Chapter 5

Chapter 5 That night, a thunderstorm sent the kids running from their tents into their houses. It was still raining the next day, so they decided to play Monopoly at Dink's house. "Ruth Rose, it's your turn," Josh said. "I know," she said, staring out Dink's window. "I can't concentrate. Tiger is out there in the rain." Dink and Josh just looked at each other. "If Fred Little didn't take the pets, then who could it be?" Ruth Rose asked. She came and plopped herself down at the Monopoly board.

那天晚上，一场雷雨把孩子们从帐篷里冲进了他们的房子里。 第二天还在下雨，所以他们决定去丁克家玩大富翁。 “露丝·罗斯，轮到你了，”乔希说。 “我知道，”她说，凝视着丁克的窗外。 “我无法集中注意力。老虎在外面的雨里。” 丁克和乔希只是面面相觑。 “如果弗雷德·利特尔没有带走宠物，那会是谁呢?”露丝·罗斯问。 她走过来，扑通一声坐在大富翁牌前。

Dink thought a moment. "If we could figure out why someone was stealing animals," he said, "maybe we could figure out who was doing it." Ruth Rose picked up her stack of Monopoly cash. "I still think it's for money," she said. "When people get kidnapped, it's usually for ransom money, right?" The boys nodded. "But no one who's lost a pet has gotten a ransom note," Josh said. "Not yet, anyway." Ruth Rose tossed her play money onto the table. "I'm going home. Mom put an ad in the paper, and I want to be there if anyone calls about Tiger." The two boys watched her put on her coat and head out into the rain. "I've never seen her act so mopey," Josh said after the door closed. "She doesn't even argue with me anymore!" "Yeah, and have you noticed she's not wearing one color either?" Dink pointed out. "I hope Tiger comes home soon." That night the rain cleared up, so Dink and Josh slept out in the tent again.

丁克想了一会儿。“如果我们能弄清楚为什么有人要偷动物，”他说，“也许我们就能弄清楚是谁在偷。” 露丝·罗斯拿起她的大富翁现金。 “我仍然认为这是为了钱，”她说。 “当人们被绑架时，通常是为了赎金，对吧?”男孩们点了点头。 “但是没有一个失去宠物的人收到过勒索信，”乔希说。 “至少还没有。”露丝·罗斯把她的赌钱扔到桌上。 “我要回家了。妈妈在报纸上登了广告，如果有人打电话来找老虎，我想去那里。” 两个男孩看着她穿上外套，走进雨中。 “我从来没见过她这么闷闷不乐，”门关上后乔希说。 “她甚至不再和我争论了!”“是啊，你注意到她穿的衣服也不是一种颜色吗?”丁克指出。 “我希望老虎快点回家。” 那天晚上雨停了，所以丁克和乔希又睡在帐篷里。

The next morning, Ruth Rose woke them up. She was wearing cut-off jeans and an old T-shirt. Her untied sneaker laces were muddy from dragging. "Read this, guys," she said, and she shoved the Sunday Morning Gazette under Dink's nose. One paragraph was circled in red crayon. Dink and Josh stumbled out of the tent and sat at the picnic table. The paragraph was under LOCAL AREA CRIMES. Dink scanned it quickly, then read it out loud: "Two Green Lawn homes were burglarized last night, Officer Charles Fallon has reported. The homes of Dr. and Mrs. Michael Pardue and Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Gwynn were entered by persons unknown. Several items of value were taken. Police are investigating." Dink looked up. "Wow! First they lose their pets, then someone breaks into their houses. I think that stinks!" "And I think they're connected," Ruth Rose said. "Don't you see, it is about money! Someone is taking pets, then breaking into the same houses."

第二天早上，露丝·罗斯叫醒了他们。 她穿着紧身牛仔裤和一件旧t恤。 她解开的运动鞋鞋带因拖曳而弄脏了。 “读一读吧，伙计们。”她说着，把《星期日晨报》塞到丁克的鼻子底下。 有一段用红色蜡笔圈了出来。 丁克和乔希跌跌撞撞地走出帐篷，坐在野餐桌旁。 这一段是在“地方犯罪”项下。 丁克迅速浏览了一下，然后大声读了出来:“昨晚，两所绿草坪的房子被盗，查尔斯·法伦警官报告说。 迈克尔·帕杜医生和夫人以及哈维·格温先生和夫人的家被不明身份的人闯入。 几件贵重物品被盗。 警方正在调查。” 丁克抬起头来。“哇!首先他们丢了宠物，然后有人闯入他们的房子。 我觉得那太臭了!”“我认为他们是有联系的，”露丝·罗斯说。 “你看不出来，这是钱的问题!”有人带着宠物，然后闯入同一户人家。”

"But why would someone need to steal a pet before robbing a house?" Dink asked. "And not only that," Josh added, "but what about you and Mrs. Davis? Your pets disappeared, but your houses weren't broken into." "He's right, Ruth Rose," Dink said. "Why just two houses and not all four?" Ruth Rose frowned at Dink and Josh. "I don't know," she said. "We should try and find out. Let's go see the Pardues and the Gwynns again. Maybe the burglars left some clues!" They hurried over to Thistle Court and rang the bell. Mr. Gwynn came to the door in his bathrobe. "Oh, hi, kids! Mrs. Gwynn told me you stopped by Friday. Guess what? Yesterday afternoon, someone found our parrot and returned him!" Ruth Rose stared at Mr. Gwynn. "Archie was returned yesterday?" Mr. Gwynn nodded. "To celebrate, I took the family out for dinner and a movie. But when we got back home, we discovered we'd been robbed. nkledc. The rats took my coin collection."

“但为什么有人在抢劫房子之前要先偷宠物呢?”丁克问道。 “不仅如此，”乔希补充道，“你和戴维斯夫人怎么办? 你的宠物不见了，但你的房子没有被闯入。” “他说得对，露丝·罗斯，”丁克说。 “为什么只有两个学院而不是四个?”露丝·罗斯对丁克和乔希皱起了眉头。 “我不知道，”她说。“我们应该试着找出答案。 我们再去看看帕迪斯和格温夫妇吧。 也许窃贼留下了一些线索!”他们急忙跑到蓟苑，按响了门铃。 格温先生穿着浴袍来到门口。 “哦，嗨，孩子们!”格温太太告诉我你周五来过。 你猜怎么着?昨天下午，有人发现了我们的鹦鹉，把它还给了我们!”露丝·罗斯盯着格温先生。 “阿尔奇是昨天送回来的吗?”格温点点头。 “为了庆祝，我带家人出去吃饭，看电影。 但是当我们回到家时，我们发现我们被抢劫了。 老鼠拿走了我的硬币。”

"I'm sorry to hear that," Dink said. "May I ask who returned your parrot?" "A nice young woman," Mr. Gwynn told the kids. "She said she'd caught Archie eating seeds under her bird feeder."

“听到这个我很难过，”丁克说。 “请问谁把你的鹦鹉还给你了?”“一个漂亮的年轻女子，”格温先生对孩子们说。 “她说她撞见阿奇在她的喂鸟器下面吃种子。”

"Did you invite her into your house?" Ruth Rose asked. Before he could answer, Dink blurted out, "Did she see your coin collection?" Mr. Gwynn's mouth dropped open. "Are you suggesting…Oh, my you could be right!" he said. "The collection was in the living room where we sat and talked. Do you think she came back and stole it?" Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose looked at one another. Ruth Rose had her "I told you so!" look on her face. "It sure seems that way, Mr. Gwynn," Dink said. The kids thanked Mr. Gwynn, then raced all the way to the Pardues' house. Out of breath, Ruth Rose rang the bell. Mrs. Par due came to the door. "Hi, gang, what's up?" she said. Ruth Rose asked, "By any chance, did someone bring your rabbit back yesterday, before your house got robbed?" "Why, how did you know?" Mrs. Pardue asked. "A nice young couple called and said they'd found

“你邀请她来你家了吗?”露丝·罗斯问。 他还没来得及回答，丁克就脱口而出:“她看到你的硬币收藏了吗?”格温先生张大了嘴。 “你是在暗示……哦，天哪，你可能是对的!” “收藏品就放在客厅里，我们坐在那里聊天。 你认为她是回来偷的吗?”丁克、乔希和露丝·罗斯面面相觑。 露丝·罗斯一脸“我早告诉过你!”的表情。 “看来确实是这样，格温先生，”丁克说。 孩子们感谢了格温先生，然后一路跑到帕迪厄家。 露丝·罗斯上气不接下气地按了门铃。 帕杜太太走到门口。 “嗨，伙计们，怎么了?”她说。 露丝·罗斯问:“有没有可能，昨天你家被抢之前，有人把你的兔子带回来了?”“怎么，你怎么知道的?”帕杜太太问。 “一对漂亮的年轻夫妇打电话来说他们找到了