The sound of the anchor chains, the clang of the couplings of the trucks laden13 with heavy goods, the metallic14 wail15 of the iron plates falling on the stone flagging, the dull thud of timber, the droning of the carrier-wagons16, the screaming of the sirens of the steamships17, now piercingly keen, now sinking to a dull roar, the cries of the porters, sailors, and custom-house officers—all these sounds blended into the deafening18 symphony of the laborious19 day, and vibrating restlessly, remained stationary20 in the sky over the haven, as if fearing to mount higher and disappear. And there ascended21 from the earth, continually, fresh and ever fresh waves of sound—some dull and mysterious, and these vibrated sullenly23 all around, others clangorous and piercing which rent the dusty sultry air.
Granite, iron, the stone haven, the vessels and the people—everything is uttering in mighty24 tones a madly passionate25 hymn26 to Mercury. But the voices of the people, weak and overborne, are scarce audible therein. And the people themselves to whom all this hubbub27 is primarily due, are ridiculous and pitiful. Their little figures, dusty, strenuous28, wriggling29 into and out of sight, bent30 double beneath the burden of heavy goods lying on their shoulders, beneath the burden of the labour of dragging these loads hither and thither31 in clouds of dust, in a sea of heat and racket—are so tiny and insignificant32 in comparison with the iron colossi surrounding them, in comparison with the loads of goods, the rumbling33 wagons, and all the other things which these same little creatures have made! Their own handiwork has subjugated34 and degraded them.
Standing35 by the quays37, heavy giant steamships are now whistling, now hissing38, now deeply snorting, and in every sound given forth39 by them there seems to be a note of ironical40 contempt for the grey, dusty little figures of the people crowding about on the decks, and filling the deep holds with the products of their slavish labour. Laughable even to tears are the long strings41 of dockyard men, dragging after them tens of thousands of pounds of bread and pitching them into the iron bellies42 of the vessels in order to earn a few pounds of that very same bread for their own stomachs—people, unfortunately, not made of iron and feeling the pangs43 of hunger. These hustled44, sweated crowds, stupefied by weariness and by the racket and heat, and these powerful machines, made by these selfsame people, basking45, sleek46 and unruffled, in the sunshine—machines which, in the first instance, are set in motion not by steam, but by the muscles and blood of their makers—in such a juxtaposition47 there was a whole epic48 of cold and cruel irony49.
The din10 is overwhelming, the dust irritates the nostrils50 and blinds the eyes, the heat burns and exhausts the body, and everything around—the buildings, the people, the stone quays—seem to be on the stretch, full-ripe, ready to burst, ready to lose all patience and explode in some grandiose51 catastrophe52, like a volcano, and thus one feels that one would be able to breathe more easily and freely in the refreshened air; one feels that then a stillness would reign53 upon the earth, and this dusty din, benumbing and irritating the nerves to the verge54 of melancholy55 mania56, would vanish, and in the town, and on the sea, and in the sky, everything would be calm, clear, and glorious. But it only seems so. One fancies it must be so, because man has not yet wearied of hoping for better things, and the wish to feel himself free has not altogether died away within him.
Twelve measured and sonorous57 strokes of a bell resound58. When the last brazen59 note has died away the wild music of labour has already diminished by at least a half. Another minute and it has passed into a dull involuntary murmur61. The voices of men and the splashing of the sea have now become more audible. The dinner-hour has come.
I.
When the dock-hands, leaving off work, scatter63 along the haven in noisy groups, buying something to eat from the costermonger women and sitting down to their meal in the most shady corners of the macadamized quay36, amidst them appears Greg Chelkash, that old wolf of the pastures, well-known to the people of the haven as a confirmed toper and a bold and skilful65 thief. He is barefooted, in shabby old plush breeches, hatless, with a dirty cotton shirt with a torn collar, exposing his mobile, withered66, knobbly legs in their cinnamon-brown case of skin. It is plain from his touzled black, grey-streaked hair and his keen wizened67 face that he has only just awoke. From one of his smutty moustaches a wisp of straw sticks out, the fellow to it has lost itself among the bristles68 of his recently shaved left cheek, and behind his ear he has stuck a tiny linden twig69 just plucked from the tree. Lanky70, bony, and somewhat crooked71, he slowly shambled along the stones, and moving from side to side his hooked nose, which resembled the beak72 of a bird of prey73, he cast around him sharp glances, twinkling at the same time his cold grey eyes as they searched for someone or other among the dockyard men. His dirty brown moustaches, long and thick, twitched74 just like a cat's whiskers, and his arms, folded behind his back, rubbed one against the other, while the long, crooked, hook-like fingers clutched at the air convulsively. Even here, in the midst of a hundred such ragged75 striking tatter-demalions as he, he immediately attracted attention by his resemblance to the vulture of the steppes, by his bird-of-prey like haggardness, and that alert sort of gait, easy and quiet in appearance, but inwardly the result of excited wariness76, like the flight of the bird of prey he called to mind.
When he came alongside one of the groups of ragged porters sprawling77 in the shade beneath the shelter of the coal baskets, he suddenly encountered a broad-shouldered little fellow with a stupid pimply78 face and a neck scarred with scratches, evidently fresh from a sound and quite recent drubbing. He got up and joined Chelkash, saying to him in a subdued79 voice:
"Goods belonging to the fleet have been missed in two places. They are searching for them still. Do you hear, Greg!"
"Well!" asked Chelkash quietly, calmly measuring his comrade from head to foot.
"What do you mean by well? They're searching I say, that's all."
"Are they asking me to help them in their search then?"
And Chelkash, with a shrewd smile, glanced in the direction of the lofty packhouse of the Volunteer Fleet.
"Go to the devil!"
His comrade turned back.
"Wait a bit! What are you so stuck-up about? Look how they've spoiled the whole show! I don't see Mike here!"
"Haven't seen him for a long time," said the other, going back to his companions.
Chelkash went on further, greeted by everyone like a man well-known. And he, always merry with a biting repartee81, to-day was evidently not in a good humour, and gave abrupt82 and snappy answers.
At one point a custom-house officer, a dusty, dark-green man with the upright carriage of a soldier, emerged from behind a pile of goods. He barred Chelkash's way, standing in front of him with a challenging pose and seizing with his left hand the handle of his dirk, tried to collar Chelkash with his right.
"Halt! whither are you going?"
Chelkash took a step backwards83, raised his eyes to the level of the custom-house officer, and smiled drily.
The ruddy, good-humouredly-cunning face of the official tried to assume a threatening look, puffing84 out its cheeks till they were round and bloated, contracting its brows and goggling85 its eyes—and was supremely86 ridiculous in consequence.
"You have been told that you are not to dare to enter the haven, or I'd break your ribs87 for you. And here you are again!" cried the guardian88 of the customs threateningly.
"Good day, Semenich! we have not seen each other for a long time," calmly replied Chelkash, stretching out his hand.
"I wish it had been a whole century. Be off! Be off!"
But Semenich pressed the extended hand all the same.
"What a thing to say!" continued Chelkash, still retaining in his talon-like fingers the hand of Semenich, and shaking it in a friendly familiar sort of way—"have you seen Mike by any chance?"
"Mike, Mike? whom do you mean? I don't know any Mike. Go away, my friend! That packhouse officer is looking, he...."
"The red-haired chap, I mean, with whom I worked last time on board the 'Kostroma,'" persisted Chelkash.
"With whom you pilfered89, you ought to say. They've carried your Mike off to the hospital if you must know; he injured his leg with a bit of iron. Go, my friend, while you are asked to go civilly; go, and I'll soon saddle you with him again!"
"Ah! look there now! and you said you did not know Mike! Tell me now, Semenich, why are you so angry?"
"Look here, Greg! none of your cheek! be off!"
The custom-house officer began to be angry, and glancing furtively90 around him, tried to tear his hand out of the powerful hand of Chelkash. Chelkash regarded him calmly from under his bushy brows, smiled to himself, and not releasing his hand, continued to speak:
"Don't hurry me! I'll have my say with you and then I'll go. Now tell me, how are you getting on?—you wife, your children, are they well?"—and, twinkling his eyes maliciously91 and biting his lips, with a mocking smile, he added: "I was going to pay you a visit, but I never had the time—I was always on the booze...."
"Well, well, drop that!—none of your larks92, you bony devil!—I'm really your friend.... I suppose you're laying yourself out to nab something under cover or in the streets?"
"Why so? Here and now I tell you a good time's coming for both you and me, if only we lay hold of a bit In God's name, Semenich, lay hold! Listen now, again in two places goods are missing! Look out now, Semenich, and be very cautious lest you come upon them somehow!"
Utterly93 confused by the audacity94 of Chelkash, Semenich trembled all over, spat95 freely about him, and tried to say something. Chelkash let go his hand and calmly shuffled96 back to the dock gates with long strides, the custom-house officer, cursing fiercely, moved after him.
Chelkash was now in a merry mood. He softly whistled through his teeth, and burying his hands into his breeches' pockets, marched along with the easy gait of a free man, distributing sundry97 jests and repartees right and left. And the people he left behind paid him out in his own coin as he passed by.
"Hello, Chelkash! how well the authorities mount guard over you!" howled someone from among the group of dock-workers who had already dined and were resting at full length on the ground.
"I'm barefooted you see, so Semenich follows behind so as not to tread upon my toes—he might hurt me and lay me up for a bit," replied Chelkash.
They reached the gates, two soldiers searched Chelkash and hustled him gently into the street.
"Don't let him go!" bawled98 Semenich, stopping at the dockyard gate.
Chelkash crossed the road and sat down on a post opposite the door of a pot-house. Out of the dockyard gates, lowing as they went, proceeded an endless string of laden oxen, meeting the returning teams of unladen oxen with their drivers mounted upon them. The haven vomited99 forth thunderous noise and stinging dust, and the ground trembled.
Inured100 to this frantic101 hurly-burly, Chelkash, stimulated102 by the scene with Semenich, felt in the best of spirits. Before him smiled a solid piece of work, demanding not very much labour but a good deal of cunning. He was convinced that he would be equal to it, and blinking his eyes, fell thinking how he would lord it to-morrow morning, when the whole thing would have been managed and the bank-notes would be in his pocket. Then he called to mind his comrade Mike, who would have just done for this night's job if he had not broken his leg. Chelkash cursed inwardly that, without Mike's help, it would be a pretty stiffish job for him alone. What sort of a night was it going to be? He looked up at the sky and then all down the street....
Six paces away from him on the macadamized pavement, with his back against a post, sat a young lad in a blue striped shirt, hose to match, with bast shoes and a ragged red forage103 cap. Near him lay a small knapsack and a scythe104 without a handle wrapped up in straw carefully wound round with cord. The lad was broad-shouldered, sturdy, and fair-haired, with a tanned and weather-beaten face, and with large blue eyes gazing at Chelkash confidingly105 and good-naturedly....
Chelkash ground his teeth, protruded106 his tongue, and making a frightful107 grimace108, set himself to gaze fixedly109 at the youth with goggling eyes.
The youth, doubtful, at first, what to make of it, blinked a good deal, but suddenly bursting into a fit of laughter, screamed in the midst of his laughter: "Ah, what a character!" and scarce rising from the ground, rolled clumsily from his own to Chelkash's post, dragging his knapsack along through the dust and striking the blade of the scythe against a stone.
"What, brother, enjoying yourself, eh? Good health to you!" said he to Chelkash, plucking his trouser.
"There's a job on hand, my sucking pig, and such a job!" confessed Chelkash openly. He liked the look of this wholesome111, good-natured lad with the childish blue eyes. "Been a mowing113, eh?"
"Pretty mowing! Mow112 a furlong and earn a farthing! Bad business that! The very hungriest come crowding in, and they lower wages though they don't gain any. They pay six griveniki[1] in the Kuban here—a pretty wage! Formerly114 they paid, people say, three silver roubles, four, nay115 five!"
[1] A grivenik is a 10 kopeck piece = 1/10th of a silver rouble. A silver rouble = 2s.
"Formerly!—Ah, formerly, at the mere116 sight of a Russian man they paid up splendidly there. I worked at the same job myself ten years ago. You went up to the cossack station—here am I, a Russian! you said, and immediately they looked at you, felt you, marvelled117 at you, and—three roubles down into your palm straightway! Those were the days for eating and drinking. And you lived pretty much as you liked."
The lad listened to Chelkash at first with wide-open mouth, with puzzled rapture118 writ119 large on his rotund physiognomy; but, presently, understanding that this ragamuffin was joking, he closed his lips with a snap and laughed aloud. Chelkash preserved a serious countenance120, concealing121 his smile in his moustaches.
"Rum card that you are! you spoke122 as if it were true, and I listened and believed you. Now, God knows, formerly...."
"But I count for something, don't I? I tell you that formerly...."
"Go along!" said the lad, waving his hand. "I suppose you're a cobbler?—or are you a tailor? What are you?"
"What am I?" repeated Chelkash, reflecting a little—"I'm a fisherman!" he said at last.
"A fisherman! really?—you really catch fish?"
"Why fish? The fishermen here don't only catch fish. There's more than that. There are drowned corpses123, old anchors, sunken ships—everything! There are hooks for fishing up all sorts...."
"Nonsense, nonsense! I suppose you mean the sort of fishermen who sang of themselves:
"'Our nets we cast forth abroad
On the river bank so high,
And in storehouse and grain loft80 so high....'"
"And you have seen such like, eh?" inquired Chelkash, looking at him with a smile and thinking to himself that this fine young chap was really very stupid.
"No, where could I see them? But I've heard of them...."
"Like the life, eh?"
"Like their life? Well, how shall I put it?—they are not bothered with kids ... they live as they like ... they are free...."
"What do you know about freedom? Do you love it?"
"Why of course. To be your own master ... to go where you like ... to do what you like. Still more, if you know how to keep straight, and have no stone about your neck ... then it's splendid! You may enjoy yourself as you like, if only you don't forget God...."
Chelkash spat contemptuously, ceased from questioning, and turned away from the youth.
"I'll tell you my story," said the other with a sudden burst of confidence. "When my father died he left but little, my mother was old, the land was all ploughed to death, what was I to do? Live I must—but how? I didn't know. I went to my wife's relations—a good house. Very well! 'Will you give your daughter her portion?' But no, my devil of a father-in-law would not shell out I was worrying him a long time about it—a whole year. What a business it was! And if I had had a hundred and fifty roubles in hand I could have paid off the Jew Antipas and stood on my legs again. 'Will you give Marfa her portion?' I said. 'No? Very well! Thank God she is not the only girl in the village.' I wanted to let him know that I would be my own master and quite free. Heigh-ho!" And the young fellow sighed. "And now there is nothing for it but to go to my relations after all. I had thought: look now! I'll go to the Kuban District. I'll scrape together two hundred roubles—and then I shall be a gentleman at large. But it was only so-so! It all ended in smoke. Now you'll have to go back to your relations, I said to myself ... as a day-labourer. I'm not fit to be my own master—no, I'm quite unfit. Alas124! Alas!'"
The young fellow had a violent disinclination to go to his relatives. Even his cheerful face grew dark and made itself miserable126. He shifted heavily about on the ground, and drew Chelkash out of the reverie in which he had plunged127 while the other was talking.
Chelkash also began to feel that the conversation was boring him, yet, for all that, he asked a few more questions:
"And now where are you going?"
"Where am I going? Why, home of course."
"My friend, it is not 'of course' to me. You might be going to kick up your heels in Turkey for ought I know."
"In Tur-tur-key?" stammered128 the youth. "Who of all the Orthodox would think of going there? What do you mean?"
"I mean that you're a fool!" sighed Chelkash, and again he turned away from the speaker, and this time he felt an utter disinclination to waste another word upon him. There was something in this healthy country lad which revolted him.
A troublesome, slowly ripening129 irritating feeling was stirring somewhere deep within him, and prevented him from concentrating his attention and meditating130 on all that had to be done that night.
The snubbed young rustic131 kept murmuring to himself in a low voice, now and then glancing furtively at the vagabond. His cheeks were absurdly chubby132, his lips were parted, and his lackadaisical133 eyes blinked ridiculously and preposterously134 often. Evidently he had never expected that his conversation with this moustached ragamuffin would have been terminated so quickly and so offensively.
The ragamuffin no longer paid him the slightest attention. He was whistling reflectively as he sat on the post and beating time with his naked dirty paw.
The rustic wanted to be quits with him.
"I say, fisherman, do you often get drunk?"—he was beginning, when the same instant the fisherman turned round quickly face to face with him and asked:
"Hark ye, babby! Will you work with me to-night? Come!—yes or no?"
"Work at what?" inquired the rustic suspiciously.
"At whatever work I give you. We'll go a fishing. You'll have to row...."
"Oh!... All right!... No matter. I can work. Only don't let me in for something ... You're so frightfully double-tongued ... you're a dark horse...."
Chelkash began to feel something of the nature of a gangrened wound in his breast, and murmured with cold maliciousness135:
"No blabbing, whatever you may think. Look now, I've a good mind to knock your blockhead about till I drive some light into it."
He leaped from his post, and while his left hand still twirled his moustache, he clenched136 his right into a muscular fist as hard as iron, while his eyes flashed and sparkled.
The rustic was terrified. He quickly looked about him, and timidly blinking his eyes, also leapt from the ground. They both stood there regarding each other in silence.
"Well?" inquired Chelkash sullenly, he was boiling over and tremulous at the insult received from this young bull-calf137, whom during the whole course of their conversation he had despised, but whom he now thoroughly138 hated because he had such clear blue eyes, such a healthy sun-burnt face, such short strong arms. He hated him, moreover, because, somewhere or other, he had his native village, and a house in it, and because he numbered among his relatives a well-to-do peasant farmer; he hated him for all his past life and all his life to come, and, more than all this, he hated him because this creature, a mere child in comparison with himself, Chelkash, dared to love freedom, whose value he knew not, and which was quite unnecessary to him. It is always unpleasant to see a man whom you regard as worse and lower than yourself, love or hate the same thing as you do, and thus become like unto yourself.
The rustic looked at Chelkash, and felt that in him he had found his master.
"Well ..." he began, "I have nothing to say against it. I am glad, in fact.... You see I am out of work. It is all one to me whom I work for, for you or another. I only mean to say that you don't look like a working man ... you're so terribly ragged, you know. Well, I know that may happen to us all. Lord! the topers I've seen in my time! No end to 'em! But I've never seen any like you."
"All right, all right! It is agreed then, eh?" asked Chelkash. His voice was now a little softer.
"With pleasure, so far as I am concerned. What's the pay?"
"I pay according to the amount of work done, and according to the kind of work too. It depends upon the haul. You might get a fifth part—what do you say to that?"
But now it was a matter of money, and therefore the peasant must needs be exact and demand the same exactness from his employer. The rustic had a fresh access of uncertainty139 and suspicion.
"Nay, brother, 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush——'"
Chelkash fell in with his humour.
"No more gabble! Wait! come to the pub!"
And they walked along the street side by side, Chelkash twisting his moustaches with the impudent140 air of a master, the rustic with the expression of a complete readiness to buckle141 under, yet at the same time full of uneasiness and suspicion.
"What do they call you?" inquired Chelkash.
"Gabriel," replied the rustic.
When they came to the filthy142 and smoke-black inn, Chelkash, going up to the buffet144 with the familiar tone of an old habitué, ordered a bottle of vodka, cabbage-soup, a roasted joint145, tea; and totting up the amount of the items, curtly146 remarked to the barmaid: "All to my account, eh?" whereupon the barmaid nodded her head in silence. And Gabriel was suddenly filled with a profound respect for his master, who, notwithstanding his hang-dog look, enjoyed such notoriety and credit.
"Well, now we can peck a bit, and have a talk comfortably. You sit here. I'll be back directly."
Out he went. Gabriel looked about him. The inn was on the ground-floor, it was damp and dark, and full of the stifling147 odour of distilled148 vodka, tobacco smoke, tar60, and a something else of a pungent149 quality. Opposite Gabriel, at another table, sat a drunken man in sailor's costume, with a red beard, all covered with coal dust and tar. He was growling150, in the midst of momentary151 hiccoughs, a song, or rather the fragmentary and inconsecutive words of a song, his voice now rising to a frightful bellow152, now sinking to a throaty gurgle. He was obviously not a Russian.
Behind him sat two young Moldavian girls, ragged, dark-haired, sun-burnt, also screeching153 some sort of a song with tipsy voices.
Further back other figures projected from the surrounding gloom, all of them strangely unkempt, half-drunk, noisy, and restless....
Gabriel felt uncomfortable sitting there all alone. He wished his master would return sooner. The din of the eating-house blended into a single note, and it seemed to him like the roar of some huge animal. It possessed154 a hundred different sorts of voices, and was blindly, irritably155, soaring away out of this stony156 prison, as if it wanted to find an outlet157 for its will and could not.... Gabriel felt as if something bemused and oppressive was sucking away in his body, something which made his head swim, and made his eyes grow dim as they wandered, curious and terrified, about the eating-house.
Chelkash now arrived, and they began to eat and drink and converse158 at the same time. At the third rummer Gabriel got drunk. He felt merry, and wanted to say something pleasant to his host who—glorious youth!—though nothing to look at, was so tastefully entertaining him. But the words, whole waves of them, pouring into his very throat, for some reason or other wouldn't leave his tongue, which had suddenly grown quite cumbersome159.
Chelkash looked at him, and said with a derisive160 smile: "Why, you're drunk already! What a milksop! And only the fifth glass too! How will you manage to work?"
"My friend," lisped Gabriel, "never fear, I respect you—there you are Let me kiss you. Ah!"
"Well, well—come, chink glasses once more."
Gabriel went on drinking, and arrived at last at that stage when to his eyes everything began to vibrate with a regular spontaneous motion of its own. This was very disagreeable, and made him feel unwell. His face assumed a foolishly-ecstatic expression. He tried to say something, but only made a ridiculous noise with his lips and bellowed161. Chelkash continued to gaze fixedly at him as if he was trying to recollect162 something, and twirled his moustaches, smiling all the time, but now his smile was grim and evil.
The eating-house was a babel of drunken voices. The red-haired sailor had gone to sleep with his elbows resting on the table.
"Come now, let us go," said Chelkash, standing up.
Gabriel tried to rise, but could not, and cursing, loudly, began to laugh the senseless laugh of the drunkard.
"He'll have to be carried," said Chelkash, sitting down again on the chair opposite his comrade.
Gabriel kept on laughing, and looked at his host with lack-lustre eyes. And the latter regarded him fixedly, keenly, and meditatively163. He saw before him a man whose life had fallen into his vulpine paws. Chelkash felt that he could twist him round his little finger. He could break him in pieces like a bit of cardboard, or he could make a substantial peasant of him as solid as a picture in its frame. Feeling himself the other man's master, he hugged himself with delight, and reflected that this rustic had never emptied so many glasses as Fate had permitted him, Chelkash, to do. And he had a sort of indignant pity for this young life; he despised and even felt anxious about it, lest it should fall at some other time into such hands as his. And finally, all Chelkash's feelings blended together into one single sentiment—into something paternal164 and hospitable165. He was sorry for the youth, and the youth was necessary to him. Then Chelkash took Gabriel under the armpits, and urging him lightly forward from behind with his knee, led him out of the door of the tavern166, where he placed him on the ground in the shadow of a pile of wood, and himself sat down beside him and smoked his pipe. Gabriel rolled about for a bit, bellowed drunkenly, and dozed167 off.
II.
"Well now, are you ready?" inquired Chelkash in a low voice of Gabriel, who was fumbling168 about with the oars.
"Wait a moment. The row-locks are all waggly. Can I ship oars for a bit?"
"No, no! Don't make a noise! Press down more firmly with your hands, and they'll fall into place of their own accord."
The pair of them were quietly making off with the skiff attached to the stern of one of a whole flotilla of sailing barques laden with batten rivets169 and large Turkish feluccas half unloaded and still half-filled with palm, sandal, and thick cypress-wood logs.
The night was dark, across the sky dense170 layers of ragged cloud were flitting, and the water was still, dark, and as thick as oil. It exhaled171 a moist, saline aroma172, and murmured caressingly173 as it splashed against the sides of the ships and against the shore, and rocked the skiff of Chelkash to and fro. Stretching a long distance seawards from the shore, rose the dark hulls175 of many vessels, piercing the sky with their sharp masts which had variegated176 lanterns in their tops. The sea reflected the lights of these lanterns, and was covered with a mass of yellow patches. They twinkled prettily177 on its soft, faint-black, velvet178 bosom179, heaving so calmly, so powerfully. The sea was sleeping the sleep of a strong and healthy labourer wearied to death by the day's work.
"Let's be off," said Gabriel, thrusting the oar2 into the water.
"Go!" Chelkash, with a powerful thrust of his hand, thrust the skiff right into the strip of water behind the barques. The skiff flew swiftly through the smooth water, and the water, beneath the stroke of the oars, burned with a bluish, phosphorescent radiance. A long ribbon of this radiance, faintly gleaming, tapered180 away from the keel of the skiff.
"Well, how's the head? Aching, eh?" inquired Chelkash jocosely181.
"Frightfully. It hums like molten iron. I'll wash it with water presently."
"Why? What you want is something to go inside. Take a pull at that—that will soon put you all right," and he handed Gabriel a flask182.
"Oh-ho! Lord bless you!"
A gentle gurgle was audible.
"How now? Feel glad, eh? Stop, that'll do!"
The skiff sped on again, lightly and noiselessly, turning and winding183 among the vessels. Suddenly it wrenched184 itself free from them, and the sea—the endless, mighty, glistening185; sea—lay extended before them, receding186 into the blue distance, whence there arose out of its waters mountains of cloud of a dark lilac-blue, with yellowish downy fringes at the corners, and greenish clouds the colour of sea water, and those melancholy leaden clouds which cast abroad such heavy, oppressive shadows, crushing down mind and spirit. They crept so slowly away from one another, and now blending with, now pursuing one another, intermingled their shapes and colours, swallowing each other up and re-emerging in fresh shapes, magnificent and menacing.... And there was something mysterious in the gradual motion of these lifeless masses. There seemed to be an infinite host of them at the verge of the sea-shore, and it seemed as if they must always creep indifferently over the face of Heaven, with the sullen22, evil aim of obliterating187 it, and never allowing it to shine down again upon the sleeping sea with its millions of golden eyes, the many-coloured living stars that sparkle so dreamily, awakening188 lofty desires in those to whom their pure and holy radiance is so precious.
"The sea's good, ain't it?" inquired Chelkash.
"Rubbish! it's horrible to me," replied Gabriel, as his oars struck the water vigorously and symmetrically. The water plashed and gurgled with a scarcely audible sound beneath the strokes of the long oars—splashing and splashing, and sparkling with its warm blue phosphorescent light.
"Horrible! do you say? Ugh, you fool!" exclaimed Chelkash contemptuously.
He, thief and cynic, loved the sea. His excitable, nervous nature, greedy of new impressions, was never tired of contemplating189 that dark expanse, limitless, free, and mighty. And it offended him to receive such an answer to his question as to the loveliness of the thing he loved. Sitting in the stern, he cut the water with his oar, and looked calmly in front of him, full of the desire to go long and far in that velvety190 smoothness.
On the sea there always arose within him a broad, warm feeling embracing his whole soul, and, for a time, purifying him from the filth143 of earthly life. This feeling he prized, and he loved to see himself better there, in the midst of the water and the air, where thoughts of life and life itself always lost first their keenness and then their value. At night on the sea can be heard the soft murmur of the sea's slumberous191 breathing, that incomprehensible sound which pours peace into the soul of man, and caressingly taming his evil impulses, awakes within him mighty musings....
"But where's the tackle, eh?" inquired Gabriel suddenly, looking uneasily about the boat.
Chelkash started violently.
"The tackle?—It is with me in the stern of the boat."
"What sort of tackle is that?" Gabriel again inquired, this time with suspicion in his voice.
"What tackle? Why, ground tackle and——"
But Chelkash felt ashamed to lie to this youngster while concealing his real project, and he regretted the thoughts and feelings which the question of this rustic had suddenly annihilated193. He grew angry. A familiar, sharp, burning sensation in his breast and throat convulsed him, and he said to Gabriel with suppressed fury:
"Mind your own business, and don't thrust your nose into other folk's affairs. You are hired to row—so row. If your tongue wags again it will be the worse for you. Do you understand?"
For a moment the skiff rocked to and fro, and stood still. The oars remained in the water feathering it, and Gabriel moved uneasily on his bench.
"Row!"
Violent abuse shook the air. Gabriel grasped the oars. The skiff, as if terrified, fared along with quick, nervous jolts194, noisily cutting through the water.
"Steadier!"
Chelkash rose a little from his seat in the stern, without letting go his oar, and fixed110 his cold eyes on the pale face and trembling lips of Gabriel. Bending forward with arched back he resembled a cat about to spring. Perfectly195 audible was the savage196 grinding of his teeth, and also a timorous197 clattering198 as if of bones.
"Who calls?" resounded199 a surly shout from the sea.
"Devil take it!—row, can't you? Quiet with the oars! I'll kill you, you hound! Row, I say! One, two! You dare to whisper, that's all!" whispered Chelkash.
"Mother of God! Holy Virgin200!" whispered Gabriel, trembling and helpless with terror and over-exertion.
The skiff turned and went lightly back towards the haven, where the lights of the lanterns were jogging together in a parti-coloured group, and the shafts201 of the masts were visible.
"Hie! who was making that row?" the voice sounded again. This time it was further off than before. Chelkash felt easier.
"You're making all the row yourself, my friend!" he cried in the direction of the voice, and then he turned again to Gabriel, who was still muttering a prayer: "Well, my friend, you're in luck! If those devils had come after us there would have been an end of you! Do you hear? I'd have thrown you to the fishes in a twinkling!"
Now when Chelkash spoke calmly, and even good-naturedly, Gabriel trembled still more with terror and fell to beseeching202.
"Listen! Let me go! For Christ's sake let me go! Land me somewhere—oh, oh, oh! I'm ruined altogether. Now, in the name of God, let me go! What am I to you? I'm not up to it. I'm not used to such things. It's the very first time. Oh, Lord! It's all up with me! How could you so deceive me, my friend? It is wilful203 of you. You have lost your soul. A pretty business."
"What business do you mean?" asked Chelkash surlily. "Ha! What business, eh?"
He was amused at the terror of the rustic, and he took a delight in Gabriel's terror, because it showed what a terrible fellow he, Chelkash, was.
"A dark business, my friend! Let me go, for God's sake. What harm have I done you?... Mercy...!"
"Silence! If you were of no use to me I would not have taken you. Do you understand?—And now be quiet!"
"Oh, Lord!" sighed the sobbing204 Gabriel.
"Come, come! Don't blubber!" Chelkash rounded on him sternly.
But Gabriel could no longer restrain himself, and sobbing softly, wept and snivelled and fidgeted on his seat, but rowed vigorously, desperately205. The skiff sped along like a dart206. Again the dark hulls of big vessels stood in their way, and the skiff lost itself among them, turning like a top in the narrow streaks207 of water between the vessels.
"Hie you! Listen! If anyone asks you anything, hold your tongue, if you want to remain alive! Do you understand?"
"Woe208 is me!" sighed Gabriel hopelessly in reply to the stern command, adding bitterly: "My accursed luck!"
"Now row!" said Chelkash in an intense curdling209 whisper.
At this whisper Gabriel lost all capacity for forming any ideas whatsoever210, and became more dead than alive, benumbed by a cold presentiment211 of coming evil. He mechanically lowered his oars into the water, leaned back his uttermost, took a long pull, and set steadily212 to work again, gazing stolidly213 all the time at his bast shoes.
The sleepy murmur of the waves had now a sullen sound and became terrible. They were in the haven.... Behind its granite wall could be heard people's voices, the splashing of water, singing, and high-pitched whistling.
"Stop!" whispered Chelkash. "Ship oars! cling close to the wall! Hush214, you devil!"
Gabriel, grasping the slippery stones with his hands, drew the skiff up alongside the wall. The skiff moved without any grating, its keel gliding noiselessly over the slimy seaweed growing on the stones.
"Stop! Give me the oars! Give them here! Where's your passport? In your knapsack? Hand over the knapsack! Come, look sharp! It will be a good hostage for your not bolting! You'll not bolt now, I know! Without the oars you might bolt somewhere, but without the passport you'd be afraid to. Wait, and look here, if you whine—to the bottom of the sea you go!"
And suddenly clinging to something with his hands, Chelkash rose in the air and disappeared over the wall.
Gabriel trembled.... It was done so smartly. He began to feel the cursed oppression and terror which he felt in the presence of that evil moustached thief, rolling, creeping off him. Now was the time to run!... With a sigh of relief he looked about him. To the left of him rose a black mastless hull174, a sort of immense tomb, unpeopled and desolate215. Every stroke of the billows against its side awoke within it a hollow, hollow echo, like a heavy sigh. To the right of him on the water, stretching right away, was the grey stony wall of the mole216, like a cold and massive serpent. Behind, some black bodies were also visible, and in front, in the opening between the wall and the hull of the floating tomb, the sea was visible, dumb and dreary217 with black clouds all over it. Huge and heavy, they were moving slowly along, drawing their horror from the gloom and ready to stifle218 man beneath their heaviness. Everything was cold, black, and of evil omen64. Gabriel felt terrified. This terror was worse than the terror inspired by Chelkash, it grasped the bosom of Gabriel in a strong embrace, made him collapse219 into a timid lump, and nailed him to the bench of the skiff.
And around him all was silent, not a sound save the sighing of the sea, and it seemed as if this silence were broken upon by something terrible, something insanely loud, by something which shook the sea to its very foundation, tore asunder220 the heavy flocks of clouds in the sky, and scattered221 over the wilderness222 of the sea all those heavy vessels. The clouds crept along the sky just as gradually and wearyingly as before; but more and more of them kept rising from the sea, and, looking at the sky, one might fancy that it also was a sea, but a sea in insurrection against and falling upon the other so slumberous, peaceful, and smooth. The clouds resembled billows pouring upon the earth with grey inwardly-curling crests; they resembled an abyss, from which these billows were torn forth by the wind; they resembled new-born breakers still covered with greenish foam of rage and frenzy223.
Gabriel felt himself overwhelmed by this murky224 silence and beauty; he felt that he would like to see his master again soon. Why was he staying away there? The time passed slowly, more slowly even than the clouds crawling across the sky.... And the silence as time went on became more and more ominous225. But now from behind the wall of the mole a splashing, a rustling226, and something like a whispering became audible. It seemed to Gabriel as if he must die on the spot.
"Hie! Are you asleep? Catch hold!" sounded the hollow voice of Chelkash cautiously.
Something round and heavy was let down from the wall, Gabriel hauled it into the boat. Another similar thing was let down. Then across the wall stretched the long lean figure of Chelkash, then from somewhither appeared the oars, Gabriel's knapsack plumped down at his feet, and heavily breathing Chelkash was sitting in the stern.
Gabriel looked at him and smiled joyfully227 and timidly.
"Tired?" he asked.
"A bit, you calf! Come, take the oars and put your whole heart into it. A bit of work will do you no harm, my friend. The work's half done, now we've only got to swim a bit under their very noses, and then you shall have your money and go to your Polly. You have a Polly, haven't you? Eh, baby?"
Gabriel did his very utmost, working with a breast like shaggy fur and with arms like steel springs. The water foamed228 beneath the skiff, and the blue strip behind the stern now became broader. Gabriel was presently covered with sweat, but kept on rowing with all his might. Experiencing such terror twice in one night, he feared to experience it a third time, and only wished for one thing: to be quite out of this cursed work, land on terra firma, and run away from this man before he killed him downright, or got him locked up in jail. He resolved to hold no conversation with him, to contradict him in nothing, to do all he commanded, and if he were fortunate enough to break away from him, he vowed229 to offer up a prayer to St. Nicholas, the Wonder Worker, on the morrow. A passionate prayer was ready to pour from his breast.... But he controlled himself, panted like a steam-engine, and was silent, casting sidelong glances at Chelkash from time to time.
And Chelkash, long, lean, leaning forward and resembling a bird ready to take to flight, glared into the gloom in front of the boat with his vulture eyes, and moving his hooked beak from side to side, with one hand held the tiller firmly, while with the other he stroked his moustache, his features convulsed occasionally by the smiles that curled his thin lips. Chelkash was satisfied with his success, with himself, and with this rustic so terribly frightened by him, and now converted into his slave. He was enjoying in anticipation230 the spacious231 debauch232 of to-morrow, and now delighted in his power over this fresh young rustic impounded into his service. He saw how he was exerting himself, and he felt sorry for him, and wished to encourage him.
"Hie!" said he softly, with a smile, "got over your funk, eh?"
"It was nothing!" sighed Gabriel, squirming before him.
"You needn't lean so heavily on your oars now. Take it easy a bit We've only got one more place to pass. Rest a bit."
Gabriel stopped short obediently, wiped the sweat off his face with his shirt-sleeve, and again thrust the oars into the water.
"Row more gently. Don't let the water blab about you! We have only the gates to pass. Softly, softly! We've serious people to deal with here, my friend. They may take it into their heads to joke a bit with their rifles. They might saddle you with such a swelling234 on your forehead that you wouldn't even be able to sing out: oh!"
The skiff now crept along upon the water almost noiselessly. Only from the oars dripped blue drops and when they fell into the sea, tiny blue spots lingered for an instant on the place where they fell. The night grew even darker and stiller. The sky no longer resembled a sea in insurrection—the clouds had spread all over it and covered it with an even, heavy baldachin, drooping235 low and motionless over the sea. The sea grew still quieter, blacker, and exhaled a still stronger saline odour, nor did it seem so vast as heretofore.
"Ah! if only the rain would come!" whispered Chelkash, "it would be as good as a curtain for us."
Right and left of them some sort of edifice236 now rose out of the black water—barges, immovable, sinister237, and as black as the water itself. On one of them a fire was twinkling, and someone was going about with a lantern. The sea, washing their sides, sounded supplicatory238 and muffled239, and they responded in a shrill240 and cold echo, as if quarrelsome and refusing to concede anything to it.
"The cordons241!" whispered Chelkash in a scarcely audible voice.
From the moment when he commanded Gabriel to row more gently, Gabriel was again dominated by a keen expectant tension. Onwards he kept, going through the gloom, and it seemed to him that he was growing—his bones and sinews were extending within him with a dull pain, his head, filled with a single thought, ached abominably242, the skin on his back throbbed243, and his feet were full of tiny, sharp, cold needles. His eyes were exhausted244 by gazing intently into the gloom, from which he expected to emerge every instant something which would cry to them with a hoarse245 voice: "Stop, thieves!"
Now, when Chelkash whispered, "The cordons!" Gabriel trembled, a keen burning thought ran through him, and settled upon his over-strained nerves—he wanted to shout and call to people to help him. He had already opened his mouth, and, rising a little in the skiff, stuck out his breast, drew in a large volume of air, and opened his mouth ... but suddenly, overcome by a feeling of terror which struck him like the lash62 of a whip, he closed his eyes and rolled off his bench.
In front of the skiff, far away on the horizon out of the black water, arose an enormous fiery246-blue sword, cutting athwart the night, gliding edgewise over the clouds on the sky, and lying on the bosom of the sea in a broad blue strip. There it lay, and into the zone of its radiance there floated out of the dark the hitherto invisible black vessels, all silent and enshrouded in the thick night mists. It seemed as if they had lain for long at the bottom of the sea, drawn247 down thither by the mighty power of the tempest, and now behold248! they had risen from thence at the command of the fiery sea-born sword, risen to look at the sky and at all above the water. Their tackle hugged the masts, and seemed to be ends of seaweed risen from the depths together with these black giants immeshed within them. And again this strange gleaming blue sword arose from the surface of the sea, again it cut the night in twain, and flung itself in another direction. And again where it lay the dark hulls of vessels, invisible before its manifestation249, floated out of the darkness.
The skiff of Chelkash stood still and rocked to and fro on the water as if irresolute250 Gabriel lay at the bottom of it, covering his face with his hands, and Chelkash poked251 him with the oars and whispered furiously, but quietly:
"Fool! that's the custom-house cruiser. That is the electric lantern. Get up, you blockhead. The light will be thrown upon us in a moment. What the devil! you'll ruin me as well as yourself if you don't look out. Come!"
And at last when one of the blows with the sharp end of the oar caught Gabriel more violently than the others on the spine252, he leaped up, still fearing to open his eyes, sat on the bench, blindly grasped the oars, and again set the boat in motion.
"Not so much noise! I'll kill you, I will! Not so much noise, I say. What a fool you are! Devil take you.... What are you afraid of? Now then, ugly! The lantern is a mirror—that's all! Softly with the oars, silly devil! They incline the mirror this way and that, and so light up the sea, in order that they may see whether folks like you and me, for instance, are sailing about anywhere. They do it to catch smugglers. They won't tackle us—they'll sail far away. Don't be afraid, clodhopper, they won't tackle us. Now we're clear...." Chelkash looked round triumphantly254.... "At last we've sailed out of it! Phew! well you're lucky, blockhead!"
Gabriel kept silence, rowed and breathed heavily, still gazing furtively in the direction where that fiery sword kept on rising and falling. He could by no means believe Chelkash that it was only a lamp with a reflector. The cold blue gleam, cutting the darkness asunder and making the sea shine with a silvery radiance, had something incomprehensible in it, and Gabriel again fell into the hypnosis of anxious terror. And again a foreboding weighed heavily on his breast. He rowed like a machine, all huddled255 up, as if he expected a blow to come from above him; and not a desire, not a single feeling remained in him—he was empty and spiritless. The agitation256 of this night had at last gnawed257 out of him everything human.
But Chelkash triumphed once more, the whole thing was a complete success. His nerves, accustomed to excitement, were already placid258 again. His moustaches quivered with rapture, and a hungry little flame was burning in his eyes. He felt magnificent, whistled between his teeth, drew a deep inspiration of the moist air of the sea, glanced around, and smiled good-naturedly when his eyes rested on Gabriel.
A breeze arose and awoke the sea, which suddenly began heaving sportively. The clouds seemed to make themselves thinner and more transparent259, but the whole sky was obscured by them. Despite the fact that the wind, though but a light breeze, played over the sea, the clouds remained motionless, as if lost in some grey, grizzling meditation260.
"Come, friend, wake up! It's high time. Why, you look as if your soul had evaporated through your skin, and only a bag of bones remained. Dear friend, I say! We're pretty well at the end of this job, eh?"
It was pleasant to Gabriel, at any rate, to hear a human voice, even if the speaker were Chelkash.
"I hear," he said softly.
"Very well, thick-head. Come now, take the rudder, and I'll have a go at the oars. You seem tired. Come!"
Gabriel mechanically changed places. When Chelkash, in changing places with him, looked him in the face and observed that his tottering261 legs trembled beneath him, he was still sorrier for the lad. He patted him on the shoulder.
"Well, well, don't be frightened. You have worked right well. I'll richly reward you, my friend. What say you to a fiver, eh?"
"I want nothing. Put me ashore262, that's all."
Chelkash waved his hand, spat a bit, and began rowing, flinging the oars far back with his long arms.
The sea was waking. It was playing with tiny billows, producing them, adorning263 them with a fringe of foam, bumping them together, and beating them into fine dust. The foam, in dissolving, hissed264 and spluttered—and everything around was full of a musical hubbub and splashing. The gloom seemed to have more life in it.
"Now, tell me," said Chelkash, "I suppose you'll be off to your village, marry, plough up the soil, and sow corn, your wife will bear you children, and there won't be food enough. Now, tell me, do you mean to go on working your heart out all your life long? Say! There's not very much fun in that now, is there?"
"Fun indeed!" said Gabriel timidly and tremulously.
Here and there the wind had penetrated265 the clouds, and between the gaps peeped forth little patches of blue sky, with one or two little stars in them. Reflected by the sportive sea, these little stars leaped up and down on the waters, now vanishing and now shining forth again.
"Move to the right," said Chelkash; "we shall soon be there now, I hope. It's over now. An important little job, too. Look now—it's like this, d'ye hear? In one single night I've grabbed half a thousand. What do you think of that, eh?"
"Half a thousand!" gasped266 Gabriel incredulously, but then terror again seized him, and kicking the bundle in the skiff, he asked quickly, "What sort of goods is this?"
"It's silk. Precious wares267. If you sold all that at a fair price you would get a full thousand. But I'm not a shark! Smart, eh?"
"Ye-es!" gasped Gabriel. "If only it had been me," he sighed, all at once thinking of his village, and his poor household, his necessities, his mother, and everything belonging to his home so far away, for the sake of which he had gone to seek work—for the sake of which he had endured such torments268 this very night. A wave of reminiscence overwhelmed him, and he bethought him of his little village running down the steep slope of the hill, down to the stream hidden among the birches, silver willows269, mountain-ashes, and wild cherry-trees. These reminiscences suffused270 him with a warm sort of feeling, and put some heart into him. "Ah! it's valuable, no doubt," he sighed.
"Well, it seems to me you'll very soon be by your iron pot at home. How the girls at home will cotton to you! You may pick and choose. No doubt your house is crazy enough just now.... well, I suppose we want a little money to build it up again, just a little, eh...?"
"That's true enough ... the house is in sore need—wood is so dear with us."
"Come now, how much? Old shanty271 wants repairing, eh? How about a horse? Got one?"
"A horse? Oh, yes, there is one ... but damned old."
"Well, you must have a horse, of course.... A jolly good 'un.... And a cow, I suppose ... some sheep ... fowls272 of different sorts, eh?"
"Don't speak of it! Ah! if it could be so! Ah! Lord! Lord! then life would be something like."
"Well, friend, life's a poor thing in itself.... I know something about it myself. I have my own little nest somewhere or other. My father was one of the richest in the village Chelkash rowed slowly. The skiff rocked upon the waves saucily273 splashing against her sides, scarcely moving upon the dark sea, and the sea sported ever more and more saucily. Two people were dreaming as they rocked upon the water, glancing pensively274 around them. Chelkash guided Gabriel's thoughts to his village, wishing to encourage him a little and soothe275 him. At first he spoke, smiling sceptically to himself all the time; but, presently, suggesting replies to his neighbour, and reminding him of the joys of a rustic life, as to which he himself had long been disillusioned276, he forgot all about them, and remembered only the actual present, and wandered far away from his intention, so that instead of questioning the rustic about his village and its affairs, he insensibly fell to laying down the law to him on the subject.
"The chief thing in the life of the peasant, my friend, is liberty. You are your own master. You have your house—not worth a farthing, perhaps—but still it is your own. You have your land—a mere handful, no doubt—still it is yours. You have your own hives, your own eggs, your own apples. You are king on your own land! And then the regularity277 of it. Work calls you up in the morning—in spring one sort of work, in summer another sort of work, in autumn and in winter work again, but again of a different sort. Wherever you go, it is to your house that you always return—to warmth and quiet. You're a king, you see. Ain't it so?" concluded Chelkash enthusiastically, thus totting up the long category of rustic rights and privileges with the accompanying suggestion of corresponding obligations.
Gabriel looked at him curiously278, and also felt enthusiastic. During this conversation he had managed to forget whom he was having dealings with, and saw before him just such a peasant-farmer as himself, chained for ages to the soil through many generations, bound to it by the recollections of childhood, voluntarily separated from it and from its cares, and bearing the just punishment of this separation.
"Ah, brother! true! Ah, how true! Look at yourself now. What are you now without the land? Ah! the land, my friend, is like a mother; not for long do you forget her."
Chelkash fell a musing192. He began to feel once more that irritating, burning sensation in his breast, that sensation which arose whenever his pride—the pride of the tireless adventurer—was wounded by something, especially by something which had no value in his eyes.
"Silence!" he cried savagely279, "no doubt you thought I meant all that seriously. Open your pouch280 a little wider."
"You're a funny sort of man," said Gabriel, suddenly grown timid again, "as if I were speaking of you. I suppose there are lots like you. Alas! what a lot of unhappy people there are in the world!... vagabonds who...."
"Sit down, blockhead, and row," commanded Chelkash curtly, bottling up within him, somehow or other, a whole stream of burning abuse gushing281 into his throat.
Again they changed places, and as they did so Chelkash, as he crawled into the stern across the packages, felt a burning desire to give Gabriel a kick that would send him flying into the water, and at the same time could not muster282 up sufficient strength to look him in the face.
The short dialogue broke off; but now a breath of rusticity283 was wafted284 to Chelkash from the very silence of Gabriel. He began to think of the past, forgot to steer285 the boat, which was turned to and fro by the surge, and drifted seawards. The waves seemed to understand that this skiff had lost its purpose, and pitching her higher and higher, began lightly playing with her, flashing their friendly blue fire beneath her oars. And visions of the past rose quickly before Chelkash—visions of the long distant past, separated from his present purpose by a whole barrier of eleven years of a vagabond life. He succeeded in recalling himself as a child; he saw before him his village, his mother, a red-cheeked, plump woman, with good grey eyes, his father, a red-bearded giant with a stern face. He saw himself a husband, he saw his wife, black-haired Anfisa, with a long pig-tail, full-bodied, gentle, merry ... again he beheld286 himself, a handsome beau, a soldier in the Guards; again he saw his father, grey-headed and crooked by labour, and his mother all wrinkled and inclining earthwards; he conjured287 up, too, a picture of the meeting in the village when he returned from service; he saw how proud of his Gregory his father was before the whole village, his broad-shouldered, vigorous, handsome soldier-son.... Memory, that scourge288 of the unlucky, revived the very stories of the past, and even distilled a few drops of honey into the proffered289 draught290 of venom—and all this, too, simply to crush a man with the consciousness of his mistakes, and make him love this past and deprive him of hope in the future.
Chelkash felt himself fanned by the peaceful, friendly breezes of his native air, conveying with them to his ear the friendly words of his mother and the solid speeches of his sturdy peasant-father, and many forgotten sounds, and the sappy smell of his mother-earth, now just thawed291, now just ploughed up, and now covered by the emerald-green silk of the winter crops. And he felt himself cast aside, rejected, wretched, and lonely, plucked forth from and flung for ever away from that order of life in which the blood that flowed in his veins293 had worked its way upwards294.
"Hie! whither are we going?" asked Gabriel suddenly.
Chelkash started, and looked around with the uneasy glance of a bird of prey.
"Ugh! The devil only knows! It doesn't matter ... come, a steadier stroke! We shall be ashore immediately."
"Meditating, eh?" inquired Gabriel with a smile.
Chelkash looked at him angrily. The youth had quite recovered himself; he was calm, merry, and, in a way, even triumphant253. He was very young, he had the whole of life still before him. And he knew nothing. That was stupid. Perhaps it was the land that kept him back. When such thoughts flashed through the head of Chelkash, he became still surlier, and in reply to Gabriel's question he growled295:
"I was tired ... and there was the rocking of the sea...."
"Yes, it does rock.... But now, suppose we are nabbed with that?" he asked, and he touched the parcels with his foot.
"No fear ... be easy! I'm going to hand them over immediately and get the money. Come!"
"Five hundred, eh?"
"Not much less, I should think."
"What a lot of money! If only it had come to a poor wretch292 like me! I'd have sung a pretty song with it."
"In clodhopper fashion, eh?"
"Nothing less. Why, I would straight off...."
And Gabriel was carried away on the wings of his imagination. Chelkash seemed depressed296. His moustaches hung down, his right side, sprinkled by the waves, was wet, his eyes were sunken, and had lost their brilliance297. He was very miserable and depressed. All that was predatory in his appearance seemed to have been steeped in a lowering melancholy, which even came to light in the folds of his dirty shirt.
"Tired, eh? and I'm so well.... You've over-done it...."
"We shall be there in a moment.... Look!... yonder!"
Chelkash turned the boat sharply round, and steered298 it in the direction of a black something emerging from the water.
The sky was once more all covered with clouds, and rain had begun to descend—a fine, warm rain pattering merrily down on the crests of the waves.
"Stop! slower!" commanded Chelkash.
The nose of the skiff bumped against the hull of a barque.
"Are the devils asleep," growled Chelkash, grasping with his boat-hook a rope dangling299 down the side of the ship.... "Why, the ladder's not let down! And it's raining, too! Why don't they look sharp! Hie! sluggards! hie!"
"Is that Chelkash?" murmured a friendly voice above them.
"Yes, let down the ladder."
"How goes it, Chelkash?"
"Let down the ladder, you devil!" roared Chelkash.
"Oh, he's waxy300 to-day, eh? There you are, then."
"Up you go, Gabriel," said Chelkash, turning to his companion.
In a moment they were on the deck, where three dark-bearded figures, jabbering301 vigorously together in a strange pricky sort of tongue, were looking over-board into Chelkash's skiff. The fourth, wrapped round in a long cloak, came to him and pressed his hand in silence, and then glanced suspiciously at Gabriel.
"Have the money ready by morning," said Chelkash curtly. "And now I'll have a little sleep. Come, Gabriel. Do you want anything to eat?"
"I should like to sleep," replied Gabriel, and in a few moments he was snoring in the dirty hold of the ship; but Chelkash, seated by his side, was fitting on some sort of boot to his foot, and meditatively spitting about him, fell to whistling angrily and moodily302 through his teeth. Then he stretched himself alongside Gabriel, and without taking off his boots, folded his arms beneath his head, and began concentrating his attention on the deck, twisting his moustaches the while.
The barque rocked slowly on the heaving water, now and then a plank303 gave forth a melancholy squeak304, the rain fell softly on the deck, and the waves washed the sides of the vessel5. It was all very mournful, and sounded like the cradle-song of a mother having no hope of the happiness of her son.
Chelkash, grinding his teeth, raised his head a little, looked around him ... and having whispered something, lay down again.... Stretching his legs wide, he resembled a large pair of shears305.
III.
He awoke first, gazed anxiously around, immediately recovered his self-possession, and looked at the still sleeping Gabriel. He was sweetly snoring, and was smiling at something in his sleep with his childish, wholesome, sun-tanned face. Chelkash sighed, and climbed up the narrow rope ladder. Through the opening of the hold he caught sight of a leaden bit of sky. It was light, but grey and drear—autumnal in fact.
Chelkash returned in about a couple of hours. His face was cheerful, his moustaches were twirled neatly306 upwards, a good-natured, merry smile was on his lips. He was dressed in long strong boots, a short jacket, leather trousers, and walked with a jaunty307 air. His whole costume was the worse for wear, but strong, and fitted him well, making his figure broader, hiding his boniness, and giving him a military air.
"Hie! get up, blockhead!" bumping Gabriel with his foot.
The latter started up, and not recognising him for sleepiness, gazed upon him with dull and terrified eyes. Chelkash laughed.
"Why, who would have known you?" said Gabriel at last, with a broad grin; "you have become quite a swell233."
"Oh, with us that soon happens. Well, still in a funk, eh? How many times did you think you were going to die last night, eh? Tell me, now."
"Nay, but judge fairly. In the first place, what sort of a job was I on? Why, I might have ruined my soul for ever!"
"Well, I should like it all over again. What do you say?"
"Over again? Nay, that's a little too ... how shall I put it? Is it worth it? That's where it is."
"What, not for two rainbows?"
"Two hundred roubles you mean? Not if I know it. Why, I ought.
"Stop. How about ruining your soul, eh?"
"Well, you see, I might ... even if you didn't," smiled Gabriel; "instead of ruining yourself you'd be a made man for life, no doubt."
Chelkash laughed merrily.
"All right, we must have our jokes, I suppose. Let us go ashore. Come, look sharp!"
"I'm ready."
And again they were in the skiff, Chelkash at the helm, Gabriel with the oars. Above them the grey sky was covered by a uniform carpet of clouds, and the turbid308 green sea sported with their skiff, noisily tossing it up and down on the still tiny billows, and sportively casting bright saline jets of watertight into it. Far away along the prow309 of the skiff a yellow strip of sandy shore was visible, and far away behind the stern stretched the free, sportive sea, all broken up by the hurrying heads of waves adorned310 here and there with fringes of white sparkling foam. There, too, far away, many vessels were visible, rocking on the bosom of the sea; far away to the left was a whole forest of masts, and the white masses of the houses of the town. From thence a dull murmur flitted along the sea, thunderous, and at the same time blending with the splashing of the waves into a good and sonorous music.... And over everything was cast a fine web of ashen311 vapour, separating the various objects from each other.
"Ah, we shall have a nice time of it this evening," and Chelkash jerked his head towards the sea.
"A storm, eh?" inquired Gabriel, ploughing hard among the waves with his oars. He was already wet from head to foot from the scud312 carried across the sea by the wind.
Chelkash grunted313 assent314.
Gabriel looked at him searchingly.
"How much did they give you?" he asked at last, perceiving that Chelkash was not inclined to begin the conversation.
"Look there," said Chelkash, extending towards Gabriel a small pouch which he had taken from his pocket.
Gabriel saw the rainbow-coloured little bits of paper,[1] and everything he gazed upon assumed a bright rainbow tinge315.
[1] Bank-notes.
"You are a brick! And here have I been thinking all the time that you would rob me. How much?"
"Five hundred and forty. Smart, eh?"
"S-s-smart!" stammered Gabriel, his greedy eyes running over the five hundred and forty roubles before they disappeared into the pocket again. "Oh my! what a lot of money!"—and he sighed as if a whole weight was upon his breast.
"We'll have a drink together, clodhopper," cried Chelkash enthusiastically. "Ah, we'll have a good time. Don't think I want to do you, my friend, I'll give you your share. I'll give you forty, eh? Is that enough for you? If you like you shall have 'em at once."
"If it's all the same to you—no offence—I'll have 'em then."
Gabriel was all tremulous with expectation, and not only with expectation, but with another acute sucking feeling which suddenly arose in his breast.
"Ha, ha, ha! That's like you! What a tight-fisted devil you are! I'll take 'em now! Well, take 'em, my friend; take 'em, I implore316 you. I really don't know what I might do with such a lot of money. Relieve me of it! Do take it I beg!"
Chelkash handed Gabriel some nice bank-notes. The latter seized them with a trembling hand, threw down the oars, and began concealing the cash somewhere in his bosom, greedily screwing up his eyes and noisily inhaling317 the air, as if he were drinking something burning hot. Chelkash, with a sarcastic318 smile, observed him, but Gabriel soon took up the oars again, and rowed on nervously319 and hurriedly, as if afraid of something, and with his eyes cast down. His shoulders and ears were all twitching320.
"Ah, you're greedy! Isn't that good enough? What more do you want? Just like a rustic!" said Chelkash pensively.
"Ah, with money one can do something," cried Gabriel, suddenly exploding with passionate excitement. And gaspingly, hurriedly, as if pursuing his own thoughts and catching321 his words on the wing, he talked of life in the country, with money and without money, honour, contentment, liberty, and hilarity322.
Chelkash listened to him attentively323 with a serious face, and with eyes puckered324 with some idea or other. At times he smiled a complacent325 smile.
"We have arrived!" cried Chelkash, at last interrupting the discourse326 of Gabriel.
A wave caught the skiff and skilfully327 planted it on the strand328.
"Well, my friend, here's the end of the job. We must drag the boat a little further in shore that it may not be washed away. And then you and I will say good-bye. It is eight versts from here to the town. What are you going to do?—back to town, eh?"
A sly, good-natured smile lit up the face of Chelkash, and he had all the appearance of a man meditating something very pleasant for himself and unexpected for Gabriel. Dipping his hand into his pocket he crinkled the bank-notes there.
"No ... I—I'm not going! I—I...." Gabriel breathed heavily, as if struggling with something. Within him was raging a whole mob of desires, words, and feelings, mutually devouring329 each other and filling him as if with fire.
Chelkash looked at him doubtfully.
"Why are you twisting about like that?"
"It's because, because...." But the face of Gabriel was burning red at one moment and deadly grey at another, and he was glued to the spot, now desiring to fall upon Chelkash, and now torn by other desires, the fulfilment of which was difficult for him.
Chelkash did not know what to make of such a state of excitement in this rustic. He waited to see what would come of it.
Gabriel began to laugh in an odd sort of way, it was more of a howl than a laugh. His head was lowered, the expression of his face Chelkash did not see, but the ears of Gabriel, alternately reddish and palish, were painfully prominent.
"Come, what the devil's the matter," said Chelkash, waving his hand, "have you fallen in love with me all at once? What's up? You change colour like a wench. Sorry to part from me, eh? Eh, blockhead? Say what's the matter with you, and I'll be off."
"Going, are you?" shrieked331 Gabriel shrilly332.
The sandy and desolate shore trembled beneath his cry, and the yellow billows of sand, washed by the billows of the sea, seemed to undulate. Chelkash also trembled. Suddenly Gabriel bounded from his place, threw himself at the feet of Chelkash, embraced them with his arms, and turned towards him. Chelkash staggered, sat down heavily on the sand, gnashed his teeth, and cut the air sharply with his long arm, clenching333 his fist at the same time. But strike he could not, being stayed by the shamefaced supplicating334 whisper of Gabriel:
"Dear little pigeon.... Give me ... that money! Give it to me, for Christ's sake!... What is it to you? Why, it was gained in a single night ... in a single night!... It would take me years.... Give it me ... I'll pray for you if you will! Perpetually ... in three churches ... for the salvation335 of your soul! Look now, you'd scatter it to the ... winds ... I would put it into land. Oh, give it to me! What is it to you?... How can you prize it? A single night ... and you're a rich man. Do a good act! You're all but done for.... You haven't got your way to make. But I would.... Oh! give them to me!"
Chelkash, alarmed, astonished, and offended, sat on the sand, leaning back, supporting himself on his arms; he sat there in silence and fixed a terrible gaze on the rustic who had buried his head in his knees, sobbing as he whispered his petition. He repulsed336 him at last, leaped to his feet and, thrusting his hands into his pockets, flung the rainbow bank-notes to Gabriel.
"There, you dog! Devour330...!" he cried trembling with excitement, bitter sorrow and loathing337 for this greedy slave. And he felt himself a hero for thus throwing away the money. Reckless daring shone in his eyes and lit up his whole face.
"I was going to give you more of my own accord. I was a bit down in the mouth yesterday, and bethought me of my own village. I thought to myself: let us give this rustic a helping338 hand. I was waiting to see what you would do. If you asked you were to get nothing. And you! Ugh! you miser125! mean hound! To think that it is possible so to lower oneself for money I Fool! Greedy devils the lot of you! Not to recollect yourself! To sell yourself for a fiver! Ugh!"
"Dear little pigeon! Christ save you! Now I have got something ... a thousand! Now I am rich!" cried Gabriel in his enthusiasm, all tremulous as he hid his money away in his bosom. "Ah, you merciful one! Never will I forget it ... Never!... And I'll make my wife and children pray for you."
Chelkash listened to his joyous339 cries, looked at his radiant face deformed340 by the rapture of greed, and he felt that he, thief, vagabond, and outcast though he was, never could be so greedy, so mean, so forgetful of his own dignity. Never would he be such a one! And these thoughts and sensations, filling him with the consciousness of his large mindedness and nonchalance341, held him fast to Gabriel by the sandy sea-shore.
"You have made me happy!" shrieked Gabriel, and seizing the hand of Chelkash he pulled it towards his face.
Chelkash was silent, and fleshed his teeth like a wolf. Gabriel continued to pour forth his heart to him:
"Do you know what was in my mind?... We came here—I saw the money.... Thinks I ... I'll fetch him one ... you I meant ... with the oar—c-c-crack! The money's mine and he ... that's you ... goes into the sea.... Who would ever light upon him? And if they did find him they would never inquire how he was killed or who killed him ... such a fellow as that! He's not the sort of man people make a fuss about!... He's no good at all in the world! Who would ever trouble about him? You see how...."
"Give up that money!" howled Chelkash, seizing Gabriel by the throat.
Gabriel tore himself away—the other hand of Chelkash twined round him like a serpent—there was the grating tear of a rent shirt, and Gabriel lay on the sands with senseless goggling eyes, with sprawling feet and the tips of his outstretched fingers fumbling for air. Chelkash stiff, dry, and savage, with grinding teeth, laughed a bitter spasmodic laugh, and his moustaches twitched nervously on his clear-cut angular face. Never in his whole life had he felt so angry.
"What, you're lucky, eh?" he inquired of Gabriel in the midst of his laughter, and turning his back upon him, went right away in the direction of the town. But he hadn't gone a couple of yards when Gabriel, with his back arched like a cat, rose on one knee, and taking a wide sweep with his arm, threw after him a large stone, crying spitefully: "Crack!"
Chelkash yelled, put both his hands to the back of his head, tottered342 forward, turned towards Gabriel, and fell prone343 in the sand. Gabriel's heart died away as he gazed at him. There he lay, and presently he moved his foot, tried to raise his head, and stretched himself, quivering like a bow-string. Then Gabriel set off running away in the direction of the misty344 shore, it was overhung by a shaggy black cloud, and was dark. The waves were roaring as they ran upon the sand, mingling345 with it and then running back again. The foam hissed, and the sea-scud was flying about in the air.
The rain began to fall. At first there were but rare drops, but soon it poured down in torrents346, descending347 from the sky in long thin jets, weaving a whole net of water-threads—a net suddenly hiding away within it the steppes and the sea, and removing them to an immense distance Gabriel vanished behind it. For a long time nothing was visible except the rain, and the long lean man lying on the sand by the sea. But behold I again from out of the rain emerged the running Gabriel; he flew like a bird and, running towards Chelkash, fell down before him, and began to pull him about on the ground. His hands dipped into the warm red slime. He trembled and staggered back with a pale and stupid face.
"Brother! get up! do get up!" he whispered in the ear of Chelkash amidst the din of the sea.
Chelkash came to himself and shoved Gabriel away, hoarsely348 exclaiming: "Be off!"
"Brother, forgive!... the devil tempted349 me!" whispered the tremulous Gabriel, kissing Chelkash's hand.
"Go! Be off!" growled the other.
"Take the sin from my soul, my brother! Forgive!"
"Slope! Go to the devil, I say!" cried Chelkash, and with an effort he sat up on the sand. His face was pale and angry, his eyes were dull and half closed, as if he wanted to sleep. "What more do you want? You have done what you wanted to do.... So go! Be off!" and he tried to kick the utterly woe-begone Gabriel, but could not, and would again have rolled over had not Gabriel held him up by embracing his shoulders. The face of Chelkash was now on a level with the face of Gabriel; both were pale, pitiful, and odd-looking.
"Phew!" said Chelkash, and he spat full into the wide-open eyes of his workman.
The latter gently wiped it off with his sleeve.
"What would you do? Won't you answer a word? Forgive me, for Christ's sake!"
"Ugh, you horror! But you'll never understand," cried Chelkash contemptuously, dragging off his shirt from under his short jacket and proceeding350 to wrap it round his head in silence, save for the occasional gnashing of his teeth. "You have taken the notes, I suppose?" he muttered through his teeth.
"No, I've not taken them, my friend!... I don't want them ... they'd do me harm!"
Chelkash shoved his hand into the pocket of his jacket, drew out a bundle of money, put back again in his pocket a single rainbow note, and pitched all the rest at Gabriel.
"Take it and go!"
"I'll not take it, my brother ... I cannot I Forgive me!"
"Take it, I say!" roared Chelkash, rolling his eyes horribly.
"Forgive me ... and then I'll take it!" said Gabriel timidly, and fell on his knees before Chelkash on the grey sand, now saturated351 with rain.
"Take it, you monster!" said Chelkash confidently, and, with an effort, raising Gabriel's head by the hair, he flung the money in his face. "There, take it! You shan't work for me for nothing. Take it without fear! Don't be ashamed of nearly killing352 a man. Nobody will bother about such as I. They'll even thank you when they hear about it. Come, take it! Nobody knows about your deed, and it's worth a recompense. There you are!"
Gabriel perceived that Chelkash was laughing at him, and his heart grew lighter353. He grasped the money tightly in his hand.
"But, brother, you forgive me, won't you?" he inquired tearfully.
"What for, my brother?" said Chelkash in the same tone, rising to his feet and tottering a little. "What for? For nothing at all. To-day it's your turn, to-morrow mine."
"Alas, my brother, my brother!" sobbed354 the afflicted355 Gabriel, shaking his head.
Chelkash stood in front of him with a strange smile, and the rag round his head, now slightly tinged356 with red, bore some resemblance to a Turkish fez.
The rain was pouring down as if from a bucket The sea raged with a muffled roar, and the waves now beat upon the shore with frantic rage.
For a time both men were silent.
"Well, good-bye!" said Chelkash coldly and sarcastically357, and set off on his journey.
He staggered as he went, his feet tottered beneath him, and he held his head so oddly, just as if he were afraid of losing it.
"Forgive me, brother!" Gabriel besought358 him once more.
"Bosh!" coldly replied Chelkash, pursuing his way.
On he staggered, supporting his head all the time in the palm of his left hand, while with his right he gently twirled his fierce moustache.
Gabriel continued to gaze after him till he disappeared in the rain, which was now pouring down more densely359 than ever from the clouds in fine endless jets, enveloping360 the steppe in an impenetrable mist of a steely hue361.
Then Gabriel took off his wet cap, crossed himself, looked at the money fast squeezed in his palm, sighed deeply and freely, hid the notes in his bosom, and With a spacious confident stride marched off along the sea-shore in the direction opposite to that in which Chelkash had vanished.
The sea howled, and cast huge heavy waves on the strand, churning them up into foam and scud. The rain cut up sea and land furiously. Everything around was filled with howling, yelling, moaning. Neither sea nor sky was visible behind the rain.
Soon the rain and the wash of the waves had cleansed362 the red spot on the place where Chelkash had lain, had washed away all traces of Chelkash, and all traces of the young rustic from the sand of the sea-shore. And on the desolate strand nothing remained as a memorial of the petty drama played there by two living souls.
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1
haven
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| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
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2
oar
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| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
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3
oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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4
furrows
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| n.犁沟( furrow的名词复数 )；（脸上的）皱纹v.犁田，开沟( furrow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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5
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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6
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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7
fetters
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| n.脚镣( fetter的名词复数 )；束缚v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的第三人称单数 ) | |
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8
granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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9
gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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10
din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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11
crests
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| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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12
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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13
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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14
metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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15
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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16
wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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steamships
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| n.汽船，大轮船( steamship的名词复数 ) | |
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18
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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19
laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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stationary
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| adj.固定的，静止不动的 | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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26
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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27
hubbub
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| n.嘈杂；骚乱 | |
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28
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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29
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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30
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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subjugated
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| v.征服，降伏( subjugate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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quays
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| 码头( quay的名词复数 ) | |
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38
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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39
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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ironical
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| adj.讽刺的，冷嘲的 | |
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41
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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42
bellies
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| n.肚子( belly的名词复数 )；腹部；（物体的）圆形或凸起部份；腹部…形的 | |
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43
pangs
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| 突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 )； 悲痛 | |
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44
hustled
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| 催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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45
basking
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的现在分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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46
sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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47
juxtaposition
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| n.毗邻，并置，并列 | |
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48
epic
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| n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的 | |
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49
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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50
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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51
grandiose
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| adj.宏伟的，宏大的，堂皇的，铺张的 | |
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52
catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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53
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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54
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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55
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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56
mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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57
sonorous
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| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
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58
resound
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| v.回响 | |
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59
brazen
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| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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60
tar
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| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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61
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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62
lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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63
scatter
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| vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散 | |
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64
omen
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| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
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65
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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66
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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67
wizened
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| adj.凋谢的；枯槁的 | |
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68
bristles
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| 短而硬的毛发，刷子毛( bristle的名词复数 ) | |
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69
twig
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| n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解 | |
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70
lanky
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| adj.瘦长的 | |
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71
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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72
beak
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| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
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73
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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74
twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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75
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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76
wariness
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| n. 注意,小心 | |
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77
sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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78
pimply
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| adj.肿泡的；有疙瘩的；多粉刺的；有丘疹的 | |
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79
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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80
loft
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| n.阁楼，顶楼 | |
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81
repartee
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| n.机敏的应答 | |
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82
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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83
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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84
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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85
goggling
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| v.睁大眼睛瞪视， （惊讶的）转动眼珠( goggle的现在分词 ) | |
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86
supremely
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| adv.无上地，崇高地 | |
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87
ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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88
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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89
pilfered
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| v.偷窃（小东西），小偷( pilfer的过去式和过去分词 )；偷窃（一般指小偷小摸） | |
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90
furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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91
maliciously
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| adv.有敌意地 | |
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92
larks
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| n.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的名词复数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了v.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的第三人称单数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了 | |
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93
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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94
audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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95
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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96
shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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97
sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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98
bawled
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| v.大叫，大喊( bawl的过去式和过去分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物） | |
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99
vomited
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100
inured
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| adj.坚强的，习惯的 | |
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101
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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102
stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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103
forage
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| n.(牛马的)饲料，粮草；v.搜寻，翻寻 | |
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104
scythe
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| n. 长柄的大镰刀，战车镰； v. 以大镰刀割 | |
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105
confidingly
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| adv.信任地 | |
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106
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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107
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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108
grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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109
fixedly
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| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
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110
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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111
wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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112
mow
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| v.割（草、麦等），扫射，皱眉；n.草堆，谷物堆 | |
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113
mowing
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| n.割草，一次收割量，牧草地v.刈，割( mow的现在分词 ) | |
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114
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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115
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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116
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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117
marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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118
rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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119
writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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120
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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121
concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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122
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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123
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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124
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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125
miser
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| n.守财奴，吝啬鬼 (adj.miserly) | |
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126
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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127
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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128
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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129
ripening
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的现在分词 )；熟化；熟成 | |
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130
meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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131
rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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132
chubby
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| adj.丰满的，圆胖的 | |
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133
lackadaisical
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| adj.无精打采的，无兴趣的；adv.无精打采地，不决断地 | |
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134
preposterously
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| adv.反常地；荒谬地；荒谬可笑地；不合理地 | |
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135
maliciousness
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| [法] 恶意 | |
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136
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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137
calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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138
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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139
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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140
impudent
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| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
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141
buckle
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| n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲 | |
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142
filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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143
filth
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| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
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144
buffet
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| n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台 | |
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145
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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146
curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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147
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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148
distilled
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| adj.由蒸馏得来的v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )；从…提取精华 | |
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149
pungent
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| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
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150
growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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151
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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152
bellow
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| v.吼叫，怒吼；大声发出，大声喝道 | |
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153
screeching
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| v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
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154
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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155
irritably
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| ad.易生气地 | |
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156
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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157
outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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158
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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159
cumbersome
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| adj.笨重的，不便携带的 | |
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160
derisive
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| adj.嘲弄的 | |
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161
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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162
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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163
meditatively
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| adv.冥想地 | |
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164
paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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165
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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166
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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167
dozed
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| v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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168
fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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169
rivets
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| 铆钉( rivet的名词复数 ) | |
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170
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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171
exhaled
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| v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气 | |
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172
aroma
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| n.香气，芬芳，芳香 | |
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173
caressingly
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| 爱抚地，亲切地 | |
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174
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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175
hulls
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| 船体( hull的名词复数 )； 船身； 外壳； 豆荚 | |
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176
variegated
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| adj.斑驳的，杂色的 | |
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177
prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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178
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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179
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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180
tapered
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| adj. 锥形的，尖削的，楔形的，渐缩的，斜的 动词taper的过去式和过去分词 | |
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181
jocosely
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| adv.说玩笑地，诙谐地 | |
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182
flask
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| n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱 | |
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183
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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184
wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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185
glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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186
receding
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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187
obliterating
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| v.除去( obliterate的现在分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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188
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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189
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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190
velvety
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| adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的 | |
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191
slumberous
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| a.昏昏欲睡的 | |
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192
musing
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| n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式 | |
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193
annihilated
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| v.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃 | |
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194
jolts
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| （使）摇动， （使）震惊( jolt的名词复数 ) | |
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195
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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196
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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197
timorous
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| adj.胆怯的，胆小的 | |
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198
clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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199
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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200
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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201
shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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202
beseeching
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| adj.恳求似的v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的现在分词 ) | |
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203
wilful
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| adj.任性的，故意的 | |
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204
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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205
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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206
dart
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| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
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207
streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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208
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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209
curdling
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| n.凝化v.（使）凝结( curdle的现在分词 ) | |
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210
whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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211
presentiment
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| n.预感，预觉 | |
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212
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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213
stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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214
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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215
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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216
mole
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| n.胎块；痣；克分子 | |
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217
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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218
stifle
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| vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止 | |
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219
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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220
asunder
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| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
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221
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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222
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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223
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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224
murky
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| adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗 | |
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225
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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226
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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227
joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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228
foamed
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| 泡沫的 | |
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229
vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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230
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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231
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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232
debauch
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| v.使堕落，放纵 | |
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233
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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234
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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235
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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236
edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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237
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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238
supplicatory
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| adj.恳求的，祈愿的 | |
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239
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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240
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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241
cordons
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| n.警戒线，警戒圈( cordon的名词复数 ) | |
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242
abominably
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| adv. 可恶地，可恨地，恶劣地 | |
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243
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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244
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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245
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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246
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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247
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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248
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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249
manifestation
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| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
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250
irresolute
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| adj.无决断的，优柔寡断的，踌躇不定的 | |
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251
poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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252
spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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253
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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254
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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255
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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256
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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257
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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258
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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259
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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260
meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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261
tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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262
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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263
adorning
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| 修饰，装饰物 | |
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264
hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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265
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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266
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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267
wares
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| n. 货物, 商品 | |
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268
torments
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| （肉体或精神上的）折磨，痛苦( torment的名词复数 )； 造成痛苦的事物[人] | |
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269
willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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270
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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271
shanty
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| n.小屋，棚屋；船工号子 | |
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272
fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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273
saucily
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| adv.傲慢地，莽撞地 | |
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274
pensively
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| adv.沉思地，焦虑地 | |
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275
soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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276
disillusioned
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| a.不再抱幻想的，大失所望的，幻想破灭的 | |
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277
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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278
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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279
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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280
pouch
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| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
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281
gushing
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|
| adj.迸出的；涌出的；喷出的；过分热情的v.喷，涌( gush的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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282
muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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283
rusticity
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| n.乡村的特点、风格或气息 | |
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284
wafted
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| v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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285
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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286
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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287
conjured
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| 用魔术变出( conjure的过去式和过去分词 )； 祈求，恳求； 变戏法； （变魔术般地） 使…出现 | |
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288
scourge
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| n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏 | |
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289
proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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290
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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291
thawed
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| 解冻 | |
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292
wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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293
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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294
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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295
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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296
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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297
brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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298
steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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299
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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300
waxy
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| adj.苍白的；光滑的 | |
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301
jabbering
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| v.急切而含混不清地说( jabber的现在分词 )；急促兴奋地说话；结结巴巴 | |
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302
moodily
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| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
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303
plank
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| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
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304
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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305
shears
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| n.大剪刀 | |
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306
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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307
jaunty
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| adj．愉快的，满足的；adv.心满意足地，洋洋得意地；n.心满意足；洋洋得意 | |
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308
turbid
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| adj.混浊的，泥水的，浓的 | |
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309
prow
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| n.(飞机)机头，船头 | |
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310
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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311
ashen
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| adj.灰的 | |
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312
scud
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| n.疾行；v.疾行 | |
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313
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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314
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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315
tinge
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| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
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316
implore
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| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
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317
inhaling
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| v.吸入( inhale的现在分词 ) | |
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318
sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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319
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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320
twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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321
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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322
hilarity
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| n.欢乐；热闹 | |
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323
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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324
puckered
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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325
complacent
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| adj.自满的；自鸣得意的 | |
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326
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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327
skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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328
strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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329
devouring
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| 吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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330
devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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331
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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332
shrilly
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| 尖声的； 光亮的，耀眼的 | |
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333
clenching
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的现在分词 ) | |
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334
supplicating
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| v.祈求，哀求，恳求( supplicate的现在分词 ) | |
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335
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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336
repulsed
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| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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337
loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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338
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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339
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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340
deformed
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| adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的 | |
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341
nonchalance
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| n.冷淡，漠不关心 | |
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342
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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343
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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344
misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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345
mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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346
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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347
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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348
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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349
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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350
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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351
saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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352
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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353
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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354
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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355
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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356
tinged
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| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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357
sarcastically
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| adv.挖苦地，讽刺地 | |
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358
besought
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| v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的过去式和过去分词 )；(beseech的过去式与过去分词) | |
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359
densely
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| ad.密集地；浓厚地 | |
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360
enveloping
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的现在分词 ) | |
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361
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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362
cleansed
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| 弄干净，清洗( cleanse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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