8 Another meeting

CHAPTER EIGHT Another meeting THE MEETING that afternoon was very interesting and full of excitement. Everyone had something to report. They came punctually to the old shed, giving the password without a pause. 'Weekdays!' 'Weekdays!' 'Weekdays!' One after another the Seven passed in, and soon they were sitting round the shed. They all looked very important. Scamper sat by Peter and Janet, his long ears drooping down like a judge's wig, making him look very wise. 'Pam and George– you report first,' said Peter.

第八章又一次会议那天下午的会议非常有趣，气氛激动。 每个人都有话要说。 他们准时来到那间旧棚屋，一刻不停地说出了口令。 “工作日!“工作日!“工作日!”七个人一个接一个地走了进来，很快他们就围坐在棚子周围。 他们看起来都很重要。 斯坎普坐在彼得和珍妮特旁边，他的长耳朵像法官的假发一样耷拉下来，使他看起来很聪明。 “潘和乔治——你们先报道，”彼得说。

So they reported, telling how they had found out that the old house had been sold to a Mr J. Holikoff some time back, although he had never lived in it. 'Did you get his address?' asked Peter. 'It might be important.' 'Yes,' said George, and produced his notebook. He read the address. 'Good. We might have to get in touch with him if we find that he ought to know something strange is going on in his empty house,' said Peter. Pam and George felt very proud of themselves. Then the two girls reported. They told how they had discovered that the tracks came from the direction of the town of Templeton, and had gone down to the gates of the old house, where it was plain that they had stopped, as Jack had noticed the night before, when he heard the car. Then they told how the tracks had gone into the field, circled

于是他们报告说，他们发现那栋老房子卖给了J先生。 虽然他从来没有在那里住过。 “你得到他的地址了吗？”彼得问。 “这可能很重要。“是的，”乔治说着拿出了他的笔记本。 他读了地址。“好。 “如果我们发现他应该知道他的空房子里发生了什么奇怪的事情，我们可能不得不和他联系。”彼得说。 帕姆和乔治为自己感到非常自豪。 然后两个女孩报告了。 他们讲述了他们是如何发现这些脚印是从坦普尔顿镇的方向来的，他们一直走到老房子的门口，很明显他们停在那里，就像杰克前天晚上听到汽车声时注意到的那样。 然后他们讲述了这些脚印是如何进入田野，绕圈的

round and come out again– and had clearly gone up the lane and back the way they came. 'Good work,' said Peter. Janet took out her notebook and went rather red in the face. 'I've just got this to report, too,' she said, showing the page of the notebook on which she had tried to draw the tyre pattern. 'I don't expect it's much use, really– it's the pattern on the tyres of the van or trailer or lorry, or whatever it was that was pulled behind the car. And I measured the width, too.' Everyone looked at the scribbled pattern. It didn't look anything much, but Peter seemed pleased. 'Even if it's no use, it was a good idea to do it,' he said. 'Just suppose it was some use– and the snow melted– your drawing would be the only pattern we had to track down the tyres.'

转过身来，又出来了——显然是沿着那条小路走了，又从来的那条路上走了回来。 “干得好。”彼得说。珍妮特拿出她的笔记本，脸涨得通红。 “我也有这件事要报告，”她说着，拿出了她试图画轮胎图案的那一页笔记本。 “我不认为这有多大用处，真的——这是货车、拖车或卡车轮胎上的图案，或者任何被拉在汽车后面的东西。” 我还量了宽度。”每个人都看着潦草的图案。 它看起来没什么了不起，但彼得似乎很高兴。 他说，即使没有用，这么做也是个好主意。 “假设它有用——雪融化了——你的画就是我们追踪轮胎的唯一图案了。”

'Yes,' said Colin, warmly. 'I think that was good, Janet.' Janet glowed with pride. She put away her notebook. 'Now you three boys report,' she said, though she herself had already heard part of it from Peter while they were waiting for the others to come that afternoon. Peter made the report for the three of them. Everyone listened in silence, looking very thrilled. 'So, you see,' finished Peter, 'somebody went to the old house last night, got in through the kitchen door, because the

“是的，”科林热情地说。 “我认为那很好，珍妮特。”珍妮特因骄傲而容光焕发。 她把笔记本收起来。 “现在你们三个去报告吧，”她说，虽然她自己在那天下午等其他人来的时候已经从彼得那里听到了一部分。 彼得为他们三个人做了报告。 每个人都默默地听着，看起来非常激动。 “那么，你看，”彼得把话说完，“昨晚有人去了那座老房子，从厨房的门进来的，因为

footsteps went right to there– and I think they left a prisoner behind!' Pam gasped. 'A prisoner! What do you mean?' 'Well, isn't it clear that there was a prisoner in that big window-less van– a prisoner who was not to be seen or heard– someone who was dragged round to the kitchen and forced inside– and hidden somewhere in that house? Somebody who was hurt and who squealed loudly enough for even the old deaf caretaker to hear?' said Peter. Everyone looked upset and uncomfortable. 'I don't like it,' said Colin. Nobody liked it. It was horrid to think of a poor, squealing prisoner locked up somewhere in that old, empty house. 'What about his food?' said Colin, at last. 'Yes– and water to drink,' said Janet. 'And why is he locked up there?' 'Kidnapped, perhaps,' said Jack. 'You know

脚步声一直走到那里——我想他们留下了一个囚犯！”Pam气喘吁吁地说。 “一个囚犯!你是什么意思？“嗯，那辆没有窗户的大货车里显然有一个囚犯——一个看不见也听不见的囚犯——一个被拖到厨房里，强行拖进去的人——藏在那所房子里的什么地方？” 一个受了伤，尖叫得连聋子管理员都能听到的人？彼得说。 每个人看起来都很沮丧和不安。 “我不喜欢它。”科林说。 没人喜欢它。一想到一个可怜的、尖叫着的囚犯被关在那所空荡荡的老房子里，就觉得很可怕。 “他的食物怎么样？”科林终于说。 “是的——还有水喝，”珍妮特说。 “他为什么被关在那里？”“也许是被绑架了，”杰克说。 “你知道

–this is really very serious, if we're right.' There was a silence. 'Ought we to tell our parents?' asked Pam. 'Or the police?' said Jack. 'Well– not till we know a little bit more,' said Peter. 'There might be some quite simple explanation of all this– a car losing its way or something.' 'I've just thought of something!' said Jack. 'That van– could it have been some sort of ambulance, do you think! You know, the van that ill people are taken to hospitals in? Maybe it was, and the car took the wrong turning, and stopped when it found it had gone wrong. And the ill person cried out with pain, or

——如果我们是对的，情况真的非常严重。”一阵沉默。 “我们应该告诉父母吗？”潘问。 “或者警察？”杰克说。 “嗯——等我们知道更多的情况再说。”彼得说。 “这一切可能有一些非常简单的解释——一辆车迷路了或其他什么。”“我刚想到一件事！”杰克说。 “那辆货车——你觉得会是什么救护车吗？”就是把病人送去医院的那辆车？ 也许是吧，车拐错了弯，发现自己出了问题就停了下来。 病人痛得大叫，或者