7.An odd discovery

　　7
　　An odd discovery
　　If it had not been for Joe, life at Craggy-Tops, once the children had settleddown to their daily tasks, would have been very pleasant. There seemed somuch to do that was fun – swimming in the sheltered cove¹, where the waterwas calm, was simply lovely. Exploring the damp dark caves in the cliffswas fun. Fishing from the rocks with a line was also very exciting, becausequite big fish could be caught that way.
　　But Joe seemed to spoil everything, with his scowls² and continuedinterference. He always seemed to appear wherever the children were. Ifthey bathed, his sour face appeared round the rocks. If they fished, he camescowling out on the rocks and told them they were wasting their time.
　　‘Oh, leave us alone, Joe,’ said Philip impatiently. ‘You act as if you wereour keeper! For goodness’ sake leave us to do what we want to do. We’renot doing any harm.’
　　‘Miss Polly said to me to keep an eye on you all,’ said Joe sulkily. ‘Shesaid to me not to let you get into danger, see.’
　　‘No, I don’t see,’ said Philip crossly. ‘All I can see is that you keeppopping up wherever we are and spoiling things for us. Don’t keep pryingon us. We don’t like it.’
　　Lucy-Ann giggled³. She thought it was brave of Philip to talk to the bigman like that. He certainly was a nuisance. What fun they would have hadif he had been jolly and good-tempered! They could have gone fishing andsailing in his boat. They could have fished properly with him. They couldhave gone out in the car and picnicked.
　　‘But all because he’s so sour and bad-tempered⁴ we can’t do any of thosethings,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘Why, we might even have tried to sail out to theIsle of Gloom to see if there were many birds there, as Jack⁵ so badly wantsto do, if only Joe had been nice.’
　　‘Well, he’s not nice, and we’ll never go to Gloom, and if we did get there,I bet there wouldn’t be any birds on such a desolate⁶ place,’ said Philip.
　　‘Come on – let’s explore that big cave we found yesterday.’
　　It really was fun exploring the caves on the shore. Some of them ran veryfar back into the cliff. Others had holes in the roofs, that led to upper caves.
　　Philip said that in olden times men had used the caves for hiding in, or forstoring smuggled⁷ goods. But there was nothing to be seen in them nowexcept seaweed and empty shells.
　　‘I wish we had a good torch,’ said Jack, as his candle was blown out forthe sixth time that morning. ‘I shall soon have no candles left. If only therewas a shop round the corner where we could slip along and buy a torch! Iasked Joe to get me one when he went shopping in the car, but hewouldn’t.’
　　‘Oooh – here’s a most enormous starfish!’ said Philip, holding his candledown to the floor of the damp cave. ‘Do look – it’s a giant one, I’m sure.’
　　Dinah gave a shriek⁸. She hated creepy-crawly things as much as Philipliked them. ‘Don’t touch it, and don’t bring it near me.’
　　But Philip was a tease, and he picked up the great starfish, with its longfive fingers, and walked over to Dinah with it. She flew into a furious rage.
　　‘You beast! I told you not to bring it near me. I’ll kill it if you do.’
　　‘You can’t kill starfish,’ said Philip. ‘If you cut one in half it grows newfingers, and, hey presto⁹, it is two starfishes instead of one. So there! Have alook at it, Dinah – smell it – feel it.’
　　Philip pushed the great clammy thing near to his sister’s face. Reallyalarmed, Dinah hit out, and gave Philip such a push that he reeled,overbalanced and fell headlong to the floor of the cave. His candle wentout. There was a shout from Philip, then a curious slithering noise – andsilence.
　　‘Hi, Tufty! Are you all right?’ called Jack, and held his candle high. Tohis enormous astonishment¹⁰, Philip had completely disappeared. There wasthe starfish on the seaweedy ground – but no Philip was beside it.
　　The three children stared in the greatest amazement¹¹ at clumps¹² of seaweedhanging from the walls of the cave, spreading over the ground. Whereverhad Philip gone?
　　Dinah was scared. She had certainly meant to give Philip a hard blow –but she hadn’t meant him to disappear off the face of the earth. She gave ayell.
　　‘Philip! Are you hiding? Come out, idiot!’
　　A muffled¹³ voice came from somewhere. ‘Hi! – where am I?’
　　‘That’s Tufty’s voice,’ said Jack. ‘But where is he? He’s nowhere in thiscave.’
　　The children put their three candles together and looked round the small,low-roofed, seaweedy cave. It smelt¹⁴ very dank and musty. Philip’s voicecame again from somewhere, sounding rather frightened.
　　‘I say! Where am I?’
　　Jack advanced cautiously over the slippery seaweed to where Philip hadfallen when Dinah had struck him. Then suddenly he seemed to lose hisfooting, and, to the surprise of the watching girls, he too disappeared,seeming to sink down into the floor of the seaweedy cave.
　　By the wavering light of their two candles the girls tried to see what hadhappened to Jack. Then they saw the explanation of the mystery. The frondsof seaweed hid an opening in the floor of the cave, and when the boys hadput their weight on to the seaweed covering the hole, they had slippedbetween the fronds¹⁵ down into some cave below. How strange!
　　‘That’s where they went,’ said Dinah, pointing to a dark space betweenthe seaweed covering that part of the floor. ‘I hope they haven’t broken theirlegs. However shall we get them out?’
　　Jack had fallen on top of poor Philip, almost squashing him. Kiki, leftbehind in the cave above, let out an ear-piercing screech¹⁶. She hated thesedark caves, but always came with Jack. Now he had suddenly gone, and theparrot was alarmed.
　　‘Shut up, Kiki,’ said Dinah, jumping in fright at the screech. ‘Look,Lucy-Ann, there’s a hole in the cave floor there, just between that thickseaweed. Walk carefully, or you’ll disappear too. Hold up my candle as wellas your own and I’ll see if I can make out exactly what has happened.’
　　What had happened was really quite simple. First Philip had gone downthe hole into a cave below, and then Jack had fallen on top of him. Philipwas feeling frightened and bruised¹⁷. He clutched Jack and wouldn’t let go.
　　‘What’s happened?’ he said.
　　‘Hole in the cave floor,’ said Jack, putting out his hands and feelinground to see how big the cave was they had fallen into. He touched rockywalls on each side of him at once. ‘I say – this is a mighty¹⁸ small cave. Hi,girls, put the candles over the hole so that we can see something.’
　　A lighted candle now appeared above the boys and they were able to seea little.
　　‘We’re not in a cave. We’re in a passage,’ said Jack, astonished. ‘At least,we’re at the beginning of a passage. I wonder where it goes to . . . right intothe cliff, I suppose.’
　　‘Hand us down a candle,’ called Philip, feeling better now. ‘Oh, goodness– here’s Kiki.’
　　‘Can’t you shut the door?’ said Kiki, in a sharp voice, sitting hard onJack’s shoulder, glad to be with her master again. She began to whistle, andthen told herself not to.
　　‘Shut up, Kiki,’ said Jack. ‘Look, Philip – there really is a passageleading up there – awfully¹⁹ dark and narrow. And what a smell there is!
　　Dinah, pass that candle down quickly, do!’
　　Dinah at last managed to hand down a lighted candle. She lay flat on theseaweedy cave floor, and just managed to pass the candle down through thehole. Jack held it up. The dark passage looked mysterious and strange.
　　‘What about exploring it?’ said Philip, feeling excited. ‘It looks as if itought to go below Craggy-Tops itself. It’s a secret passage.’
　　‘More likely a short crack in the cliff rocks that leads nowhere at all,’
　　said Jack. ‘Kiki, don’t peck my ear so hard. We’ll go into the open air soon.
　　Hi, you girls! We think we’ll go up this funny passage. Are you coming?’
　　‘No, thanks,’ said Lucy-Ann at once, who didn’t at all like the sound of aseaweedy passage that ran, dark and narrow, through the cliffs. ‘We’ll stayhere till you come back. Don’t be long. We’ve only got one candle now.
　　Have you some matches in case your candle goes out?’
　　‘Yes,’ said Jack, feeling in his pocket. ‘Well, goodbye for the present.
　　Don’t fall down the hole.’
　　The boys left the dark hole under which they stood and began to maketheir way up the damp passage. The girls could no longer hear their voicesor footsteps. They waited patiently in the cave above, lighted by oneflickering candle. It was cold and they shivered, glad of their warm jerseys²⁰.
　　The boys were a very long time. The two girls became impatient and thenalarmed. What could have happened to them? They peered down the holebetween the great fronds of seaweed and listened. Not a sound could beheard.
　　‘Oh dear – do you think we ought to go after them?’ said Lucy-Anndesperately. She would be frightened to death going up that dark secretpassage, she was sure, and yet if Jack was in need of help she would haveno hesitation²¹ in jumping down and following him.
　　‘Better go and tell Joe and get him to come and help,’ said Dinah. ‘He’dbetter bring a rope, I should think. The boys would never be able to climbup through the hole back into this cave without help.’
　　‘No, don’t let’s tell Joe,’ said Lucy-Ann, who disliked the manthoroughly, and was afraid of him. ‘We’ll wait a bit longer. Maybe thepassage was a very long one.’
　　It was – far longer than the boys expected. It twisted and turned as itwent through the cliff, going upwards²² all the time. It was pitch-dark, and thecandle did not seem to light it very much. The boys bumped their headsagainst the roof every now and again, for it was sometimes only shoulderhigh.
　　It grew drier as it went up. Soon there was no seaweedy smell at all, butthe air felt stale and musty. It was rather difficult to breathe.
　　‘I believe the air is bad here,’ panted Philip, as they went on. ‘I canhardly breathe. Once or twice I thought our candle was going out, Freckles²³.
　　That would mean the air was very bad. Surely we shall come to the end ofthis passage soon.’
　　As he spoke²⁴, the passage went steeply upwards and was cut into roughsteps. It ended abruptly²⁵ in a rocky wall. The boys were puzzled.
　　‘It’s not a real passage, then,’ said Philip, disappointed. ‘Just a crack inthe cliff rocks, as you said. But these do look like rough steps, don’t they?’
　　The light of the candle shone down on to the steps. Yes – someone hadhewn out those steps at one time – but why?
　　Jack held the candle above his head – and gave a shout.
　　‘Look! Isn’t that a trap-door above our heads? That’s where the passageled to – that trap-door! I say – let’s get it open if we can.’
　　Sure enough, there was an old wooden trap-door, closing the exit of thepassage, above their heads. If only they could lift it! Wherever would theyfind themselves?

1 cove   

n.小海湾，小峡谷

参考例句：

• The shore line is wooded,olive-green,a pristine cove.岸边一带林木蓊郁，嫩绿一片，好一个山外的小海湾。
• I saw two children were playing in a cove.我看到两个小孩正在一个小海湾里玩耍。

2 scowls   

不悦之色，怒容( scowl的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• All my attempts to amuse the children were met with sullen scowls. 我想尽办法哄这些孩子玩儿，但是他们总是满脸不高兴。
• Frowns, scowls and grimaces all push people away -- but a smile draws them in. 1. 愁眉苦脸只会把人推开，而微笑却把人吸引过来。

3 giggled   

v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The girls giggled at the joke. 女孩子们让这笑话逗得咯咯笑。
• The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 bad-tempered   

adj.脾气坏的

参考例句：

• He grew more and more bad-tempered as the afternoon wore on.随着下午一点点地过去，他的脾气也越来越坏。
• I know he's often bad-tempered but really,you know,he's got a heart of gold.我知道他经常发脾气，但是，要知道，其实他心肠很好。

5 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

6 desolate   

adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂

参考例句：

• The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
• We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后，我们都觉得万分孤寂。

7 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网

8 shriek   

v./n.尖叫，叫喊

参考例句：

• Suddenly he began to shriek loudly.突然他开始大声尖叫起来。
• People sometimes shriek because of terror,anger,or pain.人们有时会因为恐惧，气愤或疼痛而尖叫。

9 presto   

adv.急速地；n.急板乐段；adj.急板的

参考例句：

• With something so important,you can't just wave a wand and presto!在这么重大的问题上，你想挥动一下指挥棒，转眼就变过来,办不到！
• I just turned the piece of wire in the lock and hey presto,the door opened.我把金属丝伸到锁孔里一拧，嘿，那门就开了。

10 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。

11 amazement   

n.惊奇，惊讶

参考例句：

• All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
• He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。

12 clumps   

n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声

参考例句：

• These plants quickly form dense clumps. 这些植物很快形成了浓密的树丛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bulbs were over. All that remained of them were clumps of brown leaves. 这些鳞茎死了，剩下的只是一丛丛的黃叶子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 muffled   

adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己）

参考例句：

• muffled voices from the next room 从隔壁房间里传来的沉闷声音
• There was a muffled explosion somewhere on their right. 在他们的右面什么地方有一声沉闷的爆炸声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 smelt   

v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼

参考例句：

• Tin is a comparatively easy metal to smelt.锡是比较容易熔化的金属。
• Darby was looking for a way to improve iron when he hit upon the idea of smelting it with coke instead of charcoal.达比一直在寻找改善铁质的方法，他猛然想到可以不用木炭熔炼，而改用焦炭。

15 fronds   

n.蕨类或棕榈类植物的叶子( frond的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You can pleat palm fronds to make huts, umbrellas and baskets. 人们可以把棕榈叶折叠起来盖棚屋，制伞，编篮子。 来自百科语句
• When these breezes reached the platform the palm-fronds would whisper. 微风吹到平台时，棕榈叶片发出簌簌的低吟。 来自辞典例句

16 screech   

n./v.尖叫；(发出)刺耳的声音

参考例句：

• He heard a screech of brakes and then fell down. 他听到汽车刹车发出的尖锐的声音,然后就摔倒了。
• The screech of jet planes violated the peace of the afternoon. 喷射机的尖啸声侵犯了下午的平静。

17 bruised   

[医]青肿的，瘀紫的

参考例句：

• his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
• She had slipped and badly bruised her face. 她滑了一跤，摔得鼻青脸肿。

18 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

19 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

20 jerseys   

n.运动衫( jersey的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The maximum quantity of cotton jerseys this year is about DM25,000. 平方米的羊毛地毯超过了以往的订货。 来自口语例句
• The NBA is mulling the prospect of stitching advertising logos onto jerseys. 大意：NBA官方正在酝酿一个大煞风景的计划——把广告标志绣上球服！ 来自互联网

21 hesitation   

n.犹豫，踌躇

参考例句：

• After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天，他终于直说了。
• There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。

22 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

23 freckles   

n.雀斑，斑点( freckle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She had a wonderful clear skin with an attractive sprinkling of freckles. 她光滑的皮肤上有几处可爱的小雀斑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• When she lies in the sun, her face gets covered in freckles. 她躺在阳光下时，脸上布满了斑点。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

25 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。