13 EVERYTHING SEEMS DULL NOW

CHAPTER THIRTEEN EVERYTHING SEEMS DULL NOW PETER AND Janet ran down the garden and out of the gate at the bottom. Round the potato- field and over a stile they went, and there was the oat-field, its green rows as bright as emerald! In the middle of it stood the scarecrow put up by old James. He was a fine one, and wore one of James's old hats, cocked over on one side. He wore a ragged red jersey and an old tweed coat with sagging pockets. A robin flew out of one of them as the children went near. The scarecrow's ragged trousers flapped in

第十三章现在一切似乎都很无聊，彼得和珍妮特跑过花园，从尽头的大门跑了出去。 他们绕着马铃薯地走了一圈，越过一道栅栏，来到了燕麦地，一排排绿色的燕麦地像翡翠一样明亮！在它的中央站着老詹姆斯做的稻草人。 他长得不错，戴着詹姆斯的一顶旧帽子，歪向一边。 他穿着一件破旧的红色运动衫和一件口袋松垮的旧粗花呢大衣。 当孩子们走近时，一只知更鸟从其中一只鸟里飞了出来。 稻草人的破裤子鼓了起来

the wind against his two wooden legs. His head was a turnip in which old James had scraped eyes and mouth. He seemed to be grinning at them as they came up, and the wind shook him and made him jig to and fro. But Peter and Janet didn't look at the scarecrow, or even at the robins' nests in the sagging pockets. They looked at the ground around his wooden legs. And Peter gave a deep groan that really might have come from the old scarecrow! 'We are too late, Janet. Look, someone's been here. There are footprints all around and about, not only old James's hobnailed ones, but somebody with rubber-soled shoes – Albert's!' 'Yes,' said Janet, her eyes on the ground. 'And the soil has been well dug up. Something was hidden here, beside the old scarecrow. Oh, Peter, WHY didn't we look here first?' 'It wouldn't have been any good,' said Peter gloomily. 'I expect Albert came last night.

风吹着他的两条木腿。 他的头是一个萝卜，老詹姆斯的眼睛和嘴巴都被擦伤了。 他们上来的时候，他似乎在对他们咧嘴笑着，风把他吹得摇摇晃晃。 但是彼得和珍妮特没有看稻草人，甚至没有看下垂口袋里的知更鸟窝。 他们看了看他木腿周围的地面。 彼得发出了一声深深的呻吟，那声音真像是老稻草人发出来的！“我们来得太晚了，珍妮特。 看，有人来过这里。 到处都是脚印，不仅是老詹姆斯的带钉子的，还有一个穿橡胶底鞋的人——艾伯特的！“是的，”珍妮特说，眼睛盯着地面。 “土壤也挖得很好。 在老稻草人的旁边，藏着什么东西。 哦，彼得，我们为什么不先看看这里呢？“那也没用。”彼得闷闷不乐地说。 “我想阿尔贝昨晚来过。

wouldn't come digging here in the daytime. He knew which scarecrow was meant, of course. We didn't! And all the time it was our own scarecrow!' 'Just dig round a bit and see if there's anything left,' said Janet. 'There won't be,' said Peter dolefully. 'I expect whatever it was was in a bag, a strong bag too, to resist the damp.' He dug about with his fork, but brought up nothing except a surprised worm. 'Bother!' he said. 'I was so excited about this scarecrow business. Now we're too late, Albert has got the stuff, whatever it was, and will be off and away.' 'Yes, I suppose he will,' said Janet dismally. 'I wouldn't be surprised if he knew that it was hidden in this district and that was why he came and hid in our cave, so as to be on the spot to speak to that other man, what was his name? Jim? And to get the stuff easily.' 'I think you're absolutely right, Janet,' said

不会大白天来这里挖的。 当然，他知道他指的是哪个稻草人。 我们没有!而且一直都是我们自己的稻草人！“再挖一下，看看还有没有剩下什么，”珍妮特说。 “不会的。”彼得悲哀地说。 “我希望不管是什么东西都放在一个袋子里，一个结实的袋子，以防受潮。”他用叉子挖来挖去，除了一只吃惊的虫子外，什么也没挖出来。 “麻烦!”他说。“我对稻草人的生意非常兴奋。 现在我们太迟了，艾伯特拿到东西了，不管那是什么，他会离开的。“是的，我想他会的，”珍妮特沮丧地说。 “如果他知道它就藏在这个地区，我也不会感到惊讶，所以他才来我们的山洞里，以便当场和另一个人说话，他叫什么名字？” 吉姆?并且很容易得到这些东西。“我认为你完全正确，珍妮特，”他说

Peter. 'And if you are, the stolen stuff, or whatever it was, must have come from this district too. I wonder if there have been any robberies lately.' They had a look at the two cosy robins' nests, both of which had tiny feathered nestlings inside, and then walked back home. It was about half-past two, and the other members of the Secret Seven were waiting in the summer-house. They were very downcast at Peter's news. 'Well, we were none of us successful in our scarecrow-hunt this morning,' said Jack, 'and no wonder, if the loot had been buried by your scarecrow, Peter. What bad luck! If only we'd been able to dig by your scarecrow last night, perhaps we'd have got the hidden goods before Albert.' 'What shall we do now?' asked Pam. 'Everything seems dull suddenly, now that we've not got our cave any more, and the

彼得。“如果是的话，那些被偷的东西，不管它是什么，一定也来自这个地区。 我想知道最近有没有发生过抢劫。”他们看了看那两个舒适的知更鸟窝，里面都有小羽毛的雏鸟，然后走回家去。 大约是两点半，秘密七人组的其他成员都在凉亭里等着。 听到彼得的消息，他们非常沮丧。 “唉，今天早上我们谁也没能捉到稻草人，”杰克说，“难怪，如果战利品被你的稻草人埋了，彼得。 真倒霉！要是我们昨晚能挖到你的稻草人旁边，也许我们就能在艾伯特之前找到藏起来的东西了。“我们现在怎么办呢？”潘问。 “一切都突然变得无聊起来，因为我们再也没有洞穴了，而且……

adventure has faded away.' 'I'm going up to the cave,' said Jack, standing up. 'I think I left my torch there, high up on a ledge. I hope Albert hasn't taken it! It's rather a nice one, and I'd like to get it if it's still there.' 'Right, we'll all come, just for the walk,' said Peter. 'We could take spades and dig in the old quarry, the sand is moist in parts, and you can model quite well with it. Let's do that.' So they took four spades from the shed and three trowels, and off they went to the quarry. Jack went up to the cave and then stopped short in surprise. Someone was there! He could hear excited voices. Then he frowned. He knew one voice – it was Susie's! Bother her, now she would mess about round them, and make silly remarks. Who was with her? It sounded like Jeff. What cheek to come to the cave! Just like Susie! He went into the cave, still frowning.

冒险已经消失了。“我要到山洞里去。”杰克说着站了起来。 “我想我把手电筒落在那里了，在高高的岩架上。 我希望艾伯特没有拿走它！这张相当不错，如果它还在的话，我想买一张。“好吧，我们都去，就去散个步。”彼得说。 “我们可以用铲子在旧采石场挖，沙子有些地方是潮湿的，你可以用它做很好的模型。 我们就这么办吧。”于是，他们从棚子里拿出四把铲子和三把铲子，向采石场走去。 杰克向山洞走去，突然惊讶地停了下来。 有人在那儿！他能听到激动的说话声。 然后他皱起了眉头。他只听到一个声音——那是苏茜的声音！讨厌她，现在她会在他们周围瞎胡闹，说些傻话。 谁和她在一起？听起来像杰夫。 什么厚脸皮到山洞来了！就像苏西一样！他走进山洞，仍然皱着眉头。

and Jeff were right at the back, scrabbling about. Whatever were they doing? 'Susie!' he called sharply. 'What are you doing here?' Susie turned round and then came quickly over to her brother. 'Jack! I am glad you've come. Something peculiar has happened!' 'What?' asked Jack impatiently. 'I think it's pretty peculiar that you and Jeff should come to our cave, even though we've left it.' 'Don't be cross, Jack. I really am glad you've come,' said Susie. 'Listen. Jeff and I came here, and we thought it was a lovely place. We made deep holes for ourselves. Mine's over there, look, and Jeff's is opposite, by the rocky wall. We thought perhaps you others might be coming, so we practically covered ourselves with sand, just left our noses out to breathe, and we waited for you so that we could give loud yells and leap out at you when you came in thinking nobody was here…'

杰夫就在后面，到处乱摸。 他们在干什么？“苏西!他厉声喊道。 “你在这儿干什么？”苏茜转过身，然后迅速走到她哥哥身边。 “杰克!我很高兴你来了。 奇怪的事情发生了！“什么?杰克不耐烦地问。 “我觉得你和杰夫来我们的山洞很奇怪，尽管我们已经离开了。“别生气，杰克。” “我真的很高兴你来了，”苏西说。 “听。杰夫和我来到这里，我们觉得这是一个可爱的地方。 我们给自己挖了很深的洞。 我的在那边，看，杰夫的在对面，靠岩壁。 我们以为你们可能会来，所以我们几乎用沙子把自己盖住，只露出鼻子喘气，等着你们，这样当你们以为没人进来的时候，我们就可以大声喊叫，跳过去冲你们……”