18 PETER TELLS HIS STORY

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN PETER TELLS HIS STORY PETER GAZED down at the number of strange round marks. He looked over at the child who was stilt-walking– yes, everywhere she went, her stilts left those round marks on the ground. Now another bit of the jigsaw had fitted into place. 'The thief was a stilt-walker,' said Peter to himself. 'He took his stilts with him to help him get over the wall. I must find Colin and tell him!' He ran over to where Colin was waiting for him. 'Colin, I've discovered something exciting!' he said. 'I know what makes those

第十八章彼得讲他的故事彼得凝视着下面那些奇怪的圆形记号。 他看了看那个踩高跷的孩子——是的，无论她走到哪里，她的高跷都会在地上留下那些圆形的痕迹。 现在，拼图的另一部分已经就位了。 “那个贼是个走高跷的。”彼得自言自语道。 他带着他的高跷来帮助他翻过墙。 我必须找到科林，告诉他！”他跑到科林等他的地方。 “科林，我发现了一些令人兴奋的东西！”他说。 “我知道是什么做的

peculiar round marks– and they're nothing to do with a one-legged man!' 'What makes them then?' asked Colin, surprised. 'Stilts!' said Peter. 'The ends of stilts! The thief was on stilts– so that he could easily get over that high wall. What a very clever idea!' 'But how did he do it?' said Colin puzzled. 'Come on, let's go home, Peter. I shall get into an awful row, it's so late. I'm terribly tired, too.' 'So am I,' said Peter. 'Well, we won't discuss this exciting evening any more now– we'll think about it and have a meeting tomorrow morning. I'll send Janet round for the others first thing. As a matter of fact, I haven't quite worked out how the thief did climb over the wall with stilts.' Colin yawned widely. He felt that he really could not try to think out anything. He was bruised from his fall out of the caravan, he had

奇怪的圆形标记——它们与独腿人无关！”“那是什么呢？科林惊讶地问。 “高跷!彼得说。“高跷的末端！”小偷踩着高跷，所以他可以很容易地翻过那堵高墙。 多么聪明的主意啊！“可是他是怎么做到的呢？”科林困惑地问。 “走吧，我们回家吧，彼得。 太晚了，我要大吵一架了。 我也累极了。“我也是，”彼得说。 “好吧，我们现在就不讨论这个激动人心的晚上了——我们考虑一下，明天早上开会。 我马上派珍妮特去叫其他人来。 事实上，我还没弄明白小偷是怎么用高跷翻墙的。”科林打了个大哈欠。 他觉得自己实在想不出什么来。 他从大篷车上摔下来，身上有淤青

banged his head hard, and he felt rather dazed. All he wanted to do was to get into bed and go to sleep! Janet was fast asleep when Peter got home, so he didn't wake her. He got into bed, meaning to think everything out carefully– but he didn't, because he fell sound asleep at once! In the morning he wouldn't tell Janet a word about the night's adventures. He just sent her out to get the others to a meeting. They came, wondering what had happened. One by one they hissed the password– 'Adventure!'– and passed through the door. Colin was last of all. He said he had overslept! 'What happened last night? Did you find the pearls? Do you know who the thief is?' asked Pam, eagerly. 'We didn't find the pearls– but we know everything else!' said Peter, triumphantly. 'Do we?' said Colin, surprised. 'You may,

他的头重重地撞了一下，他感到有点头晕。 他唯一想做的就是上床睡觉！彼得回家时珍妮特已经睡得很熟了，所以他没有叫醒她。 他上了床，想把每件事都仔细考虑一下——但是他没有，因为他马上就睡着了！早上，他对珍妮特只字不提晚上的冒险。 他只是让她去召集其他人开会。 他们来了，想知道发生了什么事。 他们一个接一个低声说出口令——“冒险！”——然后走出了门。 科林是最后一个。他说他睡过头了！“昨晚发生了什么事？” 你找到珍珠了吗？你知道小偷是谁吗？帕姆急切地问。 “我们没有找到珍珠——但我们知道其他的一切！”彼得得意洋洋地说。 “我们?科林惊讶地说。 “你可以

Peter– but I don't. I still feel sleepy!' 'Peter, tell us,' said George. 'Don't keep us waiting. Tell us everything!' 'Come on up to Little Thicket and I'll show you exactly how the thief got over that wall,' said Peter, suddenly deciding that that would be a very interesting way of fitting all the bits of the jigsaw together. 'Oh– you might tell us now!' wailed Janet, bitterly disappointed. 'No. Come on up to Little Thicket,' said Peter. So they all went together to Little Thicket, and walked over to the big gates of Milton Manor. John the gardener was there again, working in the front beds of the drive. 'John! May we come in again?' shouted Peter. 'We won't do any harm.' John opened the gates, grinning. 'Discovered anything yet?' he asked as the children crowded through. 'Yes, lots,' said Peter, and led the way to the

彼得——但我不知道。我还是觉得困！“彼得，告诉我们。”乔治说。 “别让我们久等了。告诉我们一切！“来吧，到小灌木林那儿去，我告诉你小偷是怎么翻墙的。”彼得说着，突然想到用这种方法把拼图的各个部分拼起来，一定很有趣。 “哦——你现在可以告诉我们了！”珍妮特悲叹道，非常失望。 “不。“到小灌木林去吧。”彼得说。 于是他们一起去了小灌木林，向米尔顿庄园的大门走去。 园丁约翰又来了，在车道前面的床上干活。 “约翰!”我们可以再进来吗？彼得喊道。 “我们不会做任何伤害。”约翰笑嘻嘻地打开了大门。 “有什么发现吗？”孩子们挤过去时，他问道。 “是的，很多。”彼得说着，领着他们去

place where the thief had climbed over the wall. 'Come along with us and I'll tell you what we've discovered, John!' 'Right– but I'll just let this car in at the gates first,' said John, as a big black car hooted outside. The children soon came to the place where they had been before. 'Now look,' said Peter, 'this is what happened. The thief was a stilt- walker, so all he had to do was to come to the outside of this wall, get up on his stilts– walk to the wall, lean on the top, take his feet from the stilts and sit on the wall. He then draws his stilts over the wall and uses them on this soft ground. On the hard garden paths they don't mark, and he is safe to come to earth and hide his stilts along the box hedging of the border.' 'Go on!' said Janet in excitement. 'He gets into the house, takes the pearls, and comes back to the wall,' said Peter. 'Up he gets on his stilts again and walks to the wall– and

小偷翻墙的地方。 “跟我们来，我告诉你我们发现了什么，约翰！”“好吧——不过我得先让这辆车进大门，”约翰说，这时一辆黑色的大轿车在外面呼啸而过。 孩子们很快来到了他们以前去过的地方。 “听着，”彼得说，“事情是这样的。 小偷是一个踩高跷的人，所以他所要做的就是走到墙的外面，站在高跷上——走到墙上，靠在上面，把脚从高跷上拿下来，坐在墙上。 然后他把高跷拉过墙，在松软的地面上使用。 在坚硬的花园小径上，它们没有标记，他可以安全地来到地球，把他的高跷藏在边界的盒子树篱上。“说下去！”珍妮特兴奋地说。 “他进了房子，拿了珍珠，又回到了墙边。”彼得说。 他又爬上高跷，走到墙边——然后

he leaves more of these peculiar round stilt- marks behind in the earth, of course!' 'Goodness– that's what they were!' said Pam. 'Yes. And as he clambers on to the wall, his cap catches a high branch of a tree and is jerked off,' said Peter. 'He leaves it there because he doesn't want to waste time getting it back. He catches one of his socks on that little sharp piece of brick and leaves a bit of wool behind… then he's up on the top of the wall, and down he jumps on the other side!' 'Which I heard him do!' said Colin. 'But, Peter– he had no stilts when I saw him. What did he do with his stilts?'

当然，他在土里留下了更多这种奇特的圆形踩点！“天哪——原来是这样！”潘说。 ‘是的。“当他爬到墙上时，他的帽子抓住了一根高高的树枝，被扯掉了。”彼得说。 “他把它留在那里，因为他不想浪费时间把它拿回来。 他的一只袜子被那块锋利的小砖抓住了，留下了一点羊毛……然后他爬上了墙的顶部，然后他从另一边跳了下来！”“我听见他这样做了！科林说。 “可是，彼得——我看见他的时候，他没有脚跷。 他用他的高跷做了什么？”