16 AND NOW MKX

CHAPTER SIXTEEN AND NOW MKX EVERY MEMBER of the Secret Seven felt excited when they heard the latest news. They thought that Janet had been very clever in realising that the red pillow was a mistake for red pillar-box. Barbara thought for a moment and then said that she wondered if the man watching behind the grating might be waiting to signal to someone when the postman came to empty the box. 'Someone might be waiting to steal the letters from him,' she said. 'That's an idea,' said Peter. 'But there isn't

第十六章此时此刻听到这个最新消息，秘密七人组的每个成员都感到兴奋。 他们认为珍妮特很聪明，她意识到红色枕头是红色邮筒的错。 芭芭拉想了一会儿，然后说，她想知道那个站在栅栏后面的人是不是在等着邮递员来清空盒子的时候向谁打信号。 “也许有人正等着从他那里偷信呢，”她说。 “这个主意不错。”彼得说。 “但是没有

much point in stealing ordinary letters. They're not worth anything!' 'That's true,' said Jack. 'It's sacks of registered parcels and letters that are usually stolen. They're worth something. But not ordinary letters. I don't somehow think the watcher is watching the pillar-box, he's probably watching for someone waiting there, or passing it.' 'Is it worth telling Daddy all this, Janet, do you suppose?' said Peter, after the Seven had discussed everything thoroughly. 'After all– it's tomorrow something has been planned to happen. We haven't much time left.' 'Well– we might tell him this evening,' said Janet. 'Let's wait till then. We might think of something else important. I don't think Daddy will change his mind about things just because we've discovered that a red pillar-box can be watched through a grating in Ember Lane.' 'It does sound rather silly put like that,' said

偷普通信件有什么用。 它们一文不值！“那倒是真的，”杰克说。 “通常被偷的都是装着挂号包裹和信件的袋子。 它们是有价值的。但不是普通信件。 我不认为那个观察者在盯着柱箱，他可能在等着有人，或者有人经过柱箱。“你觉得把这一切告诉爸爸值得吗，珍妮特？”七个人把一切都讨论完后，彼得说。 “毕竟是明天，有些事情已经计划好要发生了。 我们剩下的时间不多了。“好吧——我们也许今晚就告诉他，”珍妮特说。 “我们等到那时再说吧。我们可能会想到其他重要的事情。 我不认为爸爸会因为我们发现在余烬巷可以透过栅栏看到一个红色的柱箱就改变主意。“这样说听起来确实很傻，”他说

Peter. 'Well– we'll wait till this evening. Goodbye till then.' But before they could tell their father of their latest ideas, Pam came dashing into the garden to find Peter and Janet. Barbara was just behind. They found Peter and Janet watering their gardens. Pam flung herself on them. 'Peter! Janet! What do you think? We've seen MKX!' Janet dropped her watering-can, startled. Peter stared in excitement. 'Who is he? Where did you see him?' 'It isn't a he. It's a van!' said Barbara. 'Pam and I were going home together, when we saw a post-office van standing near a pillar-box– you know, a mail-van, painted red.' 'And its letters were MKX!' cried Pam. 'MKX 102. What do you think of that? We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw it was MKX. I'm sure that's what Jeff meant– the

彼得。“好吧——我们就等到今晚吧。 再见。”但还没等他们把最新的想法告诉父亲，帕姆就冲进花园去找彼得和珍妮特。 芭芭拉紧随其后。他们发现彼得和珍妮特在给花园浇水。 帕姆扑到他们身上。 “彼得!珍妮特!你觉得呢？ 我们看到MKX了！”珍妮特吓了一跳，扔下了她的水壶。 彼得兴奋地瞪大眼睛。 “他是谁？”你在哪里看到他的？“这不是他。” 这是一辆货车！芭芭拉说。 “帕姆和我一起回家的时候，我们看到一辆邮车停在一个邮筒旁边——你知道，就是一辆漆成红色的邮车。“它的字母是MKX!”潘叫道。 类似MKX的102。你觉得怎么样？ 当我们看到这是MKX时，我们简直不敢相信自己的眼睛。 我相信杰夫就是这个意思

mail-van, MKX.' 'But– but there must be plenty of cars with the letters MKX,' said Peter. 'Plenty.' 'Not in one place,' said Pam. 'I don't ever remember seeing MKX in our town before. I notice car numbers, because I want to see if I can spot a Z something someday. I haven't yet. Peter! That van must be the MKX those men spoke about when Jeff was half-asleep.' Peter sat down on a garden-seat. 'I think you're right,' he said. 'Yes– I think you must be right. It's all beginning to fit in. Wait now, let's work it out.' He sat up and thought, frowning hard. 'Yes, perhaps a mail van goes into Ember Lane, with a few sacks of registered parcels inside. The postman gets out of his van to go across to the red pillar-box to collect the letters.' 'Yes! YES!' cried Pam. 'And someone is watching through the grating to see when he is unlocking the pillar-box, with his back to the

辆邮车,类似MKX。“但是——但是一定有很多标有MKX字样的汽车。”彼得说。 ”很多。“一个地方都没有，”潘说。 “我不记得以前在我们镇上见过MKX。 我注意车号，因为我想看看有一天我是否能发现一个Z之类的东西。 我还没有。彼得!那辆货车一定是杰夫半睡半醒时那些人说的MKX。”彼得坐在花园的椅子上。 “我想你是对的，”他说。 “是的——我想你一定是对的。 一切都开始适应了。 等等，让我们想个办法。”他坐起来沉思，使劲皱着眉头。 “是的，也许会有一辆邮车开进余烬巷，里面装着几袋挂号包裹。 邮递员下了车，走到红色邮筒前收信。“是的!是的!潘叫道。 有人正从铁栅栏里看他什么时候打开邮筒箱，背对着门

van, and signals to the others who are waiting out of sight somewhere…' 'And at once they see the signal, rush to the van, and drive it off before the postman can get back to it!' cried Janet, taking the words out of Pam's mouth. They all sat and looked at one another, their eyes shining. They felt breathless. Had they solved everything, or was it just too clever to be true? 'Well, I shall certainly tell Daddy now,' said Peter, thrilled. 'What a bit of luck you noticed the letters on that mail-van, Pam and Barbara. Good work! We're a really great Secret Society, I think. Successes every time!' 'And we thought this one was a failure!' said Janet. 'Look, there's Daddy. Come and tell him now.' So Peter's father was soon surrounded by four excited children, determined to make him believe that what they had discovered REALLY

“他们一看到信号，就冲到货车跟前，赶在邮差回来之前把车开走了！”珍妮特叫道，从潘嘴里说出了这句话。 他们都坐着，面面相觑，眼睛闪闪发光。 他们感到喘不过气来。他们是解决了所有问题，还是太聪明而不真实？ “好吧，我现在一定要告诉爸爸。”彼得激动地说。 “你真走运，注意到了邮车上的信，帕姆和芭芭拉。 干得好!我认为我们是一个伟大的秘密社团。 每次都成功！“我们认为这是一个失败！”珍妮特说。 “看，爸爸在那儿。现在就来告诉他。”因此，彼得的父亲很快就被四个兴奋的孩子包围了，他们决心让他相信他们的发现是真的

MATTERED! He listened carefully. He pursed up his mouth and gave his head a little scratch, looking with twinkling eyes at the children. 'Well, well, this is rather a different tale this time. Most ingenious! Yes, I'll do something about it.' He went inside and rang up the Inspector of Police, and asked him to come along. 'I've a curious tale to tell you,' he said. 'You may or may not believe it, but I think you ought to hear it.' And before ten minutes had passed the kind-faced Inspector was sitting in the garden, listening solemnly to the children's tale. He glanced at Peter's father when they had finished. 'This is important,' he said. 'There have been too many mail-van robberies lately. We'll catch the ringleaders this time, thanks to the valiant Secret Seven!'

重要的!他仔细地听着。 他撅起嘴，轻轻挠了挠头，眼睛闪闪发光地看着孩子们。 “好了，好了，这次情况完全不同了。 最巧妙的!是的，我会想办法的。”他走进屋里，给警察局长打了个电话，请他一起来。 “我有一个奇怪的故事要告诉你，”他说。 “你可能相信，也可能不相信，但我认为你应该听听。”不到十分钟，慈祥的探长就坐在花园里，一本正经地听孩子们讲故事。 吃完后，他瞥了彼得的父亲一眼。 他说，这很重要。 “最近邮车抢劫案太多了。 多亏了英勇的秘密七人组，这次我们会抓住主犯的！”