4 IS IT AN ADVENTURE

CHAPTER FOUR IS IT AN ADVENTURE? COLIN SLID down the tree. He stood at the foot, looking warily round. Nobody was in sight. The man had completely vanished. I'll run at top speed and hope for the best, thought Colin, and off he went. Nobody stopped him! Nobody yelled at him. He felt rather ashamed of himself when he came to the field-path and saw the cows staring at him in surprise. He went back to the farmhouse where Peter and Janet lived. Maybe the Secret Seven were still down in the shed, stripped of their American Indian things and wiping the paint

第四章这是一次冒险吗？ 科林从树上滑了下来。他站在脚下，小心翼翼地环顾四周。 一个人也看不见。那人完全消失了。 我要以最快的速度跑，希望能有最好的结果，科林想，然后就跑了。 没有人阻止他！没有人对他大喊大叫。 当他走到田间小路上，看见母牛惊奇地盯着他时，他感到很惭愧。 他回到彼得和珍妮特住的农舍。 也许“秘密七人组”还在下面的小屋里，脱下印第安人的衣服，擦着油漆

off their faces. He ran down the path to the shed. The door was shut as usual. The S.S. showed up well with the two letters painted so boldly. There was the sound of voices from inside the shed. Colin knocked. 'Let me in!' he cried. 'I'm back too.' There was a silence. The door didn't open. Colin banged again impatiently. 'You know it's only me. Open the door!' Still it didn't open. And then Colin remembered. He must give the password, of course! What in the world was it? Thankfully he remembered it, as he caught a glimpse of brilliant American Indian feathers through the shed-window. 'Indians!' he shouted. The door opened. 'And now everybody in the district knows our latest password,' said Peter's voice in disgust. 'We'll have to choose another. Come in. Wherever have you been?

从他们的脸上。他沿着小路跑向小屋。 门像往常一样关着。 党卫军的两个字母画得很醒目，很醒目。 小屋里传来了说话声。 科林敲了敲门。“让我进去！”他叫道。 “我也回来了。”一阵沉默。 门打不开。科林又不耐烦地敲了一声。 “你知道只有我一个人。快开门！”但还是没有打开。 然后科林想起来了。 当然，他必须给出密码！这到底是什么？ 谢天谢地，当他透过棚子的窗户瞥见灿烂的美洲印第安人羽毛时，他记起了这件事。 “印度人!他喊道。门开了。 “现在全区的人都知道我们最新的密码了。”彼得厌恶地说。 “我们得另选一个。 进来。你去哪儿了？

We yelled and yelled for you at Little Thicket.' 'I know. I heard you,' said Colin, stepping inside. 'I'm sorry I shouted out the password like that. I wasn't thinking. But I've got some news– most peculiar news!' 'What?' asked everyone, and stopped rubbing the paint from their faces. 'You know when Peter stood up and shouted out that he'd found a man in hiding, don't you?' said Colin. 'Well, I was quite nearby– as a matter of fact, I was up a tree!' 'Cheat!' said George. 'That's not playing American Indians!' 'Who said it wasn't?' demanded Colin. 'I bet American Indians climbed trees as well as wriggling on their tummies. Anyway, I was up that tree– and, guess what– the man that Peter found came running up to my tree, and climbed it too!' 'Gosh!' said George. 'What did you do?' 'Nothing,' said Colin. 'He didn't come up

我们在小灌木丛里不停地喊你。”“我知道。 “我听见了。”柯林说着走了进去。 “对不起，我那样喊出了密码。 我当时没多想。但我有一些消息——最奇怪的消息！“什么?大家都问，不再擦脸上的颜料了。 “你知道彼得站起来大声说他发现了一个藏起来的人，对吗？科林说。 “嗯，我就在附近——事实上，我在一棵树上！”“骗子!乔治说。 “那不是玩印第安人游戏！”“谁说不是？”科林问。 “我敢打赌，美洲印第安人不仅会趴在地上扭动身体，还会爬树。 不管怎么说，我在那棵树上——你猜怎么着——彼得找到的那个人跑到我的树上，也爬了上去！“天啊!乔治说。 “你做了什么？”“没什么，”柯林说。 他没有上来

quite as far as I was– so I just sat tight, and didn't make a sound. I saw him before Peter did, actually. I saw him on the top of the wall that surrounds Milton Manor– then he dropped down, ran to the thicket and disappeared.' 'What happened in the end?' asked Janet, excited. 'After you'd all gone, he slid down the tree and went,' said Colin. 'I didn't see him any more. I slid down too, and ran for home. I felt a bit scared, actually.' 'Whatever was he doing, behaving like that?' wondered Jack. 'What was he like?' 'Well, I only saw the top of his head and his ears,' said Colin. 'Did you see him closely, Peter?' 'Yes, fairly,' said Peter. 'But he wasn't anything out of the ordinary really– clean- shaven, dark-haired– nothing much to remember him by.'

和我一样远——所以我只是坐着不动，不出声。 事实上，我比彼得先看到他。 我看见他站在弥尔顿庄园周围的墙头上——然后他掉了下来，跑到灌木丛里消失了。“最后发生了什么事？”珍妮特兴奋地问。 “你们都走了以后，他从树上滑下来走了。”科林说。 “我再也没见过他。 我也滑了下来，向家跑去。 事实上，我感到有点害怕。“他到底在干什么，做出那样的举动？”杰克纳闷。 “他长什么样？”“嗯，我只看到了他的头顶和耳朵。”科林说。 “你仔细看他了吗，彼得？”“是的，不错。”彼得说。 “但他并没有什么与众不同的地方——胡子刮得干干净净，头发黑黑的——没有什么值得记住的。”

'Well, I suppose that's the last we'll hear of him,' said Barbara. 'The adventure that passed us by! We shall never know exactly what he was doing, and why.' 'He spoilt our afternoon, anyway,' said Pam. 'Not that we'd have caught Colin– hiding up a tree like that. We'll have to make a rule that trees are not to be climbed when we're playing at stalking.' 'When's our next meeting– and are we going to have a new password?' asked Janet. 'We'll meet on Wednesday evening,' said Peter. 'Keep your eyes and ears open for anything exciting or mysterious or adventurous, as usual. It is a pity we didn't capture that man– or find out more about him. I'm sure he was up to no good.' 'What about a password?' asked Janet again. 'Well– we'll have "Adventure", I think,' said Peter. 'Seeing we've just missed one!' They all went their several ways home–

“好吧，我想这是我们最后一次听到他的消息了，”芭芭拉说。 “与我们擦肩而过的奇遇！”我们永远也不会知道他究竟在做什么，为什么要这样做。“不管怎样，他毁了我们的下午，”帕姆说。 “我们不会抓到科林的——他那样躲在树上。 我们得定个规矩，我们玩跟踪游戏的时候不能爬树。“我们下次开会是什么时候？我们会有新密码吗？”珍妮特问。 “我们星期三晚上见。”彼得说。 “像往常一样，睁大你的眼睛和耳朵，留意任何令人兴奋、神秘或冒险的事情。 遗憾的是，我们没有抓住那个人，也没有进一步了解他。 我敢肯定他没做什么好事。“密码怎么样？”珍妮特又问。 “嗯——我想我们选《冒险》。”彼得说。 “我们刚刚错过了一个！”他们各自走了几条回家的路

and, except for Colin, nobody thought much more of the peculiar man at Little Thicket. But the radio that evening suddenly made all the Secret Seven think of him again! 'Lady Lucy Thomas's magnificent and unique pearl necklace was stolen from her bedroom at Milton Manor this afternoon,' said the announcer. 'Nobody saw the thief, or heard him, and he got away in safety.' Peter and Janet sprang up at once. 'That's the man we saw!' yelled Peter. 'Would you believe it! Call a meeting of the Secret Seven for tomorrow, Janet– this is an adventure again!'

除了柯林，没有人更看重小西克特的那个怪人。 但是那天晚上的广播突然让所有的秘密七人又想起了他！“今天下午，露西·托马斯夫人在米尔顿庄园的卧室里被偷走了一条华丽而独特的珍珠项链，”报幕员说。 “没人看见小偷，也没人听到他的声音，他安全逃走了。”彼得和珍妮特立刻跳了起来。 “这就是我们看到的那个人！”彼得喊道。 “你信不信！”明天召集七个秘密成员开会，珍妮特——这又是一次冒险！”