The decks were washed down, the main hatch removed, and a gun-tackle purchase rigged before the boat arrived with breakfast. I had grown so suspicious of the wreck12, that it was a positive relief to me to look down into the hold, and see it full, or nearly full, of undeniable rice packed in the Chinese fashion in boluses of matting. Breakfast over, Johnson and the hands turned to upon the cargo13; while Nares and I, having smashed open the skylight and rigged up a windsail on deck, began the work of rummaging14 the cabins.
I must not be expected to describe our first day’s work, or (for that matter) any of the rest, in order and detail as it occurred. Such particularity might have been possible for several officers and a draft of men from a ship of war, accompanied by an experienced secretary with a knowledge of shorthand. For two plain human beings, unaccustomed to the use of the broad-axe6 and consumed with an impatient greed of the result, the whole business melts, in the retrospect15, into a nightmare of exertion16, heat, hurry, and bewilderment; sweat pouring from the face like rain, the scurry17 of rats, the choking exhalations of the bilge, and the throbs18 and splinterings of the toiling19 axes. I shall content myself with giving the cream of our discoveries in a logical rather than a temporal order; though the two indeed practically coincided, and we had finished our exploration of the cabin, before we could be certain of the nature of the cargo.
Nares and I began operations by tossing up pell-mell through the companion, and piling in a squalid heap about the wheel, all clothes, personal effects, the crockery, the carpet, stale victuals21, tins of meat, and in a word, all movables from the main cabin. Thence, we transferred our attention to the captain’s quarters on the starboard side. Using the blankets for a basket, we sent up the books, instruments, and clothes to swell22 our growing midden on the deck; and then Nares, going on hands and knees, began to forage23 underneath24 the bed. Box after box of Manilla cigars rewarded his search. I took occasion to smash some of these boxes open, and even to guillotine the bundles of cigars; but quite in vain — no secret cache of opium25 encouraged me to continue.
“I guess I’ve got hold of the dicky now!” exclaimed Nares, and turning round from my perquisitions, I found he had drawn26 forth27 a heavy iron box, secured to the bulkhead by chain and padlock. On this he was now gazing, not with the triumph that instantly inflamed28 my own bosom29, but with a somewhat foolish appearance of surprise.
“By George, we have it now!” I cried, and would have shaken hands with my companion; but he did not see, or would not accept, the salutation.
“Let’s see what’s in it first,” he remarked dryly. And he adjusted the box upon its side, and with some blows of an axe burst the lock open. I threw myself beside him, as he replaced the box on its bottom and removed the lid. I cannot tell what I expected; a million’s worth of diamonds might perhaps have pleased me; my cheeks burned, my heart throbbed30 to bursting; and lo! there was disclosed but a trayful of papers, neatly31 taped, and a cheque-book of the customary pattern. I made a snatch at the tray to see what was beneath; but the captain’s hand fell on mine, heavy and hard.
“Now, boss!” he cried, not unkindly, “is this to be run shipshape? or is it a Dutch grab-racket?”
And he proceeded to untie32 and run over the contents of the papers, with a serious face and what seemed an ostentation33 of delay. Me and my impatience34 it would appear he had forgotten; for when he was quite done, he sat a while thinking, whistled a bar or two, refolded the papers, tied them up again; and then, and not before, deliberately35 raised the tray.
I saw a cigar-box, tied with a piece of fishing-line, and four fat canvas-bags. Nares whipped out his knife, cut the line, and opened the box. It was about half full of sovereigns.
“And the bags?” I whispered.
The captain ripped them open one by one, and a flood of mixed silver coin burst forth and rattled36 in the rusty37 bottom of the box. Without a word, he set to work to count the gold.
“What is this?” I asked.
“It’s the ship’s money,” he returned, doggedly38 continuing his work.
“The ship’s money?” I repeated. “That’s the money Trent tramped and traded with? And there’s his cheque-book to draw upon his owners? And he has left it?”
“I guess he has,” said Nares, austerely39, jotting40 down a note of the gold; and I was abashed41 into silence till his task should be completed.
It came, I think, to three hundred and seventy-eight pounds sterling42; some nineteen pounds of it in silver: all of which we turned again into the chest.
“And what do you think of that?” I asked.
“Mr. Dodd,” he replied, “you see something of the rumness of this job, but not the whole. The specie bothers you, but what gets me is the papers. Are you aware that the master of a ship has charge of all the cash in hand, pays the men advances, receives freight and passage money, and runs up bills in every port? All this he does as the owner’s confidential43 agent, and his integrity is proved by his receipted bills. I tell you, the captain of a ship is more likely to forget his pants than these bills which guarantee his character. I’ve known men drown to save them: bad men, too; but this is the shipmaster’s honour. And here this Captain Trent — not hurried, not threatened with anything but a free passage in a British man-of-war — has left them all behind! I don’t want to express myself too strongly, because the facts appear against me, but the thing is impossible.”
Dinner came to us not long after, and we ate it on deck, in a grim silence, each privately44 racking his brain for some solution of the mysteries. I was indeed so swallowed up in these considerations, that the wreck, the lagoon, the islets, and the strident sea-fowl, the strong sun then beating on my head, and even the gloomy countenance45 of the captain at my elbow, all vanished from the field of consciousness. My mind was a blackboard, on which I scrawled46 and blotted47 out hypotheses; comparing each with the pictorial48 records in my memory: cyphering with pictures. In the course of this tense mental exercise I recalled and studied the faces of one memorial masterpiece, the scene of the saloon; and here I found myself, on a sudden, looking in the eyes of the Kanaka.
“There’s one thing I can put beyond doubt, at all events,” I cried, relinquishing49 my dinner and getting briskly afoot. “There was that Kanaka I saw in the bar with Captain Trent, the fellow the newspapers and ship’s articles made out to be a Chinaman. I mean to rout50 his quarters out and settle that.”
“All right,” said Nares. “I’ll lazy off a bit longer, Mr. Dodd; I feel pretty rocky and mean.”
We had thoroughly51 cleared out the three after-compartments of the ship: all the stuff from the main cabin and the mate’s and captain’s quarters lay piled about the wheel; but in the forward stateroom with the two bunks52, where Nares had said the mate and cook most likely berthed54, we had as yet done nothing. Thither56 I went. It was very bare; a few photographs were tacked57 on the bulkhead, one of them indecent; a single chest stood open, and, like all we had yet found, it had been partly rifled. An armful of two-shilling novels proved to me beyond a doubt it was a European’s; no Chinaman would have possessed58 any, and the most literate59 Kanaka conceivable in a ship’s galley60 was not likely to have gone beyond one. It was plain, then, that the cook had not berthed aft, and I must look elsewhere.
The men had stamped down the nests and driven the birds from the galley, so that I could now enter without contest. One door had been already blocked with rice; the place was in part darkness, full of a foul61 stale smell, and a cloud of nasty flies; it had been left, besides, in some disorder62, or else the birds, during their time of tenancy, had knocked the things about; and the floor, like the deck before we washed it, was spread with pasty filth63. Against the wall, in the far corner, I found a handsome chest of camphor-wood bound with brass64, such as Chinamen and sailors love, and indeed all of mankind that plies65 in the Pacific. From its outside view I could thus make no deduction66; and, strange to say, the interior was concealed67. All the other chests, as I have said already, we had found gaping68 open, and their contents scattered69 abroad; the same remark we found to apply afterwards in the quarters of the seamen70; only this camphor-wood chest, a singular exception, was both closed and locked.
I took an axe to it, readily forced the paltry71 Chinese fastening, and, like a Custom-House officer, plunged72 my hands among the contents. For some while I groped among linen73 and cotton. Then my teeth were set on edge with silk, of which I drew forth several strips covered with mysterious characters. And these settled the business, for I recognised them as a kind of bed- hanging popular with the commoner class of the Chinese. Nor were further evidences wanting, such as night-clothes of an extraordinary design, a three-stringed Chinese fiddle74, a silk handkerchief full of roots and herbs, and a neat apparatus75 for smoking opium, with a liberal provision of the drug. Plainly, then, the cook had been a Chinaman; and, if so, who was Jos. Amalu? Or had Jos. stolen the chest before he proceeded to ship under a false name and domicile? It was possible, as anything was possible in such a welter; but, regarded as a solution, it only led and left me deeper in the bog76. For why should this chest have been deserted77 and neglected, when the others were rummaged78 or removed? and where had Jos. come by that second chest, with which (according to the clerk at the What Cheer) he had started for Honolulu?
“And how have YOU fared?” inquired the captain, whom I found luxuriously79 reclining in our mound80 of litter. And the accent on the pronoun, the heightened colour of the speaker’s face, and the contained excitement in his tones, advertised me at once that I had not been alone to make discoveries.
“I have found a Chinaman’s chest in the galley,” said I, “and John (if there was any John) was not so much as at the pains to take his opium.”
Nares seemed to take it mighty81 quietly. “That so?” said he. “Now, cast your eyes on that and own you’re beaten!” And with a formidable clap of his open hand he flattened82 out before me, on the deck, a pair of newspapers.
I gazed upon them dully, being in no mood for fresh discoveries.
“Look at them, Mr. Dodd,” cried the captain sharply. “Can’t you look at them?” And he ran a dirty thumb along the title. “’Sydney Morning Herald83, November 26th,’ can’t you make that out?” he cried, with rising energy. “And don’t you know, sir, that not thirteen days after this paper appeared in New South Pole, this ship we’re standing84 in heaved her blessed anchors out of China? How did the Sydney Morning Herald get to Hong Kong in thirteen days? Trent made no land, he spoke85 no ship, till he got here. Then he either got it here or in Hong Kong. I give you your choice, my son!” he cried, and fell back among the clothes like a man weary of life.
“Where did you find them?” I asked. “In that black bag?”
“Guess so,” he said. “You needn’t fool with it. There’s nothing else but a lead-pencil and a kind of worked-out knife.”
I looked in the bag, however, and was well rewarded.
“Every man to his trade, captain,” said I. “You’re a sailor, and you’ve given me plenty of points; but I am an artist, and allow me to inform you this is quite as strange as all the rest. The knife is a palette-knife; the pencil a Winsor and Newton, and a B B B at that. A palette-knife and a B B B on a tramp brig! It’s against the laws of nature.”
“It would sicken a dog, wouldn’t it?” said Nares.
“Yes,” I continued, “it’s been used by an artist, too: see how it’s sharpened — not for writing — no man could write with that. An artist, and straight from Sydney? How can he come in?”
“O, that’s natural enough,” sneered86 Nares. “They cabled him to come up and illustrate87 this dime88 novel.”
We fell a while silent.
“Captain,” I said at last, “there is something deuced underhand about this brig. You tell me you’ve been to sea a good part of your life. You must have seen shady things done on ships, and heard of more. Well, what is this? is it insurance? is it piracy89? what is it ABOUT? what can it be for?”
“Mr. Dodd,” returned Nares, “you’re right about me having been to sea the bigger part of my life. And you’re right again when you think I know a good many ways in which a dishonest captain mayn’t be on the square, nor do exactly the right thing by his owners, and altogether be just a little too smart by ninety-nine and three-quarters. There’s a good many ways, but not so many as you’d think; and not one that has any mortal thing to do with Trent. Trent and his whole racket has got to do with nothing — that’s the bed-rock fact; there’s no sense to it, and no use in it, and no story to it: it’s a beastly dream. And don’t you run away with that notion that landsmen take about ships. A society actress don’t go around more publicly than what a ship does, nor is more interviewed, nor more humbugged, nor more run after by all sorts of little fussinesses in brass buttons. And more than an actress, a ship has a deal to lose; she’s capital, and the actress only character — if she’s that. The ports of the world are thick with people ready to kick a captain into the penitentiary90 if he’s not as bright as a dollar and as honest as the morning star; and what with Lloyd keeping watch and watch in every corner of the three oceans, and the insurance leeches91, and the consuls92, and the customs bugs93, and the medicos, you can only get the idea by thinking of a landsman watched by a hundred and fifty detectives, or a stranger in a village Down East.”
“Well, but at sea?” I said.
“You make me tired,” retorted the captain. “What’s the use — at sea? Everything’s got to come to bearings at some port, hasn’t it? You can’t stop at sea for ever, can you? — No; the Flying Scud is rubbish; if it meant anything, it would have to mean something so almighty94 intricate that James G. Blaine hasn’t got the brains to engineer it; and I vote for more axeing, pioneering, and opening up the resources of this phenomenal brig, and less general fuss,” he added, arising. “The dime-museum symptoms will drop in of themselves, I guess, to keep us cheery.”
But it appeared we were at the end of discoveries for the day; and we left the brig about sundown, without being further puzzled or further enlightened. The best of the cabin spoils — books, instruments, papers, silks, and curiosities — we carried along with us in a blanket, however, to divert the evening hours; and when supper was over, and the table cleared, and Johnson set down to a dreary95 game of cribbage between his right hand and his left, the captain and I turned out our blanket on the floor, and sat side by side to examine and appraise96 the spoils.
The books were the first to engage our notice. These were rather numerous (as Nares contemptuously put it) “for a lime- juicer.” Scorn of the British mercantile marine97 glows in the breast of every Yankee merchant captain; as the scorn is not reciprocated98, I can only suppose it justified99 in fact; and certainly the old country mariner100 appears of a less studious disposition101. The more credit to the officers of the Flying Scud, who had quite a library, both literary and professional. There were Findlay’s five directories of the world — all broken-backed, as is usual with Findlay, and all marked and scribbled102 over with corrections and additions — several books of navigation, a signal code, and an Admiralty book of a sort of orange hue103, called Islands of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Vol. III., which appeared from its imprint104 to be the latest authority, and showed marks of frequent consultation105 in the passages about the French Frigate106 Shoals, the Harman, Cure, Pearl, and Hermes reefs, Lisiansky Island, Ocean Island, and the place where we then lay — Brooks107 or Midway. A volume of Macaulay’s Essays and a shilling Shakespeare led the van of the belles108 lettres; the rest were novels: several Miss Braddons — of course, Aurora109 Floyd, which has penetrated110 to every isle2 of the Pacific, a good many cheap detective books, Rob Roy, Auerbach’s Auf der Hohe in the German, and a prize temperance story, pillaged111 (to judge by the stamp) from an Anglo-Indian circulating library.
“The Admiralty man gives a fine picture of our island,” remarked Nares, who had turned up Midway Island. “He draws the dreariness112 rather mild, but you can make out he knows the place.”
“Captain,” I cried, “you’ve struck another point in this mad business. See here,” I went on eagerly, drawing from my pocket a crumpled113 fragment of the Daily Occidental which I had inherited from Jim: “‘misled by Hoyt’s Pacific Directory’? Where’s Hoyt?”
“Let’s look into that,” said Nares. “I got that book on purpose for this cruise.” Therewith he fetched it from the shelf in his berth55, turned to Midway Island, and read the account aloud. It stated with precision that the Pacific Mail Company were about to form a depot114 there, in preference to Honolulu, and that they had already a station on the island.
“I wonder who gives these Directory men their information,” Nares reflected. “Nobody can blame Trent after that. I never got in company with squarer lying; it reminds a man of a presidential campaign.”
“All very well,” said I. “That’s your Hoyt, and a fine, tall copy. But what I want to know is, where is Trent’s Hoyt?”
“Took it with him,” chuckled115 Nares. “He had left everything else, bills and money and all the rest; he was bound to take something, or it would have aroused attention on the Tempest: ‘Happy thought,’ says he, ‘let’s take Hoyt.’”
“And has it not occurred to you,” I went on, “that all the Hoyts in creation couldn’t have misled Trent, since he had in his hand that red admiralty book, an official publication, later in date, and particularly full on Midway Island?”
“That’s a fact!” cried Nares; “and I bet the first Hoyt he ever saw was out of the mercantile library of San Francisco. Looks as if he had brought her here on purpose, don’t it? But then that’s inconsistent with the steam-crusher of the sale. That’s the trouble with this brig racket; any one can make half a dozen theories for sixty or seventy per cent of it; but when they’re made, there’s always a fathom116 or two of slack hanging out of the other end.”
I believe our attention fell next on the papers, of which we had altogether a considerable bulk. I had hoped to find among these matter for a full-length character of Captain Trent; but here I was doomed117, on the whole, to disappointment. We could make out he was an orderly man, for all his bills were docketed and preserved. That he was convivial118, and inclined to be frugal119 even in conviviality120, several documents proclaimed. Such letters as we found were, with one exception, arid121 notes from tradesmen. The exception, signed Hannah Trent, was a somewhat fervid122 appeal for a loan. “You know what misfortunes I have had to bear,” wrote Hannah, “and how much I am disappointed in George. The landlady123 appeared a true friend when I first came here, and I thought her a perfect lady. But she has come out since then in her true colours; and if you will not be softened124 by this last appeal, I can’t think what is to become of your affectionate ——” and then the signature. This document was without place or date, and a voice told me that it had gone likewise without answer. On the whole, there were few letters anywhere in the ship; but we found one before we were finished, in a seaman’s chest, of which I must transcribe125 some sentences. It was dated from some place on the Clyde. “My dearist son,” it ran, “this is to tell you your dearist father passed away, Jan twelft, in the peace of the Lord. He had your photo and dear David’s lade upon his bed, made me sit by him. Let’s be a’ thegither, he said, and gave you all his blessing126. O my dear laddie, why were nae you and Davie here? He would have had a happier passage. He spok of both of ye all night most beautiful, and how ye used to stravaig on the Saturday afternoons, and of auld127 Kelvinside. Sooth the tune11 to me, he said, though it was the Sabbath, and I had to sooth him Kelvin Grove128, and he looked at his fiddle, the dear man. I cannae bear the sight of it, he’ll never play it mair. O my lamb, come home to me, I’m all by my lane now.” The rest was in a religious vein129 and quite conventional. I have never seen any one more put out than Nares, when I handed him this letter; he had read but a few words, before he cast it down; it was perhaps a minute ere he picked it up again, and the performance was repeated the third time before he reached the end.
“It’s touching130, isn’t it?” said I.
For all answer, Nares exploded in a brutal131 oath; and it was some half an hour later that he vouchsafed132 an explanation. “I’ll tell you what broke me up about that letter,” said he. “My old man played the fiddle, played it all out of tune: one of the things he played was Martyrdom, I remember — it was all martyrdom to me. He was a pig of a father, and I was a pig of a son; but it sort of came over me I would like to hear that fiddle squeak133 again. Natural,” he added; “I guess we’re all beasts.”
“All sons are, I guess,” said I. “I have the same trouble on my conscience: we can shake hands on that.” Which (oddly enough, perhaps) we did.
Amongst the papers we found a considerable sprinkling of photographs; for the most part either of very debonair-looking young ladies or old women of the lodging-house persuasion134. But one among them was the means of our crowning discovery.
“They’re not pretty, are they, Mr. Dodd?” said Nares, as he passed it over.
“Who?” I asked, mechanically taking the card (it was a quarter- plate) in hand, and smothering135 a yawn; for the hour was late, the day had been laborious136, and I was wearying for bed.
“Trent and Company,” said he. “That’s a historic picture of the gang.”
I held it to the light, my curiosity at a low ebb137: I had seen Captain Trent once, and had no delight in viewing him again. It was a photograph of the deck of the brig, taken from forward: all in apple-pie order; the hands gathered in the waist, the officers on the poop. At the foot of the card was written “Brig Flying Scud, Rangoon,” and a date; and above or below each individual figure the name had been carefully noted138.
As I continued to gaze, a shock went through me; the dimness of sleep and fatigue139 lifted from my eyes, as fog lifts in the channel; and I beheld140 with startled clearness the photographic presentment of a crowd of strangers. “J. Trent, Master” at the top of the card directed me to a smallish, weazened man, with bushy eyebrows141 and full white beard, dressed in a frock coat and white trousers; a flower stuck in his button-hole, his bearded chin set forward, his mouth clenched142 with habitual143 determination. There was not much of the sailor in his looks, but plenty of the martinet144: a dry, precise man, who might pass for a preacher in some rigid145 sect146; and whatever he was, not the Captain Trent of San Francisco. The men, too, were all new to me: the cook, an unmistakable Chinaman, in his characteristic dress, standing apart on the poop steps. But perhaps I turned on the whole with the greatest curiosity to the figure labelled “E. Goddedaal, 1st off.” He whom I had never seen, he might be the identical; he might be the clue and spring of all this mystery; and I scanned his features with the eye of a detective. He was of great stature147, seemingly blonde as a viking, his hair clustering round his head in frowsy curls, and two enormous whiskers, like the tusks148 of some strange animal, jutting149 from his cheeks. With these virile150 appendages151 and the defiant152 attitude in which he stood, the expression of his face only imperfectly harmonised. It was wild, heroic, and womanish looking; and I felt I was prepared to hear he was a sentimentalist, and to see him weep.
For some while I digested my discovery in private, reflecting how best, and how with most of drama, I might share it with the captain. Then my sketch153-book came in my head; and I fished it out from where it lay, with other miscellaneous possessions, at the foot of my bunk53 and turned to my sketch of Captain Trent and the survivors154 of the British brig Flying Scud in the San Francisco bar-room.
“Nares,” said I, “I’ve told you how I first saw Captain Trent in that saloon in ‘Frisco? how he came with his men, one of them a Kanaka with a canary-bird in a cage? and how I saw him afterwards at the auction155, frightened to death, and as much surprised at how the figures skipped up as anybody there? Well,” said I, “there’s the man I saw”— and I laid the sketch before him —“there’s Trent of ‘Frisco and there are his three hands. Find one of them in the photograph, and I’ll be obliged.”
Nares compared the two in silence. “Well,” he said at last, “I call this rather a relief: seems to clear the horizon. We might have guessed at something of the kind from the double ration20 of chests that figured.”
“Does it explain anything?” I asked.
“It would explain everything,” Nares replied, “but for the steam-crusher. It’ll all tally156 as neat as a patent puzzle, if you leave out the way these people bid the wreck up. And there we come to a stone wall. But whatever it is, Mr. Dodd, it’s on the crook157.”
“And looks like piracy,” I added.
“Looks like blind hookey!” cried the captain. “No, don’t you deceive yourself; neither your head nor mine is big enough to put a name on this business.”
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lagoon
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| n.泻湖，咸水湖 | |
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isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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subside
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| vi.平静，平息；下沉，塌陷，沉降 | |
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scud
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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axe
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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demolishing
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| v.摧毁( demolish的现在分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
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infancy
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prodigious
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tune
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wreck
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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rummaging
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| 翻找，搜寻( rummage的现在分词 )； 海关检查 | |
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retrospect
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| n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯 | |
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exertion
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scurry
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| vi.急匆匆地走；使急赶；催促；n.快步急跑，疾走；仓皇奔跑声；骤雨，骤雪；短距离赛马 | |
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throbs
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toiling
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ration
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victuals
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swell
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forage
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underneath
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25
opium
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| n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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inflamed
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| adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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29
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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throbbed
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| 抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动 | |
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31
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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32
untie
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| vt.解开，松开；解放 | |
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33
ostentation
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| n.夸耀，卖弄 | |
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34
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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35
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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36
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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37
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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38
doggedly
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| adv.顽强地，固执地 | |
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39
austerely
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| adv.严格地，朴质地 | |
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40
jotting
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| n.简短的笔记，略记v.匆忙记下( jot的现在分词 )；草草记下，匆匆记下 | |
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41
abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
sterling
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| adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑) | |
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43
confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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44
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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45
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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46
scrawled
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| 乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
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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48
pictorial
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| adj.绘画的；图片的；n．画报 | |
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49
relinquishing
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| 交出，让给( relinquish的现在分词 )； 放弃 | |
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50
rout
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| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
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51
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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52
bunks
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| n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话 | |
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53
bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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54
berthed
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| v.停泊( berth的过去式和过去分词 )；占铺位 | |
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55
berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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56
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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57
tacked
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| 用平头钉钉( tack的过去式和过去分词 )； 附加，增补； 帆船抢风行驶，用粗线脚缝 | |
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58
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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59
literate
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| n.学者；adj.精通文学的，受过教育的 | |
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60
galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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61
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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62
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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63
filth
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| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
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64
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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65
plies
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的第三人称单数 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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66
deduction
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| n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎 | |
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67
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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68
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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69
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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70
seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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71
paltry
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| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
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72
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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73
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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74
fiddle
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| n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动 | |
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75
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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76
bog
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| n.沼泽；室...陷入泥淖 | |
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77
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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78
rummaged
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| 翻找，搜寻( rummage的过去式和过去分词 )； 已经海关检查 | |
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79
luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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80
mound
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| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
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81
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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82
flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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83
herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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84
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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85
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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86
sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87
illustrate
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| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
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88
dime
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| n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角 | |
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89
piracy
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| n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害 | |
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90
penitentiary
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| n.感化院；监狱 | |
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91
leeches
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| n.水蛭( leech的名词复数 )；蚂蟥；榨取他人脂膏者；医生 | |
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92
consuls
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| 领事( consul的名词复数 )； （古罗马共和国时期）执政官 （古罗马共和国及其军队的最高首长，同时共有两位，每年选举一次） | |
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93
bugs
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| adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误 | |
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94
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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95
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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96
appraise
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| v.估价，评价，鉴定 | |
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97
marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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98
reciprocated
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| v.报答，酬答( reciprocate的过去式和过去分词 )；（机器的部件）直线往复运动 | |
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99
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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100
mariner
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| n.水手号不载人航天探测器，海员，航海者 | |
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101
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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102
scribbled
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| v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
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103
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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104
imprint
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| n.印痕，痕迹；深刻的印象；vt.压印，牢记 | |
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105
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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106
frigate
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| n.护航舰，大型驱逐舰 | |
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107
brooks
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| n.小溪( brook的名词复数 ) | |
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108
belles
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| n.美女( belle的名词复数 )；最美的美女 | |
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109
aurora
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| n.极光 | |
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110
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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111
pillaged
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| v.抢劫，掠夺( pillage的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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112
dreariness
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| 沉寂，可怕，凄凉 | |
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113
crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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114
depot
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| n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站 | |
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115
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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116
fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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117
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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118
convivial
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| adj.狂欢的，欢乐的 | |
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119
frugal
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| adj.节俭的，节约的，少量的，微量的 | |
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120
conviviality
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| n.欢宴，高兴，欢乐 | |
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121
arid
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| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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122
fervid
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| adj.热情的；炽热的 | |
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123
landlady
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| n.女房东，女地主 | |
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124
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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125
transcribe
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| v.抄写，誉写；改编(乐曲)；复制，转录 | |
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126
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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127
auld
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| adj.老的，旧的 | |
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128
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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129
vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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130
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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131
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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132
vouchsafed
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| v.给予，赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 )；允诺 | |
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133
squeak
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| n.吱吱声，逃脱；v.（发出）吱吱叫，侥幸通过；（俚）告密 | |
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134
persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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135
smothering
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的现在分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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136
laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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137
ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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138
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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139
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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140
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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141
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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142
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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143
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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144
martinet
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| n.要求严格服从纪律的人 | |
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145
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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146
sect
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| n.派别，宗教，学派，派系 | |
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147
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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148
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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149
jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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150
virile
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| adj.男性的；有男性生殖力的；有男子气概的；强有力的 | |
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151
appendages
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| n.附属物( appendage的名词复数 )；依附的人；附属器官；附属肢体（如臂、腿、尾等） | |
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152
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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153
sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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154
survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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155
auction
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| n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖 | |
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156
tally
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| n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致 | |
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157
crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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