儿童英语读物 The Mystery on Blizzard Mountain CHAPTER 7 Tap, Tap, Tap

“Benny!” shouted Violet.

Jessie ran up to her. “Where’s Benny?” she asked.

“Help,” squeaked¹ a little voice from nearby. “Help! Help!”

“It’s Benny,” gasped² Violet.

“Help!” Benny called again.

“Benny? Where are you?” Violet called.

“Over here!” Benny said.

They scrambled³ down through the bushes and tumbled out onto the Blizzard⁴ Trail near the cabin. Benny was sitting in the middle of the trail.

“Oh, good,” he said. “There you are! I was afraid you were lost.”

“We weren’t lost! We thought you were!” said Jessie indignantly.

“No,” said Benny. “I dropped my flashlight and it went out. Or I might have caught the ghost.”

Maris burst out of the bushes behind them and skidded⁵ to a stop. “Benny! Violet! Jessie! What on earth is going on?”

“Here’s your flashlight, Benny,” said Violet. She reached over and picked it up. “But I think it’s broken.”

“Is everybody all right?” Henry shouted from the door of the cabin. They could see him against the light from the stove inside. He was holding a flashlight, too, waving it back and forth⁶ like a searchlight.

“We’re fine!” Maris called. “We’re on our way back.” To Benny she said, “Are you hurt?”

“Nope,” said Benny. He jumped to his feet. “I almost caught the ghost!”

“Ghost! I don’t want to hear it. At least, not until we get back to the cabin. Then you can tell me what happened,” Maris said.

They went back to the cabin. Henry had put another log on the fire and it was warm inside. Everyone sat down, and Violet and Benny told about the tapping sound on the cabin wall.

“Tapping?” Maris repeated. “That was no ghost. It was a tree. A branch.”

“I don’t think it was,” Jessie said.

“Me either,” said Violet.

“It sounded like a person,” said Benny. “Or the ghost of a person. Like this.” He leaned over and tapped on the cabin wall. “Only it came from outside.”

“And it moved around the cabin, like someone was circling us, tapping on the walls,” said Jessie.

“And then when I ran out, I saw something run into the woods. Toward the trail. But I tripped and dropped my flashlight and everything got dark, so I stopped chasing it,” Benny added.

“You saw a ghost, Benny?” asked Henry.

“Well ... no ...” Benny admitted. “But I did see something run into the woods.”

Maris pressed her hand to her forehead. “I don’t believe this,” she said, almost to herself. “Why would anyone be out here in the middle of nowhere, tapping on the cabin walls?”

“I don’t know, but whoever or whatever it was, I bet you all scared them away,” said Henry.

“Maybe it was whoever took your boots,” said Benny. He paused. “Except I don’t think a ghost would come out during the day to take someone’s old boots.”

“No, no, no,” said Maris. “Stolen boots, ghosts tapping on walls. What is going on? If I didn’t know better, I’d say this mountain really was haunted.”

No one spoke⁷ for a long minute. Then Jessie said, “Haunted, or maybe someone who doesn’t want us here is trying to scare us away.”

“But why?” said Maris.

“Carola doesn’t want a trail up here,” Violet reminded Maris.

“Neither does Bobcat,” Jessie added.

But Maris was shaking her head. “No!” she said again. “I don’t believe Bobcat would do something like this. Or Carola, either.”

“Both of them knew you were coming up here,” Jessie argued. “Either one of them could have flattened⁸ your truck’s tires out in front of the diner.”

“And both of them are skilled enough to hike around in the woods, day or night, without getting lost,” Henry said. “Carola could have followed us up here and taken our food. And my boots. And tapped on the walls.”

“Or maybe Bobcat never really went back down the mountain,” said Violet.

Henry took a deep breath. “Or there might be another reason that someone is trying to scare us away,”

“Like what?” said Maris.

“Maybe someone has found Stagecoach⁹ George’s treasure,” said Henry.

To Henry’s surprise, Maris suddenly laughed. “No one’s ever going to find that treasure, Henry, even if it does exist. People have been looking for years,” Maris said. “Enough mysteries, okay? Let’s get to sleep. We’ve got lots of work to do in the morning.”

“But—” Benny began.

“No,” said Maris firmly. “Not another word about ghosts or mysteries or treasure or anything else.”

So Benny kept quiet. But he knew that all the Aldens would get up extra early in the morning to look for clues.

Even though they got up at sunrise, the Boxcar Children didn’t find a single clue.

“Those smudges in the mud behind the cabin here could be footprints,” Jessie said. She sighed. “And we could have made them ourselves in the dark.”

“Do you really think someone could have found the hidden treasure?” asked Violet.

“I know someone is trying to scare us away,” Henry said. “I just don’t know why.” Just then someone in front of the cabin shouted, “Wake up in there, you sleepyheads!”

The Aldens hurried toward the sound of the voice. They found Carola and Rayanne standing¹⁰ in the clearing.

“Carola! Rayanne!” Jessie exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

1 squeaked   

v.短促地尖叫( squeak的过去式和过去分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者

参考例句：

• The radio squeaked five. 收音机里嘟嘟地发出五点钟报时讯号。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Amy's shoes squeaked on the tiles as she walked down the corridor. 埃米走过走廊时，鞋子踩在地砖上嘎吱作响。 来自辞典例句

2 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 blizzard   

n.暴风雪

参考例句：

• The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
• You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。

5 skidded   

v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的过去式和过去分词 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区

参考例句：

• The car skidded and hit a lamp post. 那辆汽车打滑撞上了路灯杆。
• The car skidded and overturned. 汽车打滑翻倒了。

6 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

9 stagecoach   

n.公共马车

参考例句：

• She's getting off the stagecoach.她正在下马车。
• The stagecoach driver cracked the whip.驿站马车的车夫抽响了鞭子。

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。