9 AN EXCITING PLAN

CHAPTER NINE AN EXCITING PLAN 'LET'S CLEAR out of here quickly,' said Colin, in a low voice, looking nervously all round the cave. 'If Albert Tanner, whoever he is, is anywhere near, as he does seem to be, we don't want him to know we've found his notebook. We're all ready to go. Let's scoot off quickly, and examine the notebook in secret.' 'Good idea,' said Peter. 'Ready everyone? Come on then! Scamper, to heel!' They left the cave and went out into the bright sunshine, each carrying a load. The tins, alas, were now empty, and very light to carry. Half Colin's Famous Five books were gone, so

第九章一个激动人心的计划“我们赶紧离开这里吧。”科林低声说，紧张地环顾了一下山洞。 “如果艾伯特·坦纳，不管他是谁，就在附近，而且看起来确实在附近，我们不想让他知道我们找到了他的笔记本。 我们都准备好了。让我们赶快离开，偷偷地检查一下笔记本。“好主意，”彼得说。 “每个人都准备好了吗?来吧！快跑，跟我走！”他们离开洞穴，走到明亮的阳光下，每个人都背着一件东西。 唉，罐头现在空了，搬起来很轻。 科林的五本名著有一半不见了，所以

he hadn't a great load, either. Most of the magazines had disappeared too. Evidently their mysterious visitor was quite a reader! They went through the quarry and into Peter's garden. 'We'll go to the summerhouse, I think,' said Peter. 'It's not very comfortable, but at least we can talk in secret there.' Soon they were all sitting on the little bench that ran round the old summer-house, with Scamper panting on the floor in a patch of warm sunshine. Peter took the worn notebook out of his pocket and opened it. The others crowded as near as possible to see what was in it. Peter turned over the pages. 'Albert Tanner has written his name in the front as you know,' he said. 'Which was kind of him, I must say – we at least know the name of our visitor now! There doesn't seem much else in the book, actually. Just a few notes of money and various dates, and a few words

他的货也不多。 大多数杂志也不见了。 显然，他们的神秘客人是一个很好的读者！他们穿过采石场，进入彼得的花园。 “我们去凉亭吧，我想。”彼得说。 “那里不太舒服，但至少我们可以在那里秘密交谈。”不久，他们就都坐在了环绕着老凉亭的小板凳上，斯坎普在地板上暖暖的阳光下喘着粗气。 彼得从口袋里拿出那本破旧的笔记本，打开了它。 其他人挤得越近越好，想看看里面是什么。 彼得把书翻过来。 “你知道，艾伯特·坦纳在前面写了他的名字，”他说。 “他真是太好了，我得说——我们现在至少知道客人的名字了！”实际上，书中似乎没有太多其他内容。 只有几张钞票和几个日期，还有几句话

scribbled here and there. Let's see – yes – "potatoes, turnips, tomatoes, flour", just a shopping list, I suppose.' He turned over a page or two. 'Another shopping list, and some figures jotted down. It doesn't seem as if this notebook is going to be of any use at all!' Jack took it from him and looked through it too. At the back was a folded-in piece of leather to hold paper money. Peter hadn't noticed it. Jack slipped his fingers in to see if anything could be there. Yes, a slip of paper, small and torn, with something scribbled on it in a different handwriting from Albert Tanner's. 'Look here!' said Jack. 'This was in the back of the notebook. See what it says? It's a note to Albert Tanner.' 'What does it say?' asked Janet, excited. 'Anything of use to us?' 'It's just scribble,' said Jack, screwing up his

到处乱涂乱画。让我想想——对——‘土豆、萝卜、西红柿、面粉’，我想只是一张购物清单。”他翻了一两页。 又一张购物单，还有一些数字。 看来这个笔记本根本就没什么用！”杰克从他手里拿过来，也看了看。 后面是一块折叠起来的皮革，用来装纸币。 彼得没有注意到。杰克把手伸进去，看看里面有没有东西。 是的，一张小纸片，撕破了，上面潦草地写着什么，笔迹和艾伯特·坦纳的不一样。 “看这里!杰克说。这是在笔记本的后面。 看到上面写什么了吗？是给阿尔伯特·坦纳的便条“上面说什么？”珍妮特兴奋地问。 “对我们有用吗？”“就是乱写乱画，”杰克说着，把他的字迹弄乱了

eyes. 'It says, "Daren't write it. Jim knows the place. He'll tell you. Meet him on post office seat 8.30 p.m., 15th. Ted."' 'The 15th! That's today,' said Peter. 'Read it again, it's evidently an important message, but how mysterious! What's this "place" Jim is going to tell Albert? My word, if only we could know it! We could go to the "place" Jim says and have a good snoop round.' A little feeling of excitement began to stir in everyone. Colin caught hold of Peter's sleeve. 'I'll go to the post office seat tonight and sit there. Perhaps I shall see this "Jim" and hear what he says to Albert. I shall see Albert too!' There was a silence, and the excitement suddenly grew stronger. 'A few of us should go,' said Peter. 'Not just you.' 'You can't,' said Janet. 'You're going to see "Westward Ho!" at the cinema. Mother's taking us both. And George is coming too, don't you remember?'

眼睛。“上面写着，‘我不敢写。 吉姆知道那个地方。他会告诉你的。 15号晚上8点30分在邮局和他见面。 Ted。“‘15号！“那是今天。”彼得说。 “再读一遍，这显然是一条重要的信息，但多么神秘啊！”吉姆要告诉艾伯特的这个“地方”是什么？ 我发誓，要是我们能知道就好了！我们可以去吉姆说的那个‘地方’，好好地窥探一下。”每个人都开始有一种兴奋的感觉。 科林抓住彼得的袖子。 “今晚我要到邮局的座位上坐下来。 也许我会见到这个“吉姆”，听听他对阿尔贝说些什么。 我也要去见阿尔贝！”一阵沉默，兴奋突然变得更强烈了。 “我们中应该有几个人去。”彼得说。 “不只是你。“你不能，”珍妮特说。 “你要去电影院看《西游》。” 妈妈要带我们俩去。乔治也要来，你不记得了吗？”

'Bother!' said Peter. 'Well, we can't get out of that without giving the whole thing away. Colin, you and Jack must go. And for goodness' sake listen hard and hear what's being said!' 'Right,' said Colin, thrilled. 'Can you come, Jack?' 'Oh yes!' said Jack. 'And what about us shadowing Albert and Jim, Peter? One of us could follow Albert, and the other one could follow Jim. It might be useful to know where Jim lives, and I must say I'd like to follow Albert if he goes back to the cave!' 'A jolly good idea,' said Peter. 'I only wish I could come too. But it's no good. I begged and begged to go to "Westward Ho!" and I can't get out of it now.' They pored over the little note again, written in a bad handwriting, hurried and careless. Peter read it out aloud once more. 'Daren't write it. Jim knows the place. He'll

“麻烦!”彼得说。“好吧，我们要是不把整个事情暴露出来，就逃不掉了。 科林，你和杰克必须离开。 看在上帝的份上，仔细听，听听他们在说什么！“好吧。”科林激动地说。 “你能来吗，杰克？”“哦，是的！”杰克说。 “我们跟着艾伯特和吉姆怎么样，彼得？” 我们中的一个可以跟着艾伯特，另一个跟着吉姆。 知道吉姆住在哪里可能会有用，而且我必须说，如果艾伯特回到山洞，我愿意跟着他！“好主意，”彼得说。 “我真希望我也能去。 但这并不好。我求了一遍又一遍要去《西浪记》，可现在我已经脱不开身了。”他们又仔细地看那张小纸条，字迹潦草，匆忙而粗心。 彼得又大声念了一遍。 “我不敢写。吉姆知道那个地方。 他会

tell you. Meet him on post office seat 8.30 p.m., 15th. Ted.' 'Would there be something hidden in this "place" that is in the note, do you think?' said Janet. 'Yes. Probably,' said Peter, thinking hard. 'And if it's hidden, it's valuable. And if it's valuable it may be stolen goods.' 'Yes. Goods stolen by Ted, whoever he is, and hidden away!' said Colin. 'Or stolen by Ted and Albert – and Ted hid them – then got caught, perhaps, and went to prison. And now he wants Albert to find them.' Everyone laughed. 'You've made quite a story of it!' said Jack. 'I don't expect it's anything like that really. All the same, as soon as we know the place we'll certainly go there – if only we can get there before Albert does!' 'Yes, that's not going to be so easy!' said Peter. 'Maybe Albert will go there at once.' 'I hope he does!' said Colin.

告诉你。15号晚上8点30分在邮局和他见面。 Ted。“你觉得纸条上写的那个‘地方’里藏着什么东西吗？”珍妮特说。 ‘是的。“可能吧。”彼得苦思着说。 “如果藏起来了，那就很有价值。 如果有价值，可能是赃物。“是的。 货物被泰德偷走了，不管他是谁，还藏起来了！科林说。 “或者被泰德和艾伯特偷了——泰德把它们藏了起来——然后被抓住，也许进了监狱。 现在他想让阿尔伯特找到他们。”每个人都笑了。 “你把这件事闹得沸沸扬扬！”杰克说。 “我真没想到会有这样的事。 尽管如此，只要我们知道了那个地方，我们一定要去那儿——只要我们能比艾伯特先到那儿就好了！“是的，那可没那么容易！”彼得说。 “也许阿尔贝马上就去。“我希望他会！”科林说。