Chapter 9 MOONLIGHT ADVENTURE

　　Chapter 9
　　MOONLIGHT ADVENTURE
　　The four of them rode carefully down the rough, woodland path. They were glad when they came outinto a lane. Julian stopped for a moment to take his bearings.
　　'Now - according to the map, we ought to go to the right here - then take the left at the fork some waydown, and then circle a hill by the road at the bottom - and then ride a mile or two in a little valley tillwe come to the foot of Owl¹'s Hill.'
　　'If we meet anyone we could ask them about Owl's Dene,' said Anne, hopefully.
　　'We shan't meet anyone out at night in this district!' said Julian. 'For one thing it's far from anyvillage, and there will be no farmer, no policeman, no traveller for miles! We can't hope to meetanyone.'
　　The moon was up, and the sky cleared as they rode down the lane. It was soon as bright as day!
　　'We could switch off our lamps and save the batteries,' said Julian. 'We can see quite well we're out ofthe woods and in the moonlight. Rather weird², isn't it?'
　　'I always think moonlight's queer, because although it shines so brightly on everything, you can neversee much colour anywhere,' said Anne. She switched off her lamp too. She glanced down at Timmy.
　　'Switch off your head-lamps, Timmy!' she said, which made Richard give a sudden giggle³. Juliansmiled. It was nice to hear Anne being cheerful again.
　　'Timmy's eyes are rather like head-lamps, aren't they?' said Richard. 'I say - what about that food,Julian?'
　　'Right,' said Julian, and he fished in his basket. But it was very difficult to get it out with one hand,and try to hand it to the others.
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　　'Better stop for a few minutes, after all,' he said at last. 'I've already dropped a hard-boiled egg, Ithink! Come on - let's stack our bikes by the side of the road for three minutes, and gulp⁴ downsomething just to satisfy us for now.'
　　Richard was only too pleased. The girls were so hungry that they too thought it a good idea.
　　They leapt off their bicycles in the moonlit road and went to the little copse at the side. It was a pine-copse, and the ground below was littered with dry brown pine-needles.
　　'Let's squat⁵ here for a minute or two,' said Julian. 'I say - what's that over there?'
　　Everyone looked. 'It's a tumbledown hut or something,' said George, and she went nearer to see.
　　'Yes, that's all - some old cottage fallen to bits. There's only part of the walls left. Rather an eerielittle place.'
　　They went to sit down under the pine-trees. Julian shared out the food. Timmy got his bit too, thoughnot so much as he would have liked! They sat there in the pine shadows, munching⁶ hungrily as fast asthey could.
　　'I say - can anyone hear what I hear?' said Julian, raising his head. 'It sounds like a car!'
　　They all listened. Julian was right. A car was purring silently through the countryside! What a bit ofluck!
　　'If only it comes this way!' said Julian. 'We could stop it and ask it for help. It could take us to thenearest police-station at any rate!'
　　They left their food in the little copse and went to the roadside. They could see no head-lights shininganywhere, but they could still hear the noise of the car.
　　'Very quiet engine,' said Julian. 'Probably a powerful car. It hasn't got its head-lights on because ofthe bright moonlight.'
　　'It's coming nearer,' said George. 'It's coming down this lane. Yes - it is!'
　　So it was. The noise of the engine came nearer, and nearer. The children got ready to leap out into theroad to stop the car.
　　And then the noise of the engine died away suddenly. The moon shone down on a big streamlined carthat had stopped a little way down the lane. It had no lights at all, not even side-lights. Julian put outhis hand to stop the others from rushing into the road and shouting.
　　'Wait,' he said. 'This is just a bit - queer!'
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　　They waited, keeping in the shadows. The car had stopped not far from the tumbledown hut. A dooropened on the off-side. A man got out and rushed across the road to the shadow of the hedge there.
　　He seemed to be carrying a bundle of some kind.
　　A low whistle sounded. The call of an owl came back. 'An answering signal!' thought Julian,intensely curious about all this. 'I wonder what's happening?'
　　'Keep absolutely quiet,' he breathed to the others. 'George, look after Timmy - don't let him growl⁷.'
　　But Timmy knew when he had to be quiet. He didn't even give a whine⁸. He stood like a statue, earspricked, eyes watching the lane.
　　Nothing happened for a while. Julian moved very cautiously to the shelter of another tree, fromwhere he could see better.
　　He could see the tumbledown shack⁹. He saw a shadow moving towards it from some trees beyond.
　　He saw a man waiting - the man from the car probably. Who were they? What in the world couldthey be doing here at this time of night?
　　The man from the trees came at last to the man from the car. There was a rapid interchange of words,but Julian could not hear what they were. He was sure that the men had no idea at all that he and theother children were near. He cautiously crept to yet another tree, and peered from the shadows to tryand see what was happening.
　　'Don't be long,' he heard one man say. 'Don't bring your things to the car. Stuff them down the well.'
　　Julian could not see properly what the man was doing, but he thought he must be changing hisclothes. Yes - now he was putting on the others - probably from the bundle the first man had broughtfrom the car. Julian was more and more curious. What a queer business! Who was the second man? Arefugee? A spy?
　　The man who had changed his clothes now picked up his discarded ones and went to the back of theshack. He came back without them, and followed the first man across the lane to the waiting car.
　　Even before the door had closed, the engine was purring, and the car was away! It passed by the pine-copse where the children were watching, and they all shrank back as it raced by. Before it had gonevery far it was travelling very fast indeed.
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　　Julian joined the others. Well - what do you make of all that?' he said. 'Funny business, isn't it? Iwatched a man changing his clothes - goodness knows why. He's left them somewhere at the back ofthe shack - down a well, I think I heard them say. Shall we see?'
　　'Yes, let's,' said George, puzzled. 'I say, did you see the number on the car. I only managed to spot theletters - KMF.'
　　'I saw the numbers,' said Anne. '102. And it was a black Bentley.'
　　'Yes. Black Bentley, KMF 102,' said Richard. 'Up to some funny business, I'll be bound!'
　　They made their way to the ruined shack, and pushed through overgrown weeds and bushes into thebackyard. There was a broken-down well there, most of its brickwork missing.
　　It was covered by an old wooden lid. Julian removed it. It was still heavy, though rotten with age. Hepeered down the well, but there was nothing at all to be seen. It was far too deep to see to the bottomby the light of a bicycle lamp.
　　'Not much to be seen there,' said Julian, replacing the lid. 'I expect it was his clothes he threw down.
　　Wonder why he changed them?'
　　'Do you think he could be an escaped prisoner?' said Anne, suddenly. 'He'd have to change his prisonclothes, wouldn't he? - that would be the most important thing for him to do. Is there a prison nearhere?'
　　Nobody knew. 'Don't remember noticing one on the map,' said Julian. 'No - somehow I don't thinkthe man was an escaped prisoner - more likely a spy dropped down in this desolate¹⁰ countryside, andsupplied with clothes - or perhaps a deserter from the army. That's even more likely!'
　　'Well, whatever it is I don't like it and I'm jolly glad the car's gone with the prisoner or deserter orspy, whatever he is,' said Anne. 'What a curious thing that we should just be nearby when thishappened! The men would never, never guess there were four children and a dog watching just a fewyards away.'
　　'Lucky for us they didn't know,' said Julian. 'They wouldn't have been at all pleased! Now come on -we've wasted enough time. Let's get back to our food. I hope Timmy hasn't eaten it all. We left it onthe ground.'
　　Timmy hadn't eaten even a crumb¹¹. He was sitting patiently by the food, occasionally sniffing¹² at it. Allthat bread and ham and eggs waiting there and nobody to eat it!
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　　'Good dog,' said George. 'You're very, very trustable, Timmy. You shall have a big bit of bread andham for your reward.'
　　Timmy gulped¹³ it down in one mouthful, but there was no more for him to have. The others only justhad enough for themselves, and ate every crumb. They rose to their feet in a very few minutes andwent to get their bicycles.
　　'Now for Owl's Hill again,' Julian. 'And let's hope we don't come across any more queer happeningstonight. We've had quite enough.'

1 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。

2 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。

3 giggle   

n.痴笑，咯咯地笑；v.咯咯地笑着说

参考例句：

• Both girls began to giggle.两个女孩都咯咯地笑了起来。
• All that giggle and whisper is too much for me.我受不了那些咯咯的笑声和交头接耳的样子。

4 gulp   

vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽

参考例句：

• She took down the tablets in one gulp.她把那些药片一口吞了下去。
• Don't gulp your food,chew it before you swallow it.吃东西不要狼吞虎咽，要嚼碎了再咽下去。

5 squat   

v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的

参考例句：

• For this exercise you need to get into a squat.在这次练习中你需要蹲下来。
• He is a squat man.他是一个矮胖的男人。

6 munching   

v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was munching an apple. 他在津津有味地嚼着苹果。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Munching the apple as he was, he had an eye for all her movements. 他虽然啃着苹果，但却很留神地监视着她的每一个动作。 来自辞典例句

7 growl   

v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣

参考例句：

• The dog was biting,growling and wagging its tail.那条狗在一边撕咬一边低声吼叫，尾巴也跟着摇摆。
• The car growls along rutted streets.汽车在车辙纵横的街上一路轰鸣。

8 whine   

v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣

参考例句：

• You are getting paid to think,not to whine.支付给你工资是让你思考而不是哀怨的。
• The bullet hit a rock and rocketed with a sharp whine.子弹打在一块岩石上，一声尖厉的呼啸，跳飞开去。

9 shack   

adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚

参考例句：

• He had to sit down five times before he reached his shack.在走到他的茅棚以前，他不得不坐在地上歇了五次。
• The boys made a shack out of the old boards in the backyard.男孩们在后院用旧木板盖起一间小木屋。

10 desolate   

adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂

参考例句：

• The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
• We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后，我们都觉得万分孤寂。

11 crumb   

n.饼屑，面包屑，小量

参考例句：

• It was the only crumb of comfort he could salvage from the ordeal.这是他从这场磨难里能找到的唯一的少许安慰。
• Ruth nearly choked on the last crumb of her pastry.鲁斯几乎被糕点的最后一块碎屑所噎住。

12 sniffing   

n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；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：

• We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了，一个劲地抽鼻子，打喷嚏。
• They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了，呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 gulped   

v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住

参考例句：

• He gulped down the rest of his tea and went out. 他把剩下的茶一饮而尽便出去了。
• She gulped nervously, as if the question bothered her. 她紧张地咽了一下，似乎那问题把她难住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》