2 AN AMERICAN INDIAN AFTERNOON

CHAPTER TWO AN AMERICAN INDIAN AFTERNOON AT HALF-PAST two the Secret Seven Society arrived by ones and twos. Jack arrived first, wearing his badge again. He had chased and caught Susie, and taken it from her. 'I'll come and bang at the door again and shout the password,' threatened Susie. 'That won't be any good,' said Jack. 'We've got a new one!' Everyone said the new password cautiously, just in case that tiresome Susie was anywhere about. 'Indians!'

第二章美洲印第安人的一个下午两点半，秘密七人会的人三三两两来了。 杰克先到，又戴上了警徽。 他追赶并抓住了苏茜，并从她手中夺走了它。 “我要再来敲门，喊出密码。”苏茜威胁道。 “那可没用，”杰克说。 “我们有一个新的！”每个人都小心翼翼地说出新密码，以防那个讨厌的苏茜在附近。 “印度人!”

'Indians!' The password was whispered time after time till all seven were gathered together. Everyone had brought American Indian suits and head-dresses. Soon they were all dressing, except Colin, who hadn't one.

“印度人!”密码一次又一次地低声说着，直到七个人都聚集在一起。 每个人都带了印第安人的衣服和头饰。 很快他们都穿好了衣服，除了科林，他没有。

'Now off we go to Little Thicket,' said Peter, prancing about with a most terrifying-looking hatchet. Fortunately, it was only made of wood. 'I'll take Janet and Jack for my two men, and George can have Barbara and Pam. Colin's to be the one we both try to stalk and capture.' 'No tying me to trees and shooting off arrows at me,' said Colin, firmly. 'That's fun for you, but not for me. OK?' They had all painted their faces in weird patterns, except Colin. Jack had a rubber knife which he kept pretending to plunge into Scamper. They really did look a very fierce collection of Indians indeed. They set off for Little Thicket, which was about half a mile away, across the fields. It lay beside a big mansion called Milton Manor, which had high walls all round it. 'Now, what we'll do is to start out at opposite ends of Little Thicket,' said Peter.

“现在我们到小灌木林去。”彼得说着，手里拿着一把样子很吓人的斧头，蹦蹦跳跳地走来走去。 幸运的是，它只是木头做的。 “我要珍妮特和杰克做我的两个男人，乔治可以用芭芭拉和帕姆。 科林是我们俩都想跟踪并抓住的人。“不要把我绑在树上，也不要向我射箭。”科林坚定地说。 “这对你来说很有趣，但对我来说不是。 好吗?”除了科林，他们都在脸上画了奇怪的图案。 杰克有一把橡胶刀，他一直假装要刺向斯坎珀。 他们看起来确实是一群非常凶猛的印第安人。 他们穿过田野，向大约半英里外的小灌木林走去。 它坐落在一座名叫弥尔顿庄园的大宅第旁边，四周都是高墙。 “现在，我们要做的是从小灌木林的两端出发。”彼得说。

'My three can take this end, and you three can take the other end, George. Colin can go to the middle. We'll all shut our eyes and count one hundred– and then we'll begin to hunt for Colin and stalk him.' 'And if I spot any of you and call your name, you have to get up and show yourselves,' said Colin. 'You'll be out of the game then.' 'And if any one of us manages to get right up to you and pounce on you, then you're the prisoner,' said Peter. 'Little Thicket is just the right kind of place for this!' It certainly was. It was a mixture of heather and bushes and trees. Big, heathery tufts grew there, and patches of wiry grass, small bushes, and big and little trees. There were plenty of places to hide, and anyone could stalk a person from one end of the thicket to the other without being seen, if they crawled carefully along on their tummy. The two parties separated, and went to each

“我的三个人负责这一头，你们三个负责另一头，乔治。 科林可以走到中间。 我们都闭上眼睛，数一百——然后开始寻找柯林，跟踪他。“如果我认出你们中的任何一个，叫到你们的名字，你们必须站起来，露出自己。”科林说。 “那你就玩完了。“如果我们当中有谁设法靠近你，扑向你，你就是俘虏了。”彼得说。 “小灌木林正适合这个地方！”确实如此。 它是石南、灌木和树木的混合体。 那里长着大片的石南丛，还有一片片的铁丝草、小灌木和大大小小的树木。 有很多地方可以隐藏，任何人都可以跟踪一个人从灌木丛的一端到另一端而不被发现，如果他们小心翼翼地匍匐前进的话。 两个人分开了，各自走了

end of Little Thicket. A fence bounded one side and on the other the walls of Milton Manor grounds rose strong and high. If Colin could manage to get out of either end of Little Thicket uncaptured, he would be clever! He went to stand in the middle, waiting for the others to count their hundred with their eyes shut. As soon as Peter waved a handkerchief to show that the counting had begun, Colin ran to a tree. He climbed quickly up into the thick branches, and sat himself on broad bough. He grinned. They can stalk me all they like, from one end of the thicket to the other, but they won't find me! he thought. And when they're all tired of looking and give up, I'll shin down and stroll up to them! The counting was up. Six American Indians began to spread out and worm their way silently through heather and thick undergrowth and long grass.

小灌木丛的尽头。米尔顿庄园的一边是篱笆，另一边是坚固而高大的围墙。 如果科林能设法从小灌木丛的两头逃出来而不被抓住，那他就太聪明了！他走过去站在中间，等着其他人闭着眼睛数一百。 彼得一挥手帕表示已经开始点票，科林就跑到一棵树旁。 他迅速爬上茂密的树枝，坐在一根大树枝上。 他咧嘴一笑。他们可以随心所欲地跟踪我，从灌木丛的这头到那头，但他们找不到我！他想。 等他们都看累了，放弃了，我就溜达到他们身边去！点票开始了。 六个美洲印第安人开始散开，在石南丛、茂密的灌木丛和长长的草丛中悄悄地爬行。

Colin could see where some of them were by the movement of the undergrowth. He kept peeping between the boughs of his tree, chuckling to himself. This was fun! And then something very surprising caught his eye. He glanced over to the high wall that surrounded the grounds of Milton Manor, and saw that somebody was astride the top! Even as he looked the man jumped down and disappeared from view, and Colin heard the crackling of undergrowth. Then everything was still. Colin couldn't see him at all. He was most astonished. What had the man been doing, climbing over the wall? Colin couldn't for the life of him think what was the best thing to do. He couldn't start yelling to the others from the tree. Then he suddenly saw that Peter, or one of the others, was very near where the man had gone to ground! It was Peter. He had thought he had heard

科林可以通过矮树丛的移动看到他们中的一些人在哪里。 他不停地在树枝间偷看，自己咯咯地笑着。 这很有趣！然后，一些非常令人惊讶的东西引起了他的注意。 他朝米尔顿庄园四周的高墙望去，看见有人跨在墙顶上！就在他看的时候，那人跳了下来，消失了，科林听到了灌木丛的噼啪声。 然后一切都静止了。 科林根本看不见他。 他非常吃惊。那个人翻墙到底在做什么？ 科林无论如何也想不出什么是最好的办法。 他不能在树上对其他人大喊大叫。 然后他突然看到彼得，或者是另外一个人，就在离那个人倒下的地方很近的地方！是彼得。 他以为自己听见了