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儿童英语读物 The Haunted Cabin Mystery CHAPTER 11 The Hayloft

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Henry watched the barn loft1 for Jessie’s signal. He pushed the chicken yard gate open a little wider so he could make a faster getaway.

Just as he saw the three quick blinks of light at the loft window, something shot past him through the open gate to the hen yard, almost throwing him off balance.

At least Benny had not gone to sleep. As Henry got his balance and raced madly toward the barn door, lights seemed to come from everywhere. The barnyard was as brightly lit as daytime, and the barn itself looked lit up for a party.

But the small dark figure Henry had seen creeping into the barn only moments before was getting away. It had stepped into the barn and right back out through the barn door that he was supposed to have slammed shut. Now it raced toward the orchard2.

He had failed.

He hadn’t managed to get to the barn door in time. As he bolted after the escaping figure, paying no attention to where he was going, he tripped on something that made a loud metallic3 noise. He fell to the ground with a yell of pain. As he tried to get up, he found himself tangled4 in a heavy woven bag.

A shovel5. The thief had been dragging a heavy shovel and that bag along behind him. No wonder he had walked that strange way. But of course he had to have some heavy tool to dig all those holes. The shovel scraping against the rocks in the ground must have caused “that scraping sound” Benny had heard.

As Henry leaped to his feet, Violet sped past him, rapidly gaining on the running figure. The whistling warning signal came from somewhere in the orchard, but too late. Henry and Violet caught up with the runner at about the same moment. All three of them went down together in a pile, rolling over and over on the muddy ground. Henry got to his feet first and grabbed the thief with both arms. He still didn’t know what he had caught. It was wearing a dark mask and a black hood6 over its head. It kicked and beat at Henry with its fists as he took it back toward the barnyard.

Once there, he shoved it against the side of the barn, and tried to pin back its arms.

He was hearing all sorts of astonishing things at once. Benny was yelling and crying out, “Take that! Get going!” at the top of his lungs while Jessie and Violet danced around Henry, trying to help but not knowing how to.

Even Cap, in his white nightshirt, was coming, with a crutch7 in one hand and his cane8 in the other.

“Pull his mask off,” Henry shouted at Jessie. “I don’t dare let him go a minute.”

Just as Jessie got a firm grip on the mask, Cap came up behind her, breathing heavily. With a final jerk, Jessie managed to get the dark fabric9 loose. Jessie gasped10. A tumble of bright curls fell on the shoulder of the robe, and a young girl’s terrified face looked back into hers.

“Susie,” Cap cried out in shock.

Susie Hodges looked up at Cap, covered her face with her hands, and began to sob11 bitterly. Violet went past Jessie to put her arms around the girl. “There,” she said. “Don’t cry. Nobody’s going to hurt you.”

Cap reached for the girl’s hand. “Violet’s right, Susie. We’re not going to hurt you. But I don’t understand what’s going on.”

When his words only started a fresh flood of tears, Violet took the girl’s hand and turned to Cap. “Maybe if we all went inside out of the damp air, then she’d feel better.”

Susie shook her head fiercely. “No, I can’t. Ned.”

“Where is your little brother?” Jessie asked gently.

“Out there,” Susie said, nodding toward the orchard.

“Did he make that warning whistle?” Henry asked.

When she nodded, Cap’s voice turned gruff. “That’s enough. I want explanations, not this nonsense. Susie, call Ned, and both of you come inside my cabin this very minute.”

Susie looked at him, her damp face tearful, then called her brother’s name. He walked forward slowly, a small fair-haired boy with blue eyes and freckles12. When Susie put out her hand, he seized it gratefully.

Cap hobbled along ahead. He led all the children into the house and glanced at the clock. “Two o’clock in the morning,” he snorted. “I don’t know what this world is coming to.”

Benny stared at Susie. “Boy, you sure aren’t any ghost. I was afraid this place was haunted.”

Susie, her head in her hands, sat trembling on a chair by the fireplace with Ned on the floor by her feet. When Jessie started off into the kitchen, Cap crossly asked her where she thought she was going.

“To make some hot cocoa,” she said, ignoring his gruff tone.

He hesitated, then nodded as he turned back to the rest of the children. “Where should we begin?”

“With the holes in the barn,” Benny suggested. “I fell on a board that had been pulled up from the floor of the barn, and there was a hole dug under it.”

At Cap’s startled look, Henry took over. He told about the whistling noise and Benny hearing scraping.

“And the strange light we saw from the porch that first night,” Violet added. “You told us how you hadn’t been able to do your work,” she reminded him. “But there weren’t as many eggs as there should have been, and the garden had been picked. No rotten vegetables or fruit anywhere.”

“We were hungry,” Susie wailed13. “It was going to waste.”

“My prize Rhode Island red chicken, too?” Cap asked, suddenly sounding angry again.

“We never took a chicken, not ever,” Ned said. “Just some eggs that weren’t being gathered. And we fed the chickens, too, didn’t we, Susie?”

“You see, Cap,” Jessie broke in. “It was all too mysterious. Finally we set a trap for the thieves.”

“We’re not thieves,” Susie said, glaring at her. “We were only trying to help Mother.”

“Did you make those awful whistling noises in the woods, Ned?” Cap asked. When the little boy nodded, he turned to Susie. “What about the strange lights?”

“We carried a kerosene14 lantern to see by and we dressed all in black so no one could see us.”

“And the scraping sound?” Benny asked.

“I could only find a really heavy shovel. I had to drag it along with the bag I carried.”

“You’ve already explained the vegetables and the eggs, but why in the world would you tear up my barn floor and dig holes all over my place?”

Susie looked down so that her words came out muffled15. “That’s what the bag was for. We were looking for buried pirate treasure. I read about it being hidden here, and we needed the money so very badly.”

Jessie came in with cups of cocoa. She stopped in front of Susie and frowned. “Did you read this article about buried pirate gold in your newspaper?”

Susie nodded. “This man wrote that a lot of pirate treasure was supposed to be hidden right here in Owl’s Glen around an old cabin that had been here for a hundred years. Cap’s cabin was the only one like that.”

The Alden children looked at each other. Paul Edwards would feel terrible if he knew how much trouble his words had caused. What had he said to them on the boat? “Stories of buried treasure never seem to die away, but nobody ever finds any gold, either.”
 


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 loft VkhyQ     
n.阁楼,顶楼
参考例句:
  • We could see up into the loft from bottom of the stairs.我们能从楼梯脚边望到阁楼的内部。
  • By converting the loft,they were able to have two extra bedrooms.把阁楼改造一下,他们就可以多出两间卧室。
2 orchard UJzxu     
n.果园,果园里的全部果树,(美俚)棒球场
参考例句:
  • My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
  • Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。
3 metallic LCuxO     
adj.金属的;金属制的;含金属的;产金属的;像金属的
参考例句:
  • A sharp metallic note coming from the outside frightened me.外面传来尖锐铿锵的声音吓了我一跳。
  • He picked up a metallic ring last night.昨夜他捡了一个金属戒指。
4 tangled e487ee1bc1477d6c2828d91e94c01c6e     
adj. 纠缠的,紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了,我梳不动。
  • A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。
5 shovel cELzg     
n.铁锨,铲子,一铲之量;v.铲,铲出
参考例句:
  • He was working with a pick and shovel.他在用镐和铲干活。
  • He seized a shovel and set to.他拿起一把铲就干上了。
6 hood ddwzJ     
n.头巾,兜帽,覆盖;v.罩上,以头巾覆盖
参考例句:
  • She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
  • The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。
7 crutch Lnvzt     
n.T字形拐杖;支持,依靠,精神支柱
参考例句:
  • Her religion was a crutch to her when John died.约翰死后,她在精神上依靠宗教信仰支撑住自己。
  • He uses his wife as a kind of crutch because of his lack of confidence.他缺乏自信心,总把妻子当作主心骨。
8 cane RsNzT     
n.手杖,细长的茎,藤条;v.以杖击,以藤编制的
参考例句:
  • This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
  • English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。
9 fabric 3hezG     
n.织物,织品,布;构造,结构,组织
参考例句:
  • The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
  • I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。
10 gasped e6af294d8a7477229d6749fa9e8f5b80     
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》
11 sob HwMwx     
n.空间轨道的轰炸机;呜咽,哭泣
参考例句:
  • The child started to sob when he couldn't find his mother.孩子因找不到他妈妈哭了起来。
  • The girl didn't answer,but continued to sob with her head on the table.那个女孩不回答,也不抬起头来。她只顾低声哭着。
12 freckles MsNzcN     
n.雀斑,斑点( freckle的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • She had a wonderful clear skin with an attractive sprinkling of freckles. 她光滑的皮肤上有几处可爱的小雀斑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • When she lies in the sun, her face gets covered in freckles. 她躺在阳光下时,脸上布满了斑点。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 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
14 kerosene G3uxW     
n.(kerosine)煤油,火油
参考例句:
  • It is like putting out a fire with kerosene.这就像用煤油灭火。
  • Instead of electricity,there were kerosene lanterns.没有电,有煤油灯。
15 muffled fnmzel     
adj.(声音)被隔的;听不太清的;(衣服)裹严的;蒙住的v.压抑,捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 );用厚厚的衣帽包着(自己)
参考例句:
  • muffled voices from the next room 从隔壁房间里传来的沉闷声音
  • There was a muffled explosion somewhere on their right. 在他们的右面什么地方有一声沉闷的爆炸声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
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