THE door was flung open, and a man stood there, panting. Behind him came three others.
'Pottersham!' said Terry-Kane. 'So you're back!'
'Yes. I'm back,' said the panting man.
Timmy began to bark and try to escape from George's hand. He showed his teeth and all his hacklesrose up on his neck. He looked a very savage1 dog indeed.
Pottersham backed away. He didn't like the look of Timmy at all! 'If you let that dog go, I'll shoothim,' he said, and as if by magic a gun appeared in his right hand.
George tried her hardest to restrain the furious Timmy, and called to Julian to help her. 'Julian, holdhim as well. He'll fling himself on that man, he's so angry.'
Julian went to help. Between them they forced the furious dog back into a corner, where George triedin vain to pacify2 him. She was terrified that he might be shot.
'You can't behave like this, Pottersham,' began Terry-Kane, but he was cut short.
'We've no time to lose. We're taking you, Terry-Kane, and one of the kids. We can use him for ahostage if too much fuss is made about your disappearance3. We'll take this boy,' and he grabbed atDick. Dick gave him a punch on the jaw4 immediately, thanking his stars that he had learnt boxing atschool. But he at once found himself on the floor! These men were not standing5 for any nonsense.
They were in a hurry!
'Get him,' said Pottersham, to one of the men behind him, and Dick was pounced6 on. Then Terry-90Kane was taken too, and his arms held behind him.
'What about these other kids?' he said, angrily. 'You're surely not going to lock them up in this roomand leave them.'
'Yes, we are,' said Pottersham. 'We're leaving a note for the old turnstile woman to tell her they're uphere. Let the police rescue them if they can!'
'You always were a...' began Terry-Kane, and then ducked to avoid a blow.
Timmy barked madly all the time, and almost choked himself trying to get away from George andJulian. He was mad with rage, and when he saw Dick being roughly treated he very nearly didmanage to get loose.
'Take them,' ordered Pottersham. 'And hurry. Go on - down the steps with them.'
The three men forced Terry-Kane and Dick to the stone stairs - and then everyone shot round inastonishment! A loud voice suddenly came from the window!
Anne gasped8. Bufflo was there! He hadn't been able to understand why nobody came down the peg-rope, so he had come up to find out. And to his enormous surprise there appeared to be quite an upsetgoing on!
'Hey there! WHAT'S UP?' he yelled, and slid into the room, looking most out of place with his mopof yellow hair, gay checked shirt and whip!
'BUFFLO!' shouted all four of the children, and Timmy changed his angry bark to a welcoming one.
Terry-Kane looked on in astonishment7, his arms still pinioned9 behind him.
'Who in the world is this?' shouted Pottersham, alarmed at Bufflo's sudden appearance through thewindow. 'How did he get through there?'
Bufflo eyed the gun in Pottersham's hand and lazily cracked his small whip once or twice. 'Put thatthing away,' he said, in his drawling voice. 'You ought to know better than to wave a thing like thatabout when there's kids around. Go on - put it away!'
He cracked his whip again. Pottersham pointed10 the gun at him angrily. And then a most amazingthing happened.
The gun disappeared from Pottersham's hand, flew right up into the air, and was neatly11 caught byBufflo! And all by the crack of a whip!
Crack! Just that - and the gun had been flicked12 from his hand by the powerful lash-end - and hadstung Pottersham's fingers so much he was now howling in pain and bending double to nurse hisinjured hand.
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Terry-Kane gasped. What a neat trick - but how dangerous! The gun might have gone off. Now thetables were indeed turned, for it was Bufflo who held the gun, not Pottersham. And Pottershamlooked very pale indeed!
He stared as if he hardly knew what to do. 'Let go of them,' ordered Bufflo, nodding his head towardsTerry-Kane and Dick. The three men released them and stood back.
'Seems as if we got to get the police after all,' remarked Bufflo, in a perfectly13 ordinary voice, as ifthese happenings were not at all unusual. 'You can let that dog go now, if you want, Julian.'
'No! NO!' cried Pottersham in terror - and at that moment the moon went behind a cloud, and thetower-room was plunged14 in darkness - except for the lantern that Pottersham had set down on thefloor when he had first arrived.
He saw one slight chance for himself and the others. He suddenly kicked at the lantern, which flewinto the air and hit Bufflo, then went out, and left the entire place in pitch darkness. Bufflo did notdare to fire. He might hit the wrong person!
'Set the dog loose!' he roared - but it was too late. By the time Timmy had got to the door, it wasslammed shut - and a bolt was shot home the other side! There was the sound of hurried stepsslipping and stumbling down the stone stairway in the dark.
'Hrrr!' said Bufflo, when the moon came out again, and showed him the astonished and dismayedfaces of the five in the room. 'We slipped up somewhere, didn't we? They've gone!'
'Yes. But without us,' said Terry-Kane, letting Dick untie15 his arms. 'They've probably gone downthrough those passages. They'll be out before we've escaped ourselves, more's the pity. And nowwe've got to try this rope-trick down the tower wall, seeing that the door is locked!'
'Come on, then,' said Julian. 'Let's go before anything else happens.' He went to the window, slid tothe outer edge, and took hold of the rope. It was perfectly easy to climb down, though it wasn't verypleasant to look below him into the courtyard. It seemed so very far away.
Anne went next, very much afraid, but not showing it. She was quite a good climber so she didn't findthe rope difficult. She was very, very glad when she at last stood safely beside Julian.
Then came George, with a bit of news. 'I can't think what's happening to the four men,' she said.
'They still seem to be about - and they're yelling like anything. It sounds as if they are rushing roundthat gallery that runs along the walls of the tower-room below.'
'Well, let them,' said Julian. 'If they stay there long enough, we'll have time to go to the hole in theouter wall, and wait for them to come out one by one! That would be very, very nice.'
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'Timmy's coming now,' said George. 'I've wrapped him up well in that rug and tied it all round him,and put a kind of rope-harness on him. Dick's going to lower him down. We doubled the rope tomake sure it would hold. Look - here he comes! Poor darling Timmy! He can't think what in theworld is happening!'
Timmy came down slowly, swinging a little, and bumping into the stone wall now and again. Hegave a little yelp16 each time, and George was sure he would be covered with bruises17! She watched ingreat suspense18 as he came lower and lower.
'Timmy ought to be used to this sort of thing by now,' said Julian. 'He's had plenty of it in theadventures he's shared with us. Hey there, Tim! Slowly does it! Good dog, then! I guess you're gladto be standing on firm ground again!'
Timmy certainly was. He allowed himself to be untied19 from his rug by George, and then tried a fewsteps to see if the ground was really firm beneath his feet. He leapt up at George joyfully20, very glad tobe out in the open air again.
'Here comes Dick,' said Julian. The peg-rope swayed a little, and Alfredo went to hold it steady.
He and the rubber- man and Mr. Slither were now extremely concerned about something, soconcerned that they had hardly a word to say to Julian and George and Anne.
They had suddenly missed Jo and the snake! The snakeman didn't care tuppence about Jo - but he didcare about his precious, beloved, magnificent python! He had already hunted all round the courtyardfor it.
'If Jo's taken it back to camp with her, I'll pull her hair off!' muttered the snake-man, unhappily, andJulian looked at him in astonishment. What was he muttering about?
Terry-Kane came next, and last of all Bufflo, who seemed to slide down in a most remarkable21 way,not using the pegs22 at all. He leapt down beside them, grinning.
'There's a tremendous upset up aloft!' he said. 'Yelling and shouting and scampering23 about. What doyou suppose is the matter with those fellows? We'll be able to get them nicely, if we go to the hole inthe wall. They'll be out there soon, I reckon. Come on!'
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收听单词发音
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1
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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2
pacify
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| vt.使(某人)平静(或息怒)；抚慰 | |
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3
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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5
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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6
pounced
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| v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
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7
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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8
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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9
pinioned
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| v.抓住[捆住]（双臂）( pinion的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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12
flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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13
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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14
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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15
untie
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| vt.解开，松开；解放 | |
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yelp
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| vi.狗吠 | |
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17
bruises
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| n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 ) | |
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18
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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19
untied
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| 松开，解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 )； 解除，使自由； 解决 | |
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20
joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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21
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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22
pegs
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| n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 )；挂钉；系帐篷的桩；弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 )；使固定在某水平 | |
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23
scampering
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| v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的现在分词 ) | |
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