15 A SHOCK FOR PETER AND COLIN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN A SHOCK FOR PETER AND COLIN THE SEVEN went hurriedly out of the circus field and into the lane. George rubbed his ankle where one of Louis's stones had struck him. 'Beast!' he said. 'Why didn't he want us to peep in that little old caravan? It's only used for storing things, anyway.' 'Maybe the thief has hidden the pearls there!' said Janet with a laugh. Peter stared at her and thought hard. 'Do you know– you might be right!' he said, slowly. 'We are certain the thief belongs to the

第十五章彼得和科林的震惊七个人匆匆走出马戏场，来到小路上。 乔治揉了揉脚踝上被路易斯的一块石头击中的地方。 “野兽!他说。“他为什么不让我们偷看那辆小小的旧大篷车呢？” 反正它只是用来放东西的。“也许小偷把珍珠藏在那里了！”珍妮特笑着说。 彼得盯着她，苦思冥想。 “你知道吗——也许你是对的！”他慢慢地说。 “我们确定小偷属于……

circus– we're certain the pearls must be there– and why should Louis be so upset when we just peeped into that caravan?' 'I wish we could search it and see,' said Colin, longingly. 'But I don't see how we can.' 'Well, I do!' said Peter. 'You and I will go to tonight's performance of the circus, Colin– but we'll slip out at half-time, when all the performers are in the ring, or behind it– and we'll see if those pearls are hidden there!' 'But surely they won't be?' asked Pam. 'It seems such a silly place.' 'I've got a sort of a hunch about it,' said Peter, obstinately. 'I just can't explain it. Those strange round marks seemed to lead there, didn't they? Well, that's peculiar enough, to begin with.' 'It certainly is,' said Barbara. 'Marks made by a one-legged man who doesn't exist! This is a silly adventure, I think.' 'It isn't really,' said George. 'It's a bit like a

马戏团——我们肯定珍珠一定在那里——我们刚刚偷看了一下那辆大篷车，路易斯为什么要这么生气呢？“我希望我们能搜一搜看看。”柯林渴望地说。 “但我看不出我们怎么能做到。“嗯，我喜欢！”彼得说。 “你和我今晚去看马戏团的演出，科林——但是我们要在中场休息的时候溜出去，那时所有的表演者都在舞台上，或者在舞台后面——我们要看看那些珍珠是不是藏在那里！””“但肯定不会的吧？潘问。 “这地方看起来真傻。“我有一种预感。”彼得固执地说。 “我就是无法解释。那些奇怪的圆形痕迹似乎是通向那里的，是吗？ 首先，这就够奇怪的了。“当然是，”芭芭拉说。 “一个不存在的单腿人留下的痕迹！”我认为这是一次愚蠢的冒险。“不是真的，”乔治说。 “这有点像。

jigsaw puzzle– the bits look quite odd and hopeless when they're all higgledy-piggledy– but as soon as you fit them together properly, they make a clear picture.' 'Yes– and what we've got so far is a lot of odd bits that really belong to one another– but we don't know how they fit,' said Pam. 'A bit of blue wool belonging to socks we saw on the line– a tweed cap that matches a coat worn by someone we know isn't the thief! Strange marks that turn up everywhere and don't tell us anything.' 'Come on– let's get home,' said Jack, looking at his watch. 'It's almost dinner-time. We've spent all the morning snooping about for nothing. Actually I'm beginning to feel quite muddled over this adventure. We keep following up trails that aren't any use at all.' 'No more meetings today,' said Peter, as they walked down the lane. 'Colin and I will meet tonight by ourselves and go to the circus.

拼图游戏——当这些碎片乱七八糟地拼凑在一起时，它们看起来很奇怪，毫无希望——但一旦你把它们正确地组合在一起，它们就会形成一幅清晰的画面。“是的——我们目前得到的是一大堆奇怪的碎片，它们本来是属于彼此的——但我们不知道它们是怎么搭配的，”帕姆说。 “我们在绳子上看到的袜子上的一点蓝色羊毛——一顶粗花呢帽子和一件外套很搭，我们知道那个人不是小偷！”到处都是奇怪的痕迹，却什么也没告诉我们。“走吧——我们回家吧，”杰克看了看表说。 “快到晚饭时间了。我们花了一上午的时间毫无意义地四处窥探。 事实上，我开始对这次冒险感到相当困惑。 我们一直在追查根本没有任何用处的线索。“今天不再开会了。”他们沿着小巷走着，彼得说。 “科林和我今晚单独见面，一起去看马戏。

Bring a torch, Colin. Gosh– suppose we found the pearls hidden in that old caravan!' 'We shan't,' said Colin. 'I can't think why you're so set on searching it. All right– meet you at the circus gate tonight!' He was there first. Peter came running up a little later. They went in together, groaning at having to pay out another six pounds, 'Just for half the show, too,' whispered Peter. The two boys went into the big tent and found seats near the back, so that they could easily slip out unnoticed. They sat down and waited for the show to begin. It really was very good, and the clowns, stilt- walkers and acrobats seemed better than ever. The boys were quite sorry to slip out before the show was over. It was dark in the circus field now. They stopped to get their direction. 'Over there,' said Peter, taking Colin's arm. 'See– that's the caravan, I'm sure.'

拿个火把来，科林。天哪——假如我们找到了藏在那辆旧大篷车里的珍珠呢！“我们不会的，”科林说。 "我真不明白你为什么非要去找它不可。 好吧——今晚在马戏团门口见！”他先到的。 过了一会儿，彼得跑了过来。 他们一起走了进去，又得付六镑，唉声叹气。“也只付一半的钱。”彼得小声说。 两个男孩走进大帐篷，找了个靠后面的座位，这样他们很容易溜出去，不被人注意。 他们坐下来等待演出开始。 演出确实很精彩，小丑、走高跷的人和杂技演员似乎比以往任何时候都精彩。 演出还没结束，孩子们就溜出去了，感到很抱歉。 现在马戏场上已经很黑了。 他们停下来找方向。 “在那边。”彼得说着，抓住科林的胳膊。 “看——那是大篷车，我敢肯定。”

They made their way cautiously towards the caravan. They didn't dare to put on their torches in case someone saw them and challenged them. Peter fell over the bottom step of the caravan, and then began to climb up carefully. 'Come on,' he whispered to Colin. 'It's all clear! The door isn't locked, either. We'll creep in, and begin our search immediately!' The two boys crept into the caravan. They bumped into something in the darkness. 'Dare we put on our torches yet?' whispered Colin. 'Yes. I can't hear anyone near,' whispered back Peter. So, very cautiously, shading the beam with their hands, they switched on their torches. They got a dreadful shock at once. They were in the wrong caravan! This wasn't the little caravan in which all kinds of things from the circus were stored– this was a caravan people lived in. Good gracious! Suppose they

他们小心翼翼地向大篷车走去。 他们不敢点燃火炬，以防有人看到并挑战他们。 彼得跌倒在大篷车的最下面的台阶上，然后开始小心翼翼地往上爬。 “来吧。”他小声对科林说。 “没事了！”门也没锁。 我们要溜进去，立刻开始搜寻！”两个男孩蹑手蹑脚地钻进了大篷车。 他们在黑暗中撞到了什么东西。 “我们敢点上火把吗？”科林小声说。 ‘是的。“我听不见附近有人。”彼得小声回答。 于是，他们小心翼翼地用手遮住光束，打开了手电筒。 他们立刻受到了可怕的打击。 他们坐错大篷车了！这不是用来存放马戏团各种物品的小商队——这是人们居住的商队。 好亲切!假设他们

were caught, what a row they would get into. 'Get out, quickly!' said Peter. But even as he spoke Colin clutched his arm. He had heard voices outside! Then someone came up the step. Whatever were they going to do now!

要是被抓住了，他们会吵上一架的。 “快出去！”彼得说。 但就在他说话的时候，科林抓住了他的胳膊。 他听到了外面的声音！然后有人走上台阶。 不管他们现在要干什么！