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儿童英语读物 The Canoe Trip Mystery CHAPTER 9 Rob’s Story

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“I guess I owe you an explanation,” Rob said. He put his walking stick down and sat by the Aldens in the long grass.

“You’ve just found one of the most valuable private collections of early American coins in the country,” he continued.

“Was it stolen about a year ago?” Henry asked, remembering the conversation in the pizzeria.

“Yes.” Rob nodded. “From Mr. Orville Withington. He hired me as a private detective to try to find it.”

“So you’re not a burglar?” Benny sounded very relieved.

“Benny,” Jessie groaned1.

Rob chuckled2. “No, Benny, I’m not, but I don’t blame you for being suspicious of me.” He sighed. “You see,” he explained, “I really couldn’t tell anyone my identity.”

“What made you think the coins would be hidden here in the woods?” Aunt Jane asked.

“Well, it was a hunch3, really,” Rob answered. “To answer that question, I think I’d better start at the beginning.”

Aunt Jane and the Aldens nodded and waited, a bit impatiently, for him to go on. Rob leaned against the big granite4 boulder5 and continued his story.

“You see, Mr. Withington is a very wealthy and also a very kind man. I always thought that some of the people who worked for him took advantage of his good nature.”

“You think someone who worked for him took the coins?” Henry asked.

“Yes,” Rob answered. “Even the police strongly believed it was an inside job, and there were a number of possibilities. Mr.Withington employed a cook, a maid, a housekeeper6, a chauffeur7, a personal secretary, several gardeners, and an illustrator.”

“An illustrator?” Violet asked.

“Yes, she was doing drawings of the coins to be published in a book. The collection was stolen before she could finish.”

“Who did Mr. Withington suspect?” Jessie wondered.

“Well, he didn’t really suspect anyone at first. He’s very trusting,” Rob said. “But the police thought the robbery must have been done by someone who knew Mr. Withington’s habits extremely well. Nothing but the coins were taken, and nothing else in the house was disturbed.

“When Mr. Withington hired me,” Rob went on, “I checked up on all the people who worked for him. The illustrator, the chauffeur, and two of the gardeners had been with him less than a year. All the others have worked for him for a very long time and are like his family.”

“Like Mrs. McGregor is to us,” Bennywhispered to Jessie. She nodded at her brother.

Rob cleared his throat. “Right after the robbery, the illustrator left rather suddenly. At first, Mr. Withington thought it was because there was no more work for her.”

“Do you know anything about her?” Violet asked.

“Mr. Withington showed me a picture of her, since I couldn’t interview her as I had the others. Her name was Eliza Fallon. She looked like Angela, but in her picture, she had shorter hair.”

“You think Angela and Eliza Fallon are the same person?” Henry asked.

“Yes,” Rob said. “When I met her yesterday, I was pretty sure, but I needed some evidence. I tried to follow her, but it was hard with this ankle.” Rob looked down at his leg and winced8.

“Where did you see her go?” Benny asked.

“When she left the bunkhouse, she went into the woods,” Rob said. “She didn’t stay long before she headed quickly to her canoe. When I arrived at the lake, she had alreadytaken off. I followed her a bit along the shore then came back to these woods to see if I could find any clues.”

“Did you find anything?” Violet asked softly.

“Well, no. It was dark by then and all I had was my flashlight. You’re the ones who found something.” Rob looked very proud of the Aldens.

“Did you see her take our equipment?” Henry asked.

“No, I didn’t.” Rob shook his head. “So you see, I still have no solid proof against her.”

“That’s too bad.” Benny looked disappointed.

“How did you know to look for her here?” Aunt Jane asked.

“Mr. Withington told me Angela loved to go canoeing in this part of the country,” Rob explained. “She particularly liked to go by the old abandoned house on Timberwolf Lake.”

“That’s the house we saw on our first night of the trip,” Jessie exclaimed.

“So, did Mr. Withington suspect Angela—or Eliza?” Violet asked.

“Well, of all his employees, he finally admitted she was one of the most suspicious. I decided10 to take a trip up here on a hunch I might find something. It’s been almost a year since the coin collection was stolen,” Rob said.

“Do you suspect any of the other new employees?” Jessica wondered.

“Well, the two new gardeners are still working for Mr. Withington and seem very honest. The chauffeur, however, suddenly disappeared a few weeks ago.”

“What did this chauffeur look like?” Jessie asked.

“He was a big man with blond hair and a loud voice.”

“Hey, wait, that sounds like Matt,” Benny shouted.

“That’s just what I was thinking.” Aunt Jane nodded at Benny.

Jessie, Aunt Jane, and Benny told Rob about meeting Matt and Bill in the storm. They also told him about Lorenzo Espinosa.

Rob listened closely. “We always thought more than one person might be involved in stealing that collection. I wonder…” His voice trailed off.

“What do you think we should do now?” Henry asked.

“We should try to get these coins safely to the nearest town—White Pine, I believe,” Rob answered.

“That’s where we’re meeting Grandfather,” Benny said.

“Good,” Rob nodded. “We shouldn’t talk to anyone before we get the coins safely into the hands of the police.”

When Aunt Jane and the Aldens arrived at the bunkhouse with the coins, they saw smoke coming from the chimney.

“Look, there are some other campers here.” Violet sounded worried.

“Jessie and I will take the coins and hide them,” Rob said. “We don’t want to take any chances.”

Henry slowly opened the door.

“Well, hello again!” a loud voice greeted them. Matt and Bill were seated on the couch in front of the fireplace. Both of them were covered with red blisters11.

“I see you found your family.” Bill nodded toward Violet and Henry.

“You must have been bitten by lots of mosquitoes,” Benny observed.

“We camped in some poison ivy,” Matt said ruefully as he scratched his arm.

“Say, you wouldn’t happen to have any lotion12 we could put on it?” Bill asked.

“No.” Aunt Jane shook her head. “We didn’t bring any.”

“Didn’t you know to avoid it?” Benny asked.

“Yes, but … uh—” Bill started.

“It doesn’t matter,” Matt said. “We’re heading for home this afternoon anyway. We don’t want to do any more camping for a while.”

“Oh, did you finish mapping the canoe routes already?” Aunt Jane asked.

Matt and Bill looked at one another. Bill even stopped scratching his arm. They seemed to have no idea what she was referring to. “Yes, we did,” Matt finally answered.

“We should really be going,” Bill said with a pointed9 look at Matt.

“Yes,” Matt agreed, a little too quickly. “It was good to rest here by the fire awhile. So long.”

“Good-bye,” the Aldens called as Matt and Bill went out the door.

“I wonder what that was all about,” Aunt Jane said, puzzled.

“Why did they even come in the bunkhouse and build a fire, if they were planning to leave right away?” Violet asked.

“Maybe they didn’t expect us to be here.” Henry bent13 down to tie the shoelaces on his sneakers.

“Didn’t you say they were park rangers14?” Violet asked.

“That’s what they told us,” said Aunt Jane.

“I can’t believe that two rangers would camp in poison ivy,” Violet pointed out.

“Even I know better than that!” added Benny.

At that moment, Rob and Jessie came in.

“Matt and Bill were just here, but they had to go,” Benny explained.

“Yes, I know. We saw them leave,” Rob answered. “I recognized one of them. He was Mr. Withington’s chauffeur.”

“Where are the coins?” Henry asked.

“They’re right here.” Rob pulled the brown leather pouch15 from the inside pocket of his jacket. “We decided it was safer to keep them with us.”

“Do you think they left because we were here?” Benny asked.

“I don’t know, Benny. I just hope they don’t make any trouble for us before we get to White Pine,” Rob said grimly.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 groaned 1a076da0ddbd778a674301b2b29dff71     
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦
参考例句:
  • He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
  • The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 chuckled 8ce1383c838073977a08258a1f3e30f8     
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。
3 hunch CdVzZ     
n.预感,直觉
参考例句:
  • I have a hunch that he didn't really want to go.我有这么一种感觉,他并不真正想去。
  • I had a hunch that Susan and I would work well together.我有预感和苏珊共事会很融洽。
4 granite Kyqyu     
adj.花岗岩,花岗石
参考例句:
  • They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
  • The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。
5 boulder BNbzS     
n.巨砾;卵石,圆石
参考例句:
  • We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲,把大石头搬开了。
  • He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。
6 housekeeper 6q2zxl     
n.管理家务的主妇,女管家
参考例句:
  • A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇。
  • She is an economical housekeeper and feeds her family cheaply.她节约持家,一家人吃得很省。
7 chauffeur HrGzL     
n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机;v.为…开车
参考例句:
  • The chauffeur handed the old lady from the car.这个司机搀扶这个老太太下汽车。
  • She went out herself and spoke to the chauffeur.她亲自走出去跟汽车司机说话。
8 winced 7be9a27cb0995f7f6019956af354c6e4     
赶紧避开,畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He winced as the dog nipped his ankle. 狗咬了他的脚腕子,疼得他龇牙咧嘴。
  • He winced as a sharp pain shot through his left leg. 他左腿一阵剧痛疼得他直龇牙咧嘴。
9 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
10 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
11 blisters 8df7f04e28aff1a621b60569ee816a0f     
n.水疱( blister的名词复数 );水肿;气泡
参考例句:
  • My new shoes have made blisters on my heels. 我的新鞋把我的脚跟磨起泡了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • His new shoes raised blisters on his feet. 他的新鞋把他的脚磨起了水疱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 lotion w3zyV     
n.洗剂
参考例句:
  • The lotion should be applied sparingly to the skin.这种洗液应均匀地涂在皮肤上。
  • She lubricates her hands with a lotion.她用一种洗剂来滑润她的手。
13 bent QQ8yD     
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的
参考例句:
  • He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
  • We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
14 rangers f306109e6f069bca5191deb9b03359e2     
护林者( ranger的名词复数 ); 突击队员
参考例句:
  • Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗? 来自超越目标英语 第3册
  • Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者,所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
15 pouch Oi1y1     
n.小袋,小包,囊状袋;vt.装...入袋中,用袋运输;vi.用袋送信件
参考例句:
  • He was going to make a tobacco pouch out of them. 他要用它们缝制一个烟草袋。
  • The old man is always carrying a tobacco pouch with him.这老汉总是随身带着烟袋。
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