Chapter 7

‘We’ll Never Let Him Go’

At six o’clock in the evening,
Bean switched off
the motor of his tractor
and climbed down
from the driver’s seat.

Bunce did the same.

Both men
had had enough（已經受夠了）.

They were tired

and stiff（身體僵硬）
from driving the tractors
all day.

They were also hungry.

Slowly
they walked over
to the small fox’s hole
in the bottom
of the huge crater.

Bean’s face
was purple

with rage（氣得臉色發紫）.

Bunce was cursing

the fox（咒罵那隻狐狸）
with dirty words

that cannot be

printed（難聽得不能寫出來的髒話）.

 

Boggis came

waddling up（搖搖擺擺地走過來）.

‘Dang and blast（可惡！真該死！）
that filthy

stinking fox（又髒又臭的狐狸）!’
he said.

‘What the heck（到底）
do we do now?’

‘I’ll tell you
what we don’t do,’
Bean said.

‘We don’t

let him go（讓他逃走）!’

‘We’ll never

let him go（讓他逃走）!’
Bunce declared（堅決地說）.

‘Never never never!’
cried Boggis.

‘Did you hear that,
Mr Fox!’
yelled Bean,
bending low
and shouting down the hole.

‘It’s not over yet（事情還沒結束）,
Mr Fox!

We’re not going home
till we’ve

strung you up（把你吊死）
dead as

a dingbat（死得不能再死了）!’

Whereupon（於是）
the three men
all shook hands（握了握手）
with one another
and swore

a solemn oath（鄭重發誓）
that they would not go back
to their farms
until the fox was caught.

‘What’s the

next move（下一步行動）?’
asked Bunce,
the pot-bellied dwarf.

‘We’re sending you
down the hole
to fetch him up（把他抓上來）,’
said Bean.

‘Down you go,
you miserable

midget（可悲的小矮子）!’

‘Not me!’
screamed Bunce,
running away.

Bean made
a sickly smile（令人不舒服的笑容）.

When he smiled
you saw
his scarlet gums（鮮紅色的牙齦）.

You saw more gums
than teeth.

‘Then there’s only one thing
to do,’
he said.

‘We starve

him out（讓他餓得不得不出來）.

We camp here
day and night（日夜守在這裡）
watching the hole.

He’ll come out
in the end（最後）.

He’ll have to.’

So Boggis and Bunce and Bean
sent messages down
to their farms
asking for tents（帳篷）,
sleeping-bags（睡袋）
and supper.