Jeremiah saw the angry man coming at him, and very neatly2 side-stepped. Ebenezer couldn't stop,stepped heavily on a strand3 of very slippery seaweed - and went sprawling4 into a corner!
'Ho!' said Jeremiah, delighted. 'Very nice, Ebenezer! Get up, and run at me again!'
'He'd better not,' said Julian, in his most grown-up voice. 'I shall report him to the police if he does -and that will make a pair of them in two days. Jacob got into trouble yesterday - and now it will beEbenezer.'
Ebenezer got up, scowling5, and glared at Jeremiah, who grinned back in delight. 'Coming at meagain, Ebby?' he said. 'It's grand fun to hit an old man, isn't it?'
But Ebenezer was very much afraid that Julian would do what he had threatened, and report him tothe police. He rubbed his shoulder where it had struck a piece of rock, and debated what to do.
'Come along,' said Jeremiah, to the five watching children. 'I'll take you down to the Wreckers'
Cave. Ebby can come too, if so be he can behave hisself. But mebbe he'd like to run away home, andget his shoulder looked to!'
That was enough for Ebby! He determined6 to follow the little company, and made rude remarks allthe time. So he tailed them, and shouted at them from a safe distance. How they wished they hadTimmy with them! He would have made short work of the rude Ebenezer!
'Don't take any notice of him,' said Julian. 'Lead on Jeremiah. My word, isn't it dark in this tunnel!
Good thing we all brought good torches!'
The tunnel came to an end at last and opened out into an extraordinary cave. The roof wasunexpectedly high, and the irregular sides were ridged with shelves of rocks. On the shelves weredirty old boxes, a crate7 or two and some sacks.
'What in the world are those?' asked Dick, shining his torch on them.
'Well young sir, they're just what they look like - ordinary boxes and sacks,' said Jeremiah. 'Put thereby8 Ebenezer and Jacob to fool people! They tell everybody they're what the old wreckers got out ofships they wrecked9, years ago! Hoo-hoo-hoo! Anybody that believes those lies deserves to be fooled.
They're all from Ebby's back-yard. Seen them lying there meself! Hoo-hoo-hoo!'
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His hoo-hooing laugh echoed round the cave, and Ebenezer made an angry growling10 noise rather likea dog.
'I'm not going to fool these kids,' said Jeremiah. 'You and your sacks and boxes! I know where the oldthings are, the real old things - oh yes I do!'
'They're no better than the sacks and boxes there, wherever they are!' said Ebby, in a growling voice.
'You're lying, old Jeremiah - you don't know nothing!'
'Take us on farther,' said Dick. 'There must be more caves. I think this is exciting. Is this really wherethe old wreckers hid the things they salvaged11 from the wrecks12 they caused - or just a tale?'
'Oh, this is their cave, that's true enough. Dressed up a bit by Ebby there!' said Jeremiah. 'But I knowthe caves farther on. Ebby doesn't! He's too skeered to go farther under the sea. Ain't you, Ebby?'
Ebby said something that sounded rude. Julian turned to Jeremiah eagerly. 'Oh do take us farther - ifit isn't dangerous!'
'Well, I'm going farther on, anyway,' said Tinker, suddenly. 'Mischief hasn't come back - so he mustbe lost - and I'm going to find him!'
Julian saw that Tinker was quite determined. 'Right,' he said. 'We'll come with you. Jeremiah, leadthe way! But it's not really dangerous, is it? I mean - we don't want to find the sea sweeping13 throughthese caves, right up to where we are!'
'Tide's not on the turn yet,' said Jeremiah. 'We're all right for a while. When it comes in, it swirls14 upthis passage here - but it stops at the Wreckers' Cave - that's just too high for it, see? The tunnel runsdownwards fast now. It goes right under your light-house, have you seen it down at the bottom of theshaft?'
'Good gracious, yes!' said Julian, remembering. 'I went down it - and the sea was swirling16 in and outat openings in the bottom of the shaft15. Do you mean to say that the sea that rises in the shaft at hightide, comes racing17 up into these tunnels too?'
'Aye, that it does,' said Jeremiah. 'You can get from here to the light-house under the rocky sea-bedright to that foundation shaft. But nobody dares! Tide comes in so quickly, you might get caught anddrownded!'
Ebby at once shouted something rude again - it sounded as if he was telling Jeremiah to go and'get drownded too'!
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'Do let's go on farther,' said Dick. 'Come on, Jeremiah.'
So Jeremiah led them farther on under the rocky bed of the sea. It was strange and rather frighteningto hear the constant noise of the water racing over the roof of the winding18 tunnel.
Their torches lighted up slimy walls, and rocky shelves and hollows.
'You know - this would have been a very good place to hide treasure,' said Julian, glancing up at adark hollow in the roof of the tunnel. 'Though I don't know how anyone would set about looking forit - there are hundreds of nooks and crannies - and isn't it cold in this tunnel!'
'Well, the sun's rays never penetrate19 down here,' said Dick. 'My word, the sea sounds pretty loudnow!'
'I wish we could find Mischief,' said Anne to George. 'Look at poor Tinker. He's crying. He'spretending not to, but I could see the tears rolling down his cheeks last time I flashed my torch onhim.'
They stopped to look at something - a strange jellylike thing, like an enormous sea anemone20.
Ebby caught them up, and bumped into Dick. He rounded on Ebby at once.
'Keep off! Follow us if you like, but don't come so near. We don't like you!'
Ebby took no notice but kept as close behind everyone as he possibly could, and Dick realized that hewas probably feeling very scared! Then, as they rounded another corner of the tunnel, and saw yetanother cave, Tinker gave a yell that echoed everywhere.
'MISCHIEF! LOOK! THERE HE IS! MISCHIEF!'
And sure enough, there was the little monkey, crouched21 under a small shelf of rock, shivering infright. He wouldn't even go running to Tinker. Tinker had to pick him up and hug him.
'Mischief! Poor Mischief - were you very frightened?' he said. 'You're trembling all over! Youshouldn't have run away! You might have been lost for ever!'
Mischief had something clutched in his tiny paw. He chattered22 to Tinker, and put his little furry23 armsround his neck. As he did so, he opened one paw - and something fell out and rolled over the rockyfloor.
'What have you dropped, Mischief?' said Dick, and shone his torch down on to the floor of the cave.
Something was glittering there - something round and yellow! Everyone stared, and a shock ofexcitement went through Julian, who was nearest. 'A gold coin!' he cried, and picked it up. 'As brightas when it was minted. Mischief, where did you get it from? Look, Dick, look, George - it's gold allright!'
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Immediately everyone was full of the greatest excitement, one thought only in their heads.
The treasure! Mischief must have found the treasure! It was an old coin - very old. Where couldMischief have found it?
'Oh let's go farther on and see!' cried Dick.
'Jeremiah, it must be the treasure! Mischief will lead us to it!'
But Mischief would do nothing of the sort. He was NOT going to lose himself again. He was going tosit on Tinker's shoulders, with an arm safely round the boy's neck! He hadn't liked being lost, all byhimself in the dark.
Jeremiah would not go any farther, either. He shook his head. 'No - not today, young sirs. Tide willsoon be sweeping up these tunnels - faster than we can walk. Better turn back now, in case we'recaught. Many's the visitor that's had to run for his life, when the tide came up all of a sudden!'
George's sharp ears caught the sound of swoosh-swoosh! Somewhere the tide had crept in!
'Come on!' she said. 'We'd better do what Jeremiah says. The sea's coming up the tunnel now as wellas over it - and soon it will be sweeping up the beach too, and in at the cliff-passages. We'll be caughtin the middle, and have to stay here for ages!'
'No need for alarm, missy,' said old Jeremiah. 'There's a bit of time yet. Hallo - where's Ebenezergone?'
'Blow - he must have heard us talking about Mischief's gold piece,' said George. 'I forgot all abouthim! Now he knows that Mischief has found a gold coin, he'll feel sure that the treasure may besomewhere down here - and he'll look for it as soon as ever he can! WHY didn't we keep quiet aboutit?'
'I forgot he was standing24 near us,' groaned25 Dick. 'Well I suppose the whole of Demon's Rocks Villagewill know by now that a monkey has found the treasure - and hordes26 of sight-seers will swarm27 downhere, hoping to find it. It must have been put in a pretty dry place, surely, for that coin to be so brightand untarnished.'
'Buck28 up - we'd better go back as quickly as possible,' said Julian. 'Look at old Jeremiah - he's toothrilled for words! He's planning to find the treasure himself at the earliest possible moment!'
'Well, I vote we have a shot at it ourselves tomorrow,' said Dick, excitement welling up in him at thethought. 'Good old Mischief! You're better than any detective!'
Then away up the tunnels they went, making all kinds of plans. WHAT an excitement!
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收听单词发音
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1
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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4
sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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crate
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| vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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salvaged
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| （从火灾、海难等中）抢救（某物）( salvage的过去式和过去分词 )； 回收利用（某物） | |
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wrecks
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| 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 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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swirls
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| n.旋转( swirl的名词复数 )；卷状物；漩涡；尘旋v.旋转，打旋( swirl的第三人称单数 ) | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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swirling
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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anemone
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| n.海葵 | |
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crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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furry
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| adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的 | |
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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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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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hordes
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| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
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swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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