Chapter 13 A NOISE IN THE NIGHT

Chapter 13 A NOISE IN THE NIGHT
　　It was Timmy who first knew there was somebody not far off. He pricked¹ up his ears and listened.
　　George saw him.
　　'What is it, Tim?' she said. 'Nobody is coming here, surely?'
　　Timmy gave a tiny growl², as if he were not quite sure of himself. Then he leapt up, his tail wagging,and tore out of the quarry³!
　　'Where's he gone to?' said George astonished. 'Gosh, here he is, back again!'
　　So he was, and with him was a funny little hearthrug of a dog - yes, Liz! She was not quite sure ofher welcome and crawled up to the children on her tummy, looking more like a hearthrug than ever!
　　Timmy leapt round her in delight. She might have been his very best friend, he was so delighted!
　　George patted the funny little dog and Julian looked thoughtful.
　　'I hope this doesn't mean that we are anywhere near the gypsy camp,' he said. 'It's quite likely that thelines might end somewhere near them. I've rather lost my sense of direction.'
　　'Oh goodness, I do HOPE we're not near their camp!' said Anne, in dismay. 'Those old-time gypsiesmust have camped pretty near to the Bartles' quarry before they attacked them, so perhaps the presentcamp is near too.'
　　'Well, what's it matter if it is?' said Dick. 'Who's afraid of them? I'm not!'
　　They all sat still, thinking hard, Liz licking Anne's hand. And in the silence they heard an all-too-familiar sound.
　　Sniff⁴! Sniff!
　　'Sniffer!' called George. 'Come on out, wherever you are hiding. I can hear you!'
　　A pair of legs stuck out from a great clump⁵ of heather at the edge of the quarry, and then the whole ofSniffer's wiry little body slithered out and down into the sand. He sat there, grinning at them, half-afraid to come any nearer in case they were cross with him.
　　'What are you doing here?' said Dick. 'Not spying on us, I hope?'
　　'No,' said Sniffer. 'Our camp isn't very far away. Liz heard you, I think, and ran off. I followed her.'
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　　'Oh blow. We hoped we weren't near anyone else,' said George. 'Does anyone at your camp knowwe're here.'
　　'Not yet,' said Sniffer. 'But they'll find out. They always do. I won't tell, though, if you don't want meto.'
　　Dick tossed him a biscuit. 'Well, keep your mouth shut if you can,' he said. 'We're not interfering⁶ withanyone and we don't want anyone interfering with us. See?'
　　Sniffer nodded. He suddenly put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the red and white hanky thatGeorge had given him. It was still clean and beautifully folded.
　　'Not dirty yet!' he said to George.
　　'Well, it ought to be,' said George. 'It's for your sniffs⁷. Now don't use your coat-sleeve.'
　　Sniffer simply could not understand why he should use a beautiful clean hanky when he had a dirtycoat-sleeve. He put the hanky carefully back into his pocket.
　　Liz ran to him and fawned⁸ on him. Sniffer fondled the peculiar⁹ little creature, and then Timmy wentover and played with them both. The four finished their tea, threw Sniffer one last biscuit, and got upto put their things away safely. Now that Sniffer was about, and the gypsy camp near, they didn't feelit was terribly safe to leave anything unguarded or unhidden.
　　'Scoot off, now, Sniffer,' said Julian. 'And no spying on us, mind! Timmy will know immediately youarrive anywhere near, and come hunting for you. If you want to see us, give a whistle when you getnear. No creeping or slipping into the quarry. Understand?'
　　'Yes,' said Sniffer, standing¹⁰ up. He took the hanky from his pocket again, waved it at George, anddisappeared with Liz at his heels.
　　'I'm just going to see exactly how near to the gypsy camp we are,' Julian said. He walked to theentrance of the quarry and up on to the moor¹¹. He looked in the direction that Sniffer had gone.
　　Yes, there was the hill in the shelter of which the gypsies had their caravans¹². It wasn't more than aquarter of a mile away. Blow! Still, it was far enough for the gypsies not to discover them, unless bychance.
　　'Or unless Sniffer gives the game away,' thought Julian. 'Well, we'll spend the night here, anyway,and we can move off somewhere else tomorrow if we feel like it.'
　　They felt rather energetic that evening and played a ball game in the quarry, in which Timmy joinedwholeheartedly. But as he always got the ball before anyone else did they had to tie him 59up in order to get a game themselves. Timmy was very cross. He turned his back on them and sulked.
　　'He looks like you now, George,' said Dick, grinning, and got the ball bang on the side of his headfrom an angry George!
　　Nobody wanted much supper. Julian took a little aluminium¹³ jug¹⁴ to the spring and filled it once foreveryone. It really was lovely water from that bubbling spring!
　　'I wonder how Henry's getting on,' said Anne. 'Spoilt to bits by her great-aunts. I expect. Didn't shelook odd in proper clothes, gloves and all!'
　　'Yes, she ought to have been a boy,' said Dick. 'Like you, George,' he added hastily. 'Both of you arereal sports, plucky¹⁵ as anything.'
　　'How do you know Henry's plucky?' said George, scornfully. 'Only by her silly tales! I bet they're allmade-up and exaggerated.'
　　Julian changed the subject. 'Shall we want rugs tonight, do you think?' he said.
　　'Rather! It may be warm now, and the sand is hot with the sun, but it won't be quite so nice when it'sgone down,' said Anne. 'Anyway we can always creep into one of those cosy¹⁶ little caves if we feelchilly. They're as warm as toast. I went into one, so I know.'
　　They settled down quite early to sleep. The boys took one side of the quarry, the girls the other.
　　Tim, as usual, was on George's feet, much to Anne's discomfort¹⁷.
　　'He's on mine too,' she complained to George. 'He's so long, he stretches over my feet as well.
　　Move him, George.'
　　So George moved him, but as soon as Anne was asleep he stretched out again and lay on both girls'
　　legs. He slept with one ear open.
　　He heard a scurrying¹⁸ hedgehog. He heard all the rabbits out for a night-time game. He heard the frogsin a far-off pool croaking¹⁹ in the night. His sharp ear even heard the tinkle²⁰ of the little spring outsidethe pit.
　　Nobody moved in the quarry. There was a small moon but it gave very little light. The stars thatstudded the sky seemed to give more light than the moon.
　　Timmy's one open ear suddenly pricked itself right up. Then the other ear stood up too. Timmy wasstill asleep but his ears were both listening very hard!
　　A low, humming sound came slowly over the night. It came nearer and nearer. Timmy awokeproperly and sat up, listening, his eyes wide open now.
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　　The sound was now very loud indeed. Dick awoke and listened. What was that noise? An aeroplane?
　　It must be jolly low! Surely it wasn't about to land on the moor in the dark!
　　He woke Julian and they both got up and went out of the quarry. 'It's an aeroplane all right,' saidDick, in a low voice. 'What's it doing? It doesn't seem to be going to land. It's gone round in a lowcircle two or three times.'
　　'Is it in trouble, do you think?' asked Julian. 'Here it comes again.'
　　'Look, what's that light over there?' suddenly said Dick, pointing to the east. 'See, that sort of glow.
　　It's not very far from the gypsies' camp.'
　　'I don't know,' said Julian, puzzled. 'It's not a fire, is it? We can't see any flames and it doesn't seem toflicker like a fire would.'
　　'I think it may be some sort of guide to that plane,' said Dick. 'It seems to be circling round and aboutover the glow. Let's watch it.'
　　They watched it. Yes, it did seem to be circling round the glow, whatever it was, and then, quitesuddenly it rose in the air, circled round once more and made off to the east.
　　'There it goes,' said Dick, straining his eyes. 'I can't tell what kind it is, except that it's very small.'
　　'What can it have been doing?' said Julian, puzzled. 'I thought the glow might have been to guide it inlanding, though where it could land here in safety I simply don't know. But it didn't land at all, it justcircled and made off.'
　　'Where would it have come from?' said Dick. 'From the coast, I suppose, from over the sea, do youthink?'
　　'I simply don't know,' said Julian. 'It beats me! And why should the gypsies have anything to do withit? Gypsies and planes don't seem to mix, somehow.'
　　'Well, we don't know that they do have anything to do with the plane, except that we saw that glow,'
　　said Dick. 'And that's going now, look.'
　　Even as they watched, the bright glow died completely away. Now the moor lay in darkness again.
　　'Funny,' said Julian, scratching his head. 'I can't make it out. It's true that the gypsies may be up tosomething, the way they come out here secretly, apparently²¹ for no purpose at all, and also they don'twant us snooping round, that's clear.'
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　　'I think we'd better try and find out what that glow is,' said Dick. 'We could have a bit of a snooptomorrow. Or perhaps Sniffer could tell us.'
　　'He might,' said Julian. 'We'll try him. Come on, let's get back into the quarry. It's cold out here!'
　　The quarry struck quite warm to them as they went down into it. The girls were sound asleep still.
　　Timmy, who had been with them, did not wake them. He had been as puzzled as Julian and Dickover the low-flying plane, but he had not barked at all. Julian had been glad about that.
　　Timmy's bark might have carried right over to the gypsy camp and warned it that someone wascamping near.
　　They got back under their rug, keeping close to one another for warmth. But they soon lost theirshivers, and Dick threw off his share of the rug. In a few minutes they were asleep.
　　Timmy awoke first and stretched himself out in the warm morning sunshine. Anne sat up with a littlescream. 'Oh Timmy, don't! You nearly squashed me to bits. Do that to George if you must stretchyourself all over somebody!'
　　The boys awoke then, and went to the spring to splash their faces and bring back a jugful²² of water todrink. Anne got the breakfast, and over it the boys told the girls of the aeroplane in the night.
　　'How queer!' said Anne. 'And that glow too. It must have been a guide of some sort to the plane.
　　Let's go and see where it was. It must have been a fire of some kind!'
　　'Right,' said Dick. 'I vote we go this morning, but we'll take Tim with us in case we meet thosegypsies!'

1 pricked   

刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛

参考例句：

• The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry. 厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
• He was pricked by his conscience. 他受到良心的谴责。

2 growl   

v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣

参考例句：

• The dog was biting,growling and wagging its tail.那条狗在一边撕咬一边低声吼叫，尾巴也跟着摇摆。
• The car growls along rutted streets.汽车在车辙纵横的街上一路轰鸣。

3 quarry   

n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找

参考例句：

• Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
• This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。

4 sniff   

vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视

参考例句：

• The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
• When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候，他们会彼此嗅一会儿。

5 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。

6 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

7 sniffs   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的第三人称单数 )；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 a dog smells food, he usually sniffs. 狗闻到食物时常吸鼻子。 来自辞典例句
• I-It's a difficult time [ Sniffs ] with my husband. 最近[哭泣]和我丈夫出了点问题。 来自电影对白

8 fawned   

v.（尤指狗等）跳过来往人身上蹭以示亲热( fawn的过去式和过去分词 )；巴结；讨好

参考例句：

• The dog fawned on [upon] the boy. 那条狗向那少年摇尾乞怜。 来自辞典例句
• The lion, considering him attentively, and remembering his former friend, fawned upon him. 狮子将他仔细地打量了一番，记起他就是从前的那个朋友，于是亲昵地偎在他身旁。 来自辞典例句

9 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。

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

11 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。

12 caravans   

（可供居住的）拖车（通常由机动车拖行）( caravan的名词复数 )； 篷车； （穿过沙漠地带的）旅行队（如商队）

参考例句：

• Old-fashioned gypsy caravans are painted wooden vehicles that are pulled by horses. 旧式的吉卜赛大篷车是由马拉的涂了颜色的木质车辆。
• Old-fashioned gypsy caravans are painted wooden vehicles. 旧时的吉普赛大篷车是涂了颜色的木质车辆。

13 aluminium   

n.铝 (=aluminum)

参考例句：

• Aluminium looks heavy but actually it is very light.铝看起来很重，实际上却很轻。
• If necessary, we can use aluminium instead of steel.如果必要，我们可用铝代钢。

14 jug   

n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂

参考例句：

• He walked along with a jug poised on his head.他头上顶着一个水罐，保持着平衡往前走。
• She filled the jug with fresh water.她将水壶注满了清水。

15 plucky   

adj.勇敢的

参考例句：

• The plucky schoolgirl amazed doctors by hanging on to life for nearly two months.这名勇敢的女生坚持不放弃生命近两个月的精神令医生感到震惊。
• This story featured a plucky heroine.这个故事描述了一个勇敢的女英雄。

16 cosy   

adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的

参考例句：

• We spent a cosy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。
• It was so warm and cosy in bed that Simon didn't want to get out.床上温暖而又舒适，西蒙简直不想下床了。

17 discomfort   

n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便

参考例句：

• One has to bear a little discomfort while travelling.旅行中总要忍受一点不便。
• She turned red with discomfort when the teacher spoke.老师讲话时她不好意思地红着脸。

18 scurrying   

v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• We could hear the mice scurrying about in the walls. 我们能听见老鼠在墙里乱跑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We were scurrying about until the last minute before the party. 聚会开始前我们一直不停地忙忙碌碌。 来自辞典例句

19 croaking   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的现在分词 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• the croaking of frogs 蛙鸣
• I could hear croaking of the frogs. 我能听到青蛙呱呱的叫声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 tinkle   

vi.叮当作响；n.叮当声

参考例句：

• The wine glass dropped to the floor with a tinkle.酒杯丁零一声掉在地上。
• Give me a tinkle and let me know what time the show starts.给我打个电话，告诉我演出什么时候开始。

21 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

22 jugful   

一壶的份量

参考例句：

• He is not a silly boy, not by a jugful. 他不是一个傻孩子。
• There's about a jugful of water left. 还剩一壶水。