There were deck quoits, shuffleboard and various other ship's games for our amusement. But it was too hot for violent exercise. The men rigged up a huge canvas bath, contrived6 out of a mainsail, in the bows forward, and here, each morning before breakfast, Garth, Custrin and I used to disport7 ourselves like young seals in their tank at the Zoo. For the rest, the day passed very pleasantly with a little gossip, a little music, a little bridge. We three men, following a custom which Garth had established, took our trick at the wheel and when Custrin had finished his watch, Marjorie reported for duty and proved herself the best helmsman of us all.
As a matter of fact, I had no time to be bored. I spent many hours in the chart-house with Garth and Lawless settling the details of our contemplated8 expedition. There was, in truth, much to plot out and arrange. The captain was more emphatic9 than ever against the idea of anybody beyond us three being let into the secret of the treasure-hunt. In fact, as our discussions proceeded, he showed himself increasingly reluctant to grant us as long as a week on the island.
"It's asking too much, Sir Alexander," he said, shaking his red head, "to expect the crew to remain cooped up in the yacht in sight of green land and not a man allowed ashore10. I might hold 'em in hand for a couple of days; but after that it will be difficult, very difficult, as well you and the major here must know!"
It was Garth, with his quick business mind, who made the suggestion which solved the problem. Raising his head from the chart which he had been studying while Lawless, in an aggrieved11 tone, was presenting his case, he said:—
"Maroon you?" repeated the captain in a puzzled voice.
"Aye! Dump us ashore and then take the yacht to Alcedo!"
Alcedo, he explained to us with chart and "Sailing Directions," was an islet lying some ninety miles west of Cock Island, a small, uninhabited rock, the home of seabirds of all kinds.
"You can get some shooting," Sir Alexander added, "and, if the 'Sailing Directions' speak true, good fishing. There's a fair landing on the north face, it says here, and a run ashore will do the men all the good in the world. You won't have above two or three days at the most at the rock before it will be time to put about and sail back and fetch us off!"
Lawless raised various objections, all of which did him the greatest credit. He didn't like leaving us. Suppose something happened to the Naomi? But Garth swept all objections aside. Then Lawless played his last trump13.
"And what about Miss Garth?" he queried14. "How will she like leaving you ashore on an uninhabited island? Or do you propose to take her with you?"
Garth rubbed his nose rather sheepishly.
"H'm," he mused15. Then, "Okewood," he remarked, "this will be a little difficult. How about taking Marjie ashore at Cock Island with us?"
"Out of the question," I retorted. "We're going to rough it, Sir Alexander. And it will be no life for your daughter. Why, we aren't even taking a servant!"
Garth jibbed at that. It would be bad enough leaving Marjie, he grumbled17, and how he would face her he didn't know. But he must have his man with him. He must have Carstairs. In that I was inclined to support him. I had taken a fancy to Carstairs. I liked his honest, sensible face; he knew Garth and his ways; besides, he seemed a knowledgeable18 sort of chap and I had an idea that his experience with the sappers in the war might prove uncommonly19 useful when we pitched our little camp. It was ultimately decided20 that Carstairs should accompany us.
Then Garth suggested that we should take Custrin as well.
"Capital fellow, the doctor," he remarked, "what the Americans call a good mixer. I like Custrin. And he'll be useful, you know, Okewood, in the case of snake-bite or anything like that, eh?"
Now, as I have explained, I hadn't particularly cottoned to Custrin. Since that first night out he had made famous progress with Marjorie and while Garth and I were sweltering in the hold, assembling equipment and supplies for our expedition, she and the doctor had sat for hours at the piano in the saloon. I have always tried to be honest with myself and I may as well admit that I was envious21 of Custrin's delightfully22 easy manner. He was never gauche23 or sheepish with Marjorie and I knew what a boor24 she had set me down in her estimation.
So I demurred25 from the proposal of Sir Alexander. The party was big enough, I urged; to add another mouth would mean seriously increasing the amount of supplies we should have to take with us.
"But Custrin's a first-class geologist26 as well," pleaded the baronet, "and his knowledge should prove most valuable in our quest!"
I felt a very unpleasant suspicion dawn within me. Was it possible that Garth had told Custrin about the grave on the island and the clue that lay in my letter-case?
"Have you told Custrin about the treasure?" I asked bluntly.
Garth looked decidedly uncomfortable.
"The doctor's a most reliable fellow and highly recommended, very highly recommended to me. You can see his references if you wish, major. He is quite one of us, you know, and I did not think there was any harm.... Really, I think he'd be a distinct asset. Besides, he'll be horribly disappointed now if we don't take him!"
Then, of course, I knew that Garth had told Custrin the whole story and had definitely promised him into the bargain that he should join our party. I remembered now that the two had been in the smoke-room alone together for an hour or more after lunch. I breathed a little prayer of thanksgiving that in my almost wholly Irish nature a little store, an isolated28 stronghold, as it were, of caution, legacy29 of some unknown ancestor, was included. Throughout my career in the Secret Service I have made it a practice, when disclosure is necessary, to disclose only as much as is absolutely essential to the business in hand. My brother Francis, probably the greatest secret agent our country has ever had, gave me this tip.
Accordingly, I had told Garth nothing of El Cojo, the man of mystery, of his appearance at Adams's hut or of the Vice-Consul's warning. Apart altogether from this cautious instinct of mine, I knew next to nothing of this romantic cut-throat, and until I did I had no intention of jeopardising my chances of sailing with Garth by alarming the owner of the Naomi. I now realised that everything I might have told Garth about El Cojo, the baronet would have inevitably30 passed on to the doctor.
As for Custrin, I had nothing whatever against him. But he was a stranger—and in our job, if we don't necessarily "'eave 'arf a brick" at the stranger, we are exceedingly cold to him. Custrin was a perfectly31 civil, unassuming Englishman; but in my career I have refused confidence to many a fellow-countryman far more patently trustworthy than he. His rather mixed upbringing would, for one thing, have prompted me to wariness33 and Garth's ready confidence in him really rather horrified34 me. I was quite determined35 not to have him on the island with me and I said so as frankly36 as possible. On that, with rather an ill-grace, Garth capitulated.
The Naomi carried a small camp equipment with two light and portable Armstrong huts in sections. There was a fold-up camp bedstead for Garth, while I had my battered37 old Wolseley valise and my flea-bag from France. In addition to our provisions, such as biscuits, tinned food of all kinds, groceries and a suitable stock of drinks including a case of soda-water, we added, as general stores, some electric torches, a couple of ship's lamps and a good supply of candles, a large picnic basket, some mosquito netting, a medicine chest, a couple of axes, and two spades and two picks which Lawless extracted from the stokehold. There were kitchen utensils38 for Carstairs, who, it appeared, was an excellent cook. Garth had a pair of shot-guns and a Winchester and the three of us had an automatic pistol apiece. This constituted our armoury. I thought of those "volcanic39 peaks" of which the "Sailing Directions" spoke40 and sighed for a box of gun-cotton, a tube of primers and some lengths of fuse such as we used to carry with the battery in France. But well-equipped as she was, the Naomi did not run to H.E.
This happened on our third day out of Rodriguez. At dinner that evening the captain announced that, if all went well, we ought to sight Cock Island about dawn two days hence.
*****
In the chart-house that evening Custrin pleaded with me to reconsider my decision not to take him ashore with us. I told him as nicely as possible that all our arrangements were made and could not now be altered. He then asked me to let him see the message. Now I had not shown this to Garth (nor to anybody else except Bard41) nor had I vouchsafed42 to our host any information whatever on the subject. I was still very largely in the dark as to its meaning and I was appreciative43 of Garth's tact44 in not pressing me on the subject. So I told Custrin that I was still working on the message and was not showing it to anybody just then.
"I'm sorry," he said at once, "I didn't mean to be tactless, Okewood. But I'm a pretty fair hand at languages, French or Spanish or Dutch or German and that kind of thing, you know. I thought I might be useful. Or perhaps it's in cipher45?"
Custrin's affectation of nonchalance46 was very well done. But I have had so much of this kind of spell-binding tried on me in my time that I detected without difficulty a little note of anxiety in his voice. A very inquisitive47 young man, was my mental note. But aloud I said:—
"Thanks for the offer, doctor. I'll bear it in mind. When I think two heads are better than one on this thing I'll let you know!"
That was straight enough, one would have thought. But he was a persistent48 beggar, was Custrin. I'm dashed if he didn't get Garth to tackle me. Our worthy32 host's rather elephantine attempts at diplomacy49, however, were not difficult to counter and I had my way about keeping the message to myself without, I think, offending his amour propre. I should have dismissed the incident from my mind but for a strange and rather disquietening event which took place the following night.
I had gone below, preparatory to turning in, after another disastrous50 encounter with Marjorie. When I came off the bridge after taking my turn at the wheel, I found her standing51 alone at the rail. Since our little passage at arms the first night out, while she had not ostensibly avoided me, she had not given me the opportunity of another tête-à-tête. Her father, it appeared, had told her that she could not go ashore with us on Cock Island and she wanted me, as leader of the expedition, to intercede52 with him.
We were going to rough it on the island and a woman would have been impossible. And so I told her. I also thought it quite likely that the surf-bar mentioned by Adams (one always finds something of the sort round isolated islets like this) would make landing dangerous and we should be lucky, I surmised53, if we escaped with nothing worse than a good soaking.
Marjorie was at first pleading, then indignant and at last angry. There was a good deal of the plethoric54 temperament55 of her father in the toss of her head with which, in disgust at my obstinacy56, she turned and left me on the deck. And I, feeling the criminal every man feels when he has displeased57 a charming girl, slunk below to my bunk58.
I had changed into pyjamas59 when Custrin, who had the cabin next to mine, put his head in the door.
"I'm just going up to get a 'peg60,'" he said. "You look as though you could do with one yourself. Shall I bring you one down?"
A drink was emphatically what I needed in the frame of mind in which I found myself, so I gratefully accepted his offer.
"And make it a stiff one!" I called out after him. Then Carstairs, who had been working like a Trojan all the evening, packing, oiling guns and greasing boots, fetched me away to the little sort of pantry-place at the end of the flat which was his especial domain61, to consult me about the clothes I was taking. When I got back to my cabin my drink in a long glass stood on the chest of drawers. There was no sign of Custrin.
Carstairs, in shirt and trousers, was simply dripping with perspiration62. He looked absolutely all in.
"Here," I said, "you seem to be more in need of a 'peg' than I am, Carstairs. Suppose you take hold of that glass and show what you can do with it!"
The offer was scarcely in accordance with the discipline of the Naomi and Carstairs glanced cautiously up and down the corridor before he seized the glass and with a whispered "Here's luck, sir!" drained it.
*****
I don't know how long I had been asleep when I awoke with the impression that my cabin door had opened. Then I remembered, with a flash, that on going to lock it as usual before getting into my bunk I had found the key to be missing. I had searched the floor of the cabin and the corridor for it in vain. Carstairs had turned in and I was loath63 to disturb him after his heavy day.
There was no moon on this night and my cabin was quite dark. The Naomi trembled to the thump64 of the propeller65 and at the wash-basin some fitting or other rattled66 a merry little jig67. Otherwise, all was still. I was about to turn over on my side and go to sleep again when a slight noise caught my ear. My hand flashed instantly to the electric switch and the cabin was flooded with light.
Custrin stood in the doorway68. He was in his pyjamas, bare-footed. His eyes were closed and one hand rested on the chest of drawers just inside the door. He was muttering to himself. As I sprang out of my bunk he turned round and, still muttering, made his own way back to his room next door.
I dashed after him. The corridor was quite dark and by the time I had found the switch in Custrin's cabin, the doctor was in his berth69, to all intents and purposes sleeping peacefully.
"Trust all men; but cut the pack!" is a favourite saying of my brother Francis. With that document in my possession I had no desire to be disturbed by surprise visitors, even though they walked in their sleep. I now blamed myself for my slackness in not making Carstairs find the key of my door. I went straight off to his bunk.
Carstairs was asleep on his back, snoring merrily. I tapped on the side of the bunk and finding that this failed to awaken70 him, shook him by the arm. He never budged71. The snoring stopped; but he slept on.
I shook him violently again. Never had I seen a man sleep like this! I put my two hands under his shoulders, raised him up and jerked him to and fro. But he remained a dead weight in my grip, sunk in deep sleep.
There was a step in the corridor outside. I put my head out. Mackay, the engineer, was there on his way to his bunk.
"Hsst!" I whispered. "Mackay, what do you make of this? I can't wake Carstairs...."
Mackay thrust his grizzled head into the cabin. He bent72 down over the sleeping man and sniffed73 audibly.
My conscience smote75 me. But then I reflected. Could one "peg" have reduced the model Carstairs to this state? Unless, of course, he had already been drinking that evening. I had detected no signs of it about him....
"I wonder if I should fetch the doctor...." I began.
"Hoots76!" broke in the engineer, "let the man bide77. He's a gude lad but, mon, he'll have a sore heid to-morrow! I'm thinkin' Sir Alec wull gie him all the doctorin' he wants!"
"After all," said I, "I don't think we need disturb the doctor!"
Custrin's curiosity about the message, the inexplicable78 disappearance79 of my key, the drink the doctor had prepared for me which I had given to Carstairs and the servant's drunken stupor80, Custrin's visit to my cabin.... my mind sprang from rung to rung in this ladder of curious happenings. What had John Bard told me about El Cojo's gang?.... "a tremendous organisation81 with an immense network of spies as widespread and efficient as the Mafia of Italy!"
My hand went instinctively82 to the inside pocket of my pyjamas, a pocket with a button-up flap specially83 designed, which has rendered me good service in sleeping-cars and cabins half round the world. I felt beneath my fingers the crackle of the oilskin in its flannel84 cover.
I held my secret still guarded. I congratulated myself on my firmness in refusing to let this persistent Master Custrin accompany the expedition. But we had not yet reached the island. I must be watchful85, watchful....
*****
Half an hour later, as I sat on the edge of my bunk smoking a cigarette, there came a tap at the door. Garth, looking strangely big and unwieldy in his pyjamas, stood outside.
"Come up at once!" he whispered. "Don't trouble to dress. There's no one about!"
He glided86 away. When I emerged on deck the eastern sky was streaked87 with light. Lawless was on the bridge, Garth at his side.
Silently the captain pointed27 to the horizon. Away on the port bow a faint grey blur88 rested lightly on the straight edge of the ocean like a wisp of mist on a lake at dawn.
"Cock Island!" said the skipper.
点击收听单词发音
1 barometer | |
n.气压表,睛雨表,反应指标 | |
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2 boundless | |
adj.无限的;无边无际的;巨大的 | |
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3 natty | |
adj.整洁的,漂亮的 | |
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4 invitingly | |
adv. 动人地 | |
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5 vividly | |
adv.清楚地,鲜明地,生动地 | |
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6 contrived | |
adj.不自然的,做作的;虚构的 | |
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7 disport | |
v.嬉戏,玩 | |
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8 contemplated | |
adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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9 emphatic | |
adj.强调的,着重的;无可置疑的,明显的 | |
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10 ashore | |
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
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11 aggrieved | |
adj.愤愤不平的,受委屈的;悲痛的;(在合法权利方面)受侵害的v.令委屈,令苦恼,侵害( aggrieve的过去式);令委屈,令苦恼,侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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12 maroon | |
v.困住,使(人)处于孤独无助之境;n.逃亡黑奴;孤立的人;酱紫色,褐红色;adj.酱紫色的,褐红色的 | |
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13 trump | |
n.王牌,法宝;v.打出王牌,吹喇叭 | |
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14 queried | |
v.质疑,对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 );询问 | |
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15 mused | |
v.沉思,冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 );沉思自语说(某事) | |
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16 promptly | |
adv.及时地,敏捷地 | |
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17 grumbled | |
抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 发牢骚; 咕哝; 发哼声 | |
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18 knowledgeable | |
adj.知识渊博的;有见识的 | |
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19 uncommonly | |
adv. 稀罕(极,非常) | |
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20 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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21 envious | |
adj.嫉妒的,羡慕的 | |
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22 delightfully | |
大喜,欣然 | |
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23 gauche | |
adj.笨拙的,粗鲁的 | |
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24 boor | |
n.举止粗野的人;乡下佬 | |
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25 demurred | |
v.表示异议,反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26 geologist | |
n.地质学家 | |
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27 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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28 isolated | |
adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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29 legacy | |
n.遗产,遗赠;先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
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30 inevitably | |
adv.不可避免地;必然发生地 | |
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31 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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32 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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33 wariness | |
n. 注意,小心 | |
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34 horrified | |
a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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35 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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36 frankly | |
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说 | |
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37 battered | |
adj.磨损的;v.连续猛击;磨损 | |
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38 utensils | |
器具,用具,器皿( utensil的名词复数 ); 器物 | |
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39 volcanic | |
adj.火山的;象火山的;由火山引起的 | |
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40 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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41 bard | |
n.吟游诗人 | |
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42 vouchsafed | |
v.给予,赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 );允诺 | |
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43 appreciative | |
adj.有鉴赏力的,有眼力的;感激的 | |
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44 tact | |
n.机敏,圆滑,得体 | |
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45 cipher | |
n.零;无影响力的人;密码 | |
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46 nonchalance | |
n.冷淡,漠不关心 | |
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47 inquisitive | |
adj.求知欲强的,好奇的,好寻根究底的 | |
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48 persistent | |
adj.坚持不懈的,执意的;持续的 | |
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49 diplomacy | |
n.外交;外交手腕,交际手腕 | |
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50 disastrous | |
adj.灾难性的,造成灾害的;极坏的,很糟的 | |
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51 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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52 intercede | |
vi.仲裁,说情 | |
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53 surmised | |
v.臆测,推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 );揣测;猜想 | |
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54 plethoric | |
adj.过多的,多血症的 | |
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55 temperament | |
n.气质,性格,性情 | |
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56 obstinacy | |
n.顽固;(病痛等)难治 | |
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57 displeased | |
a.不快的 | |
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58 bunk | |
n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位;废话 | |
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59 pyjamas | |
n.(宽大的)睡衣裤 | |
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60 peg | |
n.木栓,木钉;vt.用木钉钉,用短桩固定 | |
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61 domain | |
n.(活动等)领域,范围;领地,势力范围 | |
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62 perspiration | |
n.汗水;出汗 | |
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63 loath | |
adj.不愿意的;勉强的 | |
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64 thump | |
v.重击,砰然地响;n.重击,重击声 | |
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65 propeller | |
n.螺旋桨,推进器 | |
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66 rattled | |
慌乱的,恼火的 | |
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67 jig | |
n.快步舞(曲);v.上下晃动;用夹具辅助加工;蹦蹦跳跳 | |
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68 doorway | |
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
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69 berth | |
n.卧铺,停泊地,锚位;v.使停泊 | |
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70 awaken | |
vi.醒,觉醒;vt.唤醒,使觉醒,唤起,激起 | |
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71 budged | |
v.(使)稍微移动( budge的过去式和过去分词 );(使)改变主意,(使)让步 | |
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72 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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73 sniffed | |
v.以鼻吸气,嗅,闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 );抽鼻子(尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气);抱怨,不以为然地说 | |
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74 casually | |
adv.漠不关心地,无动于衷地,不负责任地 | |
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75 smote | |
v.猛打,重击,打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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76 hoots | |
咄,啐 | |
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77 bide | |
v.忍耐;等候;住 | |
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78 inexplicable | |
adj.无法解释的,难理解的 | |
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79 disappearance | |
n.消失,消散,失踪 | |
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80 stupor | |
v.昏迷;不省人事 | |
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81 organisation | |
n.组织,安排,团体,有机休 | |
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82 instinctively | |
adv.本能地 | |
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83 specially | |
adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地 | |
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84 flannel | |
n.法兰绒;法兰绒衣服 | |
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85 watchful | |
adj.注意的,警惕的 | |
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86 glided | |
v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 );掠过;(鸟或飞机 ) 滑翔 | |
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87 streaked | |
adj.有条斑纹的,不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 );使布满条纹 | |
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88 blur | |
n.模糊不清的事物;vt.使模糊,使看不清楚 | |
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