儿童英语读物 灯塔之谜 The Lighthouse Mystery Chapter 2 神秘来客

CHAPTER 2

Unfriendly Characters



Watch always slept at the foot of Jessie’s bed.



“Keep still, Watch!” said Jessie. “You’ll wake everybody up!”



But Watch didn’t stop. He barked all the more. His hair stood up straight around his neck.



Benny came down the stairs. Henry came. Mr. Alden called, “What’s the matter with Watch, Jessie?”



“I don’t know, Grandfather,” called Jessie. “He must hear something he doesn’t like.”



Benny began to pat 1 the dog. “What’s the matter with you, Watch? Why do you have to bark at twelve o’clock midnight? Why couldn’t you bark at four o’clock in the afternoon? Then we could do something about it.”



Watch barked on and on. He stopped just long enough to growl 2.



Suddenly Benny said, “I smell steak and mashed 3 potatoes.”



“Benny, mashed potatoes don’t smell,” said Violet 4.



“I can smell them,” said Benny.



“Are you sure it is not baked potatoes you smell?” asked Henry. “I don’t smell anything.”



“No. Baked potatoes smell even better. Maybe it’s the milk and butter and pepper 5 and salt that I smell.”



“Well, maybe pepper, Benny. Certainly not salt,” said Jessie.



Henry was frowning 6. “Maybe someone is hiding and eating in that little house at the foot of our lighthouse. But I thought it was empty,” he said.



Just then Watch stopped barking. He lay down and put his head on his paws 7 and shut his eyes. Everyone was surprised.



“Just look at Watch now,” said Jessie. “He doesn’t care any more. I guess the danger is over, whatever it was.”



“That’s a funny thing,” said Benny. He started upstairs.



“It’s more than funny, Ben,” said Henry. “The dog must have heard something.”



“We’ll find out tomorrow,” said Mr. Alden. “I’ll ask the police.”



Then everyone went back to bed. Violet thought she could not go back to sleep, but she did.



They slept till morning. After a rather poor breakfast, Jessie said, “Well, the first thing is to go to the store and buy food.”



“Right,” said her grandfather. He missed his morning coffee and toast.



No one spoke 8 of the midnight noise. With the sun shining, it seemed as if nothing had happened.



As they walked up the street to the grocery 9 store they saw a middle-aged 10 man coming. He had sharp, black eyes. He did not even look at the Aldens. He passed Jessie, almost bumping 12 her.



“Well!” said Benny, when the man had gone by. “He’s a queer 13 character.”



“He did look at us sideways,” said Violet. “I saw him when he was far down the street.”



“But why should he almost bump 11 into Jessie?” Henry asked. “He might have knocked her down if she hadn’t moved quickly. A queer character is right, Ben.”



“I think we notice everybody now,” said Violet. “We think they are a part of our mystery.”



Suddenly everyone was thinking about the noise in the night. It had been real!



“Right!” said Henry. He took Violet’s arm as they went into the store. “You are always right.”



There was only one person in the store. It was a boy of about Henry’s age. Under his arm he had a college book. Henry knew it at once.



The girls started to buy groceries 14, but Henry gave the boy a friendly smile and said, “I noticed your book. Do you go to college?”



“I certainly don’t,” said the boy loudly. Then he went out of the store and banged 15 the door.



“Hey, what’s the matter with him?” asked Henry. He stared after the boy.



“He’s looking for trouble, that feller!” said Benny. His voice sounded just like his grandfather’s.



Mr. Hall said, “He doesn’t have to look for trouble. He’s got trouble.”



“What trouble?” asked Henry. “He looks so cross at everybody.”



“Well, his father won’t let him go to school,” said Mr. Hall.



“School?” cried Benny. “He wants to go to school, and his father won’t let him?”



“That’s right,” said Mr. Hall.



Benny said, “Didn’t that boy go to high school?”



“Oh, yes, he had to go to high school. It’s the law. He’s very smart, especially in science. He got through high school at sixteen.”



“Well,” said Henry, “he is smart, then. But he’s looking for trouble. It wouldn’t hurt him to be polite to a stranger.”



“He isn’t polite to anybody,” said Mr. Hall. “I try to be nice to him, but you see how he acts. He doesn’t want friends.”



“Now that is too bad,” said Benny. “Everyone ought to have friends.”



“I guess it isn’t hard for you to make friends,” said Mr. Hall. He laughed.



“No, it isn’t,” said Benny. “I’m lucky. We’re all lucky.”



Henry was quiet. At last he said, “I wish we could do something with that father. A boy like that ought to go to college if he wants to.”



“He wants to all right. That’s all he thinks about—college—college—and I guess whatever lives in the sea. He’s always picking up shells 16 or bits of seaweed. Now I say if any boy wants to learn, let him learn.”



“Right,” said Benny. “There are lots of boys I know that don’t want to learn.”



“I don’t think you can do anything with his father,” Mr. Hall said. “You’re not the first people who have tried.”



Then the four Aldens thought of the same name—Grandfather. But they did not say it. Grandfather knew how to get things done.



“That boy is another queer character,” said Benny. “Two cross people in ten minutes.” Benny did not see many cross people.



Then Mr. Alden said, “By the way, Mr. Hall, our dog barked in the night. We feel that someone was prowling about. I thought I’d see the police today.”



Mr. Hall shook his head. “No police in this town,” he said. “Never had any trouble here.”



“No police!” said Mr. Alden. “I never heard of such a thing. Who looks up a mystery?”



“Nobody, I guess. Never had a mystery either.”



As the Aldens drove 17 home, they were all thinking.



Grandfather said, “I suppose I could send for John Carter 18.”



“Oh, please don’t,” cried Benny. “We want to find out for ourselves. No police, no Mr. Carter, no help at all!”



“Very well,” said Grandfather with a smile.



“We’ll have to solve the mystery, Ben,” said Henry.



“Maybe we can do it better than Mr. Carter can,” said Benny.



“Oh,” said Jessie. “Somebody thinks he’s pretty smart, Mr. Benny! But we all know that Mr. Carter is right there. He would come to help us in a minute.”



When they reached the lighthouse with the groceries, Jessie said, “I wonder just the same about that black-eyed man and the cross boy. Could one of them have anything to do with our mystery?”



“I don’t see how,” said Benny. “But you never know. Maybe they are cooking up something or other.”



Benny didn’t know then how near he was to the truth.