Chapter 12 A SHOCK FOR TINKER

Chapter 12 A SHOCK FOR TINKER
Tinker was horrified¹ when Jenny told him the next morning what had happened. 'Your father's in arare old state,' she said. 'He came down early this morning, because he wanted to finish some work upin the tower - and as soon as he unlocked the top door into the tower room, he saw the whole roomupside down and some of his precious papers gone, and...'
'JENNY! How awful!' said Tinker. 'Dad kept his most precious papers there - with all the figures forthat new electric thing of his. It's a wonderful thing, too marvellous for words, Jenny, it's for...'
'Now don't you give away any of your father's plans, not even to me,' said Jenny. 'You've been toldthat before. Maybe you've been talking too much already, and somebody's ears took it all in!'
Tinker suddenly felt quite sick. Was it because of something he had been silly enough to say inpublic? In the bus, perhaps? Or in the circus-field? What would the others say - especially Julian- when they heard that someone had come in the night and stolen precious papers, containing figuresand diagrams for some of his father's inventions? Julian would be sure to say that it was his fault fornot keeping his mouth shut! Oh dear - would this be in the papers - and would hordes² of people comevisiting the place again, staring and whispering and exclaiming in awe³ at his father's curious tower,with its waving tentacles⁴?
He dressed quickly and ran downstairs. Jenny had told him that she was sure she had heardwhispering down in the courtyard the night before, and had seen someone climbing up the tower.
'Your father says nobody could have brought a long ladder into that courtyard,' she said. 'Not withoutus seeing it, anyway, or hearing some kind of noise when it was dragged in. But it might have been asliding ladder, mightn't it? That would be a smallish thing, with ropes to pull out the sliding part.'
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'Yes. Like the window-cleaner uses,' said Tinker. 'I say - could it have been the window-cleaner, doyou think?'
'No. He's a real decent fellow,' said Jenny. 'I've known him for twenty years. So put that out of yourhead. But the ladder could certainly have been the sort that window-cleaners use. We'll go out intothe courtyard as soon as I've finished washing-up, and see if we can find the marks where the ladderwas dragged over the courtyard. Though I must say I didn't hear any dragging noises. I heardwhispering - and a kind of slithery noise - but that's all.'
'The slithery noise might have been made by the ladder when it was dragged along!' said Tinker.
'I say - look at old Mischief⁵. He's listening as if he understood every word. Mischief, why didn't youwake me up last night when all this was going on? You usually wake if anything unusual happens, oryou hear a strange noise.'
Mischief leapt into Tinker's arms and cuddled there. He didn't like it when Tinker was upset aboutanything; he knew by the boy's voice that he was worried. He made small comforting noises, andrubbed his monkey nose against the boy's chin.
'You'd better go to your father,' said Jenny. 'You might be able to comfort him a little. He's very upsetindeed. He's up in the tower room, trying to sort out his papers. My word, they were left in a state -scattered all over the room!'
Tinker stood up to go, and was astonished to find that he was shaky at the knees. Would his fatherask him if he had been talking about the work he was doing? Oh dear - he had even boasted about itjust the day before, and talked about his father's sko-wheel, and the wonderful new machine, theelectric trosymon! Tinker's knees became shakier than ever.
But fortunately his father was far too upset about his muddled⁶ room and missing papers to worryabout anything Tinker had said or done. He was up in the tower room, trying to discover which of hispapers were missing.
'Ah, Tinker,' he said, when the boy came into the tower room. 'Just give me a hand, will you?
The thief who came last night must have knocked the whole bunch of papers off the table, down onthe floor - and fortunately he seems not to have seen some that went under the table. So I doubt verymuch if the papers he did take away with him will be of any use. He'd need to be quite a scientist tounderstand them, without having the ones he left behind.'
'Will he come back for the others, then?' asked Tinker.
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'Probably,' said his father. 'But I shall hide them somewhere. Can you think of a good hiding-place,Tinker?'
'Dad - don't you hide them,' begged Tinker. 'Not unless you tell me where they are! You know howyou forget things! You might forget where you'd put this bunch of papers, and then you wouldn't beable to go on with your inventions. Have you copies of the stolen sheets of figures and diagrams?'
'No. But they're all in my head as well as on paper,' said his father. 'It will take me a bit of time towork them all out again, but it can be done. It's a nuisance - especially as I'm working to a date.
Now run along, Tinker, please. I've work to do.'
Tinker went down the spiral staircase of the tower. He'd have to make sure that his father did hideaway those papers very carefully indeed - in some really good place. 'Oh dear - I hope he won't dowhat he did with the last lot of papers he wanted to hide,' he thought. 'He stuffed them up thechimney - and they nearly went up in flames because Jenny thought she'd light the fire the next night,it was unexpectedly so cold. Good thing they fell down when she laid the fire, and she rescued thembefore they got burnt! Why are brainy people like Dad so silly about ordinary things? I say he'lleither forget where he puts them - or go and hide them in some easy place where anyone could findthem!'
He went to talk to Jenny. 'Jenny - Dad says that the thief only took some of his papers - and that hecan't make much use of the ones he took, unless he has the whole lot. And Dad says he thinks thatwhen the thief finds this out, he'll try to steal the rest of the papers.'
'Well, let him try!' said Jenny. 'I could hide them in a place where no thief would find them - if yourDad would let me have them. I shan't tell you where!'
'I'm afraid he might hide them up a chimney again, or some silly place like that,' said Tinker, lookingso worried that Jenny felt really worried too! 'They've got to be hidden somewhere NOBODY wouldthink of looking. And if Dad finds a place like that he'll promptly⁷ forget all about it, and never be ableto find them again! But a thief might find them - he'd know ALL the places to look in.'
'Let's go up to the tower room, and clear up the mess that the spilt ink made, and see if your fatherhas taken his precious papers, and hidden them somewhere there,' said Jenny. 'It would be just likehim to hide them in the very room that the thief went to last night! Up the ladder, in at 55the window - left wide open, I've no doubt - snatched up every paper he could see, the rogue⁸, andthen raced down the ladder again!'
'Come on up to the tower, then,' said Tinker. 'I only hope Dad isn't there!'
'He's just crossing the courtyard, look,' said Jenny, leaning out of the window. 'See, there he is -carrying something under his arm.'
'His morning newspapers,' said Tinker. 'It looks as if he's going to have a jolly good read, doesn't it?
Oh dear, I do hope all this won't be printed in the newspapers - it would bring hordes of people downhere again. Do you remember how awful it was last time, Jenny - people even walked over theflower-beds!'
'Hoo - some people like to poke⁹ their noses into everything!' said Jenny. 'I don't mind telling you thatI emptied my dirty washing-water out of the window on to a few of them - quite by mistake, ofcourse - how was I to know they were out there, staring up and down?'
Tinker gave a shout of laughter. 'I wish I'd seen that!' he said. 'Oh Jenny - if people come poking¹⁰ theirnoses into Dad's business again, DO let's empty water on their silly heads! Come on, Jenny- let's go up to the tower room now Dad's out of the way. Quick!'
They were soon out in the courtyard, and as they crossed it, Jenny stopped and looked hard at theground.
'What are you looking for?' asked Tinker.
'Just to see if there are any marks that might have been made by someone dragging a ladder across,'
said Jenny. 'I heard a funny slithering sound, you know - but it didn't sound like a ladder beingdragged across.'
The two of them looked all over the courtyard, but could see no marks there that could possibly havebeen made by a ladder.
'Funny,' said Jenny. 'It worries me, that slithery sound.' She looked up at the tall, steep wall of thetower. It was made of flint-stones of all shapes and sizes, the kind found in the country-side roundabout Kirrin and Big Hollow.
'Well, I suppose a cat might climb up,' said Jenny, doubtfully. 'But not a man. He'd slip sooner orlater. It would be far too dangerous. I doubt if even a cat would get far.'
'And yet you say you thought you saw someone up the tower-wall!' said Tinker. 'Go on, Jenny -it must have been the shadow of a passing cloud that you saw! Look up this wall - now can youimagine ANYONE climbing up it at night, when it was dark?'
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Jenny stared up. 'No - you're right. Only a madman would even try. Well, my eyes must have playedme up, then, when I looked out last night - but I really did think I saw a dark shadow climbing up thetower-wall. Still, it's easy to be mistaken at night. And I don't believe there was a ladder, either!
There would be marks on the paving-stones of the courtyard if there had been a ladder. Oh well - let'shurry on up to the tower room before your Dad decides to go back to it again!'
They went up the spiral stairway. All the doors were unlocked, so it was plain that the Professor wasgoing to come back again after he had read his papers.
'All the same - he shouldn't leave the doors unlocked, even for a minute!' said Jenny. 'Well, here weare - just look at the ink-splashes everywhere - and that dear little clock that kept such good time isgone. Now what would the thief want with a clock, I'd like to know?'
'It would be small and neat enough to pop into his pocket,' said Tinker. 'If he was dishonest enough tosteal Dad's papers, he would certainly not say no to a nice little clock like that! He's probably takenother things too!'
They went right into the room, and Jenny at once gave a loud exclamation¹¹. LOOK! Aren't those someof the papers your father was working on - on the table there? All covered with tiny figures?'
Tinker looked closely at them. 'Yes - they're his very latest papers. He showed me them the other day.
I remember this diagram. Jenny - how COULD he leave them on the table with the door unlockedthis morning - when only last night the thief was here! How could he? He said he was going to hidethem away so carefully, because, if the thief found them, he could use them with the other papers thatwere stolen - but as long as the thief only had half of them, they wouldn't be much use - and now he'sforgotten all about hiding them, after all!'
'Look now, Tinker - let's hide them away ourselves,' said Jenny, 'and not tell him where they are.
These thieves will have another try for them, no doubt about that. Let's think of some place wherethey'd be absolutely safe.'
'I know!' said Tinker. 'We could hide them on Kirrin Island! Somewhere in the old ruined castle!
NOBODY would guess they were there.'
'Now that's a fine idea!' said Jenny. 'I'd be glad to think they were out of the house.' She gathered upthe papers quickly. 'Here you are. You'd better tell Julian and the others, and go across to the 57island with them as soon as you can. My, what a relief to think they'll be well away from here.
I'll be able to sleep soundly in my bed at nights then!'
Tinker stuffed the precious papers under his coat, and he and Jenny ran at top speed down the spiralstairway. They saw the Professor not far off, and he turned and hailed them. 'Tinker!
Jenny! I know what you're going to ask me! You want to know where I've hidden those papers ofmine. Come here and I'll whisper!'
Not knowing quite what to say, the two went rather guiltily over to Tinker's father. He whisperedloudly, 'I've wrapped them up, and put them under the coal at the back of the coal-cellar - right at thevery back!'
'And a fine mess you've made of your trousers, sir,' said Jenny, disgusted. 'And good gracious -you must have sat down in the coal yourself! You look a right mess. Come along and let me brushyou down. Not indoors though, or the place will be thick with coal-dust!'
'Don't you think it was a good hiding-place, Jenny?' asked the Professor. 'Ha - you thought I'd forgetto hide them, didn't you?'
He went off, looking very pleased with himself. Jenny chuckled¹² in delight. 'Dear old Professor!
He's hidden all his newspapers there, but not a single one of his own precious papers. And nowwhatever shall we tell him when he wants the morning papers? Tinker, you cycle out to the paper-shop and get another lot. Land-snakes - what it is to have a brainy man in the house?
Whatever will he do next!'

1 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

2 hordes   

n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落

参考例句：

• There are always hordes of tourists here in the summer. 夏天这里总有成群结队的游客。
• Hordes of journalists jostled for position outside the conference hall. 大群记者在会堂外争抢位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 tentacles   

n.触手( tentacle的名词复数 )；触角；触须；触毛

参考例句：

• Tentacles of fear closed around her body. 恐惧的阴影笼罩着她。
• Many molluscs have tentacles. 很多软体动物有触角。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 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。

6 muddled   

adj.混乱的；糊涂的；头脑昏昏然的v.弄乱，弄糟( muddle的过去式)；使糊涂；对付，混日子

参考例句：

• He gets muddled when the teacher starts shouting. 老师一喊叫他就心烦意乱。
• I got muddled up and took the wrong turning. 我稀里糊涂地拐错了弯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

8 rogue   

n.流氓；v.游手好闲

参考例句：

• The little rogue had his grandpa's glasses on.这淘气鬼带上了他祖父的眼镜。
• They defined him as a rogue.他们确定他为骗子。

9 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

10 poking   

n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
• He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。

11 exclamation   

n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词

参考例句：

• He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
• The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号，以引起读者的注意。

12 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。