CHAPTER XII A GREAT SURPRISE

 "How do you get the ice out of this big house when you want it in the summer time?" asked Hal, as the foreman led them along the wooden platforms out of the big, cold storehouse. And how much warmer it was outside; even if the sun did not shine, than it was in the ice house. The children were glad to come out.

 

"We load the ice from here into freight cars," the man explained. "See, the ice house is built in two parts, with a passage-way between. And is this passage is a railroad track. The engine backs a freight car in here, the big doors of the car are opened, and the ice is slid in on wooden chutes, something like the iron chutes the coal man uses. Then, when the car is full, it is pulled down to the city in a long train, with other cars."

 

"And then the icemen come with their wagons¹, get the ice and bring it to us," finished Mab. "I've seen them."

 

"That's right, little lady!" said the foreman with a laugh. And sometimes ice comes to the city by a boat, instead of in freight cars, and the men with wagons go down to the boat-dock to get the cold, frozen cakes. And now you have seen how ice is cut in winter, and stored away until we need it in the summer."

 

"My!" exclaimed Hal, as he looked up at the big ice store-house.

"There must be enough ice in there for the whole world!"

"Oh, no indeed!" cried Daddy Blake. "No enough for one city. And besides this ice, which is called natural, because Jack² Frost and Mother Nature make it, there is other ice, called artificial. That is what is made by machinery³."

 

"Why, can anybody make ice by machinery?" asked Mab in surprise.

 

"Oh, yes, even on the hottest day in summer," her papa told her. "But it takes a lot of machinery. It is done by putting water into small metal tanks, and then by taking all the warmth out of the water by dipping the tanks into a big vat⁴ of salt and water which is made very cold by something called ammonia. It is too hard for you to understand now, but when you get older I will explain. Now I think we had better be skating home," said Daddy Blake.

 

As they walked down to the frozen lake, there was a barking sound from a small shed under which was an engine, that hauled up the ice cakes. Out from the shed rushed a little dog, spotted⁵ black and white, and straight for the Blake children he rushed, barking and wagging his tail so that it almost wagged off.

 

"Look out!" cried Daddy Blake.

 

"Don't be afraid!" called the engineer, laughing. "He's so gentle he wouldn't hurt a baby!"

 

And how strangely the dog was acting⁶! He would jump up first on Hal, and then on Mab, trying to lick their faces and hands with his red tongue.

 

"Oh dear!" cried Mab, who was a little bit frightened.

 

"He won't hurt you!" exclaimed the engineer. "Here, Spot!" he called.

"Leave the children alone. Be good, Spot!"

But the dog would not mind. He jumped up on Hal, barking as loudly as he could, and wagging his tail so hard that it is a wonder it did not drop off. The animal seemed wild with delight.

 

"Why! Why!" cried Mab, as she looked carefully at the dog when he stood still a moment to rest after all the excitement. "That dog looks just like our Roly-Poly, only Roly was white and not spotted black and white," said Mab.

 

"Well, when I got this dog he was all white," explained the engineer.

"He got spotted black by accident."

"I wonder if that could be Roly?" spoke⁷ Daddy Blake thoughtfully.

"Here, Roly-Poly!" he called. "Come here, sir!"

In an instant the dog made a jump for Daddy Blake, barking joyfully⁸, and almost turning a somersault.

 

"I believe it is Roly!" shouted Hal. "It's our dog!"

 

"But how could it be?" asked Mab. "Roly was lost under the ice."

 

"And that's just where I got this dog," the engineer explained. "Out from under the ice. One day, after the first freeze this winter, I was Balking⁹ along a little pond. I came to a thin place in the ice, and looking through, from the shore where I stood, I saw a little white dog down below, just as if he were under a pane¹⁰ of glass.

 

"I broke the ice with a stick and got him out. I thought he was dead, but I took him home, thawed¹¹ him out, gave him some hot milk, and soon he was as lively as a cricket. And I've had this dog ever since. When I came here to work at ice cutting I brought him with me."

 

"But you said he was pure white when you got him out," said Daddy

Blake wonderingly.

"Yes, that's right," answered the ice engineer. "So he was. And how he got spotted was like this. I was blacking my boots one day, and I left the bottle of black polish on a low bench. The dog grabbed it, playful like, and the black stuff spilled all over him. That's how he got spotted. He was worse than he is now, but it's wearing off."

 

"Then I'm sure this is our Roly-Poly!" cried "Oh, you dear Roly!" she cried, and the spotted poodle dog tried to climb up in her arms and kiss her, he was so glad to see her.

 

"I believe it is Roly," said Daddy Blake. "It is all very wonderful, but it must be our Roly."

 

"Well, if he's yours, take him," said the engineer kindly¹². "I always wondered how he got under the ice. But of course he could not tell me."

 

"We were skating, the children and I, one day," explained Daddy Blake. "Poor Roly slipped through an air hole in the ice. Then he must have floated down the pond underneath¹³ the ice, until he came to another thin place, where you saw him."

 

"I guess that's it," the engineer agreed. "He was almost drowned and nearly frozen when I found him. But I'm glad he's all right now, and I'm glad the children have him back."

 

"Oh, and maybe we aren't glad!" cried Mab. "Aren't we, Hal?"

 

"Well, I guess!" he cried. "The gladdest ever!"

 

Roly-Poly was happy too. He was so glad that he did not know whom to love first, nor how much. He raced back and forth¹⁴ from the children to Mr. Blake, and then over to the kind engineer, who had saved his life.

 

"Oh, let's hurry home!" cried Mab. "I want to show mamma and Aunt

Lolly and Uncle Pennywait that Roly-Poly is still alive."

And so Daddy Blake and the children skated down to the end of the lake, Roly-Poly running along with them. He had barked his good-byes to the engineer, and Daddy Blake and Hal and Mab had thanked the nice man over and over again.

 

"Don't fall through any more air holes, Roly!" cautioned Hal, as he skated along with Charlie, while Mab glided¹⁵ slowly at the side of Mary.

 

"Bow-wow!" barked Roly, which meant, I suppose, that he would be very careful.

 

Soon they were all safely home, and Roly-Poly barked louder than ever, and almost wagged off his tail, sideways and up and down.

 

"Oh, how wonderful!" cried Aunt Lolly when she heard the story. "I knew something would happen. Something wonderful has happened."

 

And so it had. And it was really wonderful that Roly had floated down beneath the ice, and that the engineer had come along just in time to get him out alive.

 

And so Roly came back, just as I told you he would. In a few weeks the black spots wore off him, and he was all white again, and as lively and frisky¹⁶ as ever, hiding anything he could find, and barking and wagging his tail like anything.

 

"Won't all the boys and girls be surprised when they see our dog back again?" asked Mab.

 

"I guess they will," agreed Hal. "It is just like a fairy story; isn't it?"

 

"Oh, it's better than a fairy story, for it's true!" exclaimed Mab. "If it was a fairy story we would wake up and Roly-Poly wouldn't be here. Oh! I am so glad!"

 

Hal and Mab had many more days of skating on the pond with Daddy; Blake. And then, one morning, when they woke up, the ground was deeply covered with white snow.

 

"No more skating right away!" cried Daddy Blake, "The ice has gone to sleep under white blankets."

 

"But we can have other fun!" said Hal.

 

"Lots of it!" cried Mab, joyfully. "Oh we'll have more fun!"

 

And what fun they had with Daddy Blake I will tell you about in the next book, as this one is all filled up. So I will say good-bye to you for a little while, only a little while, though.

1 wagons   

n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车

参考例句：

• The wagons were hauled by horses. 那些货车是马拉的。
• They drew their wagons into a laager and set up camp. 他们把马车围成一圈扎起营地。

2 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。

3 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

4 vat   

n.(=value added tax)增值税，大桶

参考例句：

• The office is asking for the vat papers.办事处要有关增值税的文件。
• His father emptied sacks of stale rye bread into the vat.他父亲把一袋袋发霉的黑面包倒进大桶里。

5 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

6 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

7 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。

8 joyfully   

adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地

参考例句：

• She tripped along joyfully as if treading on air. 她高兴地走着，脚底下轻飘飘的。
• During these first weeks she slaved joyfully. 在最初的几周里，她干得很高兴。

9 balking   

n.慢行，阻行v.畏缩不前，犹豫( balk的现在分词 )；（指马）不肯跑

参考例句：

• He picked up a stone and let fly at the balking dog. 他捡起一块石头朝那狂吠的狗扔去。 来自互联网
• Democrats won't pass the plan without votes from rank-and-file Republicans andof-and-file Republicans were reportedly balking. 没有普通共和党议员的支持，民主党人无法通过这项方案——到周四晚间，据悉那些普通共和党人在阻挡（该计划）。 来自互联网

10 pane   

n.窗格玻璃，长方块

参考例句：

• He broke this pane of glass.他打破了这块窗玻璃。
• Their breath bloomed the frosty pane.他们呼出的水气，在冰冷的窗玻璃上形成一层雾。

11 thawed   

解冻

参考例句：

• The little girl's smile thawed the angry old man. 小姑娘的微笑使发怒的老头缓和下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He thawed after sitting at a fire for a while. 在火堆旁坐了一会儿，他觉得暖和起来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

13 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。

14 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

15 glided   

v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔

参考例句：

• The President's motorcade glided by. 总统的车队一溜烟开了过去。
• They glided along the wall until they were out of sight. 他们沿着墙壁溜得无影无踪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 frisky   

adj.活泼的，欢闹的；n.活泼，闹着玩；adv.活泼地，闹着玩地

参考例句：

• I felt frisky,as if I might break into a dance.我感到很欢快，似乎要跳起舞来。
• His horse was feeling frisky,and he had to hold the reins tightly.马儿欢蹦乱跳，他不得不紧勒缰绳。