Chapter 12 JULIAN LOOKS ROUND

　　Chapter 12 JULIAN LOOKS ROUND
　　The woman brought them some food. It was only bread and butter and jam, with some hot coffee todrink. The four children were not really hungry, but they were very thirsty, and they drank the coffeeeagerly.
　　George opened the window and called softly down to Timmy. 'Tim! Here's something for you!'
　　Timmy was down there all right, watching and waiting. He knew where George was. He had howledand whined¹ for some time, but now he was quiet.
　　George was quite determined² to get him indoors if she could. She gave him all her bread and jam,dropping it down bit by bit, and listening to him wolfing it up. Anyway, old Timmy would know shewas thinking of him!
　　'Listen,' said Julian, coming in from the passage outside, where he had stood listening for a while. 'Ithink it would be a good idea if we put out this light, and settled down on the mattresses⁴.
　　But I shall make up a lump on mine to look like me, so that if anyone comes they'll think I'm there onthe mattress³. But I shan't be.'
　　'Where will you be, then?' asked Anne. 'Don't leave us!'
　　'I shall be hiding outside in that cupboard,' said Julian. 'I've a sort of feeling that our pleasant host,Mr. Perton, will come along presently to lock us in - and I've no intention of being locked in! I thinkhe'll flash a torch into the room, see that we're all four safely asleep on the mattresses, and thenquietly lock the door. Well - I shall be able to unlock it when I come back from the cupboard outside- and we shan't be prisoners at all!'
　　'Oh - that really is a good idea,' said Anne, cuddling herself up in a blanket. 'You'd better go and getinto the cupboard now, Julian, before we're locked up for the night!'
　　Julian blew out the lamp. He tiptoed to the door and opened it. He left it ajar. He went into thepassage and fumbled⁵ his way to where he knew the cupboard should be. Ah - there it was. He pulledat the handle and the door opened silently. He slipped inside and left the door open just a crack, sothat he would be able to see if anyone came along the wide passage.
　　He waited there about twenty minutes. The cupboard smelt⁶ musty, and it was very boring standingthere doing absolutely nothing.
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　　Then, through the crack in the door, he suddenly noticed that a light was coming. Ah - somebody wasabout!
　　He peered through the crack. He saw Mr. Perton coming quietly along the corridor with a little oil-lamp held in his hand. He went to the door of the children's bedroom and pushed it a little.
　　Julian watched him, hardly daring to breathe.
　　Would he notice that the figure on one of the mattresses was only a lump made of a blanket rolled upand covered by another blanket? Julian fervently⁷ hoped that he wouldn't. All his plans would bespoilt if so.
　　Mr. Perton held the lamp high in his hand and looked cautiously into the room. He saw four huddled-up shapes lying on the mattresses - four children - he thought.
　　They were obviously asleep. Softly, Mr. Perton closed the door, and just as softly locked it.
　　Julian watched anxiously to see if he pocketed the key or not. No - he hadn't! He had left it in thelock. Oh good!
　　The man went away again, treading softly. He did not go downstairs, but disappeared into a roomsome way down on the right. Julian heard the door shut with a click. Then he heard another click.
　　The man evidently believed in locking himself in. Perhaps he didn't trust his other comrade, whereverhe was - or Hunchy or the woman.
　　Julian waited a while and then crept out of the cupboard. He stole up to Mr. Perton's room and lookedthrough the keyhole to see if the room was in darkness or not. It was! Was Mr. Perton snoring? Notthat Julian could hear.
　　However Julian was not going to wait till he heard Mr. Perton snore. He was going to find Dick -and he was pretty certain that the first place to look was in that attic⁸ upstairs!
　　'I bet Mr. Perton was up there with Dick and heard me throwing stones at the window,' thoughtJulian. 'Then he slipped down and opened that window to trap us into getting in there - and we fellneatly into the trap! He must have been waiting inside the room for us. I don't like Mr. Perton- too full of bright ideas!'
　　He was half-way up the flight of stairs that led to the attics⁹ now - going very carefully and slowly,afraid of making the stairs creak loudly. They did creak - and at every creak poor Julian stopped andlistened to see if anyone had heard!
　　There was a long passage at the top turning at both ends into the side-wings. Julian stood still anddebated - now which way ought he to go? - where exactly was that lighted window? It was 52somewhere along this long passage, he was certain. Well, he'd go along the doors and see if a lightshone out through the keyhole, or under the door anywhere.
　　Door after door was ajar. Julian peeped round each, making out bare dark attics, or box-rooms withrubbish in. Then he came to a door that was closed. He peered through the keyhole. No light camefrom inside the room.
　　Julian knocked gently. A voice came at once - Dick's voice. 'Who's there?'
　　'Sh! It's me - Julian,' whispered Julian. 'Are you all right, Dick?'
　　There came the creak of a bed, then the pattering of feet across a bare floor. Dick's voice camethrough the door, muffled¹⁰ and cautious.
　　'Julian! How did you get here? This is marvellous! Can you unlock the door and let me out?'
　　Julian had already felt for a key - but there was none. Mr. Perton had taken that key, at any rate!
　　'No. The key's gone,' he said. 'Dick, what did they do to you?'
　　'Nothing much. They dragged me off to the car and shoved me in,' said Dick, through the door.
　　'The man called Rooky wasn't there. The others waited for him for some time, then drove off.
　　They thought he might have gone off to see someone they meant to visit. So I haven't seen him.
　　He's coming tomorrow morning. What a shock for him when he finds I'm not Richard!'
　　'Richard's here too,' whispered Julian. 'I wish he wasn't - because if Rooky happens to see him he'll bekidnapped, I'm sure! The only hope is that Rooky will only see you - and as the other men think we'reall one family, they may let us all go. Did you come straight here in the car, Dick?'
　　'Yes,' said Dick. 'The gates opened like magic when we got here, but I couldn't see anybody. I wasshoved up here and locked in. One of the men came to tell me all the things Rooky was going to do tome when he saw me - and then he suddenly went downstairs and hasn't come back again.'
　　'Oh - I bet that was when we chucked stones up at your window,' said Julian at once. 'Didn't you hearthem?'
　　'Yes - so that was the crack I heard! The man with me went across to the window at once - and hemust have seen you. Now, what about you, Ju? How on earth did you get here? Are you all reallyhere? I suppose that was Timmy I heard howling outside.'
　　Julian quickly told him all his tale from the time he and George had met the howling Richard to themoment he had slipped up the stairs to find Dick.
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　　There was a silence when he had finished his tale. Then Dick's voice came through the crack.
　　'Not much good making any plans, Julian. If things go all right, we'll be out of here by the morning,when Rooky finds I'm not the boy he wants. If things go wrong at least we're all together, and we canmake plans then. I wonder what his mother will think when Richard doesn't get home tonight.'
　　'Probably think he's gone off to the aunt's,' said Julian. 'I should think he's a very unreliable person.
　　Blow him! It was all because of him we got into this fix.'
　　'I expect the men will have some cock-and-bull story tomorrow morning, about why they got hold ofyou, when they find you're not Richard,' went on Julian. 'They'll probably say you threw stones attheir car or something, and they took you in hand - or found you hurt and brought you here to helpyou! Anyway, whatever they say, we won't make much fuss about it. We'll go quietly - and then we'llget things moving! I don't know what's going on here, but it's something queer. The police ought tolook into it, I'm certain.'
　　'Listen - that's Timmy again,' said Dick. 'Howling like anything for George, I suppose. You'd bettergo, Julian, in case he wakes up one of the men and they come out and find you here.
　　Good-night. I'm awfully¹¹ glad you're near! Thanks awfully for coming to find me.'
　　'Good-night,' said Julian, and went back along the corridor, walking over the patches of moonlight,looking fearfully into the dark shadows in case Mr. Perton or somebody else was waiting for him!
　　But nobody was about. Timmy's howling died down. There was a deep silence in the house.
　　Julian went down the stairs to the floor on which the bedroom was where the others lay asleep.
　　He paused outside it. Should he do any further exploring? It really was such a chance!
　　He decided¹² that he would. Mr. Perton was fast asleep, he hoped. He thought probably Hunchy andthe woman had gone to bed too. He wondered where the other man was, who had brought Dick toOwl's Dene. He hadn't seen him at all. Perhaps he had gone out in that black Bentley they had seengoing out of the gate.
　　Julian went down to the ground floor. A brilliant thought had just occurred to him. Couldn't he undothe front door and get the others down, and send them out, free? He himself couldn't escape, becauseit would mean leaving Dick alone.
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　　Then he gave up the idea. 'No,' he thought. 'For one thing George and Anne would refuse to gowithout me - and even if they agreed to get out of the front door, and go down the drive to the gates,how would they undo¹³ them? They're worked by some machinery¹⁴ from the house.'
　　So his brilliant idea came to nothing. He decided to look into all the rooms on the ground floor.
　　He looked into the kitchen first. The fire was almost out. The moonlight came through the cracks ofthe curtains and lighted up the dark silent room. Hunchy and the woman had evidently retiredsomewhere.
　　There was nothing of interest in the kitchen. Julian went into the room opposite. It was a dining-room, with a long polished table, candlesticks on the walls and mantelpiece, and the remains¹⁵ of awood fire. Nothing of interest there either.
　　The boy went into another room. Was it a workroom, or what? There was a radiogram there, and abig desk. There was a stand with a curious instrument of some kind that had a stout wheel-likehandle. Julian suddenly wondered if it would open the gates! Yes - that was what it was for. He saw alabel attached to it. Left Gate. Right Gate. Both Gates.
　　'That's what it is - the machinery for opening either or both of the gates. If only I could get Dick outof that room I'd get us all out of this place in no time!' said Julian. He twisted the handle -what would happen?

1 whined   

v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨

参考例句：

• The dog whined at the door, asking to be let out. 狗在门前嚎叫着要出去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He whined and pouted when he did not get what he wanted. 他要是没得到想要的东西就会发牢骚、撅嘴。 来自辞典例句

2 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

3 mattress   

n.床垫，床褥

参考例句：

• The straw mattress needs to be aired.草垫子该晾一晾了。
• The new mattress I bought sags in the middle.我买的新床垫中间陷了下去。

4 mattresses   

褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
• The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。

5 fumbled   

（笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下

参考例句：

• She fumbled in her pocket for a handkerchief. 她在她口袋里胡乱摸找手帕。
• He fumbled about in his pockets for the ticket. 他（瞎）摸着衣兜找票。

6 smelt   

v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼

参考例句：

• Tin is a comparatively easy metal to smelt.锡是比较容易熔化的金属。
• Darby was looking for a way to improve iron when he hit upon the idea of smelting it with coke instead of charcoal.达比一直在寻找改善铁质的方法，他猛然想到可以不用木炭熔炼，而改用焦炭。

7 fervently   

adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地

参考例句：

• "Oh, I am glad!'she said fervently. “哦，我真高兴！”她热烈地说道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• O my dear, my dear, will you bless me as fervently to-morrow?' 啊，我亲爱的，亲爱的，你明天也愿这样热烈地为我祝福么？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

8 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？

9 attics   

n. 阁楼

参考例句：

• They leave unwanted objects in drawers, cupboards and attics. 他们把暂时不需要的东西放在抽屉里、壁橱中和搁楼上。
• He rummaged busily in the attics of European literature, bringing to light much of interest. 他在欧洲文学的阁楼里忙着翻箱倒笼，找到了不少有趣的东西。

10 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》

11 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

12 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。

13 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

14 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

15 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。