章节正文
"Well," said Dab-Dab, after they had gone,
"what are we going to do now? The boy's
uncle MUST be found--there's no two ways about
that. The lad isn't old enough to be knocking
around the world by himself. Boys aren't like
ducklings--they have to be taken care of till
they're quite old.... I wish Chee-Chee were
here. He would soon find the man. Good old
Chee-Chee! I wonder how he's getting on!"
"If we only had Polynesia with us," said the
white mouse. "SHE would soon think of some
way. Do you remember how she got us all
out of prison--the second time? My, but she
was a clever one!"
"I don't think so much of those eagle-
fellows,"said Jip. "They're just conceited. They
may have very good eyesight and all that; but
when you ask them to find a man for you, they
can't do it--and they have the cheek to come
back and say that nobody else could do it.
They're just conceited--like that collie in
Puddleby. And I don't think a whole lot of those
gossipy old porpoises either. All they could tell
us was that the man isn't in the sea. We don't
want to know where he ISN'T--we want to know
where he IS."
"Oh, don't talk so much," said Gub-Gub.
"It's easy to talk; but it isn't so easy to find a
man when you have got the whole world to hunt
him in. Maybe the fisherman's hair has turned
white, worrying about the boy; and that was
why the eagles didn't find him. You don't
know everything. You're just talking. You
are not doing anything to help. You couldn't
find the boy's uncle any more than the eagles
could--you couldn't do as well."
"Couldn't I?" said the dog. "That's all you
know, you stupid piece of warm bacon! I haven't
begun to try yet, have I? You wait and see!"
Then Jip went to the Doctor and said,
"Ask the boy if he has anything in his pockets
that belonged to his uncle, will you, please?"
So the Doctor asked him. And the boy
showed them a gold ring which he wore on a
piece of string around his neck because it was
too big for his finger. He said his uncle gave
it to him when they saw the pirates coming.
Jip smelt the ring and said,
"That's no good. Ask him if he has
anything else that belonged to his uncle."
Then the boy took from his pocket a great,
big red handkerchief and said, "This was my
uncle's too."
As soon as the boy pulled it out, Jip shouted,
"SNUFF, by Jingo!--Black Rappee snuff.
Don't you smell it? His uncle took snuff--
Ask him, Doctor."
The Doctor questioned the boy again;
and he said, "Yes. My uncle took a lot of
snuff."
"Fine!" said Jip. "The man's as good as
found. 'Twill be as easy as stealing milk from
a kitten. Tell the boy I'll find his uncle for
him in less than a week. Let us go upstairs
and see which way the wind is blowing."
"But it is dark now," said the Doctor. "You
can't find him in the dark!"
"I don't need any light to look for a man who
smells of Black Rappee snuff," said Jip as he
climbed the stairs. "If the man had a hard
smell, like string, now--or hot water, it would
be different. But SNUFF!--Tut, tut!"
"Does hot water have a smell?" asked the Doctor.
"Certainly it has," said Jip. "Hot water
smells quite different from cold water. It is
warm water--or ice--that has the really difficult
smell. Why, I once followed a man for
ten miles on a dark night by the smell of the
hot water he had used to shave with--for the
poor fellow had no soap.... Now then, let
us see which way the wind is blowing. Wind is
very important in long-distance smelling. It
mustn't be too fierce a wind--and of course it
must blow the right way. A nice, steady, damp
breeze is the best of all.... Ha!--This wind
is from the North."
Then Jip went up to the front of the ship
and smelt the wind; and he started muttering
to himself,
"Tar; Spanish onions; kerosene oil; wet
raincoats; crushed laurel-leaves; rubber burning;
lace-curtains being washed--No, my mistake,
lace-curtains hanging out to dry; and foxes--
hundreds of 'em--cubs; and--"
"Can you really smell all those different
things in this one wind?" asked the Doctor.
"Why, of course!" said Jip. "And those are
only a few of the easy smells--the strong ones.
Any mongrel could smell those with a cold in
the head. Wait now, and I'll tell you some of
the harder scents that are coming on this wind
--a few of the dainty ones."
Then the dog shut his eyes tight, poked his
nose straight up in the air and sniffed hard with
his mouth half-open.
For a long time he said nothing. He kept as
still as a stone. He hardly seemed to be breathing
at all. When at last he began to speak, it
sounded almost as though he were singing, sadly,
in a dream.
"Bricks," he whispered, very low--"old
yellow bricks, crumbling with age in a garden-
wall; the sweet breath of young cows standing
in a mountain-stream; the lead roof of a dove-
cote--or perhaps a granary--with the mid-day
sun on it; black kid gloves lying in a bureau-
drawer of walnut-wood; a dusty road with a
horses' drinking-trough beneath the sycamores;
little mushrooms bursting through the rotting
leaves; and--and--and--"
"Any parsnips?" asked Gub-Gub.
"No," said Jip. "You always think of things
to eat. No parsnips whatever. And no snuff--
plenty of pipes and cigarettes, and a few cigars.
But no snuff. We must wait till the wind
changes to the South."
"Yes, it's a poor wind, that," said Gub-Gub.
"I think you're a fake, Jip. Who ever heard of
finding a man in the middle of the ocean just by
smell! I told you you couldn't do it."
"Look here," said Jip, getting really angry.
"You're going to get a bite on the nose in a min-
ute! You needn't think that just because the
Doctor won't let us give you what you deserve,
that you can be as cheeky as you like!"
"Stop quarreling!" said the Doctor--"Stop
it! Life's too short. Tell me, Jip, where do
you think those smells are coming from?"
"From Devon and Wales--most of them,"
said Jip--"The wind is coming that way."
"Well, well!" said the Doctor. "You know
that's really quite remarkable--quite. I must
make a note of that for my new book. I wonder
if you could train me to smell as well as that....
But no--perhaps I'm better off the way I am.
`Enough is as good as a feast,' they say.
Let's go down to supper. I'm quite hungry."
"So am I," said Gub-Gub.
THE NINETEENTH CHAPTER
THE ROCK
UP they got, early next morning, out of the silken beds;
and they saw that the sun was shining brightly and that
the wind was blowing from the South.
Jip smelt the South wind for half an hour. Then he came
to the Doctor, shaking his head.
"I smell no snuff as yet," he said. "We must wait
till the wind changes to the East."
But even when the East wind came, at three o'clock
that afternoon, the dog could not catch the smell of snuff.
The little boy was terribly disappointed and
began to cry again, saying that no one seemed
to be able to find his uncle for him. But all Jip
said to the Doctor was,
"Tell him that when the wind changes to
the West, I'll find his uncle even though he be
in China--so long as he is still taking Black
Rappee snuff."
Three days they had to wait before the West
wind came. This was on a Friday morning,
early--just as it was getting light. A fine rainy
mist lay on the sea like a thin fog. And the
wind was soft and warm and wet.
As soon as Jip awoke he ran upstairs and
poked his nose in the air. Then he got most
frightfully excited and rushed down again to
wake the Doctor up.
"Doctor!" he cried. "I've got it! Doctor!
Doctor! Wake up! Listen! I've got it!
The wind's from the West and it smells of nothing
but snuff. Come upstairs and start the ship--quick!"
So the Doctor tumbled out of bed and went
to the rudder to steer the ship.
"Now I'll go up to the front," said Jip; "and
you watch my nose--whichever way I point it,
you turn the ship the same way. The man cannot
be far off--with the smell as strong as
this. And the wind's all lovely and wet. Now
watch me!"
So all that morning Jip stood in the front
part of the ship, sniffing the wind and pointing
the way for the Doctor to steer; while all the
animals and the little boy stood round with their
eyes wide open, watching the dog in wonder.
About lunch-time Jip asked Dab-Dab to tell
the Doctor that he was getting worried and
wanted to speak to him. So Dab-Dab went and
fetched the Doctor from the other end of the
ship and Jip said to him,
"The boy's uncle is starving. We must make
the ship go as fast as we can."
"How do you know he is starving?" asked the Doctor.
"what are we going to do now? The boy's
uncle MUST be found--there's no two ways about
that. The lad isn't old enough to be knocking
around the world by himself. Boys aren't like
ducklings--they have to be taken care of till
they're quite old.... I wish Chee-Chee were
here. He would soon find the man. Good old
Chee-Chee! I wonder how he's getting on!"
"If we only had Polynesia with us," said the
white mouse. "SHE would soon think of some
way. Do you remember how she got us all
out of prison--the second time? My, but she
was a clever one!"
"I don't think so much of those eagle-
fellows,"said Jip. "They're just conceited. They
may have very good eyesight and all that; but
when you ask them to find a man for you, they
can't do it--and they have the cheek to come
back and say that nobody else could do it.
They're just conceited--like that collie in
Puddleby. And I don't think a whole lot of those
gossipy old porpoises either. All they could tell
us was that the man isn't in the sea. We don't
want to know where he ISN'T--we want to know
where he IS."
"Oh, don't talk so much," said Gub-Gub.
"It's easy to talk; but it isn't so easy to find a
man when you have got the whole world to hunt
him in. Maybe the fisherman's hair has turned
white, worrying about the boy; and that was
why the eagles didn't find him. You don't
know everything. You're just talking. You
are not doing anything to help. You couldn't
find the boy's uncle any more than the eagles
could--you couldn't do as well."
"Couldn't I?" said the dog. "That's all you
know, you stupid piece of warm bacon! I haven't
begun to try yet, have I? You wait and see!"
Then Jip went to the Doctor and said,
"Ask the boy if he has anything in his pockets
that belonged to his uncle, will you, please?"
So the Doctor asked him. And the boy
showed them a gold ring which he wore on a
piece of string around his neck because it was
too big for his finger. He said his uncle gave
it to him when they saw the pirates coming.
Jip smelt the ring and said,
"That's no good. Ask him if he has
anything else that belonged to his uncle."
Then the boy took from his pocket a great,
big red handkerchief and said, "This was my
uncle's too."
As soon as the boy pulled it out, Jip shouted,
"SNUFF, by Jingo!--Black Rappee snuff.
Don't you smell it? His uncle took snuff--
Ask him, Doctor."
The Doctor questioned the boy again;
and he said, "Yes. My uncle took a lot of
snuff."
"Fine!" said Jip. "The man's as good as
found. 'Twill be as easy as stealing milk from
a kitten. Tell the boy I'll find his uncle for
him in less than a week. Let us go upstairs
and see which way the wind is blowing."
"But it is dark now," said the Doctor. "You
can't find him in the dark!"
"I don't need any light to look for a man who
smells of Black Rappee snuff," said Jip as he
climbed the stairs. "If the man had a hard
smell, like string, now--or hot water, it would
be different. But SNUFF!--Tut, tut!"
"Does hot water have a smell?" asked the Doctor.
"Certainly it has," said Jip. "Hot water
smells quite different from cold water. It is
warm water--or ice--that has the really difficult
smell. Why, I once followed a man for
ten miles on a dark night by the smell of the
hot water he had used to shave with--for the
poor fellow had no soap.... Now then, let
us see which way the wind is blowing. Wind is
very important in long-distance smelling. It
mustn't be too fierce a wind--and of course it
must blow the right way. A nice, steady, damp
breeze is the best of all.... Ha!--This wind
is from the North."
Then Jip went up to the front of the ship
and smelt the wind; and he started muttering
to himself,
"Tar; Spanish onions; kerosene oil; wet
raincoats; crushed laurel-leaves; rubber burning;
lace-curtains being washed--No, my mistake,
lace-curtains hanging out to dry; and foxes--
hundreds of 'em--cubs; and--"
"Can you really smell all those different
things in this one wind?" asked the Doctor.
"Why, of course!" said Jip. "And those are
only a few of the easy smells--the strong ones.
Any mongrel could smell those with a cold in
the head. Wait now, and I'll tell you some of
the harder scents that are coming on this wind
--a few of the dainty ones."
Then the dog shut his eyes tight, poked his
nose straight up in the air and sniffed hard with
his mouth half-open.
For a long time he said nothing. He kept as
still as a stone. He hardly seemed to be breathing
at all. When at last he began to speak, it
sounded almost as though he were singing, sadly,
in a dream.
"Bricks," he whispered, very low--"old
yellow bricks, crumbling with age in a garden-
wall; the sweet breath of young cows standing
in a mountain-stream; the lead roof of a dove-
cote--or perhaps a granary--with the mid-day
sun on it; black kid gloves lying in a bureau-
drawer of walnut-wood; a dusty road with a
horses' drinking-trough beneath the sycamores;
little mushrooms bursting through the rotting
leaves; and--and--and--"
"Any parsnips?" asked Gub-Gub.
"No," said Jip. "You always think of things
to eat. No parsnips whatever. And no snuff--
plenty of pipes and cigarettes, and a few cigars.
But no snuff. We must wait till the wind
changes to the South."
"Yes, it's a poor wind, that," said Gub-Gub.
"I think you're a fake, Jip. Who ever heard of
finding a man in the middle of the ocean just by
smell! I told you you couldn't do it."
"Look here," said Jip, getting really angry.
"You're going to get a bite on the nose in a min-
ute! You needn't think that just because the
Doctor won't let us give you what you deserve,
that you can be as cheeky as you like!"
"Stop quarreling!" said the Doctor--"Stop
it! Life's too short. Tell me, Jip, where do
you think those smells are coming from?"
"From Devon and Wales--most of them,"
said Jip--"The wind is coming that way."
"Well, well!" said the Doctor. "You know
that's really quite remarkable--quite. I must
make a note of that for my new book. I wonder
if you could train me to smell as well as that....
But no--perhaps I'm better off the way I am.
`Enough is as good as a feast,' they say.
Let's go down to supper. I'm quite hungry."
"So am I," said Gub-Gub.
THE NINETEENTH CHAPTER
THE ROCK
UP they got, early next morning, out of the silken beds;
and they saw that the sun was shining brightly and that
the wind was blowing from the South.
Jip smelt the South wind for half an hour. Then he came
to the Doctor, shaking his head.
"I smell no snuff as yet," he said. "We must wait
till the wind changes to the East."
But even when the East wind came, at three o'clock
that afternoon, the dog could not catch the smell of snuff.
The little boy was terribly disappointed and
began to cry again, saying that no one seemed
to be able to find his uncle for him. But all Jip
said to the Doctor was,
"Tell him that when the wind changes to
the West, I'll find his uncle even though he be
in China--so long as he is still taking Black
Rappee snuff."
Three days they had to wait before the West
wind came. This was on a Friday morning,
early--just as it was getting light. A fine rainy
mist lay on the sea like a thin fog. And the
wind was soft and warm and wet.
As soon as Jip awoke he ran upstairs and
poked his nose in the air. Then he got most
frightfully excited and rushed down again to
wake the Doctor up.
"Doctor!" he cried. "I've got it! Doctor!
Doctor! Wake up! Listen! I've got it!
The wind's from the West and it smells of nothing
but snuff. Come upstairs and start the ship--quick!"
So the Doctor tumbled out of bed and went
to the rudder to steer the ship.
"Now I'll go up to the front," said Jip; "and
you watch my nose--whichever way I point it,
you turn the ship the same way. The man cannot
be far off--with the smell as strong as
this. And the wind's all lovely and wet. Now
watch me!"
So all that morning Jip stood in the front
part of the ship, sniffing the wind and pointing
the way for the Doctor to steer; while all the
animals and the little boy stood round with their
eyes wide open, watching the dog in wonder.
About lunch-time Jip asked Dab-Dab to tell
the Doctor that he was getting worried and
wanted to speak to him. So Dab-Dab went and
fetched the Doctor from the other end of the
ship and Jip said to him,
"The boy's uncle is starving. We must make
the ship go as fast as we can."
"How do you know he is starving?" asked the Doctor.
- stupid [´stju:pid]
a.愚蠢的；糊涂的 (初中英语单词) - handkerchief [´hæŋkətʃif] n.手帕，手绢 (初中英语单词)
- kitten [´kitn] n.小猫 (初中英语单词)
- fierce [fiəs] a.残忍的；强烈的 (初中英语单词)
- rubber [´rʌbə] n.(摩)擦的人；橡皮 (初中英语单词)
- breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
- whatever [wɔt´evə] pron.&a.无论什么 (初中英语单词)
- terribly [´terəbli] ad.可怕地 (初中英语单词)
- hanging [´hæŋiŋ] n.绞刑 a.悬挂着的 (高中英语单词)
- dainty [´deinti] a.秀丽的 n.美味 (高中英语单词)
- silken [´silkən] a.丝制的；柔软光滑的 (高中英语单词)
- brightly [´braitli] ad.明亮地；聪明地 (高中英语单词)
- saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
- kerosene [´kerəsi:n] n.煤油，火油 (英语四级单词)
- upstairs [,ʌp´steəz] ad.在楼上 a.楼上的 (英语四级单词)
- conceited [kən´si:tid] a.自负的；自夸的 (英语六级单词)
- collie [´kɔli] n.柯利牧羊犬 (英语六级单词)
- taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
- rudder [´rʌdə] n.(方向)舵；指导原则 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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