13 A COAT TO MATCH THE CAP

CHAPTER THIRTEEN A COAT TO MATCH THE CAP AT TEN o'clock all the Secret Seven were in the circus field. They decided to go and see Trinculo the acrobat again, as an excuse for being there. But he was nowhere to be found. 'He's gone off to the town,' said one of the other acrobats. 'What do you want him for?' 'Oh– just to ask him if we can mess around a bit,' said Jack. 'You know– have a look at the animals and so on.' 'Carry on,' said the acrobat, and went off to his caravan, turning cartwheels all the way. The children watched him in admiration. 'How do

第十三章与帽子相配的外套十点钟，所有的七个秘密演员都在马戏场上。 他们决定再去看一看杂技演员特林鸠罗，以此作为待在那里的借口。 但他却无处可寻。 “他到城里去了，”另一个杂技演员说。 “你找他干什么？”“哦——只是想问问他我们能不能随便玩玩，”杰克说。 “你知道——看看动物之类的。“继续，”杂技演员说，然后转身向他的大篷车走去。 孩子们羡慕地看着他。 “怎么

they turn themselves over and over their hands and feet like that?' asked Pam. 'Just exactly like wheels turning round and round!' 'Have a shot at it,' said George, with a grin. But when Pam tried to fling herself over on her hands, she crumpled up at once, and lay stretched out on the ground, laughing. A small circus girl came by and laughed at Pam. Then she immediately cartwheeled round the field, turning over and over on her hands and feet just as cleverly as the acrobat. 'Look at that,' said George, enviously. 'Even the kids can do it. We shall have to practise at home.' They went to look at the little bear, who, however, was fast asleep. Then they wandered cautiously over to the clothes-line. The socks were gone! Aha! Now perhaps someone was wearing them. Whoever it was would be the thief. The children strolled round the field again,

他们就这样翻来覆去地用手和脚？潘问。 “就像轮子转啊转！”“试一试吧，”乔治笑着说。 但当帕姆试图用手倒地时，她立刻蜷缩起来，四肢伸开躺在地上，哈哈大笑。 一个马戏团的小女孩经过并嘲笑帕姆。 然后，她立刻在地上翻了个跟头，手脚都在地上翻来覆去，就像杂技演员一样灵巧。 “看那个。”乔治羡慕地说。 “就连孩子们都能做到。我们得在家里练习。”他们去看小熊，小熊却睡得很熟。 然后他们小心翼翼地走到晾衣绳边。 袜子不见了！啊哈!现在也许有人正戴着它们。 不管是谁，他就是小偷。 孩子们又在田野里散步，

looking at the ankles of every man they saw. But to their great annoyance all they could see were bare ankles! Nobody seemed to wear any socks at all. How maddening! Louis came up to the lions' cage and unlocked it. He went inside and began to do the usual cleaning. He took no notice of the lions at all, and they took no notice of him. Janet thought it must be marvellous to go and sweep all round the feet of lions and not mind at all! He had his flannel trousers rolled up to his knees. His legs were quite bare. On his feet were dirty old rubber shoes. The children watched him for a little while, and then turned to go. Another man came up as they left, and they glanced casually down at his ankles, to see what kind of socks he wore, if any. He was barelegged, too, of course! But something caught Jack's eyes, and he stopped and stared at the man intently. The

看他们看到的每个人的脚踝。 但令他们非常恼火的是，他们看到的只有光着的脚踝！似乎没有人穿袜子。 多么疯狂!路易斯走到狮子的笼子前，打开了它。 他走进屋里，开始做平常的清洁工作。 他根本没有注意到狮子，狮子也没有注意到他。 珍妮特想，在狮子的脚周围扫一扫，一点也不介意，这一定很了不起！他把法兰绒裤子卷到膝盖处。 他的腿光秃秃的。他脚上穿着一双又脏又旧的胶鞋。 孩子们看了他一会儿，然后转身走了。 当他们离开时，另一个人走了过来，他们漫不经心地瞥了一眼他的脚踝，看看他穿了什么袜子，如果有的话。 当然，他也光着腿！但有什么东西吸引了杰克的目光，他停了下来，专注地盯着那个人。 的

fellow frowned. 'Anything wrong with me?' he said, annoyed. 'Stare away!' Jack turned to the others, his face red with excitement. He pushed them on a little, till he was out of the man's hearing. 'Did you see that coat he was wearing?' he asked. 'It's like that cap we found up in the tree– only not quite so filthy dirty! I'm sure it is!' All seven turned to look round at the man, who was by now painting the outside of the lions' cage, making it look a little smarter than before. He had taken off his coat and hung it on the handle of the lions' cage. How the Seven longed to go and compare the cap with the coat! 'Have you got the cap with you?' asked Pam in a whisper. Peter nodded, and patted his coat pocket. He had all the 'clues' with him, of course! Their chance suddenly came. The man was

的皱起了眉头。“我怎么了？”他恼火地说。 “瞪了!”杰克转向其他人，兴奋得满脸通红。 他把他们往前推了一下，直到那人听不见了。 “你看到他穿的那件外套了吗？”他问。 “就像我们在树上找到的那顶帽子——只是没有那么脏！”我肯定是！”七个人都转过身来看着那个人，他正在给狮子的笼子外面刷漆，使它看起来比以前更漂亮一些。 他脱下外衣，挂在狮子笼的把手上。 七个小矮人多么想去把这顶帽子和那件外套比较一下啊！“你带着帽子吗？”帕姆低声问。 彼得点点头，拍拍外套口袋。 当然，他带着所有的“线索”！他们的机会突然来了。 这个人是

called away by someone yelling for him, and went off, leaving his paint-pot, brush and coat. Immediately the children went over to the coat. 'Pretend to be peering into the lions' cage while I compare the cap with the coat,' said Peter in a low voice. They all began to look into the cage and talk about the lions, while Peter pulled the cap out of his pocket and quickly put it against the coat. He replaced the cap at once. There was no doubt about it– the cap and coat matched perfectly. Then was this fellow who was painting the lions' cage the thief? But why had he thrown his cap high up in a tree? Why did he leave it behind? It just didn't make sense. The man came back, whistling. He stooped down to pick up his paint-brush, and Colin got a splendid view of the top of his head. He gazed at it. Then all the children moved off in a body

有人喊他，把他叫走了，丢下他的油漆桶、刷子和大衣就走了。 孩子们立刻走过去拿大衣。 “假装往狮子笼子里看，我把帽子和外套比较一下。”彼得低声说。 他们都开始往笼子里看，谈论狮子，而彼得从口袋里掏出帽子，迅速把它贴在外套上。 他立刻把帽子戴上。 毫无疑问，帽子和外套非常相配。 那么，这个画狮子笼子的人就是小偷吗？ 但是他为什么要把帽子扔到树上呢？ 他为什么把它留下了？ 这根本说不通。 那人吹着口哨回来了。 他弯下腰捡起他的画笔，科林把他的头顶看得很清楚。 他凝视着它。然后所有的孩子一起离开了

longing to ask Peter about the cap. Once they were out of hearing, he nodded to them. 'Yes,' he said. 'They match. That man may be the thief, then. We'll have to watch him.' 'No good,' said Colin, unexpectedly. 'I just caught sight of the top of his head. He's got black hair– but no round bare patch at the crown, like the man had who sat below me in that tree. He's not the thief!'

很想问彼得帽子的事。 等他们走到听不见的地方，他向他们点点头。 “是的，”他说。“他们的比赛。 那么，那个人可能就是小偷。 我们得看着他。“不行，”柯林出乎意料地说。 “我只是看到了他的头顶。 他长着黑色的头发——但是头顶没有圆的秃发，不像坐在我下面那棵树上的那个人。 他不是小偷！”