XV FATTY VISITS THE SMOKE-HOUSE

 The winter was fast going. And one fine day in February Fatty Coon crept¹ out of his mother's house to enjoy the warm sunshine—and see what he could find to eat.

 

Fatty was much thinner than he had been in the fall. He had spent so much of the time sleeping that he had really eaten very little. And now he hardly knew himself as he looked at his sides. They no longer stuck out as they had once.

 

After nosing about the swamp² and the woods all the afternoon Fatty decided³ that there was no use in trying to get a meal there. The ground was covered with snow. And except for rabbit tracks—and a few squirrels'—he could find nothing that even suggested food. And looking at those tracks only made him hungrier than ever.

 

For a few minutes Fatty thought deeply. And then he turned about and went straight toward⁴ Farmer Green's place. He waited behind the fence just beyond Farmer Green's house; and when it began to grow dark he crept across the barnyard.

 

As Fatty passed a small, low building he noticed a delicious smell. And he stopped right there. He had gone far enough. The door was open a little way. And after one quick look all around—to make sure there was nobody to see him—Fatty slipped inside.

 

It was almost dark inside Farmer Green's smokehouse—for that was what the small, low building was called. It was almost dark; but Fatty could see just as well as you and I can see in the daytime. There was a long row of hams hung up in a line. Underneath⁵ them were white ashes, where Farmer Green had built wood fires, to smoke the hams. But the fires were out, now; and Fatty was in no danger of being burned.

 

The hams were what Fatty Coon had smelled. And the hams were what Fatty intended to eat. He decided that he would eat them all—though of course he could never have done that—at least, not in one night; nor in a week, either. But when it came to eating, Fatty's courage never failed him. He would have tried to eat an elephant, if he had had the chance.

 

Fatty did not stop to look long at that row of hams. He climbed a post that ran up the side of the house and he crept out along the pole from which the hams were hung.

 

He stopped at the very first ham he came to. There was no sense in going any further. And Fatty dropped on top of the ham and in a twinkling⁶ he had torn off a big, delicious mouthful.

 

Fatty could not eat fast enough. He wished he had two mouths—he was so hungry. But he did very well, with only ONE. In no time at all he had made a great hole in the ham. And he had no idea of stopping. But he did stop. He stopped very suddenly. For the first thing he knew, something threw him right down upon the floor. And the ham fell on top of him and nearly knocked him senseless.

 

He choked and spluttered; for the ashes filled his mouth and his eyes, and his ears, too. For a moment he lay there on his back; but soon he managed to kick the heavy ham off his stomach and then he felt a little better. But he was terribly frightened. And though his eyes smarted so he could hardly see, he sprang up and found the doorway⁷.

 

Fatty swallowed a whole mouthful of ashes as he dashed across the barnyard. And he never stopped running until he was almost home. He was puzzled. Try as he would, he couldn't decide what it was that had flung⁸ him upon the floor. And when he told his mother about his adventure—as he did a whole month later—she didn't know exactly what had happened, either.

 

"It was some sort of trap, probably," Mrs. Coon said.

 

But for once Mrs. Coon was mistaken.

 

It was very simple. In his greedy haste⁹ Fatty had merely bitten through the cord¹⁰ that fastened the ham to the pole. And of course it had at once fallen, carrying Fatty with it!

 

But what do you suppose? Afterward¹¹, when Fatty had grown up, and had children of his own, he often told them about the time he had escaped from the trap in Farmer Green's smokehouse.

 

Fatty's children thought it very exciting. It was their favorite story.

And they made their father tell it over and over again.

1 crept   

v.蹑手蹑足地走( creep的过去式和过去分词 )；缓慢地行进；爬行；匍匐

参考例句：

• I crept up the stairs, trying not to wake my parents. 为了尽量不吵醒父母，我蹑手蹑脚地上了楼。
• He had crept up on his unsuspecting victim from behind. 他从背后悄悄逼近了那毫无戒备的受害者。

2 swamp   

n.沼泽，湿地；v.淹没，陷于沼泽

参考例句：

• The swamp teems with mosquitoes.这片沼泽地蚊子多极了。
• The water in the swamp is foul.沼泽中的水很臭。

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 toward   

prep.对于，关于，接近，将近，向，朝

参考例句：

• Suddenly I saw a tall figure approaching toward the policeman.突然间我看到一个高大的身影朝警察靠近。
• Upon seeing her,I smiled and ran toward her. 看到她我笑了，并跑了过去。

5 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

6 twinkling   

n.闪烁；眨眼间；诙谐的闪光；一刹那adj.闪烁的，闪亮的，闪耀的v.闪烁( twinkle的现在分词 )；（眼睛）闪亮；（经光照耀而）闪闪发光；（舞蹈者的双脚）轻快地移动

参考例句：

• A galaxy of twinkling stars matched the thousands of sparkling city lights. 闪烁的繁星与城内闪耀的万家灯火交相辉映。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• That's fantastic. He's vanished in the twinkling of an eye. 他怎么一转眼就不见了，真见鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

8 flung   

（尤指生气地）扔( fling的过去式和过去分词 )； 猛动（身体或身体部位）； 粗暴地（向某人）说； 气势汹汹地（对某人）说

参考例句：

• expeditions to the far-flung corners of the world 去世界偏远地方的探险
• Someone had flung a brick through the window. 有人把一块砖扔进了窗户。

9 haste   

n.匆忙，急速；草率；v.赶快；匆忙

参考例句：

• In his blind haste he almost ran into the river.他匆匆忙忙地几乎跑到河里去了。
• The contract says the work must be completed with all possible haste.合同上写明这项工作必须尽快完成。

10 cord   

n.绳，线；纺织品；小电线；腱

参考例句：

• I wear a safety cord all the time.我一直带着安全绳索。
• I pulled the cord,and I felt a strong jerk.拉住绳索，我强烈的恐惧。

11 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。