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CHAPTER VII THE BIG DOG
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Archie was so surprised at what happened that, for a moment, he could do nothing but stand and look at the stream of oats gliding1 down the wooden chute to the bin2 on the floor below.
 
"There goes your Elephant!" cried Elsie again. "He fell right into the oats, Archie!"
 
"Yes—yes—I—I see he did!" stammered3 the little boy.
 
"I'm glad my Doll didn't go, too!" went on Elsie. "I guess I'd better take her away 'fore4 she tumbles in."
 
Elsie reached over to take her toy from the side of the oat bin where the Christmas Doll had been put by her mistress.[Pg 78] But Elsie's foot slipped on some hay on the floor, she tried to save herself from falling, her arm struck her Doll, and, a moment later, the Doll was sliding down the stream of smooth oats as the Elephant had done.
 
"Oh! Oh!" cried Archie. "Look at your Doll! She went down just like my Elephant!"
 
"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" wailed5 Elsie. "Where has she gone?"
 
"Down into the oat bin on the first floor," explained Archie. "The oats go from this big bin to the little bin where Jake takes them out to give to the horses. Don't cry, Elsie. We'll get your Doll back."
 
Archie had almost been going to cry himself when he saw his Elephant being buried in the rushing stream of oats. But when he heard his sister's sobs6 he made up his mind to be brave and try to help her.
 
Archie was so excited that he still held [Pg 79]up the sliding door of the oat bin, and the grains kept on sliding down the chute, carrying with them the Elephant and Doll, though now the toys were not in sight.
 
"Come on downstairs and get my Doll!" begged Elsie, tugging7 at her brother's hand. "Come on and get your Elephant and my Doll."
 
"Yes, we'd better do that," Archie agreed.
 
Then he saw that he was still holding open the little door in the oat bin, so that pecks and bushels of the grains were still sliding down the chute.
 
"I'd better close that, or the Elephant and the Doll will be buried away down under so many oats they'll never get out," said the little boy.
 
He let go the handle that they had pulled to raise the door, and it dropped shut, thus preventing any more oats from sliding down the chute. Then he took Elsie's hand and hurried toward the stairs that led to the lower floor of the barn.[Pg 80]
 
Meanwhile, as you have guessed, the Elephant and the Doll were not having a very good time. At first, when the Elephant felt himself fall in with the sliding oats, he did not know what had happened.
 
"I wonder what sort of adventure this is!" thought the Elephant. "It's almost as bad as being pitched out into a snow drift, though I'm glad it isn't cold. These oats are very scratchy, though, and they make me want to sneeze. But where am I going?"
 
The Elephant did not know. All he could tell was that he was being hurried along in the dark with a lot of oats, for it was dark inside the grain chute.
 
Down, down, down went the Elephant, just as he had gone up, up, up on the rope.
 
"Where shall I land?" thought the Elephant.
 
A moment later he found out, for he was shot from the chute into the almost empty grain bin on the lower floor. Out of the chute tumbled the Elephant, and he was [Pg 81]very glad to be in an open space once more.
 
"But it is almost as dark as it was before," he said. A little light came from the top of the bin which did not close tightly, but it was only a little light.
 
But the Elephant's troubles were not over. For no sooner had he been slid clear of the chute, landing on his feet, very luckily, than more oats poured out, for Archie was still holding open the door of the grain bin up above. So many oats came sliding down the chute that they rose all around the Elephant like rising water around a rock. The oats rose to his knees, to his stomach, where they tickled8 him a little, and then began to rise over his back.
 
"Oh!" he trumpeted9, raising his trunk as high as he could. "I am going to be covered from sight in the oats!"
 
And then, when the oats almost covered his eyes, he had a glimpse of the Doll coming down the chute, in a shower of oats.
 
"Oh, you poor child!" called the Elephant.[Pg 82]
 
"Yes, isn't this terrible!" exclaimed the Doll. "Oh, how are we ever going to get out?"
 
The Elephant tried to answer, but now the oats rose over his mouth and he could not speak. Only the top of his head and the tip of his trunk stuck out above the oats.
 
The Doll, having come down a little later, was not so deeply covered by the grains. She tried to stand up, to keep her head as far above the oats as she could, but it was hard work. Around and around she slipped, from side to side.
 
More and more oats poured down, for Archie still held open the door, and at last the poor Doll was covered from sight, as was the Elephant.
 
And it was now that Archie and Elsie came racing10 down the stairs. Archie called:
 
"Jake! Jake! Come here! Where are you? Oh, my Elephant is in the oat bin, [Pg 83]and so is Elsie's Doll, and we've got to get 'em out!"
 
"What's that? Elsie in the oat bin?" cried Jake, who had just come back to the barn.
 
"No, not Elsie, but her Doll!" shouted Archie. "And so is my Stuffed Elephant."
 
"Well, that isn't so bad as if one of you children were in the bin," replied Jake. "I'll help you, though. Show me which bin."
 
Archie told what he had done, and when Jake opened the bin on the lower floor it was brim full and running over with oats.
 
"You surely let down enough grain," said Jake.
 
"How are you going to get my Doll?" Elsie asked.
 
"And my Elephant?" added Archie.
 
"Oh, I'll shovel11 them out," said Jake. "Don't be afraid. I'll get the Doll and the Elephant."[Pg 84]
 
"Well, you'd better hurry, 'cause they may smother," Elsie said.
 
"I'll hurry," promised Jake.
 
With a shovel he carefully took some of the oats from the bin, so that first Elsie's Doll could be seen, and then the Elephant came into view.
 
"There you are!" said kind Jake, as he handed the toys back to the children.
 
"My, wasn't that a terrible time?" said the Doll to the Elephant that night, when they were left by themselves in a closet.
 
"I should say so!" agreed the Elephant. "I never want anything like that to happen again! I hope I have no more adventures!"
 
But he was to have more.
 
For a time, however, nothing very exciting happened. Archie played with his Elephant and Elsie with her Doll, and their boy and girl friends brought over their toys to have fun with. Often they amused themselves in the big, warm barn, [Pg 85]though never again did Archie go near the grain bin.
 
Sometimes Nip, the big dog, would go to the barn to play with the children, and once, though not meaning to, the Elephant gave the dog a scare. It was this way.
 
Archie had set his elephant down on the barn floor, near a big box. Nip, the dog, coming suddenly around the corner of the box, did not know the Elephant was there until a draft of wind swayed the Elephant's trunk, making it wiggle to and fro.
 
"Oh, my! A snake! A snake!" cried Nip, who was afraid of the crawling creatures. "It's a big snake!"
 
"Nonsense! I'm not a snake," said the Elephant, who could speak, since Elsie and Archie were in another part of the barn.
 
"What was it that looked like a snake?" howled Nip.
 
"It was my trunk. The wind blew it," was the answer.[Pg 86]
 
"Hum!" said Nip, who, now that he took a second look, saw that there was really no snake, and nothing to frighten him. "Hum! I believe you did that on purpose, just to scare me!"
 
"No, really I didn't!" said the Elephant.
 
"Yes, you did, too!" barked Nip. "And, just for that, I'm going to play a trick on you!"
 
"Please don't!" begged the Elephant.
 
"Yes, I will!" growled12 Nip, who was a little angry, and not as kind as he might have been. "I'm going to carry you away off!" he barked.
 
Then, before the Elephant could do anything to save himself, Nip, the big dog, caught the soft Stuffed Elephant up by his back and carried him into a dark and distant part of the barn.[Pg 87]
 

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 gliding gliding     
v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的
参考例句:
  • Swans went gliding past. 天鹅滑行而过。
  • The weather forecast has put a question mark against the chance of doing any gliding tomorrow. 天气预报对明天是否能举行滑翔表示怀疑。
2 bin yR2yz     
n.箱柜;vt.放入箱内;[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件
参考例句:
  • He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
  • He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。
3 stammered 76088bc9384c91d5745fd550a9d81721     
v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He stammered most when he was nervous. 他一紧张往往口吃。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Barsad leaned back in his chair, and stammered, \"What do you mean?\" 巴萨往椅背上一靠,结结巴巴地说,“你是什么意思?” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
4 fore ri8xw     
adv.在前面;adj.先前的;在前部的;n.前部
参考例句:
  • Your seat is in the fore part of the aircraft.你的座位在飞机的前部。
  • I have the gift of fore knowledge.我能够未卜先知。
5 wailed e27902fd534535a9f82ffa06a5b6937a     
v.哭叫,哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She wailed over her father's remains. 她对着父亲的遗体嚎啕大哭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The women of the town wailed over the war victims. 城里的妇女为战争的死难者们痛哭。 来自辞典例句
6 sobs d4349f86cad43cb1a5579b1ef269d0cb     
啜泣(声),呜咽(声)( sob的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • She was struggling to suppress her sobs. 她拼命不让自己哭出来。
  • She burst into a convulsive sobs. 她突然抽泣起来。
7 tugging 1b03c4e07db34ec7462f2931af418753     
n.牵引感v.用力拉,使劲拉,猛扯( tug的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Tom was tugging at a button-hole and looking sheepish. 汤姆捏住一个钮扣眼使劲地拉,样子显得很害羞。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
  • She kicked him, tugging his thick hair. 她一边踢他,一边扯着他那浓密的头发。 来自辞典例句
8 tickled 2db1470d48948f1aa50b3cf234843b26     
(使)发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 ); (使)愉快,逗乐
参考例句:
  • We were tickled pink to see our friends on television. 在电视中看到我们的一些朋友,我们高兴极了。
  • I tickled the baby's feet and made her laugh. 我胳肢孩子的脚,使她发笑。
9 trumpeted f8fa4d19d667140077bbc04606958a63     
大声说出或宣告(trumpet的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • Soldiers trumpeted and bugled. 士兵们吹喇叭鸣号角。
  • The radio trumpeted the presidential campaign across the country. 电台在全国范围大力宣传总统竞选运动。
10 racing 1ksz3w     
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的
参考例句:
  • I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
  • The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。
11 shovel cELzg     
n.铁锨,铲子,一铲之量;v.铲,铲出
参考例句:
  • He was working with a pick and shovel.他在用镐和铲干活。
  • He seized a shovel and set to.他拿起一把铲就干上了。
12 growled 65a0c9cac661e85023a63631d6dab8a3     
v.(动物)发狺狺声, (雷)作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 );低声咆哮着说
参考例句:
  • \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道:“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》


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