'I'm thirsty,' said Tinker. 'I'll get some lemonade.'
'Well, go slow with it, then,' said Dick. 'You don't know how long we may be locked up here -and we haven't endless food and drink!'
Tinker looked alarmed. 'Might we be locked up here for weeks and weeks?' he said.
'If people thought we had left the light-house and gone back home because of the bad weather, wemight easily be here for some time,' said Julian, soberly. 'Nobody would bother about us -they'd think we were safe at home.'
'But Mother would soon feel worried if she didn't hear from us,' said George. 'We said we'd send hera card each day, you know - and if she doesn't have one for a day or two, she would be sure to getworried, and send someone over here.'
'Hurrah1 for mothers!' said Dick, relieved. 'All the same - I don't fancy a week or so here with hardlyanything to eat. We'll have plenty of one thing though - and that's rain water!'
'There must be some way out of this,' said Julian, who had been sitting silent, frowning at histhoughts.
'Can't we get a message out somehow? Are there any flags here, Tinker, that we could wave out of awindow?'
'No,' said Tinker. 'I've never seen any. What about a white table-cloth? We've one of those.'
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'Yes. That would do,' said Julian. 'Fetch it, Tinker.'
Tinker pulled it off the table and gave it to Julian. Julian went to the window and looked through theglass, which was misted with spray. 'I don't expect anyone will notice a table-cloth being shaken outof this window,' he said. 'But I'll try it. My word - the window's hard to open.
It seems to have stuck.'
He opened it at last, and immediately an enormous gust2 of wind came in, and everything went flying -papers, books, carpets - chairs fell over, and poor Mischief3 was blown from one side of the light-house room to the other. Timmy barked in fright and tried to catch the flying papers as they went byhis nose. The table-cloth disappeared at once!
Julian managed to close the window again after a terrific effort, and once more the room becamepeaceful. 'Whew!' said Julian. 'I didn't guess there was such a gale4 outside. I should think that table-cloth is about five miles away by now! The gulls5 will get a surprise when it comes flapping along inthe sky.'
George couldn't help laughing at that, frightened though she was. 'Oh, Julian - it was a jolly goodthing you didn't fly off with the table-cloth! My word, what a gale! I wonder the lighthouse stands it.'
'Well, we do feel a buffet6 now and again,' said Dick. 'There - did you feel that? It was either a wavebumping into the rocks, or spray forced against us - I distinctly felt the light-house shake a little.'
'Rubbish!' said Julian, seeing Anne's scared face. 'Don't make silly jokes like that.'
'You're quite sure that the light-house can't be blown down?' said Anne, in a small voice.
'Dear Anne, use your common-sense,' said Julian. 'Would it have stood for all these years if it hadn'tbeen strong enough to stand against storms far worse than this?'
'Mischief is feeling frightened too,' said Tinker. 'He's gone and hidden, look.'
'Well, long may he stay there,' said Julian. 'At least, he's not trying to open the biscuit-tin, or delveinto the bag of sweets! I should just like to know how many of our sweets he has eaten up to now!'
WHOOOOOOOOSH!
That was an extra big gale of wind that buffeted7 the light-house, and made Timmy stand up andgrowl. Rain pattered against the window, sounding as if someone was throwing pebbles8.
Julian was very worried. It really did look as if the stormy weather was going on and on. It 87might quite well continue for a few days, and their food certainly would not last long. There were stillsome tins left, and they had plenty of water, of course - the rain saw to that - but somehow they wereall always so hungry!
'Cheer up, Julian,' said George. 'You do look grim.'
'I feel it,' said Julian. 'I cannot for the life of me think of any way to escape from here, or even to gethelp. We've no way of signalling...'
'Pity the light-house lamp is no longer going,' said Tinker. 'That would have been a fine signal.'
To Tinker's enormous surprise Julian suddenly gave a shout, leapt up, came over to Tinker, and gavehim such a clap on the back that the surprised boy almost fell off his chair!
'W-w-what's the matter?' stammered10 Tinker, rubbing his shoulder.
'Don't you see - perhaps we can set the old lamp going, and make it shine out as it used to do -not to warn ships, of course - but to make people realize that we are prisoners in the lighthouse!' saidJulian, jubilantly. 'Tinker - do you know if it's possible to light the lamp?'
'I think so,' said Tinker. 'My father showed me how it worked, and I think I remember. Oh - andthere's a bell that can be struck, too!'
'Better and better!' said Julian. 'Where is the bell?'
'It was dismantled11 and put away,' said Tinker. 'It used to hang in that sort of verandah place that runsoutside, round the lamp-room - there's a big hook for it there.'
'Oh - it hung in that outside gallery, did it?' said Julian. 'Well - that means that one of us would haveto go out there in the wind and hang it up - not too good! There must be a ninety-mile-an-hour galeup there. Anyway, let's get the bell and have a look at it.'
The great bell was down in the store-room, covered up. It was made of brass12, and once had had ahammer that struck it at intervals13, worked by some simple machinery14. But the machinery was inpieces - no good at all!
'We'll take the bell upstairs,' said Julian. 'Gosh, it's heavy as lead. Dick, I'll want your help.'
Between them the two boys carried the heavy bell up to the living-room, and Tinker brought up theold hammer that used to strike it. Julian and Dick held up the bell by its loop of iron. 'Hit it with thehammer, Tinker,' said Julian. 'See if it stills sounds loudly.'
Tinker struck it hard with the hammer - and at once a great deep clang filled the room from side toside, making Timmy jump almost out of his skin. He and Mischief left the room at top speed, and felldown the spiral stairway together. All the others jumped too, and stared at one another 88in awe15. The sound of the bell went booming round and round the room, filling their ears so that theyhad to shake their heads to try and get rid of the sound. Julian at last clasped the rim9 of the bell withboth his hands and the sound died away.
'What a WONDERFUL bell!' he said, in awe. 'Look how old it is, too - see, it says ''Cast in 1896''!
My word - if only we could get it hung up in its place on the gallery, the sound of it would go right tothe village and beyond! I wonder how many ships heard it in the old days, booming out every nowand again as the hammer struck it.'
Tinker raised the hammer again, but Dick stopped him. 'No - you saw how scared Timmy andMischief were. They'll probably jump through a window, glass and all, if we sound the bell again!'
'We'll wait till we think the wind has died down a bit, and then try to hang the bell,' said Julian.
'Now let's look at the lamp. Will it want oil, Tinker?'
'It may do - though I think there's some still in it, left when the light-house was closed down,'
said Tinker. 'But there is plenty down in the store-room.'
'Good,' said Julian, feeling decidedly more cheerful. 'Now - if the gale dies down at all, we'll try tohang the bell. We can strike that as soon as it's hung, and not wait till we light the lamp.'
But the gale seemed to get worse, and Julian really did wonder if the old light-house would stand upto it! Should he take everyone down to the store-room? Just in case? 'I will if the gale gets worse,' hethought. 'Though if the light-house should fall, there wouldn't be much chance for us, whatever partof it we're in!'
They went up to the lamp-room in the afternoon and looked at the great old lamp. Tinker explainedhow it worked. 'It used to go round and round mechanically,' he said, 'and there were screens here -and here - that shut out the light in places as it went round - so that the light seemed to go on and off,if any ship was watching it - it seemed to flash, you see, instead of to shine steadily16. Ships noticed itmore quickly then.'
The screens were broken in pieces. There was still some oil in the lamp, but Julian added more.
The wick seemed perfectly17 good. Now if only they could light the lamp, and keep it going, someonewould be sure to see it, and wonder about it!
Julian felt in his pocket for matches. As the lamp-room was enclosed in glass, it was easy to keep thematch alight. He touched the oily wick with it - and hey, presto18! the lamp was lighted!
It was a very big lamp, and, close to, the light was quite blinding. Dick crowed with delight.
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'We've done it! Old light-house, you're going to shine once more tonight! You're alive again!'
'Now to hang the bell,' said Julian, and he cautiously opened the door leading on to the galleryoutside, having waited until the wind died down for a moment. He and Dick lifted the bell up to thehook there and slipped the iron loop over it. It hung there, swinging, and Julian lifted the hammer -but at that moment a great gust took him and he staggered, almost falling over the railing!
Dick caught him just in time, and, with George's help, dragged him into the lamp-room. They wereall very white-faced! 'That was a narrow escape,' said George, her hands shaking and her bodytrembling. 'We'll have to be careful if we go out on the gallery again! Perhaps we had better rely onlyon the lamp.'
'I vote we all go down and have some hot tea,' said Julian, thankful for his escape. His legs felt shakyas he went down the stairs. He was most surprised! Julian was seldom scared, and it was peculiar19 tohave legs that suddenly gave at the knees!
However, everyone soon recovered when they were drinking hot tea and eating ginger20 biscuits.
'I wish it was dark so that we could see how bright the light is from the lamp when it shines,'
said Dick. 'It will be dark very quickly today.'
It was! So dark that the light streaming from the old lamp at the top of the light-house was brilliant! Itcut a shining path through the night, gleaming yellow.
And through the roar of the sea went a great clanging, as Julian, with Dick holding on to him, struckthe old bell hanging in the gallery.
'Listen!' said George, her hand on Timmy's collar.
'Listen! BOOM. BOO-OOO-OOM! BOOOOM! Tim, that bell must feel happy tonight - it's found itsvoice again!'
BOOOOOOOOOM! Has anyone heard that old bell on this stormy night? Has anyone seen the lightfrom the old old lamp?
BOOOOOOOOOM!!!
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
hurrah
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| int.好哇，万岁，乌拉 | |
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2
gust
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| n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发 | |
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3
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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4
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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5
gulls
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| n.鸥( gull的名词复数 )v.欺骗某人( gull的第三人称单数 ) | |
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6
buffet
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| n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台 | |
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7
buffeted
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| 反复敲打( buffet的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续猛击； 打来打去； 推来搡去 | |
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8
pebbles
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| [复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
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9
rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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10
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
dismantled
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| 拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消 | |
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12
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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13
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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14
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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15
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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16
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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17
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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18
presto
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| adv.急速地；n.急板乐段；adj.急板的 | |
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19
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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20
ginger
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| n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气 | |
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