Five On Kirrin Island Again Chapter Nine GEORGE MAKES A DISCOVERY - AND LOSES HER TEMPER

Chapter Nine GEORGE MAKES A DISCOVERY - AND LOSES HER TEMPER

GEORGE  slipped  down  from  the  rock.  She  peered  under  it.  There  was  a  large  opening  there, scattered¹ with stones that Timmy had loosened in his digging.

'Surely  you haven't  at  last  found a rabbit hole big enough to  go down!' said  George.  'TIMMY!

Where are you?'

Not a bark, not a whine² came from the hole. George wriggled³ under the shelf of rock, and peered down the burrow⁴. Timmy had certainly made it very big. George called up to Julian.

'Julian! Throw me down  your trowel,  will  you?'  The trowel landed  by  her foot. George took  it and began to make the hole bigger. It might be big enough for Timmy, but it wasn't big enough for her! She dug hard and soon got very hot. She crawled out and looked over on to the rock to see  if  she  could  get  one  of  the  others  to  help  her.  They  were  all  asleep!  'Lazy  things!'  thought George,  quite  forgetting  that  she  too  would  have  been  dozing  if  she  hadn't  wondered  where Timmy had gone.

She  slipped  down  under  the  rock  again  and  began  to  dig  hard  with  her  trowel.  Soon  she  had made the hole big enough to get through. She was surprised to find quite a large passage, once she had made the entrance big enough to take her. She could crawl along on hands and knees!

'I  say  -  I  wonder  if  this  is  just  some  animal's  runway  -or  leads  somewhere!'  thought  George.

'TIMMY! Where are you?'

From  somewhere  deep  in  the  quarry⁵  side  there  came  a  faint  whine.  George  felt  thankful.  So Timmy was there, after all. She crawled along, and then quite suddenly the tunnel became high and wide, and she realized that she must be in a passage. It was perfectly⁶ dark, so she could not see anything, she could only feel. Then she heard the sound of pattering feet, and Timmy pressed affectionately against her legs, whining⁷.

'Oh Timmy --  you gave me a bit of a fright!' said George. 'Where have you been? Is this a real passage -- or just a tunnel in the quarry, made by the aid miners, and now used by animals?'

'Woof,' said Timmy, and pulled at George's shorts to make her go back to the daylight.

'All  right,  I'm coming!' said  George.  'Don't  imagine  I  want  to  wander alone in  the dark!  I only came to look for you.'

She made her way back to the shelf of rock. By this time Dick was awake, and wondered where George had gone. He waited a few minutes, blinking up into the deep blue sky, and then sat up.

'George!'  There  was  no  answer.  So,  in  his  turn  Dick  slipped  down  from  the  rock  and  looked around. And, to his very great astonishment⁸ he saw first Timmy, and then George on hands and knees, appearing out of the hole under the rock. He stared open-mouthed, and George began to giggle⁹.

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'It's all right. I've only been rabbiting with Timmy!' She stood beside him, shaking and brushing soil from her jersey¹⁰ and shorts. 'There's a passage behind the entrance to the hole under the rock,'

she said. 'At first it's just a narrow tunnel, like an animal's hole -- then it gets wider -- and then it becomes a proper high wide passage! I couldn't see if it went, on, of course, because it was dark.

Timmy was a long way in.'

'Good gracious!' said Dick. 'It sounds exciting.'

'Let's explore it, shall we?' said George. 'I expect Julian's got a torch.'

'No,' said Dick. 'We won't explore today.'

The others were now awake, and listening with interest.

'Is it a secret passage?' said Anne, thrilled. 'Oh do let's explore it!'

'No,  not  today,'  said  Dick  again.  He  looked  at  Julian.  Julian  guessed  that  Dick  did  not  want Martin to share this secret. Why should he? He was not a real friend of theirs, and they had only just got to know him. He nodded back to Dick.

'No, we won't explore today. Anyway, it may be nothing - just an old tunnel made by the quarry-men.'

Martin  was  listening  with  great  interest.  He  went  and  looked  into  the  hole.  'I  wish  we  could explore,'  he  said.  'Maybe  we  could  plan  to  meet  again  with  torches  and  see  if  there  really  is  a passage there.'

Julian looked at his watch. 'Nearly two o'clock. Well, Martin, if we're going to see that half past two television programme of yours, we'd better be getting on.'

Carrying  baskets  of  primroses  and  violets,  the  girls  began  to  climb  up  the  steep  side  of  the quarry. Julian took Anne's basket from her, afraid she might slip and fall. Soon they were all at the top. The air felt quite cool there after the warmth of the quarry. They made their way to the cliff-path and before long were passing the coastguard's cottage. He was  out in his garden, and he waved to them.

They went in the gateway¹¹ of the next-door cottage. Martin pushed the door open. His father was sitting at the window of the room inside, reading. He got up with a broad, welcoming smile.

'Well, well, well! This is nice! Come along in, do. Yes, the dog as well. I don't mind dogs a bit. I like them.'

It  seemed  rather  a  crowd  in  the  small  room.  They  all  shook  hands  politely.  Martin  explained hurriedly that he had brought the children to see a television programme.

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'A good idea,' said Mr. Curton, still beaming. Anne stared at his great eyebrows¹². They were very long and thick. She wondered why he didn't have them trimmed but perhaps he liked them like that. They made him look very fierce, she thought.

The  four  looked  round  the  little  room.  There  was  a  television  set  standing  at  the  far  end,  on  a table.  There  was  also  a  magnificent  wireless¹³  and  something  else  that  made  the  boys  stare  with interest.

'Hallo! You've got a transmitting set, as well as a receiving set,' said Julian.

'Yes,' said Mr. Curton. 'It's a hobby of mine. I made that set.'

'Well! You must be brainy!' said Dick.

'What's a transmitting set?' asked Anne. 'I haven't heard of one before.'

'Oh, it just means a set to send out messages by wireless like police-cars have, when they send back messages to their police stations,' said Dick. 'This is a very powerful one, though.'

Martin was fiddling¹⁴ about with the television switches. Then the programme began. It was great fun seeing the television programme. When it was over Mr. Curton asked them to stay to tea.

'Now don't say no,' he said. 'I'll ring up and ask your aunt, if you like, if you're afraid she might be worried.'

'Well if you'd do that, sir,' said Julian. 'I think she would wonder where we'd gone!'

Mr. Curton rang up Aunt Fanny. Yes, it was quite all right for them to stay, but they mustn't be too late back. So they settled down to an unexpectedly good tea. Martin was not very talkative, but  Mr.  Curton  made  up  for  it.  He  laughed  and  joked  and  was  altogether  very  good  company.

The  talk  came  round  to  Kirrin  Island.  Mr.  Curton  said  how  beautiful  it  looked  each  evening.

George looked pleased.

'Yes,' she said. 'I always think that. I do wish Father hadn't chosen this particular time to work on my island. I'd planned to go and stay there.'

'I suppose you know every inch of it!' said Mr. Curton.

'Oh  yes!'  said  George.  'We  all  do.  There  are  dungeons¹⁵  there;  you  know  real  dungeons  that  go deep down - where we once found gold ingots?'

'Yes  I  remember  reading  about  that,'  said  Mr.  Curton.  'That  must  have  been  exciting.  Fancy finding the dungeons too! And there's an old well too you once got down, isn't there?'

'Yes'  said  Anne,  remembering.  'And  there  is  a  cave  where  we  once  lived  it's  got  an  entrance through the roof, as well as from the sea.'

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'And  I  suppose  your  father  is  conducting  his  marvellous  experiments  down  in  the  dungeons?'

said Mr.Curton. 'Well, what a strange place to work in!'

'No we don't'…. began George, when she got a kick on the ankle from Dick. She screwed up her face in pain. It had been a very sharp kick indeed.

'What were you going to say?' said Mr. Curton, looking surprised.

'Er I was just going to say that  - er -- er -- we don't know which place Father has chosen,' said George, keeping her legs well out of the way of Dick's feet.

Timmy gave a sudden sharp whine. George looked down at him in surprise. He was looking up at Dick with a very hurt expression

'What's the matter, Timmy?' said George, anxiously.

'He's finding the room too hot, I think,' said Dick. 'Better take him out, George.'

George, feeling quite anxious, took him out. Dick joined her. She scowled¹⁶ at him. 'What did you want to kick me for like that? I shall have a frightful¹⁷ bruise¹⁸.'

'You know jolly well why I did,' said Dick. 'Giving away everything like that. Can't you see the chap's very interested in  your father being on the island? There may be nothing in it at all, but you might at least keep your mouth shut. Just like a girl, can't help blabbing. I had to stop  you somehow.  I don't  mind telling  you  I trod jolly hard on poor old Timmy's  tail  too, to  make him yelp¹⁹, so that you'd stop talking!'

'Oh you beast!' said George, indignantly. 'How could you hurt Timmy?'

'I didn't  want  to.  It was  a shame,' said  Dick, stopping to  fondle Timmy's ears.  'Poor old  Tim.  I didn't want to hurt you, old fellow.'

'I'm going home,' said George, her face scarlet²⁰ with anger. 'I hate you for talking to me like that telling  me  I  blab  like  a  girl  and  stamping  on  poor  Timmy's  tail  You  can  go  back  and  say  I'm taking Timmy home.'

'Right,'  said  Dick.  'And  a  jolly  good  thing  too.  The  less  you  talk  to  Mr.  Curton  the  better.  I'm going back to find out exactly what he is and what he does.  I'm  getting jolly suspicious. You'd better go before you give anything else away!'

Almost choking with rage, George went off with Timmy. Dick went back to make her apologies.

Julian and Anne, sure that  something was up, felt  most uncomfortable. They  rose to  go, but  to their surprise, Dick became very talkative and appeared to be suddenly very much interested in Mr. Curton and what he did.

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But at last they said good-bye and went. 'Come again, do,' said Mr. Curton, beaming at the three of them. And tell the other boy  what's  his  name, George  -  that  I hope his  dog is  quite all right again now. Such a nice, well behaved dog! Well good-bye! See you again soon, I hope!' 

1 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

2 whine   

v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣

参考例句：

• You are getting paid to think,not to whine.支付给你工资是让你思考而不是哀怨的。
• The bullet hit a rock and rocketed with a sharp whine.子弹打在一块岩石上，一声尖厉的呼啸，跳飞开去。

3 wriggled   

v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）

参考例句：

• He wriggled uncomfortably on the chair. 他坐在椅子上不舒服地扭动着身体。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A snake wriggled across the road. 一条蛇蜿蜒爬过道路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 burrow   

vt.挖掘(洞穴)；钻进；vi.挖洞；翻寻；n.地洞

参考例句：

• Earthworms burrow deep into the subsoil.蚯蚓深深地钻进底土。
• The dog had chased a rabbit into its burrow.狗把兔子追进了洞穴。

5 quarry   

n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找

参考例句：

• Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
• This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。

6 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

7 whining   

n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚

参考例句：

• That's the way with you whining, puny, pitiful players. 你们这种又爱哭、又软弱、又可怜的赌棍就是这样。
• The dog sat outside the door whining (to be let in). 那条狗坐在门外狺狺叫着（要进来）。

8 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。

9 giggle   

n.痴笑，咯咯地笑；v.咯咯地笑着说

参考例句：

• Both girls began to giggle.两个女孩都咯咯地笑了起来。
• All that giggle and whisper is too much for me.我受不了那些咯咯的笑声和交头接耳的样子。

10 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

11 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。

12 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

13 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

14 fiddling   

微小的

参考例句：

• He was fiddling with his keys while he talked to me. 和我谈话时他不停地摆弄钥匙。
• All you're going to see is a lot of fiddling around. 你今天要看到的只是大量的胡摆乱弄。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦

15 dungeons   

n.地牢( dungeon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The captured rebels were consigned to the dungeons. 抓到的叛乱分子被送进了地牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He saw a boy in fetters in the dungeons. 他在地牢里看见一个戴着脚镣的男孩。 来自辞典例句

16 scowled   

怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He scowled his displeasure. 他满脸嗔色。
• The teacher scowled at his noisy class. 老师对他那喧闹的课堂板着脸。

17 frightful   

adj.可怕的；讨厌的

参考例句：

• How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊！
• We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。

18 bruise   

n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤

参考例句：

• The bruise was caused by a kick.这伤痕是脚踢的。
• Jack fell down yesterday and got a big bruise on his face.杰克昨天摔了一跤，脸上摔出老大一块淤斑。

19 yelp   

vi.狗吠

参考例句：

• The dog gave a yelp of pain.狗疼得叫了一声。
• The puppy a yelp when John stepped on her tail.当约翰踩到小狗的尾巴，小狗发出尖叫。

20 scarlet   

n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的

参考例句：

• The scarlet leaves of the maples contrast well with the dark green of the pines.深红的枫叶和暗绿的松树形成了明显的对比。
• The glowing clouds are growing slowly pale,scarlet,bright red,and then light red.天空的霞光渐渐地淡下去了，深红的颜色变成了绯红，绯红又变为浅红。