Chapter 9

Chapter 9 The kids crossed Thistle Court and headed toward Fox Lane. There were only three small houses on the narrow lane. The last one was a cottage nearly hidden in trees and thick bushes. Somewhere, a bird let out a single chirp. Josh nudged Dink. "The car!" he whispered, pointing. The same black car was parked under a tree. The license plate said BENT. The kids snuck up to the car. All three peered through a rear window.

孩子们穿过蓟苑，向狐狸巷走去。 狭窄的小巷上只有三所小房子。 最后一个是一间小屋，几乎隐藏在树木和茂密的灌木丛中。 不知在什么地方，一只鸟发出了一声啁啾。 乔希轻轻推了推丁克。“那辆车!”他指着轻声说。 那辆黑色的车停在一棵树下。 车牌上写着BENT。 孩子们偷偷地走到车旁。 三个人都从后窗往外看。

There was no Happy Heart Dog Food box on the car's seats or floor. "He must've taken it into the house," Dink said, crouching down next to Josh and Ruth Rose. "Now what do we do?" Josh asked. "We could try getting inside the house," Ruth Rose said. Josh looked at her. "How?" "What if we ring the bell and say we're selling Girl Scout cookies?" Josh rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right, two boys selling Girl Scout cookies!" "Okay then I'll do it alone," Ruth Rose said. "No way," Dink said. "No one's going into that house. If the Bents are the counterfeiters, they're dangerous!" "So what do we do?" Josh asked. "I sure could use a sandwich!" Suddenly, the front door opened. A shortlegged hound dog with floppy ears waddled out onto the porch. The dog was brown and white, with big, sad eyes. "Stay near the house, Shorty," a voice said. "Uh-oh," Josh whispered.

车的座位上和地板上都没有欢乐之心狗粮盒。 “他一定是把它带回家了，”丁克说着，蹲在乔希和露丝·罗斯身边。 “现在我们该怎么办?”杰克问。 “我们可以试着进入房子，”露丝·罗斯说。 乔希看着她。“如何?”“如果我们按铃说我们在卖女童子军饼干呢?”乔希翻了个白眼。 “对，没错，两个男孩在卖女童子军饼干!”“好吧，那我一个人去，”露丝·罗斯说。 “不可能，”丁克说。“谁也不许进那所房子。 如果本特一家是造假币的，那他们很危险!”“那我们该怎么办?”杰克问。 “我当然可以吃个三明治!”突然，前门开了。 一条短腿、耷拉着耳朵的猎犬摇摇摆摆地走到门廊上。 这只狗是棕白相间的，有一双悲伤的大眼睛。 “待在房子附近，矮子。”一个声音说。 “哦哦，”乔希低声说。

"Let's get out of here before he smells us!" Ruth Rose said. The kids melted into the thick shrubbery growing wild on both sides of the cottage. They crept toward the backyard, trying to be as quiet as possible. "Look," Dink said, pointing to a small garage at the very back of the property. Except for the door, the garage was surrounded by bushes. "We can hide there!" Just then, the dog let out a howl. Ruth Rose looked over her shoulder. "Oh, no! He's after us!" The kids sprinted behind the garage. Dink found a low window. "In here!" he said, shoving the window sash up. The dog came loping around the corner with its nose to the ground. "Nice doggie," Josh whispered. The hound looked at Josh and let out another howl. "Quick, inside!" Dink said. He dove through the open window.

“趁他还没闻到我们，赶紧离开这里吧!”露丝·罗斯说。 孩子们融入了茅屋两边茂密的灌木丛中。 他们蹑手蹑脚地朝后院走去，尽量保持安静。 “看，”丁克指着房子最后面的一个小车库说。 除了门之外，车库四周都是灌木丛。 “我们可以躲在那里!”就在这时，狗叫了一声。 露丝·罗斯回头看了看。 “哦,不!他在追我们!”孩子们飞快地跑到车库后面。 丁克找到了一扇低矮的窗户。“在这里!”他说着，把窗框推了起来。 那条狗鼻子贴着地面，从拐角处跑了过来。 “漂亮的小狗，”乔希低声说。 猎狗看了看乔希，又叫了一声。 “快,里面!”丁克说。 他从开着的窗户跳了进去。

Josh and Ruth Rose piled into the garage on top of Dink. Outside, the dog started barking. Dink saw its black snout and eyes peeking over the sill. He shoved Josh off him and closed the window. The dog was still barking. It scratched at the window with its big feet. "We have to hide!" Dink said. "The Bents are bound to hear all that noise!" The kids quickly looked around. Against one wall, a workbench was piled with junk. Dink noticed a tarp-covered mound opposite the bench. Josh and Ruth Rose dove under the bench. Dink headed for the tarp. He lifted one edge, crawled underneath, and let the tarp drop over his back. It was dark under the tarp. Dink couldn't see a thing. He found himself sprawled on top of

乔希和露丝·罗斯挤到丁克的车库里。 外面，狗开始叫起来。 丁克看到它的黑鼻子和眼睛在窗台上偷看。 他把乔什推开，关上了窗户。 狗还在叫。 它用大脚抓着窗户。 “我们得躲起来!”丁克说。 “本特一家一定会听到这些声音的!”孩子们迅速环顾四周。 靠墙放着一个工作台，上面堆满了垃圾。 丁克注意到长凳对面有一个盖着油布的土丘。 乔希和露丝·罗斯躲到长凳下面。 丁克朝防水布走去。他掀开一块边沿，爬到下面，让防水布盖在背上。 篷布下面很黑。 丁克什么也看不见。 他发现自己四肢伸开躺在

several hard boxes with sharp edges. Suddenly, the dog stopped barking. Dink thought he heard a human voice. He lifted a corner of the tarp and peeked toward the window. Through the dirty glass, Dink saw a woman's legs. She bent down, picked up the dog, and carried him out of sight. Barely breathing, Dink waited until he felt sure the woman wasn't coming back. Then he crawled out from under the tarp. On the other side of the garage, Josh and Ruth Rose came out from under the bench. "That was close!" Ruth Rose said. Dink looked around. They were standing on a cement floor. The air was cool and dry. In one corner stood gardening tools and a few fishing poles. Then Dink spotted something. "Look!" he said. On top of the workbench sat a Happy Heart Dog Food box. "Maybe it's the one Mr. Bent had in his car!" Dink said. He yanked open the box flaps. Inside, he found only a paint can with green smears on its sides.

几个边缘锋利的硬盒子。 突然，狗停止了吠叫。 丁克觉得他听到了人的声音。 他掀起防水布的一角，朝窗户偷看。 透过脏玻璃，丁克看到了一个女人的腿。 她弯下腰，把狗抱起来，带着它消失了。 丁克屏住呼吸，一直等到他确信那个女人不会回来。 然后他从防水布下面爬了出来。 在车库的另一边，乔希和露丝·罗斯从长凳下面走了出来。 “好险啊!”露丝·罗斯说。 丁克环顾四周。他们站在水泥地上。 空气凉爽干燥。一个角落里放着一些园艺工具和几根鱼竿。 然后丁克发现了一些东西。 “看!”他说。在工作台上放着一个快乐之心狗粮盒。 “也许是本特先生车里的那个!”丁克说。 他猛地打开箱子的盖子。 在里面，他只发现了一个油漆罐，罐边有绿色的污迹。

Dink thought for a minute. "Guys, remember that boat Mr. P was working on? It was green, right?" He held up the paint can. "Maybe the boat belongs to Mr. Bent, and Ron painted it for him. This could be the leftover paint." "Then the check Mr. Bent gave him was to pay for the paint job!" Ruth Rose said. She reached into the box and pulled out a wadded ball of paper. She flattened it on the workbench. "It's a receipt from the pharmacy," Ruth Rose said. "For three bottles of calamine lotion!" Dink stared at the receipt. It was from a credit card. Neatly printed on the bottom of the piece of paper was the name Ronald W. Pinkowski. "Hey, guys, check this out!" Josh had been poking around the other side of the garage. Hanging on wall pegs were two pairs of long green wading boots. Josh unhooked one pair and took it down. "Look at the size of this foot!" he said. Dink walked over for a closer look.

丁克想了一会儿。 “伙计们，还记得P先生正在修的那艘船吗?” 它是绿色的，对吧?”他举起油漆罐。 “也许这艘船是本特先生的，是罗恩给他漆的。 这可能是剩下的油漆。” “那么本特先生给他的支票是用来付油漆费的!”露丝·罗斯说。 她把手伸进盒子里，拿出一个纸团。 她把它平放在工作台上。 “这是药房的收据，”露丝·罗斯说。 “换三瓶炉甘石洗剂!”丁克盯着收据。 这是一张信用卡。 那张纸的底部整齐地印着罗纳德·W的名字。 Pinkowski。“嘿，伙计们，看看这个!”乔希一直在车库的另一边闲逛。 墙脚上挂着两双长长的绿色涉水靴。 乔什解开了一条裤子，把它拿了下来。 “看看这只脚的大小!”他说。 丁克走过去仔细看了看。