15 Bean’s Secret Cider Cellar
Mr Fox examined the wall carefully. He saw that the cement between the bricks was old andcrumbly, so he loosened a brick without much trouble and pulled it away. Suddenly, out from thehole where the brick had been, there popped a small sharp face with whiskers, ‘Go away!’ it snapped.
‘You can’t come in here! It’s private!’
‘Good Lord!’ said Badger¹. ‘It’s Rat!’
‘You saucy² beast!’ said Mr Fox. ‘I should have guessed we’d find you down here somewhere.’
‘Go away!’ shrieked³ Rat. ‘Go on, beat it! This is my private pitch!’
‘Shut up,’ said Mr Fox.
‘I will not shut up!’ shrieked Rat. ‘This is my place! I got here first!’
Mr Fox gave a brilliant smile, flashing his white teeth. ‘My dear Rat,’ he said softly, ‘I am ahungry fellow and if you don’t hop⁴ it quickly I shall eat-you-up-in-one-gulp⁵!’
That did it. Rat popped back fast out of sight. Mr Fox laughed and began pulling more bricks outof the wall. When he had made a biggish hole, he crept through it. Badger and the Smallest Foxfollowed him in.
They found themselves in a vast, damp, gloomy cellar. ‘This is it!’ cried Mr Fox.
‘This is what?’ said Badger. ‘The place is empty.’
‘Where are the turkeys?’ asked the Smallest Fox, staring into the gloom. ‘I thought Bean was aturkey man.’
‘He is a turkey man,’ said Mr Fox. ‘But we’re not after turkeys now. We’ve got plenty of food.’
‘Then what do we need, Dad?’
‘Take a good look round,’ said Mr Fox. ‘Don’t you see anything that interests you?’
Badger and the Smallest Fox peered into the half-darkness. As their eyes became accustomed tothe gloom, they began to see what looked like a whole lot of big glass jars standing⁶ upon shelvesaround the walls. They went closer. They were jars. There were hundreds of them, and upon each onewas written the word CIDER.

分享到：