儿童英语读物 The Camp-Out Mystery CHAPTER 7 No Pancakes for Breakfast

Next morning, Henry had the fire going by the time the others woke up. They were all surprised.

“If we had something to put the frying pan on, we could have pancakes for breakfast,” Jessie said.

“We do have something,” Henry told her.

Resting on two stacks of stones, a metal grill¹ spanned the fire.

“Watch and I went looking for our lantern this morning,” Henry explained. “I thought some animal might have carried it off and dropped it somewhere. Instead, we found the grill at an empty campsite.”

Violet said, “Now you can have your coffee, Grandfather.” Then she and Benny skipped off to fill the coffee pot with water from the pump.

Jessie went to make the pancake batter². The mix wasn’t in the box. She looked all over for it. Finally, she returned to the others. “I can’t find the pancake mix,” she told them.

“Are you sure we bought some?” Henry asked her.

“Yes,” Jessie answered. “It was in the box with the cereal.”

“Maybe Benny moved it when he was looking for the honey,” Mr. Alden suggested.

“I looked in both boxes. I even looked in the cooler,” Jessie said. “It’s not anywhere.”

Returning with the coffee pot, Violet asked, “What’s missing now?”

“The pancake mix,” Jessie told her.

“Oh, no,” Benny said. “Not the pancake mix!”

“Something strange is going on,” Mr. Alden said thoughtfully.

“There’s probably a simple explanation for everything that’s happened,” Henry said.

“A raccoon could have taken the pancake mix,” Jessie said, “and knocked the honey out of the box.”

“He might even have carried the lantern off somewhere,” Violet added.

“That could explain the light,” Benny put in. “Maybe he was running with the lantern and the light was bouncing all over the place.”

“That could make it look like two lights when it was only one,” Henry said.

“And who turned the lantern on?” Grandfather asked.

“Raccoons are very smart,” Benny answered.

“Smart enough to play music?” Mr. Alden asked.

“There wasn’t any music last night,” Violet said.

“No,” Mr. Alden said, “but I don’t think we’ve heard the last of it.”

Everyone was silent thinking about that.

Finally, Henry said, “I don’t think we’re in any danger.”

“No, I don’t think we are,” Grandfather agreed, “but I’m not sure we should stay.”

“Oh, please, let’s not go home yet, Grandfather,” Benny pleaded.

Mr. Alden looked from one to the other. “Do you all want to stay?”

“Oh, yes!” the children all said at once.

“All right,” Mr. Alden said at last. “But I’m going to hike back to the store for another lantern.”

“We could do that,” Henry offered.

“Thank you, Henry,” Mr. Alden said, “but the walk would do me good, and I’d like to talk to Doris. You stay here and enjoy the woods.”

After a breakfast of scrambled³ eggs, Henry packed some trail mix and fruit and a thermos⁴ of coffee for Mr. Alden.

“How nice of you to pack me a lunch,”Grandfather told him, “but I’ll only be gone a little while.”

“You’d better take it, Grandfather,” Benny said. “Hiking makes a person very hungry.”

Mr. Alden started toward the trail. Watch looked confused. He didn’t seem to know whether to go with him or to stay with the children.

Mr. Alden laughed. “You stay here, Watch. I’ll be back soon.”

Watch wagged his tail. He seemed to understand.

The children decided⁵ to play hide and seek in the pine grove⁶. Henry covered his eyes and began to count. Everyone else ran to hide. Watch followed Jessie. She found the perfect hiding place under an outcrop of sandstone.

“Shhh,” she warned Watch.

The dog sat quietly beside her.

Still, Henry found them. He found Benny and Violet, too.

“So who wants to be It now?” Henry asked.

“It’s too hot to play,” Benny said. “Let’s go wading⁷ instead.”

They took off their shoes and socks and rolled up their jeans. The children laughed and splashed in the cool stream for a long time. Then they dried off in the sun.

“Let’s make stew⁸ for supper,” Jessie suggested. “Grandfather will be hungry after his long hike.”

Jessie got the fire going.

Benny took the stew pot to the pump to fill it with water.

Henry and Violet cut up the vegetables and chunks⁹ of beef.

By the time the stew was simmering, the sky was dark with clouds.

“It looks like we’re in for a storm,” Henry observed.

“I hope Grandfather gets back soon,” Jessie said.

Lightning flashed in the distance. After several seconds, a low rumble¹⁰ sounded. An hour later, the first big drops of rain fell on their camp.

But Grandfather Alden had not returned.

1 grill   

n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问

参考例句：

• Put it under the grill for a minute to brown the top.放在烤架下烤一分钟把上面烤成金黄色。
• I'll grill you some mutton.我来给你烤一些羊肉吃。

2 batter   

v.接连重击；磨损；n.牛奶面糊；击球员

参考例句：

• The batter skied to the center fielder.击球手打出一个高飞球到中外野手。
• Put a small quantity of sugar into the batter.在面糊里放少量的糖。

3 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 thermos   

n.保湿瓶，热水瓶

参考例句：

• Can I borrow your thermos?我可以借用你的暖水瓶吗？
• It's handy to have the thermos here.暖瓶放在这儿好拿。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

7 wading   

（从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The man tucked up his trousers for wading. 那人卷起裤子，准备涉水。
• The children were wading in the sea. 孩子们在海水中走着。

8 stew   

n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑

参考例句：

• The stew must be boiled up before serving.炖肉必须煮熟才能上桌。
• There's no need to get in a stew.没有必要烦恼。

9 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

10 rumble   

n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说

参考例句：

• I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
• We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定，天要下雨了。