"I will ride," he said, "close up to the castle walls. My armour6 is good, and I care not for arrow or crossbow bolt. It were best you fell back a little, for they may have horses and may sally out in pursuit. I am well mounted and fear not being overtaken, but it were best that you should have a good start."
Archie then rode forward toward the castle. Seeing a knight7 approaching alone the garrison judged that he was friendly, and it was not until it was seen that instead of approaching the drawbridge he turned aside and rode to the edge of the fosse, that they suspected that he was a foe8. Running to the walls they opened fire with arrows upon him, but by this time Archie had seen all that he required. Across the promontory ran a sort of fissure9, some ten yards wide and as many deep. From the opposite edge of this the wall rose abruptly10. Here assault would be difficult, and it was upon the gateway11 that an attack must be made. Several arrows had struck his armour and glanced off, and Archie now turned and quietly rode away, his horse being protected by mail like himself. Scarce had he turned when he saw a sight which caused him for a moment to draw rein12. Coming at full gallop13 toward the promontory was a strong body of English horse, flying the banner of Sir Ingram de Umfraville. They were already nearer to the end of the neck than he was. There was no mode of escape, and drawing his sword he galloped14 at full speed to meet them. As he neared them Sir Ingram himself, one of the doughtiest of Edward's knights15, rode out with levelled lance to meet him. At full gallop the knights charged each other. Sir Ingram's spear was pointed16 at the bars of Archie's helmet, but as the horses met each other Archie with a blow of his sword cut off the head of the lance and dealt a tremendous backhanded blow upon Sir Ingram's helmet as the latter passed him, striking the knight forward on to his horse's neck; then without pausing a moment he dashed into the midst of the English ranks.
The horsemen closed around him, and although he cut down several with his sweeping17 blows he was unable to break his way through them. Such a conflict could not last long. Archie received a blow from behind which struck him from his horse. Regaining18 his feet he continued the fight, but the blows rained thick upon him, and he was soon struck senseless to the ground.
When he recovered he was in a room in the keep of the castle. Two knights were sitting at a table near the couch on which he was lying. "Ah!" exclaimed one, on seeing Archie open his eyes and move, "I am glad to see your senses coming back to you, sir prisoner. Truly, sir, I regret that so brave a knight should have fallen into my hands, seeing that in this war we must needs send our prisoners to King Edward, whose treatment of them is not, I must e'en own, gentle; for indeed you fought like any paladin. I deemed not that there was a knight in Scotland, save the Bruce himself, who could have so borne himself; and never did I, Ingram de Umfraville, come nearer to losing my seat than I did from that backhanded blow you dealt me. My head rings with it still. My helmet will never be fit to wear again, and as the leech19 said when plastering my head, 'had not my skull20 been of the thickest, you had assuredly cut through it.' May I crave21 the name of so brave an antagonist22?"
"I am Sir Archibald Forbes," Archie replied.
"By St. Jago!" the knight said, "but I am sorry for it, seeing that, save Bruce himself, there is none in the Scottish ranks against whom King Edward is so bitter. In the days of Wallace there was no one whose name was more often on our lips than that of Sir Archibald Forbes, and now, under Bruce, it is ever coming to the front. I had thought to have asked Edward as a boon23 that I should have kept you as my prisoner until exchanged for one on our side, but being Sir Archibald Forbes I know that it were useless indeed; nevertheless, sir knight, I will send to King Edward, begging him to look mercifully upon your case, seeing how bravely and honourably24 you have fought."
"Thanks for your good offices, Sir Ingram," Archie replied, "but I shall ask for no mercy for myself. I have never owed or paid him allegiance, but, as a true Scot, have fought for my country against a foreign enemy."
"But King Edward does not hold himself to be a foreign enemy," the knight said, "seeing that Baliol, your king, with Comyn and all your great nobles, did homage26 to him as Lord Paramount27 of Scotland."
"It were an easy way," Archie rejoined, "to gain a possession to nominate a puppet from among the nobles already your vassals29, and then to get him to do homage. No, sir knight, neither Comyn nor Baliol, nor any other of the Anglo-Norman nobles who hold estate in Scotland, have a right to speak for her, or to barter30 away her freedom. That is what Wallace and thousands of Scotchmen have fought and died to protest against, and what Scotchmen will do until their country is free."
"It is not a question for me to argue upon," Sir Ingram said surlily. "King Edward bids me fight in Scotland, and as his knight and vassal28 I put on my harness without question. But I own to you that seeing I have fought beside him in Gascony, when he, as a feudal32 vassal of the King of France, made war upon his lord, I cannot see that the offence is an unpardonable one when you Scotchmen do the same here. Concerning the lawfulness33 of his claim to be your lord paramount, I own that I neither know nor care one jot34. However, sir, I regret much that you have fallen into my hands, for to Carlisle, where the king has long been lying, as you have doubtless heard, grievously ill, I must forthwith send you. I must leave you here with the governor, for in half an hour I mount and ride away with my troop. He will do his best to make your sojourn36 here easy until such time as I may have an opportunity of sending you by ship to Carlisle; and now farewell, sir," he said, giving Archie his hand, "I regret that an unkind chance has thrown so gallant37 a knight into my hands, and that my duty to the king forbids me from letting you go free."
"Thanks, Sir Ingram," Archie replied. "I have ever heard of you as a brave knight, and if this misfortune must fall upon me, would sooner that I should have been captured by you than by one of less fame and honour."
The governor now had a meal with some wine set before Archie, and then left him alone.
"I am not at Carlisle yet," Archie said to himself. "Unless I mistake, we shall have Sir James thundering at the gate before morning. Cluny will assuredly have ridden off at full speed to carry the news when he saw that I was cut off, and e'en now he will be marching towards the castle." As he expected, Archie was roused before morning by a tremendous outburst of noise. Heavy blows were given, followed by a crash, which Archie judged to be the fall of the drawbridge across the fosse. He guessed that some of Douglas's men had crept forward noiselessly, had descended38 the fosse, and managed to climb up to the gate, and had then suddenly attacked with their axes the chains of the drawbridge.
A prodigious40 uproar41 raged in the castle. Orders were shouted, and the garrison, aroused from their sleep, snatched up their arms and hastened to the walls. Outside rose the war cry, "A Douglas! A Douglas!" mingled42 with others of, "Glen Cairn to the rescue!" For a few minutes all was confusion, then a light suddenly burst up and grew every instant more and more bright.
"Douglas has piled faggots against the gates," Archie said to himself. "Another quarter of an hour and the castle will be his."
Three or four minutes later the governor with six soldiers, two of whom bore torches, entered the room. "You must come along at once, sir knight," the governor said. "The attack is of the fiercest, and I know not whether we shall make head against it, but at any rate I must not risk your being recaptured, and must therefore place you in a boat and send you off without delay to the castle at Port Patrick."
It was in vain for Archie to think of resistance, he was unarmed and helpless. Two of the soldiers laid hands on him and hurried him along until they reached the lower chambers43 of the castle. The governor unlocked a door, and with one of the torch bearers led the way down some narrow steps. These were some fifty in number, and then a level passage ran along for some distance. Another door was opened, and the fresh breeze blew upon them as they issued forth35. They stood on some rocks at the foot of the promontory on which the castle stood. A large boat lay close at hand, drawn44 to the shore. Archie and the six soldiers entered her; four of the latter took the oars45, and the others seated themselves by their prisoner, and then the boat rowed away, while the governor returned to aid in the defence of the castle.
The boat was but a quarter of a mile away when on the night air came the sound of a wild outburst of triumphant46 shouts which told that the Scots had won their way into the castle. With muttered curses the men bent47 to their oars and every minute took them further away from Knockbawn.
Archie was bitterly disappointed. He had reckoned confidently on the efforts of Douglas to deliver him, and the possibility of his being sent off by sea had not entered his mind. It seemed to him now that his fate was sealed. He had noticed on embarking48 that there were no other boats lying at the foot of the promontory, and pursuit would therefore be impossible.
After rowing eight hours the party reached Port Patrick, where Archie was delivered by the soldiers to the governor with a message from their commander saying that the prisoner, Sir Archibald Forbes, was a captive of great importance, and was, by the orders of Sir Ingram de Umfraville who had captured him, to be sent on to Carlisle to the king when a ship should be going thither49. A fortnight passed before a vessel50 sailed. Archie was placed in irons and so securely guarded in his dungeon51 that escape was altogether impossible. So harsh was his confinement52 that he longed for the time when a vessel would sail for Carlisle, even though he was sure that the same fate which had attended so many of Scotland's best and bravest knights awaited him there.
The winds were contrary, and the vessel was ten days upon the voyage. Upon reaching Carlisle Archie was handed to the governor of the castle, and the next morning was conducted to the presence of the king himself. The aged39 monarch53, in the last extremity54 of sickness, lay upon a couch. Several of his nobles stood around him.
"So," he said as the prisoner was brought before him, "this is Archibald Forbes, the one companion of the traitor55 Wallace who has hitherto escaped my vengeance56. So, young sir, you have ventured to brave my anger and to think yourself capable of coping with the Lion of England."
"I have done my utmost, sir king," Archie said firmly, "such as it was, for the freedom of my country. No traitor am I, nor was my leader Wallace. Nor he, nor I, ever took vow57 of allegiance to you, maintaining ever that the kings of England had neither claim nor right over Scotland. He has been murdered, foully58 and dishonourably, as you will doubtless murder me, and as you have killed many nobler knights and gentlemen; but others will take our places, and so the fight will go on until Scotland is free."
"Scotland will never be free," the king said with angry vehemence59. "Rather than that, she shall cease to exist, and I will slay60 till there is not one of Scottish blood, man, woman, or child, to bear the name. Let him be taken to Berwick," he said; "there let him be exposed for a week in a cage outside the castle, that the people may see what sort of a man this is who matches himself against the might of England. Then let him be hung, drawn, and quartered, his head sent to London, and his limbs distributed between four Scotch31 cities."
"I go, sir king," Archie said, as the attendants advanced to seize him, "and at the end of the week I will meet you before the throne of God, for you, methinks, will have gone thither before me, and there will I tax you with all your crimes, with the slaughter61 of tens of thousands of Scottish men, women, and children, with cities destroyed and countries wasted, and with the murder in cold blood of a score of noble knights whose sole offence was that they fought for their native country."
With these words Archie turned and walked proudly from the king's presence. An involuntary murmur62 of admiration63 at his fearless bearing escaped from the knights and nobles assembled round the couch of the dying monarch.
When, two days later, Archie entered the gates of Berwick Castle the bells of the city were tolling64, for a horseman had just ridden in with the news that Edward had expired on the evening before, being the 6th day of July, 1307, just at the moment when he was on the point of starting with the great army he had assembled to crush out the insurrection in Scotland.
So deep was his hate for the people who had dared to oppose his will that when dying he called before him his eldest65 son, and in the presence of his barons66 caused him to swear upon the saints that so soon as he should be dead his body should be boiled in a cauldron until the flesh should be separated from the bones, after which the flesh should be committed to the earth, but the bones preserved, and that, as often as the people of Scotland rebelled, the military array of the kingdom should be summoned and the bones carried at the head of the army into Scotland. His heart he directed should be conveyed to and deposited in the Holy Land.
So died Edward I, a champion of the Holy Sepulchre, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Aquitaine, conqueror67 of Wales, and would be conqueror of Scotland. In many respects his reign25 was a great and glorious one, for he was more than a great conqueror, he was, to England, a wise and noble king; and taken altogether he was perhaps the greatest of the Plantagenets.
Historians have striven to excuse and palliate his conduct toward Scotland. They have glossed68 over his crimes and tried to explain away the records of his deeds of savage69 atrocity70, and to show that his claims to that kingdom, which had not a shadow of foundation save from the submission71 of her Anglo-Norman nobles, almost all of whom were his own vassals and owned estates in England, were just and righteous. Such is not the true function of history. Edward's sole claim to Scotland was that he was determined72 to unite under his rule England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and he failed because the people of Scotland, deserted73 as they were by all their natural leaders, preferred death to such a slavery as that under which Ireland and Wales helplessly groaned74. His dying wishes were not observed. His body was laid in rest in Westminster Abbey, and on the tomb was inscribed75, "Edward I the mallet76 of the Scots."
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1
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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promontory
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| n.海角；岬 | |
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jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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fissure
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| n.裂缝；裂伤 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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regaining
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| 复得( regain的现在分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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leech
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| n.水蛭，吸血鬼，榨取他人利益的人；vt.以水蛭吸血；vi.依附于别人 | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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crave
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| vt.渴望得到，迫切需要，恳求，请求 | |
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antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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honourably
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| adv.可尊敬地，光荣地，体面地 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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vassal
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| n.附庸的；属下；adj.奴仆的 | |
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vassals
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| n.奴仆( vassal的名词复数 )；（封建时代）诸侯；从属者；下属 | |
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barter
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| n.物物交换，以货易货，实物交易 | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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lawfulness
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| 法制，合法 | |
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jot
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| n.少量；vi.草草记下；vt.匆匆写下 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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42
mingled
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| 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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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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44
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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46
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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47
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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48
embarking
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| 乘船( embark的现在分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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49
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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50
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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51
dungeon
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| n.地牢，土牢 | |
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52
confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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53
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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54
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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55
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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56
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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57
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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58
foully
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| ad.卑鄙地 | |
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59
vehemence
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| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
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60
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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62
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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63
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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64
tolling
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| [财]来料加工 | |
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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barons
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| 男爵( baron的名词复数 )； 巨头； 大王； 大亨 | |
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conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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68
glossed
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| v.注解( gloss的过去式和过去分词 )；掩饰（错误）；粉饰；把…搪塞过去 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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70
atrocity
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| n.残暴，暴行 | |
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71
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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72
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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73
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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74
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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75
inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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76
mallet
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| n.槌棒 | |
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