12 ONE-LEG WILLIAM

CHAPTER TWELVE ONE-LEG WILLIAM THE OLD circus woman gave Pam a little push. 'Didn't you hear me say go away!' she scolded. They all decided to go at once. Pam thought the old woman looked really rather like a witch! They walked quickly out of the field, silent but very excited. Once they were in the lane they all talked at once. 'We never thought of socks! We thought we had to look for a pullover!' 'But it's socks all right– that pair is made of exactly the same wool as this bit we found caught on to that wall!'

第十二章独腿威廉马戏团的老太太轻轻推了帕姆一下。 “你没听见我说走开吗？”她责备道。 他们都决定马上去。 帕姆觉得那个老妇人看起来真的很像一个女巫！他们快步走出了田地，沉默不语，但非常兴奋。 他们一走到小巷里，就立刻交谈起来。 “我们从来没想过袜子！”我们还以为得找件套头毛衣呢！“不过这是袜子啊——这双和我们发现的挂在墙上的那块羊毛是一模一样的！”

'Gracious! To think we didn't dare to ask whose socks they were!' 'If only we had, we'd know who the thief was.' They raced back to the farmhouse, longing to discuss what to do next. And down in the shed, patiently waiting for them, were Jack, George and Barbara! They didn't give the others a chance to tell about the socks– they immediately began to relate something of their own. 'Peter! Janet! You know those strange round marks we saw on the inside of the wall! Well, we've found some more, exactly like them!' said Jack. 'Where?' asked Peter. 'In a muddy patch near old Chimney Cottage,' said Jack. 'George and I saw them and went to fetch Barbara. Then we came to tell you. And what's more, Barbara knows what made the marks!'

“亲切!想想看，我们都不敢问这是谁的袜子！“要是我们知道了，我们就知道谁是小偷了。”他们跑回农舍，渴望讨论下一步该做什么。 杰克、乔治和芭芭拉在下面的小屋里耐心地等着他们！他们没有给其他人讲述袜子的机会——他们立即开始讲述自己的一些事情。 “彼得!珍妮特!你知道我们在墙里面看到的那些奇怪的圆形痕迹吧！好吧，我们又找到了一些和他们一模一样的！杰克说。 “在哪里?彼得问。“在老烟囱小屋附近的一块泥泞的地方。”杰克说。 “乔治和我看到了他们，就去找芭芭拉。 然后我们来告诉你。而且，芭芭拉知道是什么造成了这些记号！”

'You'll never guess!' said Barbara. 'Go on– tell us!' said Janet, forgetting all about the socks. 'Well, when I saw the marks– round and regular, just like the ones we saw– I couldn't think what they were at first,' said Barbara. 'But then, when I remembered who lived in the nearby cottage, I knew.' 'What were they?' asked Peter, eagerly. 'Do you know who lives at Chimney Cottage?' asked Barbara. 'You don't. Well, I'll tell you– it's One-leg William! He had a leg bitten off by a shark, and he's got a wooden leg– and when he walks in the mud with it, it leaves round marks– just like the marks we saw on the other side of the wall. It must be One-leg William who was the thief.' The others sat and thought about this for a few moments. Then Peter shook his head. 'No. One-leg William couldn't possibly be the thief. He couldn't have climbed over the

“你永远也猜不到！”芭芭拉说。 “说下去——告诉我们！”珍妮特说，完全忘了袜子的事。 “嗯，当我看到那些记号时——又圆又规则，就像我们看到的那些——起初我想不出那是什么。”芭芭拉说。 “但后来，当我想起谁住在附近的小屋时，我知道了。“是什么？”彼得急切地问。 “你知道谁住在烟囱小屋吗？”芭芭拉问。 “你不喜欢。好吧，我告诉你，这是一条腿的威廉！他的一条腿被鲨鱼咬掉了，他装了一条木腿——当他带着它在泥里走的时候，它会留下圆形的痕迹——就像我们在墙的另一边看到的那样。 小偷一定是一条腿的威廉。”其他人坐下来思考了一会儿。 彼得摇了摇头。 “不。一条腿的威廉不可能是小偷。 他不可能爬过

wall with one leg– and besides– the thief wore a pair of socks– and that means two legs!' 'How do you know he wore socks?' asked Barbara, astonished. They told her about the socks on the line away in the circus field. Barbara thought hard. 'Well– I expect the thief was a two-legged man with socks– but I don't see why One-leg William couldn't have been with him to help in some way– give him a leg-up, or something. The marks are exactly the same! What was One-leg William doing there, anyway?' 'That's what we must find out,' said Peter, getting up. 'Come on– we'll go and ask him a few questions– and see those marks. Fancy them being made by a one-legged man– I never, never thought of that!' They made their way to Chimney Cottage. Just outside was a very muddy patch– and sure enough, it was studded with the same

墙只有一条腿——而且——小偷穿了一双袜子——也就是说有两条腿！“你怎么知道他穿袜子？”芭芭拉惊讶地问。 他们告诉她马戏场上绳子上的袜子。 芭芭拉苦思冥想。“嗯——我想那个小偷是一个穿着袜子的两条腿的人——但我不明白为什么一条腿的威廉不能在他身边帮助他——帮他一把，或者什么的。” 标记完全一样！“独腿威廉”到底在那里做什么？“这正是我们必须弄清楚的。”彼得说着站了起来。 “来吧——我们去问他几个问题——看看那些记号。 想想看，它们是一个独腿人做的——我从来没有，从来没有想到过这一点！”他们向烟囱小屋走去。 外面是一片非常泥泞的地方——果然，到处都是泥泞

round, regular marks that the children had seen over Milton Manor wall. Peter bent down to study them. He got out his notebook and took from it the bit of string that George had cut when he measured the width of the other round marks. He looked up in surprise. 'No– these marks aren't the same– they're nearly two centimetres smaller– you look!' He set the string over one of the marks, and the others saw at once that it was longer than the width of the marks. 'Well! Isn't that odd!' said George. 'It couldn't have been One-leg William, then. Is there another man with a wooden leg in the district? One whose leg might be a bit wider and fit the marks?' Everyone thought hard– but nobody could think of a man with a wooden leg. It was really exasperating! 'We keep on thinking we're solving things, and we aren't,' said Peter.

孩子们在米尔顿庄园的墙上看到的圆形的、规则的标记。 彼得弯下腰来仔细研究。 他拿出笔记本，从里面取出乔治在测量其他圆点宽度时剪下的一根细绳。 他惊讶地抬起头来。“不——这些痕迹不一样——它们几乎小了两厘米——你看！”他把绳子套在其中一个标记上，其他人立刻看出绳子比标记的宽度还长。 “好!这不是很奇怪吗？乔治说。 “那就不可能是独腿威廉了。 这个地区还有另一个装木腿的人吗？ 他的腿可能更宽一些，适合这些标记？”每个人都努力地想，但没有人能想到一个装着木腿的人。 这真是令人恼火！“我们一直以为我们在解决问题，可我们并没有。”彼得说。

'There's no doubt in my mind that a man with a wooden leg was there with the thief, though goodness knows why– but it wasn't One-leg William. And we do know that the thief can't have only one leg because he definitely wears two socks!' 'We know his socks– but we don't know him!' said Janet. 'This mystery is getting more mysterious than ever. We keep finding out things that lead us nowhere!' 'We shall have to go back to the circus field tomorrow and try to trace those socks,' said Peter. 'We can't ask straight out whose they are– but we could watch and see who's wearing them!' 'Right,' said Colin. 'Meet there again at ten– and we'll have a look at every sock on every foot in that field!'

“毫无疑问，在我的脑海里，有一个装着木腿的人和小偷在一起，虽然天知道为什么——但那不是一条腿的威廉。 而且我们知道小偷不可能只有一条腿，因为他肯定穿了两只袜子！“我们认识他的袜子——但我们不认识他！”珍妮特说。 “这个谜比以往任何时候都更加神秘。 我们总是发现一些毫无意义的东西！“我们明天得回到马戏场，想办法找到那些袜子，”彼得说。 “我们不能直接问它们是谁的，但我们可以看看是谁穿的！”“好吧，”科林说。 “十点再在那儿碰头——我们要看看那块地里每只脚上穿的每只袜子！”