6 Screaming

CHAPTER SIX Screaming Get in the Jeep,' said Wiggy. 'If there's something peculiar going on, I don't want you lot getting caught up in it.' Titus, Nancy, Ted and Willow clambered into Wiggy's old Jeep and soon it was rumbling and bouncing through the woods. Willow was scanning the trees with her binoculars. 'What if it really is a monster, Nance?' whispered Ted, looking up at his sister. Nancy wasn't sure what to say. 'It probably is,' hooted Willow. 'So we'll catch it, hand it over to the Monster Police and they'll pay us a gazillion pounds! And I bet we get on telly.' 'Ooh, how exciting,' said Ted, though he didn't sound very excited. Willow put down her binoculars and frowned at him. 'Don't you wanna be a monster hunter?' she barked. 'Um… sure?' Ted shrugged. 'I just don't wanna get eaten, that's all.' Titus was sitting next to Wiggy in the front, squealing with fright any time they saw a branch or a small fly.

“上车。”威吉说。 “如果发生了什么怪事，我不希望你们卷入其中。”提图斯、南希、泰德和威洛爬上威格的旧吉普车，很快它就在树林里隆隆地颠簸着。 威洛正在用双筒望远镜扫视树木。 “如果它真的是个怪物呢，南希？”泰德小声说，抬头看着他妹妹。 南希不知道该说什么。 “可能是吧。” “所以我们会抓住它，把它交给怪物警察，他们会付给我们一大笔钱！”我打赌我们上了电视。“哦，太令人兴奋了。”泰德说，但听起来并不怎么兴奋。 威洛放下望远镜，皱着眉头看着他。 “你不想成为一名怪物猎人吗？”她吼道。 “嗯……确定吗?”泰德耸耸肩。 “我只是不想被吃掉，仅此而已。”提图斯坐在前面的维吉旁边，一看到树枝或小苍蝇就吓得尖叫起来。

'Please stop screaming, old chum,' said Wiggy. 'It's putting me off my driving!' Titus gripped the door handle. 'Sorry,' he said. 'It's just the headlights make everything look so spooky! My imagination runs away with me. AAARGH!' Frank was gliding above them, and the Jeep headlights had reflected in his beady eyes. 'It's only me, chief,' hollered Frank. 'I'm keeping a lookout. Coast clear so far. No beasties, only loads of rabbits heading back to Bunnyville.' Willow rolled her eyes. 'My mum's gonna kill me if she notices I'm not there,' she said. 'Frank! Can you go to Bunnyville and tell my brother Orlando to get his fake Willow doll out, please? He'll know what you mean.' 'Which one is Orlando?' asked Frank. 'The grey one,' said Willow, unhelpfully, and Frank swooped away towards Bunnyville. Willow turned her attention to the road ahead. 'Step on it, Wiggy!' she yelled. 'We need to get to the den pronto so I can look in our monster-hunting book!' Wiggy pressed his paw down on the accelerator. He wasn't keen on hanging around while a mysterious beastie was on the loose. Just at that moment, a passing bumblebee called Felipe appeared by the windscreen. 'Hiya!' he buzzed. 'Watcha doin'?'

“请别叫了，老朋友。” “这让我没法开车了！”提图斯抓住门把手。 “对不起，”他说。“只是车灯让一切看起来都很诡异！”我的想象力随我而去。 了!”弗兰克在他们上方滑翔，吉普车的前灯映照在他明亮的眼睛里。 “是我，头儿，”弗兰克嚷道。 “我在放哨。目前没有危险。 没有野兽，只有一群回兔镇的兔子。”威洛翻了个白眼。 她说：“如果我妈妈发现我不在那里，她会杀了我的。” “弗兰克!你能去班尼维尔让我弟弟奥兰多把他的假威洛娃娃拿出来吗？ 他会明白你的意思的。“哪个是奥兰多？”弗兰克问。 “灰色的那只，”威罗毫无帮助地说，弗兰克向班尼维尔飞去了。 威洛把注意力转向前方的道路。 “踩上去，威吉！”她喊道。 “我们得赶紧去洞穴，这样我才能看一看我们的猎怪书！”威格把爪子压在油门上。 当一个神秘的野兽四处游荡时，他不喜欢闲逛。 就在这时，一只名叫斐利贝的大黄蜂从挡风玻璃旁经过。 “你好!他低声问。“我们干什么?”

'Aaaargh!' yelled Wiggy, and he accidentally steered the Jeep into a small ditch. 'Sorry! I was just saying hiiiii!' chirruped Felipe, and he flew away. He was so annoying like that. The Jeep's wheels were still spinning, but it had come to a complete stop. Wiggy switched off the engine. 'Oh, chaps… is everyone OK?' There was grunting and whimpering. The back wheels of the Jeep were sticking up in the air, and the front was rammed firmly into a wall of earth. Willow, Nancy and Ted hopped out of the back and helped Titus and Wiggy clamber out of the front. 'Who's got a torch?' barked Nancy. Ted got one out of his rucksack and shook it. 'Battery's low, but it'll have to do,' he whimpered. It was so dark. The trees felt bigger than normal, and the branches

“Aaaargh !威吉喊道，他不小心把吉普车开进了一条小沟里。 “对不起!我只是在说他！斐利贝叫了一声，就飞走了。 他那样很烦人。 吉普车的轮子还在旋转，但它已经完全停了下来。 威格关掉了引擎。 “哦，伙计们……大家都没事吧？”有咕哝声和呜咽声。 吉普车的后轮悬在空中，前轮牢牢地撞在一堵土墙上。 威洛、南希和泰德从后面跳了出来，帮助提图斯和威格从前面爬了出来。 “谁有手电筒？”南希吼道。 泰德从背包里拿出一张，摇了摇。 “电池快没电了，不过还行。”他呜咽着说。 天太黑了。树感觉比平常大，树枝也比平常大

seemed to be looming over them like spidery legs. 'Where are we, Wiggy?' asked Nancy. 'I don't recognize it.' 'We're in the Great Beyond,' said Titus mysteriously. 'What's that?' asked Ted, feeling a bit worried. 'Oh, it just means we're round the back,' said Titus. 'We've gone past the swamp, past Bunnyville, we're ages away from my caravan and the Magic Tower is way over there.' Nancy frowned. She and Ted had been in Grimwood a while now, but it still felt like a maze sometimes. I'm a member of the Ramblers Association AND I've done a proper map-reading course and even I cannot get a handle on this place, folks. This time, the smell hit everyone's noses at once, not just Nancy's. 'Oh, what a fragrant scent,' said Wiggy, holding his cravat over his snout. 'Willow, have you been at the Cosmic Knobblers again?' 'NO!' shouted Willow. 'Will everyone stop accusing me of laying smelly eggs, please?' 'Nance, it's the same smell,' said Ted, his ears flattening back against his head with worry. 'Like when we were on our

看起来就像蜘蛛腿一样在他们头上逼近。 “我们在哪儿，威吉？”南希问。 “我不认识它。“我们在伟大的彼岸，”提图斯神秘地说。 “那是什么?泰德问，他感到有点担心。 “哦，这只是意味着我们在后面，”提图斯说。 “我们走过了沼泽，走过了邦尼维尔，我们离我的大篷车很远，魔法塔在那边很远的地方。”南希皱起了眉头。 她和泰德来格里姆伍德已经有一段时间了，但有时还是觉得像个迷宫。 我是漫步者协会的会员，而且我还上过适当的地图阅读课程，可是，各位，就连我也搞不清这个地方。 这一次，所有人的鼻子都闻到了气味，而不仅仅是南希。 “哦，好香啊。”威吉说着，把领带捂在鼻子上。 “威洛，你又去宇宙槌球俱乐部了吗？”“不!威洛喊道。 “大家能不能别再指责我下臭蛋了？”“南希，这是同样的味道，”泰德说，他的耳朵紧贴着他的头，担心。 “就像我们在

way to the library.' 'Come on,' said Nancy. 'We're just going to find a stinky badger. There ain't no monster.' They crept towards the smell, which was thick and nasty. 'Everyone stay close,' said Titus, who was trying extremely hard to be brave, seeing as he was the eldest by several hundred years. Ted looked up at Titus and gave his hoof a squeeze. 'Don't worry, Titus,' he said, with a little smile. 'We won't leave you.' They clambered over some fallen tree trunks and crawled through thorny bushes. 'I can see something,' hissed Nancy. 'Stay low!' There was a large, dark shadow ahead of them. Smoke was slowly curling up from it. 'It's a dragon!' squeaked Willow. 'Ted, shine your torch!' Ted flashed his torch at the shadow… and they saw what must have been over a hundred battered old car tyres, piled into a higgledy-piggledy heap. It looked as if it had been on fire and the flames had only recently died out. 'Oh, it's just those annoying hoomins again, dumping all their rubbish here,' grizzled Willow, who was very disappointed it wasn't a dragon. Nancy sniffed. 'Burning rubber,' she said. 'I used to smell that a lot in the Big City. No wonder I thought it was familiar.' 'Well, that's a relief,' said Titus. 'Right! All back to mine for some cream buns?'

去图书馆的路。“来吧，”南希说。 “我们要去找一只臭獾。 根本就没有什么怪物。”他们蹑手蹑脚地朝那股浓重而难闻的气味走去。 “大家都待在一起，”提图斯说，他非常努力地表现出勇敢，因为他是几百岁的老大。 泰德抬头看着提图斯，用蹄子捏了一下。 “别担心，提图斯，”他微笑着说。 “我们不会离开你的。”他们爬过一些倒下的树干，爬过荆棘丛生的灌木丛。 “我能看到一些东西，”南希嘶嘶地说。 “保持低!”他们前面有一个巨大的黑影。 烟慢慢地从里面袅袅升起。 “是一条龙！”威罗尖叫道。 “泰德，把你的手电亮起来！”泰德用手电筒照着影子……他们看到了一百多个破旧的汽车轮胎，乱七八糟地堆成一堆。 它看起来好像着火了，火焰最近才熄灭。 “哦，又是那些讨厌的鬼，把垃圾都倒在这里。”威罗头发花白，很失望那不是一条龙。 南希嗅。“燃烧的橡胶，”她说。 “我以前在纽约经常闻到这种味道。 难怪我觉得很熟悉。提图斯说：“好，那就放心了。” “正确!都回我这儿来吃奶油面包吗？”

'But something is on the loose!' hooted Willow. 'It wasn't a load of old tyres leaving behind massive footprints and raiding the wedding feast, was it?' 'Oh, I suppose not,' said Titus, a little crossly. 'I'd just like to get back home. It's been quite the day. Pamela ate the bride and groom, for goodness' sake!' Ted, meanwhile, was shining the torch around the tyre mountain. He peered carefully at the pile of rubber. And then, for a split second, the light from his torch flashed against something shiny. A pair of eyes were staring at him, glinting from inside the tyres.

“可是有什么东西跑出来了！”威罗叫道。 “不会是一堆旧轮胎留下了巨大的脚印，破坏了婚宴吧？”“哦，我想没有，”提图斯有点生气地说。 “我只想回家。 今天真是难熬的一天。帕梅拉吃掉了新娘和新郎，看在上帝的份上！”与此同时，泰德正在用火炬照亮轮胎山。 他仔细地看了看那堆橡胶。 然后，刹那间，他的手电筒的光在一个闪亮的东西上闪过。 一双眼睛正盯着他，从轮胎里闪闪发光。