THE next day was rainy. The four children put on their macintoshes and sou'-westers and wentout for a walk with Timmy. They never minded the weather. In fact Julian said that he reallyliked the feel of the wind and rain buffeting1 against his face.
'We forgot that Uncle Quentin couldn't flash to us if the weather wasn't sunny!' said Dick. 'Doyou suppose he'll find some way to signal instead?'
'No,' said George. 'He just won't bother. He thinks we're awful fussers anyway, I'm sure. We'llhave to watch at half past ten tonight to see if he signals.'
'I say! Shall I be able to stay up till then?' said Anne, pleased.
'I shouldn't think so,' said Dick. 'I expect Julian and I will stay up - but you kids will have to buzzoff to bed!'
George gave him a punch. 'Don't call us "kids"! I'm almost as tall as you are now.'
'It's not much use waiting about till half past ten now to see if Uncle signals to us in any way, isit?' said Anne. 'Let's go up on the cliff - it'll be lovely and blowy. Timmy will like that. I love tosee him racing2 along in the wind, with his ears blown back straight!'
'Woof,' said Timmy.
'He says he likes to see you with yours blown back too,' said Julian, gravely.
Anne gave a squeal3 of laughter. 'You really are an idiot, Ju! Come on - let's take the cliff-path!'
They went up the cliff. At the top it was very windy indeed. Anne's sou'-wester was blown to theback of her head. The rain stung their cheeks and made them gasp4.
'I should think we must be about the only people out this morning!' gasped5 George.
'Well, you're wrong,' said Julian. 'There are two people coming towards us!'
So there were. They were a man and a boy, both well wrapped up in macintoshes and sou'-westers. Like the children, they too wore high rubber boots.
25
The children took a look at them as they passed. The man was tall and well built, with shaggyeyebrows and a determined7 mouth. The boy was about sixteen, also tall and well built. He wasnot a bad-looking boy, but he had rather a sullen8 expression.
'Good morning,' said the man, and nodded. 'Good morning,' chorused the children, politely. Theman looked them over keenly, and then he and the boy went on.
'Wonder who they are?' said George. 'Mother didn't say there were any new people here.'
'Just walked over from the next village, I expect,' said Dick.
They went on for some way. 'We'll walk to the coastguard's cottage and then go back,' saidJulian. 'Hie, Tim, don't go so near the cliff!'
The coastguard lived in a little whitewashed9 cottage on the cliff, facing the sea. Two othercottages stood beside it, also whitewashed. The children knew the coastguard well. He was a red-faced, barrel-shaped man, fond of joking.
He was nowhere to be seen when they came to his cottage. Then they heard his enormous voicesinging a sea-shanty in the little shed behind. They went to find him.
'Hallo, coastguard,' said Anne.
He looked up and grinned at the children. He was busy making something.
'Halo to you!' he said. 'So you're back again, are you? Bad pennies, the lot of you -- alwaysturning up when you're not wanted!'
'What are you making?' asked Anne.
'A windmill for my young grandson,' said the coastguard, showing it to Anne. He was veryclever at making toys.
'Oh, it's lovely,' said Anne, taking it in her hands. 'Does the windmill part go round -- oh yes --it's super, coastguard!'
'I've been making quite a bit of money out of my toys,' said the old fellow, proudly. 'I've gotsome new neighbours in the next cottage - man and a boy - and the man's been buying all thetoys I make. Seems to have a lot of nephews and nieces! He gives me good prices too.'
'Oh - would that be the man and the boy we met, I wonder?' said Dick. 'Both tall, and well built -and the man had shaggy eyebrows6.'
'That's right,' said the coastguard, trimming a bit of his windmill. 'Mr. Curton and his son. Theycame here some weeks ago. You ought to get to know the son, Master Julian. He's about yourage, I should think. Must be pretty lonely for him up here?'
26
'Doesn't he go to any school?' asked Julian.
'No. He's been ill, so his father said. Got to have plenty of sea-air and that sort of thing. Not a badsort of boy. Comes and helps me with my toys sometimes. And he likes to mess about with mytelescope.'
'I do too,' said George. 'I love looking through your telescope. Can I look through now? I'd liketo see if I can spot Kirrin Island.'
'Well, you won't see much this weather,' said the coast guard. 'You wait a few minutes. See thatbreak in the clouds? Well, it'll clear in a few minutes, and you'll be able to see your island easily.
That's a funny thing your father's built there, Miss. Part of his work, I suppose.'
'Yes,' said George. 'Oh Timmy - look what he's done, coastguard - he's upset that tin of paint.
Bad boy, Timmy!'
'It's not my tin,' said the coastguard. 'It's a tin belonging to that young fellow next door. I told youhe comes in to help me sometimes. He brought in that tin to help paint a little dolls' house I madefor his father.'
'Oh dear,' said George, in dismay. 'Do you think he'll be cross when he knows Timmy spilt it?'
'Shouldn't think so,' said the coastguard. 'He's a queer boy though - quiet and a bit sulky. Not abad boy, but doesn't seem very friendly like.'
George tried to clear up the mess of paint. Timmy had some on his paws, and made a littlepattern of green paw-marks as he pattered about the shed.
'I'll tell the boy I'm sorry, if I meet him on the way back,' she said. 'Timmy, if you dare to go nearany more tins of paint you shan't sleep on my bed tonight.'
'The weather's a bit clearer now,' said Dick. 'Can we have a squint10 through the telescope,coastguard?'
'Let me see my island first,' said George at once. She tilted11 the telescope in the direction of KirrinIsland. Slit12 looked through it earnestly, and a smile came over her face. 'Yes, I can see it clearly.
There's the tower Father has had built. I can even see the glass room quite clearly, and there'snobody in it. No sign of Father anywhere.'
Everyone had a turn at looking through the telescope. It was fascinating to see the islandappearing so close. On a clear day it would be even easier to see all the details.
'I can see a rabbit scampering,' said Anne, when her turn came.
27
'Don't you let that dog of yours squint through the telescope then,' said the coastguard at once.
'He'll try to get down it after that rabbit!' Timmy cocked his ears up at the mention of the wordrabbit. He looked all round and sniffed14. No, there was no rabbit. Then why did people mentionthem?
'We'd better go now,' said Julian. 'We'll be up here again sometime, and we'll come and see whattoys you've done. Thanks for letting us look through the telescope.'
'You're welcome!' said the old fellow. 'You're not likely to wear it out through looking! Comealong any time you want to use it.'
They said good-bye and went off, Timmy capering15 round them.
'Couldn't we see Kirrin Island well!' said Anne. 'I wished I could see where your father was,George. Wouldn't it be fun if we spotted16 him just coming out of his hiding-place?'
The four children had discussed this problem a good deal since they had left the island. Itpuzzled them very much indeed. How did it happen that George's father knew a hiding-place thatthey didn't know? Why, they had been over every inch of the island! It must be quite a bighiding-place too, if he had got all his stuff for his experiments with him. According to George'smother, there had been quite a lot of this, to say nothing of stores of food.
'If Father knew a place I didn't know, and never told me about it, I think he's jolly mean,' Georgesaid half a dozen times. 'I do really. It's my island!'
'Well, he'll probably tell you when he's finished the work he's on,' said Julian. 'Then you'll know.
We can all go and explore it then, wherever it is.'
After they left the coastguard's cottage, they turned their steps home. They made their way alongthe cliff, and then saw the boy they had met before. He was standing17 on the path looking out tosea. The man was not with him.
He turned as they came up and gave them a pale kind of smile. 'Hallo! Been up to see thecoastguard?'
'Yes,' said Julian. 'Nice old fellow, isn't he?'
'I say,' said George, 'I'm so sorry, but my dog upset a tin of green paint, and the coastguard said itwas yours. Can I pay you for it, please?'
'Goodness, no!' said the boy. 'I don't mind. There wasn't much of it left anyway. That's a nice dogof yours.'
28
'Yes, he is,' said George, warmly. 'Best dog in the world. I've had him for years, but he's still asyoung as ever. Do you like dogs?'
'Oh yes,' said the boy, but he made no move to pat Timmy or fuss him, as most people did. AndTimmy did not run round the boy and sniff13 at him as he usually did when he met anyone new. Hejust stood by George, his tail neither up nor down.
'That's an interesting little island,' said the boy, pointing to Kirrin. 'I wish I could go there.'
'It's my island,' said George, proudly. 'My very own.'
'Really?' said the boy, politely. 'Could you let me go over one day then?'
'Well - not just at present,' said George. 'You see, my father's there working - he's a scientist.'
'Really?' said the boy again. 'Er - has he got some new experiment on hand, then?'
'Yes,' said George.
'Ah - and that queer tower is something to do with it, I suppose,' said the boy, looking interestedfor the first time. 'When will his experiment be finished?'
'What's that to do with you?' said Dick, suddenly.
The others stared at him in surprise. Dick sounded rather rude, and it was not like him.
'Oh nothing!' said the boy, hastily. 'I only thought that if his work will, soon be finished, perhapsyour brother would take me over to his island!'
George couldn't help feeling pleased. This boy thought she was a boy! George was alwaysgracious to people who made the mistake of thinking she was a boy.
'Of course I'll take you!' she said. 'It shouldn't be long before I do - the experiment is nearlydone.'
![](../../../skin/default/image/4.jpg)
点击
收听单词发音
![收听单词发音](/template/default/tingnovel/images/play.gif)
1
buffeting
![]() |
|
振动 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2
racing
![]() |
|
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3
squeal
![]() |
|
v.发出长而尖的声音;n.长而尖的声音 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4
gasp
![]() |
|
n.喘息,气喘;v.喘息;气吁吁他说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5
gasped
![]() |
|
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6
eyebrows
![]() |
|
眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7
determined
![]() |
|
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8
sullen
![]() |
|
adj.愠怒的,闷闷不乐的,(天气等)阴沉的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9
whitewashed
![]() |
|
粉饰,美化,掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10
squint
![]() |
|
v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11
tilted
![]() |
|
v. 倾斜的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12
slit
![]() |
|
n.狭长的切口;裂缝;vt.切开,撕裂 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13
sniff
![]() |
|
vi.嗅…味道;抽鼻涕;对嗤之以鼻,蔑视 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14
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: |
|
|
15
capering
![]() |
|
v.跳跃,雀跃( caper的现在分词 );蹦蹦跳跳 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16
spotted
![]() |
|
adj.有斑点的,斑纹的,弄污了的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17
standing
![]() |
|
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |