Chapter 13 A NIGHT IN THE CELLAR

Chapter 13 A NIGHT IN THE CELLAR
　　The piece of paper was carefully folded and this time Julian took it for safe keeping. 'I can't imaginewhat it means, but it's clearly important,' he said. 'We may quite suddenly come on something - orthink of something - that will give us a clue to what the words and the lines mean on the paper.'
　　'We mustn't forget that dear Maggie has a copy of the paper too,' said Dick. 'She probably knowsbetter than we do what it all means!'
　　'If she does, she will pay a visit to Two-Trees too,' said Anne. 'We ought to keep a look-out for her.
　　Should we have to hide if we saw her?'
　　Julian considered this. 'No,' he said, 'I certainly don't think we should hide. Maggie can't possiblyguess that we have had the message from Nailer, and the paper too. We had better just say we are ona hike and found this place and thought we would shelter here. All perfectly¹ true.'
　　'And we can keep an eye on her, and see what she does if she comes!' said Dick, with a grin.
　　'Won't she be annoyed!'
　　'She wouldn't come alone,' said Julian, thoughtfully.
　　'I should think it quite likely that she would come with Dirty Dick! He didn't get the message, but 52she did - and probably part of her message was the statement that Dirty Dick would know everythingtoo. So she would get in touch with him.'
　　'Yes - and be surprised that he hadn't got the message or the paper,' said George. 'Still, they'd thinkthat the escaped fellow hadn't been able to get to Dirty Dick.'
　　'All very complicated,' said Anne, yawning. 'I can't follow any more arguments and explanations- I'm half asleep. How long are you going to be before you settle down?'
　　Dick yawned too. 'I'm coming now,' he said. 'My bed of bracken and heather looks inviting². It's not atall cold in here, is it?'
　　'The only thing I don't like is the thought of those cellars beyond this little underground room,'
　　said Anne. 'I keep thinking that Maggie and her friends might be there, waiting to pounce³ on us whenwe are asleep.'
　　'You're silly,' said George, scornfully. 'Really silly! Do you honestly suppose that Timmy would liehere quietly if there was anyone in those cellars? You know jolly well he would be barking his headoff!'
　　'Yes. I know all that,' said Anne, snuggling down in her heathery bed. 'It's just my imagination.
　　You haven't got any, George, so you don't bother about imaginary fears. I'm not really scared whileTimmy is here. But I do think it's funny the way we always plunge⁴ into something peculiar⁵ whenwe're together.'
　　'Adventures always do come to some people,' said Dick. 'You've only got to read the lives ofexplorers and see how they simply walk into adventures all the time.'
　　'Yes, but I'm not an explorer,' said Anne. 'I'm an ordinary person, and I'd be just as pleased if thingsdidn't keep happening to me.'
　　The others laughed. 'I don't expect anything much will happen this time,' said Julian, comfortingly.
　　'We go back to school on Tuesday and that's not far off. Not much time for anything to happen!'
　　He was wrong of course. Things can happen one after the other in a few minutes! Still, Anne cuddleddown feeling happier. This was better than last night when she was all alone in that horrid⁶ little loft⁷.
　　Now she had all the others with her, Timmy too.
　　Anne and George had one big bed between them. They drew their two rugs over themselves, and puttheir blazers on top too. Nobody had undressed because Julian had said that they might be too cold injust their night things.
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　　Timmy as usual put himself on George's feet. She moved them because he was heavy. He wormedhis way up the bed and found a very comfortable place between the knees of the two girls. He gave aheavy sigh.
　　'That means he's planning to go to sleep!' said George. 'Are you quite comfortable, Anne?'
　　'Yes,' said Anne, sleepily. 'I like Timmy there. I feel safe!'
　　Julian was blowing out the candles. He left just one burning. Then he got into his bed of bracken andheather beside Dick. He felt tired too.
　　The four slept like logs. Nobody moved except Timmy, who got up once or twice in the night andsniffed round inquiringly. He had heard a noise in the cellars. He stood at the closed door that led tothe cellars and listened, his head on one side.
　　He sniffed⁸ at the crack. Then he went back to bed, satisfied. It was only a toad⁹! Timmy knew thesmell of toads¹⁰. If toads liked to crawl about in the night, they were welcome to!
　　The second time he awoke he thought he heard something up in the kitchen above. He padded up thesteps, his paws making a click-click-click as he went. He stood in the kitchen silently, his eyesgleaming like green lamps, as the moon shone on him.
　　An animal with a long bushy tail began to slink away outside the house. It was a fine fox. It had smeltunusual smells near the old ruin - the scent¹² of people and of a dog, and it had come to find out whatwas happening.
　　It had slunk into the kitchen and then smelt¹¹ the strong scent of Timmy in the room below. As quietlyas a cat it had slunk out again - but Timmy had awakened¹³!
　　Now the dog stood watching and waiting - but the fox had gone! Timmy sniffed its scent and paddedto the door. He debated whether to bark and go after the fox.
　　The scent grew very faint, and Timmy decided¹⁴ not to make a fuss. He padded back to the steps thatled down to the cellar room, and curled up on George's feet again. He was very heavy, but Georgewas too tired to wake up and push him off. Timmy lay with one ear cocked for a while, and then wentto sleep again, with his ear still cocked. He was a good sentinel!
　　It was dark in the cellar when the one candle went out. There was no daylight or sunshine to wake thechildren down in that dim little room, and they slept late.
　　Julian woke up first. He found his bed suddenly very hard, and he turned over to find a comfortableplace. The heather and bracken had been flattened¹⁵ with his weight, and the floor below was very hardindeed! The movement woke him up, and he lay blinking in the darkness.
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　　Where was he?
　　He remembered at once and sat up. Dick woke too and yawned. 'Dick! It's half-past eight!' saidJulian, looking at the luminous¹⁶ hands of his wrist-watch. 'We've slept for hours and hours!'
　　They rolled out of their heathery bed. Timmy leapt off George's feet and came over to them, his tailwagging gladly. He had been half-awake for a long time and was very glad to see Julian and Dickawake too, because he was thirsty.
　　The girls awoke - and soon there was a great deal of noise and activity going on. Anne and Georgewashed at the big stone sink, the cold water making them squeal¹⁷. Timmy lapped up a big bowlful ofwater gladly. The boys debated whether or not to have a splash in the lake. They felt very dirty.
　　Dick shivered at the thought. 'Still, I think we ought to,' he said. 'Come on, Ju!'
　　The two boys went down to the lake-side and leapt in. It was icy-cold! They struck out strongly andcame back glowing and shouting.
　　By the time they were back the girls had got breakfast in the cellar room. It was darker than thekitchen, but all of them disliked the look of the burnt, scorched¹⁸ rooms above. The bread and butter,potted meat, cake and chocolate went down well.
　　In the middle of the meal a sound came echoing into the old house - bells! Anne stopped eating, andher heart beat fast.
　　But they were not the clanging warning bells she had heard before!
　　'Church bells,' said Julian at once, seeing Anne's sudden look of fright. 'Lovely sound I always think!'
　　'Oh yes,' said Anne, thankfully. 'So it is. It's Sunday and people are going to church. I'd like to go too,on this lovely sunny October day.'
　　'We might walk across the moor¹⁹ to the nearest village if you like,' said Dick, looking at his watch.
　　'But we should be very late.'
　　It was decided that it was much too late. They pushed their plates aside and planned what to do thatday.
　　'The first thing, of course, is to see if there's a boathouse and find out if there's a boat called SaucyJane,' said Julian. 'Then we'd better try and puzzle out what that plan means. We could wander hereand there and see if we can find Tall Stone - and I'll look at the map to see if Tock Hill is marked.
　　That was on the plan too, wasn't it?'
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　　'You boys go and get some more heather and bracken while we clear away and wash up,' said Anne.
　　'That is if you mean us to camp here another night.'
　　'Yes. I think we will,' said Julian. 'I think we may find things rather interesting here this weekend!'
　　Julian went out with Dick and they brought in a great deal more bedding. Everyone had complainedthat the hard floor came through the amount of heather and bracken they had used the night before,and poor George was quite stiff.
　　The girls took the dirty things up to the big sink to wash them. There was nothing to dry them withbut that didn't matter. They laid them on the old worn draining board to dry.
　　They wiped their hands on their hankies and then felt ready for exploring round outside. The boyswere ready too.
　　With Timmy bounding here and there they went down to the lake. A path had once led down to it,with a low wall on each side. But now the wall was broken, moss²⁰ had crept everywhere, and the pathwas choked with tufts of heather and even with small bushes of gorse.
　　The lake was as still and dark as ever. Some moor-hens chugged across it quickly, disappearing underthe water when they saw the children.
　　'Now, what about that boat-house?' said Dick at last. 'Is there one - or not?'

1 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。

2 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

3 pounce   

n.猛扑；v.猛扑，突然袭击，欣然同意

参考例句：

• Why do you pounce on every single thing I say?干吗我说的每句话你都要找麻烦？
• We saw the tiger about to pounce on the goat.我们看见老虎要向那只山羊扑过去。

4 plunge   

v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲

参考例句：

• Test pool's water temperature before you plunge in.在你跳入之前你应该测试水温。
• That would plunge them in the broil of the two countries.那将会使他们陷入这两国的争斗之中。

5 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

6 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

7 loft   

n.阁楼，顶楼

参考例句：

• We could see up into the loft from bottom of the stairs.我们能从楼梯脚边望到阁楼的内部。
• By converting the loft,they were able to have two extra bedrooms.把阁楼改造一下，他们就可以多出两间卧室。

8 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；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：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 toad   

n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆

参考例句：

• Both the toad and frog are amphibian.蟾蜍和青蛙都是两栖动物。
• Many kinds of toad hibernate in winter.许多种蟾蜍在冬天都会冬眠。

10 toads   

n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆( toad的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• All toads blink when they swallow. 所有的癞蛤蟆吞食东西时都会眨眼皮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Toads have shorter legs and are generally more clumsy than frogs. 蟾蜍比青蛙脚短，一般说来没有青蛙灵活。 来自辞典例句

11 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。

12 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

13 awakened   

v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到

参考例句：

• She awakened to the sound of birds singing. 她醒来听到鸟的叫声。
• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation. 公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 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。

15 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

16 luminous   

adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的

参考例句：

• There are luminous knobs on all the doors in my house.我家所有门上都安有夜光把手。
• Most clocks and watches in this shop are in luminous paint.这家商店出售的大多数钟表都涂了发光漆。

17 squeal   

v.发出长而尖的声音；n.长而尖的声音

参考例句：

• The children gave a squeal of fright.孩子们发出惊吓的尖叫声。
• There was a squeal of brakes as the car suddenly stopped.小汽车突然停下来时，车闸发出尖叫声。

18 scorched   

烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦

参考例句：

• I scorched my dress when I was ironing it. 我把自己的连衣裙熨焦了。
• The hot iron scorched the tablecloth. 热熨斗把桌布烫焦了。

19 moor   

n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊

参考例句：

• I decided to moor near some tourist boats.我决定在一些观光船附近停泊。
• There were hundreds of the old huts on the moor.沼地上有成百上千的古老的石屋。

20 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。