9 COLIN’S STRANGE TALE

CHAPTER NINE COLIN'S STRANGE TALE 'OPEN THE window!' said Janet, putting down her cards. 'It's Colin! What's happened?' Peter opened the window, and Colin climbed in. He was panting. 'Thanks,' he said. 'I didn't like to come to the front door or the back, in case your mother saw me and asked me what was up. So I tapped at the window. I saw you inside, playing cards.' 'What's happened?' said Peter. 'You're dirty, and your hand's bleeding.' 'Oh, that's nothing,' said Colin. 'Listen! You know I left you to go and find somebody to

第九章柯林的奇怪故事“打开窗户！”珍妮特放下牌说。 “这是科林!发生了什么事?”彼得打开窗户，科林爬了进去。 他气喘吁吁。“谢谢，”他说。 “我不想走前门或后门，怕你妈妈看见我，问我怎么回事。 于是我敲了敲窗户。 我看见你在里面打牌。“出什么事了？”彼得说。 “你很脏，你的手还在流血。“哦，那没什么，”柯林说。 “听!”你知道我离开你去找别人

shadow, don't you?' 'Yes,' said everyone. 'Well, I didn't see anyone at first,' said Colin, 'and it began to rain and I was pretty fed up. So I chose to shadow the very first

影子，是吧？“是的，”大家都说。 “嗯，一开始我一个人也没看见，”科林说，“然后就开始下雨了，我很烦。 所以我选择跟随第一个

person I saw.' 'Who was that?' said Jack. 'A young man with a dog,' said Colin. 'I thought he must be taking it out for an evening walk. It didn't seem to like the walk very much. It kept whining and pulling away from the man, and I thought it might smell me, following quietly along some way behind, but it didn't seem to. I couldn't see what the dog was like at first, because it's a dark evening and raining. Then, when the man and the dog walked beneath a street lamp, I saw it.' 'What was it?' asked Janet. 'It was a bull-terrier,' said Colin. 'A beauty. A real beauty. My mother's friend breeds them, so I know a good one when I see it. Well, I shadowed the man and the dog, and it was really pretty easy, because the man was so much taken up with the dog, having to drag it along, that he hadn't time to notice I was following him!'

我看到的人。“那是谁？”杰克说。 “一个带狗的年轻人。”柯林说。 “我想他一定是晚上带着它出去散步。 它似乎不太喜欢散步。 它不停地呜咽着，从那人身边抽离，我想它可能闻到了我的味道，悄悄地跟在后面，但它似乎没有。 起初我看不清狗是什么样子，因为那天晚上很黑，还下着雨。 然后，当那个人和狗走在路灯下时，我看到了它。“是什么？”珍妮特问。 “是一条斗牛梗。”科林说。 “一个美人。一个真正的美人。我妈妈的朋友养了它们，所以当我看到一只好的时候我就知道它是好的。 嗯，我跟着那个人和那条狗，这真的很容易，因为那个人太关注那条狗了，不得不拖着它走，他没有时间注意到我在跟着他！”

'Go on. What happened to get you so excited?' said Peter, impatiently. 'I'm coming to that,' said Colin. 'I followed them down Hartley Street and across Plain Square, and into a little dark alley that led between some big buildings. I went down the alley cautiously, because I couldn't see my way very well, and daren't put on my torch.' 'Was the man there?' asked Jack. 'Let me tell my story in my own way,' said Colin. 'I'm just coming to the strange part. I went right down the alley, and just as I was nearly at the end, I heard the man coming back. I knew it was him because he has the same kind of quick dry cough my grandpa has, and he was coughing as he came.' 'What did you do?' said Janet, as he stopped for breath. 'I squashed myself into a doorway,' said Colin, 'and the man walked right by without seeing me. But he hadn't got the dog with

“继续。发生什么事让你这么兴奋？彼得不耐烦地说。 “我正要说这个。”科林说。 我跟着他们走过哈特利街，穿过平原广场，进入一条通向几幢高楼的黑暗小巷。 我小心翼翼地沿着小巷走去，因为我看不太清路，也不敢点燃火把。“那个人在吗？”杰克问。 “让我用我自己的方式讲我的故事。”柯林说。 “我正要说到奇怪的部分。 我径直走到小巷尽头，就在我快走到尽头的时候，我听到那个人回来了。 我知道是他，因为他有和我爷爷一样的快速干咳，他来的时候一直在咳嗽。“你做了什么？”他停下来喘口气时，珍妮特说。 “我挤进了门口，”柯林说，“那个人径直走了过去，没看见我。 但是他没有把狗带走

him. So I wondered where he had put it, and why he had gone down there and come straight back again. So I went to the end of the alley myself and switched on my torch.' 'And was the dog there?' asked Pam. 'No,' said Colin. 'The alley led into a little yard, surrounded entirely by high walls. It was a messy place, full of rubbish. I flashed my torch all round, expecting to see the dog somewhere, tied up, perhaps, or even in a kennel, but there wasn't a sign of it!' 'Where was it, then?' asked Janet, after a pause. 'That's what I don't know,' said Colin. 'I looked absolutely everywhere for that dog. I listened for him, I called softly, but no, not a growl, not a whine, not a movement. And when I tell you that there was no way out of that yard except by that narrow alley, you'll guess how puzzled I was. I mean, a dog can't just disappear can it?'

他。所以我想知道他把它放在哪里了，为什么他去了那里，然后又直接回来了。 于是我自己走到巷尾，打开手电筒。”“那狗在那儿吗？潘问。 “不，”科林说。这条小巷通向一个小院子，院子四周全是高墙。 那是个脏乱的地方，到处都是垃圾。 我用手电向四周照了照，希望能在什么地方看到那条狗，也许被拴起来了，或者甚至被关在狗窝里，可是一点影子也没有！“那么，它在哪儿呢？”停了一会儿，珍妮特问道。 “这就是我不知道的。”柯林说。 “我到处找那只狗。 我倾听着他的声音，轻声呼唤，但没有，没有咆哮，没有哀鸣，没有动静。 当我告诉你，除了那条狭窄的小巷外，没有别的路可出那个院子时，你就会猜到我有多困惑了。 我是说，狗不可能凭空消失，对吧？”

'Woof!' said Scamper, exactly as if he was saying 'No!' 'I hunted all over that horrible yard,' said Colin. 'That's why I'm so dirty. And I cut my hand on some wire. But I tell you, there was no sign of that lovely bull-terrier, and no door or gate or anything for him to get out of. Then where was he? What had that man done with him, and why? It just beats me. I just had to come back and tell you.' 'There's something funny about this,' said Peter. 'I vote we go to that yard tomorrow and explore it. If there is some hiding-place there for a dog, we'll find it!' 'What a pity George isn't in this too,' said Janet. 'Peter, do go to that hotel and tell that young man he's got to go and tell George's parents they're to let him join the Secret Seven again. He'll be so upset when he knows we may be mixed up in something odd again and he won't be there to share in it.'

“汪!”斯坎珀说，就好像他在说“不！“我找遍了那个可怕的院子，”柯林说。 “所以我才这么脏。我的手被电线割伤了。 但是我告诉你，没有那只可爱的牛头梗的踪迹，也没有门或门或任何东西让它出去。 那他在哪里？那个人对他做了什么，为什么？ 这把我难倒了。我必须回来告诉你。“这事有点好笑，”彼得说。 “我建议我们明天去那个院子看看。 如果那里有狗的藏身之处，我们会找到的！“真可惜乔治也不在，”珍妮特说。 “彼得，一定要去那家旅馆，告诉那个年轻人他必须去，告诉乔治的父母，让他再次加入秘密七人组。 要是他知道我们可能又卷入了什么奇怪的事情，而他又不能在场分担，他一定会很难过的。”