Chapter Nineteen THE OLD SOLDIER’S WAR MACHINE

 At exactly four o’clock the next morning the mole¹ came into camp, and as the General had promised, his breakfast was ready. After the mole had eaten his grubs, he reported for work. The General showed the mole just where he wanted the tunnel to run and immediately the old fellow set to work. He burrowed² his nose down into the soft ground and then pushed the loosened earth back with his powerful fore³ claws. He worked wonderfully fast and in less than a minute he had entirely⁴ disappeared into the ground.

All day long the mole worked, coming out only for a few minutes at noon to eat his lunch, and at half past five in the afternoon he again appeared to announce that the tunnel had been finished.

The General sent the Sailor into the tunnel to measure it, for he wanted to be quite sure that it reached a point just under the wild men’s fort.

“It’s just exactly eight hundred and fifty-eight feet long,” announced the Sailor when he crawled out of the tunnel a few minutes later. “I could hear the wild men walking on the ground above, so it must stop right in the middle of the fort.”

“’Course it does,” snapped the mole. “Don’t you suppose I know how to dig?”

When the mole had been paid for his work, he slipped off into the night without ever even thanking the Teenie Weenies for his pay.

“Queer old surly fellow,” said the General as he watched the awkward mole waddle⁵ off.

“Yes, but you have to admit that he is a wonderful engineer,” observed the Old Soldier.

“Well, gentlemen,” said the General turning to his officers, “we have got to move our lines forward. You see, we are about eight hundred and fifty feet from the wild men’s fort and it is quite necessary that trenches⁶ be built forward so we will not have too great a distance to charge when we explode the mine under the enemy’s fort.”

The officers all agreed with the General and that very night several men were sent out, when it was quite dark, to start the work.

The little soldiers had gone but a short distance when they were seen by the wild men, who sent a shower of arrows at them, and Gogo was slightly scratched on the arm, while one of the wild men’s arrows splintered the Old Soldier’s wooden leg, so the General ordered the work stopped for the time being.

The Old Soldier was quite an engineer and when he had whittled⁸ out a new wooden leg, he set to work trying to scheme out some way by which the men could dig the trenches without being hit by the wild men’s arrows.

“I have it,” he cried after he had puzzled over the matter for a time. “We can make a big screen out of sticks, one that is quite arrow-proof.”

“How are you going to move it?” asked the Turk. “It will be too heavy for the men to carry.”

 

“That will be easy,” smiled the Old Soldier. “There’s a spool⁹ of thread among our supplies and all we have to do is to remove the thread and—”

“Use the spool as a sort of wheel to roll the screen on,” put in the Cook.

“Right,” laughed the Old Soldier. “We can push it ahead of us on the spool and be quite safe from the wild men’s arrows.”

The General ordered the screen made and at once, under the watchful¹⁰ eye of the Old Soldier, the men set to work building it. In a remarkably¹¹ short time the screen was finished and early the next morning the Old Soldier, with six chosen men, started to push it toward the wild men’s fort.

 

As soon as the wild men saw the screen coming toward them, they let fly a shower of arrows, but they either stuck fast in the screen or flew harmlessly over the soldier’s heads.

“Great Guns!” cried the Old Soldier when the little party had pushed the screen quite a ways toward the wild men’s fort. “We forgot to bring along the picks and shovels¹².”

“I’ll get ’em, Captain,” said the Dunce, saluting¹³ the Old Soldier and hardly waiting for the officer’s permission, the Dunce ran for the trench⁷ which they had just left, as fast as his legs would carry him.

The Dunce grabbed up three picks and with the help of the Chinaman who volunteered to go along, the two brave Teenie Weenies ran for the screen amid the flying arrows which whizzed all about them.

All day long the men worked hard, pulling the screen along as they dug back toward the Teenie Weenie trench, and at night, six other soldiers took up the work where the rest left off. Several days of hard labor¹⁴ finished the work and not one Teenie Weenie had been shot, thanks to the Old Soldier’s screen.

 

1 mole   

n.胎块；痣；克分子

参考例句：

• She had a tiny mole on her cheek.她的面颊上有一颗小黑痣。
• The young girl felt very self- conscious about the large mole on her chin.那位年轻姑娘对自己下巴上的一颗大痣感到很不自在。

2 burrowed   

v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的过去式和过去分词 )；翻寻

参考例句：

• The rabbits burrowed into the hillside. 兔子在山腰上打洞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She burrowed her head into my shoulder. 她把头紧靠在我的肩膀上。 来自辞典例句

3 fore   

adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部

参考例句：

• Your seat is in the fore part of the aircraft.你的座位在飞机的前部。
• I have the gift of fore knowledge.我能够未卜先知。

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 waddle   

vi.摇摆地走；n.摇摆的走路(样子)

参考例句：

• I am pregnant.I waddle awkwardly and my big stomach pressed against the weight of the world. 我怀孕了，我滑稽可笑地瞒珊而行，大肚子上压着全世界的重量。
• We waddle and hop and have lots of fun.我们走起路来摇摇摆摆，还一跳一跳的。我们的生活很有趣。

6 trenches   

深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕

参考例句：

• life in the trenches 第一次世界大战期间的战壕生活
• The troops stormed the enemy's trenches and fanned out across the fields. 部队猛攻敌人的战壕，并在田野上呈扇形散开。

7 trench   

n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕

参考例句：

• The soldiers recaptured their trench.兵士夺回了战壕。
• The troops received orders to trench the outpost.部队接到命令在前哨周围筑壕加强防卫。

8 whittled   

v.切，削（木头），使逐渐变小( whittle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He whittled a simple toy from the piece of wood. 他把那块木头削成了一个简易的玩具。
• The government's majority has been whittled down to eight. 政府多数票减少到了八票。

9 spool   

n.（缠录音带等的）卷盘（轴）；v.把…绕在卷轴上

参考例句：

• Can you wind this film back on to its spool?你能把这胶卷卷回到卷轴上去吗？
• Thomas squatted on the forward deck,whistling tunelessly,polishing the broze spool of the anchor winch.托马斯蹲在前甲板上擦起锚绞车的黄铜轴，边擦边胡乱吹着口哨。

10 watchful   

adj.注意的，警惕的

参考例句：

• The children played under the watchful eye of their father.孩子们在父亲的小心照看下玩耍。
• It is important that health organizations remain watchful.卫生组织保持警惕是极为重要的。

11 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

12 shovels   

n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份

参考例句：

• workmen with picks and shovels 手拿镐铲的工人
• In the spring, we plunge shovels into the garden plot, turn under the dark compost. 春天，我们用铁锨翻开园子里黑油油的沃土。 来自辞典例句

13 saluting   

v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂

参考例句：

• 'Thank you kindly, sir,' replied Long John, again saluting. “万分感谢，先生。”高个子约翰说着又行了个礼。 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• He approached the young woman and, without saluting, began at once to converse with her. 他走近那年青女郎，马上就和她攀谈起来了，连招呼都不打。 来自辞典例句

14 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。