The consul strode across the gravelly sand, some fifty paces from the southwest corner of the tomb, to a bit of not wholly ruined wall from which there was a clear view of the doorway side of the tomb and of the side with the larger crevice7.
“Hassan,” he commanded, “watch here.”
Hassan said something in Persian.
“How many cubs8 were there?” the consul asked Waldo.
Waldo stared mute.
“How many young ones did you see?” the consul asked again.
“Twenty or more,” Waldo made answer.
“That’s impossible,” snapped the consul.
“There seemed to be sixteen or eighteen,” Waldo reasserted. Hassan smiled and grunted9. The consul took from him two guns, handed Waldo his, and they walked around the tomb to a point p. 169about equally distant from the opposite corner. There was another bit of ruin, and in front of it, on the side toward the tomb, was a block of stone mostly in the shadow of the wall.
“Convenient,” said the consul. “Sit on that stone and lean against the wall; make yourself comfortable. You are a bit shaken, but you will be all right in a moment. You should have something to eat, but we have nothing. Anyhow, take a good swallow of this.”
He stood by him as Waldo gasped10 over the raw brandy.
“Hassan will bring you his water bottle before he goes,” the consul went on; “drink plenty, for you must stay here for some time. And now, pay attention to me. We must extirpate11 these vermin. The male, I judge, is absent. If he had been anywhere about, you would not now be alive. The young cannot be as many as you say, but, I take it, we have to deal with ten, a full litter. We must smoke them out. Hassan will go back to camp after fuel and the guard. Meanwhile, you and I must see that none escape.”
He took Waldo’s gun, opened the breech, shut it, examined the magazine and handed it back to him.
“Now watch me closely,” he said. He paced off, looking to his left past the tomb. Presently he stopped and gathered several stones together.
“You see these?” he called.
Waldo shouted an affirmation.
The consul came back, passed on in the same line, looking to his right past the tomb, and presently, at a similar distance, put up another tiny cairn, shouted again and was again answered. Again he returned.
p. 170“Now you are sure you cannot mistake those two marks I have made?”
“Very sure indeed,” said Waldo.
“It is important,” warned the consul. “I am going back to where I left Hassan, to watch there while he is gone. You will watch here. You may pace as often as you like to either of those stone heaps. From either you can see me on my beat. Do not diverge12 from the line from one to the other. For as soon as Hassan is out of sight I shall shoot any moving thing I see nearer. Sit here till you see me set up similar limits for my sentry-go on the farther side, then shoot any moving thing not on my line of patrol. Keep a lookout13 all around you. There is one chance in a million that the male might return in daylight—mostly they are nocturnal, but this lair14 is evidently exceptional. Keep a bright lookout.
“And now listen to me. You must not feel any foolish sentimentalism about any fancied resemblance of these vermin to human beings. Shoot, and shoot to kill. Not only is it our duty, in general, to abolish them, but it will be very dangerous for us if we do not. There is little or no solidarity16 in Mohammedan communities, but on the comparatively few points upon which public opinion exists it acts with amazing promptitude and vigor17. One matter as to which there is no disagreement is that it is incumbent18 upon every man to assist in eradicating19 these creatures. The good old Biblical custom of stoning to death is the mode of lynching indigenous20 hereabouts. These modern Asiatics are quite capable of applying it to any one believed derelict against any of these inimical monsters. If we let one escape and the rumor21 of it gets about, p. 171we may precipitate22 an outburst of racial prejudice difficult to cope with. Shoot, I say, without hesitation23 or mercy.”
“I understand,” said Waldo.
“I don’t care whether you understand or not,” said the consul. “I want you to act. Shoot if needful, and shoot straight.” And he tramped off.
Hassan presently appeared, and Waldo drank from his water bottle as nearly all of its contents as Hassan would permit. After his departure Waldo’s first alertness soon gave place to mere24 endurance of the monotony of watching and the intensity25 of the heat. His discomfort26 became suffering, and what with the fury of the dry glare, the pangs27 of thirst and his bewilderment of mind, Waldo was moving in a waking dream by the time Hassan returned with two donkeys and a mule28 laden29 with brushwood. Behind the beasts straggled the guard.
Waldo’s trance became a nightmare when the smoke took effect and the battle began. He was, however, not only not required to join in the killing30, but was enjoined31 to keep back. He did keep very much in the background, seeing only so much of the slaughter32 as his curiosity would not let him refrain from viewing. Yet he felt all a murderer as he gazed at the ten small carcasses laid out arow, and the memory of his vigil and its end, indeed of the whole day, though it was the day of his most marvelous adventure, remains33 to him as the broken recollections of a phantasmagoria.
On the morning of his memorable34 peril35 Waldo had waked early. The experiences of his p. 172sea-voyage, the sights at Gibraltar, at Port Said, in the canal, at Suez, at Aden, at Muscat, and at Basrah had formed an altogether inadequate36 transition from the decorous regularity37 of house and school-life in New England to the breathless wonder of the desert immensities.
Everything seemed unreal, and yet the reality of its strangeness so besieged38 him that he could not feel at home in it, he could not sleep heavily in a tent. After composing himself to sleep, he lay long conscious and awakened39 early, as on this morning, just at the beginning of the false-dawn.
The consul was fast asleep, snoring loudly. Waldo dressed quietly and went out; mechanically, without any purpose or forethought, taking his gun. Outside he found Hassan, seated, his gun across his knees, his head sunk forward, as fast asleep as the consul. Ali and Ibrahim had left the camp the day before for supplies. Waldo was the only waking creature about; for the guards, camped some little distance off, were but logs about the ashes of their fire.
When he had begun camp life he had expected to find the consul, that combination of sportsman, explorer and arch?ologist, a particularly easy-going guardian40. He had looked forward to absolutely untrammeled liberty in the spacious41 expanse of the limitless wastes. The reality he had found exactly the reverse of his preconceptions. The consul’s first injunction was:
“Never let yourself get out of sight of me or of Hassan unless he or I send you off with Ali or Ibrahim. Let nothing tempt42 you to roam about alone. Even a ramble43 is dangerous. You might lose sight of the camp before you knew it.”
p. 173At first Waldo acquiesced44, later he protested. “I have a good pocket compass. I know how to use it. I never lost my way in the Maine woods.”
“No Kourds in the Maine woods,” said the consul.
Yet before long Waldo noticed that the few Kourds they encountered seemed simple-hearted, peaceful folk. No semblance15 of danger or even of adventure had appeared. Their armed guard of a dozen greasy45 tatterdemalions had passed their time in uneasy loafing.
Likewise Waldo noticed that the consul seemed indifferent to the ruins they passed by or encamped among, that his feeling for sites and topography was cooler than lukewarm, that he showed no ardor46 in the pursuit of the scanty47 and uninteresting game. He had picked up enough of several dialects to hear repeated conversations about “them.” “Have you heard of any about here?” “Has one been killed?” “Any traces of them in this district?” And such queries48 he could make out in the various talks with the natives they met; as to what “they” were he received no enlightenment.
Then he had questioned Hassan as to why he was so restricted in his movements. Hassan spoke49 some English and regaled him with tales of Afrits, ghouls, specters and other uncanny legendary50 presences; of the jinn of the waste, appearing in human shape, talking all languages, ever on the alert to ensnare infidels; of the woman whose feet turned the wrong way at the ankles, luring51 the unwary to a pool and there drowning her victims; of the malignant52 ghosts of dead brigands53, more terrible than their living fellows; of the spirit in the shape of a wild ass6, or of a gazelle, enticing54 its pursuers p. 174to the brink55 of a precipice56 and itself seeming to run ahead upon an expanse of sand, a mere mirage57, dissolving as the victim passed the brink and fell to death; of the sprite in the semblance of a hare feigning58 a limp, or of a ground-bird feigning a broken wing, drawing its pursuer after it till he met death in an unseen pit or well-shaft.
Ali and Ibrahim spoke no English. As far as Waldo could understand their long harangues59, they told similar stories or hinted at dangers equally vague and imaginary. These childish bogy-tales merely whetted60 Waldo’s craving61 for independence.
Now, as he sat on a rock, longing62 to enjoy the perfect sky, the clear, early air, the wide, lonely landscape, along with the sense of having it to himself, it seemed to him that the consul was merely innately63 cautious, over-cautious. There was no danger. He would have a fine, leisurely64 stroll, kill something perhaps, and certainly be back in camp before the sun grew hot. He stood up.
Some hours later he was seated on a fallen coping-stone in the shadow of a ruined tomb. All the country they had been traversing is full of tombs and remains of tombs, prehistoric65, Bactrian, old Persian, Parthian, Sassanian, or Mohammedan, scattered66 everywhere in groups or solitary67. Vanished utterly68 are the faintest traces of the cities, towns, and villages, ephemeral houses or temporary huts, in which had lived the countless69 generations of mourners who had reared these tombs.
The tombs, built more durably70 than mere dwellings71 of the living, remained. Complete or ruinous, or reduced to mere fragments, they were everywhere. In that district they were all of one type. p. 175Each was domed72 and below was square, its one door facing eastward73 and opening into a larger empty room, behind which were the mortuary chambers74.
In the shadow of such a tomb Waldo sat. He had shot nothing, had lost his way, had no idea of the direction of the camp, was tired, warm and thirsty. He had forgotten his water bottle.
He swept his gaze over the vast, desolate75 prospect76, the unvaried turquoise77 of the sky arched above the rolling desert. Far reddish hills along the skyline hooped78 in the less distant brown hillocks which, without diversifying79 it, hummocked the yellow landscape. Sand and rocks with a lean, starved bush or two made up the nearer view, broken here and there by dazzling white or streaked80, grayish, crumbling81 ruins. The sun had not been long above the horizon, yet the whole surface of the desert was quivering with heat.
As Waldo sat viewing the outlook a woman came round the corner tomb. All the village women Waldo had seen had worn yashmaks or some other form of face-covering or veil. This woman was bareheaded and unveiled. She wore some sort of yellowish-brown garment which enveloped83 her from neck to ankles, showing no waist line. Her feet, in defiance84 of the blistering85 sands, were bare.
At sight of Waldo she stopped and stared at him as he at her. He remarked the un-European posture86 of her feet, not at all turned out, but with the inner lines parallel. She wore no anklets, he observed, no bracelets87, no necklace or earrings88. Her bare arms he thought the most muscular he had ever seen on a human being. Her nails were pointed89 and long, both on her hands and her feet. Her p. 176hair was black, short and tousled, yet she did not look wild or uncomely. Her eyes smiled and her lips had the effect of smiling, though they did not part ever so little, not showing at all the teeth behind them.
“What a pity,” said Waldo aloud, “that she does not speak English.”
“I do speak English,” said the woman, and Waldo noticed that as she spoke, her lips did not perceptibly open. “What does the gentleman want?”
“You speak English!” Waldo exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “What luck! Where did you learn it?”
“At the mission school,” she replied, an amused smile playing about the corners of her rather wide, unopening mouth. “What can be done for you?” She spoke with scarcely any foreign accent, but very slowly and with a sort of growl90 running along from syllable91 to syllable.
“I am thirsty,” said Waldo, “and I have lost my way.”
“Is the gentleman living in a brown tent, shaped like half a melon?” she inquired, the queer, rumbling82 note drawling from one word to the next, her lips barely separated.
“Yes, that is our camp,” said Waldo.
“I could guide the gentleman that way,” she droned; “but it is far, and there is no water on that side.”
“I want water first,” said Waldo, “or milk.”
“If you mean cow’s milk, we have none. But we have goat’s milk. There is to drink where I dwell,” she said, sing-songing the words. “It is not far. It is the other way.”
“Show me,” said he.
p. 177She began to walk, Waldo, his gun under his arm, beside her. She trod noiselessly and fast. Waldo could scarcely keep up with her. As they walked he often fell behind and noted92 how her swathing garments clung to a lithe93, shapely back, neat waist and firm hips94. Each time he hurried and caught up with her, he scanned her with intermittent95 glances, puzzled that her waist, so well-marked at the spine96, showed no particular definition in front; that the outline of her from neck to knees, perfectly97 shapeless under her wrappings, was without any waist-line or suggestion of firmness or undulation. Likewise he remarked the amused flicker98 in her eyes and the compressed line of her red, her too red, lips.
“How long were you at the mission school?” he inquired.
“Four years,” she replied.
“Are you a Christian99?” he asked.
“The Free-folk do not submit to baptism,” she stated simply, but with rather more of the droning growl between her words.
He felt a queer shiver as he watched the scarcely moved lips through which the syllables100 edged their way.
“But you are not veiled,” he could not resist saying.
“The Free-folk,” she rejoined, “are never veiled.”
“Then you are not a Mohammedan?” he ventured.
“The Free-folk are not Moslems.”
“Who are the Free-folk?” he blurted101 out incautiously.
She shot one baleful glance at him. Waldo p. 178remembered that he had to do with an Asiatic. He recalled the three permitted questions.
“What is your name?” he inquired.
“Amina,” she told him.
“That is a name from the ‘Arabian Nights,’” he hazarded.
“From the foolish tales of the believers,” she sneered102. “The Free-folk know nothing of such follies103.” The unvarying shutness of her speaking lips, the drawly burr between the syllables, struck him all the more as her lips curled but did not open.
“You utter your words in a strange way,” he said.
“Your language is not mine,” she replied.
“How is it that you learned my language at the mission school and are not a Christian?”
“They teach all at the mission school,” she said, “and the maidens104 of the Free-folk are like the other maidens they teach, though the Free-folk when grown are not as town-dwellers are. Therefore they taught me as any townbred girl, not knowing me for what I am.”
“They taught you well,” he commented.
“I have the gift of tongues,” she uttered enigmatically, with an odd note of triumph burring the words through her unmoving lips.
Waldo felt a horrid105 shudder106 all over him, not only at her uncanny words, but also from mere faintness.
“Is it far to your home?” he breathed.
“It is there,” she said, pointing to the doorway of a large tomb just before them.
The wholly open arch admitted them into a fairly spacious interior, cool with the abiding107 p. 179temperaturc of thick masonry108. There was no rubbish on the floor. Waldo, relieved to escape the blistering glare outside, seated himself on a block of stone midway between the door and the inner partition-wall, resting his gun-butt on the floor. For the moment he was blinded by the change from the insistent109 brilliance of the desert morning to the blurred110 gray light of the interior.
When his sight cleared he looked about and remarked, opposite the door, the ragged111 hole which laid open the desecrated112 mausoleum. As his eyes grew accustomed to the dimness he was so startled that he stood up. It seemed to him that from its four corners the room swarmed113 with naked children. To his inexperienced conjecture114 they seemed about two years old, but they moved with the assurance of boys of eight or ten.
“Whose are these children?” he exclaimed.
“Mine,” she said.
“All yours?” he protested.
“All mine,” she replied, a curious suppressed boisterousness115 in her demeanor116.
“But there are twenty of them,” he cried.
“You count badly in the dark,” she told him. “There are fewer.”
“There certainly are a dozen,” he maintained, spinning round as they danced and scampered117 about.
“The Free-people have large families,” she said.
“But they are all of one age,” Waldo exclaimed, his tongue dry against the roof of his mouth.
She laughed, an unpleasant, mocking laugh, clapping her hands. She was between him and the doorway, and as most of the light came from it he could not see her lips.
p. 180“Is not that like a man! No woman would have made that mistake.”
Waldo was confuted and sat down again. The children circulated around him, chattering118, laughing, giggling119, snickering, making noises indicative of glee.
“Please get me something cool to drink,” said Waldo, and his tongue was not only dry but big in his mouth.
“We shall have to drink shortly,” she said, “but it will be warm.”
Waldo began to feel uneasy. The children pranced120 around him, jabbering121 strange, guttural noises, licking their lips, pointing at him, their eyes fixed122 on him, with now and then a glance at their mother.
“Where is the water?”
The woman stood silent, her arms hanging at her sides, and it seemed to Waldo she was shorter than she had been.
“Where is the water?” he repeated.
“Patience, patience,” she growled123, and came a step nearer to him.
The sunlight struck upon her back and made a sort of halo about her hips. She seemed still shorter than before. There was a something furtive124 in her bearing, and the little ones sniggered evilly.
At that instant two rifle shots rang out almost as one. The woman fell face downward on the floor. The babies shrieked125 in a shrill126 chorus. Then she leapt up from all fours with an explosive suddenness, staggered in a hurled127, lurching rush toward the hole in the wall, and, with a frightful128 yell, threw up her arms and whirled backward to p. 181the ground, doubled and contorted like a dying fish, stiffened129, shuddered130 and was still. Waldo, his horrified131 eyes fixed on her face, even in his amazement132 noted that her lips did not open.
The children, squealing133 faint cries of dismay, scrambled134 through the hole in the inner wall, vanishing into the inky void beyond. The last had hardly gone when the consul appeared in the doorway, his smoking gun in his hand.
“Not a second too soon, my boy,” he ejaculated. “She was just going to spring.”
He cocked his gun and prodded135 the body with the muzzle136.
“Good and dead,” he commented. “What luck! Generally it takes three or four bullets to finish one. I’ve known one with two bullets through her lungs to kill a man.”
“Did you murder this woman?” Waldo demanded fiercely.
“Murder?” the consul snorted. “Murder! Look at that.”
He knelt down and pulled open the full, close lips, disclosing not human teeth, but small incisors, cusped grinders, wide-spaced, and long, keen, overlapping137 canines138, like those of a greyhound: a fierce, deadly, carnivorous dentition, menacing and combative139.
Waldo felt a qualm, yet the face and form still swayed his horrified sympathy for their humanness.
“Do you shoot women because they have long teeth?” Waldo insisted, revolted at the horrid death he had watched.
“You are hard to convince,” said the consul sternly. “Do you call that a woman?”
p. 182He stripped the clothing from the carcass.
Waldo sickened all over. What he saw was not the front of a woman, but the body of a female animal, old and flaccid—mother of a pack.
“What kind of a creature is it?” he asked faintly.
“A Ghoul, my boy,” the consul answered solemnly, almost in a whisper.
“I thought they did not exist,” Waldo babbled140. “I thought they were mythical141; I thought there were none.”
“I can very well believe that there are none in Rhode Island,” the consul said gravely. “This is in Persia, and Persia is in Asia.”
Edward Lucas White.
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1
consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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tepid
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| adj.微温的，温热的，不太热心的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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stunning
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| adj.极好的；使人晕倒的 | |
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brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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crevice
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| n.(岩石、墙等)裂缝；缺口 | |
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cubs
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| n.幼小的兽，不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 ) | |
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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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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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extirpate
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| v.除尽，灭绝 | |
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diverge
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| v.分叉，分歧，离题，使...岔开，使转向 | |
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lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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lair
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| n.野兽的巢穴；躲藏处 | |
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semblance
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| n.外貌，外表 | |
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solidarity
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| n.团结；休戚相关 | |
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vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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incumbent
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| adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的 | |
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eradicating
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| 摧毁，完全根除( eradicate的现在分词 ) | |
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indigenous
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| adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的 | |
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rumor
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| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
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precipitate
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| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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pangs
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| 突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 )； 悲痛 | |
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mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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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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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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enjoined
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| v.命令( enjoin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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ramble
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| v.漫步，漫谈，漫游；n.漫步，闲谈，蔓延 | |
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acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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greasy
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| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
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46
ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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47
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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48
queries
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| n.问题( query的名词复数 )；疑问；询问；问号v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的第三人称单数 )；询问 | |
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49
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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50
legendary
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| adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学） | |
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51
luring
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的现在分词形式） | |
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52
malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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53
brigands
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| n.土匪，强盗( brigand的名词复数 ) | |
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54
enticing
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| adj.迷人的；诱人的 | |
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55
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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56
precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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57
mirage
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| n.海市蜃楼，幻景 | |
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58
feigning
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| 假装，伪装( feign的现在分词 )； 捏造（借口、理由等） | |
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59
harangues
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| n.高谈阔论的长篇演讲( harangue的名词复数 )v.高谈阔论( harangue的第三人称单数 ) | |
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60
whetted
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| v.（在石头上）磨（刀、斧等）( whet的过去式和过去分词 )；引起，刺激（食欲、欲望、兴趣等） | |
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61
craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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62
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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63
innately
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| adv.天赋地；内在地，固有地 | |
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64
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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65
prehistoric
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| adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的 | |
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66
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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67
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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68
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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69
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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70
durably
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| adv.经久地，坚牢地 | |
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71
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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72
domed
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| adj. 圆屋顶的, 半球形的, 拱曲的 动词dome的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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73
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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74
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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75
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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76
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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77
turquoise
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| n.绿宝石；adj.蓝绿色的 | |
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78
hooped
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| adj.以环作装饰的；带横纹的；带有环的 | |
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79
diversifying
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| v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的现在分词 )；进入新的商业领域 | |
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80
streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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81
crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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82
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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83
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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84
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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85
blistering
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| adj.酷热的；猛烈的；使起疱的；可恶的v.起水疱；起气泡；使受暴晒n.[涂料] 起泡 | |
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86
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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87
bracelets
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| n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 ) | |
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88
earrings
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| n.耳环( earring的名词复数 )；耳坠子 | |
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89
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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90
growl
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| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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91
syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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92
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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93
lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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94
hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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95
intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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96
spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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97
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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98
flicker
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| vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现 | |
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99
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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100
syllables
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| n.音节( syllable的名词复数 ) | |
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101
blurted
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| v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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102
sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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103
follies
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| 罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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104
maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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105
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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106
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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107
abiding
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| adj.永久的，持久的，不变的 | |
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108
masonry
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| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
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109
insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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110
blurred
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| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
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111
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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112
desecrated
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| 毁坏或亵渎( desecrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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113
swarmed
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| 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 | |
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114
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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115
boisterousness
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| n.喧闹；欢跃；（风暴）狂烈 | |
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116
demeanor
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| n.行为；风度 | |
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117
scampered
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| v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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118
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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119
giggling
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| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的现在分词 ) | |
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120
pranced
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| v.（马）腾跃( prance的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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121
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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122
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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123
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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124
furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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125
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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126
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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127
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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128
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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129
stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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130
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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131
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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132
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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133
squealing
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| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 ) | |
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134
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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135
prodded
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| v.刺，戳( prod的过去式和过去分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳 | |
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136
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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137
overlapping
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| adj./n.交迭（的） | |
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138
canines
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| n.犬齿( canine的名词复数 )；犬牙；犬科动物 | |
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139
combative
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| adj.好战的；好斗的 | |
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140
babbled
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| v.喋喋不休( babble的过去式和过去分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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141
mythical
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| adj.神话的；虚构的；想像的 | |
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