17 BACK AT THE CIRCUS FIELD

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN BACK AT THE CIRCUS FIELD THE KEY turned in the lock and the door of the caravan was pushed open. A powerful torch was switched on, and the beam flashed round the inside of the van. The boys were under the bunks and could not be seen. But the man was so certain that somebody was inside the van that he pulled aside the draperies that hung over the side of the bunk where Peter was hiding. At once he saw the boy. He shouted angrily and dragged poor Peter out. He shook him so hard that the boy yelled.

第十七章回到马戏场钥匙在锁里转动，大篷车的门被推开了。 一个强大的火炬被打开，光束在货车内部周围闪烁。 孩子们躲在铺位下面，看不见。 但那人非常肯定车里有人，于是他拉开了挂在彼得藏身的铺位上的窗帘。 他立刻看到了那个男孩。他生气地大叫，把可怜的彼得拖了出去。 他使劲摇晃男孩，男孩大叫起来。

Out came Colin at once to his rescue! 'Ah– so there are two of you!' said the man. 'What are you doing here? How long have you been in this van?' 'Not long,' said Peter. 'We came in by mistake. We wanted to get into another van– but in the dark we missed our way.' 'A pretty poor sort of story!' said the man, angrily. 'Now I'm going to teach you a lesson– that will stop you getting into other people's caravans.' He put down his torch on a shelf, so that its beam lit the whole caravan. He pushed back his coat sleeves and looked very alarming indeed. Colin suddenly kicked up at the torch. It jerked into the air and fell to the floor with a crash. The bulb was broken and the light went out. The caravan was in darkness. 'Quick, Peter, go for his legs!' yelled Colin, and dived for the man's legs. But in the

科林立刻出来救他！“啊——原来你们是两个人！”那人说。 “你在这儿干什么？”你在这辆车里多久了？“不久。”彼得说。 “我们不小心进来了。我们想上另一辆货车，但在黑暗中我们迷路了。“真是个可怜的故事！”那人生气地说。 “现在我要给你一个教训——这样你就不会钻进别人的大篷车了。”他把火把放在架子上，火光照亮了整个商队。 他把衣袖往后一捋，看上去确实很吓人。 科林突然向火炬踢了一脚。 它猛地飞到空中，砰的一声掉在地上。 灯泡坏了，灯灭了。 大篷车在黑暗中行进。 “快，彼得，抓住他的腿！”科林喊道，扑向那人的腿。 但是在

darkness he missed them, shot out of the door, and rolled down the steps, landing with a bump on the road below. Peter got a slap on the side of his head and dodged in the darkness. He, too, dived to get hold of the man's legs and caught one of them. The man hit out again and then staggered and fell. Peter wriggled away, half fell down the steps and rolled into the hedge. At the same moment the horse took fright and galloped off down the road with the caravan swinging from side to side behind it in a most alarming manner. The man inside must have been very, very surprised indeed! 'Colin! Where are you?' shouted Peter. 'Come on, quickly! The horse has bolted with the caravan and the man inside it. Now's our chance!' Colin was hiding in the hedge, too. He stepped out to join Peter, and the two set off down the road as fast as they could, running at

黑暗中，他错过了他们，冲出大门，滚下台阶，砰的一声落在下面的路上。 彼得的头侧面挨了一巴掌，在黑暗中闪避。 他也扑过去抓住那人的腿，抓住了其中一条腿。 那人又打了一拳，然后摇摇晃晃地倒了下去。 彼得扭动着身子躲开了，半跌下台阶，滚进了树篱。 与此同时，那匹马吓了一跳，沿着大路疾驰而去，大篷车在它身后晃来晃去，样子非常吓人。 里面的人一定非常非常惊讶！“科林!你在哪里？彼得喊道。 “快点，快点！”马带着商队和里面的人跑了。 现在我们的机会来了！”科林也躲在树篱里。 他走出去和彼得会合，两个人沿着大路飞快地跑着

top speed, panting loudly. 'Every single thing in this adventure goes wrong,' said Colin at last, slowing down. 'We can't even get into the right caravan when we want to– we have to choose the wrong one.' 'Well, we learnt quite a bit,' said Peter. 'And we know the thief is wearing those socks now, even if we still don't know who he is. Funny thing is– I seem to know his voice.' 'Have you any idea at all where we are?' asked Colin. 'I mean– do you suppose we're running towards home, or away from it? As this is a most contrary adventure, I wouldn't be surprised if we're running in the wrong direction as fast as ever we can!' 'Well, we're not,' said Peter. 'I know where we are all right. In fact, we'll soon be back at the circus field. Hey– should we slip into the field again and just have a look round for the man who's wearing the socks? I feel as if I simply must find out who he is!'

全速前进，大声喘气。 “这次冒险的每一件事都出了差错。”科林终于说，放慢了脚步。 “当我们想要的时候，我们甚至不能进入合适的大篷车——我们不得不选择错误的大篷车。“嗯，我们学到了不少东西。”彼得说。 “而且我们知道小偷现在正穿着那双袜子，尽管我们还不知道他是谁。 有趣的是，我好像认得他的声音。“你知道我们在什么地方吗？”科林问。 “我是说——你认为我们是在往家跑呢，还是在离家跑呢？” 由于这是一次非常相反的冒险，如果我们尽可能快地朝着错误的方向奔跑，我也不会感到惊讶！“嗯，我们不是。”彼得说。 “我知道我们在什么地方。 事实上，我们很快就会回到马戏场。 嘿，我们要不要再溜进场地，四处看看那个穿袜子的人？ 我觉得我一定要弄清楚他是谁！”

Colin didn't want to. He had had enough adventure for one night. But he said he would wait for Peter outside the gate if he badly wanted to go into the field again. So Peter slipped over the fence and made his way to where he saw many lights. The show was over, and the people had gone home. But the circus people were now having their supper, and the light from lanterns and fires looked very bright and cheerful. Peter saw some children playing together. One of them appeared very tall indeed– and Peter saw that she was walking on stilts, just as the stilt-walkers did in the ring. It was the rude little girl who had told him there was no one- legged man in the circus. She came walking over to where he stood by a caravan, but she didn't see him. She was absorbed in keeping her balance on the stilts. She came and went– and Peter stared at something showing on the ground. Where the

科林不想这么做。他这一夜经历的奇遇已经够多了。 但他说，如果他真的想再去田里，他会在大门外等彼得。 于是彼得溜过篱笆，向他看到许多灯光的地方走去。 演出结束了，人们都回家了。 但是马戏团的人现在正在吃晚饭，灯笼和炉火发出的光看起来非常明亮和愉快。 彼得看见一些孩子在一起玩。 其中一个看起来确实很高——彼得看出她是踩着高跷走路，就像斗牛场里的高跷舞者一样。 是那个粗鲁的小女孩告诉他马戏团里没有一条腿的人。 她走到他站在一辆大篷车旁的地方，但她没有看到他。 她全神贯注地在高跷上保持平衡。 她来了又走——彼得盯着地上露出的什么东西。 的地方

child had walked, her stilts had left peculiar marks pitted in the ground– regular, round marks– just like the ones by the wall round Milton Manor! There they were, showing clearly in the damp ground, lit by the flickering light of a nearby lantern! 'Look at that!' said Peter to himself. 'We were blind! Those marks weren't made by a one-legged man– they were made by a stilt- walker! Why ever didn't we think of it before?'

她的高跷在地上留下了奇特的凹痕——规则的圆形凹痕——就像米尔顿庄园四周墙边的凹痕一样！他们就在那里，在潮湿的地面上，在附近一盏灯笼的闪烁的灯光下，清晰地显现出来！“看那个！”彼得自言自语道。 “我们瞎了！”那些痕迹不是一条腿的人留下的——是一个走高跷的人留下的！我们以前为什么没想到呢？”