8 SOMEONE IN THE TREE-HOUSE

CHAPTER EIGHT SOMEONE IN THE TREEHOUSE PETER SUDDENLY made a grab for the two bare feet and caught hold of them. There was a yell, and the feet began to kick out. But Peter held them tightly. 'You come on down,' he said, angrily. 'Who are you? How dare you come to our tree- house and mess our things up. Come on down!' 'Let me go,' said a boy's voice, and then there came a mewing noise again, and to the two boys' surprise a small kitten leapt down to a nearby branch and stared at Peter and Colin

第八章树屋里的人彼得突然伸手抓住那两只光着的脚。 一声喊叫，两只脚开始乱踢。 彼得却紧紧地抓着他们。 “你下楼来吧，”他生气地说。 “你是谁？”你竟敢到我们的树屋来，把我们的东西弄乱。 快下来！“放开我。”一个男孩的声音说，然后又传来了一声猫叫，令两个男孩吃惊的是，一只小猫跳到了附近的一根树枝上，盯着彼得和科林看

with wide-open green eyes. 'A kitten!' said Colin. 'It must be that boy with the kitten! He did come back after all!' 'Don't pull me, don't pull me!' called the boy on the bough above. 'I'm slipping.' Peter let go his feet. 'Come on down then, and don't play the fool, because we're two to one,' he said. The feet came down lower, then the legs, and then a thin body. Then came the whole boy, looking scared and white-faced. 'Sit down,' ordered Peter. 'Don't move. Now you just tell us what you're doing in our tree.' The boy sat down. He looked up at them sulkily. He was thin and pale, and his hair wanted cutting. 'I only came here to hide,' he said. 'I've not done any harm, except to take a few biscuits last night. But if you'd been as hungry as I was, you'd have taken them too.'

绿色的眼睛睁得大大的。 “一只小猫!科林说。“一定是那个抱着小猫的男孩！”他终究还是回来了！“别拉我，别拉我！”树枝上的男孩喊道。 “我下滑。”彼得放开了他的脚。 “那就下来吧，别装傻了，因为我们现在是二比一，”他说。 脚下降得更低，然后是腿，最后是瘦削的身体。 然后是整个男孩，看起来很害怕，脸色煞白。 “坐下。”彼得命令道。 “不要动。现在你只要告诉我们你在我们的树上干什么就行了。”男孩坐了下来。 他不高兴地抬头看着他们。 他又瘦又苍白，头发也要剪了。 “我到这里来只是为了躲起来，”他说。 “除了昨晚吃了几块饼干外，我没有做什么坏事。 但如果你也像我一样饿的话，你也会把它们吃掉的。”

'What are you hiding from?' asked Colin. 'Have you run away from home or something?' 'I shan't tell you anything,' said the boy. 'You might tell the police.' 'We shan't,' said Colin. 'At least, not if we can help it. Why should we tell the police anyhow?' The kitten crept quietly back to the boy and cuddled into his coat. Colin and Peter saw that it had a bleeding leg. The boy put up his hand and stroked it gently. It began to purr. Both Colin and Peter suddenly felt certain that the boy couldn't be terribly bad because he so obviously loved the kitten– and the kitten trusted him. They stared at the sullen boy. 'Go on– tell us,' said Peter, keeping the light of his torch full on the boy. 'We might be able to help you.' 'Will you let me stay here at night?' asked

“你在躲什么？”科林问。 “你是离家出走了还是怎么的？”“我什么也不会告诉你的，”男孩说。 “你可以告诉警察。“我们不会的，”科林说。 “至少，在我们力所能及的情况下是这样。 我们为什么要告诉警察呢？”小猫悄悄地爬回男孩身边，依偎在他的外套里。 科林和彼得看到它的一条腿在流血。 男孩伸出手轻轻地抚摸着它。 它开始呜呜叫。科林和彼得突然确信，这个男孩不会太坏，因为他显然很爱小猫——而小猫也信任他。 他们盯着那个闷闷不乐的男孩。 “说下去——告诉我们吧。”彼得说着，继续用火把照着那孩子。 “我们也许能帮助你。“你能让我在这儿过夜吗？”'问

the boy. 'In case they find me. They know I'm somewhere in Windy Woods.' 'Who?' asked Peter. 'Tell us everything. What's your name, to begin with?' 'Jeff,' said the boy, still stroking the kitten. 'It all began when my mother went to hospital. I lived with her. My dad's dead, so there's only us two. But when Mum was taken to hospital I was sent to my Uncle Harry and my Aunt Lizzy.' 'Well, go on,' said Peter. 'Why did you run away?' 'I stayed there a week,' said Jeff, 'and my mother didn't come out of hospital, and nobody would tell me anything. Suppose she never came out? What was I to do? All I had was my kitten.' 'Well, wouldn't your uncle and aunt have looked after you?' asked Peter. 'I didn't want them to,' said Jeff. 'They are bad. My mother always said so, and she knew.

这个男孩。“以防他们找到我。 他们知道我在Windy Woods的某个地方。“谁?彼得问。 “把一切都告诉我们。首先，你叫什么名字？“杰夫，”男孩说，仍然抚摸着小猫。 “这一切都是从我母亲住院开始的。 我和她住在一起。我爸爸死了，所以只有我们两个人。 但是当妈妈被送进医院时，我被送到了哈里叔叔和莉兹阿姨那里。“好吧，说下去。”彼得说。 “你为什么要逃跑？”“我在那儿呆了一个星期，”杰夫说，“我妈妈没有出院，也没有人告诉我任何事。” 假如她永远不出来呢？ 我该怎么办呢？我只有我的小猫。“那么，你的叔叔和婶婶不会照顾你吗？”彼得问。 “我不想让他们这么做，”杰夫说。 “他们很坏。我母亲总是这么说，她知道。

They've got bad friends, and they do bad things.' 'What do they do?' asked Peter. 'Oh– steal– and worse things,' said Jeff. 'They were all right to me, I mean they gave me food, and my aunt mended some of my clothes, but they were cruel to my kitten.' Colin and Peter stared at Jeff in sympathy. Peter knew how he would have felt if someone had been unkind to Scamper. 'Did– did they hurt the kitten's leg where it's bleeding?' he asked. Jeff nodded. 'Yes. Uncle kicked at it. It's not so bad now, but it was very bad at first. So that day I ran away, and took the kitten with me. I hid in an empty house, first, but they came after me. Then I came to this wood, and guessed you were up this tree, when your dog barked. So when you'd gone I climbed up.' 'I see,' said Peter. 'And ate our biscuits and chocolate. But why are your uncle and aunt

他们交了坏朋友，做了坏事。“他们是干什么的？”彼得问。 “哦——偷——还有更糟的事，”杰夫说。 “他们对我还不错，我的意思是说，他们给我吃的，我姨妈给我补了一些衣服，但他们对我的小猫很残忍。”科林和彼得同情地盯着杰夫。 彼得知道如果有人对斯坎普不好，他会有什么感觉。 “他们有没有把小猫腿上流血的地方弄伤？”他问。 杰夫点点头。‘是的。叔叔踢它。 现在没那么糟了，但一开始很糟。 所以那天我就带着小猫跑了。 我一开始躲在一间空房子里，但他们来找我了。 然后我来到这片树林，当你的狗叫的时候，我猜你在这棵树上。 所以当你走后，我爬了上去。“我明白了，”彼得说。 吃了我们的饼干和巧克力。 但为什么你的叔叔和阿姨

bothering about you? They know you can go back when you want to.' ''Tisn't my aunt,' said Jeff. 'It's my uncle and his friend Mr Tizer. They're afraid I know too much.' 'Too much about what?' asked Colin. 'I used to sleep in the sitting-room,' explained Jeff. 'And one night I heard them talking about some plan they were making. I just heard a few things– but I couldn't make head or tail of them. I turned over to get more comfortable, and my uncle jumped up and accused me of listening.' 'Ah, and now that you've run away they're afraid you will tell someone what you heard,' said Colin. 'Did you hear much?' 'No– nothing to make any sense,' said Jeff. 'But they don't believe that, and they're after me. I saw Mr Tizer in the woods today with his dog. They're hunting me, and I'm scared. That's why I came up to your tree-house.

为你担心？他们知道你想回去就可以回去。“她不是我姨妈，”杰夫说。 “是我叔叔和他的朋友蒂泽尔先生。 他们担心我知道的太多。“说什么太多了？”科林问。 “我过去常睡在客厅里，”杰夫解释说。 “一天晚上，我听到他们在谈论他们正在制定的某个计划。 我只是听到了一些事情——但我不明白是怎么回事。 我翻了个身，想让自己舒服些，叔叔却跳了起来，指责我在偷听。“啊，现在你跑了，他们担心你会把你听到的告诉别人。”柯林说。 “你听到很多吗？”“不——没有任何意义，”杰夫说。 “可他们不相信，他们在追杀我。 我今天在树林里看到蒂泽尔先生和他的狗。 他们在追捕我，我很害怕。 所以我才来你的树屋。