

参考例句：

• I have people scouting the hills already. 我已经让人搜过那些山了。
• Perhaps also from the Gospel it passed into the tradition of scouting. 也许又从《福音书》传入守望的传统。 来自演讲部分

8 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

9 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

10 wagons   

n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车

参考例句：

• The wagons were hauled by horses. 那些货车是马拉的。
• They drew their wagons into a laager and set up camp. 他们把马车围成一圈扎起营地。