To those doing outpost-duty on an island, however large, the main-land has all the fascination11 of forbidden fruit, and on a scale bounded only by the horizon. Emerson says that every house looks ideal until we enter it,—and it is certainly so, if it be just the other side of the hostile lines. Every grove12 in that blue distance appears enchanted13 ground, and yonder loitering gray-back leading his horse to water in the farthest distance, makes one thrill with a desire to hail him, to shoot at him, to capture him, to do anything to bridge this inexorable dumb space that lies between. A boyish feeling, no doubt, and one that time diminishes, without effacing14; yet it is a feeling which lies at the bottom of many rash actions in war, and of some brilliant ones. For one, I could never quite outgrow15 it, though restricted by duty from doing many foolish things in consequence, and also restrained by reverence16 for certain confidential17 advisers18 whom I had always at hand, and who considered it their mission to keep me always on short rations19 of personal adventure. Indeed, most of that sort of entertainment in the army devolves upon scouts20 detailed21 for the purpose, volunteer aides-de-camp and newspaper-reporters,—other officers being expected to be about business more prosaic22.
All the excitements of war are quadrupled by darkness; and as I rode along our outer lines at night, and watched the glimmering23 flames which at regular intervals24 starred the opposite river-shore, the longing26 was irresistible27 to cross the barrier of dusk, and see whether it were men or ghosts who hovered28 round those dying embers. I had yielded to these impulses in boat-adventures by night,—for it was a part of my instructions to obtain all possible information about the Rebel outposts,—and fascinating indeed it was to glide29 along, noiselessly paddling, with a dusky guide, through the endless intricacies of those Southern marshes30, scaring the reed-birds, which wailed32 and fled away into the darkness, and penetrating33 several miles into the ulterior, between hostile fires, where discovery might be death. Yet there were drawbacks as to these enterprises, since it is not easy for a boat to cross still water, even on the darkest night, without being seen by watchful34 eyes; and, moreover, the extremes of high and low tide transform so completely the whole condition of those rivers that it needs very nice calculation to do one's work at precisely35 the right tune36. To vary the experiment, I had often thought of trying a personal reconnoissance by swimming, at a certain point, whenever circumstances should make it an object.
The opportunity at last arrived, and I shall never forget the glee with which, after several postponements, I finally rode forth37, a little before midnight, on a night which seemed made for the purpose. I had, of course, kept my own secret, and was entirely38 alone. The great Southern fireflies were out, not haunting the low ground merely, like ours, but rising to the loftiest tree-tops with weird39 illumination, and anon hovering40 so low that my horse often stepped the higher to avoid them. The dewy Cherokee roses brushed my face, the solemn "Chuckwill's-widow" croaked41 her incantation, and the rabbits raced phantom-like across the shadowy road. Slowly in the darkness I followed the well-known path to the spot where our most advanced outposts were stationed, holding a causeway which thrust itself far out across the separating river,—thus fronting a similar causeway on the other side, while a channel of perhaps three hundred yards, once traversed by a ferry-boat, rolled between. At low tide this channel was the whole river, with broad, oozy42 marshes on each side; at high tide the marshes were submerged, and the stream was a mile wide. This was the point which I had selected. To ascertain43 the numbers and position of the picket on the opposite causeway was my first object, as it was a matter on which no two of our officers agreed.
To this point, therefore, I rode, and dismounting, after being duly challenged by the sentinel at the causeway-head, walked down the long and lonely path. The tide was well up, though still on the flood, as I desired; and each visible tuft of marsh31-grass might, but for its motionlessness, have been a prowling boat. Dark as the night had appeared, the water was pale, smooth, and phosphorescent, and I remember that the phrase "wan45 water," so familiar in the Scottish ballards, struck me just then as peculiarly appropriate, though its real meaning is quite different. A gentle breeze, from which I had hoped for a ripple46, had utterly47 died away, and it was a warm, breathless Southern night. There was no sound but the faint swash of the coming tide, the noises of the reed-birds in the marshes, and the occasional leap of a fish; and it seemed to my overstrained ear as if every footstep of my own must be heard for miles. However, I could have no more postponements, and the thing must be tried now or never.
Reaching the farther end of the causeway, I found my men couched, like black statues, behind the slight earthwork there constructed. I expected that my proposed immersion48 would rather bewilder them, but knew that they would say nothing, as usual. As for the lieutenant49 on that post, he was a steady, matter-of-fact, perfectly50 disciplined Englishman, who wore a Crimean medal, and never asked a superfluous51 question in his life. If I had casually52 remarked to him, "Mr. Hooper, the General has ordered me on a brief personal reconnoissance to the Planet Jupiter, and I wish you to take care of my watch, lest it should be damaged by the Precession of the Equinoxes," he would have responded with a brief "All right, Sir," and a quick military gesture, and have put the thing in his pocket. As it was, I simply gave him the watch, and remarked that I was going to take a swim.
I do not remember ever to have experienced a greater sense of exhilaration than when I slipped noiselessly into the placid53 water, and struck out into the smooth, eddying55 current for the opposite shore. The night was so still and lovely, my black statues looked so dream-like at their posts behind the low earthwork, the opposite arm of the causeway stretched so invitingly56 from the Rebel main, the horizon glimmered58 so low around me,—for it always appears lower to a swimmer than even to an oarsman,—that I seemed floating in some concave globe, some magic crystal, of which I was the enchanted centre. With each little ripple of my steady progress all things hovered and changed; the stars danced and nodded above; where the stars ended the great Southern fireflies began; and closer than the fireflies, there clung round me a halo of phosphorescent sparkles from the soft salt water.
Had I told any one of my purpose, I should have had warnings and remonstrances59 enough. The few negroes who did not believe in alligators60 believed in sharks; the sceptics as to sharks were orthodox in respect to alligators; while those who rejected both had private prejudices as to snapping-turtles. The surgeon would have threatened intermittent61 fever, the first assistant rheumatism62, and the second assistant congestive chills; non-swimmers would have predicted exhaustion63, and swimmers cramp64; and all this before coming within bullet-range of any hospitalities on the other shore. But I knew the folly65 of most alarms about reptiles66 and fishes; man's imagination peoples the water with many things which do not belong there, or prefer to keep out of his way, if they do; fevers and congestions were the surgeon's business, and I always kept people to their own department; cramp and exhaustion were dangers I could measure, as I had often done; bullets were a more substantial danger, and I must take the chance,—if a loon68 could dive at the flash, why not I? If I were once ashore69, I should have to cope with the Rebels on their own ground, which they knew better than I; but the water was my ground, where I, too, had been at home from boyhood.
I swam as swiftly and softly as I could, although it seemed as if water never had been so still before. It appeared impossible that anything uncanny should hide beneath that lovely mirror; and yet when some floating wisp of reeds suddenly coiled itself around my neck, or some unknown thing, drifting deeper, coldly touched my foot, it caused that undefinable shudder70 which every swimmer knows, and which especially comes over one by night. Sometimes a slight sip71 of brackish72 water would enter my lips,—for I naturally tried to swim as low as possible,—and then would follow a slight gasping73 and contest against chocking, that seemed to me a perfect convulsion; for I suppose the tendency to choke and sneeze is always enhanced by the circumstance that one's life may depend on keeping still, just as yawning becomes irresistible where to yawn would be social ruin, and just as one is sure to sleep in church, if one sits in a conspicuous74 pew. At other times, some unguarded motion would create a splashing which seemed, in the tension of my senses, to be loud enough to be heard at Richmond, although it really mattered not, since there are fishes in those rivers which make as much noise on special occasions as if they were misguided young whales.
As I drew near the opposite shore, the dark causeway projected more and more distinctly, to my fancy at least, and I swam more softly still, utterly uncertain as to how far, in the stillness of air and water, my phosphorescent course could be traced by eye or ear. A slight ripple would have saved me from observation, I was more than ever sure, and I would have whistled for a fair wind as eagerly as any sailor, but that my breath was worth to me more than anything it was likely to bring. The water became smoother and smoother, and nothing broke the dim surface except a few clumps75 of rushes and my unfortunate head. The outside of this member gradually assumed to its inside a gigantic magnitude; it had always annoyed me at the hatter's from a merely animal bigness, with no commensurate contents to show for it, and now I detested76 it more than ever. A physical feeling of turgescence and congestion67 in that region, such as swimmers often feel, probably increased the impression. I thought with envy of the Aztec children, of the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow, of Saint Somebody with his head tucked under his arm. Plotinus was less ashamed of his whole body than I of this inconsiderate and stupid appendage77. To be sure, I might swim for a certain distance under water. But that accomplishment78 I had reserved for a retreat, for I knew that the longer I stayed down the more surely I should have to snort like a walrus79 when I came up again, and to approach an enemy with such a demonstration80 was not to be thought of.
Suddenly a dog barked. We had certain information that a pack of hounds was kept at a Rebel station a few miles off, on purpose to hunt runaways81, and I had heard from the negroes almost fabulous82 accounts of the instinct of these animals. I knew that, although water baffled their scent44, they yet could recognize in some manner the approach of any person across water as readily as by land; and of the vigilance of all dogs by night every traveller among Southern plantations83 has ample demonstration. I was now so near that I could dimly see the figures of men moving to and fro upon the end of the causeway, and could hear the dull knock, when one struck his foot against a piece of limber.
As my first object was to ascertain whether there were sentinels at that time at that precise point, I saw that I was approaching the end of my experiment Could I have once reached the causeway unnoticed, I could have lurked84 in the water beneath its projecting timbers, and perhaps made my way along the main shore, as I had known fugitive85 slaves to do, while coming from that side. Or had there been any ripple on the water, to confuse the aroused and watchful eyes, I could have made a circuit and approached the causeway at another point, though I had already satisfied myself that there was only a narrow channel on each side of it, even at high tide, and not, as on our side, a broad expanse of water. Indeed, this knowledge alone was worth all the trouble I had taken, and to attempt much more than this, in the face of a curiosity already roused, would have been a waste of future opportunities. I could try again, with the benefit of this new knowledge, on a point where the statements of the negroes had always been contradictory86.
Resolving, however, to continue the observation a very little longer, since the water felt much warmer than I had expected, and there was no sense of chill or fatigue87, I grasped at some wisps of straw or rushes that floated near, gathering88 them round my face a little, and then drifting nearer the wharf89 in what seemed a sort of eddy54 was able, without creating further alarm, to make some additional observations on points which it is not best now to particularize. Then, turning my back upon the mysterious shore which had thus far lured90 me, I sank softly below the surface, and swam as far as I could under water.
During this unseen retreat, I heard, of course, all manner of gurglings and hollow reverberations, and could fancy as many rifle-shots as I pleased. But on rising to the surface all seemed quiet, and even I did not create as much noise as I should have expected. I was now at a safe distance, since the enemy were always chary91 of showing their boats, and always tried to convince us they had none. What with absorbed attention first, and this submersion afterwards, I had lost all my bearings but the stars, having been long out of sight of my original point of departure. However, the difficulties of the return were nothing; making a slight allowance for the floodtide, which could not yet have turned, I should soon regain92 the place I had left. So I struck out freshly against the smooth water, feeling just a little stiffened93 by the exertion94, and with an occasional chill running up the back of the neck, but with no nips from sharks, no nudges from alligators, and not a symptom of fever-and-ague.
Time I could not, of course, measure,—one never can in a novel position; but, after a reasonable amount of swimming, I began to look, with a natural interest, for the pier95 which I had quitted. I noticed, with some solicitude96, that the woods along the friendly shore made one continuous shadow, and that the line of low bushes on the long causeway could scarcely be relieved against them, yet I knew where they ought to be, and the more doubtful I felt about it, the more I put down my doubts, as if they were unreasonable97 children. One can scarcely conceive of the alteration98 made in familiar objects by bringing the eye as low as the horizon, especially by night; to distinguish foreshortening is impossible, and every low near object is equivalent to one higher and more remote. Still I had the stars; and soon my eye, more practised, was enabled to select one precise line of bushes as that which marked the causeway, and for which I must direct my course.
As I swam steadily, but with some sense of fatigue, towards this phantom-line, I found it difficult to keep my faith steady and my progress true; everything appeared to shift and waver, in the uncertain light. The distant trees seemed not trees, but bushes, and the bushes seemed not exactly bushes, but might, after all, be distant trees. Could I be so confident that, out of all that low stretch of shore, I could select the one precise point where the friendly causeway stretched its long arm to receive me from the water? How easily (some tempter whispered at my ear) might one swerve99 a little, on either side, and be compelled to flounder over half a mile of oozy marsh on an ebbing101 tide, before reaching our own shore and that hospitable102 volley of bullets with which it would probably greet me! Had I not already (thus the tempter continued) been swimming rather unaccountably far, supposing me on a straight track for that inviting57 spot where my sentinels and my drapery were awaiting my return?
Suddenly I felt a sensation as of fine ribbons drawn103 softly across my person, and I found myself among some rushes. But what business had rushes there, or I among them? I knew that there was not a solitary104 spot of shoal in the deep channel where I supposed myself swimming, and it was plain in an instant that I had somehow missed my course, and must be getting among the marshes. I felt confident, to be sure, that I could not have widely erred105, but was guiding my course for the proper side of tie river. But whether I had drifted above or below the causeway I had not the slightest clew to tell.
I pushed steadily forward, with some increasing sense of lassitude, passing one marshy106 islet after another, all seeming strangely out of place, and sometimes just reaching with my foot a soft tremulous shoal which gave scarce the shadow of a support, though even that shadow rested my feet. At one of these moments of stillness it suddenly occurred to my perception (what nothing but this slight contact could have assured me, in the darkness) that I was in a powerful current, and that this current set the wrong way. Instantly a flood of new intelligence came. Either I had unconsciously turned and was rapidly nearing the Rebel shore,—a suspicion which a glance at the stars corrected,—or else it was the tide itself which had turned, and which was sweeping107 me down the river with all its force, and was also sucking away at every moment the narrowing water from that treacherous108 expanse of mud out of whose horrible miry embrace I had lately helped to rescue a shipwrecked crew.
Either alternative was rather formidable. I can distinctly remember that for about one half-minute the whole vast universe appeared to swim in the same watery109 uncertainty110 in which I floated. I began to doubt everything, to distrust the stars, the line of low bushes for which I was wearily striving, the very land on which they grew, if such visionary things could be rooted anywhere. Doubts trembled in my mind like the weltering water, and that awful sensation of having one's feet unsupported, which benumbs the spent swimmer's heart, seemed to clutch at mine, though not yet to enter it. I was more absorbed in that singular sensation of nightmare, such as one may feel equally when lost by land or by water, as if one's own position were all right, but the place looked for had somehow been preternaturally abolished out of the universe. At best, might not a man in the water lose all his power of direction, and so move in an endless circle until he sank exhausted111? It required a deliberate and conscious effort to keep my brain quite cool. I have not the reputation of being of an excitable temperament112, but the contrary; yet I could at that moment see my way to a condition in which one might become insane in an instant. It was as if a fissure113 opened somewhere, and I saw my way into a mad-house; then it closed, and everything went on as before. Once in my life I had obtained a slight glimpse of the same sensation, and then, too, strangely enough, while swimming,—in the mightiest114 ocean-surge into which I had ever dared plunge115 my mortal body. Keats hints at the same sudden emotion, in a wild poem written among the Scottish mountains. It was not the distinctive116 sensation which drowning men are said to have, that spasmodic passing in review of one's whole personal history. I had no well-defined anxiety, felt no fear, was moved to no prayer, did not give a thought to home or friends; only it swept over me, as with a sudden tempest, that, if I meant to get back to my own camp, I must keep my wits about me. I must not dwell on any other alternative, any more than a boy who climbs a precipice117 must look down. Imagination had no business here. That way madness lay. There was a shore somewhere before me, and I must get to it, by the ordinary means, before the ebb100 laid bare the flats, or swept me below the lower bends of the stream. That was all.
Suddenly a light gleamed for an instant before me, as if from a house in a grove of great trees upon a bank; and I knew that it came from the window of a ruined plantation-building, where our most advanced outposts had their headquarters. The flash revealed to me every point of the situation. I saw at once where I was, and how I got there: that the tide had turned while I was swimming, and with a much briefer interval25 of slack-water than I had been led to suppose,—that I had been swept a good way down stream, and was far beyond all possibility of regaining118 the point I had left.
Could I, however, retain my strength to swim one or two hundred yards farther, of which I had no doubt,—and if the water did not ebb too rapidly, of which I had more fear,—then I was quite safe. Every stroke took me more and more out of the power of the current, and there might even be an eddy to aid me. I could not afford to be carried down much farther, for there the channel made a sweep toward the wrong side of the river; but there was now no reason why I should not reach land. I could dismiss all fear, indeed, except that of being fired upon by our own sentinels, many of whom were then new recruits, and with the usual disposition119 to shoot first and investigate afterwards.
I found myself swimming in shallow and shallower water, and the flats seemed almost bare when I neared the shore, where the great gnarled branches of the liveoaks hung far over the muddy bank. Floating on my back for noiselessness, I paddled rapidly in with my hands, expecting momentarily to hear the challenge of the picket, and the ominous120 click so likely to follow. I knew that some one should be pacing to and fro, along that beat, but could not tell at what point he might be at that precise moment. Besides, there was a faint possibility that some chatty corporal might have carried the news of my bath thus far along the line, and they might be partially121 prepared for this unexpected visitor. Suddenly, like another flash, came the quick, quaint122 challenge,—
"Halt! Who's go dar?"
"F-f-friend with the c-c-countersign," retorted I, with chilly123, but conciliatory energy, rising at full length out of the shallow water, to show myself a man and a brother.
"Ac-vance, friend, and give de countersign," responded the literal soldier, who at such a tune would have accosted124: a spirit of light or goblin damned with no other formula.
I advanced and gave it, he recognized my voice at once. | And then and there, as I stood, a dripping ghost, beneath the f trees before him, the unconscionable fellow, wishing to exhaust upon me the utmost resources of military hospitality, deliberately125 presented arms!
Now a soldier on picket, or at night, usually presents arms to nobody; but a sentinel on camp-guard by day is expected to perform that ceremony to anything in human shape that has two rows of buttons. Here was a human shape, but so utterly buttonless that it exhibited not even a rag to which a button could by any earthly possibility be appended, button-less even potentially; and my blameless Ethiopian presented arms to even this. Where, then, are the theories of Carlyle, the axioms of "Sartor Resartus," the inability of humanity to conceive "a naked Duke of Windlestraw addressing a naked House of Lords"? Cautioning my adherent126, however, as to the proprieties127 suitable for such occasions thenceforward, I left him watching the river with renewed vigilance, and awaiting the next merman who should report himself.
Finding my way to the building, I hunted up a sergeant128 and a blanket, got a fire kindled129 in the dismantled130 chimney, and sat before it in my single garment, like a moist but undismayed Choctaw, until horse and clothing could be brought round from the causeway. It seemed strange that the morning had not yet dawned, after the uncounted periods that must have elapsed; but when the wardrobe arrived I looked at my watch and found that my night in the water had lasted precisely one hour.
Galloping131 home, I turned in with alacrity132, and without a drop of whiskey, and waked a few hours after in excellent condition. The rapid changes of which that Department has seen so many—and, perhaps, to so little purpose—soon transferred us to a different scene. I have been on other scouts since then, and by various processes, but never with a zest133 so novel as was afforded by that night's experience. The thing soon got wind in the regiment134, and led to only one ill consequence, so far as I know. It rather suppressed a way I had of lecturing the officers on the importance of reducing their personal baggage to a minimum. They got a trick of congratulating me, very respectfully, on the thoroughness with which I had once conformed my practice to my precepts135.
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1
picket
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| n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫 | |
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2
isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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3
retrospect
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| n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯 | |
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radius
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| n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限 | |
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5
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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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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7
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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8
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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scout
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| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
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bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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14
effacing
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| 谦逊的 | |
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outgrow
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| vt.长大得使…不再适用；成长得不再要 | |
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16
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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advisers
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| 顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授 | |
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rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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prosaic
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| adj.单调的，无趣的 | |
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glimmering
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| n.微光，隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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38
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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39
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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40
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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41
croaked
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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42
oozy
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| adj.软泥的 | |
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43
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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44
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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45
wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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46
ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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47
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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48
immersion
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| n.沉浸；专心 | |
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49
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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50
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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51
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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52
casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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53
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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54
eddy
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| n.漩涡，涡流 | |
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55
eddying
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| 涡流，涡流的形成 | |
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56
invitingly
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| adv. 动人地 | |
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57
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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58
glimmered
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| v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
remonstrances
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| n.抱怨，抗议( remonstrance的名词复数 ) | |
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60
alligators
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| n.短吻鳄( alligator的名词复数 ) | |
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61
intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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62
rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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63
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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64
cramp
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| n.痉挛；[pl.](腹)绞痛；vt.限制，束缚 | |
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65
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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66
reptiles
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| n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 ) | |
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67
congestion
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| n.阻塞，消化不良 | |
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68
loon
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| n.狂人 | |
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69
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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70
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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71
sip
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| v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量 | |
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72
brackish
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| adj.混有盐的；咸的 | |
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73
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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74
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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75
clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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76
detested
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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77
appendage
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| n.附加物 | |
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78
accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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79
walrus
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| n.海象 | |
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80
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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81
runaways
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| （轻而易举的）胜利( runaway的名词复数 ) | |
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82
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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83
plantations
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| n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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84
lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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85
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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86
contradictory
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| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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87
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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88
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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89
wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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90
lured
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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91
chary
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| adj.谨慎的，细心的 | |
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92
regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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93
stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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94
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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95
pier
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| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
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96
solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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97
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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98
alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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99
swerve
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| v.突然转向，背离；n．转向，弯曲，背离 | |
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100
ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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101
ebbing
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的现在分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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102
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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103
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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104
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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105
erred
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| 犯错误，做错事( err的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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106
marshy
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| adj.沼泽的 | |
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107
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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108
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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109
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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110
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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111
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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112
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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113
fissure
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| n.裂缝；裂伤 | |
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114
mightiest
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| adj.趾高气扬( mighty的最高级 )；巨大的；强有力的；浩瀚的 | |
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115
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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116
distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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117
precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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118
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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119
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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120
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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121
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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122
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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123
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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124
accosted
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| v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的过去式和过去分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭 | |
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125
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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126
adherent
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| n.信徒，追随者，拥护者 | |
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127
proprieties
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| n.礼仪，礼节；礼貌( propriety的名词复数 )；规矩；正当；合适 | |
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128
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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129
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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130
dismantled
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| 拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消 | |
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131
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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132
alacrity
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| n.敏捷，轻快，乐意 | |
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133
zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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134
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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135
precepts
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| n.规诫，戒律，箴言( precept的名词复数 ) | |
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