12 Capture!

　　12
　　Capture!
　　Philip made his way to the back door of the cottage, but just as he was about to go in, he stopped.
　　What noise was that? It sounded like someone going to the front door – someone tiptoeing up thepath, surely?
　　The boy hesitated. Could it be someone after Gussy? He’d better warn Bill then – go in andwake him. He tiptoed quietly through the back door, into the hall and up the stairs. He stopped atthe top and looked back, hearing a small sound.
　　The front door was opening quietly, but with the little creak it always gave. Then a torch wasflashed on and off very quickly. Yes – somebody was getting in.
　　Philip yelled at the top of his voice. ‘Bill! BILL ! BILL ! Wake up, Bill. There’s someone getting in.’
　　He was standing¹ just outside the girls’ door as he yelled, and they woke up at once. Gracious! –who was shouting like that?
　　‘Someone’s getting in. Quick, Bill, quick!’ shouted Philip again, wondering why there was noanswering shout from Bill’s room nearby.
　　The girls’ door opened and Dinah looked out, scared. ‘What is it? Who is it? Where’s Bill?’
　　‘Keep where you are,’ said a voice suddenly, and a torch was flashed on to the three of them,for Lucy-Ann had now appeared, trembling.
　　Philip pushed the girls violently, and they almost fell into their bedroom. Then he rushed intoBill’s room, yelling again. ‘ BILL ! Do wake up!’
　　The moonlight showed him a completely empty bed – a bed not even slept in! Then where wasBill? And his mother – where was she? Philip was astounded².
　　Gussy was now awake, up in the attic³ bedroom. He sat up, bewildered. What was all thisshouting? He suddenly noticed that Jack⁴ and Philip were not in their beds, and he leapt out of his,afraid.
　　Downstairs, in Bill’s bedroom, Philip was still yelling. Bill must be somewhere about – butwhere? ‘Bill! I say, BILL !
　　A torch flashed into the room, and two figures loomed⁵ up by the door.
　　‘You won’t find Bill,’ said a voice. ‘Or his wife either. We’ve got them. And now we want thePrince Aloysius. We do not intend to harm him in any way – but he must come with us. Hiscountry needs him.’
　　‘What have you done with my mother?’ demanded Philip, fiercely. ‘I’ll get the police! What doyou think you’re doing, capturing people, and coming after the Prince! You can’t do that kind ofthing in Britain!’
　　‘Oh yes, we can,’ said the foreign voice, smoothly⁶, and the man stepped into the moonlight.
　　Philip saw that it was the man who had come with the woman that afternoon. Behind him wereother people – how many? Philip wished that Jack was with him. One boy wasn’t much against allthese people. He didn’t count Gussy as a boy!
　　One of the men behind called out something in a language that Philip didn’t understand, andreceived a sharp order in return. There was the sound of feet on the stairs leading up to the atticbedroom. They were after Gussy, who had done quite the wrong thing, and had appeared at the topin the bright moonlight! He had been seen at once, of course.
　　Gussy fled into the bedroom, slammed the door and locked it. He leaned against it, trembling.
　　Then he ran to the window. Could he get out?
　　No. Gussy was no climber, and although Jack and Philip would certainly have had a shot atclambering down the creeper, Gussy was afraid he might fall.
　　‘Unlock this door!’ cried a voice, but Gussy did not obey. Then two of the men flungthemselves against it, and it broke down easily. They clambered over the broken panels and wentto Gussy. He screamed.
　　One of the men bowed to him. ‘Your Highness, we have not come to harm you. We have cometo take you back to Tauri-Hessia to be crowned King in the place of your uncle. He is not liked,your uncle. The people want you instead.’
　　‘It’s a lie!’ shouted Gussy, trembling. ‘I’ve been told all about it. My uncle is too strong a rulerfor you, and you want a boy instead who will do as he is told. I will not come!’
　　All this was said in his own language, so that the girls, listening fearfully in their room below,did not understand a word. Philip pushed by the men at the door of Bill’s room and ran up toGussy.
　　‘Look here,’ he said fiercely to the two men there. ‘You know that the British Government andyour own Government won’t let you make Gussy King. You’ll get into trouble with ourGovernment, you know. You’ll be clapped into prison either here or in your own country.’
　　The men, joined by the other two below, had a quick conference. Philip didn’t understand aword. Then the tall man with the eyeglass bowed slightly to Philip.
　　‘You too will come with us,’ he said, ‘and the other children as well. You will – er – becompanions for our little Prince – and we do not think your Government will be too angry whenthey know we hold you also!’
　　‘Oh! So you think you’ll take us and make us a kind of hostage, do you?’ said Philip, quitebeside himself with rage. ‘You think you can bargain with our Government just because you’llhold us prisoners! My word, you don’t know the British people. You’ll be sorry for this! Holdingus to ransom⁷! I never heard such a fatheaded idea in my life. You aren’t living in the Middle Ages,you know!’
　　The man heard him out to the end, quite politely. Then he made a motion with his hand, andtwo of the men pounced⁸ on Philip and Gussy and held them in such a vice-like grip that it wasquite hopeless to get away.
　　‘Run, you two – run!’ yelled Philip at the top of his voice, hoping that Dinah and Lucy-Annwould have the sense to rush into the woods and get away. But although they did manage to teardownstairs, they found a man in the hall, and he was quite able to hold the two kicking, yellinggirls until yet another fellow came to his help.
　　Sharp orders were given by the man with the eyeglass, who seemed to be in command. Oneman detached himself and went upstairs. He came down with an assortment⁹ of clothes for the girlsand Gussy, who was, of course, still in his beautiful silk pyjamas¹⁰. The girls were in pyjamas anddressing gowns, but had no slippers¹² on. The man was sent back to fetch shoes.
　　‘Where’s Bill?’ said Lucy-Ann, with chattering¹³ teeth. ‘I want Bill. What have they done withhim? And where’s Aunt Allie?’
　　‘Don’t be frightened,’ said the man with the eyeglass, patting her. ‘We shall treat you verykindly. We shall not hurt you. It will be nice for the little Prince Aloysius to have his friends withhim. You will have a fine time in Tauri-Hessia.’
　　Lucy-Ann suddenly realized that Jack was missing. She looked round wildly for him. ‘Where’sJack? What have you done with Jack?’
　　‘Ah, yes – there was another boy. I remember now,’ said the chief man. ‘Where is he?’
　　‘Out bird-watching,’ said Philip, sullenly¹⁴. His only hope now was that Jack would see and hearthis disturbance¹⁵ and go to fetch help before they were all whisked away. He had given upstruggling. What was the use? He would only get hurt, and he could see that if the girls were goingto be captured, he certainly must go with them to look after them as best he could.
　　‘Bird-watching! At this time of night!’ said the man. ‘What strange habits you Britishers have!
　　We will not wait for this boy Jack. We do not need him.’
　　They opened the front door again, and pushed the four children out in front of them, holdingtheir arms tightly.
　　‘It is of no use to scream,’ said the chief, still very politely.
　　‘There is no one to hear you – and we should gag you if you did scream.’
　　‘Philip – what shall we do?’ asked Dinah, scarlet¹⁶ with rage at being captured like this.
　　‘Nothing,’ said Philip. ‘Just – er – hope for the best.’
　　Dinah guessed what he meant. Perhaps even at this very minute Jack was bringing help!
　　Lucy-Ann stumbled along miserably¹⁷ in her dressing¹¹ gown. She had been allowed to put on hershoes, and so had the others. She was worried about Bill and her aunt, and very very worried aboutJack. Would she be taken off to Tauri-Hessia and have to leave Jack for months and months?
　　Where was Jack?
　　Jack was down in the quarry¹⁸ with Kiki. He had found plenty of owls¹⁹ hooting²¹ and screechingthere, for, as the old farm hand had said, it was a wonderful hunting place for owls of all kinds.
　　Kiki had been having the time of her life. She had hooted²³ and screeched²⁴ and twitted, and hadbrought a crowd of owls almost down to Jack’s shoulders. One owl²⁰, a barn owl, had screecheddeafeningly in his ear, and had struck him with a wing.
　　Jack decided²⁵ that he was too easily seen where he stood. He must get under a bush somewhere,or else the next owl might scratch his face with a sharp talon²⁶ or two!
　　He moved to the other side of the quarry and made his way to a big hedge there. As he drewnear, the moonlight glinted on something under the hedge. Something that shone brightly. Jackstopped. What could it be?
　　He went cautiously forward, and saw that something dark and long and very big was under thetall hedge, as close to it as possible. The moonlight caught its polished surface here and there.
　　‘Gosh! It’s a car!’ said Jack, in the greatest astonishment²⁷. ‘A car exactly like the one the couplehave at the farm – it must be the same one. What’s it doing here?’
　　He went over to it. It was empty. Nobody was in it at all. The key had been taken out so that itcould not be driven away.
　　‘Has somebody parked it here to go and spy round Quarry Cottage?’ wondered Jack. He went tothe back of the car. It had an enormous luggage boot. Jack opened it and peered inside. It wasempty except for an extra inner tube and a few tools.
　　Kiki hooted again, and an owl answered her. ‘Be quiet now, Kiki,’ said Jack. ‘We’ve got to do abit of spying. We’ll creep back to Quarry Cottage and see if there’s anyone snooping round there.’
　　But before he could do that, he heard the sound of footsteps coming into the quarry, and hedived into some bushes.
　　The footsteps made quite a lot of noise, because there were eight people coming into thedeserted quarry, where the car had been parked. Jack peered out of his bush and saw, to his greatalarm, that Philip, Dinah, Lucy-Ann and Gussy were all being held very firmly indeed! He stared,bewildered, unable to think what to do.
　　Kiki suddenly screeched – but it was not an owl screech²², it was a real parrot screech – andPhilip recognized it at once. It was Kiki! Then Jack must be somewhere in the quarry still!
　　He gave a shout. ‘They’re taking us away! Tell Bill!’
　　The man holding him gave him a shove. ‘You were told not to shout! What’s the use ofshouting here? There’s no one to hear you!’
　　But there was, of course. There was Jack. But what was Jack to DO ?

1 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。

2 astounded   

v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶

参考例句：

• His arrogance astounded her. 他的傲慢使她震惊。
• How can you say that? I'm absolutely astounded. 你怎么能说出那种话？我感到大为震惊。

3 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？

4 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。

5 loomed   

v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• A dark shape loomed up ahead of us. 一个黑糊糊的影子隐隐出现在我们的前面。
• The prospect of war loomed large in everyone's mind. 战事将起的庞大阴影占据每个人的心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

7 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

8 pounced   

v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击）

参考例句：

• As soon as I opened my mouth, the teacher pounced on me. 我一张嘴就被老师抓住呵斥了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The police pounced upon the thief. 警察向小偷扑了过去。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 assortment   

n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集

参考例句：

• This shop has a good assortment of goods to choose from.该店各色货物俱全，任君选择。
• She was wearing an odd assortment of clothes.她穿着奇装异服。

10 pyjamas   

n.（宽大的）睡衣裤

参考例句：

• This pyjamas has many repairs.这件睡衣有许多修补过的地方。
• Martin was in his pyjamas.马丁穿着睡衣。

11 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

12 slippers   

n. 拖鞋

参考例句：

• a pair of slippers 一双拖鞋
• He kicked his slippers off and dropped on to the bed. 他踢掉了拖鞋，倒在床上。

13 chattering   

n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The teacher told the children to stop chattering in class. 老师叫孩子们在课堂上不要叽叽喳喳讲话。
• I was so cold that my teeth were chattering. 我冷得牙齿直打战。

14 sullenly   

不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地

参考例句：

• 'so what?" Tom said sullenly. “那又怎么样呢？”汤姆绷着脸说。
• Emptiness after the paper, I sIt'sullenly in front of the stove. 报看完，想不出能找点什么事做，只好一人坐在火炉旁生气。

15 disturbance   

n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调

参考例句：

• He is suffering an emotional disturbance.他的情绪受到了困扰。
• You can work in here without any disturbance.在这儿你可不受任何干扰地工作。

16 scarlet   

n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的

参考例句：

• The scarlet leaves of the maples contrast well with the dark green of the pines.深红的枫叶和暗绿的松树形成了明显的对比。
• The glowing clouds are growing slowly pale,scarlet,bright red,and then light red.天空的霞光渐渐地淡下去了，深红的颜色变成了绯红，绯红又变为浅红。

17 miserably   

adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地

参考例句：

• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。
• It was drizzling, and miserably cold and damp. 外面下着毛毛细雨，天气又冷又湿，令人难受。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 quarry   

n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找

参考例句：

• Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
• This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。

19 owls   

n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 'Clumsy fellows,'said I; 'they must still be drunk as owls.' “这些笨蛋，”我说，“他们大概还醉得像死猪一样。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• The great majority of barn owls are reared in captivity. 大多数仓鸮都是笼养的。 来自辞典例句

20 owl   

n.猫头鹰，枭

参考例句：

• Her new glasses make her look like an owl.她的新眼镜让她看上去像只猫头鹰。
• I'm a night owl and seldom go to bed until after midnight.我睡得很晚，经常半夜后才睡觉。

21 hooting   

（使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的现在分词 )； 倒好儿； 倒彩

参考例句：

• He had the audience hooting with laughter . 他令观众哄堂大笑。
• The owl was hooting. 猫头鹰在叫。

22 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。

23 hooted   

（使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• An owl hooted nearby. 一只猫头鹰在附近啼叫。
• The crowd hooted and jeered at the speaker. 群众向那演讲人发出轻蔑的叫嚣和嘲笑。

24 screeched   

v.发出尖叫声( screech的过去式和过去分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫

参考例句：

• She screeched her disapproval. 她尖叫着不同意。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The car screeched to a stop. 汽车嚓的一声停住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

25 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。

26 talon   

n.爪；（如爪般的）手指；爪状物

参考例句：

• Can you get a little tighter with the talon?你能不能把摄像探头固定住不动？
• This kind of spice is made of eagle's talon and has a unique flavor.这种香料味道独特，是用鹰爪作原料制成的。

27 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。