14 THE PECULIAR MARKS AGAIN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN THE PECULIAR MARKS AGAIN THE SEVEN went to sit on the rails of the fence that ran round the circus field. They felt disheartened. 'To think we find somebody wearing a coat that exactly matches the cap we found– and yet he can't possibly be the thief because the top of his head is wrong!' groaned Peter. 'I must say this is a most aggravating adventure. We keep finding out exciting things– and each time they lead us nowhere at all!' 'And if we find anyone wearing those socks that we are sure belong to the thief, it won't

第十四章奇特的记号七个人又坐到环绕马戏场的栅栏栏杆上。 他们感到灰心丧气。“想想看，我们找到了一个人，他的外套和我们找到的帽子一模一样，但他不可能是小偷，因为他的头顶是错的！”彼得呻吟着说。 “我得说，这是一次最令人恼火的冒险。 我们不断发现令人兴奋的事情——但每次都一无所获！”“如果我们发现有人穿着我们确定是小偷的那双袜子，它就不会穿了

be him at all either,' said Janet. 'It will probably be his aunt, or something!' That made everyone laugh. 'Anyway,' said Peter, 'we're not absolutely certain that the cap has anything to do with the theft of the necklace. We only found it flung high up in a tree, you know, near where the thief climbed over the wall.' 'It has something to do with the mystery,' said George. 'I'm sure of it– though I can't for the life of me think how.' They all sat on the fence and gazed solemnly over the field. What an annoying adventure this was! And then Janet gave a little squeal. 'What is it? Have you thought of something?' asked Peter. 'No. But I'm seeing something,' said Janet, and she pointed over to the right. The others looked where she pointed, and how they stared! The field was rather wet just there, and in

“也不要做他，”珍妮特说。 “可能是他的姨妈，或者别的什么人！”这使每个人都笑了。 “不管怎么说，”彼得说，“我们不能绝对肯定帽子和项链的失窃有什么关系。 我们只是发现它被扔在一棵树上，就在小偷翻过墙的地方附近。“这和那件神秘的事有关，”乔治说。 “我敢肯定——虽然我怎么也想不出是怎么回事。”他们都坐在篱笆上，庄严地望着田野。 这是一次多么恼人的冒险啊！然后珍妮特发出了一声尖叫。 “什么事？”你想到什么了吗？彼得问。 “不。“但我看到了一些东西，”珍妮特说，指着右边。 其他人都朝她指的地方看，看得多么清楚啊！就在那儿，田地里相当潮湿

the damp part were round, regular marks just like those they had seen by the wall– and very like the smaller marks made by the one-legged man near his cottage! 'I think these marks are the right size,' said Peter, jumping down in excitement. 'They look bigger than the marks made by the one- legged man's wooden leg. I'll measure them.' He got out his bit of string and laid it carefully across one of the marks. Then across another and another. He looked up joyfully. 'See that. Exactly the same size! Every one of these round marks is the same as those we saw in the ground below the wall the thief climbed!' 'Then– there must be another one-legged man here, in the circus– a man with a wooden leg that measures the same as those round marks,' said Colin, excitedly. 'He's not the thief, because a one-legged man couldn't climb the wall, but he must have been with the

潮湿的部分是圆形的、规则的印记，就像他们在墙边看到的那些印记一样——也很像那个独腿人在他的小屋附近留下的小印记！“我想这些记号的大小正合适。”彼得说着，兴奋地跳了下来。 “它们看起来比独腿人的木腿留下的痕迹要大。” 我来量一下。”他拿出一段绳子，小心翼翼地把它放在一个记号上。 然后穿过一个又一个。 他高兴地抬起头来。”看到。 完全一样的尺寸！这些圆形的痕迹和我们在小偷爬过的墙下看到的一模一样！“那么——这里肯定还有另一个独腿的人，在马戏团里——一个装着木腿的人，和那些圆标记一样大。”科林兴奋地说。 “他不是那个贼，因为一条腿的人爬不上墙，但他一定是和那个小偷在一起。

thief!' 'We must find him,' said George. 'If we can find who his friend is, or who he shares a caravan with, we shall know his friend is the thief– and I expect we'll find that the thief is wearing those socks, too! We're getting warmer!' Peter beckoned to the small circus girl who had turned cartwheels some time before. 'Excuse me!' he called. 'We want to talk to the one-legged man here. Which is his caravan?' 'Don't be daft,' said the small girl. 'There isn't a one-legged man here. What'd he be doing in a circus? All of us here have got our two legs– and we need them! You're daft!' 'Come on now,' said Peter firmly. 'We know there is a one-legged man here and we mean to see him. Here's some chocolate if you'll tell us where he is.' The little girl snatched the chocolate at once. Then she laughed rudely. 'Chocolate for

小偷!“我们必须找到他。”乔治说。 “如果我们能找出他的朋友是谁，或者他和谁同住一辆大篷车，我们就知道他的朋友就是那个小偷——我想我们会发现那个小偷也穿着那双袜子！”我们越来越暖和了！”彼得向那个不久前刚翻过侧手翻的马戏团小女孩招手。 “对不起!他叫道。“我们想和这里的独腿男人谈谈。 哪辆是他的大篷车？“别傻了，”小女孩说。 “这里没有一条腿的人。 他怎么会在马戏团里？ 我们这里所有的人都有两条腿——我们需要它们！你是愚蠢的!“走吧。”彼得坚定地说。 “我们知道这儿有一个独腿人，我们要见他。 如果你告诉我们他在哪儿，我就给你一些巧克力。”小女孩立刻抢过巧克力。 然后她粗鲁地笑了。的巧克力

nothing!' she said. 'You're nuts! I tell you, there isn't a one-legged man here!' And before they could ask her anything else, she was gone, turning over on hands and feet as fast as any clown in the circus! 'You run after her,' called a woman from a nearby caravan. 'But she won't tell you no different. We haven't got any one-legged man here!' She went into her caravan and shut the door. The Seven felt quite taken aback. 'First we find marks outside Chimney Cottage and are certain they belong to the thief,' groaned Peter, 'but they belong to a one-legged man who is nothing to do with this adventure– and then we find the right marks, right size and all– and we're told there isn't a one-legged man here at all! It's really very puzzling!' 'Let's follow the marks,' said Janet. 'We shall find them difficult to see in the longer grass– but maybe we can spot enough to

没有什么!她说。“你疯了!我告诉你，这里没有一条腿的人！”他们还没来得及问她别的问题，她就走了，像马戏团里的小丑一样，手脚不停地翻来翻去！“你去追她，”附近一辆大篷车里的一个女人喊道。 “但是她不会告诉你有什么不同。 我们这儿没有独腿的人！”她走进她的大篷车，关上了门。 七王子大吃一惊。 “首先，我们在烟囱小屋外发现了一些痕迹，确定它们是小偷的，”彼得呻吟着说，“但它们属于一个和这次冒险毫无关系的一条腿的人——然后我们找到了正确的痕迹，大小和一切都是正确的——我们被告知这里根本没有一条腿的人！”这真的很令人费解！“我们跟着标记走吧，”珍妮特说。 “我们会发现在较长的草丛中很难看到它们——但也许我们能找到足够的地方。

follow them up.' They did manage to follow them. They followed them to a small caravan parked not far off the lions' cage, next to a caravan where Louis was sitting on the steps. He watched them in surprise. They went up the steps of the small caravan and peered inside. It seemed to be full of odds and ends of circus properties. Nobody appeared to live there. A stone skidded near to them and made them jump. 'You clear off, peeping and prying where you've no business to be!' shouted Louis, and picked up another stone. 'Do you hear me? Clear off!'

跟进他们。”他们确实设法跟踪了他们。 他们跟着他们来到了一辆停在离狮子笼子不远的大篷车旁，路易斯正坐在那辆大篷车的台阶上。 他惊奇地看着他们。 他们走上小商队的台阶，向里面窥视。 里面似乎到处都是马戏团的零碎东西。 似乎没有人住在那里。 一块石头滑到他们身边，把他们吓了一跳。 “你走开，去你不该去的地方窥视和窥探！”路易斯喊道，又捡起一块石头。 “你听见了吗？”走开!”