“I am going into the Navy like my father,” Humphrey would say, “and I intend to sail in the finest and fastest ship of the whole fleet to the very ends of the world and back again. And I will have you for executive officer, Jonathan.”
“No,” Jonathan would return seriously, “I get sick when I go to sea and I don’t like hardtack and salt pork. No, I will stop at home in my father’s yards and some day I will build a ship that is a real ship and not just tubs like these.”
They parted when they were seventeen and did not meet again for years, for Humphrey went into the Navy as he had planned and Jonathan, with mallet7 and chisel8 in hand and with that sober, earnest air that always clung to him, was already at work in his father’s shipyard. In time he became master of the entire business, while Humphrey was scouring9 the seas, sailing on just those far voyages of which he had so often dreamed. Jonathan had his dreams also, but he did not speak of them, only toiled10 away at building the heavy, sturdy vessels11 that carried America’s trade overseas early in the last century. Honest ships they were and reliable, as sure of coming to port as though they had belonged to the age of steam, but oh, how long it took them to make a voyage! In the privacy of his dingy12 little office Jonathan, with the door fastened, would push aside the clutter13 of plans and drawings and would get out the model of a strange vessel, sharp, slender and graceful14, with a hull15 like a racing16 yacht. He would set it upon the bench to carve a little here, to alter a curve by a hair’s breadth there, or merely to stand staring at it sometimes for hours at a time, staring and thinking.
One day when he was so standing18, utterly19 lost in some unspoken vision, there came a knock at the door, followed by an impatient second one and a thunderous third, all during the moment of time that it took the shipmaster to put out of sight his beloved model. When the door was opened there strode in a tall sunburned person in blue uniform, Humphrey Reynolds come at last to see his old comrade, bringing a roll of government documents under his arm.
“Congress has taken a sudden turn toward increasing the Navy,” the young officer explained, “and the orders are going out to build twelve ships in haste. One of the contracts is to come to you, if you will take it. They are even in such need that they have not laid down the specifications20 to the last bolt and rope’s end, so that the man who builds this ship and the officer who superintends the construction, can really have something to say about the design.”
He looked his old friend very steadily21 in the eye and saw a slow smile of deep, unspoken delight dawn upon the shipbuilder’s face. Jonathan Adams’ hard hands did not often tremble, but they shook a little now as he reached up to the shelf above the bench and brought down his model.
“I have been thinking about such a design since I was ten years old,” he said, “and the chance to build it has come at last. We will make them a real ship, Humphrey, and the whole world will open its eyes when it sees you sail her.”
She grew up quickly on the ways, that ship of their very hearts’ desire, with her bowsprit standing far out over the neighboring street, and with people stopping in the lane to watch Jonathan’s whole force of workmen toiling22 up and down her timbered sides. Old Navy officers who had seen, some of them, the ships of the Revolution, and who had all fought in the War of Eighteen-twelve, would come to inspect her and would shake their heads.
“Look at that high, sharp bow,” one would say; “such a craft will never be seaworthy in the world. Why can’t these young fellows stick to the models we have tried out for them?”
“And see the spread of sail this drawing shows,” another would comment, pointing fiercely with a stubby forefinger23; “why, the whole ridiculous affair will capsize in the first good puff24 of wind! I’m thankful I don’t have to go to sea in her.”
But the two comrades closed their ears and sat, often far into the night, in the cramped25 little office, poring over drawings and comparing designs.
“You have her thought out to the last ring, block and halyard,” Humphrey would say, “and you never even knew if you could build her. What a dreamer you are!”
“It takes dreaming to keep a man at his work,” Jonathan would answer. “How do you think I would have had the patience, all these years, to drive wooden pins into cross-timbers, or to mend the rigging of limping coastwise schooners26 if I had not been thinking of just such a ship as this, and seen her, in my mind’s eye, putting to sea under full sail, to smash every sailing record that has been known?”
The day of the launching came, then the stepping of the giant masts, the completing of the rigging and the bending of the new sails.
“The West Wind will be ready for sea in two weeks now,” Humphrey said, one morning at breakfast to Miranda Reynolds—she was my great-grandmother and I was named for her. They had been married only a month and this would be his first cruise since their wedding. She drew her breath quickly, she had not known it was to be so soon.
“People say,” she began hesitatingly, “old sailors and longshoremen and even the Naval27 officers that have been here, say that the West Wind will never stand a storm.”
“They are the kind of men,” Humphrey scoffed28, “who would be sailing vessels of the model of the Ark, did not people like Jonathan Adams have the courage, sometimes, to build something new. No, the West Wind is going to teach all the shipmasters something they never knew before, when once she sets sail. And we expect to clear for Gibraltar in less than a month. Why, Miranda, you’re not crying?”
“No,” declared Miranda, choking bravely, for tears have no place in a sea captain’s household. She even managed to muster29 a watery30 smile. “I wonder what you will leave behind you in foreign parts this time, your gold snuffbox, perhaps.”
It was a longstanding joke that young Captain Reynolds was so careless of his possessions that he never came home from a voyage without having lost or mislaid by the way everything he had. But the gold snuffbox had survived several cruises, since it was the most valuable thing he owned. It had been presented to him by the citizens of his town when he had come home from sea some years ago, after, so he expressed, “a miserable31 Algerine pirate lay alongside him and insisted on being taken.”
It is probably only a short paragraph in your history book and possibly a very dull one that tells you how, a little more than a hundred years ago, the seas swarmed32 with pirates whose home ports were the North African cities of Algiers, Tripoli and Tunis. The great nations of Europe and, with them, the young United States, used to buy safety from these lawless Barbary States by sending them gifts and tribute. But when, finally, the Pasha of Tripoli sent word to our President that his last gift was not large enough and that more must be sent, the answer was a fleet of American warships33 and the bombardment of the astonished monarch’s seaports34. There were many spirited encounters during that little war, many feats35 of daring seamanship of which history has lost sight among the greater events that have followed. But for years after the struggle was over, the United States Navy still policed that foreign sea with such thoroughness that the pirate craft that dared venture from port were bold and desperate indeed.
It was thither37 that the West Wind was to sail, with dispatches for the Commodore of the Mediterranean38 Fleet. At last the ship was ready, a rare and beautiful sight with her slim hull, her rows of guns and her towering reach of silvery new canvas.
She sailed with the early tide, at daybreak of a mid-April morning, a ghostly fairy-like thing, slipping away in the gray light and the mist of dawn. Miranda stood on the dock to watch her go, with Jonathan beside her staring fixedly39 after his winged dream, flying at last beyond the seas.
“There will be tales to tell when she comes back,” he said at last, “and I look for her to cut down the sailing time by three, four, five days, perhaps. She has borne away the hearts of both of us but she is a good ship and she will bring them back again.”
His stout41 faith in his ship was matched only by Humphrey’s unwavering confidence. Others might have said that this maiden42 voyage of his first command was a heart-breaking one, for many of his men were untrained seamen43, grumbling44 at their narrow quarters and heavy labor45, while the art of handling the new vessel was, in itself, not easy to acquire. The weather was boisterous46 and the winds fitful, but the West Wind did not betray the two good friends who had brought her into being. The storms lent her wings so that, at last, anxiety and discontent gave way entirely47 to pride in the speed that she was making. There was a certain grizzled old sailor, however, who openly discredited48 all claims of the ship’s prowess, and who even refused to believe the evidence of the day’s reckoning.
“Twenty-three days is the best she will do,” he vowed51 over and over again. “I will stake a year’s pay on it that she can’t make an hour less.”
Yet, on the nineteenth day of their passage, a warm, gusty52 afternoon of early May, when the far horizon swam in haze53, it was he who came himself to the captain and broke through all etiquette54 to report, round-eyed with amazement—
“There’s land been sighted, sir, and I don’t understand it at all. It—it looks like Gibraltar!”
So she came through the gates of the Mediterranean, a gentle breeze behind her, “sails all filled and asleep” as the seamen said, a swift slender hull under a cloud of snowy canvas. She pushed into the straits where had plied55 back and forth56 the daring Ph?nician craft, the Roman galleys57 and the high-pooped ships of Venice and of Spain, but she was no lesser58 vessel than any one of them, for she was the first of the Yankee clipper ships!
I have never seen those North African cities, Tangier and Tunis and the rest, and I have no doubt that to-day they are very little like what Humphrey Reynolds saw. But his stories have come down to me so clear and vivid, that I almost feel that I have known those very places with their white houses, their tropical green, the confusion and chatter59 of foreign tongues in the narrow streets, the hushed silence of the wide, walled gardens. For long months the American warships would lie off these ports, keeping a watchful60 eye upon the doings of the dusky potentates61 and arch-pirates who ruled them. The officers and men would go ashore62 to stare at the strange sights and to bargain for souvenirs among the street vendors63, seemingly oblivious64 of the scowling65, hostile faces about them.
It was in Tripoli on a day when Captain Reynolds was walking from one dark cupboard of a shop to another, looking for some fitting gift to take home to Miranda, that he was suddenly startled by the sight of a pale face among all those dusky ones. It was not white, but yellow, and belonged to an old Chinaman, as dried up and withered67 as a mummy, who had somehow wandered, a rare thing in those days, to this African city and kept a little shop there among the Moors68, Arabs and Berbers of Tripoli. His wares69 were different from the others and very new indeed to Humphrey’s eyes, for just such carvings70 and silks did not often find their way to America. The old man invited the officer to come inside where more articles stood upon the narrow shelves and where Humphrey had almost decided71 upon the purchase of a beautifully carved ivory box for Miranda when he spied, in a niche72 opposite the tiny window, such a thing as he had never seen before.
A little pine tree was growing in a pot, a real, living one, and a miniature of just such a tree, bent73 and twisted by the sea winds, that grew upon the hill above the Susquehanna at home. The art of stunting74 and pruning75 these tiny trees, developed in Japan perhaps, but known to some Chinese, was quite unheard of in the Western world so that Humphrey could scarcely believe his eyes when they told him it was green and growing and evidently kin2 to the giant ones in America.
“Miranda must have that,” was his instant decision; “she will find that I can manage to bring home the gold snuffbox and something more besides.”
His determined76 effort to buy the tree, however, had a strange effect. At the first the old shopkeeper merely met all his offers with a determined shake of the head, but, as Humphrey insisted, he became more and more excited and at last, wringing77 his hands, burst into a torrent78 of jabbering79 explanation. Captain Reynolds had cruised along these shores long enough to have learned a little of the mixed dialect of French, Spanish and Moorish80 words by which foreigners and natives contrived81 to understand one another, so that he was able to gather from the Chinaman’s flood of talk that the pine tree was the most precious of his possessions, that he had carried it himself all the way from Pekin, that it was a hundred years old and that he felt certain the spirits of his ancestors loved to cluster about its twisted little branches. What had caused his banishment82 from his own land Humphrey could not make out, but he did gain some inkling of how the withered old man felt as he looked back upon some frail83, small hut on the shore of one of China’s muddy yellow rivers, upon some bit of land that he and his ancestors had tilled patiently for unnumbered generations, upon a tiny garden where the tree had grown. No, it was quite plain that he would not sell it!
So the ivory box was bought for Miranda after all. As Humphrey prepared to go, a picturesque84 person came into the shop, a fat, black man, very richly dressed with the silk scarfs, satin cloak and gold embroidered85 garments of a high court official. The young American glanced at him curiously86 as he squeezed by in the semi-darkness of the narrow place and was conscious of the penetrating87 stare of two hard black eyes that he could almost feel boring into his back as he went out. Before he had gone far, he thought that he heard a queer, smothered88 cry of terror in the shop. But the street was so full of noises that, though he paused to listen, he could not be certain and so went on again. In the busy days on board ship that followed, the Chinaman and his treasure presently passed completely from his mind.
Reports of the West Wind’s quick passage had been going about, all this time, through the Mediterranean Fleet.
“But that was only a trial,” Humphrey kept saying, “when we were learning how to handle her. On the voyage home we’ll show you even more plainly what she can do.”
That voyage was now soon to be, for the vessel had been selected to carry back the Commodore’s dispatches and reports to Washington. On the day before she was to sail, a message came from the Pasha of Tripoli that he was sending his personal representative to make the ship a visit of ceremonious farewell. Captain Reynolds sighed deeply when he heard this news, for such overtures89 from a government elaborately friendly but secretly treacherous90, were uneasy occasions. When the stout, dusky minister of state came over the side, gorgeous in his jewels and satins, Humphrey, after a moment of doubt, recognized him as the man whom he had met in the old Chinaman’s shop. The other gave no sign of recognition, however, but gravely went through the elaborate messages from his august master, inspected the ship with solemn interest and expressed not only surprise, but some doubts when told of the time she had made between America and Gibraltar.
“Why, it cannot be done!” he cried. Not even pirate craft, it seemed, could fly on such swift wings. “There are favorable winds and chances for good luck on the eastern passage, but when your prow49 is turned toward home again, when you are obliged to go southward to get the trade winds that blow for all ships alike, then you will find that this is an ordinary craft, just like all the rest.”
“We will equal our record or better it,” Humphrey replied obstinately91, “although, as I own, the westward92 voyage is a longer and more difficult one. But the West Wind, sir, is a ship not like other ships.”
After they had sat some time in the Captain’s cabin, partaking of refreshment93 and exchanging polite assurances of good will, the black visitor, with great ceremony, produced an impressive gift from his master, a richly embroidered scarf which he presented with a long speech that Humphrey only half understood. He accepted it unwillingly94 and made such reply as he could, after which there came an awkward pause in the talk. Finally the Tripolitan minister, with smooth boldness, remarked that his illustrious master would be willing to accept in return some small gift, merely as a remembrance of the visit of Captain Reynolds and his beautiful ship. For a moment Humphrey was utterly at a loss, since the Government that had filled his magazines with powder and shot in case of trouble had quite neglected to provide for any such occasion as this. Yet the beady eyes of the African, fixed40 so steadily upon him, seemed to hint that some present must be forthcoming or serious difficulties would follow. There seemed but one thing to do.
“How Miranda will laugh at me, after all,” Humphrey sighed as he slowly brought out the gold snuffbox and placed it in the dark hand that was extended so quickly to receive it.
The exchange of gifts should have brought the visit to an end, but for some reason it did not. The African still sat, staring across the table at Humphrey, his eyes narrowed to black slits95.
“The gift is of great beauty,” he said at last, “but I might explain that the Pasha, my master, has especial love for his gardens and is most particularly delighted when he is given any—any small curiosity to add to the treasures he has already gathered there.” Seeing Humphrey look blank, he explained more clearly. “You and I met, some days since, in the shop of that mad old Chinaman who owns, but will not sell, that little pine tree, a hundred years old. The Pasha had taken a fancy to own it, so, since the old man would not part with it willingly, he sent some servants to—to fetch it. But they failed. I understand the tree is on board this ship after all.”
“On board the West Wind?” echoed Humphrey amazed. “I give you my word that it is not here.”
“The tree is on this ship,” insisted the other steadily. “The Chinaman heard somehow of our coming and departed, treasure and all; he was seen fleeing through the town; he was seen making his way to this vessel. And the Pasha of Tripoli desires the little pine tree!”
There was a pause, but Humphrey said nothing. The dusky visitor shrugged96 his shoulders and slipped one sleek97 hand within his satin robe.
“The American Captain wishes further persuasion,” he said with a sly grin. “I have something here for himself alone, which will perhaps make him more generous.”
He drew out a handful of gold coins and laid them upon the table, looked at Humphrey narrowly and, seeing no signs of yielding, sighed deeply and drew out another and another. He piled them up in little shining heaps and stood gazing, with an expectant smile across at the American. But, since Humphrey did not put out a hand to take them he broke forth petulantly—
“In the name of the Prophet, is not that enough? You grasping Yankees would have everything! These are not African coins, man, but good English sovereigns, French louis d’or, Spanish doubloons such as you can spend like water anywhere you go. And all in exchange for one small thing upon which my master has set his heart. Come, you drive a hard bargain.”
“I drive no bargain for what does not belong to me, to be paid for in stolen coin,” Humphrey answered hotly. “Do you think that I do not know that your pirate vessels have brought in this gold; that, for each of those heaps of coin, there has probably been a good ship sent to the bottom, English, French or Spanish? Have you not learned once what America thinks of piracy98?”
The fat man shrugged his shoulders again.
“America is a forgetful land, and far away,” he commented drily. “News carries thither slowly and judgment99 comes even slower back again. It is twenty years since your country fought with mine; we believe America is ceasing to watch us. The Atlantic is a broad and windy sea!”
“You do not know,” the young officer replied slowly, “that there is a wise man in my country, my comrade and dear friend, who has learned how to make the Atlantic a thousand miles less broad. He built this ship with which we have shortened the voyage by four days and will, when we set sail again, lessen100 it by more than that. Your pirate craft are swift but Yankee wits are swifter and presently your vessels will bring back a tale—for every sea-coast will ring with it—that Jonathan Adams’ ship the West Wind has crossed the ocean in eighteen days.”
“Eighteen days,” scoffed the other, “that is past any man’s belief. Ships move by sails, not wings!”
“Eighteen days,” repeated Humphrey sternly, “I promise you that you will hear of our voyage made in just that time. And when other vessels are built to match or to better her, our country will come a great stride nearer to you, a thousand miles nearer to traitors101, murderers and thieves.”
He brought his hand down upon the table with such force that the heaps of gold went rolling and tumbling to the floor, and the dignified102 Arab was forced to go groveling on his hands and knees to pick them up again. When he arose, Humphrey was standing by the door which he held open.
“I will send an officer,” he said, “to go with you to search the ship. Since you believe that no man speaks the truth, you shall see with your own eyes that the Chinaman and his treasure are not here.”
There was no doubt that the man who had the duty of escorting the foreigner over the ship took extreme delight in conducting him through the narrowest, dirtiest recesses103 of the hold, so that the court official’s fat person was breathless and his silken garments much the worse for grease and tar17 when he finally expressed himself as satisfied and came once more on deck. His farewells were less stately than his greetings had been, and he turned back for a last word before he went over the side.
“If the West Wind sails away, after all, carrying my master’s heart’s desire, may every curse and every evil spirit known to good Mohammedans, follow you upon your way. May every hardship that sailors can suffer, fall upon you, may your voyage be such a one as never captain knew before!”
He departed in a great show of dignity and magnificence and was rowed ashore, while Humphrey, with a sigh of relief, turned himself to the preparations for getting under way. He had vowed a vow50 within himself that Jonathan Adams should not be disappointed and that, on the homeward voyage, they would shorten the passage by the five days for which he had hoped.
It was at daylight next morning, when the West Wind had cleared the harbor of Tripoli and, leaving behind the palm-clad shore with its minarets104 and towers and its evil, hostile city, was standing out to sea, that Captain Reynolds sat down in his cabin to examine the log book which he had sent for, to make certain that wind and weather and the exact hour of weighing anchor had been correctly noted105. He smiled as he glanced at the entry of the day before with its record of the visit of state.
“And he had the impudence106, even, to curse me,” he reflected, chuckling107, “as though any one could hide on my ship without my knowing—”
He stopped abruptly108, the page half-turned in his hand. For a strange sound was developing in the locker109 opposite his bunk110, a scratching as though a rat were shut in behind the door, then the clicking of the latch111 as, out from the narrow space where no one would think a grown man could hide, came tumbling the Chinaman, half-smothered, but clutching unharmed his heart’s treasure in its porcelain112 pot.
The Mohammedan’s curse had been thorough and, so it began to seem as the voyage went on, of some effect, but he had forgotten one thing. Whatever went wrong, whatever accident, small or great, befell the ship on her race across the Atlantic, the wind never failed. The very sprites, afreets and genie113 known to Arab fancy seemed to sit in the hollow of the sail and lend strength with their blowing to the lusty trade winds. Lines parted, tackle jammed, and sails carried away, but still the wind held. The oldest but ablest seaman36, he who had not believed in Gibraltar when he saw it, fell from a yard and was picked up with a broken knee. A falling block, dropping from a height to the deck below, crushed, in its passage, the shoulder of another sailor. But still the wind held and still the ship cut the South-Atlantic rollers like an arrow. Seven days, eight days, nine days—they were halfway114 across, and excitement had begun to run breathlessly high.
At the end of the ninth day, while the West Wind was wallowing in a cross sea, it was discovered that the water casks had broken loose from their lashings, that two of them were crushed, others injured, and that the greater portion of their precious water had leaked away.
“Then we have need to make port all the more quickly,” Captain Reynolds said grimly, and stood by in person while, to each man including himself, the meager115 allowance for each day was measured out.
The one who fared worst upon the voyage was the old Chinaman. He suffered hideously116 from sea-sickness for the first few days, although he made shift to stagger on deck, to haul at ropes and to give such service as his feeble strength allowed. When the water failed, he seemed, somehow, to be suffering far more than any of the rest. On the second day after the mishap117 to the casks, he came to the captain’s cabin, utterly refusing to be driven away. With trembling yellow hands he drew the pine tree from beneath his rags and set it on the table.
“After I die,” he requested calmly, “will you not in justice see that my share of water still goes to keeping my ancestors’ tree alive?”
It seemed that his whole allowance of drinking water had been poured into the pot, since he preferred to perish himself rather than permit his great treasure to droop118 and wither66.
Humphrey argued and commanded, but to no purpose. The Chinaman merely shook his head obstinately and vowed by all his gods that he would not drink while his tree was thirsty. At last, however, a compromise was made. The little pine was to remain on the Captain’s table and every day, in Humphrey’s presence, the Chinaman was to drink half his allowance of water and pour the other half upon the dry roots.
“If you can keep alive on that, your tree should also,” Humphrey said; “there is no other way to do.”
Still muttering protests that his tree would die, the old man crawled away. Humphrey stood looking silently at the little pine tree, so fresh and vigorous in spite of its hundred years. He took the water that had been set upon his table and drank half of it at one gulp119, for he had just come below and the hot quarterdeck was a thirsty place. Then he paused a moment, the half-empty cup in his hand.
“I am a soft-hearted fool,” he muttered and poured what was left on the dry earth of the porcelain pot.
The days passed while the men grew weaker and more sluggish120 at their work, but still the breeze held and the speed of the West Wind did not falter121. They passed no ship from which they could obtain water, their only hope lay in the making of port. They turned northward122, lost the trade winds, seemed for a terrible moment to be hanging becalmed, but a stiff breeze caught them and bore them still toward home. The old Chinaman seemed to shrivel away like a dead leaf, but he came stumbling every day to share his mouthful of water with his precious tree. Captain Reynolds himself looked more worn and haggard than did any of his men. Only the Chinaman, glancing sideways with his slanting123, beady eyes at the lusty green of the little pine, seemed to suspect why. They were like the flitting ghosts of a ship’s crew that morning when the hot, glittering expanse of sea was broken by a wavering line on the horizon and the lookout’s husky call of “Land-ho” announced the low green shore of Maryland. Eighteen days from Gibraltar and all records broken at last!
She came into the Susquehanna River for repairs, did the worn but triumphant124 West Wind, and Jonathan Adams came rowing out to board her, his sober face for once all wreathed in smiles.
“By five days you shortened the voyage,” he said, “and I had not really hoped for more than four. I always said she was not a tub, but a real ship at last. There will be others like her, and her children’s children will dare to spread such sail that they will cross the Atlantic in half your time.”
As Humphrey came up the ladder to where Miranda was waiting on the wharf, his first words were—
“I left the snuffbox behind,” while she, laughing shakily, answered—
“I knew you would.”
The whole crew, down to the cabin boy, were hailed as heroes when they left the ship, but there was one who managed somehow to go ashore as mysteriously as he had come aboard. The old Chinaman with his treasured pine tree disappeared, no one knew whither, hiding himself, perhaps, lest some emissary from Africa should even yet seek him out and rob him. For more than a month Humphrey searched and inquired for him all up and down the shore of the bay, but no one had seen him and no one knew where he had gone.
Jonathan Adams’ ship the West Wind sailed on many voyages and was the model for other vessels of her class, bigger and swifter even than herself—the great race of American clippers that once ruled the seas. They gave our country the highest place in the world’s shipping125, and they brought her, even as Humphrey had said, a thousand miles nearer to her neighbors across the Atlantic. But that is not all of the story of this famous voyage. The real end came seven years later, when Humphrey had risen to be Commodore Reynolds and when, between two cruises, he was spending a holiday at home. One summer afternoon, a small, bent figure toiled up the driveway of the big house above the Susquehanna. Humphrey, with Miranda, was sitting in the shade of the high-columned veranda126 and for a moment did not recognize the strange face, so covered with dust that the yellow skin and slanting eyes were scarcely visible. But the old Chinaman walked straight to Miranda and laid his offering on her lap.
“For you,” he said. “He wanted to bring it to you from the very first!”
It was not the real pine tree, but the one that you see here, made of jade127 and enamel128 with tiny jewels set around the top of the pot. Humphrey and his wife exclaimed and admired and examined it on every side.
“But I do not understand,” Humphrey kept saying. “How did you come to make it, and to bring it to us after seven years?”
“After seven years!”
The old Chinaman smiled patiently.
“You Americans are ever in such haste. How long, think you, it takes a true craftsman129 to carve a tree of jade?”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
dame
|
|
| n.女士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
kin
|
|
| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
marshy
|
|
| adj.沼泽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
vessel
|
|
| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
wharf
|
|
| n.码头，停泊处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
dangling
|
|
| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
mallet
|
|
| n.槌棒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
chisel
|
|
| n.凿子；v.用凿子刻，雕，凿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
scouring
|
|
| 擦[洗]净，冲刷，洗涤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
toiled
|
|
| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
vessels
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
dingy
|
|
| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
clutter
|
|
| n.零乱，杂乱；vt.弄乱，把…弄得杂乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
graceful
|
|
| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
hull
|
|
| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
racing
|
|
| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
tar
|
|
| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
specifications
|
|
| n.规格；载明；详述；（产品等的）说明书；说明书( specification的名词复数 )；详细的计划书；载明；详述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
toiling
|
|
| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
forefinger
|
|
| n.食指 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
puff
|
|
| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
cramped
|
|
| a.狭窄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
schooners
|
|
| n.（有两个以上桅杆的）纵帆船( schooner的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
naval
|
|
| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
scoffed
|
|
| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
muster
|
|
| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
watery
|
|
| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
miserable
|
|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
swarmed
|
|
| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
warships
|
|
| 军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
seaports
|
|
| n.海港( seaport的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
feats
|
|
| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
seaman
|
|
| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
thither
|
|
| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
Mediterranean
|
|
| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
fixedly
|
|
| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
maiden
|
|
| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
seamen
|
|
| n.海员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
grumbling
|
|
| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
labor
|
|
| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
boisterous
|
|
| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
discredited
|
|
| 不足信的，不名誉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
prow
|
|
| n.(飞机)机头，船头 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
vow
|
|
| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
vowed
|
|
| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
gusty
|
|
| adj.起大风的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
haze
|
|
| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
etiquette
|
|
| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
plied
|
|
| v.使用（工具）( ply的过去式和过去分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
galleys
|
|
| n.平底大船，战舰( galley的名词复数 )；（船上或航空器上的）厨房 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
lesser
|
|
| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
chatter
|
|
| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
watchful
|
|
| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
potentates
|
|
| n.君主，统治者( potentate的名词复数 )；有权势的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
vendors
|
|
| n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
oblivious
|
|
| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
scowling
|
|
| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
wither
|
|
| vt.使凋谢，使衰退，(用眼神气势等)使畏缩；vi.枯萎，衰退，消亡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
withered
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
moors
|
|
| v.停泊，系泊（船只）( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
wares
|
|
| n. 货物, 商品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
carvings
|
|
| n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
niche
|
|
| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
stunting
|
|
| v.阻碍…发育[生长]，抑制，妨碍( stunt的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
pruning
|
|
| n.修枝，剪枝，修剪v.修剪（树木等）( prune的现在分词 )；精简某事物，除去某事物多余的部分 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
wringing
|
|
| 淋湿的，湿透的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
torrent
|
|
| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
jabbering
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
moorish
|
|
| adj.沼地的，荒野的，生[住]在沼地的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
contrived
|
|
| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
banishment
|
|
| n.放逐，驱逐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
frail
|
|
| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
picturesque
|
|
| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
embroidered
|
|
| adj．绣花的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
penetrating
|
|
| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
smothered
|
|
| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
overtures
|
|
| n.主动的表示，提议；（向某人做出的）友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 )；（歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的）序曲，前奏曲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
treacherous
|
|
| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
obstinately
|
|
| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
westward
|
|
| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
refreshment
|
|
| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
unwillingly
|
|
| adv.不情愿地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
slits
|
|
| n.狭长的口子，裂缝( slit的名词复数 )v.切开，撕开( slit的第三人称单数 )；在…上开狭长口子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
sleek
|
|
| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
piracy
|
|
| n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
judgment
|
|
| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
lessen
|
|
| vt.减少，减轻；缩小 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
traitors
|
|
| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
dignified
|
|
| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
recesses
|
|
| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
minarets
|
|
| n.（清真寺旁由报告祈祷时刻的人使用的）光塔( minaret的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
impudence
|
|
| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
chuckling
|
|
| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
locker
|
|
| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
bunk
|
|
| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
latch
|
|
| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
porcelain
|
|
| n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
genie
|
|
| n.妖怪，神怪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
halfway
|
|
| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
meager
|
|
| adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
hideously
|
|
| adv.可怕地，非常讨厌地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
mishap
|
|
| n.不幸的事，不幸；灾祸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
droop
|
|
| v.低垂，下垂；凋萎，萎靡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
gulp
|
|
| vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
sluggish
|
|
| adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
falter
|
|
| vi.(嗓音)颤抖，结巴地说；犹豫；蹒跚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
northward
|
|
| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
slanting
|
|
| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
triumphant
|
|
| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
shipping
|
|
| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
veranda
|
|
| n.走廊；阳台 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
jade
|
|
| n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
enamel
|
|
| n.珐琅，搪瓷，瓷釉；(牙齿的)珐琅质 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
craftsman
|
|
| n.技工，精于一门工艺的匠人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |