Chapter 15 ANNE DOESN'T LIKE ADVENTURES

　　Chapter 15 ANNE DOESN'T LIKE ADVENTURES
　　There was no answer from inside the caravan¹. Perhaps George was asleep - or drugged! And Timmy,too. Julian's heart sank. It would be dreadful if George had been ill-treated. He tried to peer inside thewindow again, but what with the darkness of the wood and the dirt on the pane², it really wasimpossible to see inside.
　　'Shall we bang on the door?' asked Dick.
　　'No. That would only bring Simmy if he's anywhere about - and if George is inside and awake, ourvoices would have attracted her attention,' said Julian.
　　They went quietly round the caravan to the door at the back. It had no key in the lock. Julianfrowned.
　　Simmy must have got the key with him. That would mean breaking down the door and making anoise. He went up the few steps and pushed at the door. It seemed very solid indeed. How could hebreak it down, anyway? He had no tools, and it didn't look as if kicking and shoving would burst it in.
　　He knocked gently on the door - rap-rap-rap. Not a movement from inside. It seemed very strange.
　　He tried the round handle, and it turned easily.
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　　It not only turned easily - but the door opened! 'Dick! It's not locked!' said Julian, forgetting towhisper in his surprise. He went inside the dark caravan, hardly hoping now to see George or Timmy.
　　Dick pushed in after him. There was a nasty sour smell and it was very untidy. Nobody was there. Itwas quite empty, as Julian had feared.
　　He groaned³. 'All this way for nothing. They've taken George somewhere else. We're done, now, Dick- we haven't a clue where to go next.'
　　Dick fished his torch out of his pocket. He flashed it over the untidy jumble⁴ of things in the caravan,looking for some sign that George had been there. But there was nothing at all that he could see toshow him that either Timmy or George had been there.
　　'It's quite likely that Jo made the whole story up about her father taking George away,' he groaned. 'Itdoesn't look as if they've been here at all.'
　　His torch flashed on to the wooden wall of the caravan, and Dick saw something that arrested hisattention. Somebody had written something on the wall!
　　He looked more closely. 'Julian! Isn't that George's writing? Look! What's written there?'
　　Both boys bent⁵ towards the dirty wall. 'Red Tower, Red Tower, Red Tower,' was written again andagain, in very small writing.
　　'Red Tower!' said Dick. 'What does that mean? Is it George's writing?'
　　'Yes, I think so,' said Julian. 'But why should she keep writing that? Do you suppose that's where theyhave taken her to? She might have heard them saying something and scribbled⁶ it down quickly - justin case we found the caravan and examined it. Red Tower! It sounds queer.'
　　'It must be a house with a red tower, I should think,' said Dick. 'Well - we'd better get back and tellthe police now - and they'll have to hunt for a red tower somewhere.'
　　Bitterly disappointed the boys went back to Anne. She scrambled⁷ out from under her bush as theycame.
　　'George is not there,' said Dick. 'She's gone. But she has been there - we saw some scribbled writingon the wall of the caravan inside.'
　　'How do you know it's hers?' said Anne.
　　'Well, she's written 'Red Tower' ever so many times, and the R's and the T's are just like hers,'
　　said Dick. 'We think she must have heard someone talking and say they were taking her to Red 59Tower, wherever it is. We're going straight back to the police now. I wish we hadn't trusted Jo.
　　We've wasted such a lot of time.'
　　'Let's have something to eat,' said Julian. 'We won't sit down. We'll eat as we go. Come on.'
　　But somehow nobody wanted anything to eat. Anne said she felt sick. Julian was too worried to eat,and Dick was so anxious to go that he felt he couldn't even wait to unpack⁸ sandwiches! So theystarted back down the path, following the wheel-ruts as before.
　　It suddenly grew very dark indeed, and on the leaves of the trees heavy rain fell with a loud, patteringsound. Thunder suddenly rolled.
　　Anne caught hold of Julian's arm, startled. 'Julian! It's dangerous to be in a wood, isn't it, in a storm?
　　Oh, Julian, we'll be struck by lightning.'
　　'No, we shan't,' said Julian. 'A wood's no more dangerous than anywhere else. It's sheltering under alone tree somewhere that's dangerous. Look - there's a little clearing over there; we'll go to that, ifyou like.'
　　But when they got to the little clearing the rain was falling down in such heavy torrents⁹ that Juliancould see that they would immediately be soaked through. He hurried Anne to a clump¹⁰ of bushes, andthey crouched¹¹ underneath¹², waiting for the storm to pass.
　　Soon the rain stopped, and the thunder rolled away to the east. There had been no lightning that theycould see. The wood grew just a little lighter¹³, as if somewhere above the thick green branches the sunmight be shining!
　　'I hate this wood,' said Dick, crawling out from the bushes. 'Come on, for goodness' sake. Let's getback to the wheel-rut path.'
　　He led the way through the trees. Julian called to him. 'Wait, Dick. Are you sure this is right?'
　　Dick stopped, anxious at once. 'Well,' he said uncertainly. 'I thought it was. But I don't know. Doyou?'
　　'I thought it was through those trees there,' said Julian. 'Where that little clearing is?'
　　They went to it. 'It's not the same clearing, though,' said Anne at once. 'The other clearing had a deadtree at one side. There's no dead tree here.'
　　'Blow!' said Julian. 'Well - try this way, then.'
　　They went to the left, and soon found themselves in a thicker part of the wood than ever. Julian'sheart went cold. What an absolute idiot he was! He might have known that it was madness to leavethe only path they knew without marking it in some way.
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　　Now he hadn't the very faintest idea where the wheel-rut way was. It might be in any direction!
　　He hadn't even the sun to guide him.
　　He looked gloomily at Dick. 'Bad show!' said Dick. 'Well - we'll have to make up our minds whichway to go! We can't just stay here.'
　　'We might go deeper and deeper and deeper,' said Anne, with a sudden little gulp¹⁴ of fear. Julian puthis arm round her shoulder.
　　'Well, if we go deeper and deeper, we shall come out on the other side!' he said. 'It's not an endlesswood, you know.'
　　'Well, let's go straight on through the wood, then,' said Anne. 'We'll have to come out the other sidesome time.'
　　The boys didn't tell her that it was impossible to go straight through a wood. It was necessary to goround' clumps¹⁵ of bushes, to double back sometimes when they came to an impenetrable part, and togo either to the left or right when clumps of trees barred their way. It was quite impossible to gostraight through.
　　'For all I know we're probably going round and round in circles, like people do when they're lost inthe desert,' he thought. He blamed himself bitterly for having left the wheel-ruts.
　　They made their way on and on for about two or three hours, and then Anne stumbled and fell. 'I can'tgo on any further,' she wept. 'I must have a rest.'
　　Dick glanced at his watch and whistled. Where ever had the time gone? It was almost three o'clock.
　　He sat down by Anne and pulled her close to him. 'What we want is a jolly good meal,'
　　he said. 'We've had nothing since breakfast.'
　　Anne said she still wasn't hungry, but when she smelt¹⁶ the meat sandwiches that Joan had made shechanged her mind. She was soon eating with the others, and feeling much better.
　　'There's nothing to drink, unfortunately,' said Dick. 'But Joan's packed tomatoes and plums, too -so we'll have those instead of a drink. They're nice and juicy.'
　　They ate everything, though secretly Julian wondered if it was a good thing to wolf all their food atonce. There was no telling how long they might be lost in Ravens¹⁷ Wood! Joan might get worriedsooner or later and tell the police they had gone there, and a search would be made. But it might beages before they were found.
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　　Anne fell asleep after her meal. The boys talked softly over her head. 'I don't much like this,' saidDick. 'We set out to find George - and all we've done is to lose ourselves. We don't seem to bemanaging this adventure as well as we usually do.'
　　'If we don't get out before dark we'll have to make up some kind of bed under a bush,' said Julian.
　　'We'll have another go when Anne wakes - and we'll do a bit of yelling, too. Then if we're still lost,we'll bed down for the night.'
　　But when darkness came - and it came very early in that thick wood, they were still as much lost asever. They were all hoarse¹⁸ with shouting, too.
　　In silence they pulled bracken from an open space and piled it under a sheltering bush. 'Thankgoodness it's warm tonight,' said Dick, trying to sound cheerful. 'Well - we'll all feel much morelively in the morning. Cuddle up to me, Anne, and keep warm. That's right. Julian's on the other sideof you! This is quite an adventure.'
　　'I don't like adventures,' said Anne, in a small voice, and immediately fell asleep.

1 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

2 pane   

n.窗格玻璃，长方块

参考例句：

• He broke this pane of glass.他打破了这块窗玻璃。
• Their breath bloomed the frosty pane.他们呼出的水气，在冰冷的窗玻璃上形成一层雾。

3 groaned   

v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
• The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 jumble   

vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆

参考例句：

• Even the furniture remained the same jumble that it had always been.甚至家具还是象过去一样杂乱无章。
• The things in the drawer were all in a jumble.抽屉里的东西很杂乱。

5 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

6 scribbled   

v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下

参考例句：

• She scribbled his phone number on a scrap of paper. 她把他的电话号码匆匆写在一张小纸片上。
• He scribbled a note to his sister before leaving. 临行前，他给妹妹草草写了一封短信。

7 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 unpack   

vt.打开包裹（或行李），卸货

参考例句：

• I must unpack before dinner.我得在饭前把行李打开。
• She said she would unpack the items later.她说以后再把箱子里的东西拿出来。

9 torrents   

n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断

参考例句：

• The torrents scoured out a channel down the hill side. 急流沿着山腰冲刷出一条水沟。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Sudden rainstorms would bring the mountain torrents rushing down. 突然的暴雨会使山洪暴发。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 clump   

n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走

参考例句：

• A stream meandered gently through a clump of trees.一条小溪从树丛中蜿蜒穿过。
• It was as if he had hacked with his thick boots at a clump of bluebells.仿佛他用自己的厚靴子无情地践踏了一丛野风信子。

11 crouched   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He crouched down beside her. 他在她的旁边蹲了下来。
• The lion crouched ready to pounce. 狮子蹲下身，准备猛扑。

12 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

13 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

14 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。

15 clumps   

n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声

参考例句：

• These plants quickly form dense clumps. 这些植物很快形成了浓密的树丛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bulbs were over. All that remained of them were clumps of brown leaves. 这些鳞茎死了，剩下的只是一丛丛的黃叶子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 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。

17 ravens   

n.低质煤；渡鸦( raven的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Wheresoever the carcase is,there will the ravens be gathered together. 哪里有死尸，哪里就有乌鸦麇集。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A couple of ravens croaked above our boat. 两只乌鸦在我们小船的上空嘎嘎叫着。 来自辞典例句

18 hoarse   

adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的

参考例句：

• He asked me a question in a hoarse voice.他用嘶哑的声音问了我一个问题。
• He was too excited and roared himself hoarse.他过于激动，嗓子都喊哑了。