F
OR the purposes of our narrative3 we must turn back in our portfolio4 of Australian reminiscences, and present to our readers a sketch5 of an event that took place sixteen years previous to the date of the commencement of our story.
An August evening is sealing up in long red rows of clouds another day of the year of 1873. The scene before us is the heart of the weird6 “Never, Never Land,” so-called by the earliest pioneers from the small chance they anticipated, on reaching 86 it, of ever being able to return to southern civilization. Eight hundred miles in a direct line nor’-north-west from Sydney on the sea-board, and over fifteen hundred miles by the dreary7 ways a traveller must follow, the sand-hills, clay-paws, and low sandstone prominences8 of the district, now called the country of the Upper Mulligan, was still a terra incognita to Europeans on the aforementioned evening. It is true those ill-fated heroes, Burke and Wills, had passed through it twelve years before; but, poor fellows, they were hurrying southwards for the relief that came too late, and had no time to take much notice of the country. Night is coming on, with that gloamingless presumption10 that is mentioned as one of the oddities of the new land by most new chum visitors to tropic Australia, in their epistolary offerings to friends in the old country. The crimson11 clouds just above the horizon flash out brighter than before, as the sun sinks its lower edge behind the dim grey-blue line of dreary sand-hills. The earth grows darker suddenly, and the bosom12 of the piece of water in the foreground, is led and fringed with graceful13 lignum bushes, and backed by a picturesque14 outline of broken sandstone cliffs, becomes lighter15 by contrast as all else merges16 into purple shadows. Native companions (a large kind of crane) croak17 hoarsely18 high overhead, as they follow the sun westward19, across the violet expanse of sky, to their feeding grounds by the salt lakes; large buzzards, called turkeys by the Australian settlers, come out to wrangle20 over grubs by the water’s side; mosquitoes rise in shrill-voiced, murmuring clouds to address the night-feeding fauna22 of the locality, vice23 swarms24 of persistent25 house-flies retired26, the latter having now 87 festooned themselves in countless27 myriads28 upon the zigzag29 branches of the Gidea scrub around; dingoes are slinking by, like the guilty shadows of departed thieves, to the dark, slippery mud-pools, where the overflow30 of the water-hole (a small lake left in an intermittent31 river’s bed) has formed a broken, snake-haunted swamp; and all the life of the half-desert country around this part of the Parapee (now Mulligan) river gathers to enjoy the moisture, the comparative coolness, and the food-producing qualities of this Australian oasis32.
Westward across the dreary salt pans, were we to follow the pelicans33 and native companions in their evening flight, we should find bitter lakes, with dazzling fringes of snowy salt, and strange—and, according to native legend, Cunmarie-haunted—mound springs. There, also, in the neighbourhood of the rocky Gnallan-a-gea Creek34 and sand-locked Eta-booka, we may find the wondrous35 Pitchurie plant (of the poisonous order of Solanacea). Growing here, and nowhere else in Australia (at the time we write of), the location of this valuable native drug, with its lanceolate leaves and white flowers,—that fires the warrior36, soothes37 the sufferer, and inspires the orator,—was shrouded38 by the cunning protectionist inhabitants of the wilds with the grimiest, most mysterious surroundings their medicine men could possibly invent. Black boiling lakes, Cerberus-like portiers, half man, half emu, and devils of the most uncivil type were supposed by the natives of other districts to guard this sole source of revenue, in the shape of boomerangs and red ochre, of the Paree and Mudlow country.
Eastward39 a matter of twenty miles from the 88 water-hole are the castellated “spires and steeples” of a long range of flint-crowned sandstone hills, whose débris has covered the intervening country with an almost unbroken “dressing” of glaring yellow and red brown stones, or “gibbers.” If we were to follow the river bed southwards we should come upon magnificently grassed flats, now covered with the shorthorns of various squatter-kings.
On the sandy summit of a mass of brittle41, broken sandstone, overlooking the water-hole, is the chief camp of the aboriginal42 inhabitants of the district. The father of this little hamlet—if we can honour the collection of beehive-like, mud-coiffured gunyahs by that name—belongs to the strong class-family, or totem, of the Mourkou (ignana-lizards43); and, food being plentiful44, enemies scarce, and no death-avenging troubles on hand, the little community is happy and contented45 on this winter evening, as the sun goes down. The smoke from the camp-fires curls up fearlessly from the tree-studded flat below the village, setting the More-Porks (night-jars of Australasia) coughing in the branches; and the peaceful though monotonous46 chants of infant-suckling mothers come with a soft lullaby murmur21 upon the ear. There is something very soothing47 about these native Yika-wimma (literally, milk songs), although we have heard them facetiously48 likened to the buzz of a meat-tin-imprisoned blow-fly; but, anyhow, their effect on a quiet evening like this is perfectly50 in sympathy with the spirit of the surroundings. Presently some twenty male natives, naked almost as the day they were born, collect round one of the fires, and proceed to discuss the merits of sundry51 lizards, fish, and 89 bandicoot which have been roasted on the embers. The menu also includes two varieties of potato-like roots,—Kylabra, a rather rare climbing plant, and that yellow-flowered “praty” of the interior, Tintina. The women sit patiently waiting for their turn to come, each watching her particular lord, much as a brown-eyed collie does his master, but scarcely ever ceasing their droning song. Now and then their patience is rewarded by a morsel54 being flung to them; and by-and-by, at a few words from the village-father—there is no real chief in these truly socialistic circles—the men gather round him to hold a consultation55 of some importance, the “ladies” immediately proceeding56 to do justice to what remains57 of the dinner. The men now gathered round the white-haired old native are mostly athletic-looking fellows, whose dark, naked skins, freshly polished with the fragrant58 fat—to an aboriginal’s olfactory59 ideas—of the ignana, shine in the firelight like the dark oaken carvings60 of saints in an Antwerp cathedral during midnight mass. The younger men and the boys (derrere), who keep at a respectful distance, and have eaten their meal apart from the fully-initiated males, are far from bad-looking as a rule. Ceaseless fun and joking, with occasional tale-telling, is going on amongst the youths; and presently they skip off into the shadows of the wurleys (huts) on the hill, where one of their number tells the oft-repeated native yarn61 of the “Crow and the Parula Pigeon,” amidst the shrieks62 of laughter of his delighted audience as they open their white-ivoried jaws63 in merriment at his imitations of the car-car, car-car, of the feathered rascal64 of the story.
The aged66" target="_blank">middle-aged65 men have the usual distinctive67 90 characteristics of all Australian aborigines,—the slightly-made, calfless leg; the brilliantly-expressive yet bloodshot eyes; the short, flat, “tip-tilted” nose and strongly emphasized corrugator muscles of the forehead. They wear their hair generally in a matted collection of wiry curls, cut so as to fall round their heads in the modern high-art fashion; but some, having need of materials for fishing-net and line making, are cultivating their locks into cone-shaped elevations68, by means of bands of grass. All of them stalk, rather than walk, as they move about, with long, from-the-hip strides that remind one of Harry69 Furniss’ caricatures of Irving. And what is particularly noticeable is, that the hunted-thief look one nearly always sees on the face of the average “station boy” (squatter’s aboriginal servant) is absent.
“What does the father of my mother’s sister, Pirruup, the clever sandpiper, think of these warnings, of these warnings?” chants one of the men, addressing the grey-haired patriarch, who sits a little apart from the rest, all being now squatting70 on their hams around the fire. “Shall Deder-re-re, of the duck-haunted Bindiacka water-hole, tell us once more of the strangers he saw, so that all may hear?”
Only two of the men have yet heard the important news brought by their red-ochre trader on his return home an hour before, so with the eagerness of children they wait open-eyed for the sage’s answer. Gazing heavenwards, where the stars are fast appearing at their brightest, the old man sits blinking his cunning old whiteless eyes, without apparently71 having heard the question. Upon his shrivelled, old, monkey-like features, lit by the fitful, dancing glare of the flames,91 nature has written a long history of privations, of weary trackings and watchings, and of savage72 battles. Yet there is something decidedly picturesque about him, and even admirable; for there is a certain air of dignity, command, and superior knowledge that makes itself manifest in all his movements.
After a somewhat lengthy74 silence, broken only by the laughter of the boys, and the distant, musical howling of far-off dingoes, the old man turns his head towards a young man, wearing the Yootchoo, or “string of barter,” and murmurs75, “Yathamarow” (you may speak).
All the men present are busy plaiting hair, scraping the thigh-bones of emus for dagger-making, and the like; but they cease their work as their trader, who has the distinctive red-ochre marks upon his body that show his profession, begins to speak.
“Three are the moons that have broken, as the Nerre (lake-shells) break upon the wave-beaten shore, since I departed for the land of the Dieyerie, for the land of the Yarrawaurka. The sun is hot. The birds fly only in the shade. After two days water is needed by the man who carries a weight.” The speaker proceeds, in a roundabout way, to notify to his hearers that, partly through want of water and partly by fear, he had not cared to follow up a certain discovery he had made,—of approaching strangers.
“They travelled slowly,” he continued, gesticulating, and glancing round as his growing excitement fired the faces of his audience with reflected interest.
“Their heads were ornamented77 with the white moongarwooroo of mourning, but worn differently to ours. Their skin is covered with hair like the Thulka92 (native rodent), and they carry the fire-sticks of the southern people in their hands. Their women are large as sand-hills, and bent78 double with the weight of their loading,—their black hair sweeping79 the sand, and their resemblance to emus in the distance being great.”
We are bound to pause again, to explain that the natives of the interior have often told us they mistook the first-comers’ horses for their women, as they carried the packs, the females of a native party on the march always taking the part of porters. This will explain the ochre trader’s error.
A general conversation follows for a time, when the red-marked native cries,—
“Listen! I have learned a new Wonka (song).” Then commencing to mark time with his nodding head, and tapping an accompaniment with two carved boomerangs, he commences to chant the following verse:—
“Pooramana, oh poor fellows,
Oro Tora Tona, cooking,
Came the strangers, Plukman holo
“Paramana, oh poor fellows,
Bum, Bum.”
With the ready appreciation84 of Australian aboriginals85, all those present took in immediately the significance of the above words, and saw in them the singer’s wish93 to warn his brethren that the approaching strangers were of the same kind as those mentioned in his song. As, however, the difficulty of true translation and the obscureness of the meaning may puzzle our white readers and prevent them culling86 the poet’s idea, we will explain that the trader had, in these terse87 lines, pictured how some poor black fellows, having obtained some savoury morsels, were cooking the same over the fire, when the dreaded88 strangers surrounded and destroyed them by means of smoke-emitting fire-sticks, that made a great noise, the imitation of which formed the chorus of the song “Bum, Bum.”
There is a cessation of the song, and a feeling of insecurity saddens each face, for it is only before whites, and the natives of other and possibly hostile districts, that the stolid89, expressionless physiognomy, sometimes mentioned as characteristic of the American Indian, is seen in Australian aborigines.
The old man has taken a plug of a tobacco-like compound from behind his ear and is chewing it, growing excited meanwhile. He is seeking for inspiration from a sort of hasheesh, formed of the dried and powdered leaves of the Pitchurie mixed with the ashes of the Montera plant.
The author of the didactic dialogues of Thebes, the old world expounder90 of some of the theories of modern psychology91, if he could revisit the earth and wend his way to Central Australia, would there find some of his ideas, or rather the ghostly semblance80 of them, passable as religious coinage amongst the old men of the tribes. Grand old Cebes taught that man had a sort of life of apprenticeship92 before he entered upon this world’s stage, and could (if pure of heart) sometimes94 take counsel in times of perplexity by looking backward into his sinless anterior93 existence.
One of the virtues94 that the native drug Pitchurie is supposed to possess when used by the old men is the opening up of this past life, giving them the power and perquisites95 of seers.
To return to the old man and the camp. All the men watch him, waiting for him to speak. The boys, meanwhile, having tired of story-telling, are playing at Beringaroo over a large fire they have started. This game is performed with boat-like toys formed out of the leaf of the Aluja, warmed and pinched into shape. Flung upwards96 with a sharp twirl, imparted to it with the first and second fingers, concave side downwards97, over the blazing fire, the plaything mounts with the draft, spinning rapidly, till it meets the cooler air, when it descends98, only to mount again, still whirling in hawk99-like circles. Shouts of applause reward the player whose toy keeps longest on the wing.
“Let the big fire be extinguished!” comes the word of command from the old man, uttered in a low voice. Then the speaker rises, and stretching out his arms towards the west, with the saliva100 caused by the chewing process running from his mouth upon his white beard and tawny101 chest, he commences to speak. The boys’ fire has been quickly subdued102, and men, women, and children watch the figure of their “guide, philosopher, and friend.”
Slowly, at first, come the words; the old man’s voice growing louder and more excited towards the end of his speech, which is a kind of address to his patron-, or birth-star, in this case that of the Evening, or Lizard’s eye:—
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“Amathooroocooroo, Star of approaching night, Kow-wah, thou risest, dilchiewurruna, from the sun’s camping-place.
“Boonkunana boolo, Thy shining head ornamented with gypsum,
“Aumin thieamow, Remain and tell us, Purrurie, what see you, Ooyellala, beneath you?
“The red-ochre hunters, Wolkapurrie.
“The braves who have carried Murulyie, the red-ochre, hither, Wilchrena, are fearsome!”
“Muracherpū-nā, We are groping in the dark.”
The old singer continues:—
“Quiet is wathararkuna, the south wind; but gna-pou kouta,
“The noise of the waters reaches us.
“Chaudachanduna kuriunia, are whispering over the spinifax (spiny grass).”
Chorus: “Muracherpū-nā.”
“As o’er Kuldrie, the salt-lake, thou risest.
“Kouta, the waves, koolkamuna, dance round you,
“Apoouna, Apoouna, bathing thy face.
“Murieami mungarina, farewell, thou silent one!
“Mungamarow mungara, let my soul speak!”
Chorus: “Mungamarow mungara!”
As the last vibrations107 of the chorus die away, the aged vocalist suddenly turns, and, filled with the spirit of prophecy, cries aloud in a different tone of voice, “The strangers are coming,” and then proceeds96 to march rapidly up and down beneath the Walke trees, his limbs quivering with excitement, and his staring eyeballs almost flashing with the wild madness of intoxication109.
“I hear them crush the Yedede with their feet,” he howls. “No more shall our women gather the food-seed of Warrangaba.” Then stopping, and raising his arms, he continues in a lower tone: “High above my head soars the hawk Kerrek-i, laughing as he smells the slaughter110.” Then mournfully, as he goes on with his promenade111: “No more shall the emu seek the Nunyakaroo for its young ones. Both the Yeraga and Galga, will disappear from the land. What does Tounka, the crayfish, whisper in the waters of Palieu? Why does Mol-la, the crab112, cry Kow-wah! come here! Kow-wah! come hither?”
The old man goes on marching and gesticulating, as he continues his prophetic lament113; and the frightened boys, huddling114 together near the women, have ceased to laugh, and can hardly breathe with terror. The mothers hug their fat little offspring closer to their breasts, and dismay is pictured on all faces save that of the travelled bearer of the dreadful news. He had already owned to feeling timid, when two days since he found himself alone in the proximity115 of the dreaded white-faced devils from the south, of whose cruelty and far-reaching lightnings he had heard account on his travels. But he is with his friends and brethren now, he thinks, and besides, the new-comers will not arrive at the village yet awhile, perhaps not at all. The white-faced ones were not always victorious116 either; he had heard of a party of them, who had been on a slave-making expedition, 97 being attacked, and their prisoners rescued, at Congabulla Creek, to the south-east. To-morrow the signal fires could be lighted, and the whole tribe collected for a grand consultation upon the subject of the invaders117. Three hundred braves could surely defy the handful of approaching Purdie (locusts). The Pulara (women who collect the braves and hunters together) should start at day break. Just as the thinker’s meditations118 gave birth to a more hopeful view of things, the old prophet of evil ends his harangue119 from sheer exhaustion120, and sinks theatrically121 upon the sandy soil, lying there motionless in a state of coma122.
Nearly every emergency produces its hero. Stepping forward into the open space before the other natives, bold-hearted Deder-re-re, of the red stripes, expresses aloud his hopes and plans, and winds up with a kind of nasal chant, that only a few of his audience—wonderful linguists123 as most of them are—can understand, as it is of southern origin, and in the language of the Warangesda tribe of New South Wales. The words have, as in most native songs, a hidden meaning,—a double entendre,—and in this case they are intended to illustrate124 the fact that a tribe is safest when its members are collected, or “rolled together,” much after the manner of the fable125 of the bundle of sticks. The song sung and explained has a visibly cheering effect upon all. At the risk of being tiresome126, we place the words before our readers, with a fair translation of it, as another example of Australian aboriginal poetry:—
“Chūul’yu Will’ynu,
Wallaa gnor??
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Chill? binu? aa gna,
Kinūn?a gnūura? jeeaa
Chi?ba-a gnūtata.”
Chorus: “Kirr?girr?, kirr?girr? Leeaa gna.”
TRANSLATION.
Burning like the fire-stick,
Surely some one is pinching me,
Softly, as a sister pinches her brother,
But I am safe, safe beyond danger
Grinning, grinning, grinning, are my teeth.”
The men now begin to discuss the matter in hand in a low voice, the old patriarch still lying upon the ground meanwhile; and a strange, wild group they form in the firelight, as they squat40 round in various attitudes. The women and boys now retire to the hut-crowned hill above the river flat. The heavenly peacefulness of the night scene, with the star-spangled sheet of water lying silent in its dark fringe of verdure; the purple dome130 above, pierced with the golden eyes of native deities131; and the tremulous cries of various night-prowling birds and beasts, softened132 and sweetened by distance,—all seems in curious contrast to the anxious faces of the little community.
A woman wearing the Bilpa forehead ornament76 of kangaroo teeth is sitting at the door of one of the gunyahs on the hill, with a child in her arms. The hut, which is exactly like all the others in the group,—and for the matter of that all within two or three hundred miles,—is built of sticks, which have been stuck into the ground at the radius133 of a common centre, and then bent over so as to form an egg-shaped99 cage, which is substantially thatched on top and sides with herbage and mud. The door, on opening, faces the least windy quarter, namely, the north. Reclining against the portal is the satin-skinned native mother, who, dark as night, has the beautiful eyes, teeth, and hair of her race. She is gazing at the fat little man-animal on her lap by the light of an anti-mosquito fire-stick which she gracefully134 holds above her, and the group would form as beautiful a model as any artist could wish for to illustrate that affectionate adoration135 for their offspring which is the pleasing attribute of most mothers, civilized136 or uncivilized, all over the world. A slenderly formed boy, of about eight years of age, kneels by her side, amusing his baby brother with a toy boomerang that he has that day won as a prize, in the throwing game of Wu? Whuuitch , with his fellows. The woman is singing the chorus of the chant with which the villagers have that day welcomed the returning ochre trader, her husband:—
“Mulka-a-a-a-wora-a-a,
Yoong-arra-a-a Oondoo-o-o
Ya Pillie-e-e-e Mulka-a-a-a
Angienie,
Kooriekirra-a-a ya-a-aya.”
TRANSLATION.
“Put colour in the bags,
Close it all round,
And make the netted bag
All the colours of the rainbow.”
But leaving the peaceful village for a time, let us turn our mental night-glass towards a point four miles down the river’s course. Here the stream, having left100 the rocky, sandstone country, rushes its spasmodically flowing waters, from time to time, between banks of alluvial137 mud. A rank growth of various herbs, rushes, and fair-sized gum-trees has arisen here from the rich soil, whose fertile juices are more often replenished138 by the river than that farther afield. It is very dark below the branches; but if the meagre starlight could struggle in sufficient quantity between the pointed139 leaves, we should be able to see upon the water’s brim a strange mark in these solitudes140, the footprint of a horse’s hoof,—the first of its kind that has ever refreshed its parched141 and grateful throat in the little billabong before us.
The ochre-hunter was in error when he calculated the speed at which the strangers were approaching his village. He had seen only the pack-train, which was proceeding leisurely142 to Palieu water-hole. The invaders were squatter-explorers pushing northwards in the van of that great red wave of European enterprise that, set in motion by the land fever of the “Seventies,” burst with a cruel and unbridled rush over the native lands lying north of the Cooper and Diamentina rivers.
Delighted with the Mitchell-grass and salt-bush country which the party had discovered a few days before, four of their number were now making a flying trip round in order to ascertain143 the extent of the “good country.” Hearing from their trained native scouts144 of the village on the rocky water-hole, they have decided73 to disperse145 the dwellers146 therein after the usual fashion, that still obtains in Australia when land belonging to and inhabited by the weaker aboriginal race is being taken up.
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A consultation is being held by the four whites in the shadow of a group of native plum-trees. The two scouts, both armed with Snider carbines, stand close by, and answer the questions put to them from time to time in the strange pigeon-English taught them by their masters. Each carries a tomahawk in the cartridge-belt that, fastened round his dark, oily waist, forms his only article of clothing.
“Well, it’s too dashed early to go near them beggars yet, by least three hours,” says one of the white men at last.
“And yet,” he adds to himself, “it’s risky147 not to get the job done, for if that blank, blank Englishman got scent148 of what I’m really after in pushing up here, he’d try his best to let the black devils escape. We’ll go back,” he adds aloud, with a curse, “to the old-man sand-hills by the clay-pan, where I sent Jackie back with the pack-horses. It won’t do to stop here, or the black devils, curse ’em, will drop on us, you bet. So we’ll retire and doss down for a couple of hours’ camp—say till one o’clock. Take us an hour to reach the beggars; half-past two’s the time to catch ’em sleeping.”
Turning to one of his boys, he asks,—
“How many black beggars sit down alonger camp, Bingerie?”
Bingerie, who has been close to the village that our readers have just left, and on business not altogether unconnected, as country newspapers would say, with the proposed slaughter of its inhabitants, murmurs huskily in reply,—
“Mine bin52 think him plenty black fellow sit down longer camp. Big fellow mob. Plenty little beggar, 102 plenty pickaninnie all about gunyah.” The speaker’s black face wrinkles up into a cruel, Satan-like grin, as he touches the tomahawk in his belt, the two actions boding150 no good for the said pickaninnies if he gets them in his clutches. Then glancing with cunning, obsequious151 eyes at his master’s face, to try and catch through the darkness a facial expression of approval, he continues, “Mine see um plenty gin, plenty little beggar gin (little women, i.e., girls); mine catch um, by’m-bye.”
The white men laugh at this, and the “boss,” flinging a stick of “station-twist” to the black imp49 before them, gives him some directions.
“Well, Bingerie, you black devil, there’s some ’baccy for you. Now, you see that fellow star,” point-to that part of the heavens where the constellation152 of Orion’s belt was looking down from the calm Australian sky upon the group of explorers,—“you see one, two, three fellow star. All the same star longer brandy bottle.”
“Me know,” murmurs the black “boy,” with a smile of pleasant recollections crossing his attentive153 features for an instant.
“White fellow go alonger gunyahs, when three fellow star catch ’em that fellow branch. Big fellow hoot154 then, eh! you black limb of Satan, you!”
The black “boy”—all aboriginal male servants of Australians are called “boys,” regardless of the age to which they have attained—regards the overhanging branch, and, mentally gauging155 the time it will take for the stars indicated to reach it on their track westward ho! across the heavens, grunts156 “Me know,” and slinks off as noiselessly as a cat after sparrows, and 103 presently reappears with another attendant sprite, both of them being mounted on wiry little horses, and leading the steeds of the rest of the party.
“Now, Jim,” says the man who has previously157 spoken to one of the others, as they ride over the sound-deadening sand, “we’ll have a camp for a couple of hours, and then we’ll proceed to give these cursed niggers something to let ’em know we’re not to be trifled with. Curse their black hides, I’ve tried kindness, and I’ve tried the other thing; but curse me if it ain’t less trouble to clear ’em off first thing,—I’ve always found it so, instead of having to shoot ’em in compartments158 afterwards.” He laughs a short, hard, hac! hac! as he finishes, to which his companion responds with,—
“My trouble’s about shooting of ’em hither way, curse their livers; all in the day’s work. Safe to light up yet, capting?”
“Not yet,” replies the “boss;” “round the sand-hill it’ll be all right,” and soon the party emerging from the brushwood, where a dark, spinifax-covered sand-hill overhangs an empty water-hole, pipes are lit, and the horses given in charge of the “boys;” the whites lying down for a spell, for they have ridden many weary miles that day.
Let us return to the village. Whilst we have been away, two braves have arrived at the water-hole with a message-stick for the head man of the village from the Eta-booka branch of the tribe. This curious means of communication consists of a piece of wood about five inches long—the half of a split length of a small branch. On the flat side a number of transverse notches159 have been cut with some rather blunt tool,104 probably a flint-knife. The larger cuts denote the names of men and places; the smaller are symbols of sentences. The message, which is soon read, is to the effect that Eta-booka people have seen the white strangers whose approach has alarmed the Paree-side villagers; and finishes by proposing a “meeting of the clans” for the next day. A reply message is determined160 on, manufactured, and despatched by the trusty runners, who start homewards with rapid feet, happy in the possession of a small piece of ochre each, with which they intend to beautify themselves at the “full dress” meeting to be held.
The thought of combination and safety on the morrow now sends the villagers, tired with the excitement of late events, to their gunyahs on the hill; and soon slumbering162, they do not see the fateful fall of myriads of Ditchiecoom aworkoo, shooting stars, that takes place at one o’clock. Deder-re-re is restless, however, in his smoke-filled wurley; and, half awake, dreams he is on one of his distant expeditions, and that the southern night-owl is screeching163 to its mate, as it flits past him on its ghostly wings. Suddenly he wakes. He listens, with upraised head. Yes, there is no mistaking it; the cry he heard in his dreams comes to his ears once more. Creek-e-whie, creek-e-whie, this time from the back of the hill. It is answered by a somewhat similar call from the water-hole below. A southern bird up here; and two of them. Trained hunter-warrior that he is, Deder-re-re takes in the situation in an instant. Foes164 are at hand, probably the dreaded white devils; and are surrounding the camp, signalling their position to each other, before the final attack, by imitating the105 cries of a night-bird. Smiling to himself at the foolish mistake of the enemy in using the note of a bird foreign to the district, he prepares for action. A touch and a whispered word to the wife of his bosom, and he slinks out of the gunyah, crawling on noiseless hands and knees to warn his fellows in the other huts. His sharp sense of hearing, made doubly powerful now that all his savage heart holds dear is in peril166, distinguishes the crushing of branches close by. Only white men could be the cause of that, he instinctively167 guesses. A passing dingo or emu would brush by the branches, and a black foe165 would make no noise whatever. It is too late for resistance. He must alarm the camp openly and effectively at once, and perhaps his loved ones may escape in the general excitement. A bright idea, heroic as ingenious, suddenly strikes him. If he can get the enemy down by the river flat to chase him, and at the same time make noise enough to wake his brethren, perhaps the majority of the latter will be able to reach the water-hole, their only chance of escape, through the gap thus formed in the circle of foes. With a fearful yell, he therefore springs to his feet, and bounds down the rocky side of the hill, sending a rattling168 avalanche169 of stones all round him as he goes, and reaches the flat below. Here the white “boss,” having arranged his men, is taking up his position for potting the black fellows as they make for the water, as his long experience in taking up “new country,” and knocking down the inhabitants thereof, has taught him they are sure to do. The cool-headed white man hears Deder-re-re’s yell, and can just see him as he bounds past the smouldering fire towards him. A snap-shot 106 rings through the air, and the black fellow, springing upwards, falls dead upon the red-hot embers, crushing and fanning them into a sudden blaze, that shows the dark, flying forms of the villagers rushing towards the water-hole. Now ring the short, sharp carbine shots through the still morning air! Now whistling swan-shot from fowling170 pieces buzz through the falling leaves! Wild shrieks, deep groans171, the scream of frightened birds, the plunge172 of swimmers in the water, and all the fearful turmoil173 of a night surprise! Where lately the silent brushwood hooded174 over its dark image in the lake, the leaves blush ruddily with the sudden blaze of bursting stars of flame, as the white men fire upon the swimmers in the water-hole.
Then comparative quiet again. The opening scene in the act of bloodshed is almost as soon over as begun, and then the fearful work of despatching the wounded commences. The whites leave this job to their black accomplices175, and retire to the gunyahs on the hill, to mount guard over those who are giving the coup149 de grace to the unfortunate wretches176 writhing177 on the flat below. Well do they know that their “boys” will miss no opportunity of painting those already dripping tomahawks of a still deeper tint53. Brought from a far-off district, and believing it to be perfectly legitimate178 for them to kill their black brethren if belonging to another tribe, their savage natures, moreover, trained to the awful work, they glory in a scene like this. The rapid and sickening thud, thud of their small axes, right and left, at last ceases as the early blush of dawn begins to break behind the weird hill to the eastward. The mangled180 107 bodies of some thirty men, women, and children lie here and there amongst the broken bushes and half-burnt gunyahs; and the wild duck skimming down on to the once more placid181 bosom of the little lake, rise again with frightened squeaks182 on seeing the ghastly objects on its red-frothed banks.
“Didn’t do so badly,” says the white man whom the others address as “boss,” as he looks down from the rugged183 hill. “Got more than half the black devils. But I’ll bet their friends won’t come near this water-hole, at any rate, for a few years to come. No spearing of ‘fats’ here, when they come down for a ‘nip.’” Then turning his jolly, sensual face towards one of the other men, as they shoulder arms and prepare to return to their horses, he asks, with a laugh, “What did you do with the little gin you caught?”
“Give her ter Nero (one of the ‘boys’) when we was tired of each other. She’s begun a long ‘doss’ (sleep),” he continues, with a grin that puckers184 up one side of his cruel face, winking185 at the “boss” at the same time with a bloodshot eye; “guess she’s tired with the fun she had. Saw her lying precious still jess now, heac! heac!”
The two other white men are gone on in advance a little bit with the “boys,” being glad to quit the place. Now that the excitement is over, they begin to find it unpleasant. They have not seen enough frontier service with squatters yet to harden their hearts sufficiently186 to joke at the scene of a holocaust187, although when the water-hole is left behind a mile or two their fast succumbing188 consciences will be asleep.
“Yarraman (horses) come this way,” suddenly cries one of the boys, and throwing himself upon the ground 108 to listen adds, “Two fellow Yarraman (two horses) come pretty quick.”
The white party stand altogether on the flat, listening, for a few minutes, and then the less perfect auditory organs of the whites can distinguish the “property, property, property” of approaching horsemen. A couple of minutes more, and a rattle189 of brittle stones, followed by a brief plunging190 in the narrow part of the swamp close by, and two horsemen appear upon the grassy191 flat, and, bending upon their horses’ necks to avoid the branches, ride through the shadows at a walking pace towards the men on foot. The first of the new-comers to appear in view is a black “boy” of the conventional type, save that he is better clothed than the usual station native, and wears a scarlet192 handkerchief, placed turbanwise, upon his head.
“I’ll be hanged if I wasn’t right about that blank Britisher!” says the “boss,” angrily, out loud, as the second rider comes into view. “Why couldn’t the beggar leave this part of the work to me if he doesn’t like to do it himself, not go poking193 his nose after me wherever I go. But I don’t care a cursed shake of a possum’s tail if the beggar ‘props’ or not at it.” He openly affirms his feeling of nonchalance194, but in his heart he feels very uncomfortable,—which, seeing that the new-comer is his partner, who is to supply the necessary funds for stocking the new run with cattle, and for wages, rations108, and fencing wire; and, moreover, since an important contract between them has just been broken by himself, his irritation195 is natural. “Curse me,” he murmurs to himself, biting his lower lip, “if I’d waited till he’d got accustomed to what 109 the other fellows will do when they take up the country round us, and he found the niggers coming for beef on his own run, he’d soon have been the same as all of us.”
The white rider comes up to the group. The broad brim of his dirty, white felt hat, turned up in front, so as not to obscure his view, shows the stern and severe face of a man of about forty-five. He holds a revolver in his sword hand, is spare of form and sinewy196, and wears a thick brown beard. The bosom of his grey shirt flaps opens as he moves; and the long stirrup leathers he uses show at once that he has learned riding elsewhere than in Australia.
“Morning, Sam,” says the “boss,” as the horseman pulls up, “anything wrong at Bindiacka?”
The other men look on curiously197, as if they expected a wordy warfare198 and were waiting for the first shot.
“Have not come from the camp,” answers Dyesart, for it is our hero’s uncle that is eyeing his partner keenly as he replies to the latter’s question.
“I had a look round the big flat to the eastward after I left you yesterday. Came across a friendly lot of natives at a place,” pointing to his “boy,” “Saul says they call Narrabella. Coming back cut your tracks. Lost them on the ‘gibbers’ (stones) last night. What have you been doing up here? No row with the natives, I hope? Heard rifle shots early this morning.”
“We camped here last night,” replies the last speaker’s partner, turning to avoid the keen eyes fixed199 upon him; “niggers attacked us, if you want to know.”
110
“You camped here, leaving your horses and tucker (food) behind,” sneers200 Dyesart, disgusted with the palpable lie.
He continues after a moment,—
“Well, I’ll find out for myself what’s been your game. I’m afraid I can guess what has happened.” He rides past without another word into the arena201 of death, where a few crows are already at work upon the bodies. Dyesart has seen many awful sights in his time, and is expecting one now, but the scene overpowers him for a minute with mingled202 feelings of horror, pity, and indignation.
Speaking a few words to Saul, who is an educated “boy” he had obtained from the good missionaries203 of Rillalpininna on his way up from Adelaide, he fastens the horses to a tree, and proceeds on foot to examine the wounds and positions of the corpses204.
“A night surprise,” he says to himself; “I thought as much. The third of the sort I have seen in two years, and yet those smiling squatters one meets down south swear through thick and thin these things occur only in the imagination of the missionaries. What cowardly devils!” he adds aloud, as he stands before the body of the pretty young mother of Deder-re-re’s children. One dark, shapely arm still clasps the baby form; the other, crushed and mangled with attempting to ward9 off the blows of some weapon, rests upon the gory205, horror-stricken face. Both the woman’s skull206 and that of her child have been smashed in with axe179 blows. Over each body in turn the sinewy form of “Doctor” Dyesart bends, as he searches for any wounded that may still111 be alive for him to succour. But the work has been too well done. Thirty yards away the boss’s black boys are peering over the rocks, wondering what he is doing. Dyesart is so different to the other white men that have come within their ken1. On the road up, his curiosity with regard to rocks and stones, and his perennial207 kindness to them and all the other “boys,” has often much amused them. Presently one of these “boys” spies out a body amongst the rocks he has not noticed before. It is that of a young boy,—the one that played with his baby brother, as it lay in its mother’s arms, last night. The child’s thigh-bone has been broken by a snider-bullet, which has torn a frightful208 hole in the limb’s tender flesh. He is alive and conscious. But with the firm nerves that he has inherited from his hardy209 ancestors, he lies motionless, feigning210 death, though his soul is racked with agony and fear, and his mouth is dry and burning with a feverish211 thirst. Saul is helping212 his master in the search, and sees the movements of the other “boys,” as they proceed to despatch161 the victim they have hitherto overlooked. A hurried sign to “Massa Sam,” and the long barrel of a “Colt” rests for an instant on a steady left arm. Then the combined noise of a yell and a revolver shot breaks the silence, followed by the ping of a bullet and the whir of rising crows. Dyesart has shown his wonderful skill with small arms on many a gold-field, but he never felt more satisfied with his shooting powers than on this occasion. The bullet, hitting the black boy’s uplifted tomahawk, hurls213 it from his half-dislocated wrist, and poor Deder-re-re’s son still breathes. The wounded boy is attended to, and then 112 the question of what to do with him arises. He can scarcely be left behind, for his friends will hardly venture back to the water-hole for many days. In the meantime the horrible dingoes, crows, and ants would leave little of the original youth. Dyesart, too, wants a “boy” (as his nephew did long afterwards), as he must return Saul to the little mission station before long. So, after fastening a long branch to the child’s side and injured limb as a splint, and fixing it securely with well-trained fingers by means of strips torn from his saddle-cloth and Saul’s gaudy214 head-gear, Dyesart makes the little black body look like a newly “set up” skin in a taxidermist’s laboratory. Little Deder-re-re, junior, who will figure in future in these pages as Dyesart’s “boy” Billy, is then placed upon the saddle in front of Saul; and the waterbags being filled and suspended from the horses’ necks, the two riders proceed across the dreary sand-hills towards the junction215 of two wet-season creeks216, where the explorers’ camp and “station” preliminaries have been established. It is late in the evening when the two horsemen, having been delayed by their wounded burden, reach the white tents, where the “boss” and his subordinates have previously arrived; and after a silent meal of damper and duck, Dyesart says a few words to his partner, as the whites sit round the fire smoking.
“I am returning south to-morrow,” he begins. “As it is no use, I suppose, telling fellows like you what I think of your cowardly last night’s work, all I’ll say is that I feel justified217 in withdrawing from the arrangement we made between us about taking up land. When a man finds he’s made a contract with 113 another fellow who doesn’t carry out his part of the arrangements, he’s right in getting out of it.”
“Part of the contract,” calmly continues Dyesart, “between us was that all collisions with the natives were to be avoided if possible,—I quote correctly, don’t I?”
“Curse me if I know or care,” comes the muttered reply.
“And that no ‘dispersing,’ ‘rounding-up,’ or employment of the Native Mounted Police was to be allowed on any new country we should take up. You have broken this part of the contract several times, I believe, but this time once too often. I return south immediately, and if you try to hold me to my agreements with you,—but no, I don’t think you’ll be such a fool as that. Yon fellows have made me more orthodox than I was, at any rate,” he says, rising; “I never believed really in a material hell till to-day, but now I’m sure there must be one for such cowardly devils as you are.”
Next day Dyesart leaves, with his “boys” and horses, without bidding farewell to the others of the party, who, though they wouldn’t confess it for the world, are sorry to lose him with his jolly songs and genial219 temperament220.
And this was how Dyesart obtained his faithful henchman Billy. He had the little savage educated with white children in New Zealand, where the natives have equal rights with the Europeans, and he flourished into a bright, trustworthy young scholar, 114 like one of those that any of the half-dozen struggling mission stations of Australia can produce, in refutation of the popular Australian saying that the aborigines “are mere221 animals, and should be treated as such.”
Billy accompanies his preserver on all his later wanderings through the Australian wilds; and lastly, after laying the remains of his beloved master beneath the soil, he starts off across the desert with the treasured message, which when delivered in safety to the nearest white man, he sinks unconscious and exhausted222 upon the ground. Billy thus becomes one of the main instruments of Providence223 whereby our hero is set upon his journey and these pages written.
We close this chapter with a saying of the late explorer’s that expresses his views on a somewhat mooted224 point: “The true definition of civilization, it seems to me, is a state of social unselfishness, combined with useful learning. Knowledge and works that are antagonistic225 to this state of society, I do not believe to be properly designated as civilized.”
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1
ken
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| n.视野，知识领域 | |
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memoirs
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| n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数) | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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portfolio
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| n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位 | |
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sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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6
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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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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prominences
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| n.织物中凸起的部分；声望( prominence的名词复数 )；突出；重要；要事 | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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10
presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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11
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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merges
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| （使）混合( merge的第三人称单数 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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croak
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| vi.嘎嘎叫，发牢骚 | |
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hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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wrangle
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| vi.争吵 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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fauna
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| n.(一个地区或时代的)所有动物，动物区系 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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swarms
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| 蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
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persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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myriads
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| n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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zigzag
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| n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行 | |
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overflow
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| v.(使)外溢，(使)溢出；溢出，流出，漫出 | |
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intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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oasis
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| n.（沙漠中的）绿洲，宜人的地方 | |
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pelicans
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| n.鹈鹕( pelican的名词复数 ) | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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wondrous
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| 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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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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soothes
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| v.安慰( soothe的第三人称单数 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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squat
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| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
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brittle
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| adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的 | |
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aboriginal
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| adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的 | |
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lizards
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| n.蜥蜴( lizard的名词复数 ) | |
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plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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facetiously
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| adv.爱开玩笑地；滑稽地，爱开玩笑地 | |
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imp
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| n.顽童 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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52
bin
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| n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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53
tint
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| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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54
morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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56
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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57
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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59
olfactory
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| adj.嗅觉的 | |
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60
carvings
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| n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物 | |
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61
yarn
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| n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事 | |
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62
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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63
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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64
rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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65
middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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66
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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67
distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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68
elevations
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| （水平或数量）提高( elevation的名词复数 )； 高地； 海拔； 提升 | |
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69
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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70
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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71
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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72
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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73
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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74
lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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75
murmurs
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| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
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76
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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77
ornamented
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| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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78
bent
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|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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79
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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80
semblance
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| n.外貌，外表 | |
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81
morsels
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|
| n.一口( morsel的名词复数 )；（尤指食物）小块，碎屑 | |
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82
bum
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| n.臀部；流浪汉，乞丐；vt.乞求，乞讨 | |
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83
impromptu
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| adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地) | |
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84
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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85
aboriginals
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| （某国的）公民( aboriginal的名词复数 )； 土著人特征； 土生动物（或植物） | |
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86
culling
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| n.选择，大批物品中剔出劣质货v.挑选，剔除( cull的现在分词 ) | |
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87
terse
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| adj.(说话，文笔)精炼的，简明的 | |
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88
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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89
stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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90
expounder
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| 陈述者，说明者 | |
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91
psychology
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| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
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92
apprenticeship
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| n.学徒身份；学徒期 | |
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93
anterior
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| adj.较早的；在前的 | |
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94
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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95
perquisites
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| n.（工资以外的）财务补贴( perquisite的名词复数 )；额外收入；（随职位而得到的）好处；利益 | |
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96
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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97
downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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98
descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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99
hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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100
saliva
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| n.唾液，口水 | |
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101
tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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102
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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103
ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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104
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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105
gnats
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| n.叮人小虫( gnat的名词复数 ) | |
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106
shrimp
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| n.虾，小虾；矮小的人 | |
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107
vibrations
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| n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 )；震动；感受；（偏离平衡位置的）一次性往复振动 | |
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108
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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109
intoxication
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| n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning | |
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110
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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111
promenade
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| n./v.散步 | |
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112
crab
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| n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气 | |
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113
lament
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| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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114
huddling
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| n. 杂乱一团, 混乱, 拥挤 v. 推挤, 乱堆, 草率了事 | |
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115
proximity
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| n.接近，邻近 | |
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116
victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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117
invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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118
meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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119
harangue
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| n.慷慨冗长的训话，言辞激烈的讲话 | |
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120
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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121
theatrically
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| adv.戏剧化地 | |
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122
coma
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| n.昏迷，昏迷状态 | |
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123
linguists
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| n.通晓数国语言的人( linguist的名词复数 )；语言学家 | |
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124
illustrate
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| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
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125
fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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126
tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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127
porcupine
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| n.豪猪， 箭猪 | |
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128
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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129
spikes
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| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
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130
dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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131
deities
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| n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明 | |
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132
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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133
radius
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| n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限 | |
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134
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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135
adoration
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| n.爱慕，崇拜 | |
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136
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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137
alluvial
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| adj.冲积的；淤积的 | |
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138
replenished
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| 补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 )； 重新装满 | |
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139
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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140
solitudes
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| n.独居( solitude的名词复数 )；孤独；荒僻的地方；人迹罕至的地方 | |
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141
parched
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| adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干 | |
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142
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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143
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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144
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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145
disperse
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| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
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146
dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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147
risky
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| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
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148
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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149
coup
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| n.政变；突然而成功的行动 | |
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150
boding
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| adj.凶兆的，先兆的n.凶兆，前兆，预感v.预示，预告，预言( bode的现在分词 )；等待，停留( bide的过去分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待 | |
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151
obsequious
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| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
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152
constellation
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| n.星座n.灿烂的一群 | |
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153
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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154
hoot
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| n.鸟叫声，汽车的喇叭声； v.使汽车鸣喇叭 | |
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155
gauging
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| n.测量[试]，测定，计量v.（用仪器）测量( gauge的现在分词 )；估计；计量；划分 | |
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156
grunts
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的第三人称单数 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说； 石鲈 | |
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157
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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158
compartments
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| n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 )；（列车车厢的）隔间；（家具或设备等的）分隔间；隔层 | |
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159
notches
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| n.（边缘或表面上的）V型痕迹( notch的名词复数 )；刻痕；水平；等级 | |
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160
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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161
despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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162
slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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163
screeching
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| v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
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164
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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165
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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166
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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167
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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168
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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169
avalanche
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| n.雪崩，大量涌来 | |
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170
fowling
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| 捕鸟，打鸟 | |
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171
groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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172
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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173
turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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174
hooded
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| adj.戴头巾的；有罩盖的；颈部因肋骨运动而膨胀的 | |
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175
accomplices
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| 从犯，帮凶，同谋( accomplice的名词复数 ) | |
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176
wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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177
writhing
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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178
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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179
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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180
mangled
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| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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181
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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182
squeaks
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| n.短促的尖叫声，吱吱声( squeak的名词复数 )v.短促地尖叫( squeak的第三人称单数 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者 | |
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183
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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184
puckers
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的第三人称单数 ) | |
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185
winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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186
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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187
holocaust
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| n.大破坏；大屠杀 | |
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188
succumbing
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的现在分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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189
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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190
plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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191
grassy
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| adj.盖满草的；长满草的 | |
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192
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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193
poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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194
nonchalance
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| n.冷淡，漠不关心 | |
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195
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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196
sinewy
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| adj.多腱的，强壮有力的 | |
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197
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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198
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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199
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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200
sneers
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| 讥笑的表情（言语）( sneer的名词复数 ) | |
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201
arena
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| n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台 | |
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202
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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203
missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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204
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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205
gory
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| adj.流血的；残酷的 | |
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206
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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207
perennial
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| adj.终年的；长久的 | |
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208
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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209
hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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210
feigning
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| 假装，伪装( feign的现在分词 )； 捏造（借口、理由等） | |
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211
feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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212
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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213
hurls
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的第三人称单数 )；大声叫骂 | |
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214
gaudy
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| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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215
junction
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| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
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216
creeks
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| n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪 | |
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217
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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218
growls
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的第三人称单数 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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219
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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220
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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221
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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222
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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223
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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224
mooted
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| adj.未决定的，有争议的，有疑问的v.提出…供讨论( moot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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225
antagonistic
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| adj.敌对的 | |
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