儿童英语读物 The Mystery of the Haunted Boxcar CHAPTER 3 A Break-In

Benny burst out of his room and ran into the room next door. “Henry! Henry!” he cried.



Henry was lying in bed, reading a book. He looked up, surprised. “Benny? What is it? Did you have a bad dream?”



Benny grabbed Henry’s arm. “Come look! Professor Murray was right!” He tried to pull Henry to his feet.



Henry put down the book and struggled to stop Benny from yanking on his arm. “All right, all right! Hang on!” Henry stood up. “Professor Murray was right about what?”



“The boxcar!” Benny said. “It’s haunted. I saw a light.” He pulled Henry over to the window and lifted the shade. “Look!”



Henry looked out, and so did Benny. There was nothing there.



“But — ” Benny sputtered 1. “There was a light out there a minute ago. Keep watching. I’m sure it will come back.”



The two boys looked out the window for several minutes. “What exactly did you see before?” Henry asked.



“There was a light near the boxcar,” Benny said. “It was kind of floating around.”



“Are you sure it wasn’t just a dream?” Henry asked, yawning.



“No, it wasn’t a dream!” Benny said. He looked out the window again, but the yard was completely dark.



“Maybe it was lightning,” Henry suggested.



“It didn’t look like lightning,” Benny said. “It floated around, like a ghost.”



Just then the door opened and Jessie and Violet came in, dressed in their pajamas 2 and looking sleepy. “What’s going on?” Jessie asked.



“Benny thought he saw a light out near the boxcar,” Henry said.



Jessie and Violet went to the window to look. The yard was still dark.



“I did see a light, but now it’s gone,” Benny said.



“Are you sure you didn’t just dream this?” asked Jessie.



“That’s what I asked,” Henry said.



“No, I didn’t dream it. It was real,” said Benny.



“Well, there’s only one thing to do,” Jessie said.



The others looked at her expectantly. Benny was afraid she’d say that the only thing to do was go back to bed.



But instead she said, “Let’s go take a look.”



“Now?” Benny asked, his eyes widening. “In the dark? In the rain?”



“You’re not going to be able to sleep if you’re wondering about that light,” said Jessie.



The Aldens went downstairs to the back hall. Jessie opened the closet and handed out raincoats. Henry went to the kitchen to get a flashlight.



Watch followed them to the back door. He seemed to be wondering why they were going outside in the middle of the night. He wasn’t about to miss any action.



“We have to be quiet,” Jessie reminded them. “We don’t want to wake up Mrs. McGregor and worry her for no reason.”



Henry pushed the door open slowly, and Watch ran out. The backyard was completely dark. It was still raining lightly. “If anyone’s out there, Watch will bark. Then we’ll head straight back to the house,” said Henry.



He turned on the flashlight with a click and shined it out the open door and around the yard. He didn’t see anybody or anything out of the ordinary. But somehow the backyard looked unfamiliar 3 and eerie 4 in the glow of the flashlight.



As the Aldens stepped outside, Henry pointed 5 the flashlight in the direction of the boxcar. But the boxcar was too far back in the yard for the beam of light to reach it. All they could see was darkness.



“Come on,” said Benny, stepping off the porch and heading across the yard. He was eager to find out what had been making the strange light he’d seen. Jessie and Henry were with him.



Violet walked behind. Now that they were outside, she was beginning to wonder if checking the boxcar was a good idea after all. She reached down and patted Watch’s head. She was glad Watch was with them.



The Aldens walked farther into the darkness. “You guys,” Violet whispered nervously 6, “do you think maybe we should go back in? I’m getting wet and — ”



But just then the boxcar came into view. And something definitely was not right.



“Did we leave the door open?” Jessie asked.



“No,” said Violet. “I closed it before we went inside for dinner.”



“Well, it’s open now,” said Henry. He shined the beam of the flashlight across the front of the boxcar. Other than the open door, everything looked normal. There was no sign of any ghosts, no light coming from inside, and everything was completely quiet.



“Is anyone there?” called Henry.



There was no answer. The Aldens moved cautiously toward the boxcar. Jessie, Benny, and Henry stepped up into the doorway 7 and peered inside.



“What do you see?” Violet asked.



But they didn’t answer. Instead they disappeared inside.



Violet looked back at the house, wishing she’d stayed in bed. But the house was a long, dark backyard away. She stepped up into the boxcar and gasped 8 at what she saw.



One of the chairs was lying on its side, and the neat pile of games had been knocked over onto the floor, spilling pieces everywhere.



There was nobody but the Aldens in the boxcar now.



But someone — or something — had been there that night.