She did not dine with the Arabian that night nor any other night, and when, one evening, some seven days later, completely restored to health, she walked out to the edge of the platform to ascertain1 the cause of the shouting of men, barking of dogs, and occasional firing of rifles, Namlah crept up behind and urged her to go in.
“Orders have come. Her Excellency is to remain inside her chamber2 until other orders come giving her her freedom.”
“But what is it all about?” inquired Helen, as she reluctantly entered her room.
“Zarah the Merciless makes an excursion into the Robaa-el-Khali.” She pointed4 towards the cleft5 through which the desert in the starlight showed like the face of a veiled woman. “Allah grant that she remain there, a food for vultures, as have remained so many. She is a liar6, a thief, a murderess. Allah guide the knife through her black heart.”
A spirit of rebellion, of adventure, of recklessness, showed in Helen’s eyes as she questioned the little woman who had repeated all she had heard the night she had spied through the window and had so urgently counselled silence and watchfulness8 and patience.
“Yea! Excellency! she leads the men. The men and beasts laden9 with provision and water and ammunition10 wherewith to make a camp between this and the scene of the fighting have departed these many hours. Ah![139] she is as cunning as the jackal. She relies not upon chance. She has always a place of refuge to fall back on if the fight goes against her, or if the men are in need of food for themselves or their guns. How long she will be gone? I know not; maybe a few hours, a night, a week—who knows?”
“The Nubian, has he gone too?”
“Ha! the knotter of shoe-strings, the eater of dust, behold12 he has gone these may days upon some secret journey. He held conclave13 of great length with the woman who rules us with a rod fashioned in the nethermost14 Jahannam. They sat under the starlight so that I could not approach, Excellency; they spoke15 softly so that I could not catch their words from the rock behind which I lay concealed16.”
She smiled up into Helen’s face when, under the strain of the suspense17 in which she had lived for the last ten days, she took the servant by the shoulders and shook her none too gently.
“I can’t bear it much longer, Namlah!” she said in her pretty, broken Arabic. “I can’t bear the uncertainty18, I can’t bear the silence, the waiting, with nothing to do to kill the terrible hours. I simply cannot bear it. For danger to myself I do not fear, I do not care. Cannot I find the way out so that I can escape? Can I not?”
There was no one in sight, there was certainly no one within hearing, up there in the eyrie so near the stars, but the little woman ran first to the right and then to the left and then into the room before she sidled up to Helen and whispered.
“Her Excellency must take exercise, must walk under the stars to-night whilst she is abroad.” She spread her fingers wide and down in the direction of the path leading across the quicksands. “Her Excellency must walk, even if it be amongst the rocks where the shadows lie blackest.”
[140]
Helen looked intently at the little woman, who gazed out of the doorway21 with an air of seraphic innocence22.
“I could not find my way down there, Namlah! I should fall or get lost or——”
Namlah trotted23 to the door and stood with her hand shading her eyes, looking out towards the desert.
“Yet is there one, Excellency, who without eyes walketh safely amongst the rocks. One without eyes, but with much wisdom upon his tongue and goodness in his heart, who walketh ever without fear in the great darkness; one who yearneth to help those whose backs have suffered from the whip or whose hearts have suffered from the power wielded24 by that daughter of Shaitan!” She crept close to Helen and whispered in her ear: “One who likewise craveth to hurt, to wound, to kill, in revenge.”
Helen shivered at the hate in the little woman’s voice, but she understood. She had learned the history of the blind man from Namlah; once when, restless and unable to sleep through anxiety, she had walked out on to the platform she had seen him in the grey light of the dawn, standing25 midway on the steps, his face raised to her abode26; once Namlah had lain a few flowers on the silken coverlet, had whispered, “patience brings victory to the blind and the prisoner,” and had retired27 to her pots and pans with finger on lips.
The body-woman walked to the edge of the platform and beckoned28 to the white girl she loved, and pointed to a silvery cloud of sand far out in the desert.
“Yonder she rides,” she whispered. “May the sand choke her! May the scorpion29 sting her heel! May....” She smiled up at Helen and shrugged30 her scarred shoulders in the expressive31 Eastern way. “But of the luck of such, Excellency, is it written, ‘throw him into the river and he will rise with a fish in his mouth.’ Yet will her turn come; the tide cannot remain at the full, the sun must set. Behold! I descend32 to the river, whilst the men and women make merry in her absence, to fetch water for her[141] Excellency’s bath, leaving her alone, to walk amongst the rocks, in the protection of Allah!”
Helen watched the little woman descend the steep steps, balancing a great earthenware33 jar skilfully34 upon her head; noticed that she stopped for a moment near one gigantic boulder35 which lay to the right of the steps; listened to her singing as she made the rest of the descent down to the water, which looked like a ribbon of silver run through a purple velvet36 curtain, then entered the room, which was really a prison cell, pulled a sheet of dark blue silk from her bed, and ran out on to the ledge37.
She did not hesitate.
That the woman might be a spy did not once enter her head, and if it had, under the strength of her love and her anxiety, she would doubtlessly have thrown caution to the soft night wind and risked her life in an endeavour to find out if there was not some way of escape by which she could return to the man she loved.
Her own clothes, cleansed38 and pressed by Namlah’s busy fingers, had been returned to her, so that she stood, a beautiful picture of an English girl, in the strangest of strange surroundings, looking down into the shadows out of which, she prayed, help might come to her.
Afraid of her outline against the sky, fearful of dislodging some stone to send it clattering39 down the steps, she wrapped the blue sheet round herself and descended40 slowly, carefully, pausing to listen, standing to peer into the ink-black shadows on every side, and down to the plateau where, by the light of torches and of fires, she could see men and women passing to and fro.
She had almost reached the great boulder, when she stopped and drew the dark silk still tighter and peered about uneasily, as she tried to locate a soft hissing41 sound which came from some spot quite near to her.
Through bitter experience she had learned the ways of Arabia’s scorpions42, centipedes, wasps43 and flies; had fled in terror from the one and only aboo hanekein she had[142] encountered, a fat, poisonous brute44 of a spider with formidable pincers, and wrestled45 vainly against the great variety of ants which the Peninsula offers; of locusts46 she had but the slightest acquaintance, and of the deadly vipers47, the Rukla and the Afar, which abound48 in rocks she had only been warned that afternoon.
Yet for fear of someone mounting the steps she dared not remain where she was, and had just decided49 to risk the few yards which would bring her to the boulder, when once more she caught the hissing sound.
And then from sheer relief she almost laughed.
“Sit!” whispered Yussuf from the shadows. “Ya Sit! Sit!”
She crept forward and round the boulder to where stood the blind man, who had been perfectly50 aware of her noiseless descent. She did not shrink at the terrible face, twisted and scarred, which looked down upon her; rather did her heart go out to the maimed man as she laid her hand upon his arm and called him by name.
“I trust you, Yussuf,” she said simply, which is quite one of the best ways of winning the heart of an embittered51 man.
“Her Excellency can trust me!” whispered Yussuf as he salaamed52. “Namlah and I are brother and sister in affliction. I have lost the light of these mine eyes, she has lost the light of her life, her son, in the grievous battle. To ease our hurts we seek to help thee, gracious lady, so that upon her return the woman who rules us may find ashes in the taste of her victory and gall53 in the wine of her success. The plans are laid, have been laid this long while. I will carry her Excellency over the secret path and out into the desert, then will I return for Namlah and the camels, which are hidden and waiting these many hours, the swiftest and most docile54 hejeen in the stables.”
“Now? At once?” asked Helen, trembling with excitement. “But how can you guide us across the desert?”
[143]
“Thy servant rides by the wind.” He lifted his sightless face to the star-strewn sky and smiled. “’Tis from the east, Sit. Let it blow in our faces, and we go towards the east until the sun sets after the passing of two days, then we go north upon the path to Hutāh, passing the field of the battle where the accursed offspring of the devil lifted the white woman.”
Overpowered with gratitude55, almost speechless with amazement56 as the weight of her fear was lifted from her, Helen trembled, under the shock of the sudden realization57 of her hopes and, desirous that he should share in her happiness, caught the man’s hand in entreaty58.
“You will come with us? You will let me and his Excellency, the man I am going to marry, look after you, make you happy, make you forget, you and Namlah?” She laughed softly, aglow59 with love and hope. “Gratitude is a small, a very small, word, Yussuf, and it cannot express what I would say in thanks.”
Yussuf smiled as he shook his head. Such words were rare in his ears; of such brotherly love, excepting for that in his own heart, he had had no knowledge.
“I will take thee, Sit, to within sight of the oasis60, then must I return. My task is not finished, will not be finished, until the spirit of Zarah the Cruel has returned to the Jahannam from which it came. We must hasten by a path known only to me. I will lift her Excellency over the rough places and carry her safely across the parts where danger lies. The way is open, the night is clear, we——”
He stopped abruptly61 at the sound of voices raised in anger, and feeling for Helen, gripped her tight about the wrist.
Namlah’s voice seemed to rise in a screaming crescendo62, in ratio to the steps she climbed, accompanied or followed by someone upon whom she poured out the vials of her wrath63.
“Nay64! thou wine-bibber,” she shrilled65. “What if thy mistress did place the safekeeping of the white woman[144] in thy useless hands? Nay! thou shalt not push me to the side of this accursed path so that thy legs, which may Allah strike with numbness66, may carry thee with speed to the post thou didst forget in thy drunkenness. Keep thou behind me, lest I break the jar upon thy empty head and waste the precious water upon thy unclean body, which is fit carrion67 for the birds of prey68. What sayest thou? Thou wouldst but look upon the white woman? So that thou mayst see her with thine own eyes? Verily shalt thou, if thou canst see for the wine with which thou hast filled thy vile69 and accursed body.”
Yussuf lifted Helen bodily into his arms.
“‘If thou seest a wall inclining, run from under it.’” He quoted the proverb as he carried her swiftly up the mountainside by a steep short cut, as sure-footed as a goat, as certain of his path as if he had eyes. “It is not the hour, but let her Excellency remember that Yussuf is her servant in all things.” He put her gently on her feet upon a ledge from which she could climb to the platform. “Remember, too, that when the hour does strike, then will Yussuf strike also. ‘Patience brings victory to the blind and to the prisoner.’”
A few moments later Helen stood just inside the doorway, listening to the violent altercation70 upon the steps.
There came the crash of a breaking jar, torrents71 of execration72 and imprecation, then silence, and, in spite of her disappointment, she smiled as she watched Namlah, slowly and with much dignity, climbing the steps, with a dripping wet individual in the rear.
“Seest thou the white woman with thine own eyes? Yea! Then sit thou there, thou dog!” cried Namlah at the top of her voice. “Nay, upon the second step. Wouldst force thy company upon thy betters? And may Allah strike thee with cold for having forgotten thy duty to thy mistress, so that thou diest of palsy before the dawn.”
[145]
There was a twinkle of laughter in the depths of the brown eyes as she combed the prisoner’s golden hair.
Is not intrigue as the breath of life to the Oriental?
“He swims in a span of water.”—Arabic Proverb.
At that very hour Al-Asad, disguised as a holy man, sat in the camp of the Bedouins who had befriended Ralph Trenchard.
True, the holy man’s body was somewhat well covered, as though he had not unduly74 deprived himself of food in the ecstasy75 of his religion, and his feet in fairly good trim, considering the length of the pilgrimage he was making on foot to Mecca; also, upon close inspection76, might the rents in his one garment be attributed to a blunt knife rather than to time.
But there are many kinds of holy men criss-crossing desert places, depending entirely77 upon the charity of chance-met Arabs for sustenance78 and the will of Allah for a safe arrival at their journey’s end. The tattered79 handkerchief fluttering from the end of the staff can be traced by the keen-eyed, approaching or retreating, for miles in the desert’s clear atmosphere, and heartbeats never fail to quicken at the chance encounter with the solitary80 human who wends his way across the burning sands, alone with his God.
As to others, so to Ralph Trenchard, sitting outside his tent, came that feeling of great respect which the sudden appearance of these mystics arouses in those who have the wherewithal to allay81 their hunger, and a place upon which to lay their heads at night; and with the respect, a great curiosity to read the secrets of a mind which allows so emaciated82 a body to endure and survive days of endless wandering and starvation and nights under heaven’s starlit roof. Al-Asad sat motionless, his eyes fixed83 upon space, whilst his stomach rebelled against[146] the rice in the wooden bowl at his feet, and his whole being longed to get back to the spot, in the far distance, where he had hobbled his well-laden camel.
Fearful of news of his search being transmitted through space to the ears of those he sought, he had been forced to act up to his disguise and to travel many weary, sandy miles on foot to various Bedouin camps, and to eat many bowls of insipid84 rice, washed down his gasping85 throat with muddy coffee, whilst abstracting the news he wanted from his unsuspicious host by subtle questioning.
He had rejoiced to the innermost part of his being when, whilst humbly86 asking alms from the Bedouin chief, he had seen Ralph Trenchard out of the corner of his eye.
His quest was at an end. He had but to get into communication in some way with the white man and arouse his interest, then leave the rest to the foolishness of a race which, as his mistress had told him, taught its men to look upon women as an almost sacred charge. He rose, and with hands uplifted turned to the four quarters of the globe, his keen eyes sweeping87 the camp for sign of the lynx-eyed Abdul, whilst the Bedouins drew back out of respect for his holiness.
On catching88 sight of the servant at the back of his master’s tent, Al-Asad squatted89 upon his haunches and muttered to himself, letting the beads90 of Mecca run swiftly through his fingers whilst his crafty91 mind searched for the best way to start the business without arousing the servant’s suspicions.
He scraped up the last handful of rice, being careful not to leave one single grain, and forced it down his rebelling throat, then rose and crossed slowly to a black patch of shadow, in which he sat himself, well aware that the eyes of the whole camp, especially those of the white man, were upon him. He sat motionless for awhile as though in thanksgiving for the nauseating92 meal, then[147] made a gesture, upon which, with little cries and great jostling, the whole camp, men, women and many children, crowded about him, then, with the chief in the centre, sat themselves down in a semicircle at the respectful distance demanded by the holy one’s piety93.
Ralph Trenchard strolled to the extreme end of the right side of the semicircle. He was wholly restored to health, a prey to intense anxiety, and upon the eve of his departure for Hutah, where he intended calling upon the aid of the entire Peninsula for the recovery of Helen, and felt thankful for anything which might serve to distract his tormented94 mind. Abdul gave a final look round his master’s tent, which consisted of camel-skins thrown over four upright poles, and ran quickly to his master’s side.
He had done his best to dissuade95 his master from the rash proceeding96 of trying to discover her Excellency’s whereabouts, had preached the doctrine97 of fatalism as known in the East, and had at last resigned himself to the inevitable98 and sworn, in the secret places of his faithful heart, to stick to the white man through thick and thin.
The visit of a holy man creates a welcome diversion in a camp where meals of dates, muddy coffee, and, if luck is in, a sickly mess of boiled camel flesh as pièce de résistance form the only break in the long, monotonous99 hours when fighting is not toward; the advent7 of a holy man who deigned100 to open his lips except in prayer was to be reckoned a miracle.
Abdul moved close to Ralph Trenchard at the holy one’s first words.
“Are any of thy children wounded, O my Son?” The words came faint and slow, as though spoken by one who had almost lost the power of speech. “I have with me an ointment73 of great power.” Al-Asad searched amongst his rags and produced an alabaster101 pot, which had once contained rouge102 and had been bought by Zarah in Cairo,[148] but which now reeked103 to high heaven of rancid camel fat mixed with aniseed.
“Nay! Father!” replied the chief, whilst his children whispered amongst themselves. “Those that were wounded are healed, those that were sick are recovered. Whyfore asketh thou? How knowest thou that they have been in battle?”
Al-Asad barely suppressed a chuckle104 as he pressed the lid down upon the distressing105 concoction106 and stored it once more about his person. He made no answer. He sat motionless, as though lost in meditation107, until Ralph Trenchard could have fallen upon and shaken him back to a consciousness of his surroundings.
“A moon ago I prayed upon the site of a great battle, O my Son!” murmured Al-Asad slowly, after some long while and as though he had but just heard the question. “There was naught108 but bones and this.” He once more searched amongst his rags and looked at some object, which he did not disclose to view, and took no notice of a quickly suppressed movement at the right end of the circle as Abdul gripped Ralph Trenchard by the arm. “I have asked those I have met upon my path if they knew aught about that combat. Nay, my Son! interrupt me not, the hour is slipping into eternity109 and I must be gone.” The chief, who had been anxious to tell what he knew of the fight from personal experience, bowed in obedience110 and spread his hands. “It was a fight between white men and the woman of whose dire20 deeds the desert rings. All were killed but a white woman, who, grievously wounded and nigh unto death, was made prisoner and taken to the mountains known as the Sanctuary111, which lie but a day’s journey and a night’s journey to the south of the spot where they fought, and where dwells the woman of evil repute.”
He rose as he spoke, standing a dim and arresting figure in the shadows, and stretched out his hand.
“This I perceived glittering in the sun, midway between[149] the mountains and the battlefield, upon a path marked in the sand by the swift passing of two camels. It is of too great a value for one who lives upon the words of the Prophet of Allah, the one and only God. Perchance wilt112 thou, my son, take it in return for thy charity to the humble113 pilgrim.”
He placed the locket in the chief’s hands, and in the scramble114 of the entire camp to get a better view of the gift, crept behind the tent and disappeared into the night, where, once sure that he was beyond the chief’s range of vision, he emulated115 the ostrich116 in speed until he reached the spot where he had left his well-laden camel.
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1
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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watchfulness
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| 警惕，留心； 警觉（性） | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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shrilly
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| 尖声的； 光亮的，耀眼的 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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conclave
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| n.秘密会议，红衣主教团 | |
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nethermost
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| adj.最下面的 | |
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spoke
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| 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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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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dire
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| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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wielded
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的过去式和过去分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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scorpion
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| n.蝎子，心黑的人，蝎子鞭 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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earthenware
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| n.土器，陶器 | |
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skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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cleansed
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| 弄干净，清洗( cleanse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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41
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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scorpions
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| n.蝎子( scorpion的名词复数 ) | |
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43
wasps
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| 黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 )； 胡蜂； 易动怒的人； 刻毒的人 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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wrestled
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| v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤 | |
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46
locusts
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| n.蝗虫( locust的名词复数 )；贪吃的人；破坏者；槐树 | |
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vipers
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| n.蝰蛇( viper的名词复数 )；毒蛇；阴险恶毒的人；奸诈者 | |
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48
abound
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| vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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50
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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51
embittered
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| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
salaamed
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| 行额手礼( salaam的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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docile
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| adj.驯服的，易控制的，容易教的 | |
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55
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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56
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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57
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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58
entreaty
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| n.恳求，哀求 | |
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59
aglow
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| adj.发亮的；发红的；adv.发亮地 | |
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60
oasis
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| n.（沙漠中的）绿洲，宜人的地方 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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62
crescendo
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| n.(音乐)渐强，高潮 | |
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63
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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64
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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shrilled
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| （声音）尖锐的，刺耳的，高频率的( shrill的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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numbness
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| n.无感觉，麻木，惊呆 | |
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carrion
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| n.腐肉 | |
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68
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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altercation
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| n.争吵，争论 | |
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torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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execration
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| n.诅咒，念咒，憎恶 | |
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73
ointment
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| n.药膏，油膏，软膏 | |
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unduly
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| adv.过度地，不适当地 | |
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ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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76
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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sustenance
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| n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计 | |
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tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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allay
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| v.消除，减轻(恐惧、怀疑等) | |
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emaciated
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| adj.衰弱的，消瘦的 | |
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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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insipid
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| adj.无味的，枯燥乏味的，单调的 | |
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gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；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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beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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nauseating
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| adj.令人恶心的，使人厌恶的v.使恶心，作呕( nauseate的现在分词 ) | |
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piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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94
tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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95
dissuade
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| v.劝阻，阻止 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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97
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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98
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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99
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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100
deigned
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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101
alabaster
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| adj.雪白的；n.雪花石膏；条纹大理石 | |
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102
rouge
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| n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红 | |
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103
reeked
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| v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的过去式和过去分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
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104
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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105
distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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106
concoction
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| n.调配(物)；谎言 | |
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107
meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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108
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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109
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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110
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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111
sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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112
wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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113
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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114
scramble
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| v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料 | |
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115
emulated
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| v.与…竞争( emulate的过去式和过去分词 )；努力赶上；计算机程序等仿真；模仿 | |
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116
ostrich
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| n.鸵鸟 | |
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