Professor Farrago had remarked to me that morning:
“The city of New York always reminds me of a slovenly1, fat woman with her dress unbuttoned behind.”
I nodded.
“New York’s architecture,” said I, “— or what popularly passes for it — is all in front. The minute you get to the rear a pitiable condition is exposed.”
He said: “Professor Jane Bottomly is all fa?ade; the remainder of her is merely an occiputal backyard full of theoretical tin cans and broken bottles. I think we all had better resign.”
It was a fearsome description. I trembled as I lighted an inexpensive cigar.
The sentimental3 feminist4 movement in America was clearly at the bottom of the Bottomly affair.
Long ago, in a reactionary5 burst of hysteria, the North enfranchised6 the Ethiopian. In a similar sentimental explosion of dementia, some sixty years later, the United States wept violently over the immemorial wrongs perpetrated upon the restless sex, opened the front and back doors of opportunity, and sobbed7 out, “Go to it, ladies!”
They are still going.
Professor Jane Bottomly was wished on us out of a pleasant April sky. She fell like a meteoric8 mass of molten metal upon the Bronx Park Zo?logical Society splashing her excoriating9 personality over everybody until everybody writhed10.
I had not yet seen the lady. I did not care to. Sooner or later I’d be obliged to meet her but I was not impatient.
Now the Field Expeditionary Force of the Bronx Park Zo?logical Society is, perhaps, the most important arm of the service. Professor Bottomly had just been appointed official head of all field work. Why? Nobody knew. It is true that she had written several combination nature and love romances. In these popular volumes trees, flowers, butterflies, birds, animals, dialect, sobs11, and sun-bonnets were stirred up together into a saccharine12 mess eagerly gulped13 down by a provincial14 reading public, which immediately protruded15 its tongue for more.
The news of her impending16 arrival among us was an awful blow to everybody at the Bronx. Professor Farrago fainted in the arms of his pretty stenographer17; Professor Cornelius Lezard of the Batrachian Department ran around his desk all day long in narrowing circles and was discovered on his stomach still feebly squirming like an expiring top; Dr. Hans Fooss, our beloved Professor of Pachydermatology sat for hours weeping into his noodle soup. As for me, I was both furious and frightened, for, within the hearing of several people, Professor Bottomly had remarked in a very clear voice to her new assistant, Dr. Daisy Delmour, that she intended to get rid of me for the good of the Bronx because of my reputation for indiscreet gallantry among the feminine employees of the Bronx Society.
Professor Lezard overhead that outrageous19 remark and he hastened to repeat it to me.
I was lunching at the time in my private office in the Administration Building with Dr. Hans Fooss — he and I being too busy dissecting20 an unusually fine specimen21 of Dingue to go to the Rolling Stone Inn for luncheon22 — when Professor Lezard rushed in with the scandalous libel still sizzling in his ears.
“Everybody heard her say it!” he went on, wringing23 his hands. “It was a most unfortunate thing for anybody to say about you before all those young ladies. Every stenographer and typewriter there turned pale and then red.”
“What!” I exclaimed, conscious that my own ears were growing large and hot. “Did that outrageous woman have the bad taste to say such a thing before all those sensitive girls!”
“She did. She glared at them when she said it. Several blondes and one brunette began to cry.”
“I hope,” said I, a trifle tremulously, “that no typewriter so far forgot herself as to admit noticing playfulness on my part.”
“They all were tearfully unanimous in declaring you to be a perfect gentleman!”
“I am,” I said. “I am also a married man — irrevocably wedded25 to science. I desire no other spouse26. I am ineligible27; and everybody knows it. If at times a purely28 scientific curiosity leads me into a detached and impersonally29 psychological investigation30 of certain — ah — feminine idiosyncrasies —”
“Certainly,” said Lezard. “To investigate the feminine is more than a science; it is a duty!”
“Of a surety!” nodded Dr. Fooss.
I looked proudly upon my two loyal friends and bit into my cheese sandwich. Only men know men. A jury of my peers had exonerated31 me. What did I care for Professor Bottomly!
“All the same,” added Lezard, “you’d better be careful or Professor Bottomly will put one over on you yet.”
“I am always careful,” I said with dignity.
“All men should be. It is the only protection of a defenseless coast line,” nodded Lezard.
“Und neffer, neffer commid nodding to paper,” added Dr. Fooss. “Don’d neffer write it, ‘I lofe you like I was going to blow up alretty!’ Ach, nein! Don’d you write down somedings. Effery man he iss entitled to protection; und so iss it he iss protected.”
Stein in hand he beamed upon us benevolently32 over his knifeful of sauerfisch, then he fed himself and rammed33 it down with a hearty34 draught35 of Pilsner. We gazed with reverence36 upon Kultur as embodied37 in this great Teuton.
“That woman,” remarked Lezard to me, “certainly means to get rid of you. It seems to me that there are only two possible ways for you to hold down your job at the Bronx. You know it, don’t you?”
I nodded. “Yes,” I said; “either I must pay marked masculine attention to Professor Bottomly or I must manage to put one over on her.”
“Of course,” said Lezard, “the first method is the easier for you—”
“Not for a minute!” I said, hastily; “I simply couldn’t become frolicsome38 with her. You say she’s got a voice like a drill-sergeant and she goose-steps when she walks; and I don’t mind admitting she has me badly scared already. No; she must be scientifically ruined. It is the only method which makes her elimination39 certain.”
“But if her popular nature books didn’t ruin her scientifically, how can we hope to lead her astray?” inquired Lezard.
“There is,” I said, thoughtfully, “only one thing that can really ruin a scientist. Ridicule40! I have braved it many a time, taking my scientific life in my hands in pursuit of unknown specimens41 which might have proved only imaginary. Public ridicule would have ended my scientific career in such an event. I know of no better way to end Professor Bottomly’s scientific career and capability42 for mischief43 than to start her out after something which doesn’t exist, inform the newspapers, and let her suffer the agonising consequences.”
Dr. Fooss began to shout:
“The idea iss sch?n! colossal44! prachtvol! ausgezeichnet! wunderbar! wundersch?n! gemütlich —” A large, tough noodle checked him. While he labored45 with Teutonic imperturbability46 to master it Lezard and I exchanged suggestions regarding the proposed annihilation of this fearsome woman who had come ravening47 among us amid the peaceful and soporific environment of Bronx Park.
It was a dreadful thing for us to have our balmy Lotus-eaters’ paradise so startlingly invaded by a large, loquacious48, loud-voiced lady who had already stirred us all out of our agreeable, traditional and leisurely49 inertia50. Inertia begets52 cogitation53, and cogitation begets ideas, and ideas beget51 reflexion, and profound reflexion is the fundamental cornerstone of that immortal54 temple in which the goddess Science sits asleep between her dozing55 sisters, Custom and Religion.
This thought seemed to me so unusually beautiful that I wrote it with a pencil upon my cuff56.
While I was writing it, quietly happy in the deep pleasure that my intellectual allegory afforded me, Dr. Fooss swabbed the last morsel57 of nourishment58 from his plate with a wad of rye bread, then bolting the bread and wiping his beard with his fingers and his fingers on his waistcoat, he made several guttural observations too profoundly German to be immediately intelligible59, and lighted his porcelain60 pipe.
“Ach wass!” he remarked in ruminative61 fashion. “Dot Frauenzimmer she iss to raise hell alretty determined62. Von Pachydermatology she knows nodding. Maybe she leaves me alone, maybe it is to be ‘raus mit me. I’ weis’ ni’! It iss aber besser one over on dat lady to put, yess?”
“It certainly is advisable,” replied Lezard.
“Let us try to think of something sufficiently63 disastrous64 to terminate her scientific career,” said I. And I bowed my rather striking head and rested the point of my forefinger65 upon my forehead. Thought crystallises more quickly for me when I assume this attitude.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lezard fold his arms and sit frowning at infinity66.
Dr. Fooss lay back in a big, deeply padded armchair and closed his prominent eyes. His pipe went out presently, and now and then he made long-drawn nasal remarks, in German, too complicated for either Lezard or for me to entirely67 comprehend.
“We must try to get her as far away from here as possible,” mused68 Lezard. “Is Oyster69 Bay too far and too cruel?”
I pondered darkly upon the suggestion. But it seemed unpleasantly like murder.
“Lezard,” said I, “come, let us reason together. Now what is woman’s besetting71 emotion?”
“Curiosity?”
“Very well; assuming that to be true, what — ah — quality particularly characterizes woman when so beset70.”
“Ruthless determination.”
“Then,” said I, “we ought to begin my exciting the curiosity of Professor Bottomly; and her ruthless determination to satisfy that curiosity should logically follow.”
“How,” he asked, “are we to arouse her curiosity?”
“By pretending that we have knowledge of something hitherto undiscovered, the discovery of which would redound72 to our scientific glory.”
“I see. She’d want the glory for herself. She’d swipe it.”
“She would,” said I.
“Tee — hee!” he giggled73; “Wouldn’t it be funny to plant something phony on her —”
I waved my arms rather gracefully74 in my excitement:
“That is the germ of an idea!” I said. “If we could plant something — something — far away from here — very far away — if we could bury something — like the Cardiff Giant —”
“Hundreds and hundreds of miles away!”
“Thousands!” I insisted, enthusiastically.
“Tee-hee! In Tasmania, for example! Maybe a Tasmanian Devil might acquire her!”
“There exists a gnat75,” said I, “in Borneo —Gnatus soporificus— and when this tiny gnat stings people they never entirely wake up. It’s really rather a pleasurable catastrophe76, I understand. Life becomes one endless cat-nap — one delightful77 siesta78, with intervals79 for light nourishment. . . . She — ah — could sit very comfortably in some pleasant retreat and rock in a rocking-chair and doze80 quite happily through the years to come. . . . And from your description of her I should say that the Soldiers’ Home might receive her.”
“It won’t do,” he said, gloomily.
“Why? Is it too much like crime?”
“Oh not at all. Only if she went to Borneo she’d be sure to take a mosquito-bar with her.”
In the depressed81 silence which ensued Dr. Fooss suddenly made several Futurist observations through his nose with monotonous82 but authoritative83 regularity84. I tried to catch his meaning and his eye. The one remained cryptic85, the other shut.
Lezard sat thinking very hard. And as I fidgetted in my chair, fiddling86 nervously87 with various objects lying on my desk I chanced to pick up a letter from the pile of still unopened mail at my elbow.
Still pondering on Professor Bottomly’s proposed destruction, I turned the letter over idly and my preoccupied88 gaze rested on the postmark. After a moment I leaned forward and examined it more attentively90. The letter directed to me was postmarked Fort Carcajou, Cook’s Peninsula, Baffin Land; and now I recalled the handwriting, having already seen it three or four times within the last month or so.
“Lezard,” I said, “that lunatic trapper from Baffin Land has written to me again. What do you suppose is the matter with him? Is he just plain crazy or does he think he can be funny with me?”
Lezard gazed at me absently. Then, all at once a gleam of savage91 interest lighted his somewhat solemn features.
“Read the letter to me,” he said, with an evil smile which instantly animated92 my own latent imagination. And immediately it occurred to me that perhaps, in the humble93 letter from the wilds of Baffin Land, which I was now opening with eager and unsteady fingers, might lie concealed94 the professional undoing95 of Professor Jane Bottomly, and the only hope of my own ultimate and scientific salvation96.
The room became hideously97 still as I unfolded the pencil-scrawled sheets of cheap, ruled letter paper.
Dr. Fooss opened his eyes, looked at me, made porcine sounds indicative of personal well-being99, relighted his pipe, and disposed himself to listen. But just as I was about to begin, Lezard suddenly laid his forefinger across his lips conjuring100 us to densest101 silence.
For a moment or two I heard nothing except the buzzing of flies. Then I stole a startled glance at my door. It was opening slowly, almost imperceptibly.
But it did not open very far — just a crack remained. Then, listening with all our might, we heard the cautiously suppressed breathing of somebody in the hallway just outside of my door.
Lezard turned and cast at me a glance of horrified102 intelligence. In dumb pantomime he outlined in the air, with one hand, the large and feminine amplification103 of his own person, conveying to us the certainty of his suspicions concerning the unseen eavesdropper104.
We nodded. We understood perfectly105 that she was out there prepared to listen to every word we uttered.
A flicker106 of ferocious107 joy disturbed Lezard’s otherwise innocuous features; he winked108 horribly at Dr. Fooss and at me, and uttered a faint click with his teeth and tongue like the snap of a closing trap.
“Gentlemen,” he said, in the guarded yet excited voice of a man who is confident of not being overheard, “the matter under discussion admits of only one interpretation109: a discovery — perhaps the most vitally important discovery of all the centuries — is imminent110.
“Secrecy is imperative111; the scientific glory is to be shared by us alone, and there is enough of glory to go around.
“Mr. Chairman, I move that epoch-making letter be read aloud!”
“I second dot motion!” said Dr. Fooss, winking112 so violently at me that his glasses wabbled.
“Gentlemen,” said I, “it has been moved and seconded that this epoch-making letter be read aloud. All those in favor will kindly113 say ‘aye.’”
“Aye! Aye!” they exclaimed, fairly wriggling114 in their furtive115 joy.
“The contrary-minded will kindly emit the usual negation,” I went on. . . . “It seems to be carried. . . . It is carried. The chairman will proceed to the reading of the epoch-making letter.”
I quietly lighted a five-cent cigar, unfolded the letter and read aloud:
“Joneses Shack116,
Golden Glacier117, Cook’s Peninsula, Baffin Land,
March 15, 1915.
“Professor, Dear Sir:
“I already wrote you three times no answer having been rec’d perhaps you think I’m kiddin’ you’re a dam’ liar118 I ain’t.
“Hoping to tempt119 you to come I will hereby tell you more’n I told you in my other letters, the terminal moraine of this here Golden Glacier finishes into a marsh120, nothing to see for miles excep’ frozen tussock and mud and all flat as hell for fifty miles which is where I am trappin’ it for mink121 and otter122 and now ready to go back to Fort Carcajou. i told you what I seen stickin’ in under this here marsh, where anything sticks out the wolves have eat it, but most of them there ellerphants is in under the ice and mud too far for the wolves to git ’em.
“i ain’t kiddin’ you, there is a whole herd123 of furry124 ellerphants in the marsh like as they were stuck there and all lay down and was drownded like. Some has tusks125 and some hasn’t. Two ellerphants stuck out of the ice, I eat onto one, the meat was good and sweet and joosy, the damn wolves eat it up that night, I had cut stakes and rost for three months though and am eating off it yet.
“Thinking as how ellerphants and all like that is your graft126, I being a keeper in the Mouse House once in the Bronx and seein’ you nosin’ around like you was full of scientific thinks, it comes to me to write you and put you next.
“If you say so I’ll wait here and help you with them ellerphants. Livin’ wages is all I ask also eleven thousand dollars for tippin’ you wise. I won’t tell nobody till I hear from you. I’m hones’ you can trus’ me. Write me to Fort Carcajou if you mean bizness. So no more respectfully,
James Skaw.”
When I finished reading I cautiously glanced at the door, and, finding it still on the crack, turned and smiled subtly upon Lezard and Fooss.
In their slowly spreading grins I saw they agreed with me that somebody, signing himself James Skaw, was still trying to hoax127 the Great Zo?logical Society of Bronx Park.
“Gentlemen,” I said aloud, injecting innocent enthusiasm into my voice, “this secret expedition to Baffin Land which we three are about to organise128 is destined129 to be without doubt the most scientifically prolific130 field expedition ever organised by man.
“Imagine an entire herd of mammoths preserved in mud and ice through all these thousands of years!
“Gentlemen, no discovery ever made has even remotely approached in importance the discovery made by this simple, illiterate132 trapper, James Skaw.”
“I thought,” protested Lezard, “that we are to be announced as the discoverers.”
“We are,” said I, “the discoverers of James Skaw, which makes us technically133 the finders of the ice-preserved herd of mammoths —technically, you understand. A few thousand dollars,” I added, carelessly, “ought to satiate James Skaw.”
“We could name dot glacier after him,” suggested Dr. Fooss.
“Certainly — the Skaw Glacier. That ought to be enough glory for him. It ought to satisfy him and prevent any indiscreet remarks,” nodded Lezard.
“Gentlemen,” said I, “there is only one detail that really troubles me. Ought we to notify our honoured and respected Chief of Division concerning this discovery?”
“Do you mean, should we tell that accomplished134 and fascinating lady, Professor Bottomly, about this herd of mammoths?” I asked in a loud, clear voice. And immediately answered my own question: “No,” I said, “no, dear friends. Professor Bottomly already has too much responsibility weighing upon her distinguished135 mind. No, dear brothers in science, we should steal away unobserved as though setting out upon an ordinary field expedition. And when we return with fresh and immortal laurels136 such as no man before has ever worn, no doubt that our generous-minded Chief of Division will weave for us further wreaths to crown our brows — the priceless garlands of professional approval!” And I made a horrible face at my co-conspirators.
Before I finished Lezard had taken his own face in his hands for the purpose of stifling137 raucous138 and untimely mirth. As for Dr. Fooss, his small, porcine eyes snapped and twinkled madly behind his spectacles, but he seemed rather inclined to approve my flowers of rhetoric139.
“Ja,” said he, “so iss it besser oursellufs dot gefrozenss herd von elephanten to discover, und, by and by, die elephanten bei der Pronx Bark home yet again once more to bring. We shall therefore much praise thereby140 bekommen. Ach wass!”
“Gentlemen,” said I, distinctly, “it is decided141, then, that we shall say nothing concerning the true object of this expedition to Professor Bottomly.”
Lezard and Fooss nodded assent142. Then, in the silence, we all strained our ears to listen. And presently we detected the scarcely heard sound of cautiously retreating footsteps down the corridor.
When it was safe to do so I arose and closed my door.
“I think,” said I, with a sort of infernal cheerfulness in my tones, “that we are about to do something jocose143 to Jane Bottomly.”
“A few,” said Professor Lezard. He rose and silently executed a complicated ballet-step.
“I shall laff,” said Dr. Fooss, earnestly, “und I shall laff, und I shall laff — ach Gott how I shall laff my pally head off!”
I folded my arms and turned romanesquely toward the direction in which Professor Bottomly had retreated.
“Viper!” I said. “The Bronx shall nourish you in its bosom144 no more! Fade away, Ophidian!”
The sentiment was applauded by all. There chanced to be in my desk a bottle marked: “That’s all!” On the label somebody had written: “Do it now!” We did.
3
It was given out at the Bronx that our field expedition to Baffin Land was to be undertaken solely145 for the purpose of bringing back living specimens of the five-spotted Arctic woodcock —Philohela quinquemaculata— in order to add to our onomatology and our glossary146 of onomatopoeia an ontogenesis of this important but hitherto unstudied sub-species.
I trust I make myself clear. Scientific statements should be as clear as the Spuyten Duyvil. Sola in stagno salus!
But two things immediately occurred which worried us; Professor Bottomly sent us official notification that she approved our expedition to Baffin Land, designated the steamer we were to take, and enclosed tickets. That scared us. Then to add to our perplexity Professor Bottomly disappeared, leaving Dr. Daisy Delmour in charge of her department during what she announced might be “a somewhat prolonged absence on business.”
And during the four feverish147 weeks of our pretended preparations for Baffin Land not one word did we hear from Jane Bottomly, which caused us painful inquietude as the hour approached for our departure.
Was this formidable woman actually intending to let us depart alone for the Golden Glacier? Was she too lazy to rob us of the secretly contemplated148 glory which we had pretended awaited us?
We had been so absolutely convinced that she would forbid our expedition, pack us off elsewhere, and take charge herself of an exploring party to Baffin Land, that, as the time for our leaving drew near we became first uneasy, and then really alarmed.
It would be a dreadful jest on us if she made us swallow our own concoction149; if she revealed to our colleagues our pretended knowledge of the Golden Glacier and James Skaw and the supposedly ice-imbedded herd of mammoths, and then publicly forced us to investigate this hoax.
More horrible still would it be if she informed the newspapers and gave them a hint to make merry over the three wise men of the Bronx who went to Baffin Land in a boat.
“What do you suppose that devious150 and secretive female is up to?” inquired Lezard who, within the last few days, had grown thin with worry. “Is it possible that she is sufficiently degraded to suspect us of trying to put one over on her? Is that what she is now doing to us?”
“Terminus est— it is the limit!” said I.
He turned a morbid151 eye upon me. “She is making a monkey of us. That’s what!”
“Suspendenda omnia naso,” I nodded; ”tarde sed tute. When I think aloud in Latin it means that I am deeply troubled. Suum quemque scelus agitat. Do you get me, Professor? I’m sorry I attempted to be sportive with this terrible woman. The curse of my scientific career has been periodical excesses of frivolity152. See where this frolicsome impulse has landed me! —super abyssum ambulans. Trahit sua quemque voluptas; transeat in exemplum! She means to let us go to our destruction on this mammoth131 frappé affair.”
But Dr. Fooss was optimistic:
“I tink she iss alretty herselluf by dot Baffin Land ge-gone,” he said. “I tink she has der bait ge-swallowed. Ve vait; ve see; und so iss it ve know.”
“But why hasn’t she stopped our preparations?” I demanded. “If she wants all the glory herself why does she permit us to incur153 this expense in getting ready?”
“No mans can to know der vorkings of der mental brocess by a Frauenzimmer,” said Dr. Fooss, wagging his head.
The suspense154 became nerve-racking; we were obliged to pack our camping kits155; and it began to look as though we would have either to sail the next morning or to resign from the Bronx Park Zo?logical Society, because all the evening papers had the story in big type — the details and objects of the expedition, the discovery of the herd of mammoths in cold storage, the prompt organization of an expedition to secure this unparalleled deposit of prehistoric156 mammalia — everything was there staring at us in violent print, excepting only the name of the discoverer and the names of those composing the field expedition.
“She means to betray us after we have sailed,” said Lezard, greatly depressed. “We might just as well resign now before this hoax explodes and bespatters us. We can take our chances in vaudeville157 or as lecturing professors with the movies.”
I thought so, too, in point of fact we all had gathered in my study to write out our resignations, when there came a knock at the door and Dr. Daisy Delmour walked in.
Oddly enough I had not before met Dr. Delmour personally; only formal written communications had hitherto passed between us. My idea of her had doubtless been inspired by the physical and intellectual aberrations158 of her chief; I naturally supposed her to be either impossible and corporeally159 redundant160, or intellectually and otherwise as weazened as last year’s Li-che nut.
I was criminally mistaken. And why Lezard, who knew her, had never set me right I could not then understand. I comprehended later.
For the feminine assistant of Professor Jane Bottomly, who sauntered into my study and announced herself, had the features of Athene, the smile of Aphrodite, and the figure of Psyche161. I believe I do not exaggerate these scientific details, although it has been said of me that any pretty girl distorts my vision and my intellectual balance to the detriment162 of my calmer reason and my differentiating163 ability.
“Gentlemen,” said Dr. Delmour, while we stood in a respectful semi-circle before her, modestly conscious of our worth, our toes turned out, and each man’s features wreathed with that politely unnatural164 smirk165 which masculine features assume when confronted by feminine beauty. “Gentlemen, on the eve of your proposed departure for Baffin Land in quest of living specimens of the five-spotted Philohela quinquemaculata, I have been instructed by Professor Bottomly to announce to you a great good fortune for her, for you, for the Bronx, for America, for the entire civilized166 world.
“It has come to Professor Bottomly’s knowledge, recently I believe, that an entire herd of mammoths lie encased in the mud and ice of the vast flat marshes167 which lie south of the terminal moraine of the Golden Glacier in that part of Baffin Land known as Dr. Cook’s Peninsula.
“The credit of this epoch-making discovery is Professor Bottomly’s entirely. How it happened, she did not inform me. One month ago today she sailed in great haste for Baffin Land. At this very hour she is doubtless standing168 all alone upon the frozen surface of that wondrous169 marsh, contemplating170 with reverence and awe171 and similar holy emotions the fruits of her own unsurpassed discovery!”
Dr. Delmour’s lovely features became delicately suffused172 and transfigured as she spoke173; her exquisite174 voice thrilled with generous emotion; she clasped her snowy hands and gazed, enraptured175, at the picture of Dr. Bottomly which her mind was so charmingly evoking176.
“Perhaps,” she whispered, “perhaps at this very instant, in the midst of that vast and flat and solemn desolation the only protuberance visible for miles and miles is Professor Bottomly. Perhaps the pallid177 Arctic sun is setting behind the majestic178 figure of Professor Bottomly, radiating a blinding glory to the zenith, illuminating179 the crowning act of her career with its unearthly aura!”
She gazed at us out of dimmed and violet eyes.
“Gentlemen,” she said, “I am ordered to take command of this expedition of yours; I am ordered to sail with you tomorrow morning on the Labrador and Baffin Line steamer Dr. Cook.
“The object of your expedition, therefore, is not to be the quest of Philohela quinquemaculata; your duty now is to corroborate180 the almost miraculous181 discovery of Professor Bottomly, and to disinter for her the vast herd of frozen mammoths, pack and pickle182 them, and get them to the Bronx.
“Tomorrow’s morning papers will have the entire story: the credit and responsibility for the discovery and the expedition belong to Professor Bottomly, and will be given to her by the press and the populace of our great republic.
“It is her wish that no other names be mentioned. Which is right. To the discoverer belongs the glory. Therefore, the marsh is to be named Bottomly’s Marsh, and the Glacier, Bottomly’s Glacier.
“Yours and mine is to be the glory of laboring183 incognito184 under the direction of the towering scientific intellect of the age, Professor Bottomly.
“And the most precious legacy185 you can leave your children — if you get married and have any — is that you once wielded186 the humble pick and shovel187 for Jane Bottomly on the bottomless marsh which bears her name!”
After a moment’s silence we three men ventured to look sideways at each other. We had certainly killed Professor Bottomly, scientifically speaking. The lady was practically dead. The morning papers would consummate188 the murder. We didn’t know whether we wanted to laugh or not.
She was now virtually done for; that seemed certain. So greedily had this egotistical female swallowed the silly bait we offered, so arrogantly189 had she planned to eliminate everybody excepting herself from the credit of the discovery, that there seemed now nothing left for us to do except to watch her hurdling190 deliriously191 toward destruction. Should we burst into hellish laughter?
We looked hard at Dr. Delmour and we decided not to — yet.
Said I: “To assist at the final apotheosis192 of Professor Bottomly makes us very, very happy. We are happy to remain incognito, mere2 ciphers193 blotted194 out by the fierce white light which is about to beat upon Professor Bottomly, fore24 and aft. We are happy that our participation195 in this astonishing affair shall never be known to science.
“But, happiest of all are we, dear Dr. Delmour, in the knowledge that you are to be with us and of us, incognito on this voyage now imminent; that you are to be our revered196 and beloved leader.
“And I, for one, promise you personally the undivided devotion of a man whose entire and austere197 career has been dedicated198 to science — in all its branches.”
I stepped forward rather gracefully and raised her little hand to my lips to let her see that even the science of gallantry had not been neglected by me.
Dr. Daisy Delmour blushed.
“Therefore,” said I, “considering the fact that our names are not to figure in this expedition; and, furthermore, in consideration of the fact that you are going, we shall be very, very happy to accompany you, Dr. Delmour.” I again saluted199 her hand, and again Dr. Delmour blushed and looked sideways at Professor Lezard.
4
It was, to be accurate, exactly twenty-three days later that our voyage by sea and land ended one Monday morning upon the gigantic terminal moraine of the Golden Glacier, Cook’s Peninsula, Baffin Land.
Four pack-mules200 carried our luggage, four more bore our persons; an arctic dicky-bird sat on a bowlder and said, “Pilly-willy-willy! Tweet! Tweet!”
As we rode out to the bowlder-strewn edge of the moraine the rising sun greeted us cordially, illuminating below us the flat surface of the marsh which stretched away to the east and south as far as the eye could see.
So flat was it that we immediately made out the silhouettes202 of two mules tethered below us a quarter of a mile away.
Something about the attitude of these mules arrested our attention, and, gazing upon them through our field-glasses we beheld203 Professor Bottomly.
That resourceful lady had mounted a pneumatic hammock upon the two mules, their saddles had sockets204 to fit the legs of the galvanized iron tripod.
No matter in which way the mules turned, sliding swivels on the hollow steel frames regulated the hammock slung205 between them. It was an infernal invention.
There lay Jane Bottomly asleep, her black hair drying over the hammock’s edge, gilded206 to a peroxide lustre207 by the rays of the rising sun.
I gazed upon her with a sort of ferocious pity. Her professional days were numbered. I also had her number!
“How majestically208 she slumbers,” whispered Dr. Delmour to me, “dreaming, doubtless, of her approaching triumph.”
Dr. Fooss and Professor Lezard, driving the pack-mules ahead of them, were already riding out across the marsh.
“Daisy,” I said, leaning from my saddle and taking one of her gloved hands into mine, “the time has come for me to disillusion210 you. There are no mammoths in that mud down there.”
She looked at me in blue-eyed amazement211.
“You are mistaken,” she said; “Professor Bottomly is celebrated212 for the absolute and painstaking213 accuracy of her deductions214 and the boldness and the imagination of her scientific investigations215. She is the most cautious scientist in America; she would never announce such a discovery to the newspapers unless she were perfectly certain of its truth.”
I was sorry for this young girl. I pressed her hand because I was sorry for her. After a few moments of deepest thought I felt so sorry for her that I kissed her.
“You mustn’t,” said Dr. Delmour, blushing.
The things we mustn’t do are so many that I can’t always remember all of them.
“Daisy,” I said, “shall we pledge ourselves to each other for eternity216 — here in the presence of this immemorial glacier which moves a thousand inches a year — I mean an inch every thousand years — here in these awful solitudes217 where incalculable calculations could not enlighten us concerning the number of cubic tons of mud in that marsh — here in the presence of these innocent mules —”
“Oh, look!” exclaimed Dr. Delmour, lifting her flushed cheek from my shoulder. “There is a man in the hammock with Professor Bottomly!”
I levelled my field-glasses incredulously. Good Heavens! There was a man there. He was sitting on the edge of the hammock in a dejected attitude, his booted legs dangling218.
And, as I gazed, I saw the arm of Professor Bottomly raised as though groping instinctively219 for something in her slumber209 — saw her fingers close upon the blue-flannel shirt of her companion, saw his timid futile220 attempts to elude221 her, saw him inexorably hauled back and his head forcibly pillowed upon her ample chest.
“Daisy!” I faltered222, “what does yonder scene of presumable domesticity mean?”
“I— I haven’t the faintest idea!” she stammered223.
“Is that lady married! Or is this revelry?” I asked, sternly.
“She wasn’t married when she sailed from N-New-York,” faltered Dr. Delmour.
We rode forward in pained silence, spurring on until we caught up with Lezard and Fooss and the pack-mules; then we all pressed ahead, a prey224, now, to the deepest moral anxiety and agitation225.
The splashing of our mule201’s feet on the partly melted surface of the mud aroused the man as we rode up and he scrambled226 madly to get out of the hammock as soon as he saw us.
A detaining feminine hand reached mechanically for his collar, groped aimlessly for a moment, and fell across the hammock’s edge. Evidently its owner was too sleepy for effort.
Meanwhile the man who had floundered free from the hammock, leaped overboard and came hopping227 stiffly over the slush toward us like a badly-winged snipe.
“Who are you?” I demanded, drawing bridle228 so suddenly that I found myself astride of my mule’s ears. Sliding back into the saddle, I repeated the challenge haughtily229, inwardly cursing my horsemanship.
He stood balancing his lank230 six feet six of bony altitude for a few moments without replying. His large gentle eyes of baby blue were fixed231 on me.
“Speak!” I said. “The reputation of a lady is at stake! Who are you? We ask, before we shoot you, for purpose of future identification.”
He gazed at me wildly. “I dunno who I be,” he replied. “My name was James Skaw before that there lady went an’ changed it on me. She says she has changed my name to hers. I dunno. All I know is I’m married.”
“Married!“ echoed Dr. Delmour.
He looked dully at the girl, then fixed his large mild eyes on me.
“A mission priest done it for her a month ago when we was hikin’ towards Fort Carcajou. Hoon-hel are you?” he added.
I informed him with dignity; he blinked at me, at the others, at the mules. Then he said with infinite bitterness:
“You’re a fine guy, ain’t you, a-wishin’ this here lady onto a pore pelt-hunter what ain’t never done nothin’ to you!”
“Who did you say I wished on you?” I demanded, bewildered.
“That there lady a-sleepin’ into the nuptool hammick! You wished her onto me — yaas you did! Whatnhel have I done to you, hey?”
We were dumb. He shoved his hand into his pocket, produced a slug of twist, slowly gnawed232 off a portion, and buried the remains234 in his vast jaw235.
“All I done to you,” he said, “was to write you them letters sayin’s as how I found a lot of ellerphants into the mud.
“What you done to me was to send that there lady here. Was that gratitood? Man to man I ask you?”
A loud snore from the hammock startled us all. James Skaw twisted his neck turkey-like, and looked warily236 at the hammock, then turning toward me:
“Aw,” he said, “she don’t never wake up till I have breakfast ready.”
“James Skaw,” I said, “tell me what has happened. On my word of honor I don’t know.”
He regarded me with lack-lustre eyes.
“I was a-settin’ onto a bowlder,” said he, “a-fig-urin’ out whether you was a-comin’ or not, when that there lady rides up with her led-mule a trailin’.
“Sez she: ‘Are you James Skaw?’
“Yes, marm,’ sez I, kinder scared an’ puzzled.
“‘Where is them ellerphants?’ sez she, reachin’ down from her saddle an’ takin’ me by the shirt collar, an’ beatin’ me with her umbrella.
“Sez I, ‘I have wrote to a certain gent that I would show him them ellerphants for a price. Bein’ strictly237 hones’ I can’t show ’em to no one else until I hear from him.’
“With that she continood to argoo the case with her umbrella, never lettin’ go of my shirt collar. Sir, she argood until dinner time, an’ then she resoomed the debate until I fell asleep. The last I knowed she was still conversin’.
“An’ so it went next day, all day long, an’ the next day. I couldn’t stand it no longer so I started for Fort Carcajau. But she bein’ onto a mule, run me down easy, an’ kep’ beside me conversin’ volooble.
“Sir, do you know what it is to listen to umbrella argooment every day, all day long, from sun-up to night-fall? An’ then some more?
“I was loony, I tell you, when we met the mission priest. ‘Marry me,’ sez she, ‘or I’ll talk you to death!’ I didn’t realise what she was sayin’ an’ what I answered. But them words I uttered done the job, it seems.
“We camped there an’ slep’ for two days without wakin.’ When I waked up I was convalescent.
“She was good to me. She made soup an’ she wrapped blankets onto me an’ she didn’t talk no more until I was well enough to endoor it.
“An’ by’m’by she brooke the nooze to me that we was married an’ that she had went as far as to marry me in the sacred cause of science because man an’ wife is one, an’ what I knowed about them ellerphants she now had a right to know.
“Sir, she had put one over on me. So bein’ strickly hones’ I had to show her where them ellerphants lay froze up under the marsh.”
5
Where the ambition of this infatuated woman had led her appalled238 us all. The personal sacrifice she had made in the name of science awed233 us.
Still when I remembered that detaining arm sleepily lifted from the nuptual hammock, I was not so certain concerning her continued martyrdom.
I cast an involuntary glance of critical appraisal240 upon James Skaw. He had the golden hair and beard of the early Christian241 martyr239. His features were classically regular; he stood six feet six; he was lean because fit, sound as a hound’s tooth, and really a superb specimen of masculine health.
Curry242 him and trim him and clothe him in evening dress and his physical appearance would make a sensation at the Court of St. James. Only his English required manicuring.
The longer I looked at him the better I comprehended that detaining hand from the hammock. Fabas indulcet fames.
Then, with a shock, it rushed over me that there evidently had been some ground for this man’s letters to me concerning a herd of frozen mammoths.
Professor Bottomly had not only married him to obtain the information but here she was still camping on the marsh!
“James Skaw,” I said, tremulously, “where are those mammoths?”
He looked at me, then made a vague gesture:
“Under the mud — everywhere — all around us.”
“Has she seen them?”
“Yes, I showed her about a hundred. There’s one under you. Look! you can see him through the slush.”
“Ach Gott!” burst from Dr. Fooss, and he tottered243 in his saddle. Lezard, frightfully pale, passed a shaking hand over his brow. As for me my hair became dank with misery244, for there directly under my feet, the vast hairy bulk of a mammoth lay dimly visible through the muddy ice.
What I had done to myself when I was planning to do Professor Bottomly suddenly burst upon me in all its hideous98 proportions. Fame, the plaudits of the world, the highest scientific honours — all these in my effort to annihilate245 her, I had deliberately246 thrust upon this woman to my own everlasting247 detriment and disgrace.
A sort of howl escaped from Dr. Fooss, who had dismounted and who had been scratching in the slush with his feet like a hen. For already this slight gallinaceous effort of his had laid bare a hairy section of frozen mammoth.
Lezard, weeping bitterly, squatted248 beside him clawing at the thin skin of ice with a pick-axe.
It seemed more than I could bear and I flung myself from my mule and seizing a spade, fell violently to work, the tears of rage and mortification249 coursing down my cheeks.
“Hurrah!” cried Dr. Delmour, excitedly, scrambling250 down from her mule and lifting a box of dynamite251 from her saddle-bags.
Transfigured with enthusiasm she seized a crowbar, traced in the slush the huge outlines of the buried beast, then, measuring with practiced eye the irregular zone of cleavage, she marked out a vast oval, dug holes along it with her bar, dropped into each hole a stick of dynamite, got out the batteries and wires, attached the fuses, covered each charge, and retired252 on a run toward the moraine, unreeling wire as she sped upward among the bowlders.
Half frantic253 with grief and half mad with the excitement of the moment we still had sense enough to shoulder our tools and drive our mules back across the moraine.
Only the mule-hammock in which reposed254 Professor Bottomly remained on the marsh. For one horrid255 instant temptation assailed256 me to press the button before James Skaw could lead the hammock-mules up to the moraine. It was my closest approach to crime.
With a shudder257 I viewed the approach of the mules. James Skaw led them by the head; the hammock on its bar and swivels swung gently between them; Professor Bottomly slept, lulled258, no doubt, to deeper slumber by the gently swaying hammock.
When the hammock came up, one by one we gazed upon its unconscious occupant.
And, even amid dark and revengeful thoughts, amid a mental chaos259 of grief and fury and frantic self-reproach, I had to admit to myself that Jane Bottomly was a fine figure of a woman, and good-looking, too, and that her hair was all her own and almost magnificent at that.
With a modiste to advise her, a maid to dress her, I myself might have — but let that pass. Only as I gazed upon her fresh complexion260 and the softly parted red lips of Professor Bottomly, and as I noted261 the beautiful white throat and prettily262 shaped hands, a newer, bitterer, and more overwhelming despair seized me; and I realized now that perhaps I had thrown away more than fame, honours, applause; I had perhaps thrown away love!
At that moment Professor Bottomly awoke. For a moment her lilac-tinted eyes had a dazed expression, then they widened, and she lay very quietly looking from one to another of us, cradled in the golden glory of her hair, perfectly mistress of herself, and her mind as clear as a bell.
“Well,” she said, “so you have arrived at last.” And to Dr. Delmour she smilingly extended a cool, fresh hand.
“Have you met my husband?” she inquired.
We admitted that we had.
“James!” she called.
At the sound of her voice James Skaw hopped263 nimbly to do her bidding. A tender smile came into her face as she gazed upon her husband. She made no explanation concerning him, no apology for him. And, watching her, it slowly filtered into my mind that she liked him.
With one hand in her husband’s and one on Dr. Delmour’s arm she listened to Daisy’s account of what we were about to do to the imbedded mammoth, and nodded approval.
James Skaw turned the mules so that she might watch the explosion. She twisted up her hair, then sat up in her hammock; Daisy Delmour pressed the electric button; there came a deep jarring sound, a vast upheaval264, and up out of the mud rose five or six dozen mammoths and toppled gently over upon the surface of the ice.
Miserable265 as we were at such an astonishing spectacle we raised a tragic266 cheer as Professor Bottomly sprang out of her hammock and, telling Dr. Delmour to get a camera, seized her husband and sped down to where one of the great, hairy frozen beasts lay on the ice in full sunshine.
And then we tasted the last drop of gall18 which our over-slopping cup of bitterness held for us; Professor Bottomly climbed up the sides of the frozen mammoth, dragging her husband with her, and stood there waving a little American flag while Dr. Delmour used up every film in the camera to record the scientific triumph of the ages.
Almost idiotic267 with the shock of my great grief I reeled and tottered away among the bowlders. Fooss came to find me; and when he found me he kicked me violently for some time. “Esel dumkopf!” he said.
When he was tired Lezard came and fell upon me, showering me with kicks and anathema268.
When he went away I beat my head with my fists for a while. Every little helped.
After a time I smelled cooking, and presently Dr. Delmour came to where I sat huddled269 up miserably270 in the sun behind the bowlder.
“Luncheon is ready,” she said.
I groaned271.
“Don’t you feel well?”
I said that I did not.
She lingered apparently272 with the idea of cheering me up. “It’s been such fun,” she said. “Professor Lezard and I have already located over a hundred and fifty mammoths within a short distance of here, and apparently there are hundreds, if not thousands, more in the vicinity. The ivory alone is worth over a million dollars. Isn’t it wonderful!”
She laughed excitedly and danced away to join the others. Then, out of the black depth of my misery a feeble gleam illuminated273 the Stygian obscurity. There was one way left to stay my approaching downfall — only one. Professor Bottomly meant to get rid of me, “for the good of the Bronx,” but there remained a way to ward89 off impending disaster. And though I had lost the opportunity of my life by disbelieving the simple honesty of James Skaw — and though the honors and emoluments274 and applause which ought to have been mine were destined for this determined woman, still, if I kept my head, I should be able to hold my job at the Bronx.
Dr. Delmour was immovable in the good graces of Professor Bottomly; and the only way for me to retain my position was to marry her.
The thought comforted me. After a while I felt well enough to arise and partake of some luncheon.
They were all seated around the campfire when I approached. I was welcomed politely, inquiries275 concerning my health were offered; but the coldly malevolent276 glare of Dr. Fooss and the calm contempt in Lezard’s gaze chilled me; and I squatted down by Daisy Delmour and accepted a dish of soup from her in mortified277 silence.
Professor Bottomly and James Skaw were feasting connubially278 side by side, and she was selecting titbits for him which he dutifully swallowed, his large mild eyes gazing at vacancy279 in a gentle, surprised sort of way as he gulped down what she offered him.
Neither of them paid any attention to anybody else.
Fooss gobbled his lunch in a sort of raging silence; Lezard, on the other side of Dr. Delmour, conversed280 with her continually in undertones.
After a while his persistent281 murmuring began to make me uneasy, even suspicious, and I glared at him sideways.
Daisy Delmour, catching282 my eye, blushed, hesitated, then leaning over toward me with delightful confusion she whispered:
“I know that you will be glad to hear that I have just promised to marry your closest friend, Professor Lezard —”
“What!” I shouted with all my might, “have you put one over on me, too?”
Lezard and Fooss seized me, for I had risen and was jumping up and down and splashing them with soup.
“Everybody has put one over on me!” I shrieked283. “Everybody! Now I’m going to put one over on myself!”
And I lifted my plate of soup and reversed it on my head.
They told me later that I screamed for half an hour before I swooned.
Afterward284, my intellect being impaired285, instead of being dismissed from my department, I was promoted to the position which I now hold as President Emeritus286 of the Consolidated287 Art Museums and Zo?logical Gardens of the City of New York.
I have easy hours, little to do, and twenty ornamental288 stenographers and typewriters engaged upon my memoirs289 which I dictate290 when I feel like it, steeped in the aroma291 of the most inexpensive cigar I can buy at the Rolling Stone Inn.
There is one typist in particular — but let that pass.
Vir sapit qui pauca loquitor.
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收听单词发音
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1
slovenly
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| adj.懒散的，不整齐的，邋遢的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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feminist
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| adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的 | |
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reactionary
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| n.反动者，反动主义者；adj.反动的，反动主义的，反对改革的 | |
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enfranchised
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| v.给予选举权( enfranchise的过去式和过去分词 )；（从奴隶制中）解放 | |
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sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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meteoric
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| adj.流星的，转瞬即逝的，突然的 | |
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excoriating
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| v.擦伤( excoriate的现在分词 )；擦破（皮肤）；剥（皮）；严厉指责 | |
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writhed
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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saccharine
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| adj.奉承的，讨好的 | |
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13
gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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stenographer
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| n.速记员 | |
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gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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dissecting
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| v.解剖（动物等）( dissect的现在分词 )；仔细分析或研究 | |
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specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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wringing
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| 淋湿的，湿透的 | |
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fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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spouse
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| n.配偶(指夫或妻) | |
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ineligible
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| adj.无资格的，不适当的 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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impersonally
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| ad.非人称地 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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exonerated
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| v.使免罪，免除( exonerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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benevolently
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| adv.仁慈地，行善地 | |
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rammed
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| v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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embodied
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| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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frolicsome
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| adj.嬉戏的，闹着玩的 | |
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elimination
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| n.排除，消除，消灭 | |
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ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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capability
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| n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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imperturbability
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| n.冷静；沉着 | |
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ravening
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| a.贪婪而饥饿的 | |
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loquacious
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| adj.多嘴的，饶舌的 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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inertia
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| adj.惰性，惯性，懒惰，迟钝 | |
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51
beget
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| v.引起；产生 | |
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begets
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| v.为…之生父( beget的第三人称单数 )；产生，引起 | |
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cogitation
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| n.仔细思考，计划，设计 | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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dozing
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| v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡 | |
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56
cuff
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| n.袖口；手铐；护腕；vt.用手铐铐；上袖口 | |
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57
morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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58
nourishment
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| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
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59
intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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60
porcelain
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| n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的 | |
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61
ruminative
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| adj.沉思的，默想的，爱反复思考的 | |
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62
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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63
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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64
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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65
forefinger
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| n.食指 | |
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66
infinity
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| n.无限，无穷，大量 | |
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67
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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68
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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69
oyster
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| n.牡蛎；沉默寡言的人 | |
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70
beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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71
besetting
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| adj.不断攻击的v.困扰( beset的现在分词 )；不断围攻；镶；嵌 | |
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72
redound
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| v.有助于；提；报应 | |
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73
giggled
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| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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74
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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75
gnat
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| v.对小事斤斤计较，琐事 | |
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76
catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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77
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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78
siesta
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| n.午睡 | |
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79
intervals
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|
| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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80
doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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81
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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82
monotonous
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|
| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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83
authoritative
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| adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的 | |
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84
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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85
cryptic
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| adj.秘密的，神秘的，含义模糊的 | |
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86
fiddling
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| 微小的 | |
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87
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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88
preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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89
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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90
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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91
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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92
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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93
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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94
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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95
undoing
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| n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭 | |
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96
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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97
hideously
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| adv.可怕地，非常讨厌地 | |
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98
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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99
well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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100
conjuring
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| n.魔术 | |
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101
densest
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| 密集的( dense的最高级 )； 密度大的； 愚笨的； （信息量大得）难理解的 | |
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102
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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103
amplification
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| n.扩大，发挥 | |
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104
eavesdropper
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| 偷听者 | |
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105
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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106
flicker
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| vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现 | |
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107
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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108
winked
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|
| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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109
interpretation
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|
| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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110
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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111
imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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112
winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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113
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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114
wriggling
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）；蠕蠕 | |
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115
furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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116
shack
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| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
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117
glacier
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| n.冰川，冰河 | |
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118
liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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119
tempt
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|
| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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120
marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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121
mink
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| n.貂，貂皮 | |
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122
otter
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| n.水獭 | |
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123
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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124
furry
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| adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的 | |
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125
tusks
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| n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头 | |
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126
graft
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| n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接 | |
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127
hoax
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| v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧 | |
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128
organise
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| vt.组织，安排，筹办 | |
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129
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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130
prolific
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| adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的 | |
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131
mammoth
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| n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的 | |
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132
illiterate
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| adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲 | |
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133
technically
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|
| adv.专门地，技术上地 | |
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134
accomplished
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|
| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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135
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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136
laurels
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| n.桂冠，荣誉 | |
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137
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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138
raucous
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|
| adj.(声音)沙哑的，粗糙的 | |
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139
rhetoric
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| n.修辞学，浮夸之言语 | |
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140
thereby
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|
| adv.因此，从而 | |
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141
decided
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|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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142
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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143
jocose
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| adj.开玩笑的，滑稽的 | |
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144
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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145
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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146
glossary
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|
| n.注释词表；术语汇编 | |
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147
feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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148
contemplated
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| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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149
concoction
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| n.调配(物)；谎言 | |
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150
devious
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| adj.不坦率的，狡猾的；迂回的，曲折的 | |
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151
morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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152
frivolity
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| n.轻松的乐事，兴高采烈；轻浮的举止 | |
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153
incur
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| vt.招致，蒙受，遭遇 | |
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154
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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155
kits
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| 衣物和装备( kit的名词复数 )； 成套用品； 配套元件 | |
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156
prehistoric
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| adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的 | |
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157
vaudeville
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| n.歌舞杂耍表演 | |
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158
aberrations
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| n.偏差( aberration的名词复数 )；差错；脱离常规；心理失常 | |
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159
corporeally
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| adv.肉体上，物质上 | |
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160
redundant
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| adj.多余的，过剩的；(食物)丰富的；被解雇的 | |
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161
psyche
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| n.精神；灵魂 | |
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162
detriment
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| n.损害；损害物，造成损害的根源 | |
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163
differentiating
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| [计] 微分的 | |
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164
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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165
smirk
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| n.得意地笑；v.傻笑；假笑着说 | |
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166
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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167
marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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168
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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169
wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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170
contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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171
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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172
suffused
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| v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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173
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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174
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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175
enraptured
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| v.使狂喜( enrapture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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176
evoking
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| 产生，引起，唤起( evoke的现在分词 ) | |
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177
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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178
majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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179
illuminating
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| a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的 | |
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180
corroborate
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| v.支持，证实，确定 | |
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181
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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182
pickle
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| n.腌汁，泡菜；v.腌，泡 | |
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183
laboring
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| n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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184
incognito
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| adv.匿名地；n.隐姓埋名；adj.化装的，用假名的，隐匿姓名身份的 | |
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185
legacy
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| n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
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186
wielded
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的过去式和过去分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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187
shovel
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| n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出 | |
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188
consummate
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| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
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189
arrogantly
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| adv.傲慢地 | |
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190
hurdling
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| n.跳栏赛跑 | |
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191
deliriously
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| adv.谵妄（性）；发狂；极度兴奋/亢奋；说胡话 | |
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192
apotheosis
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| n.神圣之理想；美化；颂扬 | |
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193
ciphers
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| n.密码( cipher的名词复数 )；零；不重要的人；无价值的东西 | |
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194
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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195
participation
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| n.参与，参加，分享 | |
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196
revered
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| v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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197
austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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198
dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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199
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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200
mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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201
mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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202
silhouettes
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| 轮廓( silhouette的名词复数 )； （人的）体形； （事物的）形状； 剪影 | |
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203
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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204
sockets
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| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
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205
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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206
gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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207
lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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208
majestically
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| 雄伟地； 庄重地； 威严地； 崇高地 | |
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209
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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210
disillusion
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| vt.使不再抱幻想，使理想破灭 | |
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211
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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212
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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213
painstaking
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| adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的 | |
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214
deductions
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| 扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演 | |
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215
investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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216
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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217
solitudes
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| n.独居( solitude的名词复数 )；孤独；荒僻的地方；人迹罕至的地方 | |
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218
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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219
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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220
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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221
elude
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| v.躲避，困惑 | |
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222
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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223
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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224
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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225
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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226
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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227
hopping
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| n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式 | |
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228
bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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229
haughtily
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| adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
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230
lank
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| adj.瘦削的；稀疏的 | |
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231
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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232
gnawed
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| 咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物 | |
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233
awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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234
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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235
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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236
warily
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| adv.留心地 | |
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237
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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238
appalled
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| v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的 | |
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239
martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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240
appraisal
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| n.对…作出的评价；评价，鉴定，评估 | |
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241
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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242
curry
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| n.咖哩粉，咖哩饭菜；v.用咖哩粉调味，用马栉梳，制革 | |
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243
tottered
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| v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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244
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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245
annihilate
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| v.使无效；毁灭；取消 | |
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246
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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247
everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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248
squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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249
mortification
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| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
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250
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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251
dynamite
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| n./vt.(用)炸药(爆破) | |
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252
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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253
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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254
reposed
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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255
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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256
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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257
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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258
lulled
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| vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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259
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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260
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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261
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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262
prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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263
hopped
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| 跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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264
upheaval
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| n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱 | |
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265
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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266
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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267
idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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268
anathema
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| n.诅咒；被诅咒的人(物)，十分讨厌的人(物) | |
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269
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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270
miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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271
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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272
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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273
illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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274
emoluments
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| n.报酬，薪水( emolument的名词复数 ) | |
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275
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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276
malevolent
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| adj.有恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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277
mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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278
connubially
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| adv.婚姻上，夫妇般地 | |
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279
vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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280
conversed
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
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281
persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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282
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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283
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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284
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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285
impaired
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| adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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286
emeritus
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| adj.名誉退休的 | |
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287
consolidated
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| a.联合的 | |
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288
ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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289
memoirs
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| n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数) | |
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290
dictate
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| v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令 | |
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291
aroma
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| n.香气，芬芳，芳香 | |
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