Julian and Dick went into each room of the light-house, racing1 up the spiral stairway from one to theother. Why, oh why hadn't they watched to see that Tinker locked the door and took the key!
Yes - a few things had been taken! 'My rug!' said George. 'That's gone!'
'And my purse,' said Anne. 'I left it here on the table. That's been taken, too!'
'So has my little travelling clock,' groaned2 Julian. 'Why did I bring it? I could have used my watch!'
There were a few other things gone, all small. 'Horrible fellow, whoever he is, to creep into the light-house while we were out and take our things!' said Anne, almost crying. 'Who would come here -they would surely be seen from the quay3, wouldn't they?'
'Yes - you're right there,' said Julian. 'Though probably the thief slipped in when it was pouring withrain, and the quay was deserted4! I think we'll have to tell the police, you know. Let's have our dinner,and then I'll take the boat and slip across to the village. The tide will be in then, and I shan't be able towalk over the rocks. Blow that thief! I was looking forward to a nice quiet read this afternoon!'
After their meal, Julian took the boat and rowed across to the jetty. He went straight to the police-station, where a stolid-looking policeman listened to him, and wrote slowly in a book.
'Have you any idea, sir, who the thief might be?' asked the policeman. 'Or if anyone came to the light-house while you were out?'
'Well, two people seem to have come,' said Julian. 'The milkman, because we were surprised to findmilk-bottles on the steps. And the postman. There was a letter for us on the mat inside the door. Idon't know of anyone else.'
'Well, as far as I can tell you, both Willy the Milkman, and Postie, are as honest as the day,' said thepoliceman, scratching his chin with his pencil. 'There may have been a third visitor - one who didn'tleave milk or a letter! I'll see if anyone was on the quay this morning, who saw the thief going overthe Demon's Rocks. Er - do you suspect anyone, sir?'
'Good gracious, no!' said Julian. 'I don't know anyone here - unless you can count Jeremiah Boogle,or Tom the Tobacconist!'
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'No. No, sir, I think we can rule both of them out,' said the policeman, smiling. 'Well, I'll do what Ican, and let you know if I hear of anything. Good afternoon, sir - and by the way, as you can't lockthat light-house door now, and it's plain there are thieves about, I shouldn't leave the light-houseempty, see?'
'Yes. Yes, I'd already thought of that,' said Julian. 'I can jam the door all right with something whenwe're in the light-house - but I can't do that when we're out.'
'Well - it looks as if we're in for a wet spell,' said the policeman. 'So maybe it won't be much hardshipto keep indoors. I hope you're comfortable in the light-house - seems a funny place to stay, really.'
'Oh we're very comfortable, Constable5,' said Julian, smiling. 'Why not pay us a call sometime, andsee us?'
'Thanks, sir,' said the policeman, and took Julian to the door.
The constable was right in forecasting a wet spell. It poured all that afternoon, and the little companyin the light-house whiled away the time playing cards. Julian and Dick had managed to find a heavypiece of wood in the store-room to jam the door from the inside. They all felt much safer when theyknew that had been done! Now no one could get in without making a terrific noise!
'I'm stiff,' said George, at last. 'I want to stretch my legs. I've a good mind to run up and down thestairway half a dozen times.'
'Well, go on, then,' said Dick. 'Nobody's stopping you!'
'How far down does the light-house go, Tinker?' asked George. 'We always scoot up the first bit ofthe spiral stairway and never think about the light-house foundations deep down in the rock.
Are they deep down?'
'Oh, they are,' said Tinker, looking up from his book. 'My father told me that when the lighthouse wasbuilt, they drilled right down into the rock for a long way - made a kind of shaft6. And he said thatunder these rocks there are all kinds of queer holes and tunnels - the drill kept shooting downwardswhen it came to a sudden space.'
'Really?' said Dick interested. 'I hadn't thought of what would have to be done to make a high light-house safe from the gales8 and storms. It would have to have deep foundations, of course!'
'My father found an old map somewhere,' said Tinker. 'A sort of plan made when the lighthouse wasfirst built.'
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'Like architects draw when they plan how to build a house?' said Anne.
'Yes. Something like that,' said Tinker. 'I can't remember much about it. I know it showed all therooms in the light-house, connected by the spiral stairway - and it showed the big lamp-room at thetop - and at the bottom of the map the foundation shaft was drawn9.'
'Can you go down the shaft?' asked Dick. 'Is there a ladder, or anything?'
'I don't know,' said Tinker. 'I've never been down there. I never thought about it!'
'Do you know where the old map is - the one made by the architect who drew up plans for the light-house builder to follow?' said Julian. 'Where did your father put it?'
'Oh, I expect he threw it away,' said Tinker. 'Wait a minute though - it may be in the lamp-room! Iremember him taking it up there, because it had a drawing of how the lamp worked.'
'Well, I'd rather like to go and see if I can find it,' said Julian, interested. 'Come up with me, Tinker.
Thank goodness you don't keep turning into some sort of car now - you must be growing up!'
So the two of them went up the spiral stairway to the lamp-room at the very top of the tower.
Again Julian marvelled10 at the magnificent views all around. The rain had stopped for a time, and thesea, swept by strong winds, was a swirling11 tumult12 of angry waters.
Tinker scrabbled about in a little dark space under the lamp. He at last brought up a roll of somethingwhite and waved it at Julian. 'Here's the map. I thought it would be in the lamp-room.'
Julian took it down to the others, and they spread it out. It showed the plan of the light-house, andwas very clearly and beautifully drawn.
'How is it that architects draw so marvellously?' said George. 'Are they architects because they can dothis kind of thing so well - or do they draw beautifully because they are architects?'
'A bit of both, probably,' said Julian, bending over the finely- drawn plan. 'Ah - here are thefoundations, look - my word, they do go down a long way into the rock!'
'Great tall buildings like this always have deep, strong foundations,' said Dick. 'Last term at schoolwe studied how...'
'Let's not talk of school,' said Anne. 'It's already looming13 in the distance! Tinker - can anyone getdown into this foundation place?'
'I told you - I don't know,' said Tinker. 'Anyway I should think it would be a horrible place downthere - dark and smelly, and narrow, and...'
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'Let's go and see,' said George, getting up. 'I'm so bored at the moment that if I don't do something,I'll fall asleep for a hundred years.'
'Ass,' said Dick. 'Still - quite a good idea of yours. We'd have a bit of peace while you were sleeping!
Oooooch - don't jab me like that, George!'
'Come on,' said George. 'Let's trot14 down and find out what's down the shaft.'
Anne didn't want to go down the shaft, but the others ran down the stairway, Timmy too, and sooncame to the bottom, opposite the entrance door of the light-house.
Tinker showed them a large round trap-door in the floor there. 'If we open that, we'll be looking downinto the foundation shaft,' he said.
So they pulled up the large round wooden trap-door, and gazed downwards7. They could see nothingat all except darkness! 'Where's my torch?' said Julian. 'I'll fetch it!'
Soon his torch was lighting15 up the round shaft, and they saw an iron ladder going down it on oneside. Julian climbed down a few steps and examined the walls of the shaft.
'They're cement!' he called. 'And they must be enormously thick, I should think. I'm going on down.'
So down he went, and down, marvelling16 at the sturdy cement lining17 of the enormous shaft. Hewondered why it had not been filled in. Perhaps a hollow cement-lined shaft was stronger than afilled-in one? He didn't know.
He came almost to the bottom - but he didn't go down the last steps of the iron ladder. A peculiarnoise came from below him! A gurgling, choking noise! What in the world could it be?
He shone his torch down to see - and then stared in amazement18! There was water at the bottom of theshaft, water that swirled19 and moved around, making a strange hollow, gurgling noise.
Where did it come from?
As he watched it, it disappeared - then it came back again! He shone his torch here and there to findout how the water made its way into the shaft.
'There must be a tunnel or a passage of some sort down there, that the sea can enter!' he thought.
'It's high tide now - so the water is swirling in. I wonder - now I wonder - if it's free of water whenthe tide is out! And if so where does that tunnel, or whatever it is, lead to? Or is it always underwater? I'll go back and tell the others - and have another look at that old map!'
He climbed back, glad to be out of the smelly darkness of the old shaft. The others were at the top,looking down rather anxiously.
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'Here he is!' said George. 'See anything interesting, Julian?'
'I did, rather,' said Julian, climbing out of the shaft. 'Got that old map with you? I want to look atsomething if so.'
'Come upstairs, then,' said Dick. 'We can see better there. What was down there, Ju?'
'Wait till we're up in the living-room,' said Julian. He took the map from Tinker as soon as he arrivedthere, and sat down to look at it. He ran his finger down the shaft to the bottom, and then jabbed at around mark drawn there.
'See that? That's a hole at the bottom of the shaft, through which sea-water is coming. It's high tidenow, so the water is seeping20 into the shaft - but it's only about a foot deep. At low tide there wouldn'tbe a single drop coming in. Wouldn't I love to know where that water-tunnel went to -up to the surface of the rocks? Through them to somewhere a good way off? Or what!'
'An undersea tunnel!' said George, her eyes bright. 'Why don't we explore it sometime when the tideis out?'
'Well - we'd have to be pretty certain we wouldn't suddenly be drowned!' said Julian, rolling up themap. 'Very interesting, isn't it? I suppose the hole was left in case the constant push of water there,when the tide was in, might undermine the foundation. Better to have the shaft half full of water thaneaten away by constant tides!'
'Well,' began Anne, and then suddenly stopped in fright. A stentorian21 voice came up the stairway, andmade everyone jump violently.
'ANYONE AT HOME? HEY, ANYONE AT HOME?'
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收听单词发音
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1
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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3
quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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4
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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5
constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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6
shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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7
downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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8
gales
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| 龙猫 | |
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9
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
swirling
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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12
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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13
looming
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| n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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14
trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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15
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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16
marvelling
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的现在分词 ) | |
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17
lining
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| n.衬里，衬料 | |
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18
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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19
swirled
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
seeping
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| v.（液体）渗( seep的现在分词 )；渗透；渗出；漏出 | |
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21
stentorian
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| adj.大声的，响亮的 | |
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