For three months afterwards he was stationed at Meknes and drew his breath. He had the routine of his work to occupy his mornings, and in this city of wide spaces and orchards6 to engross7 his afternoons. Meknes with the ruined magnificence of its palaces of dead kings, its huge crumbling8 stables, the great gate of mosaic9 built through so many years by so many captives of the Sallee pirates, and so many English prisoners from Tangier; that other gate hardly less beautiful to the north of the town; its groves10 of olives; its long crumbling crenellated walls reaching out for miles into the country with no reason, and with no reason abruptly11 ending—Meknes satisfied the ?sthetic side of him as no other city in that enchanted12 country. He delighted in it as a woman in her jewels.
But in the autumn the Zarhoun threatened trouble for the hundredth time—the Zarhoun, that savage13 mountain mass with its sacred cities which frowns above the track from Meknes to Rabat and through which the narrow path from Tangier to Fez is cleft14. It was decided15 that the sacred cities must at last throw open their gates and the Zarhoun be brought into line. The work was entrusted16 to Gerard de Montignac.
“You will have a mixed battalion of infantry17, a squadron of Chasseurs, a section of mitrailleuses, and a couple of mountain guns,” said the Commander-in-Chief. “But I think you will not need to use them. It will be a demonstration18, a reconnaissance in force, rather than an attack.”
Thus one morning of June, Gerard led his force northwards over the rolling plain, onto the higher ground, and marching along the flank of Djebel Zarhoun, camped that night close to the tall columns and broken arches of Volubilis. In front of the camp, a mile away, dark woods of olive trees mounted the lower slopes, and above them the sacred city of Mulai Idris clung to the mountain sides, dazzlingly white against the sombre hill and narrowing as it rose to an apex19 of one solitary20 house. In the failing light it had the appearance of a gigantic torrent21, which, forcing itself through a tiny cleft, spread fanwise as it fell, in a cascade22 of foam23.
There was no fighting, as the Commander-in-Chief had predicted. At nine o’clock the next morning the Basha, followed by three of his notable men, rode down on their mules24 through the olive groves, and, being led to the little tent over which floated the little red flag of the commander, made his obeisance26.
“I will go back with your Excellency into the city,” said Gerard, and he gave orders that a company of tirailleurs should escort him.
Thus, then, an hour later they set out: Gerard riding ahead with the Basha upon his right, the notables behind, and behind them again the company of tirailleurs advancing in column of platoons with one Captain Laguessière at their head. When they reached the first of the rising ground, Gerard reined27 in his horse and stared about him.
The Basha, a portly man with a black beard, smiled with a flash of white teeth and the air of one expecting compliments. He did not get them, however. Gerard’s face wore, indeed, a quite unfriendly look. He turned round in his saddle.
“Captain Laguessière.”
Laguessière, who had halted his company, rode up to Gerard’s side.
“Do you see?”
“Yes, my Commandant. I have been wondering for the last few minutes whether it was possible. If these fellows had put up a fight we might have lost a lot of men.”
“Yes,” said Gerard, shortly.
To the right and left of the track which led up to the gate of the town, very well placed, just on the first rise of the ground, were fire trenches28. Not roughly scooped29 shallow depressions, but real trenches scientifically constructed. Deep and recessed30 and with traverses at short intervals31. The inside walls were revetted; arm rests had been cut for the riflemen, the earth dug from the trenches had been used for parapets and these had been turfed over for concealment32; there were loopholes, artfully hidden by bunches of grass or little bundles of branches and leaves. Communication trenches ran back and—nothing so struck Gerard de Montignac with surprise as this—the extra earth had been built into parapets for dummy33 trenches, so that the fire of the attacking force might be diverted from those which were manned.
The surprise of the two officers caused the Moors35 the greatest satisfaction. The three notables were wreathed in smiles. The Basha laughed outright36.
“They are good,” he said, nodding his head.
“Too good,” replied Gerard, gravely. “But it is as well that you did not use them against us.”
To the Moors this rejoinder seemed the very cream of wit. The Basha rocked in his saddle at the mere37 idea that his trenches could have been designed against the French.
“No, indeed! We are true friends of your Excellency and your people. We know that you are just and very powerful too. These trenches were intended to defend our sacred city from the Zemmour.”
The Zemmour were turbulent and aggressive and marauders to a man. They lived in the Forest of Mamora and sallied out of it far afield. But they were also the bogey39 men of the countryside. You threatened your squalling baby with the Zemmour, and whatever bad thing you had done, you had done it in terror of the Zemmour.
The Basha was undisturbed by Gerard de Montignac’s incredulity.
“Yes, the Zemmour are very wicked people,” he said, smiling virtuously40 and apparently41 quite unconscious that he himself presided over a city of malefactors and cutthroats. “But now that you have taken us poor people under your protection we feel safe.”
Gerard smiled grimly and Captain Laguessière stroked his fair moustache and remarked: “He has a fine nerve, this old bandit.”
“And when did you expect the Zemmour?” asked Gerard.
“Two weeks, three weeks ago. They sent word that they would attack us on a certain night, so that we might be ready.”
“And then they didn’t come?” said Gerard.
“No.”
Captain Laguessière laughed, incredulous of the whole story. But Gerard recognised a simple form of humour thoroughly42 Moroccan. To warn your enemy that you meant to attack him, to keep him on the watch and thoroughly alarmed all night and then never to attack him at all—that might well seem to the Zemmour a most diverting stroke of wit. The Zemmour, after all, were not so very far from Zarhoun.
“I wonder,” said Gerard.
“I don’t, my Commandant,” replied Captain Laguessière. “I think that if they hadn’t seen our mountain guns passing up the track below, we should have found these trenches manned this morning.”
Gerard turned about on his horse and looked down onto the plain.
“Yes. They could see very clearly. That’s the explanation—so far.”
He gave his attention once more to the construction of the trenches.
“And who taught you to make those trenches, my friend?” Gerard asked, looking keenly at the Basha. The Basha answered composedly:
“It was Allah who put it into our heads. Allah protecting the holy city where Mulai Idris lies buried.”
“That’s all very fine,” Captain Laguessière observed. “But then who lent Allah his copy of the Manual of Field Engineering?”
“Exactly,” Gerard agreed with a laugh. “I think we had better find that out. No Moor34 that ever I met with would take the time and trouble, even if he had the skill, to work out——” and the laugh died off his lips. He turned suddenly startled eyes upon his companion. “Laguessière!” he exclaimed, and again, in a lower key, “Yes, Laguessière! I was sure that I had never met you before.”
“Not until this expedition, my Commandant.”
“Yet your name was familiar to me. I did not think why. I was too busy to think why. But I remember now. You were in Fez two years ago. Yes, I remember now.”
His face darkened and hardened and grew very menacing as he sat with moody43 eyes fixed44 upon the ground and seeing visions of old and pleasant days leap into life and fade. “Volubilis, too!” he said in a low voice. “Yes, just below those olives.”
Strange that he should have seen the columns and broken arches yesterday and again this morning, and only thought of them with wonder as the far-flung monuments of the old untiring Rome! And never until this moment as things of great and immediate45 concern to him—signs perhaps for him to read and not neglect. For of all the pictures which he saw changing and flickering46 upon the ground, two came again and again. He saw Baumann and his friends riding in the springtime between clumps47 of asphodel towards those high pillars, and a horde48 of wild ragged49 men pouring out of the gates of this white-walled city, and Baumann shrinking back as a tall youth whirled with a grin a great staff about his head. Then he saw the same man, whirling the same staff, charge with Laguessière’s section in a street of Fez. A grim and sinister50 fancy flashed into his mind. He wondered whether he had been appointed by destiny to demand here and to-day an account for the betrayal of a great and sacred trust. He looked up the hill to where the big wooden gates stood open.
“Is that the only entrance into Mulai Idris?” he asked of the Basha.
“The only one.”
Gerard de Montignac turned to his subordinate.
“You will set a guard upon that gate, Captain Laguessière. No one is to go out until I give a further order.”
“Very well, my Commandant.”
“You will have the town patrolled and the walls watched. I will bring up another company to act with you.”
He wrote an order with a pencil in his note book, detached the leaf, and sent it back by an orderly to the camp. “Now we will move on,” he said. All his good humour had vanished. He had no longer any jests to exchange with the Basha as the little cavalcade52 rode upwards53 among the olive trees and through the steep, narrow streets of the town.
In an open space just below that last big house which made the apex of the triangle, a seat was placed, and to this Gerard de Montignac was conducted. The little city lay spread out in a fan beneath him. The great Mosque54 in which the tomb of the Founder55 of the Moorish56 Empire was sheltered stood at the southern angle. Gerard looked down into a corner of its open precincts and saw men walking to and fro. He called the Basha to his side, and pointed51 down to it.
“Yes, that is the great Mosque, your Excellency.”
“No one will violate it. For us it is sacred as for you,” said Gerard. “But no food must go into it. That is a strict order.”
“It shall be obeyed.”
“I shall place men of my own in the streets about the entrances. They will molest57 no one, but they will see to it that the order is obeyed.”
The Mosque was sanctuary58, of course. Any man who took refuge there was safe. Neither the law nor any vengeance59 could touch him. But no man must die in it, for that would be a defilement60. A little time, therefore, and any refugee would be thrust out by the guardians61 of the sanctuary, lest his death should taint62 the holy place.
Gerard sent a messenger down with a new order to Laguessière at the gate and waited on the seat until it had been carried out, and Laguessière had ridden to his side. The two officers lunched with the Basha and his notables in the big house and drank the five cups of tea with them afterwards.
“I will now ride with you through the town,” said Gerard to the Basha. “You shall tell me of the houses and of those who live in them. And you shall take me into those I wish, so that I may speak to them and assure them of our friendship.”
“That will be an excellent thing,” replied the Basha.
Gerard kept a sergeant63 and a small guard of soldiers with him, and with the Basha on his mule25 beside him he rode down on the left side of the town. For on this side only, he had seen, were there any houses of importance. The rest of the town was made up of hovels and little cottages. The three chief men who rode with the Basha pointed out their own residences with pride; the owners of others were described, and at each of them Gerard smiled and said he was content. They made thus a complete circuit of the city.
“Your Excellency has not thought fit to enter any one of the houses,” said the Basha with a smile of reproach. Gerard led him a little apart.
“I will make good that omission64 now,” he replied. “There was one which we passed. You did not speak of it at all. Yet it was a good house, a fine house, finer almost than any except your Excellency’s own.”
The Basha was apparently mystified. He could not remember.
“I think that I can find the house again,” said Gerard. “I hope that I shall be able to. For it attracted me.” He looked the Basha in the eyes. “That is the house which I wish to enter and whose owner I wish to see.”
Finality was in Gerard’s voice as clearly as in his words. The Basha bowed to it.
“It is for your Excellency to give orders here. We are in God’s hands,” he said, and he drew a step nearer to Gerard de Montignac. “It is permitted to dismiss my friends now to their homes? Si Tayeb Reha, whom we shall visit, will not be prepared for so many.”
“Si Tayeb Reha?” Gerard repeated. “That is his name? I had a thought it might be Ben Sedira.”
The Basha shook his head.
“That is not a name known in Mulai Idris.”
He turned to his notables and took leave of them with ceremonious speeches. Then he mounted his mule again and rode down the hill beside Gerard with the sergeant and the escort at their heels. Gerard said not a word now. He was thinking of those carefully constructed trenches outside the city, and his face grew hard as granite65. They came to a house of two storeys with one latticed window in the uppermost floor, and for the rest a blank wall upon the street. It was for Fez a small house, for Mulai Idris one of importance. The door opened upon a side street, and the sergeant knocked upon it whilst Gerard and the Basha dismounted. There followed a long silence whilst a little crowd gathered about the soldiers. Gerard wondered what message that sharp loud knocking brought to the inmate66. Had he seen the cavalcade ride past from a corner of that latticed window and with a smile upon his lips believed himself to be safe? What a shattering blow, then, must have been this sudden knocking upon his door? Or was he himself altogether in error? Gerard drew a breath of relief at the mere hope that it might be so. Well, he would know now, for the door was opened. And in a moment all Gerard’s hopes fell. For the native who opened it was surprised into a swift movement as his eyes fell upon Gerard in his uniform. It was a movement which he checked before he had completed it, but he was too late. He had betrayed himself. It was the involuntary movement of an old soldier standing67 to attention at the sudden appearance of an officer.
The Basha spoke68 a few words to the servant who stood inside. There was no court in this house. A staircase faced them steeply, and on the right hand of it was the kitchen. Gerard turned to the servant as he passed in.
“And what is your name?”
“Selim,” answered the servant. He led the way up the dark staircase. There was no window upon the staircase; the only light came from the doorway69 upon the street. At the top there was a landing furnished with comfort, and in the middle of the landing was a fine door. Selim knocked upon it, and would have opened it. But Gerard laid his hand upon his arm and with a gesture in place of words bade him stand aside. He opened the door himself and entered. He was standing in a room of low roof but wide. It was furnished altogether in the Moorish style, and with a certain elegance70. But the elegance was rather in the disposition71 of the room than in the quality of its equipment. One great window, with a balcony protected by a rail, gave light to the room; and it looked not upon the street but across a great chasm72 to the mountain, for the house was built upon the town wall. The light thus flooded the room. Close to the window a tall Moor was standing. He bowed and took a step forward.
“Had I hoped that your Excellency would do me the honour to visit my poor house,” he said with a smile, “I should have made a better preparation.”
He had a small beard trimmed neatly73 to a point and a thin line of moustache. Gerard did not answer him for a little while. He took out his note book and wrote in it and detached the leaf. Then he sent Selim down the stairs to fetch up the sergeant of his escort; and it was noticeable that, scrupulous74 as he usually was in this land of observances, he made use of the servant as his messenger without troubling himself to ask the master’s permission.
When the sergeant came up into the room, Gerard handed him the sheet of paper.
“You will send this by one of your men immediately to Captain Laguessière at the gate.”
“Very well, my Commandant,” and the sergeant went out of the room.
Gerard turned to the Basha.
“I have sent an order to remove the posts from the neighbourhood of the Mosque, and to throw open the gates so that men may go out and in as they will.”
The Basha expressed his thanks. There would be no trouble. The people of Mulai Idris were very good people, not like those scoundrels from the Forest of Mamora, and quite devoted75 to the French.
“Since this morning,” Gerard answered with a smile. “We shall have much to say to one another to-morrow morning, in a spirit of help and goodwill. But I beg you to leave me now, so that I may talk for a little while privately76 with Si Tayeb Reha. For I have come now to the end of this day’s work.”
Si Tayeb Reha bowed gravely. It was the only movement he had made since he had spoken his words of welcome upon Gerard’s first entrance into the room.
The Basha took his leave, went downstairs and mounted his mule.
“We are all in God’s hands,” he said, and he rode slowly away towards his house. Within the room the two men stood looking at each other in silence.
“SO—YOU HAVE BETRAYED EVERY TRUST—WHERE IS YOUR HONOR?”
点击收听单词发音
1 goodwill | |
n.善意,亲善,信誉,声誉 | |
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2 infliction | |
n.(强加于人身的)痛苦,刑罚 | |
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3 dealing | |
n.经商方法,待人态度 | |
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4 kinsmen | |
n.家属,亲属( kinsman的名词复数 ) | |
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5 battalion | |
n.营;部队;大队(的人) | |
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6 orchards | |
(通常指围起来的)果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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7 engross | |
v.使全神贯注 | |
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8 crumbling | |
adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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9 mosaic | |
n./adj.镶嵌细工的,镶嵌工艺品的,嵌花式的 | |
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10 groves | |
树丛,小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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11 abruptly | |
adv.突然地,出其不意地 | |
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12 enchanted | |
adj. 被施魔法的,陶醉的,入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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13 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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14 cleft | |
n.裂缝;adj.裂开的 | |
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15 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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16 entrusted | |
v.委托,托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17 infantry | |
n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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18 demonstration | |
n.表明,示范,论证,示威 | |
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19 apex | |
n.顶点,最高点 | |
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20 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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21 torrent | |
n.激流,洪流;爆发,(话语等的)连发 | |
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22 cascade | |
n.小瀑布,喷流;层叠;vi.成瀑布落下 | |
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23 foam | |
v./n.泡沫,起泡沫 | |
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24 mules | |
骡( mule的名词复数 ); 拖鞋; 顽固的人; 越境运毒者 | |
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25 mule | |
n.骡子,杂种,执拗的人 | |
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26 obeisance | |
n.鞠躬,敬礼 | |
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27 reined | |
勒缰绳使(马)停步( rein的过去式和过去分词 ); 驾驭; 严格控制; 加强管理 | |
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28 trenches | |
深沟,地沟( trench的名词复数 ); 战壕 | |
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29 scooped | |
v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 );(敏捷地)抱起;抢先获得;用铲[勺]等挖(洞等) | |
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30 recessed | |
v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的过去式和过去分词 );将(墙)做成凹形,在(墙)上做壁龛;休息,休会,休庭 | |
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31 intervals | |
n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 );间隔时间;[数学]区间;(戏剧、电影或音乐会的)幕间休息 | |
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32 concealment | |
n.隐藏, 掩盖,隐瞒 | |
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33 dummy | |
n.假的东西;(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头 | |
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34 moor | |
n.荒野,沼泽;vt.(使)停泊;vi.停泊 | |
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35 moors | |
v.停泊,系泊(船只)( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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36 outright | |
adv.坦率地;彻底地;立即;adj.无疑的;彻底的 | |
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37 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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38 scoffing | |
n. 嘲笑, 笑柄, 愚弄 v. 嘲笑, 嘲弄, 愚弄, 狼吞虎咽 | |
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39 bogey | |
n.令人谈之变色之物;妖怪,幽灵 | |
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40 virtuously | |
合乎道德地,善良地 | |
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41 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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42 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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43 moody | |
adj.心情不稳的,易怒的,喜怒无常的 | |
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44 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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45 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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46 flickering | |
adj.闪烁的,摇曳的,一闪一闪的 | |
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47 clumps | |
n.(树、灌木、植物等的)丛、簇( clump的名词复数 );(土、泥等)团;块;笨重的脚步声v.(树、灌木、植物等的)丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 );(土、泥等)团;块;笨重的脚步声 | |
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48 horde | |
n.群众,一大群 | |
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49 ragged | |
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的 | |
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50 sinister | |
adj.不吉利的,凶恶的,左边的 | |
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51 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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52 cavalcade | |
n.车队等的行列 | |
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53 upwards | |
adv.向上,在更高处...以上 | |
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54 mosque | |
n.清真寺 | |
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55 Founder | |
n.创始者,缔造者 | |
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56 moorish | |
adj.沼地的,荒野的,生[住]在沼地的 | |
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57 molest | |
vt.骚扰,干扰,调戏 | |
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58 sanctuary | |
n.圣所,圣堂,寺庙;禁猎区,保护区 | |
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59 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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60 defilement | |
n.弄脏,污辱,污秽 | |
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61 guardians | |
监护人( guardian的名词复数 ); 保护者,维护者 | |
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62 taint | |
n.污点;感染;腐坏;v.使感染;污染 | |
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63 sergeant | |
n.警官,中士 | |
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64 omission | |
n.省略,删节;遗漏或省略的事物,冗长 | |
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65 granite | |
adj.花岗岩,花岗石 | |
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66 inmate | |
n.被收容者;(房屋等的)居住人;住院人 | |
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67 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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68 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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69 doorway | |
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
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70 elegance | |
n.优雅;优美,雅致;精致,巧妙 | |
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71 disposition | |
n.性情,性格;意向,倾向;排列,部署 | |
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72 chasm | |
n.深坑,断层,裂口,大分岐,利害冲突 | |
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73 neatly | |
adv.整洁地,干净地,灵巧地,熟练地 | |
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74 scrupulous | |
adj.审慎的,小心翼翼的,完全的,纯粹的 | |
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75 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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76 privately | |
adv.以私人的身份,悄悄地,私下地 | |
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77 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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