10 THE YOUNG MAN AT STARLING’S

CHAPTER TEN THE YOUNG MAN AT STARLING'S SO, AFTER school the next afternoon, Colin, Jack and Peter set off to go to Starling's Hotel, to see if they could find the young man who had hauled George home the other night and caused him to leave the Secret Seven. They discussed what to say to him. 'We'll tell him the marvellous things that the Secret Seven have done,' said Peter. 'He'll soon see that a Society that can do the things we've done would only have decent boys and girls as members. I might tell him to go and ask the police about us. They would stick up for us

第十章斯达林旅馆的年轻人于是，第二天下午放学后，科林、杰克和彼得出发去斯达林旅馆，看看能否找到那天晚上把乔治拖回家、让他离开秘密七人组的那个年轻人。 他们讨论了该对他说什么。 “我们要告诉他七个人的神奇事迹。”彼得说。 “他很快就会明白，一个能做到我们所做的事情的社团，只会有正派的男孩和女孩加入。 我也许会叫他去向警察打听我们的事。 他们会支持我们的

like anything, because we've helped them so much.' At last they came to Starling's. It was rather a poor little hotel. There was a woman in the hall, and Peter asked her politely if there was a young man staying there. If so, could they please speak to him? 'What's his name?' asked the woman. 'We don't know,' said Peter. 'Well, what's he like?' said the woman, sounding impatient. 'We, we don't know that either,' said Peter, feeling foolish, and wishing that he had asked George for a description of the man. 'All we know is that he's young.' 'Oh well, I suppose it's Mr Taylor you want,' said the woman, ungraciously. 'He's the only young man staying here. Go into that room and I'll ask him to come and speak to you.' They went into a tiny room and stood about

什么都喜欢，因为我们帮了他们那么多。”最后他们来到了斯特林饭店。 那是一家相当简陋的小旅馆。 大厅里有个女人，彼得礼貌地问她是否有个年轻人住在那里。 如果有，他们能跟他谈谈吗？ “他叫什么名字？”女人问。 “我们不知道。”彼得说。 “嗯，他长得怎么样？”那女人不耐烦地说。 “我们，我们也不知道。”彼得说，他觉得自己很傻，后悔没让乔治描述一下那个人。 “我们只知道他很年轻。“哦，好吧，我想你要找的是泰勒先生，”那女人不客气地说。 “他是这里唯一的年轻人。 到那个房间里去，我请他来跟你谈谈。”他们走进一个小房间，站了起来

awkwardly. Soon a young man came in and eyed the three boys curiously. 'What do you want?' he said. Peter explained. 'It's about George, our friend,' he said. 'The boy you caught the other night. You thought he was up to no good, but actually he was only putting in a bit of shadowing practice. He belonged to our Secret Society, you see, and we do all kinds of things. George's parents have told him he's not to belong, so—' 'Well, it's nothing to do with me,' said the young man. 'I can't do anything. He shouldn't play the fool.' 'He wasn't,' said Peter, warming up. 'I tell you, we're a very well-known society here, the police know us well; we've helped them many a time.' 'What rubbish!' said the young man. 'You ring up the Inspector and ask about us, then!' said Jack, indignantly.

尴尬的。不一会儿，一个年轻人走了进来，好奇地打量着这三个男孩。 “你想干什么？”他说。 彼得解释说。“是关于乔治，我们的朋友，”他说。 “那天晚上你抓到的那个男孩。 你认为他不怀好意，但实际上他只是在做一点实习。 你知道，他是我们秘密社团的成员，我们什么事都干。 乔治的父母告诉他，他不属于这里，所以——”“好吧，这与我无关，”年轻人说。 “我什么也做不了。他不应该装傻。“他没有。”彼得说，做了热身。 “我告诉你，我们这儿的人都很有名，警察都很了解我们；我们帮助过他们很多次。“胡说！”年轻人说。 “那么，你给探长打电话，问问我们的情况吧！”杰克气愤地说。

The young man seemed rather astonished at this. He stared at Jack as if wondering whether to find out about them from the police or not. 'Well, whether you are friends with the police or not, I'm not having any more to do with your friend George, or whatever his name is,' said the young man. 'So that's that. He's got no right to shadow people, whether in play or not. Now clear out, all of you.' Colin hadn't said a word. He had been eyeing the young man closely, and Peter wondered why. Was he trying to do as the girls had done, and 'observe' someone closely so that he could describe him later? As they went out, gloomy and resentful, a dog barked somewhere. Colin turned to the young man. 'Is that your dog barking?' he asked. 'What dog? No! I haven't got a dog. And it wouldn't be any good if I had,' said the young man. 'They're not allowed in this hotel.'

年轻人似乎对此颇为吃惊。 他盯着杰克，好像在考虑要不要从警察那里打听他们的情况。 “好吧，不管你是不是警察的朋友，我都不会再和你的朋友乔治或不管他叫什么名字有任何关系了，”年轻人说。 “就是这样。他没有权利跟踪别人，不管有没有比赛。 现在你们都出去吧。”科林一句话也没说。 他一直在密切注视着这个年轻人，彼得不知道为什么。 他是不是想像女孩们那样，近距离“观察”一个人，以便以后描述他？ 他们闷闷不乐地走出去时，不知什么地方传来了狗叫。 柯林转向那个年轻人。 “那是你的狗在叫吗？”他问。 “什么狗?不!我没有养狗。 “就算我说了也没用，”年轻人说。 “他们不允许进入这家酒店。”

Colin said no more, and the three boys walked out of the little hotel. They said nothing till they were well beyond the gate. 'He's hateful!' burst out Peter. 'Horrible cold eyes and thin mouth! As soon as I saw him I knew he was the kind of person that likes to get people into trouble. We once had a horrid teacher at school who had a mouth just like that!' 'Colin, why didn't you help us?' said Jack, as they walked down the road. 'You never said a word, till you asked about the dog that barked. Did you have to be unfriendly like that? You might have backed us up.' 'Wait a minute, I'll soon tell you why,' said Colin, and then the others saw that he was bursting to say something. 'Let's get right out of sight and hearing of Starling's first.' They walked on for a while, and then Colin spoke in a low voice. 'That fellow, that young man, he was the

柯林没有再说什么，三个男孩走出了小旅馆。 他们一声不吭，一直走到大门那边。 “他是可恨的!彼得嚷道。 “可怕的冰冷的眼睛和薄薄的嘴巴！”我一见到他就知道他是那种喜欢给别人惹麻烦的人。 我们学校曾经有一个可怕的老师，他的嘴就像那样！“科林，你为什么不帮助我们？”他们沿着路走着，杰克说。 “你从来没说过一句话，直到你问起那条叫的狗。 你有必要那么不友好吗？ 你本可以支持我们的。“等一下，我很快就会告诉你为什么。”科林说，然后其他人看到他急着想说什么。 让我们离开斯特林的视线和视线他们走了一会儿，然后科林低声说话。 “那个家伙，那个年轻人，他就是那个

same one I saw last night with the dog that disappeared!' Jack and Peter stopped in surprise. 'What! Are you sure? But you asked him if it was his dog that was barking, and he said no he hadn't a dog!' Peter blurted all this out in far too loud a voice. Colin was afraid the passers-by might hear and he nudged Peter's arm. 'Be quiet. This may be important. Don't let's give anything away.' 'It's very interesting,' said Peter. 'Let's go to that yard at once and explore. We know the young man is safely at Starling's. He won't disturb us.' 'Come on, then,' said Colin. 'Oh, bother! Here's Susie.' And Susie it was, coming at them like a hurricane, all out of breath. 'Peter! I've heard that George isn't in the Secret Seven any more. Please, PLEASE let me in! Jack, tell Peter to let me be in.'

就是我昨晚看到的那个，还有那条失踪的狗！”杰克和彼得吃惊地停了下来。 “什么!你确定吗？但你问他是不是他的狗在叫，他说不是，他没有狗！”彼得把这一切说得太大声了。 科林怕路人听到，就用胳膊肘碰了碰彼得的胳膊。 保持安静。这可能很重要。 不要让我们泄露任何东西。“真有意思，”彼得说。 “我们马上到那个院子去探险吧。 我们知道那个年轻人在星城很安全。 他不会打扰我们的。“那就来吧，”柯林说。 “哦,麻烦!这是苏西。果然是苏茜，像飓风一样向他们袭来，上气不接下气。 “彼得!我听说乔治已经不在秘密七人组了。 求求你，求求你让我进去！杰克，告诉彼得让我进去。”