Zarah stretched her arms above her head, yawned, listened for a moment to the barking of the dogs, then, struck with a premonition of impending1 disaster, awoke to her surroundings, struggled to a sitting position, and stared up at the unlit lamps and round the room in amazement2.
Save for the faint light of the coming dawn, the place was in darkness and strangely still.
Who had blown out the lights? Where was Helen? What was the meaning of the dogs’ unrest at this hour, when they usually slept? Why was she weighed down with such an oppressive drowsiness3?
She roused herself, swaying to her feet, stood for a moment bemused, then staggered forward and crashed into a great brass4 bowl filled with many fruits. It fell with a clatter5, arousing her from the strange lethargy which seemed to cause the room to spin about her and to dull her active brain.
She stood watching the oranges and pomegranates, figs6, apricots and peaches roll this way and that across the marble floor, then called for Helen.
Helen!
She shouted the name savagely7, under the whip of her premonition, shouted it until the vaulted8 roof rang with her cries, shouted it until the echoes gave back the call.
Helen! Helen! Helen! a mocking voice seemed to shout back from the shadows.
In a flash enlightenment came to her, and with it the blindest rage that ever entered woman’s heart.
[291]
There could be but one reason for the dark desertion of the room and for the unanswered call. In some way the girl she hated, the man she desired, had communicated with each other, had outwitted her. How? When? Where? Oh, of what avail to lose time in asking useless questions when, even at that moment, they might be on their way to freedom and love? She stood in the centre of the faintly lighted room, then laughed until the ugly sound beat against the walls. She laughed with sheer rage at the thought of how she, Zarah the Cruel, the most beautiful woman in Asia, the woman who had never been thwarted9 or foiled, had at last been circumvented10 by Helen. Helen Raynor, the fool English girl, the slow-witted, the dense11, the hopelessly dull, as she had described her when holding her up to ridicule12 to her women slaves.
Her slaves!
In a moment her trend of thought changed, and with it, replacing even her rage, came a violent desire to revenge herself on everyone who had connived13 at or participated in the prisoners’ escape.
Yussuf! Namlah!
She seized the metal rod and smote14 the huge brass gong as the two names leapt to her mind. Her men were gathered together on the plateau, with Yussuf and the dumb boy whom he loved in their midst. She would summon the two who had been thorns in her flesh since the death of the Sheikh and wring15 a confession16 from them.
Left by her father in her care!
In the name of Allah what mattered a promise more or less when it had to do with those who had put humiliation17 after humiliation upon her? She would see to it that they and the white people were rendered dumb and blind in death by the time she had wiped out all the insults they had heaped her with.
Her women!
They slept peacefully in their quarters with Namlah in their midst. She would summon them all and wring a[292] confession from her. She had treated the body-woman, who had shown such strong affection for the white girl, with a strange leniency19, merely replacing her, upon the spies’ report, by the surly negress who had so unaccountably disappeared upon the night when the dogs had rushed the hall. She should learn what awaited a slave and a prisoner who dared plot against the master.
She smote the gong to awaken20 the entire camp and to summon her attendants, smote it without ceasing.
Lost to all sense of reasoning through her overpowering rage, she flung herself upon the divan21 and sat looking out to the desert through the cleft22 in the mountains, planning her revenge upon them all.
The Red Desert, the Empty Desert, the forcing-ground of hate, revenge, despair, the burial place of love and hope and life.
The great waste places of the Arabian Peninsula, swept by the tribes of Ad, Tasim and Jadis, devastated23 by the hordes24 which inundated25 it in the early days when the Holy Fathers, in penance26, built the very building in which the desert-born girl sat; ruled by African kings, allied27 to the Roman and Byzantine Empires, coveted28, conquered, beaten, yet as ready to-day to rise in revolt against oppression and to hurl29 itself against the enemy as it was ready to fling itself victoriously30 against the mighty31 Roman generals.
Immense tracts32 of sand across which, pursuing or pursued, passed those countless33 legions, leaving, save for the footprints of Solomon’s mighty Yeminite Queen and Mohammed, the greatest Prophet the world has known since the advent34 of the gentle Nazarene, but little mark upon the path of time; desolate35 plains under which those who, through the centuries, have laid its fair cities waste, sleep in death amongst the ruins and treasures and secrets of cities, kingdoms and dynasties of which the names alone remain; silent, mysterious oceans of sand above which, wheeling, calling, sailing on outstretched[293] wing at dawn, at noon, at dusk, drift the vultures from north to south, from east to west, as they have drifted and called since the day every grain of the sands was numbered.
Revengeful, relentless36, restless, the Great Desert knows no peace nor rest nor shade. It sweeps flat that which it piled high but yesterday, and upon its surface, stretching like an Eastern carpet, blows its sands to the height of hills, to sweep them flat again. It kills with thirst, it slays37 with hunger and exhaustion38; it leaves but little trace of those who dare to pass its desolate boundaries. Bones of fugitives39, of the hapless, the luckless, bones of birds and beasts, covered feet deep with sand at dawn, uncovered by the dread40 shelook to dance to the blowing of its scorching41 breath at noon, mark out a path across its desolation under the star-strewn, peaceful sky. High-born and low-caste, criminal and holy man, friend and enemy, there is nothing to tell who they were in life nor in what manner death came to them. Vultures follow jackal and hyena43; settle for a while and rise again to drift from north to south, from east to west; the wind of chance wafts44 the tattered45, blood-stained kerchief across the desert to the feet of the holy man who has watched it, the only thing to move, dancing this way and that across the plain towards him; he ties it as a pennant46 to his staff and continues, with a prayer for the soul of the dead, upon his pilgrimage; the Bedouin, starving upon a handful of stringy sihanee dates and a cup of brackish47 water, searches amongst the bones and offers the desert victim’s purse and amulets48 and weapons in exchange or sale to those he may encounter upon his journey to the nearest oasis50.
A fitting place indeed in which to hide all trace of the Arabian’s vengeance51 upon the white people. Let them fly for their lives, they would but leave their bodies to the vultures and the wind and the starving Bedouin, when her men had done with them.
[294]
Her men!
Since the sinking of the last moon her spies had brought reports of discontent amongst them. They had become restless and rebellious52 under the inactivity she imposed upon them during her fleeting53 but violent obsession54 for the white man.
Within the hour she would once more lead them across the sands under the light of the dying night and the coming dawn. With her they should hunt the fugitives down, and with spear or rifle wipe out the cause of their unrest and anger.
Born of the desert, bred in its scorching heat, Zarah made one with it in her relentless cruelty. In it she had found her joy and, what counted more to her than all, her greatest triumphs with her men. Through it love, the love which is passion, the only love of which she was capable, had come to her; in it, in years to come, death would find her.
Death!
She laughed aloud as she listened to the sound of her people calling to each other as they hastened from their quarters to obey her summons.
Death would come, as it must come to all, but not until she had repaired the mistake she had made in endeavouring to place the white man at the head of her small but turbulent kingdom; not until she had ruled for many years; not until she had wiped the memory of the white people who had tricked her from the minds of her subjects, whom she would link closer still by her union with one of themselves.
With all the instability and inconstancy of the Arab blood in her veins55 her passion for the white man passed, burned out in the fire of the wrath57 that consumed her.
Let the white people die. Let the slight ripple58 they had made upon the sea of her exuberant59, triumphant60 life be wiped out, so that peace might once more reign61 in the Sanctuary62.
[295]
Death!
With her plan of revenge in her mind she looked across at her throwing spears hanging upon the wall, then laughed as she caught sight of herself in one of the many long mirrors her intense vanity had caused her to place about the room.
As she crossed the floor she made the gesture with her fingers, used by the superstitious63 all the world over, against the thought of death which filled her mind, then took her favourite spear from the wall. Damascus steel, inlaid with gold, with razor edges to the slender, needle-pointed64 blade. She smiled as the thought of the day, those years ago, when with it she had transfixed the greyhound accepted as a gift by her father’s guest.
“Death!” she cried, as she stood, a magnificent figure of youth, with the spear raised and poised65 for throwing. “Nay66, revenge upon those who try to humiliate67 me. I will gather my men together and will promise gold, horses, women, what they will, to those who overtake and bring back to me, alive or dead, the prisoners who have escaped. Love! I in love with any man, be he white or black or of mixed blood! Nay, by the beard of the Prophet I love naught68 but power. Let them flee into the desert, even until the sun is risen, so that Helen R-raynor-r’s countenance69 be blistered70 and as roundly swelled71 as yon knob of wood, the which, to see if my hand hath not lost its cunning, I will pierce with the spear.”
She ran back a space, caught her foot in a rug, staggered, and, in an effort to recover her balance, involuntarily flung the spear.
Thrown off her balance, she had flung the spear straight at the mirror. As she stood it transfixed her reflection through the heart.
Hundreds of torches flared73 below, where her men stood looking up, watching the women as, with exclamations[296] of fear, they ran to answer the dreaded74 summons of the gong.
“By the beard,” said Bowlegs to Yussuf’s Eyes, “something is amiss.”
A shout went up as Zarah appeared, wrapped in her great riding cloak, spear in hand. “She leads us to battle, little brother who cannot speak.” Bowlegs turned, laughing as he spoke75, and stared in amazement. The dumb youth was not there, but in his place towered the gigantic Nubian.
“Verily to battle or the hunt, brother,” said Al-Asad. “Battle methinks, for of a truth the woman I love seems in no patient mood. Ha! canst hear? She calleth for Namlah! Ha! she smites77 the Abyssinian across the mouth. The tiger-cat! Yet do I love her the more for her cruelty. Her small hand is like a flower petal78 blown against the rock when, in her childlike wrath, she smites me. I could pinch the breath from her throat, which is like unto the jewelled column in yon hall, ’twixt thumb and finger, yet love I to anger her so that her little hand shall smite76 me. Ha! Harken! She calleth for the blind one, for Yussuf. Look, brother! Is she not as the wind from the south in her wrath?”
Zarah faced her terrified women slaves, amongst whom Namlah was not to be found.
“Search for the white woman, you black dogs!” She smote the Abyssinian across the face as she spoke. “Find her and bring her to me. Namlah will you find with her. Search, all of you, and hasten, lest I drive you down to the sands of death.” The women turned and fled down the steps, touching79 their amulets, praying to Allah, whispering the one to the other.
“Whither, my heart’s delight? Whither in such haste, with thy beautiful countenance distraught with fear?”
Bowlegs’ second wife tore herself from his detaining grasp and ran as fast as her weight would allow her, and literally80 for her life. “We run in search of the white[297] woman, who is not to be found, and Namlah, who——” The rest of her words were lost as she disappeared in the throng81 of her panting sisters.
“Oh! ho!” said Bowlegs. “Now find we the kernel82 in the nut. The beautiful Zarah calleth for Yussuf.” He turned and scanned the band of laughing, interested men. “Behold83 are the blind and the dumb ones not to be seen. Let me hide in thy shadow, O Lion, lest thy mate-to-be scratches out mine eyes as she passes.”
Al-Asad took no notice. He stood watching the beautiful Arabian as she ran down the steps. The men made a passage for her, and closed in behind and around her as she passed between them, wrapped in her riding cloak.
“Yussuf!” she said sharply. “Where is he? Thou who standeth above thy fellows, seeth thou him?” She laid her hand on Al-Asad’s arm as she spoke and looked up into his eyes, which were alight with love. “Is he here?”
The wind blew her cloak against him. Starving for love, he caught it and held it crushed in his hand, and stood looking down at her, his eyes full of worship, whilst the men, intuitive as are all Orientals, watched the little scene, pressing close upon each other.
“Her veritable mate,” whispered one. “Seeth thou that his right hand holds her cloak?”
“Yea! I bear no malice84 towards the white man, but ’twere well to send him with the white woman back to the country where the white race is bred,” answered the Patriarch.
“Seest thou Yussuf?”
“Yussuf guards the white man, O Zarah!” said Al-Asad slowly.
“Bring him and the white man. Hasten, thou——” She pointed with her spear at a youngster, who, terrified, turned and ran towards the men’s quarters.
“My amulet49 for a death in battle, against thine for many sons amongst thy children,” whispered the[298] Patriarch, “that the lad finds neither the blind one, nor the dumb one, nor the white man?”
The gamblers slipped their amulets from about their necks.
“Thinkest thou that they have escaped, O Father?”
“Nay, that I know not, but the bitch that so hateth our woman ruler turned from her meat and howled thrice at the moon! Naught but death can follow the sign! From fear of disaster amongst the dogs, she has been separated from her companions and placed by herself for the night in the small kennel85 amongst the rocks.”
“A?, A?!” whispered his companion, spreading his fingers against disaster. “Behold! the lad returneth with a face like troubled waters.”
The lad flung himself at Zarah’s feet, speechless from terror.
“Speak! Where are they?”
Zarah kicked him as he lay, and turned and half raised her spear in the direction from which had come a murmuring.
“The dwelling86 of the white man is empty, O mistress! Neither is the blind one nor the dumb one to be found for the searching.”
“Make a way for yon black dog!”
Zarah’s voice, high pitched in fury, rose above the men’s. They pushed each other back as the gigantic negress came running lightly, and smote her playfully upon her broad shoulders as she passed amongst them, up to where her mistress and the Nubian stood. Almost as tall as Al-Asad, she made a superb picture as she stood, thoroughbred and perfect in form, beside the two half-castes. Arrogant87 in her breeding, aware of the rebellion seething88 in the camp, she eyed them insolently89 as she revenged herself for the blows her mistress had rained upon her since she had been bought in the slave market.
“Thy prisoners have escaped, O Zarah!” she said slowly, contemptuously. “The white man has fled with the white[299] woman. Black stallion with black mare91, white stallion with white mare, and Allah’s curse upon the foal of different colouring.”
She turned her back upon the Arabian, and walked away with the insolent90 gait of the thoroughbred negro.
Speechless with rage, Zarah raised her spear, then, in a flash, realized that she no longer had the power to move her men to the madness of hate or to the lust92 of battle. They stood between her and the negress, but she kept her spear raised as she made a mighty effort to regain93 her hold over them. She stepped back and shouted the battle-cry with which she had been wont94 to gather the men for a foray into the desert or about her in battle. The words were echoed a thousand times from the mountains, but not from one throat of the men about her; she called aloud her promise of horses, gold or women as a reward for the capture of the prisoners; she drove a way between the men until she stood upon the outer edge of the throng, then once more she shouted the battle-cry, until the women, who had been watching, ran and hid amongst the rocks and some of the younger men felt stealthily for their knives.
“Is there not one among you who dare face the white man?”
A voice from the centre of the throng quoted an Arab proverb, a voice with a mocking note in its clear tones:
“‘It is written upon the cucumber leaf,’ O Zarah, ‘that from a house from which thou eatest thou shalt not pray for its destruction.’”
The Patriarch, with Bowlegs at his side, pushed his way to the front. “The white man, my daughter, we will not for master,” he said, “but for his patience and his strength, yea! and his love for his own woman, we love him as a brother. Behold has he lived and eaten like a dog in yon hut and worked amongst us, to teach us his tricks of skill, with no word of complaint upon his lips. Nay! let him be, with his own woman. Their ways are[300] not our ways, and their lives are in the keeping of Allah the one and only God. Likewise let the friend of thy father with his dumb friend be gone upon their own business. They irk the Sanctuary with their infirmities, as does the busy Namlah with her wailings for her lost son.”
But Zarah had long since passed the stage of sane95 reasoning. She was white with fury as she faced these men, who would not move hand or foot to help her in her need and looked at her with laughter in the depths of their mocking eyes.
“Thou!”
Her voice trembled with rage as she looked across to Al-Asad, who stood surrounded by men.
He shook his head.
“Thou art my woman!” he said simply, “and if I cannot have thee, thinkest thou that I would strive to bring back one thou lovest and who has escaped?”
“Nay! I love him as a brother, let him go!”
“Then will I bring him back myself!”
The men looked at each other as she laughed shrilly97 and turned and ran across the plateau towards the stables, and gripped the Nubian as he made a movement to follow her.
“Let her be,” said the Patriarch. “She but makes mock of thee. What can a woman armed with a spear do against those who are fully18 armed? She will hide amongst the rocks until hunger drives her forth98, then will we wed99 her to thee, O brother, or carry her to the sands of death, for we tire of her moods and would find her a master.”
Desperation had swept her completely off her course towards the whirlpool of impulsiveness100, into which the hot-headed flounder, to struggle, sink and drown.
A moment’s thought, a whole-hearted surrender to her subjects’ wishes, a joke at her own expense, a laugh, and[301] she might even then have won back her hold upon the men who, as all Arabs, were swayed by the emotions of the moment and as easily placated101 as they were easily roused.
Her love had passed; the mockery in her men’s eyes, the insolence102 in the black slave’s words, signalled her defeat; the future, bereft103 of power, loomed104 cold and barren, yet, in the smart of the wound dealt her colossal105 vanity, she gave no thought to aught but swift, sure revenge upon those who had been the chief cause of her downfall.
The grooms106 of the stables standing107 half-way down the slight incline, devoured108 by curiosity, fled at sight of her, and rushed to their quarters at the back of the buildings.
She paid no attention.
Time pressed, and she required but a halter-rope with which to guide Lulah, the fastest mare in all Arabia, across the desert. There was no necessity for questioning; the fresh tracks of the camels or horses ridden by the fugitives would show plainly on the sand in the light of the coming day. In the agony of her humiliation she gave no thought to weapons; all she wanted was to find the white man with his woman, to get within spear range, and then to leave the rest to Allah the Merciful and Compassionate109.
Terrified at the gleam of the white cloak, Lulah backed across the loose box, then lashed110 out until it seemed she must break the partition with her dainty, unshod hoofs111. Her beautiful, soft eyes rolled as she backed into the corner, and she jerked her head, lifting Zarah from the ground, when the Arabian caught her by the halter-rope; she stood quite still for a moment, snuffing at the cloak, then suddenly rushed for the open door and bolted, slipping, sliding, with the girl running at her side, down the passage between the stalls, through the outer door, and out on to the broad ledge112 upon which the stables had been built.
She reared when Zarah vaulted to her back, then, exhilarated by the dawn and under the pressure of the[302] girl’s knees, danced sideways towards the edge, whilst the men, who watched the splendid picture, held Al-Asad forcibly, and Yussuf’s Eyes peeping from behind the rock which hid them, tapped an answer to the blind man’s question.
The black mare reared until struck between the ears, when she crashed to her feet, slipped them over the edge, tried to regain her foothold, then, under her own impetus113 and the pressure of the girl’s knees, who was too savagely impatient to pull the beautiful beast back to the made track, slithered like a goat down the path from the stables to where it joined the upward track which led to the cleft.
Zarah took her up the steep incline at a terrific rush, and pulled her at the top until she reared again. For one instant they stood sharply outlined against the night sky in which the morning breeze blew out the stars one by one, then vanished, as the battle-cry, mocking, challenging, rang through the air down to the men standing close together upon the plateau.
“His Eyes,” who watched, turned and tapped a message upon his blind friend’s arm.
“To the kennels114?” answered Yussuf. “Yea, verily will we hasten whilst our brothers and sisters gossip of the flight. Zarah the Merciful will have no time in which to spy the swiftest dromedary in Arabia hidden behind the rocks.” He raised his right hand as he spoke. “By the honour of the Arab, when I have finished with her who plucked the light from my eyes, behold will her laughter be ‘as the laughter of the nut when cracked between two stones’!”
He laughed savagely as he quoted the proverb, staring down at the boy he could not see, then took his hand and, without faltering115, passed quickly along a path he had made for himself between the rocks up to the kennels, deserted116 for the moment by the grooms, who had rushed to talk over the doings of the past hour with the distracted grooms of the stables.
[303]
“Allah keep her tongue still!” whispered Yussuf as “His Eyes” opened the door of the isolated117 kennel amongst the rocks and softly whistled the bitch. Whimpering with delight, the beautiful creature flung herself upon the men whom she had so often followed across the desert. She loved them. They had petted her when in disgrace, and had fed her with bones between the regulation and none too satisfying meals. Yussuf’s hour of revenge had struck. Vengeance for the loss of his eyes, for the mutilation of his once handsome face, for the humiliations which had deftly118 been heaped upon him throughout the years by the woman who had failed to recognize the intensity119 of his hate for her.
For just such a moment had he longed and prayed, for just such a moment had he fostered the hate of the bitch, who, only on account of her unblemished pedigree and for the gentleness of her ways to all but the Arabian, had not been destroyed long since. For years she had followed the scent120 of one of the Arabian’s discarded sandals which “His Eyes” had trailed upon a string across the desert, mile upon mile, to be rewarded at the end by some dainty fastened to a staff, thrust into the sand, for which she had been taught to leap and fight.
She knew the way down the narrow path to the spear stuck fast between the two rocks, and had never forgotten the severe lessons which had taught her to keep silent until well out in the desert; she whimpered softly and thrust her muzzle121 into Yussuf’s hand as he passed quickly to the rock which marked the beginning of the path leading up to the cleft.
“They gamble, thou sayest, ‘Mine Eyes,’ seated upon the ground, with the Lion, a prisoner, in their midst. Then bending low will we make our way to the cleft, praying to Allah to bind122 their eyes to the dice123 until we can be no longer seen. How light is it? As light as the feathers upon a pigeon’s breast? Then must we hasten!”
Bent124 double, they crept up the steep path to the cleft,[304] through which Yussuf passed, just as the first sunbeam shot from behind the edge of the world, and a great shout rang out from the plateau.
Al-Asad, chafing125 against the restraint put upon him and longing126 for the woman he loved, turned to look up at the cleft through which she must pass upon her return.
Outlined against the sky he saw the disappearing figure of the blind man, whom he knew hated the woman he loved with a bitterness beyond description; upon the near side he saw, waiting to pass, Yussuf’s Eyes, holding the bitch who hated the Arabian with a hatred127 which equalled that of the blind man.
The men leapt to their feet at Al-Asad’s cry and flung themselves upon him, then fell back when, making a bugle128 of his slender hands, he sent the battle-cry ringing over the mountain tops out to the desert.
At the sight of the bitch he had divined the revenge Yussuf the blind had planned; he sent the battle-cry to reach the woman he loved, so that she should know that help was coming.
Again and again he called, until the birds rose twittering and screaming in flocks and flew towards the sunrise, whilst Yussuf whistled to the bitch trotting129 at the dromedary’s heels, as the great beast, under the urging of the dumb youth, passed across the hidden path at a desperate, dangerous speed.
The women rushed from their quarters at the sound of the battle-cry, which invariably heralded130 the death of one or more of their menfolk, and beat their breasts as they watched the men, headed by the Nubian, running towards the stables.
“A?! A?! A?!”
The lamentation131 rose to high heaven as they watched the Nubian take his stallion at a terrific pace down the short cut to the path. They screamed when the magnificent beast fell and rolled to the bottom, where he scrambled132 to his feet and limped forward a foot or so, whilst[305] Al-Asad, without hesitating, sped to meet the men as they tore like the whirlwind down the made track. He caught the rope-halter of one who outdistanced the rest, and, putting out all his almost superhuman strength, stopped the horse dead in its tracks and hurled133 it back on its haunches. Clinging to the mane with his left hand, he lifted the rider with his right, flung him to the ground, bent and snatched the spear from his hand, and ran at the stallion’s side up to the end of the path, where he vaulted across its back and disappeared through the cleft with a challenging cry.
Afraid of the Arab who lay stunned134 across their path, the foremost horses stopped dead in their headlong career, bringing the others up against them in a struggling mass, so that much time was lost as the men tried to straighten out the confusion made by the horses jamming on the narrow path as each struggled to free itself from its neighbour, whilst they slipped and reared and fell.
The rim42 of the sun had just shown above the horizon; the Nubian was a speck135 in the far distance; of Yussuf and “His Eyes” and the Arabian there was no sign in the shadows which still shrouded136 the vast ocean of sand, when, headed by the Patriarch, with much shouting and firing of rifles, the whole band, riding at full speed, swept across the desert.
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impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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drowsiness
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| n.睡意；嗜睡 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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figs
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| figures 数字，图形，外形 | |
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savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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vaulted
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thwarted
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| 阻挠( thwart的过去式和过去分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过 | |
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circumvented
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| v.设法克服或避免（某事物），回避( circumvent的过去式和过去分词 )；绕过，绕行，绕道旅行 | |
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dense
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ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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connived
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| v.密谋 ( connive的过去式和过去分词 )；搞阴谋；默许；纵容 | |
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smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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wring
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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leniency
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| n.宽大（不严厉） | |
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awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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21
divan
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| n.长沙发；（波斯或其他东方诗人的）诗集 | |
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22
cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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23
devastated
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| v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的 | |
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hordes
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| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
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25
inundated
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| v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付 | |
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26
penance
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| n.（赎罪的）惩罪 | |
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27
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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29
hurl
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| vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂 | |
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30
victoriously
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| adv.获胜地，胜利地 | |
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31
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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32
tracts
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| 大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文 | |
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33
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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34
advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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35
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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36
relentless
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| adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的 | |
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37
slays
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的第三人称单数 ) | |
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38
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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39
fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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40
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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41
scorching
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| adj. 灼热的 | |
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42
rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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43
hyena
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| n.土狼，鬣狗 | |
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44
wafts
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| n.空中飘来的气味，一阵气味( waft的名词复数 )；摇转风扇v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的第三人称单数 ) | |
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45
tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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46
pennant
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| n.三角旗；锦标旗 | |
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47
brackish
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| adj.混有盐的；咸的 | |
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48
amulets
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| n.护身符( amulet的名词复数 ) | |
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49
amulet
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| n.护身符 | |
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50
oasis
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| n.（沙漠中的）绿洲，宜人的地方 | |
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51
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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52
rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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53
fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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54
obsession
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| n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感) | |
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55
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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56
vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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57
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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58
ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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59
exuberant
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| adj.充满活力的；（植物）繁茂的 | |
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60
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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61
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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62
sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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63
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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64
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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65
poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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66
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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67
humiliate
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| v.使羞辱，使丢脸[同]disgrace | |
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68
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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69
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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70
blistered
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| adj.水疮状的，泡状的v.（使）起水泡( blister的过去式和过去分词 )；（使表皮等）涨破，爆裂 | |
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71
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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72
petrified
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| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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73
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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74
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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75
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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76
smite
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| v.重击；彻底击败；n.打；尝试；一点儿 | |
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77
smites
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的第三人称单数 ) | |
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78
petal
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| n.花瓣 | |
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79
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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80
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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81
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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82
kernel
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| n.(果实的)核，仁；(问题)的中心，核心 | |
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83
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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84
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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85
kennel
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| n.狗舍，狗窝 | |
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86
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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87
arrogant
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
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88
seething
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| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
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89
insolently
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| adv.自豪地，自傲地 | |
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90
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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91
mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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92
lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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93
regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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94
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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95
sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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96
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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97
shrilly
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| 尖声的； 光亮的，耀眼的 | |
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98
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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99
wed
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| v.娶，嫁，与…结婚 | |
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100
impulsiveness
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| n.冲动 | |
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101
placated
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| v.安抚，抚慰，使平静( placate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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102
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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103
bereft
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| adj.被剥夺的 | |
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104
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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105
colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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106
grooms
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| n.新郎( groom的名词复数 )；马夫v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的第三人称单数 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗 | |
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107
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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108
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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109
compassionate
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| adj.有同情心的，表示同情的 | |
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110
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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111
hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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112
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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113
impetus
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| n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力 | |
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114
kennels
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| n.主人外出时的小动物寄养处，养狗场；狗窝( kennel的名词复数 )；养狗场 | |
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115
faltering
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| 犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的 | |
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116
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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117
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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118
deftly
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| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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119
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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120
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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121
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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122
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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123
dice
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| n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险 | |
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124
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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125
chafing
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| n.皮肤发炎v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的现在分词 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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126
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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127
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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128
bugle
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| n.军号，号角，喇叭；v.吹号，吹号召集 | |
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129
trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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130
heralded
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| v.预示( herald的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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131
lamentation
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| n.悲叹，哀悼 | |
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132
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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133
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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134
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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135
speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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136
shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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