Colonel Clive, who had never been at the pains to acquire it himself, had brought out in his train as secretary a Mr. Scrafton, who was well versed1 in the Indostanee, and who was obliging enough to offer to impart it to me, I having rendered him some services in the transcribing2 of his papers and accounts. Having much time on my hands on so long a voyage, I very thankfully accepted his proposal, though little then foreseeing the benefit I was to derive3 from it.
This connection between us brought me a good deal under the notice of Mr. Clive, who was several times pleased to address his conversation to me, and to inquire my name and what had brought me into that service.
When I told him I had run away from home he [Pg 70]seemed not a little amused, though he affected4 to rebuke5 me.
“I perceive you are a young man of a reckless spirit,” he observed, but whether in irony6 or not I could not tell. “And pray what do you intend to do when we get to the Indies?”
“Why, sir,” I answered hardily7, “as soon as war breaks out I mean to run away from the ship and enlist8 under your honour.”
“The devil you do!” he cried, a smile showing itself on his stern face. “Mr. Scrafton, do you hear my little purser here? I have a mind to report your speech to Mr. Sanders.”
But though he said this, I could see that he was not ill-pleased. And whether from that occasion or another, by the time our voyage was ended I was known all over the ship as Colonel Clive’s purser. And how proud the title made me I forbear to say, but I know that if Mr. Clive had ordered me to march into Delhi, and pluck the Great Mogul by the beard, I should have thought it a little thing to do.
The first thing I did after we had dropped our anchor was to beg for leave to go ashore9, which Mr. Sanders granted with some difficulty. Mr. Griffiths was good enough to give me a place in the cutter, and as soon as we were landed I separated myself from the rest, and without staying to examine the curiosities of Bombay, which is a fine great city, built on an island, I procured10 a boatman to take me off privately11 to the Fair Maid.
[Pg 71]
The boatman I applied12 to was an Indian. He used me with wondrous13 civility, calling me Sahib, which is an oriental term of respect, and bowing before me to the very ground. When we were got into the boat, however, he proved but a poor oarsman, and indeed all the natives of that country seem but a feeble race, owing, no doubt, to their idolatrous religion, which forbids them to eat flesh.
We arrived at the stern of the Fair Maid without accident, but to my surprise I could see nobody on the deck. Bidding the Indian wait for me I scrambled15 on board without hailing, and proceeded to examine the cabin. I found this likewise to be deserted16, and was beginning to think the vessel17 was empty when, on turning to come out, I found myself face to face with a dark man in a turban, bearing a naked scymetar in his hand, who had crept in behind me.
“Who are you?” I demanded, addressing him in Indostanee.
But he shook his head, for, as I was to find out, the Morattoes, to which nation he belonged, speak a different dialect of their own.
While I was considering what to do with him, since his behaviour was very threatening, I was greatly relieved by seeing an Englishman come in after him, who proved, indeed, to be no other than my old acquaintance, Trickster Tim.
The sight of me gave him a great shock, and at first I believe he mistook me for a spirit from the [Pg 72]other world, which perhaps was not strange, considering that he had last seen me on the other side of the globe, and lying very near to death’s door.
I spoke18 him friendly, nothing doubting that he would be pleased to welcome a fellow-countryman.
“Well, Tim, how d’ye do, and how are all aboard the Fair Maid?”
As soon as he had heard my voice his apprehensions19 vanished. He gazed at me for a minute, as if undecided what to do, and then, putting on a smile, stepped forward and shook me by the hand.
“And how did you get here?” he asked. “We thought we had left you in Yarmouth.”
Not thinking any concealment20 needful, I told him my story, which he listened to very attentively21. At the end he spoke some words to the Morattoe, who went out of the cabin.
“Sit down and make yourself comfortable,” he said to me. “Our men are all gone ashore, but the captain will come off presently and be right glad to see you safe again.”
“I can’t stay long,” I told him, “because I have only got leave for a couple of hours.”
At this he smiled a little queerly, but pulled out a bottle of rum and some glasses, and prevailed on me to take a drink with him. We sat thus for some time, talking, and he told me that the ship had been out there for more than a month, having escaped some of the headwinds we had had to contend with.
“And what of Mrs. Rising?” I said at last, for I [Pg 73]had been shy of putting this question to such a man. “I understand she took passage with you.”
He grinned at this, rather maliciously22.
“I thought you’d come to that,” he said. “I didn’t suppose it was for love of your comrades that you had come on board so quickly. As for Mistress Marian, she’s ashore, and for her address I may refer you to the captain when he finds you here.”
“The captain is rather slow in coming,” I observed, getting on to my feet. “I think I must be going ashore.”
With that I walked out of the cabin, Trickster Tim following at my heels. When I got on to the deck, I stared about me in dismay. Not a sign could I see of my boatman.
“What’s become of that fellow who brought me out?” I cried, turning to my companion.
The scoundrel laughed in my face.
“I sent word to him not to wait for you,” he coolly replied, “as I thought maybe you’d rather stay with us.”
“Rascal!” I shouted, taking him roughly by the arm. “What is the meaning of this villainy?”
“There’s the captain; you’d better ask him,” he answered.
And turning round as the sound of oars14 smote23 on my ears, I perceived a boat coming alongside, and seated upright in the stern the very man of all others whom I had never thought or wished to see again. It was my cousin Rupert.
[Pg 74]
He caught sight of me at the same moment, and a fierce scowl24 passed across his brow.
“Whom have you got there, Tim?” he called out, standing25 up in the boat to get a view of me.
“Mr. Ford26, sir, purser’s assistant of his Majesty27’s ship Talisman28.”
At that moment the boat came alongside and my cousin leaped on to the deck, followed by four or five of the crew. He surveyed me with a glance of bitter hatred29, mingled30 with triumph.
“So, cousin, I did not kill you after all! Never mind, I am glad you have remembered your old articles and are come to join us once more. We have lacked a cabin-boy since your desertion, and if his Majesty can spare you, we shall be glad of your services.”
I was too confounded to reply, or to take much heed31 of this mocking harangue32. I had as firmly believed Rupert to be dead as, it seems, he had believed me. The truth, as I gathered it by degrees afterwards, seemed to be this: At the moment of my casting him out of the boat in which we had fought, the other boat was returning to find out what had been the result of the battle. They had first picked up Rupert out of the water, when he was on the point of death, and had then found me senseless, and to all appearance mortally wounded, where I had fallen. They carried us both back with them, and finding Rupert revived, had concealed33 him on the Fair Maid till she should sail. The [Pg 75]boatswain, out of a kindness for me, and knowing the other’s vindictive34 nature, had persuaded him that it was impossible for me to recover, and so they had left me.
As soon as I was able to collect myself I demanded to have speech with Mr. Sims, the captain.
“You will meet with Mr. Sims where you are going,” retorted Rupert. “In the meantime any business you have with the captain of this vessel may be transacted35 with me.”
“Then I insist that you put me ashore instantly,” I said, with resolution. “Would you kidnap me under the very guns of his Majesty’s fleet?”
“Not so fast,” returned Rupert, keeping his temper, as he could afford to do, having the upper hand. “You have forgot your indentures36, by which you are bound apprentice37 to the good ship Fair Maid, sailing under his Majesty’s letters of marque and commission.”
“Under a forged commission,” I retorted hotly. “I refuse to be bound by indentures to a pirate!”
This outburst was, no doubt, what my cousin had been waiting for, to set the opinion of the crew against me. He now turned to his followers38, very stern.
“Take this youth down to the forecastle and put him in irons. If he repeats his scandalous aspersions, I will bring him to trial as a deserter and mutineer.”
I had no means of resistance, and his orders were [Pg 76]carried out, the scoundrel who had tricked me into waiting for Rupert’s return, taking especial pleasure to see that my irons were made secure. I scorned to question the dirty rascals39 further as to how my cousin came to be in command, but I guessed there had been some foul40 work on board since the vessel had left Yarmouth; and the next morning I learnt the whole story.
Old Muzzy, my firm friend, had been ashore all that night, very drunk, but soon after dawn he came off to the ship, and hearing of my plight41, at once betook himself to where I was imprisoned42. He embraced me very heartily43, and as soon as I had satisfied him as to my recovery and subsequent adventures, he disclosed to me the situation of the Fair Maid.
“You see it’s like this, my boy. Mr. Sims is a good seaman44, no one can’t say he’s not, but he’s too much of a lawyer to handle a craft like this. Now that cousin of yours, though he be a bloodthirsty, revengeful beast, as you should know by this time, yet he’s no lawyer. Captain Sims, there, he was all for letters of marque and such, but then, once a peace breaks out, where’s your letters of marque? They ain’t no more use than so much ballast. Now when we came out here, the lieutenant45 he says, ‘Let’s go into Gheriah, and join the pirates there’—though according to him they aren’t what you may call pirates, being under a king of their own, who has as much right to give them commissions as King George himself. But Captain Sims he wouldn’t [Pg 77]hear of it, the more so as there was a British squadron under Commodore Porter had been out from Bombay in the spring, and knocked some of their forts about their ears for them. But, you see, unless we joined them, we had nothing to do till such time as the war began again, unless we chose to take the risk of standing up and down the coast, as you may say, on our own hook. So the crew they sided with the lieutenant, that’s your cousin, and the end of it was there was a sort of a mutiny, and Captain Sims he was carried ashore at Gheriah and given up to the pirates, leastways to their king, and the lieutenant took his place.”
“Then the long and short of it is that this is a pirate ship,” was all I could say.
“Well, we are, and, in a manner of speaking, we aren’t. When we want to come into Bombay here we sail under King George’s flag, and when we’re in company with the pirates we fly theirs. Any way, we’ve taken two Dutch ships and an English one since we got out here, and that’s put money in our pockets, which is more than Captain Sims would have done with his lawyering.”
“And I suppose I am to be carried to Gheriah and given up to the pirates, like Mr. Sims,” I said bitterly.
But this the boatswain swore with many oaths he would not permit. Nevertheless I could see that he was strongly attached to my cousin’s interest, and not disposed to venture anything openly against [Pg 78]him. Indeed, he tried very hard to persuade me to come into their plans, offering to reconcile me with Rupert if I would consent to do this. To these proposals, however, I would by no means consent, being more experienced by this time than when I had joined them at Yarmouth, and having a pretty shrewd notion of how Mr. Clive would regard my former comrades if they should fall into his hands. Finally, I besought46 the boatswain for news of Marian.
He drew a grave face at this name.
“Athelstane, lad, I would rather you’d ask me any other question than that. Plague take the girl, she was the cause of all the mischief47 between you and the lieutenant! Forget her, lad, forget her, she’s not worth your troubling after.”
But he might as well have pressed me to forget who I was, and the situation into which my eagerness to hear of Marian had brought me.
Finding me resolute48 to know about her, he told me this much:—
“She came aboard while the Fair Maid was in the river, to nurse your cousin as he lay ill of his wounds. But I believe he had been tempting49 her before that to come out to the Indies with him, and she held back for him to go to church with her first, and this he didn’t care enough for her to do. Anyhow, it ended in his getting round her to trust herself with him, and he swore he would carry her straight to Calcutta and hand her over to her people [Pg 79]there. When we got out here, and she found he had no such purpose, but meant to keep her in the fortress50 as long as it suited his pleasure, there was a terrible business betwixt them. But you know what the lieutenant is, and that it ain’t a few tears from a woman that’ll turn him from anything he has a mind to do. So he just set her ashore by force, and there she is, as much a prisoner as Mr. Sims himself.”
I was overcome with the horror of this news, though I suppose it was what I should have expected from my cousin’s character.
“Good heavens!” I cried out in my distraction51. “Do you mean that she is in the hands of the pirates at Gheriah?”
“That’s about what it comes to. And the sooner you give up all thoughts of her the better for you, says I.”
Before I could frame any answer—and, indeed, I know not what answer I could have made—there was a great noise and trampling52 upon deck, and a man came down to tell us that the vessel was about to weigh anchor, and that the boatswain was wanted to attend to the service of the ship. Whereupon he left me, in the company of bitterer thoughts than a man can have more than once in his life.
I pass over the dreary53 time spent by me in that dismal54 confinement55 during our voyage. Old Muzzy visited me pretty often, and once Rupert himself came down and made offers towards a reconcilement.
[Pg 80]
“Say that you will join us honestly, and I will take off the irons, and rate you as one of the crew. And when occasion serves, I will cause you to be made lieutenant under me,” he promised, “for after all you are my own kinsman56, and blood is thicker than water.”
Whether he was sincere in this, or was compelled to it by my friend the boatswain, I do not know. But I had only one reply to give him.
“And Marian, what of her?” I said indignantly.
A dark look came on his brow.
“Leave that business alone,” he said. “It were better for you, I warn you fairly. That woman is mine, and I will not suffer the Almighty57 Himself to come between us.”
At this blasphemous58 avowal59 I turned my back on him, and would entertain no further proposals. However, I knew from the boatswain that Rupert was first for throwing me overboard; and when Muzzy, who had much authority with the crew, would not consent to that, he was for putting me into the castle at Gheriah, along with the late captain. But this my sturdy champion also opposed, and the end of it was that I was left in my present quarters when the Fair Maid arrived in the pirates’ harbour, and brought them the news that a British squadron was on its way to besiege60 the place.
This intelligence Rupert had acquired before leaving Bombay, and it was this which had caused him to set sail with so much haste. Becoming very [Pg 81]busied in preparations for the defence, I luckily slipped somewhat out of his mind, and the boatswain took advantage of this to soften61 the rigour of my imprisonment62, allowing me to take the air on deck, and even going so far as to release me from my irons.
I was thus enabled to gain some idea of the place I had been brought to. When I first came up from below, after so long a time passed in obscurity, the daylight proved too much for my eyes, and I was obliged to close them, and accustom63 myself to the glare by degrees. As soon as I was able to look about me, however, I perceived that the Fair Maid was lying in a very spacious64 river, not far from the mouth, and over against a sort of rocky islet or peninsula, joined to the left bank of the river by a strip of sand. On the rock there was built a very strong castle, having a double wall and towers to protect it, but the cannons66 of rather poor calibre. Alongside of us lay the fleet of the pirates, composed of strange-looking vessels67, having for the most part two masts, one very much in the stern, and rigged with a huge sail, the peak of which came much above the top of the mast. The prows68 of these vessels stretched a great way forward out of the water having the appearance of a bird’s beak69. The larger of these vessels, of which there were about ten, are called grabs, and the smaller, of which I counted upwards70 of sixty, gallivats. These latter are managed with oars as well as sails, and [Pg 82]when there is no wind they are employed to tow the grabs behind them, so that in light weather it is easy for them to overtake the ship of which they are in pursuit. They were all armed with cannon65, the grabs carrying as many as twenty or thirty 12-pounders, and the gallivats swivel-guns of 6 or 9 pounds.
We had lain in this position for more than a month, and I was beginning to be afraid that Admiral Watson had altered his intention of coming to reduce the pirates’ stronghold, when one evening, as I sat on the deck, just at the time that the wind changed and began to blow in from the sea, I discerned a great commotion71 on shore in the fortress, and turning my eyes towards the river’s mouth I beheld72 a most welcome sight, namely, a fleet of no less than fourteen ships, arranged in two lines, with the Talisman at their head, sailing proudly in, with the British flag flying at their peaks, and their tops all full of men, their guns run out through their portholes, and their decks cleared for action.
As silently and as orderly as if they were in mid-ocean without a foe73 in sight, they came sweeping74 up the river, doubled the rocky point, and anchored one after the other, within two hundred yards of the north wall of the fort.
点击收听单词发音
1 versed | |
adj. 精通,熟练 | |
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2 transcribing | |
(用不同的录音手段)转录( transcribe的现在分词 ); 改编(乐曲)(以适应他种乐器或声部); 抄写; 用音标标出(声音) | |
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3 derive | |
v.取得;导出;引申;来自;源自;出自 | |
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4 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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5 rebuke | |
v.指责,非难,斥责 [反]praise | |
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6 irony | |
n.反语,冷嘲;具有讽刺意味的事,嘲弄 | |
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7 hardily | |
耐劳地,大胆地,蛮勇地 | |
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8 enlist | |
vt.谋取(支持等),赢得;征募;vi.入伍 | |
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9 ashore | |
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
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10 procured | |
v.(努力)取得, (设法)获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 );拉皮条 | |
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11 privately | |
adv.以私人的身份,悄悄地,私下地 | |
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12 applied | |
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用 | |
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13 wondrous | |
adj.令人惊奇的,奇妙的;adv.惊人地;异乎寻常地;令人惊叹地 | |
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14 oars | |
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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15 scrambled | |
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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16 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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17 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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18 spoke | |
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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19 apprehensions | |
疑惧 | |
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20 concealment | |
n.隐藏, 掩盖,隐瞒 | |
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21 attentively | |
adv.聚精会神地;周到地;谛;凝神 | |
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22 maliciously | |
adv.有敌意地 | |
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23 smote | |
v.猛打,重击,打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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24 scowl | |
vi.(at)生气地皱眉,沉下脸,怒视;n.怒容 | |
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25 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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26 Ford | |
n.浅滩,水浅可涉处;v.涉水,涉过 | |
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27 majesty | |
n.雄伟,壮丽,庄严,威严;最高权威,王权 | |
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28 talisman | |
n.避邪物,护身符 | |
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29 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
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30 mingled | |
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系] | |
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31 heed | |
v.注意,留意;n.注意,留心 | |
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32 harangue | |
n.慷慨冗长的训话,言辞激烈的讲话 | |
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33 concealed | |
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
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34 vindictive | |
adj.有报仇心的,怀恨的,惩罚的 | |
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35 transacted | |
v.办理(业务等)( transact的过去式和过去分词 );交易,谈判 | |
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36 indentures | |
vt.以契约束缚(indenture的第三人称单数形式) | |
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37 apprentice | |
n.学徒,徒弟 | |
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38 followers | |
追随者( follower的名词复数 ); 用户; 契据的附面; 从动件 | |
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39 rascals | |
流氓( rascal的名词复数 ); 无赖; (开玩笑说法)淘气的人(尤指小孩); 恶作剧的人 | |
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40 foul | |
adj.污秽的;邪恶的;v.弄脏;妨害;犯规;n.犯规 | |
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41 plight | |
n.困境,境况,誓约,艰难;vt.宣誓,保证,约定 | |
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42 imprisoned | |
下狱,监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43 heartily | |
adv.衷心地,诚恳地,十分,很 | |
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44 seaman | |
n.海员,水手,水兵 | |
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45 lieutenant | |
n.陆军中尉,海军上尉;代理官员,副职官员 | |
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46 besought | |
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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47 mischief | |
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
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48 resolute | |
adj.坚决的,果敢的 | |
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49 tempting | |
a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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50 fortress | |
n.堡垒,防御工事 | |
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51 distraction | |
n.精神涣散,精神不集中,消遣,娱乐 | |
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52 trampling | |
踩( trample的现在分词 ); 践踏; 无视; 侵犯 | |
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53 dreary | |
adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的 | |
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54 dismal | |
adj.阴沉的,凄凉的,令人忧郁的,差劲的 | |
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55 confinement | |
n.幽禁,拘留,监禁;分娩;限制,局限 | |
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56 kinsman | |
n.男亲属 | |
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57 almighty | |
adj.全能的,万能的;很大的,很强的 | |
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58 blasphemous | |
adj.亵渎神明的,不敬神的 | |
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59 avowal | |
n.公开宣称,坦白承认 | |
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60 besiege | |
vt.包围,围攻,拥在...周围 | |
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61 soften | |
v.(使)变柔软;(使)变柔和 | |
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62 imprisonment | |
n.关押,监禁,坐牢 | |
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63 accustom | |
vt.使适应,使习惯 | |
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64 spacious | |
adj.广阔的,宽敞的 | |
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65 cannon | |
n.大炮,火炮;飞机上的机关炮 | |
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66 cannons | |
n.加农炮,大炮,火炮( cannon的名词复数 ) | |
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67 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 | |
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68 prows | |
n.船首( prow的名词复数 ) | |
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69 beak | |
n.鸟嘴,茶壶嘴,钩形鼻 | |
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70 upwards | |
adv.向上,在更高处...以上 | |
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71 commotion | |
n.骚动,动乱 | |
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72 beheld | |
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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73 foe | |
n.敌人,仇敌 | |
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74 sweeping | |
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的 | |
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