Chapter Twenty THE DUNCE LOOKS FOR EXCITEMENT

 From the new trenches¹ the Teenie Weenies could see the wild men’s fort plainly. The little soldiers had to be very careful, however, for every time they showed themselves the wild men would let fly a shower of arrows. The soldiers thought it great fun to put their hats on sticks and push them out in sight of the wild men. At first this brought a tremendous number of arrows, but finally the wild men caught onto the trick and only an occasional arrow would fly at the exposed hat.

The men took turns guarding the front trenches. It was very tiresome² work sitting in the narrow ditch waiting for something to happen and most of the soldiers would have welcomed the order to storm the wild men’s fort.

“I can’t see why the General doesn’t get busy and take the fort,” growled³ the Scotchman one afternoon. Several of the men, who were off duty, were lying in a mossy place under some big ferns, discussing the matter. “We’ve got everything ready for the attack, the men are more than anxious to go into action and we could lick the stuffin’ out of the Saboes.”

“Keep cool, Scotty; we’ll get a chance soon enough,” said the Turk, who was very quiet and always took things calmly. “The General knows what he’s about and when he gets his plans ready, we’ll get all the excitement we want.”

 

“Excitement!” exclaimed the Dunce. “That’s me. I’ve got to have some excitement; I’m sick and tired of sittin’ around here without anything doin’.”

“Let’s get our guns and go out and see if we can’t shoot some dragon flies or mosquitoes,” suggested the Sailor.

“Nah, that ain’t dangerous enough,” answered the Dunce. “I want to do something that will give me a thrill,” and getting up he slowly walked towards the tall grass near the Teenie Weenie camp.

The General had given orders that none of the soldiers should leave camp, for the grass was so tangled⁴ and thick that it would be an easy thing to get lost and, besides, the savage⁵ wild men might be hiding behind the thick stalks of grass.

“Jinks!” thought the Dunce as he peered into the dense⁶ grass, “the General wouldn’t scold me if I happened to stroll out there and capture a wild man.”

After some minutes of thought, the Dunce hurried to his tent, got his gun and sneaked⁷ unseen out of camp into the dark grass. He stumbled along for some time without making much headway, for the stalks of grass grew close together and the dead leaves tangled about his feet at almost every step. Presently he came to an open spot near the edge of the island, where he found walking much easier, but he had gone only a short distance when he suddenly saw four wild men ahead of him.

“Throw up your hands—you’re surrounded!” shouted the Dunce, pointing his gun towards them.

The wild men, not understanding the Teenie Weenie language, started running towards the Dunce with loud yells.

The poor Dunce was so badly frightened he forgot to fire his gun and turning about he ran as fast as his short legs could carry him towards the Teenie Weenie camp.

The army aviator⁸, who happened to be scouting⁹ above the shore of the island, saw the Dunce being chased by the wild men.

“Quick!” he shouted to the bird on which he flew. “Fly just as close as you can to the Dunce and I’ll grab him as we sail by.”

The bird flew straight for the ground and holding tight to its neck, the aviator grabbed the Dunce by the collar and snatched him from the very hands of the wild men.

The Turk pulled the frightened Dunce up on the bird’s back and a few minutes later they landed safely in the Teenie Weenie camp.

“Well, sir,” said the General when he had heard the Turk’s story of the rescue, “what were you doing outside the camp without permission to go out?”

“I-I-I-I j-j-just wanted s-s-some excitement and I-I-I-I thought I’d go out and s-s-see if I-I-I couldn’t capture a wild man,” stammered¹⁰ the frightened Dunce.

“Well, did you capture any of them?” asked the General with a wink¹¹ at the Old Soldier.

“W-w-w-well, I-I surrounded f-f-four of ’em, but they wouldn’t stay surrounded and they started to chase me, so I-I-I had to r-r-run.”

“Well, did you get any excitement?” smiled the General.

“Oh, yes, sir, I-I-I got more than I-I-I was looking for.”

“Well, sir,” said the General, “I hope you got enough excitement to last you for a long time. You are guilty of an act of leaving camp without permission and I find it necessary to place you under arrest.”

The poor Dunce was marched off between four soldiers to the tiny guard house, where he was left to think over his disobedience.

 

 

The army aviator snatches the Dunce from the hands of the Wild Men.—Chapter Twenty.

1 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。

2 tiresome   

adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的

参考例句：

• His doubts and hesitations were tiresome.他的疑惑和犹豫令人厌烦。
• He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors.他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜，令人生厌。

3 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

5 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

6 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

7 sneaked   

v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状

参考例句：

• I sneaked up the stairs. 我蹑手蹑脚地上了楼。
• She sneaked a surreptitious glance at her watch. 她偷偷看了一眼手表。

8 aviator   

n.飞行家，飞行员

参考例句：

• The young aviator bragged of his exploits in the sky.那名年轻的飞行员吹嘘他在空中飞行的英勇事迹。
• Hundreds of admirers besieged the famous aviator.数百名爱慕者围困那个著名飞行员。

9 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

10 stammered   

v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He stammered most when he was nervous. 他一紧张往往口吃。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Barsad leaned back in his chair, and stammered, \"What do you mean?\" 巴萨往椅背上一靠，结结巴巴地说，“你是什么意思？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

11 wink   

n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁

参考例句：

• He tipped me the wink not to buy at that price.他眨眼暗示我按那个价格就不要买。
• The satellite disappeared in a wink.瞬息之间，那颗卫星就消失了。