Chapter II
IN THE DRAIN
The
house where the family lived stood near a park in New York City. In the
mornings the sun looked into the house through the east windows and all the
family got up very early. Stuart was a great help 1 to his
parents and to his brother George. He was so small that he could do many
useful things and was always ready to help. One day Mrs. Little went to wash
the bath-tub and lost a ring from her finger. It rolled into the bath-tub and
fell down the drain.
"What shall I do?" she cried with
tears in her eyes.
"You must take a hairpin, and try to
fish the ring out," said George.
So Mrs. Little found a piece of string
and a hairpin, tied the hairpin to the string and for half an hour fished for
the ring. 2 But it was dark in the drain and she could not
find it.
"What luck?" 3 asked
Mr. Little, who at that moment came into the bathroom.
"No luck at all," 4
his wife answered. "It is so dark there! I can't fish my ring out."
"Let us send Stuart down the drain,"
5 said Mr. Little. "Would you like to try, 6
Stuart?"
"Yes, I would," Stuart answered, "but
I must put on my old pants first. I think it is wet in the drain."
So Stuart put on his old pants and
prepared to fish for the ring. He took the string and gave one end of it to
his father. Then he tied the other end round his waist.
"When I pull the string three times,
you must pull me up," he said.
So Mr. Little put Stuart down the
drain. In a minute Stuart pulled the string three times, and his father
carefully pulled him up. And everybody saw Stuart with a smile on his lips and
the ring around his neck.
Mrs. Little kissed Stuart and thanked
him.
"Oh, my brave little son," she said
proudly. "How was it down there?" 7 asked Mr. Littler He
always liked to know about places to which he could not go himself.
"It was all right," 8
said Stuart.
But everybody thought it was not very
pleasant down there, because Stuart came back very dirty and had to wash
himself quickly.
1 was a great help —
много помогал
2 fished for the ring
— старалась выудить кольцо
3 What luck? — Каковы
успехи?
4 No luck at all —
Никаких успехов
5 Let us send Stuart
down the drain — Давайте спустим Стюарта в сточную трубу
6 Would you like to
try...? — Хочешь попробовать...?
7 How was it down
there? — Как там, внизу?
8 It was all right —
Неплохо