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CHAPTER XVIII TROUBLE HAS A RIDE
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 For a moment or two Teddy thought his sister was “pretending,” as she often did, or that she was “fooling” him. But she seemed so much in earnest as he looked at her that he could not but believe what she said was true. Still he asked:
 
“Honest, is it burning?”
 
“Cross my heart it is!” answered Janet, this being the strongest way she had of letting her brother know it was the truth she was speaking. “The sawdust pile is truly on fire!”
 
And a moment later Ted1 saw it for himself. The big pile of fine, wooden dust thrown off by the big buzz saw was blazing and smoking, and running around it were many of the lumbermen.
 
“Oh, I go get my fire engine!” cried Trouble. He pulled his hand away from Janet who was holding him.
 
[211]“No, you stay right with me!” she ordered, running after him.
 
Trouble had a toy fire engine that sometimes squirted real water out of a tiny hose that was fast to it. I say “sometimes,” for often the fire engine could not be found, and, when found, it might not work because Trouble had stuffed sand or something else in the hose. But now his thought was of this toy as he saw the burning sawdust pile.
 
“I put it out wif my engine,” he said.
 
“You’d better keep away,” advised Ted. “This is going to be a bad fire,” and he took hold of Trouble’s other hand to help Janet hold the little fellow.
 
“Do you think it will be bad, Ted?” asked Janet, in a low voice.
 
“I guess so,” he answered. “Look at the smoke!”
 
There was a great cloud of it now swirling3 around the sawmill.
 
“Do you think our bungalow4 will catch?” Janet next wanted to know.
 
“Oh, I guess not,” said Ted hopefully. “The wind isn’t blowing that way.”
 
At the time his father’s store was burning he had heard some of the firemen speak of the wind, and Teddy remembered this now.
 
[212]“I wouldn’t want our bungalow to burn,” went on Janet. “If I thought it was I’d get out my dolls.”
 
“An’ I want my fire engine!” wailed5 Trouble. “I don’t want it to burn up! Oh, dear!”
 
“It won’t burn,” Janet consoled him. “Come, we’ll go home,” she added. “I see mother calling us.”
 
Mrs. Martin was in the doorway6 of the bungalow, beckoning7 to the children. When the sawdust pile caught fire she had come to see where they were.
 
“Come in out of the way!” she called, and they ran to her.
 
By this time a gang of the lumbermen were starting to put out the fire. There was a short length of hose from which a small stream of water spurted8, and, for a time, Ted wondered where it came from, as he knew there were no fire engines in the woods.
 
“How did it start, Mother?” asked Janet.
 
“By sparks from the sawmill engine smoke stack, I think,” was the answer.
 
“Will it burn the store?” asked Trouble.
 
“I think not,” his mother replied. “And see, the men are pulling the sawdust pile[213] apart to get the burning side away from that which hasn’t yet started to burn.”
 
The lumbermen saw that this was the only way to stop the fire from spreading. As yet only one side of the sawdust pile was on fire. Working on the side that was not yet blazing, with shovels9 and long sticks, the men were pulling the mass of fine, wooden dust into two parts.
 
It was just as if you had set fire to one side of a big pile of leaves, and then found that you didn’t want to burn them all. If you had no water to throw on the fire you could, with a rake, pull off to one side in the street those leaves that had not already caught fire. Then you could let those that had caught burn out.
 
That is what the lumbermen did. They separated the sawdust pile in two parts, with a space between them. There was a little water to squirt on the blaze, but not much. The small hose came from the water tank with which the boiler10 of the sawmill engine was filled, and this stream, with no pump behind to force it out, only dribbled11 a little way.
 
“Don’t waste that water on the fire!” cried Tod Everett.
 
[214]“Why not?” asked one of the men.
 
“Because we haven’t enough. Use the hose to wet the ground between the two piles, and then the fire won’t travel over.”
 
This was good advice, for the fire in the blazing part of the sawdust was now so strong that it would have taken a large stream of water to put it out. But a little water would answer to wet the space between the two piles of dust, and this the foreman wanted done.
 
His men heeded12 what he said, and soon most of the danger was over. The larger pile of clean sawdust had been pulled far to one side so it would not catch, and the remainder was allowed to burn itself out.
 
“Couldn’t I squirt with my engine just a little bit?” begged Trouble, when he saw that the excitement was dying out with the fire.
 
“No, indeed,” his mother told him. “Fires are good places to stay away from for little boys.”
 
“I’m gettin’ to be a big boy. Daddy said so,” pouted13 Trouble.
 
“Well, you aren’t big enough, yet, to put out fires,” his mother remarked, with a laugh.
 
[215]But a little later the fire was so nearly out that she took the Curlytops and Trouble close to see what damage had been done. Aside from a few boards and the sawdust that had been burned, the loss was small. There was no loss in the sawdust, for it was of no use. Some farmers living near by used to come to get a load or two to fill their ice houses, but the remainder was allowed to rot in the forest.
 
After the fire was over Mr. Martin and Tod Everett, the foreman, began asking how it had started. No one had really seen the first tiny blaze begin, but it was thought that sparks from the smoke stack of the sawmill must have started it. This seemed most likely.
 
“Then you had better put a spark arrester on that stack,” said Mr. Martin to the mill foreman.
 
“I will,” agreed Mr. Everett. “We don’t want any more blazes. The next time more than sawdust might go up in smoke. I intended to have a spark arrester on that stack all along, but there has been so much to do, starting this new camp, that I haven’t got at it. But I surely will make a spark arrester now.”
 
[216]“Mother, how can they arrest sparks?” Trouble asked in a whisper, as he heard this talk. “Does they have a policeman to arrest sparks?”
 
“If they do he’d have to travel in an airship!” laughed Ted. “For the sparks are always flying through the air.”
 
“Mr. Everett didn’t mean a policeman, dear,” explained Mrs. Martin to Trouble. “He means a spark arrester would stop the sparks from flying from the stacks. Arrest means to stop, you know.”
 
“How do they stop the sparks,” asked Ted.
 
“Generally they put a piece of wire netting over the top of the chimney or smokestack,” his mother answered. “The smoke can go through the netting, but the sparks can’t. It is the big, red hot sparks, flying from the stack, that do the damage. In most locomotives there are these spark arresters of iron or wire netting.”
 
“I never saw any,” Janet said.
 
“That’s because they are set down inside the locomotive smokestack,” was the answer.
 
The next day the children watched men fasten a heavy piece of wire netting over the top of the sawmill smokestack.
 
[217]Of all the places about the lumber2 camp where the Curlytops best liked to be, the sawmill was their choice. They liked to watch the big trees chopped or sawed down, they were fond of lingering near the log chute, and they delighted to see the men build timber rafts on the river and float on them.
 
But the sawmill they liked best of all. There was a delightfully14 clean smell about it—a smell of the woods as the logs were cut into boards, the sawdust flying about in a cloud. The saw, too, made such a funny “zipping” sound. First there would be a low hum, as the sharp teeth bit into the end of the log. Then the sound would become higher and shriller as the saw turned faster and faster.
 
Finally there would sound a whine15, like that of some animal, and the saw would come to the end of the log with a “zip,” and then there would be only a low, pleasant hum.
 
The saw was not the only piece of machinery16 in the mill that moved. Another piece was the “carriage,” on which the log was carried toward the saw. This carriage was a frame work on which the log rested[218] as it went forward inch by inch and foot by foot to be cut into board lengths. Besides the carriage there was a log chain, winding17 around a drum.
 
The logs were brought near the end of the long incline up which they were first hauled by this chain. On the end of the chain was a great hook. This hook would either be driven into the log by one of the men pounding it with his axe18, or the chain would be wrapped about the log and the hook caught in the chain.
 
“Pull away!” the lumberman would call to the engineer. The engineer would then shove over a handle, the chain would begin to wind itself up around the drum and the log would be hauled up to the saw carriage.
 
Other men would take off the chain and roll the log in place, fastening it on the carriage so it would not slip.
 
“All ready!” they would call, and the engineer would pull another handle which would start the carriage, carrying the log, end on, toward the big buzz saw.
 
At certain times, when she could be with them, the Curlytops and Trouble were taken by their mother to the sawmill. And when there was a long log on the carriage, just[219] starting to be cut up, she would let them sit down on the far end of the traveling frame and “ride.” This was the greatest fun of all.
 
It was almost as good as being an engineer of the mill, Ted used to think. As for Janet, she pretended the slow-moving log and the carriage on which it rested was a chariot drawn19 by big elephants going through the jungle.
 
As for Trouble, he liked to pretend that the sawmill carriage and log was his “horsie,” and he sat astride the log and cried:
 
“Gid-dap! Gid-dap!”
 
Now, without anyone knowing it, Trouble had watched the engineer of the mill pull the handles that started the machinery until the little fellow, who was very smart, felt sure he could do it himself. He only wanted the chance, and he knew he must be alone, for he felt sure his mother would not let him go there if she saw him.
 
So, watching his opportunity, Trouble one day stole away to the sawmill. As it happened, the machinery was not running, though the power needed but to be turned on, and none of the men was in the place.[220] It was Trouble’s chance. He had the whole mill to himself.
 
“I get a wide,” he murmured.
 
He toddled20 to the handle he had so often seen the engineer pull when he wanted to start the saw to buzzing and the carriage to rolling along. There was a big log already in place.
 
Trouble pulled. At first nothing happened. He pulled again, harder than before. There was a hissing21 sound, a low rumble22, and the saw began slowly to revolve23. Then the carriage started gently forward.
 
“I do it!” cried Trouble in delight. “Now I get a wide!”
 
He ran to the far end of the log and carriage and sat down, pretending that he was astride his “horse.”
 
Trouble was having a ride! But it was a dangerous ride!

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 ted 9gazhs     
vt.翻晒,撒,撒开
参考例句:
  • The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
  • She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。
2 lumber a8Jz6     
n.木材,木料;v.以破旧东西堆满;伐木;笨重移动
参考例句:
  • The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
  • They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。
3 swirling Ngazzr     
v.旋转,打旋( swirl的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Snowflakes were swirling in the air. 天空飘洒着雪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • She smiled, swirling the wine in her glass. 她微笑着,旋动着杯子里的葡萄酒。 来自辞典例句
4 bungalow ccjys     
n.平房,周围有阳台的木造小平房
参考例句:
  • A bungalow does not have an upstairs.平房没有上层。
  • The old couple sold that large house and moved into a small bungalow.老两口卖掉了那幢大房子,搬进了小平房。
5 wailed e27902fd534535a9f82ffa06a5b6937a     
v.哭叫,哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She wailed over her father's remains. 她对着父亲的遗体嚎啕大哭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The women of the town wailed over the war victims. 城里的妇女为战争的死难者们痛哭。 来自辞典例句
6 doorway 2s0xK     
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径
参考例句:
  • They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
  • Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。
7 beckoning fcbc3f0e8d09c5f29e4c5759847d03d6     
adj.引诱人的,令人心动的v.(用头或手的动作)示意,召唤( beckon的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • An even more beautiful future is beckoning us on. 一个更加美好的未来在召唤我们继续前进。 来自辞典例句
  • He saw a youth of great radiance beckoning to him. 他看见一个丰神飘逸的少年向他招手。 来自辞典例句
8 spurted bdaf82c28db295715c49389b8ce69a92     
(液体,火焰等)喷出,(使)涌出( spurt的过去式和过去分词 ); (短暂地)加速前进,冲刺
参考例句:
  • Water spurted out of the hole. 水从小孔中喷出来。
  • Their guns spurted fire. 他们的枪喷射出火焰。
9 shovels ff43a4c7395f1d0c2d5931bbb7a97da6     
n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 );锹;推土机、挖土机等的)铲;铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 );锹;推土机、挖土机等的)铲;铲形部份
参考例句:
  • workmen with picks and shovels 手拿镐铲的工人
  • In the spring, we plunge shovels into the garden plot, turn under the dark compost. 春天,我们用铁锨翻开园子里黑油油的沃土。 来自辞典例句
10 boiler OtNzI     
n.锅炉;煮器(壶,锅等)
参考例句:
  • That boiler will not hold up under pressure.那种锅炉受不住压力。
  • This new boiler generates more heat than the old one.这个新锅炉产生的热量比旧锅炉多。
11 dribbled 4d0c5f81bdb5dc77ab540d795704e768     
v.流口水( dribble的过去式和过去分词 );(使液体)滴下或作细流;运球,带球
参考例句:
  • Melted wax dribbled down the side of the candle. 熔化了的蜡一滴滴从蜡烛边上流下。
  • He dribbled past the fullback and scored a goal. 他越过对方后卫,趁势把球踢入球门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
12 heeded 718cd60e0e96997caf544d951e35597a     
v.听某人的劝告,听从( heed的过去式和过去分词 );变平,使(某物)变平( flatten的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She countered that her advice had not been heeded. 她反驳说她的建议未被重视。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I heeded my doctor's advice and stopped smoking. 我听从医生的劝告,把烟戒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 pouted 25946cdee5db0ed0b7659cea8201f849     
v.撅(嘴)( pout的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Her lips pouted invitingly. 她挑逗地撮起双唇。
  • I pouted my lips at him, hinting that he should speak first. 我向他努了努嘴,让他先说。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
14 delightfully f0fe7d605b75a4c00aae2f25714e3131     
大喜,欣然
参考例句:
  • The room is delightfully appointed. 这房子的设备令人舒适愉快。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The evening is delightfully cool. 晚间凉爽宜人。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
15 whine VMNzc     
v.哀号,号哭;n.哀鸣
参考例句:
  • You are getting paid to think,not to whine.支付给你工资是让你思考而不是哀怨的。
  • The bullet hit a rock and rocketed with a sharp whine.子弹打在一块岩石上,一声尖厉的呼啸,跳飞开去。
16 machinery CAdxb     
n.(总称)机械,机器;机构
参考例句:
  • Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗?
  • Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。
17 winding Ue7z09     
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈
参考例句:
  • A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
  • The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。
18 axe 2oVyI     
n.斧子;v.用斧头砍,削减
参考例句:
  • Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利,你要当心。
  • The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。
19 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
参考例句:
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
20 toddled abf9fa74807bbedbdec71330dd38c149     
v.(幼儿等)东倒西歪地走( toddle的过去式和过去分词 );蹒跚行走;溜达;散步
参考例句:
  • It's late — it's time you toddled off to bed. 不早了—你该去睡觉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Her two-year-old son toddled into the room. 她的两岁的儿子摇摇摆摆地走进屋里。 来自辞典例句
21 hissing hissing     
n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式
参考例句:
  • The steam escaped with a loud hissing noise. 蒸汽大声地嘶嘶冒了出来。
  • His ears were still hissing with the rustle of the leaves. 他耳朵里还听得萨萨萨的声音和屑索屑索的怪声。 来自汉英文学 - 春蚕
22 rumble PCXzd     
n.隆隆声;吵嚷;v.隆隆响;低沉地说
参考例句:
  • I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
  • We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定,天要下雨了。
23 revolve NBBzX     
vi.(使)旋转;循环出现
参考例句:
  • The planets revolve around the sun.行星绕着太阳运转。
  • The wheels began to revolve slowly.车轮开始慢慢转动。


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