儿童英语读物 棚车少年 Boxcar Children 6 夜晚怪声

VI—A Queer Noise in the Night



AT LAST IT WAS dinner time, and the children sat down to see what Henry had in his bundles.



“I bought another loaf of brown bread at the store,” said Henry, “and some more milk. Then I bought some dried meat, because we can eat it in our hands. And I bought a bone for Watch.”



Watch looked hungrily at the bone and lay down at once to eat it.



Jessie got out four cups and bowls and put some milk into each one. Then the children put in little pieces of brown bread and began to eat it with their new spoons.



“What fun!” cried Jessie. “Eating with spoons. Now tell us what you did in town, Henry.”



Henry began, “The town below this hill is Silver City. I saw the name on a sign.



“I went into the town and walked along the first street I came to. It was a nice street, with big houses and flowers and trees. I saw a man out cutting his grass. He’s a good man, too, I can tell you—a doctor.”



“Did you work for him?” asked Jessie.



“Yes,” said Henry. “He was very hot, and just as I came to the house, his bell rang. He started to the house, and I called after him and asked him if I could cut the grass. He said, ‘Yes, yes! I wish you would!’ You see, he wasn’t used to cutting it himself.



“So I cut the grass, and he said, ‘Good for you. Do you want to work every day?’ And he said he had never had a boy who cut it as well as I did.”



“Oh, Henry!” cried Violet and Jessie.



“I told him I did want to work, and he told me to come back this afternoon.



“He has a pretty house and a garage and a big vegetable garden. Then he has a lot of cherry trees behind the house—a cherry orchard 1. You should see the beautiful big red cherries!



“Well, when I was cutting the grass near the kitchen, the cook came to the kitchen door and watched me.



“She asked me if I liked cookies. I said I did, and she gave me one.”



“What did you do with it?” asked Benny hungrily.



“When she went back into the kitchen, I put it in my pocket,” said Henry laughing.



“Did she see you?” cried Jessie.



“Oh, no,” said Henry. “I played I was eating it. For a long time I carefully ate away on nothing at all.”



Benny began to look at Henry’s pocket. It did look very funny.



Henry went on. “When I came home, the doctor gave me a dollar, and the cook gave me this bag.”



Henry laughed at Benny and pulled the bag out of his pocket. In it were ten delicious brown cookies.



“Oh, oh!” cried Benny. “Please, Jessie! Let’s have cookies for dinner.”



“Yes, indeed,” said Jessie.



Then Henry opened his last bundle.



“I thought we ought to have a tablecloth 2,” he said. “So I got one at the store. But it wasn’t hemmed 4.”



Violet begged, “Oh, let me hem 3 it.”



She took her scissors out of her workbag and cut the two ends even. But before she began to hem the pretty blue tablecloth, she helped Jessie wash and rinse 5 the dishes and put them away. Benny helped, too. When Henry said good-by and went back to town, all the children were working happily.



Watch was trying to make a hole with one paw to bury his bone in.



“I’ll help you bury your bone, Watch,” said Benny.



“Oh, no, Benny,” said Jessie. “Watch wants to bury his bone himself. You come and help me. I’m going to make a broom for the house.”



For a little while Benny ran around finding sticks for the broom, but he soon went to sleep on the ground with the dog for a pillow.



The two girls sat by the brook 6. Violet was hemming 7 the blue tablecloth, and Jessie was making the broom with a long stick for a handle.



When Henry came back at supper time, the broom with its long handle stood in the kitchen, and the new tablecloth was hemmed. Henry admired the broom and the tablecloth. Then he gave Jessie a small bundle.



“Oh, butter!” cried Jessie, her eyes shining.



It was butter, yellow and sweet. The four children had not had any butter for many days. At last they sat down to their fine supper.



“Now this spoon is a magic spoon,” said Henry. “Turn it around and use the handle, and it is a knife!”



He showed Benny how to put the butter on the brown bread with his magic knife. With dried meat, bread and butter, milk, and cookies, the children could not ask for a better supper.



“What did you do this afternoon, Henry?” asked Jessie.



“Well, I washed the doctor’s car,” said Henry. “Then I washed the walks and the windows. Tomorrow I’m going to work in the garden.”



Then he looked at the brook. “Oh, how I would love to have a swim in that nice cold water!”



Henry was hot and sticky as he looked at the waterfall.



“Maybe we could make a swimming pool,” he said. “We could build a dam out of logs.”



“Oh, yes, we could,” said Jessie. “Violet and I know where to find some logs and some big flat stones.”



“You do?” said Henry.



“Yes,” said Jessie. “They are not far away. And just a little way below here is a pool now, with sand all around it. But it is not big enough to swim in.”



“Is that so!” cried Henry. “Some day I’ll stay at home, and I’ll try to dam up the brook and make a swimming pool.”



“You can have my wheels,” said Benny.



“Good!” replied Henry. “I’ll make you a little cart with the wheels, Benny, and you can carry stones in it.”



“Yes,” said Benny. “I will.”



“Come now, we must go to bed,” said Jessie.



The children were all glad to go to bed. They stood on the stump 8 and climbed into their new house, and they all went to sleep but Henry. He was thinking about the new swimming pool. All at once he saw that Watch was not asleep.



Henry patted the dog and said, “Lie down, Watch.”



But Watch did not lie down. He began to growl 9 softly



“Sh!” said Henry to the dog. He sat up. Jessie sat up.



“What is it, Henry?” she whispered.



“I don’t know,” replied Henry. He was frightened.



“I think Watch hears something in the woods.”



“Let’s close the door,” said Jessie. “I’m afraid.”



The two children closed the heavy door softly. Then they sat still and listened, but they did not hear anything.



“Lie down, Watch,” said Jessie again. “Go to sleep.”



But Watch did not go to sleep. He growled 10 again.



“Maybe someone is in the woods. Maybe someone wants to hide in this car,” whispered Jessie.



“Maybe,” said Henry. “There is something out there that the dog doesn’t like.”



Then they heard a stick crack, and Watch barked.



“Oh, sh!” Jessie put her hand over his mouth.



“If there is someone out in the woods, he knows that there is a dog in this boxcar,” said Henry.



He took the new broom in his hand and waited.



But nothing came. Nothing at all. The two children waited and waited. Violet and Benny slept through it all.



“I’m going to open the door now,” said Henry.



They opened the door softly and then listened. The dog sniffed 11 a little. Then he turned around three times and lay down. He put his head on his paws.



“It must be all right now,” said Henry. “Watch knows. Maybe it was just a rabbit.”



So at last they all went to sleep and slept until morning.