Chapter 4

Chapter 4 At the top of the cliff, Wallis took the picnic things. "I need to spend some time working on my new book," she said. "Why don't you guys go exploring? Emory Scott built a playhouse for his kids in those trees. You might want to check it out." She opened the side door. "Oh, I almost forgot," she said with twinkling eyes. "Some people think his ghost hangs around there, looking for his children. So keep your eyes open!" With that, she went inside.

在悬崖顶上，沃利斯带着野餐用具。 “我需要花点时间写我的新书，”她说。 “你们为什么不去探险呢?” 埃默里·斯科特在那些树上为他的孩子们建了一个游戏屋。 你可能想去看看。” 她打开侧门。“哦，我差点忘了，”她说，眼睛闪闪发光。 “有些人认为他的鬼魂在那里游荡，寻找他的孩子们。 所以睁大你的眼睛!”说完，她走了进去。

The kids found a path through the trees. As they walked, Dink told Josh and Ruth Rose what Wallis had said on the beach. "So it is a ghost!" Josh said. "Creepy!" "No way" Ruth Rose said. "I don't believe in ghosts. It must be an animal trapped somewhere in the castle." "I don't know," Dink said. "Wallis told me she searched the whole place." "Besides," said Josh, "what kind of animal makes a spooky scream like that?" Just then the kids reached the playhouse. The outside of the small wooden building had been painted to look like Wallis's castle. A kid-sized drawbridge crossed a shallow moat to the front door. "Excellent," said Josh. "Let's go inside!" Ruth Rose cried, running to the door. She tugged on the handle, and the door opened with a soft whoosh. Ruth Rose curtsied. "Enter, my loyal knights!" "His Highness King Dink goes first," Dink said, nudging ahead of Josh. They crowded into the room. Everything was covered with a layer of dust. Dim light shone

孩子们在树林里找到了一条小路。 走着走着，丁克把沃利斯在海滩上说的话告诉了乔希和露丝·罗斯。 “原来是鬼!”杰克说。 “令人毛骨悚然的!”“不可能，”露丝·罗斯说。 “我不相信有鬼。 它一定是一只被困在城堡里的动物。” “我不知道，”丁克说。 “沃利斯告诉我她搜遍了整个地方。” “再说，”乔希说，“什么样的动物会发出那样可怕的尖叫呢?”就在这时，孩子们来到了游戏室。 这座小木屋的外面被漆得像沃利斯的城堡。 一座儿童大小的吊桥穿过一条浅浅的护城河，直通前门。 “太好了，”乔希说。“我们进去吧!”露丝·罗斯哭着跑到门口。 她拉了一下门把手，门轻轻地“嗖”的一声开了。 露丝·罗斯行了个屈膝礼。“进来吧，我忠诚的骑士们!”“丁克国王殿下先走。”丁克说着，轻轻推到乔希的前面。 他们挤进房间。 一切都蒙上了一层灰尘。 昏暗的灯光照耀着

through two small windows covered with cobwebs. Josh rubbed his arms. "Boy, this place is cold," he said. "Looks like no one's been in here for years," Ruth Rose said. A round table and two little chairs stood in the middle of the room on a dusty, worn rug. A shelf held a miniature set of blue dishes. Under the shelf, a lonely-looking teddy bear sat on an old sofa. "This place creeps me out," Josh said.

穿过两扇布满蜘蛛网的小窗户。 乔希揉了揉胳膊。“天哪，这地方真冷，”他说。 “看起来好多年没人来过这里了，”露丝·罗斯说。 一张圆桌和两把小椅子摆在房间中央的一张满是灰尘的旧地毯上。 一个架子上放着一套小型的蓝色盘子。 在架子下面，一只孤零零的泰迪熊坐在一张旧沙发上。 “这个地方让我毛骨悚然，”乔希说。

"Look," Dink said. "Footprints on the rug." He stepped into one of them. "Whoever made these sure has big feet!" "Do ghosts leave footprints?" Josh asked. "Maybe it's Walker," Ruth Rose suggested. "They're too big to be Wallis's."

“看，”丁克说。“地毯上的脚印。” 他走进了其中一辆车。 “做这些东西的人一定脚很大!”“鬼魂会留下脚印吗?”杰克问。 “也许是沃克，”露丝·罗斯暗示道。 “它们太大了，不可能是沃利斯的。”

"But why would Walker come here?" Dink wondered out loud. "Can we go?" Josh pleaded. "I just saw a monster spider, and he was looking back at me!" "Okay, but let's come back," Ruth Rose said. "I want to clean this place. It's sad to see it all dusty like this." Ruth Rose pulled the door shut behind them. As they crossed the drawbridge, Dink noticed something in the moat. He jumped down and picked up a bright green feather. "Hey, guys, look! It's like the one that was stuck to Josh's sneaker." Ruth Rose held the feather up to the sun. "What's it from?" Josh examined the feather. "The only bird I know with this kind of feather is a parrot," he said. "But parrots don't live in Maine." Dink took the feather back from Josh, then put it in his pocket. "Okay we've explored the playhouse," Josh said. "Now you guys have to do what I want." Dink grinned at his friend. "You mean eat?" "No. I want to check out that cave down on the beach."

“但沃克为什么要来这里?”丁克大声问道。 “我们能去吗?”杰克恳求道。 “我刚刚看到了一只怪物蜘蛛，它正在回头看我!”“好吧，我们再回来吧，”露丝·罗斯说。 “我想打扫这个地方。 看到到处都是灰尘，真让人难过。” 露丝·罗斯在他们身后把门关上。 当他们穿过吊桥时，丁克注意到护城河里有什么东西。 他跳下来，捡起一根亮绿色的羽毛。 “嘿，伙计们，看!就像粘在乔什运动鞋上的那个。” 露丝·罗斯把羽毛举到太阳面前。 “从哪儿寄来的?”乔希检查了那根羽毛。 “我所知道的唯一有这种羽毛的鸟是鹦鹉，”他说。 “但是鹦鹉不生活在缅因州。” 丁克从乔希手里拿回羽毛，然后放进口袋里。 “好了，我们已经探索过剧场了。”乔希说。 “现在你们得按我说的做。” 丁克朝他的朋友咧嘴一笑。 “你是说吃?”“没有。我想去看看海滩上的那个山洞。”