It really was very difficult to get Uncle Quentin off the next day. He was shut up in his study until thelast possible moment, sorting out his precious notebooks. The taxi arrived and hooted1 outside thegate. Aunt Fanny, who had been ready for a long time, went and rapped at the study door.
'Quentin! Unlock the door! You really must come. We shall lose the plane if we don't go now.'
'Just one minute!' shouted back her husband. Aunt Fanny looked at the four children in despair.
'That's the fourth time he's called out ''Just one minute'',' said George. The telephone shrilled2 out justthen, and she picked up the receiver.
'Yes,' she said. 'No, I'm afraid you can't see him. He's off to Spain, and nobody will know where he isfor the next two weeks. What's that? Wait a minute - I'll ask my mother.'
'Who is it?' said her mother.
'It's the Daily Clarion,' said George. 'They want to send a reporter down to interview Daddy. I toldthem he was going to Spain - and they said could they publish that?'
'Of course,' said her mother, thankfully, 'Once that's in the papers nobody will ring up and worry you.
Say, yes, George.'
George said yes, the taxi hooted more loudly than ever, and Timmy barked madly at the hooting3.
The study door was flung open and Uncle Quentin stood in the doorway4, looking as black as thunder.
'Why can't I have a little peace and quiet when I'm doing important work?' he began. But his wifemade a dart5 at him and dragged him down the hall. She put his hat in one hand, and would have puthis stick into the other if he hadn't been carrying a heavy despatch6 case.
'You're not doing important work, you're off on a holiday,' she said. 'Oh, Quentin, you're worse thanever! What's that case in your hand? Surely you are not taking work away with you?'
6
The taxi hooted again, and Timmy woofed just behind Uncle Quentin. He jumped violently, and thetelephone rang loudly.
'That's another reporter coming down to see you, Father,' said George. 'Better go quickly!'
Whether that bit of news really did make Uncle Quentin decide at last to go, nobody knew - but intwo seconds he was sitting in the taxi, still clutching his despatch case, telling the taxi-driver exactlywhat he thought of people who kept hooting their horns.
'Good-bye, dears,' called Aunt Fanny, thankfully. 'Don't get into mischief7. We're off at last.'
The taxi disappeared down the lane. 'Poor Mother!' said George. 'It's always like this when they gofor a holiday. Well, there's one thing certain - I shall NEVER marry a scientist.'
Everyone heaved a sigh of relief at the thought that Uncle Quentin was gone. When he was over-worked he really was impossible.
'Still, you simply have to make excuses for anyone with a brain like his,' said Julian. 'Whenever ourscience master at school speaks of him, he almost holds his breath with awe8. Worst of it is, he expectsme to be brilliant because I've got a brilliant uncle.'
'Yes. It's difficult to live up to clever relations,' said Dick. 'Well - we're on our own, except for Joan.
Good old Joan! I bet she'll give us some smashing meals.'
'Let's go and see if she's got anything we can have now,' said George. 'I'm hungry.'
'So am I,' said Dick. They marched down the hall into the kitchen, calling for Joan.
'Now, you don't need to tell me what you've come for,' said Joan, the smiling, good-tempered cook.
'And I don't need to tell you this - the larder9's locked.'
'Oh Joan - what a mean thing to do!' said Dick.
'Mean or not, it's the only thing to do when all four of you are around, to say nothing of that greathungry dog,' said Joan, rolling out some pastry10 vigorously. 'Why, last holidays I left a meat pie andhalf a tongue and a cherry tart11 and trifle sitting on the shelves for the next day's meals - and when Icame back from my half-day's outing there wasn't a thing to be seen.'
'Well, we thought you'd left them there for our supper,' said Julian, sounding quite hurt.
'All right - but you won't get the chance of thinking anything like that again,' said Joan, firmly.
'That larder door's going to be kept locked. Maybe I'll unlock it sometimes and hand you out a snackor two - but I'm the one that's going to unlock it, not you.'
7
The four drifted out of the kitchen again, disappointed. Timmy followed at their heels. 'Let's go downand have a bathe,' said Dick. 'If I'm going to have six bathes a day, I'd better hurry up and have myfirst one.'
'I'll get some ripe plums,' said Anne. 'We can take those down with us. And I expect the ice-creamman will come along to the beach too. We shan't starve! And we'd better wear our shirts and shortsover our bathing costumes, so we don't catch too much sun.'
Soon they were all down on the sand. They found a good place and scraped out comfortable holes tosit in. Timmy scraped his own.
'I can't imagine why Timmy bothers to scrape one,' said George. 'Because he always squeezes intomine sooner or later. Don't you, Timmy?'
Timmy wagged his tail, and scraped so violently that they were all covered with sand. 'Pooh!'
said Anne, spitting sand out of her mouth. 'Stop it, Timmy. As fast as I scrape my hole, you fill it up!'
Timmy paused to give her a lick, and then scraped again, making a very deep hole indeed. He laydown in it, panting, his mouth looking as if he were smiling.
'He's smiling again,' said Anne. 'I never knew a dog that smiled like Timmy. Timmy, it's nice to haveyou again.'
'Woof,' said Timmy, politely, meaning that it was nice to have Anne and the others back again, too.
He wagged his tail and sent a shower of sand over Dick.
They all wriggled12 down comfortably into their soft warm holes. 'We'll eat the plums first and thenwe'll have a bathe,' said Dick. 'Chuck me one, Anne.'
Two people came slowly along the beach. Dick looked at them out of half-closed eyes. A boy and aman - and what a ragamuffin the boy looked! He wore tom dirty shorts and a filthy13 jersey14.
No shoes at all.
The man looked even worse. He slouched as he came, and dragged one foot. He had a stragglymoustache and mean, clever little eyes that raked the beach up and down. The two were walking athigh-water mark and were obviously looking for anything that might have been cast up by the tide.
The boy already had an old box, one wet shoe and some wood under his arm.
'What a pair!' said Dick to Julian. 'I hope they don't come near us. I feel as if I can smell them fromhere.'
8
The two walked along the beach and then back. Then, to the children's horror, they made a bee-linefor where they were lying in their sandy holes, and sat down close beside them. Timmy growled15.
An unpleasant, unwashed kind of smell at once came to the children's noses. Pooh! Timmy growledagain. The boy took no notice of Timmy's growling16. But the man looked uneasy.
'Come on - let's have a bathe,' said Julian, annoyed at the way the two had sat down so close to them.
After all, there was practically the whole of the beach to choose from - why come and sit almost ontop of somebody else?
When they came back from their bathe the man had gone, but the boy was still there - and he hadactually sat himself down in George's hole.
'Get out,' said George, shortly, her temper rising at once. 'That's my hole, and you jolly well know it.'
'Findings keepings,' said the boy, in a curious singsong voice. 'It's my hole now.'
George bent17 down and pulled the boy roughly out of the hole. He was up in a trice, his fists clenched18.
George clenched hers, too.
Dick came up at a run. 'Now, George - if there's any fighting to be done, I'll do it,' he said. He turnedto the scowling19 boy. 'Clear off! We don't want you here!'
The boy hit out with his right fist and caught Dick unexpectedly on the jawbone. Dick lookedastounded. He hit out, too, and sent the tousle-headed boy flying.
'Yah, coward!' said the boy, holding his chin tenderly. 'Hitting someone smaller than yourself!
I'll fight that first boy, but I won't fight you.'
'You can't fight him,' said Dick. 'He's a girl. You can't fight girls - and girls oughtn't to fight, anyway.'
'Ses you!' said the dirty little ragamuffin, standing20 up and doubling his fists again. 'Well, you lookhere - I'm a girl, too - so I can fight her all right, can't I?'
George and the ragamuffin stood scowling at one another, each with fists clenched. They looked soastonishingly alike, with their short, curly hair, brown freckled21 faces and fierce expressions thatJulian suddenly roared with laughter. He pushed them firmly apart.
'Fighting forbidden!' he said. He turned to the ragamuffin. 'Clear off!' he ordered. 'Do you hear me?
Go on - off with you!'
The gipsy-like girl stared at him. Then she suddenly burst into tears and ran off howling.
9
'She's a girl all right,' said Dick, grinning at the howls. 'She's got some spunk22 though, facing up to melike that. Well, that's the last we'll see of her!'
But he was wrong. It wasn't!
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1
hooted
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(使)作汽笛声响,作汽车喇叭声( hoot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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2
shrilled
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(声音)尖锐的,刺耳的,高频率的( shrill的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3
hooting
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(使)作汽笛声响,作汽车喇叭声( hoot的现在分词 ); 倒好儿; 倒彩 | |
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4
doorway
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n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
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5
dart
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v.猛冲,投掷;n.飞镖,猛冲 | |
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despatch
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n./v.(dispatch)派遣;发送;n.急件;新闻报道 | |
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mischief
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n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
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8
awe
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n.敬畏,惊惧;vt.使敬畏,使惊惧 | |
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larder
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n.食物贮藏室,食品橱 | |
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pastry
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n.油酥面团,酥皮糕点 | |
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11
tart
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adj.酸的;尖酸的,刻薄的;n.果馅饼;淫妇 | |
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12
wriggled
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v.扭动,蠕动,蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 );(使身体某一部位)扭动;耍滑不做,逃避(应做的事等) | |
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13
filthy
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adj.卑劣的;恶劣的,肮脏的 | |
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14
jersey
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n.运动衫 | |
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15
growled
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v.(动物)发狺狺声, (雷)作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 );低声咆哮着说 | |
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16
growling
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n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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17
bent
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n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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18
clenched
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v.紧握,抓紧,咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
scowling
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怒视,生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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20
standing
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n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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21
freckled
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adj.雀斑;斑点;晒斑;(使)生雀斑v.雀斑,斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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spunk
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n.勇气,胆量 | |
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