Chapter 15 A STARTLING NIGHT

Chapter 15 A STARTLING NIGHT
　　No gypsies came near them that day, not even Sniffer. The evening was as lovely as the day hadbeen, and almost as warm.
　　'It's extraordinary!' said Dick, looking up into the sky. 'What weather for April! The bluebells¹ will berushing out soon if the sun goes on being as hot as this!'
　　They lay on the sand in the quarry² and watched the evening star shine in the sky. It looked very bigand bright and round.
　　Timmy scrabbled round in the sand. 'His paw is much better,' said George. 'Though I notice that hestill sometimes holds it up.'
　　'Only when he wants you to say 'Poor Timmy, does it hurt!' ' said Dick. 'He's a baby, likes to befussed!'
　　They talked for a while and then Anne yawned. 'It's early, I know - but I believe I'm going to sleep.'
　　There was soon a trek³ to the spring, and everyone sluiced⁴ themselves in the cool water. There wasonly one towel between them, but that did very well. Then they settled down in their sandy beds. Thesand was beautifully warm and they did not bother about putting down the rubber sheets. There couldnot possibly be any dampness in that quarry after it had been baked so much by the hot sun!
　　'I hope we wake when that plane comes, if it does come,' said Julian to Dick, as they lay without anycovering in their soft, sandy bed. 'My goodness, isn't it hot! No wonder Timmy's panting over there!'
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　　They went to sleep at last, but Dick awoke suddenly, feeling much too hot. Phew! What a night!
　　He lay looking up at the brilliant stars, and then shut his eyes again. But it was no use, he couldn't goto sleep.
　　He sat up cautiously, so as not to awake Julian. I think I'll just go and have a squint⁵ to see if that biglamp is lighted again, down in that pit by the gypsy camp, he thought.
　　He went to the edge of the quarry and climbed up. He looked towards the gypsy camp and gave asudden exclamation⁶. Yes! he thought. It's glowing again! I can't see the lamp, of course, but its lightis so jolly powerful that I can easily see the glow it makes. It must be very bright, looked down onfrom the sky. I wonder if the plane is due to come now that the lamp is lighted.
　　He listened, and yes, he could distinctly hear a low humming noise from the east. It must be the planecoming again? Would it land this time, and if so, who was in it?
　　He ran to wake Julian and the girls. Timmy was alert at once, wagging his tail excitedly. He wasalways ready for anything, even in the middle of the night! Anne and George got up too, verythrilled.
　　'Is the lamp really alight again? And I can hear the plane too now! Oh, I say! This is exciting!
　　George, Timmy won't bark and give us away, will he?'
　　'No. I've told him to be quiet,' said George. 'He won't make a sound. Listen, the plane is comingnearer!'
　　The noise was now loud enough for them to search the starry⁷ sky for the plane. Julian gave Dick anudge. 'Look, you can just see it, straight over where the gypsy camp is!'
　　Dick managed to pick it out. 'It's very small,' he said. 'Smaller even than I thought it was last night.
　　Look, it's coming down!'
　　But it wasn't. It merely swept low, and then went round in a circle, as it had done the night before. Itrose a little again and then came in low once more, almost over the boys' heads.
　　Then something extraordinary happened. Something fell not far from Julian, something that bouncedand then came to rest! It made a thud as it fell, and all four jumped. Timmy gave a startled whine⁸.
　　Thud! Something else fell. Thud, thud, thud! Anne gave a squeal⁹. 'Are they trying to bomb us orsomething. Julian, what are they doing?'
　　Thud! Thud! Julian ducked at the last two thuds, they sounded so near. He took hold of Anne andpulled her down into the quarry, calling to Dick and George.
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　　'Get down here, quickly! Force yourselves into the caves somewhere! We shall get hit!'
　　They ran across the quarry as the plane swooped¹⁰ round in a circle once more and then again begandropping the things that went 'thud! thud!'. Some even fell into the quarry this time.
　　Timmy got the shock of his life when one bounced in front of his nose and rolled away. He yelpedand tore after George.
　　Soon they were all safely squeezed into the little caves that lined the sides of the quarry. The planeswept round once more, up and then round, and the thud-thudding began again. The four could hearthat some of the thuds were actually in the quarry again and they were thankful they were wellsheltered.
　　'Well, nothing is exploding,' said Dick, thankfully. 'But what on earth is the plane dropping? Andwhy? This is a most peculiar¹¹ adventure to have.'
　　'It's probably a dream,' said Julian, and laughed. 'No, not even a dream could be so mad. Here we are,snuggling into sandy caves in a quarry on Mystery Moor¹², while a plane drops something all round usin the middle of the night! Quite mad.'
　　'I believe the plane's going away now,' said Dick. 'It's circled round but hasn't dropped anything.
　　Now it's climbing, it's going away! The engine doesn't sound nearly so loud. Goodness, when wewere standing¹³ out there at the edge of the quarry, I almost thought the plane would take my head off;it was so low!'
　　'I thought that too,' said Anne, very glad that there was to be no more swooping¹⁴ down and droppingdozens of unknown things. 'Is it safe to go out?'
　　'Oh yes,' said Julian, scrambling¹⁵ out of the sand. 'Come on. We shall easily hear if the plane comesback again. I want to see what it has dropped!'
　　In great excitement they ran to get the parcels. The stars gave so much light on that clear night thatthe four did not even need a torch.
　　Julian picked up something first. It was a firm, flattish parcel, done up well, sewn into a canvascovering. He examined it.
　　'No name. Nothing,' he said. 'This is most exciting. Let's have three guesses what's inside.'
　　'Bacon for breakfast, I hope!' said Anne at once.
　　'Idiot,' said Julian, getting out a knife to slit¹⁶ the string threads that sewed up the canvas. 'I guess it'ssmuggled goods of some sort. That's what that plane was doing, I should think, flying over fromFrance, and dropping smuggled¹⁸ goods in a pre-arranged place, and I suppose the gypsies 69pick them up, and take them away, well hidden in their caravans¹⁹, to deliver them somewhere.
　　Very clever!'
　　'Oh Julian, is that the explanation?' said Anne. 'What would be in the parcels then, cigarettes?'
　　'No,' said Julian. 'The parcels wouldn't be so heavy if they only contained cigarettes. There, I've slitthe threads at last!'
　　The others crowded round to see. George took her torch out of her pocket so that they could seereally well. She flashed it on.
　　Julian ripped off the canvas covering. Next came some strong brown paper. He ripped that off too.
　　Then came strong cardboard, tied round with string. That was undone²⁰ as well, and the cardboard fellto the ground.
　　'Now, what have we got?' said Julian, excited. 'Thin sheets of paper, dozens and dozens of thempacked together. Shine your torch nearer, George.'
　　There was a silence as all the four craned over Julian's hands.
　　'Whew! I say! Gosh, do you see what they are?' said Julian, in awe²¹. 'American money, dollar notes.
　　But look what they are, one hundred-dollar notes! And my word there are scores and scores of themin this one packet.'
　　The four stared in amazement²² as Julian riffled through the packet of notes. However much wouldthey be worth?
　　'Julian, how much is a hundred-dollar note worth in our money?' asked George.
　　'About forty pounds I think,' said Julian. 'Yes, just about that. Gosh, and there are scores in this onepacket, and we know they dropped dozens of the packets too. Whatever is it all about?'
　　'Well, there must be thousands and thousands of dollars lying around us, here in the quarry andoutside it,' said George. 'I say! Surely this isn't a dream?'
　　'Well, I must say it's a very extravagant²³ kind of dream, if so,' said Dick. 'A dream worth thousands ofpounds isn't very usual. Ju, hadn't we better get busy picking up these parcels?'
　　'Yes. We certainly had,' said Julian. 'I'm beginning to see it all now. The smugglers come over in aplane from France, say, having previously²⁴ arranged to drop these packets in a lonely spot on thismoor. The gypsies are in the plot to the extent that they light the guiding lamp and pick up theparcels.'
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　　'I see, and then they quietly pack them into their caravans, slip off the moor, and deliver them tosomebody else, who pays them well for their trouble,' said Dick. 'Very smart!'
　　'That's about it,' said Julian. 'But I can't for the life of me see why dollar notes have to be smuggledhere. They can be brought freely enough into the country - why smuggle¹⁷ them?'
　　'Stolen ones, perhaps?' said George. 'Oh well, its quite beyond me. What a thing to do! No wonderthe gypsies didn't want us around.'
　　'Better buck²⁵ up and collect all these parcels and clear off back to the stables with them,' said Julian,picking up one near him. 'The gypsies will be after them, there's no doubt about that! We must begone before they come.'
　　The four of them went about looking for the parcels. They found about sixty of them, and they madequite a heavy load.
　　'We'll put them somewhere safe, I think,' said Julian. 'What about stuffing them into one of the sand-caves? I don't very well see how we can carry them like this.'
　　'We could put them in the rugs and tie up the ends and carry them like that,' said George. 'It would bemad to leave them hidden somewhere in this quarry. It's the first place the gypsies would search.'
　　'All right. We'll follow your idea,' said Julian. 'I think we've about collected all the packets there are.
　　Get the rugs.'
　　George's idea proved to be a good one, Half the parcels were rolled into one rug, and tied up, and halfinto the other.
　　'Good thing the rugs are nice and big,' said Dick tying his up strongly. 'Now I can just about managemine nicely on my back. You all right, Ju?'
　　'Yes, come along, you girls,' said Julian. 'Follow behind us. We'll go down the railway line.
　　Leave everything else here. We can easily get it another time. We must leave before the gypsiescome.'
　　Timmy began to bark suddenly. 'That must mean the gypsies are coming,' said Dick. 'Come on,quick! Yes I can hear their voices - for goodness' sake, HURRY!'

1 bluebells   

n.圆叶风铃草( bluebell的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He pressed her down upon the grass, among the fallen bluebells. 他把她压倒在草地上，压倒在掉落满地的风信子花上。 来自英汉文学
• The bluebells had cascaded on to the ground. 风信子掉到了地上。 来自辞典例句

2 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。

3 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

4 sluiced   

v.冲洗( sluice的过去式和过去分词 )；（指水）喷涌而出；漂净；给…安装水闸

参考例句：

• The sailors sluiced the deck with hoses. 水手们用水龙带冲洗甲板。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He sluiced the bath and filled it with water. 他冲洗了浴缸，然后放满了一缸水。 来自辞典例句

5 squint   

v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的

参考例句：

• A squint can sometimes be corrected by an eyepatch. 斜视有时候可以通过戴眼罩来纠正。
• The sun was shinning straight in her eyes which made her squint. 太阳直射着她的眼睛,使她眯起了眼睛。

6 exclamation   

n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词

参考例句：

• He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
• The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号，以引起读者的注意。

7 starry   

adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的

参考例句：

• He looked at the starry heavens.他瞧着布满星星的天空。
• I like the starry winter sky.我喜欢这满天星斗的冬夜。

8 whine   

v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣

参考例句：

• You are getting paid to think,not to whine.支付给你工资是让你思考而不是哀怨的。
• The bullet hit a rock and rocketed with a sharp whine.子弹打在一块岩石上，一声尖厉的呼啸，跳飞开去。

9 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。

10 swooped   

俯冲，猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The aircraft swooped down over the buildings. 飞机俯冲到那些建筑物上方。
• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it. 鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来，并把它杀死。

11 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。

12 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。

13 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。

14 swooping   

俯冲，猛冲( swoop的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The wind were swooping down to tease the waves. 大风猛扑到海面上戏弄着浪涛。
• And she was talking so well-swooping with swift wing this way and that. 而她却是那样健谈--一下子谈到东，一下子谈到西。

15 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 slit   

n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂

参考例句：

• The coat has been slit in two places.这件外衣有两处裂开了。
• He began to slit open each envelope.他开始裁开每个信封。

17 smuggle   

vt.私运；vi.走私

参考例句：

• Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
• She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境，没有被逮捕。

18 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网

19 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。

20 undone   

a.未做完的，未完成的

参考例句：

• He left nothing undone that needed attention.所有需要注意的事他都注意到了。

21 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

22 amazement   

n.惊奇，惊讶

参考例句：

• All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
• He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。

23 extravagant   

adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的

参考例句：

• They tried to please him with fulsome compliments and extravagant gifts.他们想用溢美之词和奢华的礼品来取悦他。
• He is extravagant in behaviour.他行为放肆。

24 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

25 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。