Chapter 13 A PLEASANT MORNING - AND A SHOCK!

Chapter 13 A PLEASANT MORNING - AND A SHOCK!
'Where shall we go for our walk?' said George, as they wandered through the village. 'Oh look -there's a tiny little shop with Tom the Tobacconist written over the door. Let's get the tobacco whilewe remember.'
So in went Julian, and rapped on the counter. A very small man appeared like a hob-goblin out of adark corner.
'I want some tobacco for Jeremiah Boogle, please,' said Julian. 'I think you know the kind he wants.'
'I do that!' said Tom, scrabbling about on a shelf. 'The amount that old Jeremiah has smoked sinceI've been here would keep a bonfire going for years. There you are, young sir!'
'He tells a fine story,' said Julian, putting down the money for the tobacco.
Tom laughed. 'He's been going on about Bart and Nosey and all them old folk, I suppose,' he 49said. 'He's a queer one, is old Jeremiah. Never forgets a thing, even if it happened eighty or moreyears ago! Never forgives, neither. There's two folk in this village that he spits at when he passes bythem. Naughty old man, he is.'
'What have they done to earn his spite?' asked Dick, in surprise.
'Well, they be some kin¹ of his old enemy, One-Ear Bill,' said Tom. 'I reckon he told you about him allright, didn't he?'
'Yes, he did,' said Julian. 'But all that business about the wrecking³ happened years and years ago!
Surely Jeremiah doesn't visit his anger on any descendants of the wicked One-Ear Bill!'
'Oh, but he do!' said Tom. 'You see, these two fellows he spits at have the job of showing peopleround the caves here - especially the Wreckers' Cave - and I reckon old Jeremiah still broods aboutOne-Ear's hidden treasure, and is scared in case these two chaps ever find it. Find it! It's nigh onseventy years since all that happened. Why, that light-house yonder was built over sixty years ago -after that wrecking business went on. No one will come across any treasure now!'
'But surely they might,' said George. 'It depends where it was hidden. If it was in some dry, watertightplace, it should still be all right. After all, gold and silver don't decay, do they?
Wherever it was hidden, it must still be there!'
'That's what all you visitors say!' said Tom. 'And that's what Ebenezer and Jacob say - they're the twochaps who show people round the caves. But they only say that to make a bit of a thrill for thevisitors, you know. Same as old Jeremiah does. Takes them in properly! Well - you believe what youlike, youngsters - but you won't find any treasure! I reckon the sea took that years ago! Good-day toyou! I'll give Jeremiah the baccy when he calls in.'
'Well,' said Dick, as soon as they were outside the shop, 'this is all very interesting! I think probablyold Tom's right. The reason why the treasure was never found is because it was probably hiddenwhere the sea managed to get at it - in some water-hole, or somewhere like that.'
'I still believe it's somewhere safe,' said George. 'So does Tinker.'
'Oh well... I should think probably Timmy believes it as well,' said Dick. 'He has a child-like mindtoo!'
Dick at once received a hard punch on the back from George. He laughed. 'All right! We'll give you achance to hunt for the treasure, won't we, Ju? We'll visit the Wreckers' Cave as soon as we can. Let'sgo up on the cliffs for our walk, and see if we can spot where the first old lamp used 50to be, that warned ships to swing out to sea, and avoid Demon's Rocks.'
It was a lovely walk along the cliffs. The celandines and tiny dog violets were out, and clumps⁴ of paleyellow primroses⁵ were everywhere. The breeze blew strongly, and Mischief⁶ held tightly to Tinker'sright ear, afraid of' being blown off his shoulder. Timmy enjoyed himself thoroughly⁷, boundingalong, tail flourishing happily, sniffing⁸ at everything.
They came to the flag-post set high on the cliff, its great red flag waving vigorously in the breeze. Anotice-board was beside it. George read it.
'This flag warns ships off Demon's Rocks by day. By night the great light-house at High Cliffs, fartheralong the coast, gives warning. In the old days a lamp shone from this spot to give the ships warning,and later a small light-house was built out on Demon's Rocks. It is still in existence, but is no longerin use.'
'Ha - they're wrong there!' said Tinker, pointing to the last sentence. 'We're using it! I'll alter thenotice!' and Tinker actually took a pencil to scratch out the last six words!
Julian took it from him. 'Don't be an ass². You can't mess about with public notices. Don't say you'reone of the fatheads who like to scribble⁹ all over the place!'
Tinker held out his hand for the pencil. 'All right. It was just that I thought it wanted correcting.
I'm not the kind of idiot who scribbles¹⁰ on walls or public notices.'
'Right,' said Julian. 'Tinker, can we see Demon's Rocks - the rocks themselves, I mean, with our light-house - from these cliffs.'
'No,' said Tinker. 'The cliff swings away to the left, look, and the Demon's Rocks are away rightround the corner, if you see what I mean - so no ship should follow the coastline here, but shouldkeep well out at sea, or it'd be on the rocks. You can quite well see that if the wreckers took the lampfrom its warning-place here, and put it much farther back, along the way we've come, the ships wouldswing too far inland, and find themselves wrecked¹¹.'
'I think I should have hated old One-Ear Bill as much as old Jeremiah does,' said George, imaginingthe beautiful ships being ground to pieces all those years ago - just because of a greedy man wholiked the pickings from wrecks¹²!
'Well, we'd better go back,' said Julian, looking at his watch. 'We've some shopping to do, remember!
Better buck¹³ up too - it looks like rain all of a sudden!'
He was right. It was pouring by the time they reached the village! They crowded into a little shop thatsaid 'Morning Coffee' and ordered a cup each, and buns. The buns were so nice that 51they bought some to take back to the light-house with them. Then Anne remembered post-cards.
'We must buy some,' she said, 'and send one off today. Better get some now, and write one and post itwhile we're here.'
Dick slipped out of the coffee-shop and returned with a packet of very gaudily¹⁴ coloured cards.
'Some of them show the light-house,' he said. 'We'll send one of those - and you choose a card to sendto your father too, Tinker.'
'It would be a waste,' said Tinker. 'He wouldn't even bother to read it.'
'Well, send one to your mother,' said Anne.
'I haven't one,' said Tinker. 'She's dead. She died when I was born. That's why my father and I alwaysgo about together.'
'I'm very, very sorry, Tinker,' said Anne, shocked. The others were sorry too. No wonder Tinkerhadn't very good manners, and was all on his own. No mother to teach him anything! Poor Tinker!
Anne felt as if she wanted to buy him every bun in the shop!
'Have another bun, Tinker,' she said. 'Or an ice-cream. I'll pay. Mischief can have one too.'
'We're all going to have another bun each, and an ice-cream,' said Julian. 'Timmy and Mischief too.
Then we'll do our shopping and go home - home to the light-house. That sounds grand, doesn't it!'
They wrote three cards - one to Mr. and Mrs. Kirrin - one to Joanna - and one to the Professor.
'Now they'll know we are safe and happy!' said Anne, sticking on the stamps.
The rain had stopped, so they went to do their shopping - fresh bread, more butter and eggs, twobottles of milk, some fruit and a few other things. Then off they went down to the little jetty.
'Tide will soon turn,' said Julian, as they jumped down from the jetty to the rocky little beach.
'Come on - we'll just have time to walk over the rocks to the light-house. PLEASE don't drop theeggs, Tinker!'
They made their way over the rocks, jumping over little pools here and there and avoiding the slimystrands of seaweed that in places covered the rocks. The light-house seemed very tall as they came upto it.
'It's tiny compared to the great new one away at High Cliff,' said Tinker. 'You ought to go over that!
The revolving¹⁵ lamp at the top is magnificent! Its light is so powerful that ships can see it for miles!'
'Well, this little light-house looks nice enough to me at the moment,' said Dick, climbing up the 52stone steps to the strong wooden door. 'Hallo! Look - two bottles of milk at the top step! Don't tell methe milkman's been!'
'He used to call when my father and I were here,' said Tinker. 'Only when the tide was out in themorning though, because he hasn't a boat. I suppose he heard we were all staying here, and came tosee if we wanted milk - and left two bottles when he found we were out. He probably yelled throughthe letter-box and when we didn't answer he just left the milk, on chance.'
'Sensible fellow!' said Dick. 'Get out your key, Tinker, and unlock the door.'
'I don't remember locking it behind us when we went out this morning,' said Tinker, feelingfrantically in all his pockets. 'I must have left it in the lock on the inside of the door. Let's see now -we locked the door last night, and left the key in the lock. So I must have unlocked it this morning forus all to go out.'
'That's right - but after you unlocked it you ran straight down the steps with George, and the rest of usfollowed,' said Julian. 'Anne was last. Did you lock the door after you, Anne?'
'No. I never thought of it!' said Anne. 'I just shut the door with a bang and raced after you all! So thekey must still be on the other side of the door!'
'Well, if we push the door, it should open!' said Julian, with a grin. 'And the key will be on the inside,waiting for us! Let's go in!'
He pushed hard, for the door shut very tightly - and sure enough, it swung open. Julian put his handround to the inside lock to feel for the key.
It wasn't there! Julian looked at the others, frowning.
'Someone's been here - and found the door unlocked - taken the key - and probably plenty of otherthings as well!' he said. 'We'd better go and look. Come on!'
'Wait - there's something on the door-mat,' said Dick, picking up a letter. 'The postman has visited thelight-house too - here's a letter forwarded from Kirrin - so at least two people came while we wereout! But surely neither of them would take the key - or anything else either!'
'Well - we'll soon see!' said Julian, grimly, and up the first bend of the spiral stairway he went, at topspeed!

1 kin   

n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的

参考例句：

• He comes of good kin.他出身好。
• She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。

2 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。

3 wrecking   

破坏

参考例句：

• He teed off on his son for wrecking the car. 他严厉训斥他儿子毁坏了汽车。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Instead of wrecking the valley, the waters are put to use making electricity. 现在河水不但不在流域内肆疟，反而被人们用来生产电力。 来自辞典例句

4 clumps   

n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声

参考例句：

• These plants quickly form dense clumps. 这些植物很快形成了浓密的树丛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bulbs were over. All that remained of them were clumps of brown leaves. 这些鳞茎死了，剩下的只是一丛丛的黃叶子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 primroses   

n.报春花( primrose的名词复数 )；淡黄色；追求享乐（招至恶果）

参考例句：

• Wild flowers such as orchids and primroses are becoming rare. 兰花和报春花这类野花越来越稀少了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The primroses were bollming; spring was in evidence. 迎春花开了，春天显然已经到了。 来自互联网

6 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

7 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

8 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》

9 scribble   

v.潦草地书写，乱写，滥写；n.潦草的写法，潦草写成的东西，杂文

参考例句：

• She can't write yet,but she loves to scribble with a pencil.她现在还不会写字，但她喜欢用铅笔乱涂。
• I can't read this scribble.我看不懂这种潦草的字。

10 scribbles   

n.潦草的书写( scribble的名词复数 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下v.潦草的书写( scribble的第三人称单数 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下

参考例句：

• The scribbles on the wall must be the work of those children. 墙壁上的涂鸦准是那几个孩子画的。 来自辞典例句
• There are scribbles on the wall. 墙上有胡乱涂写的字迹。 来自辞典例句

11 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞

12 wrecks   

n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 )；（事故中）遭严重毁坏的汽车（或飞机等）；（身体或精神上）受到严重损伤的人；状况非常糟糕的车辆（或建筑物等）v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 )；使（船舶）失事，使遇难，使下沉

参考例句：

• The shores are strewn with wrecks. 海岸上满布失事船只的残骸。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• My next care was to get together the wrecks of my fortune. 第二件我所关心的事就是集聚破产后的余财。 来自辞典例句

13 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。

14 gaudily   

adv.俗丽地

参考例句：

• She painted her lips gaudily. 她的嘴唇涂得很俗艳。 来自互联网

15 revolving   

adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想

参考例句：

• The theatre has a revolving stage. 剧院有一个旋转舞台。
• The company became a revolving-door workplace. 这家公司成了工作的中转站。