13.Joe is tricked again

　　13
　　Joe is tricked again
　　Joe thought about the mystery of the children being in the town, with, as faras he knew, no possible way of getting there – except by walking, and thisthey had not had time to do. He came to the conclusion that they must knowsomeone who gave them a lift there.
　　So he set himself to watch the children closely. He managed to find jobsthat always took him near them. If they went down to the shore, he wouldbe there, collecting driftwood. If they stayed in the house, he stayed too. Ifthey went up on the cliff, Joe followed. It was most annoying for thechildren.
　　‘He’ll follow us and find out about Bill Smugs and his boat and car,’ saidLucy-Ann. ‘We haven’t been able to go and see him at all today – and if hegoes on like this we shan’t be able to go tomorrow either.’
　　It was impossible to give Joe the slip. He was very clever at keeping awatch on the children, and soon they grew angry. The two girls went up intothe tower-room with the boys that night and discussed the matter together.
　　‘I know,’ said Jack¹ suddenly. ‘I know how we can give him the slipproperly, and puzzle him terribly.’
　　‘How?’ asked the others.
　　‘Why, we’ll all go into the caves,’ said Jack. ‘And we’ll slip down thehole into the secret passage, and go up to Craggy-Tops cellar, slip out ofthere whilst Joe is waiting down on the beach for us, and go over the cliffsto Bill.’
　　‘Oooh, that is a good idea,’ said Philip. The girls were doubtful about it,for they neither of them liked the idea of the secret passage very much. Still– they all had torches now, and it would be a good chance to use them.
　　So next day, with Joe close on their heels, the four children and Kikiwent down to the beach.
　　‘Joe, for goodness’ sake leave us alone,’ said Philip. ‘We’re going intothe caves, and no harm can come to us there. Go away!’
　　‘Miss Polly said I was to keep an eye on you,’ repeated Joe. He had toldthe children this times without number, but they knew it wasn’t the realreason. Joe enjoyed making himself a nuisance. He wanted to poke² his noseinto everything they did.
　　They went into the caves. Joe wandered outside, putting driftwood intohis sack. The children all slipped down the hole that led to the secretpassage, and then, with their torches switched on, they made their wayalong it.
　　The girls didn’t like it at all. They hated the smell, and when they foundthat in one part it was difficult to breathe, they stopped.
　　‘Well, it’s no good going back,’ said Philip, giving Dinah a shove tomake her go on. ‘We’ve come more than halfway³ now. Do go on, Dinah.
　　You’re holding us up.’
　　‘Don’t push!’ said Dinah. ‘I shall stop if I want to.’
　　‘Oh, shut up arguing, you two,’ groaned⁴ Jack. ‘I believe you’d start aquarrel if you were in a ship that was just about to sink, or an aeroplaneabout to crash. Get on, Dinah, we’ll be out soon.’
　　Dinah was about to start an argument with Jack too, when Kiki gave amournful cough, so exactly like Joe’s that the children at first thought theman must have found the passage, and all of them, Dinah as well, hurriedforward at once.
　　‘It’s all right – it was only that wretch⁵ Kiki,’ said Jack, relieved, as Kikicoughed again. They pushed on, and at last came to the end of the passage.
　　They all stared at the trap-door above their heads, brightly lit by the light oftheir four torches.
　　Up it went, and over with a crash. The boys climbed up to the cellar floorand then helped the girls up. They shut the trap-door, went to the cellardoor, which was shut, and pushed it open. The boxes on the other side fellover again with a familiar crashing noise.
　　The children went through the door, shut it, piled the boxes up again, andthen went up the cellar steps to the big kitchen. No one was there. That waslucky.
　　Out they went, and up to the cliff. Keeping to the path, where they werewell hidden from the shore below, they hurried off to find their friend BillSmugs. They grinned to think of Joe waiting down on the beach for them tocome out of the caves.
　　Bill Smugs was tinkering with his boat. He waved cheerily as they cameup.
　　‘Hallo,’ he said, ‘why didn’t you come and see me yesterday? I missedyou.’
　　‘It was because of Joe,’ said Jack. ‘He keeps following us around like ashadow. I think he probably suspects we have a friend who has a car, and hemeans to find out who it is.’
　　‘Well, don’t tell him anything,’ said Bill quickly. ‘Keep things toyourself. I don’t want him prying⁶ around here. He doesn’t sound at all anice person.’
　　‘What are you doing to your boat?’ asked Jack. ‘Are you going out in it?’
　　‘I thought I would,’ said Bill. ‘It’s a fine day, the sea is fairly calm, yetthere’s a nice breeze – and I half thought I might sail near to the Isle⁷ ofGloom.’
　　There was an excited silence. The Isle of Gloom! All the children wantedto see it close to – and Jack badly wanted to land there. If only Bill wouldtake them with him!
　　Jack looked out to the west. He could not see the island, for once againthere was a low heat haze⁸ on the sea. But he knew exactly where it was. Hisheart beat fast. The Great Auk might be there. Anyway, even if it wasn’t, allkinds of other sea-birds would be there – and probably as tame as anything.
　　He could take his camera – he could . . .
　　‘Bill – please, please take us with you!’ begged Lucy-Ann. ‘Oh, do!
　　We’ll be very good, and you know, now that you have taught us how to saila boat, we can really help.’
　　‘Well – I meant to take you,’ said Bill, lighting⁹ a cigarette, and smilinground at the children. ‘I wanted to go yesterday, and when you didn’t come,I put the trip off till today. We’ll go this afternoon, and take our tea with us.
　　You’ll have to give Joe the slip again. He mustn’t see you sailing in my boator he’d probably try to stop you.’
　　‘Oh, Bill! We’ll be along first thing this afternoon,’ said Jack, his eyesgleaming very green.
　　‘Thanks most awfully,’ said Philip.
　　‘Shall we really see the Isle of Gloom close to?’ asked Lucy-Ann, inexcitement.
　　‘Can’t we land there?’ said Dinah.
　　‘I don’t think so,’ said Bill. ‘You see, there is a ring of dangerous rocksaround it, and although there may once have been a passage somewherethrough them, and possibly is now, for all I know, I don’t know where it is.
　　I’m not going to risk drowning you all.’
　　‘Oh,’ said the children, disappointed. They would have been quite willingto run the risk of being drowned, for the sake of trying to land on the badisle.
　　‘You’d better go back and have an early lunch, if your aunt will let youhave it,’ said Bill. ‘I don’t want to be too late in starting. The tide will helpus, if we get off fairly early.’
　　‘All right,’ said the four, jumping up from the rocks at once. ‘Goodbyetill this afternoon, Bill. We’ll bring tea with us – as nice as we can, toreward you for waiting for us.’
　　They set off home again, talking eagerly of the coming trip. Joe had saidso many frightening things about the desolate¹⁰ island that the childrencouldn’t help feeling excited at the idea of seeing it.
　　‘I wonder if Joe is still on the beach, watching for us outside the caves,’
　　said Jack. The children went cautiously to the edge of the cliff and peepedover. Yes – he was still down there. What a sell for him!
　　They went to Craggy-Tops and found Aunt Polly. ‘Aunt, could wepossibly have an early lunch, and then go off and take our tea with us?’
　　asked Philip. ‘Will it be any trouble? We’ll help to get the lunch, and wedon’t mind what we have.’
　　‘There’s a cold pie in the larder,’ said Aunt Polly considering. ‘And sometomatoes. And there are some stewed¹¹ plums. Dinah, you lay the table, andthe others can set out the food. I’ll make you some sandwiches for your tea,and there’s a ginger¹² cake you can have too. Lucy-Ann, can you put thekettle on to boil? You can have some tea in a thermos¹³ flask¹⁴ if you like.’
　　‘Oh, thank you,’ said the children, and set to work at once. They laid aplace for Aunt Polly, but she shook her head.
　　‘I don’t feel very well today,’ she said. ‘I’ve got a bad headache. I shan’twant anything. I shall have a good long rest while you are out thisafternoon.’
　　The children were sorry. Certainly Aunt Polly did look tired out. Philipwondered if his mother had sent any more money to help things along a bit,or whether Aunt Polly was finding things very difficult. He didn’t like toask her in front of the others. Soon the children were having their dinner,and then, the tea being packed up and ready, they set off over the cliff.
　　They had not seen Joe. The man was still down on the beach, now feelingpuzzled, and most annoyed with the vanished children. He felt certain theywere in the caves. He went in himself and called to them.
　　There was no answer, of course. He called again and again. ‘Well, ifthey’ve lost themselves in the caves, it will be good riddance of badrubbish,’ he said to himself. He decided¹⁵ to go up and report the matter toMiss Polly.
　　So up he went. The children had gone, and Aunt Polly was washing up.
　　She glanced sharply at Joe.
　　‘Where have you been all the morning?’ she asked. ‘I wanted you, andyou were nowhere to be found.’
　　‘Looking for them children,’ said Joe. ‘It’s my belief they’ve gone intothe caves down there, and got lost. I been calling and calling for them.’
　　‘Don’t be so silly, Joe,’ said Aunt Polly. ‘You’re just making the childrenan excuse for your laziness. You know quite well they are not in the caves.’
　　‘Miss Polly, I seed them go in, and I didn’t seed them come out,’ beganJoe indignantly, ‘I was on the beach all the time, wasn’t I? Well, I tells you,Miss Polly, them children went into the caves, and they’re there still.’
　　‘No, they’re not,’ said Aunt Polly firmly. ‘They have just gone off for apicnic. They came in, had an early lunch and went out again. So don’t cometo me any more with silly stories about them being lost in the caves.’
　　Joe’s mouth dropped open. He simply could not believe his ears. Hadn’the been on the beach by the caves all the morning? He would have seen thechildren as soon as they came out.
　　‘Don’t pretend to be so surprised,’ said Aunt Polly sharply. ‘Just stiryourself and do a few jobs quickly. You will have to do this afternoon allthe things you didn’t do this morning. I expect the children did go into thecaves – but they must have slipped out when you were not looking. Don’tjust stand there! Get on with some of your work.’
　　Joe shook himself, shut his mouth and went off silently to do some jobsin the house. He was full of amazement¹⁶. He remembered how one night hehad chased two boys into the caves, thinking they were Philip and Jack –and the tide had come up and imprisoned¹⁷ them in the caves – but they werenot there the next morning.
　　And now the four children had done the same thing. Joe thought it wasdecidedly uncanny. He didn’t like it. Now those children had given him theslip again. Where had they gone? Well, it wasn’t much good trying to findout that afternoon – not with Miss Polly in such a bad temper anyway!

1 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。

2 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

3 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。

4 groaned   

v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
• The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 wretch   

n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人

参考例句：

• You are really an ungrateful wretch to complain instead of thanking him.你不但不谢他，还埋怨他，真不知好歹。
• The dead husband is not the dishonoured wretch they fancied him.死去的丈夫不是他们所想象的不光彩的坏蛋。

6 prying   

adj.爱打听的v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的现在分词 )；撬开

参考例句：

• I'm sick of you prying into my personal life! 我讨厌你刺探我的私生活！
• She is always prying into other people's affairs. 她总是打听别人的私事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 isle   

n.小岛，岛

参考例句：

• He is from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.他来自爱尔兰海的马恩岛。
• The boat left for the paradise isle of Bali.小船驶向天堂一般的巴厘岛。

8 haze   

n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊

参考例句：

• I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中，我看不见她。
• He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。

9 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

10 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。

11 stewed   

adj.焦虑不安的，烂醉的v.炖( stew的过去式和过去分词 )；煨；思考；担忧

参考例句：

• When all birds are shot, the bow will be set aside;when all hares are killed, the hounds will be stewed and eaten -- kick out sb. after his services are no longer needed. 鸟尽弓藏，兔死狗烹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• \"How can we cook in a pan that's stewed your stinking stockings? “染臭袜子的锅，还能煮鸡子吃！还要它？” 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

12 ginger   

n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气

参考例句：

• There is no ginger in the young man.这个年轻人没有精神。
• Ginger shall be hot in the mouth.生姜吃到嘴里总是辣的。

13 thermos   

n.保湿瓶，热水瓶

参考例句：

• Can I borrow your thermos?我可以借用你的暖水瓶吗？
• It's handy to have the thermos here.暖瓶放在这儿好拿。

14 flask   

n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱

参考例句：

• There is some deposit in the bottom of the flask.这只烧杯的底部有些沉淀物。
• He took out a metal flask from a canvas bag.他从帆布包里拿出一个金属瓶子。

15 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。

16 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。

17 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。