14 WHAT AN EXCITEMENT!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN WHAT AN EXCITEMENT! PETER, JANET, and all the others threw down their spades and trowels and raced to the cave at top speed. 'What is it?' cried Peter. Then he saw Susie and Jeff and stopped. 'Clear out,' he cried. 'This is our cave, not yours.' 'Wait, Peter,' said Jack. 'Susie's just told me something strange.' He told the others what Susie had said, how she and Jeff had buried themselves all but their noses in the empty cave, and then someone had come from the back and walked out!

第十四章多么激动人心啊！彼得、珍妮特和其他所有人扔下铲子和铲子，以最快的速度向山洞跑去。 “什么事？”彼得叫道。 然后他看到了苏茜和杰夫，停了下来。 “让开，”他喊道。“这是我们的洞穴，不是你们的。“等等，彼得，”杰克说。 “苏茜刚才告诉我一些奇怪的事。”他把苏茜说的话告诉了其他人，说她和杰夫把自己埋在空洞里，只剩下鼻子，然后有人从后面走了出来！

'So there is some way into this cave from the back,' he said. 'I know we've looked and looked, but there must be! Susie, did you hear anything at all before this man walked out of the cave?' 'Yes,' said Susie. 'I heard a kind of thud – so did Jeff.' 'As if someone had leapt down to the sandy floor,' said Jeff. 'Like this!' He jumped into the air and came down, making a soft thud. 'Then the way in from the back must be from somewhere up near the roof,' said Peter. 'Anyone got a torch?' 'Here's mine,' said Jack. 'I found it on the ledge where I'd left it.' Peter took it. 'Come on,' he said. 'We're jolly well going to solve this mystery. Wait though – Colin, keep guard at the front of the cave, in case that man comes back. Take a good look at him if he does.' 'Right,' said Colin, and limped to the front

他说，所以从后面进入这个洞穴是有办法的。 “我知道我们找了又找，但一定有！”苏茜，在这个人走出山洞之前你听到什么声音了吗？“是的，”苏西说。 我听到一声砰的一声——杰夫也听到了。“好像有人跳到了沙地上，”杰夫说。 “这样!”他跳上空中，然后落了下来，发出一声轻微的撞击声。 “那么从后面进去的路一定是从屋顶附近的什么地方走的。”彼得说。 “谁有手电筒？”“这是我的，”杰克说。 “我在我放它的地方找到了它。”彼得接过它。 “来吧，”他说。“我们一定会解开这个谜团的。 等等——科林，在洞口站岗，以防那个人回来。 如果有的话，好好看看他。“好的，”科林说着，一瘸一拐地走到前面

of the cave, though he would dearly have liked to be with the others. There was quite a crowd at the back of the cave. Peter shone his torch on to the roof there. It was fairly high. He saw a rocky ledge jutting out and thought he would climb up to it. 'Give me a hand,' he said to Jack. 'Hold the torch for a minute, Janet.'

虽然他很想和其他人在一起。 山洞后面有一大群人。 彼得用手电照着那里的屋顶。 它相当高。他看到一块突出的岩石，就想爬上去。 “帮我一把，”他对杰克说。 “拿着火炬一会儿，珍妮特。”

He was soon up on the ledge, and then shone the torch on to the roof again. He gave a sudden exclamation. 'What is it?' shouted everyone, almost dancing with excitement.

他很快就爬上了窗台，然后又用火把照着屋顶。 他突然叫了一声。 “什么事？”大家都喊道，兴奋得几乎跳起舞来。

'There's a round hole here. You can't see it from where you are,' said Peter. 'And there's a rope-end hanging down. I can just reach it.' The others craned their necks to see what Peter saw, but they couldn't. The hole was hidden by a jutting-out piece of rock, and it was only because Peter was high up on the ledge that he could see it at all. He shone his torch on the thick rope-end. It was well within his reach from the ledge on which he stood. He stuffed the torch into his pocket. 'I can get hold of the rope,' he called down, 'and I think I can pull myself up by it. I'll try anyway.' He caught the rope in both hands, and then by means of treading on first one narrow ledge of rock and then another, he managed to get right into the hole. He let go of the ledges with his feet and swung on the rope with his hands. He climbed up it as he did at gym, and came to a broad ledge, where he rested for a

“这儿有个圆洞。 “你在这儿是看不见的。”彼得说。 “还有一根绳子的末端垂下来。 我刚好够得到它。”其他人伸长脖子想看看彼得看到了什么，但是他们不能。 这个洞被一块突出的岩石遮住了，彼得站在高高的岩架上，所以才看得清。 他用火把照着粗绳头。 从他站着的窗台上，他够得着。 他把手电筒塞进口袋里。 “我能抓住绳子，”他朝下喊道，“我想我可以用绳子把自己拉上来。 不管怎样，我要试试。”他双手抓住绳子，在一块又一块狭窄的岩壁上踩来踩去，终于钻进了洞里。 他用脚松开了壁架，用手在绳子上荡来荡去。 他像在体育馆一样爬上去，来到一个宽阔的岩架前，在那里休息了一会儿

moment or two. Then he stood on the ledge, putting his head up through the hole that still went upwards, and found that he was looking out of the hole into another cave above! He shone his torch around. He gave a yell to the others down below, but to them his voice sounded curiously muffled and hollow. They were quite startled to hear it. 'Hey! There's another cave here, a much smaller one! And some of our food's here, and all our cushions, and books and magazines! And there's a bag too, a small mailbag that looks full of something!' 'What? What do you say?' yelled the others, almost overcome with excitement at all this shouting, and not being able to make out a word. 'PETER! What have you found?' cried Janet. Peter came down from the rope, found the

一两分钟。然后他站在窗台上，把头伸到仍然向上的洞里，发现他从洞里往外看，是上面的另一个洞！他用手电四处照照。 他对下面的人喊了一声，但他的声音奇怪地低沉而空洞。 他们听到这件事很吃惊。 “嘿!这里还有一个洞穴，一个小得多的洞穴！我们的一些食物，所有的靠垫，书籍和杂志都在这里！还有一个袋子，一个小邮袋，看起来装满了什么东西！“什么? 你说呢？其他人喊道，他们几乎被这喊声激动得说不出一个字来。 “彼得!你发现了什么？珍妮特叫道。 彼得从绳子上下来，找到了