Up the heathery hill panted the five children and Timmy. Julian carried the frightened little pig, whowas not at all sure what was happening to him. He kicked and squealed2 but nobody took any noticeof him - he would be of importance when they reached the caves, but not till then!
At last they reached the chalky roadway to the caves and pounded along it, the loose bits of chalkflying between their feet. They came to the entrance where the warning notice stood.
'Timmy!' called George as Julian put down the trembling little pig and held him tightly. 'Timmy -come here! Smell Curly - that's right - smell him all over - now follow, follow, follow! Smell wherehe went in the caves - and follow, Tim, follow!'
Timmy knew perfectly3 well what tracking meant and obediently smelt4 Curly thoroughly5, and then puthis nose to the ground to follow the scent6 of the pigling's footsteps. He soon picked it up, and beganto run into the first cave.
He stopped and looked back enquiringly. 'Go on, Tim, go on - I know this seems peculiar7 to youwhen we've got Curly here - but we want to know where he went!' called George, afraid that Timmymight think it was just a silly game and give up. Timmy put his nose to the ground again.
He came to the magnificent cave, full of the gleaming 'icicles', the stalactites and stalagmites, 85some of them looking like shining pillars. Then into the next cave, which, with its glowing rainbowcolours, had reminded Anne of a Fairyland cave. Then through the next cave they went -and came to the forking of the ways.
'Here we are - at the three tunnels,' said George. 'I bet Timmy won't go down the usual roped one thatall visitors would take ...'
As she spoke8 the words Timmy, nose to ground, still following the scent of the pigling's footsteps,took the left-hand, unroped way - and everyone followed, torches shining brightly.
'I thought so!' said George, and her voice began to echo round. 'Thought so, thought so, so, so ...'
'Do you remember those awful noises we heard the other day - that piercing whistling, and thosehowls?' said Dick. 'Well, I bet they were made by the bullies9 who dragged Jeff and Ray here! I expectthey heard Timmy barking - he must have heard the men, probably, though we didn't -and they were scared in case we were coming. So they made those frightful10 noises to scare us off, andthe echoes magnified them horribly.'
'Well, they certainly scared us away all right,' said Anne, remembering. 'Yes - it must have beenthose men - there aren't any awful noises today! My word, what a long, winding11 tunnel this is -and look, it's forking into two!'
'Timmy will know which way to take,' said George - and, of course he did. With his nose to theground, he chose the left-hand one without any hesitation12.
'You didn't really need to bring a ball of string, Julian,' said Toby. 'Timmy will easily be able to takeus the right way back, won't he?'
'Yes,' said Julian. 'He's better than any unwinding ball of string! But without Tim we'd never find theway back - there are so many caves, and so many tunnels. We must be well into the heart of the hillnow.'
Timmy suddenly stopped in his tracking, raised his head, and listened. Could he hear Jeff and Ray?
He barked loudly - and from somewhere in the near distance came a shout. 'Hoy! Hoy!
This way! This way!'
'It's Jeff!' shouted Toby, dancing in the dark tunnel with excitement. 'JEFF! CAN YOU HEARME? JEFF!'
And a voice came back at once. 'Hie, Toby! This way, this way!'
Timmy ran down the passage and stopped. At first the children could not see why - and then they sawthat the passage came to an end there - a blank wall faced them just beyond Timmy - and yet 86Jeff's voice came quite clearly to them!
'Here we are, here!'
'Why - there's a hole in the floor of the tunnel just by Timmy!' cried Julian, shining his torch on it.
'That's where Jeff and Ray are - down that hole. Hey, Cousin Jeff - are you down there?'
Julian shone his torch right through the hole - and there, lying on the floor of a cave below was Ray -and standing13 beside him, looking up eagerly, was Jeff!
'Thank God you've found us!' he said. 'Those fellows told us they were leaving us here and notcoming back. Ray's got a twisted ankle - he can't stand on it. They pushed us down this hole withoutany warning, and he fell awkwardly. But with your help we can get him up.'
'Jeff, oh, Jeff - I'm so glad we've found you!' yelled Toby, trying to look down into the hole withJulian. 'What's the best way to get you up? This entrance hole isn't very big.'
'If you can manage to pull me up, that's the first thing to do,' said Jeff, considering the matter.
'Then two of you boys can go down to Ray, and help him to stand, and I think I could haul him up.
This is an awful place - no outlet14 except through that small hole up there, which was too high for meto jump up to - and Ray couldn't stand, of course, to help me!'
There was soon a great deal of acrobatic work on the part of Jeff, Julian and Dick! The two boysmanaged to haul up Jeff by lying down on the floor above, and putting their arms and shouldersthrough the hole to drag him up! Toby and George had to hold on to their legs to prevent them frombeing pulled into the hole! And Anne had to hold the little pig, which did its best to try and get downthe hole, too!
At last Jeff was up through the hole, and then the two boys, Julian and Dick, leapt down to Ray.
He seemed rather dazed and Jeff said that he thought he had hurt his head as well as his leg when themen pushed them down the hole. Julian pulled him gently to his feet and then he and Dick lifted himuntil he could reach Jeff's swinging hands as he leaned down through the hole.
Poor Ray was pulled up at last, and then up went Julian and Dick in the same way. Timmy thoughtthe whole procedure was most extraordinary, and produced volleys of excited barks, scaring the littlepig almost out of its skin!
'Phew!' said Jeff, when at last Ray was up, and being helped by the others. 'I never thought we'd getout of there. Let's get away from this nightmare place as quickly as possible. What we want is a littlefresh air and food - and water! Those brutes15 haven't been near us for what seems like weeks!'
87
They made their way back to the cave entrance, Timmy leading the way confidently, not eventroubling to smell it. He never forgot a path once he had been along it.
They came out into the bright June sunshine, and it was so very dazzling to the two men who hadbeen so long in pitch-black darkness that they had to shade their eyes.
'Sit down a bit till you get used to it,' said Julian. 'And tell us how you wrote your message on thepig! Did he suddenly appear down the hole?'
Jeff laughed. 'Well,' he said, 'there we were down in that awful hole, Ray and I - with no watch to tellus the time, no means of knowing if it was night or day, or even if it was last Thursday or nextMonday! And suddenly we heard a pitter-pattering noise - and the next thing we knew was thatsomething had fallen down through the hole and landed on top of us! It began to squeal1 like billy-o,so we guessed it was a little pig - though why a pig should suddenly descend16 on us out of the darktunnel above us we simply couldn't imagine!'
Everyone laughed, even Ray. 'Go on,' said Dick. 'What did you do?'
'Well, we felt the pig all over and knew it was a baby,' said Jeff, 'but it didn't occur to us for sometime that we might use it as a messenger! That was Ray's bright idea!'
'We could hardly read your message,' said Dick. 'It was just touch and go that we made it out.'
'I dare say - but when you consider that we had been robbed of everything - even my silver penciltaken, and my old fountain pen - to say nothing of my money, my watch and my torch -and Ray's, too - and that it was pitch-dark in the hole, I'm sure you will agree that we didn't make abad job of printing that message!' said Jeff.
'But what did you print it with if your pockets had been emptied?' asked George, in wonder.
'Well, Ray found a tiny bit of black chalk at the bottom of his trouser pocket,' said Jeff. 'It's chalk weuse to mark out our air-routes, on big maps - and that was all we had to use! Ray held the pigling andI printed our initials and the word CAVES on his back. I couldn't see what I was doing in the dark,but I just hoped for the best. Then I stood up and tossed the poor little pig through the hole! It was ajolly good shot, I must say - I heard him scrambling17 on the edge, and then away he trotted18, the finestlittle pig in the world!'
'What a tale!' said Julian. 'My word, you're lucky, Jeff, that the pigling came home all right! It's awanderer, that pig, always running away. And to think that I nearly washed your message off his backbefore we read it.'
'Whew! It gives me the creeps to hear that,' said Jeff. 'Now tell me what happened when it was 88discovered that we'd disappeared from the airfield19 - wasn't there an uproar20?'
'Rather! You knew your planes were stolen, didn't you?' said Dick.
'I guessed that, when I heard two planes take off, just as some great thugs were hauling us up the hill,'
said Jeff. 'I heard a dog barking as we were being kicked and dragged up - was it Timmy? I did hopehe would come to our rescue.'
'Oh, yes - that must have been the time when he began to bark that night of the storm!' said George,remembering. 'So it was you and those thugs we heard - oh, what a pity he didn't know it!'
'Those two stolen planes crashed into the sea during the storm, Jeff,' said Toby. 'The pilots weren'tfound.'
'Oh,' said Jeff and was silent for a moment. 'I shall miss my dear old bus - well let's hope I get anotherplane - and Ray, too. Ray! How do you feel now? Can you hobble along again or not?'
'Yes - if the boys can help me as they did just now,' said Ray, who was already looking much bettersince he had been in the open air. 'Let's get along.'
It was very slow going - but fortunately the police met them half-way, on their way to the caves!
Mr. Thomas had telephoned them and they had come along immediately. They took Ray in hand, andthe little party made better progress.
'Put that pig down, Anne, you must be tired of carrying it,' said Dick. 'You look like Alice inWonderland. She carried a pig, too!'
Anne laughed. 'I think it's gone to sleep, just like Alice's pig!' she said. And so it had!
They were all very thankful when at last they arrived at Billycock Farm. What a welcome they hadfrom Mrs. Thomas, her husband and Benny. The little boy dragged his pigling from Anne's arms andhugged it. 'You runned away, you're bad, you runned fast!' he scolded, and set it down.
It immediately scampered21 over to the barn, with Benny in pursuit, and Anne went to fetch them back.
'Now we'll all have tea - I've got it ready, hoping that everyone would be back in time from theirextraordinary adventures!' said Mrs. Thomas. 'I know Jeff and Ray must be starved - you look quitethin in the face, Jeff.'
They all sat round the big table, Toby next to his hero, Cousin Jeff. They gazed with pleasure at thefood there - surely never, never had there been such a spread before!
'Mother!' said Toby, his eyes gleaming. 'Mother, this isn't a meal - it's a BANQUET! Jeff - what 89will you have?'
'Everything!' said Jeff. 'Some of every single thing. I'll start with two boiled eggs, three slices of ham,two thick pieces of bread and butter, and some of that wonderful salad. My word, it's almost worthbeing down that hole for ages, to end up with a feast like this!'
It was a most hilarious22 tea, and for once Benny sat at the table throughout the whole meal, and didn'tslip from his chair to go and find Curly. Why didn't they have parties like this every day?
Why, even his father was there, roaring with laughter! What a pity the two policemen hadn't beenable to stop to tea, too - Benny had a lot of questions to ask policemen! Where was Timmy? Yes, hewas under the table - Benny could feel him with his foot. And, yes, Binky was there, too, just byToby.
He slid his hand down with a large piece of cake in it, and immediately it was taken gently from hishand by a hairy mouth - Timmy was having a wonderful time, too!
Everyone was sorry when the grand meal was over. Jeff and Ray now had to report to the airfield, andMr. Thomas offered to take them in his car. The children went to see them off.
'It will seem awfully23 dull now, up in our camp on the hill-side,' said Dick. 'So many things havehappened in the last few days - and now nothing will happen at all!'
'Rubbish!' said Jeff. 'I promise you something will happen - something grand!'
'What?' asked everyone eagerly.
'I shall see that you're all given a free flight in a plane as soon as possible - perhaps tomorrow,'
said Jeff. 'And - I shall pilot it! Now then - anyone want to loop the loop with me?'
What shouts and squeals24 from everyone! Jeff made a face and put his hands to his ears.
'Me too, me too - and Curly!' came Benny's little high voice.
'Where is Curly?' said Jeff, looking out of the car. 'I really must shake hooves with him - he's been awonderful friend to me and Ray! Wherever is he?'
'I don't know,' said Benny, looking all round. 'He must have...'
'Runned away!' chorused everyone, and Timmy barked at the sudden shout. He put his paws up onthe car and licked Jeff's hand.
'Thanks, old boy,' said Jeff. 'We couldn't have done without you either! So long, everybody - see youtomorrow - and then whoooops! - up in the clouds we'll go!'
THE END
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收听单词发音
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1
squeal
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| v.发出长而尖的声音；n.长而尖的声音 | |
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squealed
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| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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4
smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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6
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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8
spoke
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| 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 | |
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9
bullies
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| n.欺凌弱小者, 开球 vt.恐吓, 威胁, 欺负 | |
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10
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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11
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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12
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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13
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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14
outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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15
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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16
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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17
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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18
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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19
airfield
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| n.飞机场 | |
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20
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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21
scampered
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| v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22
hilarious
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| adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed | |
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23
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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24
squeals
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| n.长而尖锐的叫声( squeal的名词复数 )v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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