Chapter Sixteen DOWN TO THE CAVES

　　Chapter Sixteen DOWN TO THE CAVES
　　GEORGE went cautiously down the stone steps. They were steep and narrow.
　　'I should think they run right down in the middle of the stone wall,' thought George. 'Goodness,here's a narrow bit!' It was so narrow that she had to go sideways. 'A fat man would never getthrough there!' she thought to herself. 'Hallo -- the steps have ended!'
　　She had got her rug round her shoulders, and had picked up her bag on the way down. In herother hand she held her torch. It was terribly dark and quiet down there. George did not feelscared because she was hoping to see Timmy at any moment. No one could feel afraid withTimmy just round the corner, ready to welcome them! She stood at the bottom of the steps, hertorch showing her a narrow tunnel. It curved sharply to the left.
　　'Now will it join the dungeons¹ from here?' she wondered, trying to get her sense of direction tohelp her. 'They can't be far off. But there's no sign of them at the moment.' She went on down thenarrow tunnel. Once the roof came down so low she almost had to crawl. She flashed her torchon it. She saw black rock there, which had evidently been too hard to be removed by the tunnelbuilders long ago.
　　The tunnel went on and on and on. George was puzzled. Surely by now she must have gone byall the dungeons! Why - she must be heading towards the shore of the island! How very queer!
　　Didn't this tunnel join the dungeons then? A little further and she would be under the bed of thesea itself. The tunnel took a deep slope downwards². More steps appeared, cut roughly from rock.
　　George climbed down them cautiously. Where in the world was she going?
　　At the bottom of the steps the tunnel seemed to be cut out of solid rock - or else it was a naturalpassage, not made by man at all. George didn't know. Her torch showed her black, rocky wallsand roof, and her feet stumbled over an irregular rocky path. How she longed for Timmy besideher!
　　'I must be very deep down,' she thought, pausing to flash her torch round her once more. 'Verydeep down and very far from the castle! Good gracious - whatever's that awful noise?' Shelistened. She heard a muffled³ booming and moaning. Was it her father doing one of hisexperiments? The noise went on and on, a deep, never-ending boom. 'Why - I believe it's thesea!' said George, amazed. She stood and listened again. 'Yes -- it is the sea -- over my head! I'm69
　　under the rocky bed of Kirrin Bay!' And now poor George did feel a bit scared! She thought ofthe great waves surging above her, she thought of the restless, moving water scouring⁴ the rockybed over her head, and felt frightened in case the sea should find a way to leak down into hernarrow tunnel! 'Now, don't be silly,' she told herself sternly. 'This tunnel has been here under thesea-bed for hundreds of years -- why should it suddenly become unsafe just when you are in it,George?' Talking to herself like this, to keep up her spirits, she went on again. It was very queerindeed to think she was walking under the sea. So this was where her father was at work! Underthe sea itself.
　　And then George suddenly remembered something he had said to them all, the first time they hadvisited him on the island. What was it now? 'Oh yes! He said he had to have water above andaround him!' said George. 'Now I see what he meant! His workroom is somewhere down here --so the sea-water is above him -- and it's all round the tower, because it's built on an island!'
　　Water above and water around -- so that was why her father had chosen Kirrin Island for hisexperiment. How had he found the secret passage under the sea, though? 'Why, even I didn'tknow of that,' said George. 'Hallo -what am I coming to?' She stopped. The passage hadsuddenly widened out into an enormous dark cave, whose roof was unexpectedly high, lost indark shadows. George stared round. She saw queer things there that she didn't understand at all --wires, glass boxes, little machines that seemed to be at work without a sound, whose centreswere alive with queer, gleaming, shivering light.
　　Sudden sparks shot up now and again, and when that happened a funny smell crept round thecave. 'How weird⁵ all this is!' thought George. 'However can Father understand all these machinesand things! I wonder where he is. I do hope those men haven't made him prisoner somewhere!'
　　From this queer, Aladdin's cave another tunnel led. George switched on her torch again and wentinto it. It was much like the other one, but the roof was higher.
　　She came to another cave, smaller this time, and crammed⁶ with wires of all kinds. There was acurious humming sound here, like thousands of bees in a hive. George half-expected to see someflying round.
　　'It must be these wires making the noise,' she said. There was nobody in the cave at all, but it ledinto another one, and George hoped that soon she would find Timmy and her father.
　　She went into the next cave, which was perfectly⁷ empty and very cold. She shivered. Then downanother passage, and into a small cave. The first thing she saw beyond this tiny cave was a light!
　　70
　　A light! Then perhaps she was coming to the cave her father must be in! She flashed her torchround the little cave she was now standing⁸ in and saw tins of food, bottles of beer, tins of sweets,and a pile of clothes of some sort. Ah, this was where her father kept his stores. She went on tothe next cave, wondering why Timmy had not heard her and come to greet her.
　　She looked cautiously into the cave where the light came from. Sitting at a table, his head in hishands, perfectly still, was her father! There was no sign of Timmy.
　　'Father!' said George. The man at the table jumped violently and turned round. He stared atGeorge as if he really could not believe his eyes. Then he turned back again, and buried his facein his hands.
　　'Father!' said George again, quite frightened because he did not say anything to her. He lookedround again, and this time he got up. He stared at George once more, and then sat down heavily.
　　George ran to him.
　　'What's the matter? Oh Father, what's the matter? Where's Timmy?'
　　'George! Is it really you, George? I thought I must be dreaming when I looked up and saw you!'
　　said her father. 'How did you get here? Good gracious, it's impossible that you should be here!'
　　'Father, are you all right? What's happened - and where's Timmy?' said George, urgently. Shelooked all round, but could see no sign of him. Her heart went cold. Surely nothing awful hadhappened to Timmy?
　　'Did you see two men?' asked her father. 'Where were they?'
　　'Oh Father -- we keep asking each other questions and not answering them!' said George. 'Tellme first -- where is Timmy?'
　　'I don't know,' said her father. 'Did those two men go to the tower?'
　　'Yes,' said George. 'Father, what's happened?'
　　'Well, if they've gone to the tower, we've got about an hour in peace,' said her father. 'Now listento me, George, very carefully. This is terribly important.'
　　'I'm listening,' said George. 'But do hurry up and tell me about Timmy.'
　　'These two men were parachuted down on to the island, to try and find out my secret,' said herfather. 'I'll tell you what my experiments are for, George - they are to find a way of replacing allcoal, coke and oil - an idea to give the world all the heat and power it wants, and to do away withmines and miners.'
　　71
　　'Good gracious!' said George. 'It would be one of the most wonderful things the world has everknown.'
　　'Yes,' said her father. 'And I should give it to the whole world - it shall not be in the power of anyone country, or collection of men. It shall be a gift to the whole of mankind - but, George, thereare men who want my secret for themselves, so that they may make colossal⁹ fortunes out of it.'
　　'How hateful!' cried George. 'Go on, Father -- how did they hear of it?'
　　'Well, I was at work on this idea with some of my colleagues, my fellow-workers,' said herfather. 'And one of them betrayed us, and went to some powerful business men to tell them ofmy idea. So when I knew this I decided¹⁰ to come away in secret and finish my experiments bymyself. Then nobody could betray me.'
　　'And you came here!' said George. 'To my island.'
　　'Yes -- because I needed water over me and water around me,' said her father. 'Quite by chance Ilooked at a copy of that old map, and thought that if the passage shown there -- the one leadingfrom the little stone room, I mean - if the passage there really did lead under the sea, as it seemedto show, that would be the ideal place to finish my experiments.'
　　'Oh Father -- and I made such a fuss!' said George, ashamed to remember how cross she hadbeen.
　　'Did you?' said her father, as if he had forgotten all about that. 'Well, I got all my stuff and camehere. And now these fellows have found me, and got hold of me!'
　　'Poor Father! Can't I help?' said George. 'I could go back and bring help over here, couldn't I?'
　　'Yes, you could!' said her father. 'But you mustn't let those men see you, George.'
　　'I'll do anything you want me to, Father, anything!' said George. 'But first do tell me what'shappened to Timmy?'
　　'Well, he kept by me all the time,' said her father. 'Really, he's a wonderful dog, George. Andthen, this morning, just as I was coming out of the entrance in that little room to go up into thetower with Timmy to signal, the two men pounced¹¹ on me and forced me back here?'
　　'But what happened to Timmy?' asked George, impatiently. Would her father never tell her whatshe wanted to know?
　　'He flew at the men, of course,' said her father. 'But somehow or other one of them lassoed himwith a noose¹² of rope, and caught him. They pulled the rope so tight round his neck that he almostchoked.'
　　72
　　'Oh, poor, poor Timmy,' said George, and the tears ran down her cheek. 'Is he -- do you think -he's all right, Father?'
　　'Yes. From what I heard the men saying afterwards I think they've taken him to some cave andshut him in there,' said her father. 'Anyway, I saw one of them getting some dog-biscuits out of abag this evening -- so that looks as if he's alive and kicking -- and hungry!'
　　George heaved a great sigh of relief. So long as Timmy was alive and all right! She took a fewsteps towards what she thought must be another cave.
　　'I'm going to find Timmy, Father,' she said. 'I must find him!'

1 dungeons   

n.地牢( dungeon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The captured rebels were consigned to the dungeons. 抓到的叛乱分子被送进了地牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He saw a boy in fetters in the dungeons. 他在地牢里看见一个戴着脚镣的男孩。 来自辞典例句

2 downwards   

adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地）

参考例句：

• He lay face downwards on his bed.他脸向下伏在床上。
• As the river flows downwards,it widens.这条河愈到下游愈宽。

3 muffled   

adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己）

参考例句：

• muffled voices from the next room 从隔壁房间里传来的沉闷声音
• There was a muffled explosion somewhere on their right. 在他们的右面什么地方有一声沉闷的爆炸声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 scouring   

擦[洗]净，冲刷，洗涤

参考例句：

• The police are scouring the countryside for the escaped prisoners. 警察正在搜索整个乡村以捉拿逃犯。
• This is called the scouring train in wool processing. 这被称为羊毛加工中的洗涤系列。

5 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

6 crammed   

adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)

参考例句：

• He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
• All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。

7 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

8 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。

9 colossal   

adj.异常的，庞大的

参考例句：

• There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
• Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。

10 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。

11 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》

12 noose   

n.绳套，绞索（刑）；v.用套索捉；使落入圈套；处以绞刑

参考例句：

• They tied a noose round her neck.他们在她脖子上系了一个活扣。
• A hangman's noose had already been placed around his neck.一个绞刑的绳圈已经套在他的脖子上。