XXV. Peter Rabbit Makes a Discovery

 Hardly had jolly, round, red Mr. Sun thrown off his nightcap and come out from his home behind the Purple Hills for his daily climb up in the blue, blue sky, when Farmer Brown's boy started down the Lone¹ Little Path through the Green Forest.

 

Peter Rabbit, who had been out all night and was just then on his way home, saw him. Peter stopped and sat up to rub his eyes and look again. He wasn't quite sure that he had seen aright the first time. But he had. There was Farmer Brown's boy, sure enough, and at his heels trotted² Bowser the Hound.

 

Peter Rabbit rubbed his eyes once more and wrinkled up his eyebrows³. Farmer Brown's boy certainly had a gun over one shoulder and a spade over the other. Where could he be going down the Lone Little Path with a spade? Farmer Brown's garden certainly was not in that direction. Peter watched him out of sight and then he hurried down to the Green Meadows to tell Johnny Chuck what he had seen. My, how Peter's long legs did fly! He was so excited that he had forgotten how sleepy he had felt a few minutes before.

 

Halfway⁴ down to Johnny Chuck's house, Peter Rabbit almost ran plump into Bobby Coon and Jimmy Skunk⁵, who had been quarreling and were calling each other names. They stopped when they saw Peter Rabbit.

 

      “Peter Rabbit runs away

        From his shadder, so they say.

      Peter, Peter, what a sight!

        Tell us why this sudden fright,”

 

 

shouted Bobby Coon.

 

Peter Rabbit stopped short. Indeed, he stopped so short that he almost turned a somersault. “Say,” he panted, “I've just seen Farmer Brown's boy.”

 

“You don't say so!” said Jimmy Skunk, pretending to be very much surprised. “You don't say so! Why, now I think of it, I believe I've seen Farmer Brown's boy a few times myself.”

 

Peter Rabbit made a good-natured face at Jimmy Skunk, and then he told all about how he had seen Farmer Brown's boy with gun and spade and Bowser the Hound going down the Lone Little Path. “You know there isn't any garden down that way,” he concluded.

 

Bobby Coon's face wore a sober look. Yes, Sir, all the fun was gone from Bobby Coon's face.

 

“What's the matter?” asked Jimmy Skunk.

 

“I was just thinking that Reddy Fox lives over in that direction and he is so stiff that he cannot run,” replied Bobby Coon.

 

Jimmy Skunk hitched⁶ up his trousers and started toward the Lone Little Path. “Come on!” said he. “Let's follow him and see what he is about.”

 

Bobby Coon followed at once, but Peter Rabbit said he would hurry over and get Johnny Chuck and then join the others.

 

All this time Farmer Brown's boy had been hurrying down the Lone Little Path to the home old Granny Fox and Reddy Fox had moved out of the night before. Of course, he didn't know that they had moved. He put down his gun, and by the time Jimmy Skunk and Bobby Coon and Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck reached a place where they could peep out and see what was going on, he had dug a great hole.

 

“Oh!” cried Peter Rabbit, “he's digging into the house of Reddy Fox, and he'll catch poor Reddy!”

 

1 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

2 trotted   

小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走

参考例句：

• She trotted her pony around the field. 她骑着小马绕场慢跑。
• Anne trotted obediently beside her mother. 安妮听话地跟在妈妈身边走。

3 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

4 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

5 skunk   

n.臭鼬，黄鼠狼；v.使惨败，使得零分；烂醉如泥

参考例句：

• That was a rotten thing to do, you skunk!那种事做得太缺德了，你这卑鄙的家伙！
• The skunk gives off an unpleasant smell when attacked.受到攻击时臭鼬会发出一种难闻的气味。

6 hitched   

（免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上

参考例句：

• They hitched a ride in a truck. 他们搭乘了一辆路过的货车。
• We hitched a ride in a truck yesterday. 我们昨天顺便搭乘了一辆卡车。