XVI JOHNNIE GREEN'S INITIALS

 Timothy Turtle found himself in a very uncomfortable position, staked out as he was on the bank of Black Creek¹, with one rope about his body and another about his neck.

 

And even then Johnnie Green was not satisfied. Though his friend Red insisted that their captive could do them no harm (saying, "How can he bite when he can't move his head?") Johnnie Green replied that he would "fix him" so there couldn't possibly be any accident. And taking the old grain-sack he had brought back with him, he wrapped it carefully around Timothy'sp. 76 head, till he looked for all the world as if he had the earache².

 

"There!" Johnnie Green said, when he had finished. "He'll have to bite through that bag before he bites us; and I guess he'll find he has a pretty big mouthful."

 

Then he pulled out his jackknife and felt its sharp edge with his thumb.

 

"Lemme do it for you!" Red begged him, holding out his hand for the knife.

 

But Johnnie Green had no such idea.

 

"No!" he said firmly. "I've got to cut my initials myself."

 

"He might get loose and grab you," the red-haired boy remarked hopefully.

 

But Johnnie Green told him that he would risk that.

 

"Which way are you going to cut them?" Red asked him.

 

"What do you mean?" Johnnie inquired.p. 77

 

"Are you going to make 'em read when he's going or coming?" Red explained.

 

"I hadn't thought of that," Johnnie Green replied. "But I guess going would be better. Then if he stands up you can read 'em just the same, without any trouble."

 

So Johnnie kneeled down beside Timothy Turtle. It took him some time to decide just where he would carve his initials on Timothy's shell. And he had about decided³ that the best place to put his mark on Mr. Turtle's back would be exactly in the middle of it, when he cried all at once, "Look, Red! Look!"

 

"Whassamatter?" the red-haired boy wanted to know.

 

"This is the queerest thing I ever heard of!" Johnnie exclaimed. "Here are my initials already cut!"

 

Red could not believe him, until he hadp. 78 peered at Timothy's shell himself. And then he saw that what Johnnie had said was true.

 

"There's a date, too," Johnnie pointed⁴ out. And he read it aloud. "That's more'n thirty years ago," he declared.

 

But the red-haired boy laughed boisterously⁵.

 

"Shucks!" he jeered⁶. "Somebody's been playin' a joke on you. Somebody knew you were lookin' for this old turtle and put your initials and that old date on him just to puzzle you."

 

Johnnie Green didn't know exactly what to think. But probably he was no more upset than was Timothy Turtle, who was not having a good time at all.

 

"I don't care if some one did catch this turtle first," Johnnie said at last. "I'm going to carve my mark on him just the same."p. 79

 

So he began to cut "J. G." in the exact center of the back of Timothy Turtle, much to that old fellow's rage.

 

And when Johnnie Green had finished the letters he cut the date below them.

 

"What you goin' to do with him now?" Red asked Johnnie then.

 

"Turn him loose!" Johnnie replied.

 

"Aw—don't do that! Lemme have him!" Red coaxed⁷.

 

Johnnie Green said that he was sorry—but he intended to set his captive free, just as he had planned.

 

He soon found that turning Mr. Turtle loose was no easy matter. Strange to say, Timothy Turtle did nothing to help. On the contrary, he made the task as hard as he could for Johnnie Green, trying his best to bite that young man.

 

In the end Johnnie had to cut the rope that held Timothy's head. And when thatp. 80 furious old fellow at last found himself in Black Creek once more he still wore a noose⁸ of rope, like a collar, around his neck.

 

When Johnnie Green told his father about his adventure with Timothy Turtle, he had a great surprise. Farmer Green said that when he was just about Johnnie's age he had cut his initials on a turtle, down by the creek.

 

Now, since Johnnie was named for his father, their initials had to be alike. So the J. G.—and the old date—that Johnnie had found must have been carved by Farmer Green when he was a youngster.

 

Somehow, Johnnie found it very hard to imagine that his father had ever been a boy like himself and had spent his time playing near the creek, and carving⁹ his initials on the back of a turtle.p. 81

 

"How old do you suppose that turtle is?" he asked his father.

 

"Oh, he must be a regular old settler," Farmer Green declared. "He may have been around here when your grandfather was a boy, for all I know."

 

"Do you really believe that?" Johnnie exclaimed.

 

"Well," his father answered, "there's only one way to find out."

 

"What's that?" Johnnie inquired eagerly.

 

"Ask Mr. Turtle himself," Farmer Green replied with a smile.

1 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

2 earache   

n.耳朵痛

参考例句：

• I have been having an earache for about a week.我的耳朵已经痛了一个星期了。
• I've had an earache for the past few days.我耳痛好几天了。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

5 boisterously   

adv.喧闹地，吵闹地

参考例句：

• They burst boisterously into the room. 他们吵吵嚷嚷地闯入房间。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Drums and gongs were beating boisterously. 锣鼓敲打得很热闹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 jeered   

v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The police were jeered at by the waiting crowd. 警察受到在等待的人群的嘲弄。
• The crowd jeered when the boxer was knocked down. 当那个拳击手被打倒时，人们开始嘲笑他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 coaxed   

v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱

参考例句：

• She coaxed the horse into coming a little closer. 她哄着那匹马让它再靠近了一点。
• I coaxed my sister into taking me to the theatre. 我用好话哄姐姐带我去看戏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 noose   

n.绳套，绞索（刑）；v.用套索捉；使落入圈套；处以绞刑

参考例句：

• They tied a noose round her neck.他们在她脖子上系了一个活扣。
• A hangman's noose had already been placed around his neck.一个绞刑的绳圈已经套在他的脖子上。

9 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。