THE SECOND CHAPTER LUKE THE HERMIT

 THE Hermit¹ was an old friend of ours, as I have already told you. He was a very peculiar² person. Far out on the marshes³ he lived in a little bit of a shack⁵—all alone except for his brindle bulldog. No one knew where he came from—not even his name. Just “Luke the Hermit” folks called him. He never came into the town; never seemed to want to see or talk to people. His dog, Bob, drove them away if they came near his hut. When you asked anyone in Puddleby who he was or why he lived out in that lonely place by himself, the only answer you got was, “Oh, Luke the Hermit? Well, there’s some mystery about him. Nobody knows what it is. But there’s a mystery. Don’t go near him. He’ll set the dog on you.”

 

Nevertheless there were two people who often went out to that little shack on the fens⁶: the Doctor and myself. And Bob, the bulldog, never barked when he heard us coming. For we liked Luke; and Luke liked us.

 

This afternoon, crossing the marshes we faced a cold wind blowing from the East. As we approached the hut Jip put up his ears and said,

 

“That’s funny!”

 

“What’s funny?” asked the Doctor.

 

“That Bob hasn’t come out to meet us. He should have heard us long ago—or smelt⁸ us. What’s that queer noise?”

 

“Sounds to me like a gate creaking,” said the Doctor. “Maybe it’s Luke’s door, only we can’t see the door from here; it’s on the far side of the shack.”

 

“I hope Bob isn’t sick,” said Jip; and he let out a bark to see if that would call him. But the only answer he got was the wailing⁹ of the wind across the wide, salt fen⁷.

 

We hurried forward, all three of us thinking hard.

 

When we reached the front of the shack we found the door open, swinging and creaking dismally¹⁰ in the wind. We looked inside. There was no one there.

 

“Isn’t Luke at home then?” said I. “Perhaps he’s out for a walk.”

 

“He is always at home,” said the Doctor frowning in a peculiar sort of way. “And even if he were out for a walk he wouldn’t leave his door banging in the wind behind him. There is something queer about this—What are you doing in there, Jip?”

 

 

“Nothing much—nothing worth speaking of,” said Jip examining the floor of the hut extremely carefully.

 

“Come here, Jip,” said the Doctor in a stern voice. “You are hiding something from me. You see signs and you know something—or you guess it. What has happened? Tell me. Where is the Hermit?”

 

“I don’t know,” said Jip looking very guilty and uncomfortable. “I don’t know where he is.”

 

“Well, you know something. I can tell it from the look in your eye. What is it?”

 

But Jip didn’t answer.

 

For ten minutes the Doctor kept questioning him. But not a word would the dog say.

 

“Well,” said the Doctor at last, “it is no use our standing¹¹ around here in the cold. The Hermit’s gone. That’s all. We might as well go home to luncheon¹².”

 

As we buttoned up our coats and started back across the marsh⁴, Jip ran ahead pretending he was looking for water-rats.

 

“He knows something all right,” whispered the Doctor. “And I think he knows what has happened too. It’s funny, his not wanting to tell me. He has never done that before—not in eleven years. He has always told me everything—Strange—very strange!”

 

 

“Do you mean you think he knows all about the Hermit, the big mystery about him which folks hint at and all that?”

 

“I shouldn’t wonder if he did,” the Doctor answered slowly. “I noticed something in his expression the moment we found that door open and the hut empty. And the way he sniffed¹³ the floor too—it told him something, that floor did. He saw signs we couldn’t see—I wonder why he won’t tell me. I’ll try him again. Here, Jip! Jip!—Where is the dog? I thought he went on in front.”

 

“So did I,” I said. “He was there a moment ago. I saw him as large as life. Jip—Jip—Jip—JIP!”

 

But he was gone. We called and called. We even walked back to the hut. But Jip had disappeared.

 

“Oh well,” I said, “most likely he has just run home ahead of us. He often does that, you know. We’ll find him there when we get back to the house.”

 

But the Doctor just closed his coat-collar tighter against the wind and strode on muttering, “Odd—very odd!”

1 hermit   

n.隐士，修道者；隐居

参考例句：

• He became a hermit after he was dismissed from office.他被解职后成了隐士。
• Chinese ancient landscape poetry was in natural connections with hermit culture.中国古代山水诗与隐士文化有着天然联系。

2 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

3 marshes   

n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Cows were grazing on the marshes. 牛群在湿地上吃草。
• We had to cross the marshes. 我们不得不穿过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。

5 shack   

adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚

参考例句：

• He had to sit down five times before he reached his shack.在走到他的茅棚以前，他不得不坐在地上歇了五次。
• The boys made a shack out of the old boards in the backyard.男孩们在后院用旧木板盖起一间小木屋。

6 fens   

n.（尤指英格兰东部的）沼泽地带( fen的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Most of the landscape in the Fens is as flat as a pancake. 菲恩斯的大部分地形都是极平坦的。 来自互联网
• He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens. 它伏在莲叶之下，卧在芦苇隐密处和水洼子里。 来自互联网

7 fen   

n.沼泽，沼池

参考例句：

• The willows over all the fen rippled and whitened like a field of wheat.沼泽上的柳树，随风一起一伏，泛出白光，就象一片麦田一样。
• There is a fen around each island.每个岛屿周围有一个沼泽。

8 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。

9 wailing   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱

参考例句：

• A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。

10 dismally   

adv.阴暗地，沉闷地

参考例句：

• Fei Little Beard assented dismally. 费小胡子哭丧着脸回答。 来自子夜部分
• He began to howl dismally. 它就凄凉地吠叫起来。 来自辞典例句

11 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

12 luncheon   

n.午宴，午餐，便宴

参考例句：

• We have luncheon at twelve o'clock.我们十二点钟用午餐。
• I have a luncheon engagement.我午饭有约。

13 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》