8 SCAMPER IS A HELP

CHAPTER EIGHT SCAMPER IS A HELP JACK CAME to see Peter just before nine the next day. 'I came to tell you that Susie's not been near the cave,' he told Peter. 'I kept an eye on her all yesterday evening and this morning. She's gone off to her music lesson now, so we're safe till twelve o'clock anyhow.' 'Right,' said Peter. 'Well, help me with the few jobs I have to do, and then we'll go up with Janet and Scamper. We'll try to get there just before the others come.' So at five to ten, Peter, Janet, Scamper, and Jack made their way to the quarry and then up to the cave.

第二天快到9点时，杰克来看彼得。 “我是来告诉你苏西没去过山洞附近。”他告诉彼得。 “昨天晚上和今天早上我一直在照看她。 她现在去上音乐课了，所以我们在十二点以前是安全的。“好的，”彼得说。 “好吧，帮我做我必须做的几件事，然后我们和珍妮特和斯坎珀一起上去。 我们尽量赶在其他人到来之前赶到那里。”于是，在十点差五分，彼得、珍妮特、斯坎珀和杰克向采石场走去，然后去了山洞。

They looked up to where the jug was so carefully balanced on a ledge, and grinned. 'I'll get it,' said Jack, and climbed up to remove it. 'We'll have to break these threads ourselves,' said Janet. 'What a waste of booby-traps, wasn't it? Ooh, be careful, you'll get honey all over you!' They broke the threads as carefully as possible, so as not to get themselves sticky, and went into the cave. And then they stood there in astonishment, gazing round as if they could not believe their eyes! The tins were all opened – and emptied! Some were flung on the floor. Two more of the cushions had gone. A bottle of orangeade had disappeared, and so had a bottle of water. The tin of peppermints had completely vanished, and also some more books. A torch that Colin had left on a shelf had gone too. 'But – but – how could anyone get in?'

他们抬头看了看被小心翼翼地平衡在窗台上的水罐，笑了。 “我来拿。”杰克说着爬上去把它拿掉。 “我们得自己把这些线扯断，”珍妮特说。 “真是浪费饵雷，不是吗？” 哦，小心点，你会弄得到处都是蜂蜜的！”他们尽可能小心翼翼地挣断丝线，以免弄脏自己，然后进了山洞。 然后他们惊讶地站在那里，环顾四周，好像他们不能相信自己的眼睛！所有的罐头都被打开了——而且是空的！一些被扔在地板上。 又有两个靠垫不见了。 一瓶橙汁不见了，一瓶水也不见了。 那罐薄荷糖完全不见了，还有一些书也不见了。 科林放在架子上的手电筒也不见了。 “可是——可是——怎么会有人进来呢？”

stammered Peter, utterly astonished. 'Our booby-traps were still there – those threads were quite unbroken. NOBODY could have come in, and yet look at this. I don't like it. There's something very strange going on in this cave – and I just don't – like – it!' The three children felt scared. It was quite clear that no one had gone into the cave, because the sticky silk threads would certainly have been broken. But how could their belongings have been taken, and their tins emptied, if no one had been in the cave? 'You know,' said Jack, looking all round him fearfully, 'you know, Peter, I was quite certain I saw somebody slipping into the cave that time we played hide-and-seek. You kept saying I must have imagined it, but I didn't.' 'Well, certainly somebody's about, somebody who likes eating and drinking,' said Peter. 'And if he didn't get into our cave from the outside, he must know a way in from the

彼得结结巴巴地说，完全惊呆了。 “我们的饵雷还在那儿——那些线还没有断。 没人能进来，但看看这个。 我不喜欢它。这个洞里发生了一些非常奇怪的事情——我就是不——喜欢——它！”三个孩子感到害怕。 很明显没有人进过洞，因为粘稠的丝线肯定是断了。 但是，如果没有人在山洞里，他们的东西怎么可能被拿走，罐头怎么可能被清空呢？ “你知道，”杰克说，恐惧地环顾四周，“你知道，彼得，那次我们玩捉迷藏的时候，我很肯定地看到有人溜进了山洞。 你一直说一定是我想象出来的，但我不是。“嗯，附近肯定有人，一个喜欢吃喝的人。”彼得说。 “如果他没有从外面进入我们的洞穴，他一定知道从里面进去的路

inside!' 'But that's silly too,' said Janet. 'We know there's no way into the cave from the inside. We've had a jolly good look.' 'Scamper seems very interested in the cave this morning,' said Jack. 'Look at him sniffing and nosing round.' Scamper certainly was interested. He ran here and there excitedly, giving little barks and whimpers, as if to say, 'I could tell you such a lot if only I could speak!' He ran over to the place where he had buried his bone, dug it up, and carefully took it to another corner and buried it there. Peter laughed. 'He's afraid our visitor might find his bone – see how deep he's burying it this time! Hey, Scamper, you're sending sand all over us!' Janet looked round at the untidy cave with its empty tins and scattered books. Tears came into her eyes. 'I made it all so nice,' she said.

里面!“但那也很愚蠢，”珍妮特说。 “我们知道没有办法从里面进入洞穴。 我们已经看得很清楚了。“斯坎普今天早上好像对山洞很感兴趣，”杰克说。 “看他到处嗅来嗅去。”斯坎普当然很感兴趣。 他兴奋地跑来跑去，轻轻地叫着，呜咽着，好像在说：“要是我能说话，我就能告诉你这么多了！”他跑到他埋骨头的地方，把它挖出来，小心翼翼地把它带到另一个角落，埋在那里。 彼得笑了。“他怕我们的客人会找到他的骨头——看他这次埋得多深！”嘿，斯坎普，你把沙子撒了我们一身！”珍妮特环顾了一下这个满是空罐头和散落的书的凌乱的山洞。 泪水涌上了她的眼睛。她说：“是我让一切变得如此美好。”

'And we had such a lot of good food here. WHO is this horrible visitor who comes when we're not here and steals like this? Where does he come from? How does he get here if he doesn't come in at the entrance?' 'Let's look all round the cave again, very, very carefully to see if there's another entrance somewhere,' said Jack. 'There might be a small hole that someone could wriggle through, covered with sand.' They looked thoroughly, Scamper sniffing too. But no, no matter how Scamper sniffed all round and about, or how the children dug here and there to find a hole under the rocky walls, nothing was found that would help to solve the mystery. 'And a very strange mystery it is too,' said Peter. 'I said I didn't like it, and I don't. I vote we clear up this cave and find another meeting-place. It's going to be no fun if we keep having our things stolen and messed

“我们在这里吃了很多好吃的。 这个趁我们不在的时候来偷东西的可怕的来客是谁？ 他是哪里人？如果他不从入口处进来，他怎么到这儿来的？“我们再看看这个洞，非常非常仔细地看看有没有别的入口。”杰克说。 “可能会有一个小洞，有人可以钻过去，上面盖着沙子。”他们仔细地看了看，斯坎普也嗅了嗅。 可是，不管斯坎普怎么到处嗅，孩子们怎么在岩石墙下挖洞，都没有发现任何有助于解开这个谜团的东西。 “这也是一个非常奇怪的秘密。”彼得说。 “我说过我不喜欢，我就是不喜欢。 我建议把这个山洞清理干净，再找个地方开会。 如果我们的东西老是被人偷来弄乱，那就没意思了

about by some unknown visitor.' 'Yes. I don't feel as if I want to be here any more either,' said Janet. 'It's a shame. It's such a good place. Well, the others will be along soon, so let's just clear up a bit, and we'll tell them when they come.' It wasn't long before the others came, all four of them, chattering and laughing as they walked through the old quarry. As soon as they arrived at the cave, Peter told them what had happened. They stared at his grave face and listened in astonishment to what he told them. 'It's very odd,' said George. 'I don't understand it. Taking food – and cushions – and books! It sounds like someone hiding somewhere and needing food, and something soft to lie on.' 'If one or two of us hid here in the cave tonight, we might see whoever it is that comes,' said Colin.

被一个不知名的访客。“是的。 “我也不想再呆在这儿了，”珍妮特说。 “真可惜。这是个好地方。 好吧，其他人很快就要来了，所以我们先收拾一下，等他们来了再告诉他们。”没过多久，其他人也来了，他们四个人都在穿过旧采石场时谈笑风生。 他们一到山洞，彼得就把发生的事告诉了他们。 他们盯着他严肃的脸，惊讶地听着他讲的话。 “真奇怪，”乔治说。 “我不明白。带着食物——还有靠垫——还有书！听起来像是有人躲在某个地方，需要食物，需要柔软的东西躺在上面。“如果今晚有一两个人躲在这个山洞里，我们就能看见来的人了。”柯林说。