Chapter 12 WHAT HAPPENED IN BILLYCOCK CAVES

Chapter 12 WHAT HAPPENED IN BILLYCOCK CAVES
The little company in the tent were amazed. Why should aeroplanes take off from the airfield¹ in themiddle of a stormy night?
'For experiments in storms, perhaps?' said Dick. 'No - that would be rather unnecessary.'
'Perhaps they were aeroplanes landing there, not leaving,' suggested Anne.
'Possibly - perhaps seeking the shelter of the airfield when they were caught in this storm,' said Dick.
But Julian shook his head.
'No,' he said. 'This airfield is too far off the ordinary air-routes - nobody would bother about it; it's sosmall for one thing - more of a little experimental station than anything else. Any aeroplane indifficulties could easily go to a first-class airfield for shelter or help.'
'I wonder if Jeff went up in one of the two we heard,' said George.
Anne yawned. 'What about bedding down?' she said. 'This tent is so hot and stuffy² that I feel half-asleep.'
'Yes - it's getting late,' said Julian, looking at his watch. 'You two girls and Timmy can have this tent- it will save you going out into the rain. Fasten the flap after we've gone - and yell if you wantanything.'
'Right. Good night, Ju, good night, Dick,' said the girls, and the boys scrambled³ out into the rain.
Anne fastened the flap of the tent, and wrapped her rug round her. She burrowed⁴ into her heatherybed and made herself comfortable. George did the same.
'Good night,' said Anne, sleepily. 'Keep Tim on your side. I can't bear him on my legs, he's so heavy.'
The Five slept soundly and awoke the next morning to a dismal⁵ scene of rain and dark clouds.
'How disappointing!' said Dick, peering out of his tent. 'We ought to have listened to the weatherforecast to see if it would clear today. What's the time, Julian?'
'Just gone eight,' said Julian. 'My word, we are sleepy these days! Well, it's not raining so very hardnow - let's see if the girls are awake, and put on our macs and go and wash at the spring.'
They all had breakfast - not quite so merry as usual, because it was a bit of a crowd in the tent and notnearly so much fun as having it in the sunshine. Still, the day might clear, and then they could godown to see Toby at the farm.
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'I suppose we'd better go and explore those caves this morning,' said Dick, after breakfast.
'There's nothing else to do, and I refuse to play cards all morning.'
'We all refuse!' said George. 'Let's put on our macs and see if we can find the caves.'
'We can look at the map,' said Julian. 'It's a large-scale one. There must be a road or lane to them- they are quite well-known. They're probably round the hill a bit - lower down.'
'Well, never mind - we'll see if we can find them, and if we can't it won't matter. We shall have beenfor a walk!' said Dick.
They set off in a fine drizzle⁶, walking through the damp heather, Timmy leaping in front.
'Everyone got torches!' said Dick suddenly. 'I've got mine. We'll need them in the caves!'
Yes, everyone had a torch - except Timmy, and he, as Anne pointed⁷ out, had eyes that were far betterfor seeing in the dark than any torch could ever be!
They made their way down the hill and then veered⁸ off to the north side - and came suddenly upon awide, rather chalky path, where the heather had been cut well back.
'This rather looks as if it led somewhere,' said Julian, stopping.
'It might lead to an old chalk quarry,' said Dick, kicking some loose white lumps of chalk. 'Like theone near Kirrin.'
'Well, let's follow it up and see,' said George, and they went along it, kicking the lumps of chalk asthey went. They rounded a corner and saw a notice.
TO BILLYCOCK CAVES
Warning
Keep only to the roped ways. Beware of losing your way in the unroped tunnels.
'This sounds good,' said Julian. 'Let's see - what did Toby tell us about the caves?'
'They're thousands of years old - they've got stalagmites and stalactites,' said George.
'Oh - I know what those are,' said Anne. 'They look like icicles hanging from the roof - while below,on the floor of the cave, other icicles seem to grow upwards⁹ to meet them!'
'Yes - the roof ones are stalactites and the ground ones are stalagmites,' said Dick. 'I simply never canremember which is which,' said Anne.
'It's easy!' said Julian. 'The stalactite icicles have to hold tight to the roof - and the stalagmite mightsome day join with the ones above them!'
The others laughed.
'I shall never forget which are which now,' said Anne.
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The path they were following altered as they came near to the caves, and lost its chalky look. Just infront of the entrance the way was properly paved, and was no longer rough. The entrance was onlyabout six feet high, and had over it a white board with two words painted very large in black.
BILLYCOCK CAVES
The warning they had read on the first notice they had come to was repeated on another one justinside the entrance. 'Read it, Tim,' said George, seeing him looking at it. 'And keep close to us!'
They went right in, and had to switch on their torches at once. Timmy was amazed to see the wallsaround him glittering suddenly in the light of the four torches. He began to bark, and the noiseechoed all around in a very weird¹⁰ manner.
Timmy didn't like it, and he pressed close to George. She laughed. 'Come on, silly. These are onlycaves. You've been in plenty in your life, Timmy! Goodness - don't they feel cold! I'm glad of mymac!'
They passed through one or two small and ordinary caves and then came to a magnificent one, full ofwhat looked like gleaming icicles. Some hung down from the roof, others rose up from the ground. Insome places the one below had reached to the one hanging down, so that they had joined, making itlook as if the cave was held up by great shining pillars.
'Oh!' said Anne, catching¹¹ her breath. 'What a wonderful sight! How they gleam and shine!'
'It reminds me of cathedrals I have seen,' said Julian, looking up at the roof of the cave. 'I don't knowwhy. All these finely-wrought pillars... come along, let's go into the next cave.'
The next one was smaller, but contained some splendid coloured 'icicles' that shone and gleamed inthe light of the torches. 'It's like a cave in Fairyland,' said Anne. 'Full of rainbow colours!'
The following cave had no colour, but was of a dazzling white, walls, roof, floor and pillars. So manystalactites and stalagmites had joined that they almost formed a snow-white screen through which thechildren peered - only to see even more of the strange 'icicles'.
They came to a threefold forking of the ways. The centre one was roped, but the other two tunnelswere not. The children looked down the unroped tunnels, stretching away so dark and quiet, andshivered. How awful to go down one and lose the way, never to be found again, perhaps!
'I.et's go down the roped way,' said George. 'Just to see where it leads to - more caves, probably.'
Timmy ran sniffing¹² down one of the other ways, and George called him. 'Tim! You'll get lost!
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Come back.'
But Timmy didn't come back. He ran off into the darkness and the others felt cross. 'Blow him,'
said Dick. 'What's he after? TIM! TIM!' The echoes took up the last word and sent it repeatedly upand down the passage.
Timmy barked in answer, and at once the place was full of weird barking, echoing everywhere andmaking Anne put her fingers to her ears.
'Woof-oof-oof-oof!' said the echoes, sounding as if a gang of dogs were barking madly in the caves.
Then Timmy appeared in the light of their torches, looking extremely surprised at the enormous noisehe had created with his barking.
'I shall put you on the lead, Timmy,' scolded George. 'Keep to heel now. Surely you understand whatthat word means after all these years?'
Timmy did. He kept faithfully to heel as the little company went along a narrow, roped tunnel andcame out into a succession of dazzling caves, all linked together by little passages or tunnels.
They kept only to those that were roped. Many of them were not, and the Five longed to see wherethey led to, but were sensible enough not to try.
And then, as they were examining what looked like a frozen pool, which reflected the snowy roofabove like a mirror, a curious noise came to their ears. They straightened themselves and listened.
It was a whistling sound, high-pitched and shrill¹³, that filled the cave, and filled their ear-drums, too,until they felt like bursting. It rose high, then died down - then rose again till the children were forcedto put their hands to their heads - and died away.
Timmy couldn't bear it. He barked frantically¹⁴ and ran round and round like a mad thing. And then thesecond noise began - a howling! A howling that seemed to be tossed to and fro, and grew louder asthe echoes threw it about from cave to cave! Anne clutched Dick, terrified.
'What is it?' she said. 'Quick, let's go!' And, led by an extremely scared Timmy, the Five raced pell-mell out of Billycock Caves as if a hundred dogs were after them!

1 airfield   

n.飞机场

参考例句：

• The foreign guests were motored from the airfield to the hotel.用车把外宾从机场送到旅馆。
• The airfield was seized by enemy troops.机场被敌军占领。

2 stuffy   

adj.不透气的，闷热的

参考例句：

• It's really hot and stuffy in here.这里实在太热太闷了。
• It was so stuffy in the tent that we could sense the air was heavy with moisture.帐篷里很闷热，我们感到空气都是潮的。

3 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》

4 burrowed   

v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的过去式和过去分词 )；翻寻

参考例句：

• The rabbits burrowed into the hillside. 兔子在山腰上打洞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She burrowed her head into my shoulder. 她把头紧靠在我的肩膀上。 来自辞典例句

5 dismal   

adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的

参考例句：

• That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
• My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。

6 drizzle   

v.下毛毛雨；n.毛毛雨，蒙蒙细雨

参考例句：

• The shower tailed off into a drizzle.阵雨越来越小，最后变成了毛毛雨。
• Yesterday the radio forecast drizzle,and today it is indeed raining.昨天预报有小雨，今天果然下起来了。

7 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

8 veered   

v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的过去式和过去分词 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转

参考例句：

• The bus veered onto the wrong side of the road. 公共汽车突然驶入了逆行道。
• The truck veered off the road and crashed into a tree. 卡车突然驶离公路撞上了一棵树。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

10 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

11 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

12 sniffing   

n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；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：

• We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了，一个劲地抽鼻子，打喷嚏。
• They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了，呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 shrill   

adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫

参考例句：

• Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
• The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。

14 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。