Chapter 13 A DREADFUL SHOCK

Chapter 13 A DREADFUL SHOCK
The Five stood panting outside the entrance of the caves, feeling decidedly sheepish at having runaway¹ from a noise.
'Whew!' said Julian, mopping his forehead. 'That was decidedly weird². That whistling - it got insidemy head. It was like a - like a police whistle gone mad or something. As for the howling...
well.'
'It was horrible,' said Anne, looking quite pale. 'Like wild animals. I'm not going into those cavesagain for anything. Let's get back to the camp.'
They walked soberly down the chalk-strewn path that led away from the caves and made their wayback to their camp. The rain had stopped now, and the clouds were beginning to break.
The Five sat down inside a tent, and discussed the matter. 'We'll ask Toby if it's usual for noises likethat to be heard,' said Dick. 'I wonder anyone ever visits the caves if it is infested³ with horriblewhistles and screeches⁴ like that.'
'All the same, we were a bit cowardly,' said Julian, now feeling rather ashamed of himself.
'Well, go back and do a bit of howling yourself,' suggested George. 'It may frighten the howler asmuch as his howling scared you.'
'Nothing doing,' said Julian promptly⁵. 'I'm not going in for any howling matches.' He burrowed⁶ downunder the rug for his field-glasses and slung⁸ them round his neck.
'I'm going to have a squint⁹ at the airfield¹⁰,' he said. 'Just to see if I can spot Cousin Jeff.' He put theglasses to his eyes and focused them on the airfield below them. He gave a sudden exclamation¹¹.
'There's quite a lot doing on the airfield this morning!' he said in surprise. 'Dozens of people there! Iwonder what's up. There are quite a lot of planes, too - they must all have arrived this morning!'
Each of the others took a turn at looking through the glasses. Yes - Julian was right. There wascertainly something going on at the airfield today. Men hurried about, and then came the noise of yetanother aeroplane, which zoomed¹² neatly¹³ down to the runway.
'Gosh - another plane!' said Dick. 'Where did all the others come from? We never heard them.'
'They must have arrived while we were in the caves,' said Dick. 'I wish we could ask Toby's 52Cousin Jeff what all the excitement is about.'
'We could go down to the farm after our lunch and see if he has heard anything,' suggested Anne, andthe others agreed.
'Thank goodness the sun's coming out again,' said George, as a shaft¹⁴ of warm sunlight burst out frombehind a cloud, and the sun sailed into a patch of blue sky. 'The heather will soon dry now.
Let's have the news on - we may just catch the weather forecast. I don't want to carry my mac about ifit's going to clear up.'
They switched on the little radio set - but they had missed the weather news. 'Blow!' said Dick, andraised his hand to switch off - and then he heard two words that stopped him. They were'Billycock Hill'! He left his hand suspended in the air and listened, full of surprise. The announcer'svoice came clearly to the four.
'The aeroplanes stolen from Billycock Hill airfield were two valuable ones, into which had beenincorporated new devices,' said the voice from the radio. 'It is possible that they were stolen becauseof these. We regret that it appears that two of our best pilots flew them away - Flight-LieutenantJeffrey Thomas and Flight-Lieutenant Ray Wells. No news has been received of either plane. Bothdisappeared during a storm over Billycock Hill during the night.'
There was a pause, and then the announcer went on to another item of news. Dick switched off theradio and looked blankly at the others. No one had a word to say at first.
'To think that Jeff could do a thing like that - Jeff a traitor¹⁵ - flying off with a plane of ours to sell to anenemy!' said Julian at last, voicing the thought of all the others.
'We heard the planes go!' said Dick. 'Two of them. Gosh - we ought to go to the police and tell whatwe know. Not that it's much. But, I say - fancy Jeff doing that! I liked him so much.'
'So did I,' said Anne, turning her head away.
'So did Timmy,' said George. 'And he hardly ever makes a mistake in anyone.'
'What will poor Toby do?' said Dick. 'He thought the world of Jeff.'
Timmy suddenly ran off a few yards and began barking - a welcoming bark this time. Julian lookedto see who was coming. It was Toby!
He came up to them and sat down beside them. He looked pale and shocked, though he tried to smileat them.
'I've got awful news,' he said in a queer, croaking¹⁶ voice.
'We know,' said Dick. 'We've just heard it on the radio. Oh, Toby - fancy - Jeff!'
53
To everyone's horror Toby's face crumpled¹⁷ up and tears poured down his cheeks. He made noattempt to wipe them away; indeed, he hardly seemed to know that they were there. Nobody knewwhat to do - except Timmy. Dear old Tim scrambled¹⁸ over Julian and most sympathetically lickedToby's wet face, whining¹⁹ as he did so. Toby put his arm round the dog's neck and began to speak.
'It wasn't Jeff! Jeff couldn't have done such a thing. He couldn't! You know he couldn't, don't you?'
He turned quite fiercely on the others as he spoke²⁰.
'I can't believe that he did,' said Julian. 'He seemed to me to be absolutely straight and trustworthy,even though I only met him that once.'
'He was - well - a sort of hero to me,' said Toby, beginning to mop his cheeks with his hanky, andstaring in surprise to see it so damp. 'Gosh, I'm a sissy to go on like this! But when the military policecame to our farm this morning to ask questions about Jeff - he's my Dad's nephew, you know - Icouldn't believe my ears. I was so furious with one fat-head that I punched him - and Mother sent meout of the room.'
'I suppose both Jeff and the other fellow have definitely gone?' asked Julian. 'No other pilots aremissing, are they?'
'No. I asked that,' said Toby dismally²². 'Everyone answered roll-call at the camp this morning exceptJeff and Ray. Ray is Jeff's best friend, you know.'
'It looks bad,' said Dick, after a long pause.
'But it's not true that Jeff's a traitor!' cried Toby, up in arms again. 'Are you suggesting that he is?'
'No, I'm not,' said Dick. 'Don't be an ass⁷. I don't...' Then he stopped as Timmy ran off and barkedfiercely. Now who was coming?
A deep voice called to Timmy. 'Down, boy, down! Where are your friends?'
Julian scrambled up and saw two military policemen standing²³ facing the excited Timmy. 'Here, Tim,'
called Julian. 'It's all right. Friends!'
Timmy ran to him and the two burly men came up. 'You the children camping on this hill?' asked thefist one. 'Well, we want to ask you a few questions about last night. You were here then, weren'tyou?'
'Yes, sir. We know what you've come about, too,' said Julian. 'We'll tell you all we know - but we'repretty certain that Flight-Lieutenant Thomas hadn't anything to do with it, sir.'
'That's as may be,' said the man. 'Well, sit down, all of you, and we'll have a little talk.'
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Soon they were sitting down in the heather, while Julian told all they knew, which wasn't much -just the sound of the two aeroplanes flying off together.
'And you heard nothing suspicious last night - nothing to all?' asked the first man. 'Nothing,' saidJulian.
'Nobody about at all, I suppose?' asked the second man, looking up from his notebook in which hehad been writing.
'Oh - well, yes - there were people about,' said Julian, suddenly remembering the Butterfly Man, Mr.
Brent, who had said that he and Mr. Gringle were out looking at their moth²¹-traps.
The first policeman asked some rapid questions and Julian and the others told them what little theyknew - though Julian knew the most, of course.
'You're sure it was Mr. Brent you saw?' asked the policeman.
'Well - he said he was,' said Julian. 'And he carried a butterfly net on his shoulder - and he wore thesame dark glasses I saw him wearing in the morning. Of course, it was pretty dark - but I honestlythink it was Mr. Brent. I didn't see or hear Mr. Gringle. Mr. Brent said he was some way off. They'reboth mad on moth and butterfly hunting.'
'I see,' said the policeman, and the second one shut his notebook. 'Thanks very much. I think we'll justgo and pay a call on these - er - what do you call them - Butterfly Men? Where do they hang out?'
The children offered to guide them on their way, and the whole company went with the two burlymen almost to the Butterfiy Farm.
'Well, thanks a lot,' said the first policeman as they came near the tumble-down cottage. 'We'll go onalone now. You get back to your camp.'
'Sir - will you send us word as soon as you know it wasn't my Cousin Jeff?' asked Toby, forlornly.
'He'll be getting in touch with you, I know, as soon as he hears what he's suspected of.'
'It's bad luck on you, son - he's your cousin, isn't he?' said the big policeman kindly²⁴. 'But you'll haveto make up your mind to it - it was Jeff Thomas all right that flew off in one of those aeroplanes lastnight! There isn't a doubt of it!'

1 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

2 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。

3 infested   

adj.为患的，大批滋生的（常与with搭配）v.害虫、野兽大批出没于( infest的过去式和过去分词 )；遍布于

参考例句：

• The kitchen was infested with ants. 厨房里到处是蚂蚁。
• The apartments were infested with rats and roaches. 公寓里面到处都是老鼠和蟑螂。

4 screeches   

n.尖锐的声音( screech的名词复数 )v.发出尖叫声( screech的第三人称单数 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫

参考例句：

• The boy's screeches brought his mother. 男孩的尖叫声招来了他母亲。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The woman's screeches brought the police. 这个妇女的尖叫声招来了警察。 来自辞典例句

5 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

6 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

7 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

8 slung   

抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往

参考例句：

• He slung the bag over his shoulder. 他把包一甩，挎在肩上。
• He stood up and slung his gun over his shoulder. 他站起来把枪往肩上一背。

9 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。

10 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。

11 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。

12 zoomed   

v.（飞机、汽车等）急速移动( zoom的过去式 )；（价格、费用等）急升，猛涨

参考例句：

• Traffic zoomed past us. 车辆从我们身边疾驰而过。
• Cars zoomed helter-skelter, honking belligerently. 大街上来往车辆穿梭不停，喇叭声刺耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

14 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。

15 traitor   

n.叛徒，卖国贼

参考例句：

• The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
• He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。

16 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》

17 crumpled   

adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire. 她把那封信揉成一团扔进了火里。
• She flattened out the crumpled letter on the desk. 她在写字台上把皱巴巴的信展平。

18 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》

19 whining   

n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚

参考例句：

• That's the way with you whining, puny, pitiful players. 你们这种又爱哭、又软弱、又可怜的赌棍就是这样。
• The dog sat outside the door whining (to be let in). 那条狗坐在门外狺狺叫着（要进来）。

20 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

21 moth   

n.蛾，蛀虫

参考例句：

• A moth was fluttering round the lamp.有一只蛾子扑打着翅膀绕着灯飞。
• The sweater is moth-eaten.毛衣让蛀虫咬坏了。

22 dismally   

adv.阴暗地，沉闷地

参考例句：

• Fei Little Beard assented dismally. 费小胡子哭丧着脸回答。 来自子夜部分
• He began to howl dismally. 它就凄凉地吠叫起来。 来自辞典例句

23 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。

24 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。