7 AT TIGGER’S BARN

CHAPTER SEVEN AT TIGGER'S BARN JACK AND George had no idea at all that they had left Jeff and Susie behind them in the hall. They imagined that the two were well in front of them, hurrying to Tigger's Barn! They hurried too, but, rather to their surprise, they did not see any children in front, however much they strained their eyes in the moonlit night. 'Well, all I can say is they must have taken bicycles,' said George, at last. 'They couldn't have gone so quickly. Has Susie a bike, Jack?' 'Oh yes, and I bet she's lent Jeff mine,' said Jack, crossly. 'They'll be at Tigger's Barn ages

第七章在跳跳虎的谷仓杰克和乔治完全不知道他们把杰夫和苏茜留在了大厅里。 他们想象着那两个人就在他们前面，正急急忙忙地往跳跳虎的谷仓跑呢！他们也急忙赶路，但令他们吃惊的是，尽管他们在月光下睁大了眼睛，却没有看到前面有一个孩子。 “嗯，我只能说他们一定是骑了自行车。”乔治最后说。 “他们不可能走得这么快。 杰克，苏西有一辆自行车吗？“哦，是的，我敢打赌她把我的借给杰夫了，”杰克生气地说。 “他们会在跳跳虎的谷仓里

before us. I hope the meeting of those men isn't over before we get there. I don't want Susie and Jeff to hear everything without us hearing it too!' Tigger's Barn was about a mile away. It was up on a lonely hill, hemmed in by trees. Once it had been part of a farmhouse, which had been burnt down one night. Tigger's Barn was now only a tumbledown shell of a house, used by tramps who needed shelter, by jackdaws who nested in the one remaining enormous chimney, and by a big tawny owl who used it to sleep in during the daytime. Children had played in it until they had been forbidden to in case the old walls gave way. Jack and George had once explored it with Peter, but an old tramp had risen up from a corner and shouted at them so loudly that they had fled away. The two boys trudged on. They came to the hill and walked up the narrow lane that led to

在我们面前。我希望在我们到达之前，那些人的会议还没有结束。 我不想让苏茜和杰夫听到这一切，而我们却听不见！”跳跳虎的谷仓在一英里外。 它坐落在一座孤零零的小山上，四周树木环绕。 它曾经是一个农舍的一部分，有一天晚上被烧毁了。 跳跳虎的谷仓现在只剩下一幢倒塌的房子的空壳了，流浪汉们住在这里避雨，寒鸦在剩下的一个巨大的烟囱里筑巢，一只黄褐色的大猫头鹰白天在里面睡觉。 孩子们一直在里面玩耍，直到他们被禁止进入，以防旧墙倒塌。 杰克和乔治有一次和彼得一起去探险，但是一个老流浪汉从一个角落里站起来，大声地对他们大喊大叫，他们赶紧逃走了。 两个男孩艰难地继续前进。他们来到小山上，沿着一条狭窄的小路走去

Tigger's Barn. Still there was no sign of Jeff or Susie. Well, if they had taken bicycles, they would certainly be at Tigger's Barn by now! They came to the old building at last. It stood there in the rather dim moonlight, looking forlorn and bony, with part of its roof missing, and its one great chimney sticking up into the night sky. 'Here we are,' whispered Jack. 'Walk quietly, because we don't want to let Jeff and Susie know we're here, or those men either, if they've come already! But everything is very quiet. I don't think the men are here.' They kept in the shadow of a great yew hedge, and made their way on tiptoe to the back of the house. There was a front door and a back door, and both were locked, but as no window had glass in, it was easy enough for anyone to get inside the tumbledown place if they wanted to. Jack clambered in through a downstairs

跳跳虎的谷仓。仍然没有杰夫或苏茜的迹象。 好吧，如果他们骑自行车的话，他们现在肯定在跳跳虎的谷仓了！他们终于来到了那座老建筑前。 在朦胧的月光下，它孤零零地站在那里，显得瘦骨嶙峋，屋顶的一部分不见了，它的一个大烟囱直插夜空。 “我们到了。”杰克小声说。 “轻点走，因为我们不想让杰夫和苏茜知道我们在这里，如果那些人已经来了，也不想让他们知道！”但是一切都很安静。 我想他们不在这儿。”他们躲在紫杉树篱的阴影里，踮着脚尖向屋后走去。 有一扇前门和一扇后门，而且都是锁着的，但由于没有窗户装玻璃，所以任何人只要想进去，都很容易。 杰克从一个楼下爬了进来

window. A scuttling noise startled him, and he clutched George and made him jump. 'Don't grab me like that,' complained George, in a whisper. 'It was only a rat hurrying away. You nearly made me yell when you grabbed me so suddenly.' 'Sh!' said Jack. 'What's that?' They listened. Something was moving high up in the great chimney that towered from the hearth in the broken-down room they were in.

窗口。一阵嗖嗖声吓了他一跳，他一把抓住乔治，把他拽了起来。 “别那样抓我。”乔治低声抱怨道。 “那只是一只匆匆离去的老鼠。 你突然抓住我，差点把我喊出来。“Sh !杰克说。 “那是什么?”他们会听。 在他们所在的那间破屋子里，从壁炉里伸出来的大烟囱里，有什么东西在高处移动。

'Maybe it's the owl,' said George, at last. 'Yes, listen to it hooting.' A quavering hoot came to their ears. But it didn't really sound as if it came from the chimney. It seemed to come from outside the house, in the overgrown garden. Then an answering hoot came, but it didn't sound at all like an owl. 'Jack,' whispered George, his mouth close to Jack's ear, 'that's not an owl. It's men signalling to one another. They are meeting here! But where are Susie and Jeff?' 'I don't know. Hidden safely somewhere, I expect,' said Jack, suddenly feeling a bit shaky at the knees. 'We'd better hide too. Those men will be here in half a minute.' 'There's a good hiding-place over there in the hearth,' whispered George. 'We can stand there in the darkness, right under the big chimney. Come on, quick. I'm sure I can hear footsteps outside.'

“也许是猫头鹰。”乔治终于说。 “是的，听它叫。”一阵颤抖的叫声传到了他们的耳朵里。 但听起来不像是从烟囱里发出来的。 那声音似乎是从房子外面，从杂草丛生的花园里传来的。 接着传来了一声应声，但听起来一点也不像猫头鹰的叫声。 “杰克，”乔治小声说，把嘴凑近杰克的耳朵，“那不是猫头鹰。 这是男人之间的信号。 他们在这里开会！但是苏茜和杰夫在哪里？”“我不知道。 “我想藏在某个安全的地方吧。”杰克说，突然觉得膝盖有点发抖。 “我们最好也躲起来。那些人半分钟后就到。“壁炉那边有个很好的藏身之处，”乔治小声说。 “我们可以站在黑暗中，就在大烟囱下面。 快点，快点。我确信我能听到外面的脚步声。”

The two boys ran silently to the hearth. Tramps had made fires there from time to time, and a heap of ashes half-filled the hearth. The boys stood ankle-deep in them, hardly daring to breathe. Then a torch suddenly shone out, and raked the room with its beam. Jack and George pressed close together, hoping they did not show in the great hearth. They heard the sound of someone climbing in through the same window they had come in by. Then a voice spoke to someone outside. 'Come on in. Nobody's here. Larry hasn't come yet. Give him the signal, Zeb, in case he's waiting about for it now.' Somebody gave a quavering hoot again. 'Ooooo-oo-oo! Ooooo, ooo-oo-oo!' An answering call came from some way away, and after about half a minute another man climbed in. Now there were three. The two boys held their breath. Good

两个男孩默默地跑到炉边。 流浪汉不时在那里生火，壁炉里有一堆灰烬。 孩子们站在齐脚踝深的水里，几乎不敢呼吸。 这时，一支火把突然亮了出来，用它的光束扫视着房间。 杰克和乔治紧紧地挤在一起，希望他们不要在大壁炉里露出来。 他们听到有人从他们进来的那扇窗户爬进来的声音。 接着，外面有人说话了。 “进来吧。没有人在这里。 拉里还没来。泽布，给他发个信号，免得他现在还在等着。”有人又发出一声颤抖的叫声。 “Ooooo-oo-oo !哎呀,ooo-oo-oo !”从远处传来一个应答电话，大约半分钟后，另一个人爬了进来。 现在有三个了。两个男孩屏住了呼吸。 好