Chapter 19 A LOT OF EXCITEMENT

Chapter 19 A LOT OF EXCITEMENT
Julian turned the key in the lock and opened the door. A stately old woman sat in a chair beside thewindow, reading a book. She did not turn round.
'And why have you come at this time of the morning, Matthew?' she said, without turning round.
'And how did you find the manners to knock? Are you remembering the time when you knew how tobehave to your elders and betters?'
'It isn't Matthew,' said Julian. 'It's us - we've come to set you free.'
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The old woman turned at once, gaping¹ in amazement². She got up and went over to the door, and theFive saw that she was trembling.
'Who are you? Let me out of that door before Matthew comes! Let me out, I tell you!'
She pushed by the four children and the dog, and then stood uncertainly in the passage.
'What shall I do? Where shall I go? Are those men here still?'
She went back into her room and sank down in her chair again, covering her face with her hands.
'I feel faint. Get me some water.'
Anne sprang to pour out a glass of water from a jug⁴ on a table. The old woman took it and drank it.
She looked at Anne.
'Who are you? What is the meaning of this? Where is Matthew? Oh, I must be going mad!'
'Mrs. Thomas - you are Mrs. Thomas, aren't you?' said Julian. 'Little Aily, the shepherd's daughter,brought us here. She knew you were locked up. You remember her mother, don't you?
She told us she used to come and wait on you.'
'Aily's mother - Maggy - yes, yes. But what has Aily to do with this? I don't believe it. It's anothertrick. Where are the men who killed my son?'
Julian looked at Dick. It was clear that the poor old lady was not herself - or else this suddenappearance of the children had upset her.
'Those men that my Llewellyn brought here - they wanted to buy my house,' she said. 'But I wouldn'tsell it, no, I wouldn't. Do you know what they said to me? They said that in this hill, far, far belowmy house, was a rare metal - a powerful metal - worth a fortune. What did they call it now?'
She looked at the children, as if expecting them to know. She shook her head as they didn't answer.
'Why should you know about it - you are only children. But I wouldn't sell it - no, I wouldn't sell myhouse - nor the metal below. Do you know what they wanted it for? For bombs to kill people with!
And I said NO, never will I sell this place so that men can dig the metal and make bombs.
It is against the law of God, I said, and I, Bronwen Thomas, will not do such a thing!'
The children listened in awe⁵. The old lady seemed beside herself, and rocked to and fro as she spoke⁶.
'So they asked my son, and he said no, as I had. But they took him away and killed him - and nowthey are at work below. Yes, yes, I hear them - I hear the noises creeping up, I feel my 83house shake, I see strange things. But who are you? And where is Matthew? He keeps me here,locked in my room. He told me about Llewellyn, my poor dead son; he is a wicked man, Matthew, heworks with those men, those evil men!'
She seemed to forget the four children for a little while. They wondered what to do. Julian saw thatthe poor woman was not fit to take down the stairs with them, and through the tunnel - and certainlyshe could not get out of the pot-hole. He began to wish that he hadn't been so hasty in his ideas ofrescue. It would really be best to lock the door again and leave her here in safety until he could getthe police - for certainly now the police must come.
'We will leave you now,' he said, 'and send someone soon to bring you out of here. We are sorry wedisturbed you.'
And, to the astonishment⁷ of the others, he pushed them out of the room, turned the key in the lockagain, and put it into his pocket!
'Aren't we going to take her with us?' said George, surprised. 'Poor, poor old thing!'
'No. How can we?' said Julian, troubled. 'We must go to the police, no matter what Morgan says.
I see it all now, don't you? The mother forbidding the son to sell the old place, in spite of theenormous amount of money offered - the son refusing too - and the men making a plot to get insomehow and down to this metal, whatever it is - and work it...'
'And killing⁸ the son?' said Dick. 'Well, it may be so - but I should have thought that was a prettydrastic thing to do! Surely the son would have been reported missing very quickly, and the policewould have made enquiries. Nobody said the son was missing or dead, did they, except the old lady?'
'Well, let's not talk about it now,' said Julian. 'We've got to do something. I'm sorry to leave old Mrs.
Thomas still locked up in that room, but I honestly think she would be safer there than anywhereelse.'
They went down the two flights of stairs to the picture gallery. Aily was there, still cuddling her twopets. She was pleased to see them, and ran up smiling. She didn't seem to notice that they hadn't theold woman with them.
'Man down there very cross!' she said, and laughed. 'He wake now - he shout and bang!'
'Goodness - I hope he won't see us,' said Julian. 'We've got to get out of here, quick, and go to thepolice. Let's hope he won't come rushing at us, or call in that fierce dog.'
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They went downstairs at top speed, looking out for Matthew. But there was no sign of him in person -though there was a most tremendous row going on somewhere, of shouting and banging.
'Aily lock door,' said Aily, suddenly, pointing in the direction of the sounds. 'Man lock old woman -Aily lock man!'
'Did you? Did you really lock him in?' said Julian, delighted. 'You really are a monkey - but what agood idea! I wish I'd thought of it!'
He went to the door of the room in which the angry Matthew was.
'Matthew!' he called sternly. There was a dead silence, and then Matthew's astonished voice camethrough the shut door.
'Who's that? Who locked me in? If it's one of you men, you'll be sorry for it! Silly joke to play on me,when you know I've got to go up and see to old Mrs. Thomas!'
'Matthew - this isn't one of the men,' said Julian, and how the others admired his cool, determinedvoice! 'We have come to rescue Mrs. Thomas from that tower - and now we are going to the police toreport all this, and to report too that her son has been killed by the men who are working far belowthis house.'
There was an astonished silence. Then Matthew's voice came again.
'What's all this? I don't understand! The police can't do anything. Mr. Llewellyn, the son, isn't dead -my word, no, he's all alive and kicking - and he won't be very pleased with you, whoever you are.
Clear off at once - but let me out before you go. I'm surprised that Alsatian outside didn't get you, thatI am!'
It was the children's turn to be amazed now. So the son wasn't dead! Then where was he? And whyhad Matthew told old Mrs. Thomas such a cruel untruth? Julian asked him at once.
'Why did you tell Mrs. Thomas her son was dead then?'
'What's it to do with you? Mr. Llewellyn, he told me to tell his mother that. The old lady wouldn't lethim sell that stuff deep down under the house - the stuff that gets hold of cars and bicycles, andploughs, and makes them heavy as lead. Magnetises them, so they say. Well, if he wants to sell it,why shouldn't he? But what I say is this - he shouldn't sell it to foreigners, no, that he shouldn't! If I'dhave known that - well - I wouldn't have taken money from him to act like I did!'
The voice rose and fell as Matthew told his extraordinary tale. Then the man banged frantically⁹ onthe door again.
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'Who are you? You let me out! I've been kind to the old lady - you ask her - though she's difficult, andstrange in her ways. I've been loyal to Mr. Llewellyn, though he's not easy, no, that he's not. Who areyou, I say? Let me out; let me out! If Mr. Llewellyn catches me locked in here, he'll kill me! He'll sayI've let his secret out. He'll say... LET ME OUT, I say!'
'He sounds a bit mad,' said Julian, thankful that the man was locked up. 'He must be a bit simple too,to believe all that the son told him, and do everything he was told to do. Well - we'd better go to thepolice. Come on - we'll go back the way we came.'
'Let's just have a look down that river to see what the men are up to,' said Dick. 'Just you and I,Julian. It's such a chance - we needn't be seen, and it would only take a few minutes. The girls couldwait somewhere with Tim.'
'I don't think we ought to stop now,' said Julian, 'I really don't.'
'No, don't let's,' said Anne. 'I don't like this house. It's got a horrid¹⁰ 'feel' about it. And I can't imaginewhat the 'shuddering¹¹' would be like, when the men start their work again deep down below -whatever it is!'
'Well, come along then,' said Julian, and, completely ignoring Matthew's yells and bangs, the childrenmade their way through the kitchen and down the cellar-steps, flashing on their torches to light theirway.
'I bet Matthew is wild that we've left him locked up,' said Dick, as they went through the vast cellars.
'Serves him right! Taking bribes¹² from the son - and telling lies to that poor old woman.
Hallo, we've come to where the men smashed the walls here, to get along the river tunnel. I supposethey found that was the easiest way to go down to where the precious metal was -whatever it is!'
They stood looking through the smashed walls at the gurgling river.
'Come, come,' said Aily, dragging at Julian's hand. 'Bad mans there!'
She was holding Dave, her little dog, in case he fell into the rushing river, but Fany the lamb wasgambolling loose as usual. And, quite suddenly, she skipped off down the river tunnel, her tailwhisking behind her madly.
'Fany, Fany!' cried Aily. 'Fany bach!'
But the lamb, thinking that she was going the right way, gambolled¹³ on, deafened¹⁴ by the rushing ofthe water. Aily ran after her, as sure-footed as the lamb, hopping¹⁵ and skipping over the rough rockybank of the river.
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'Come back, you little ass³!' yelled Julian. But Aily either did not or would not hear, and shedisappeared into the blackness of the tunnel almost at once.
'She hasn't got a torch, Ju - she'll fall in and drown!' yelled George, in a panic. 'Timmy, go after her,Fetch her back!'
And away went Timmy obediently, running as fast as he could beside the black, churning water,hurrying on its way downwards¹⁶ to the sea.
Julian and the others waited anxiously. Aily didn't come back, nor did any of the animals - andGeorge began to be very panicky about Timmy.
'Oh, Julian - what's happened to Tim - and the others?' she said. 'They've no torches - oh, why did Ilet Timmy go? We all ought to have gone!'
'They'll come back all right,' said Julian, much more confidently than he felt. 'That child Aily can seein the dark, I really do believe - and she knows her way about like a dog.'
But when, after five minutes, not one of the four had come back, George started forward, flashing hertorch on the rocky path beside the river.
'I'm going to find Timmy,' she said. 'And nobody's going to stop me!'
And she was gone before the boys could get hold of her! Julian gave a shout of aggravation¹⁷.
'George! Don't be an ass! Timmy will find his own way back. Don't go down there - you don't knowwhat you may find!'
'Come on,' said Dick, starting off down the river too. 'George won't come back, we know that -not unless she finds Tim and the others. We'd better go quickly before anything awful happens!'
Anne had to follow the boys, her heart beating fast. What a thing to happen! Just the very worstpossible!

1 gaping   

adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大

参考例句：

• Ahead of them was a gaping abyss. 他们前面是一个巨大的深渊。
• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 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。

6 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。

7 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。

8 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

9 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。

10 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

11 shuddering   

v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动

参考例句：

• 'I am afraid of it,'she answered, shuddering. “我害怕，”她发着抖，说。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• She drew a deep shuddering breath. 她不由得打了个寒噤，深深吸了口气。 来自飘（部分）

12 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

13 gambolled   

v.蹦跳，跳跃，嬉戏( gambol的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

14 deafened   

使聋( deafen的过去式和过去分词 )； 使隔音

参考例句：

• A hard blow on the ear deafened him for life. 耳朵上挨的一记猛击使他耳聋了一辈子。
• The noise deafened us. 嘈杂声把我们吵聋了。

15 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。

16 downwards   

adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地）

参考例句：

• He lay face downwards on his bed.他脸向下伏在床上。
• As the river flows downwards,it widens.这条河愈到下游愈宽。

17 aggravation   

n.烦恼，恼火

参考例句：

• She stirred in aggravation as she said this. 她说这句话，激动得过分。
• Can't stand the aggravation, all day I get aggravation. You know how it is." 我整天都碰到令人发火的事，你可想而知这是什么滋味。” 来自教父部分