Deveril looked across their tiny fire at her, a strange expression in his eyes, and said quietly:
"No; he is not dead. All along I judged that unlikely. Though I slung1 your gun at him hard enough, if it hit a lucky spot. It's hard to kill a man, you know.... And, to finish your thought, I am not running wild with a hangman's noose2 hanging about my neck! And you...."
He took a certain devilish glee in concluding with an echo of her own words. And with the added insinuation poured into them from his own. He saw her jerk her head up defiantly3.
"I told you...."
Again she broke off. He made no remark, but sat looking at her intently. They had eaten and drunk their fill; there remained to them a goodly stock of provisions; Deveril was smoking his cigarette.
"What now?" demanded Lynette, as one tired of a subject and impatient to look forward.
He shrugged4.
"All troubles have slipped off my shoulders. The worst they could do to me, if they could lay me by the heels, would be to charge me with assault and battery! And we're in a neck of the woods where men laugh at a charge like that, and ask the assaulted one why the devil he didn't hit back! What now? For you I'd advise keeping right on travelling. For if Bruce
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Standing5 is dead it's up to you to keep on the move! As for me, I never met up with a sweeter travelling companion, nor yet with a nervier, nor yet, by God, with a lovelier! Say the word, Lynette Brooke, and we strike on together, over the ridge6 and deeper into the wilderness7, headed for the land beyond Buck8 Valley, beyond Big Bear Creek9. For the wild lands beyond the last holdings of the late Timber-Wolf, to be on the ground when Mexicali Joe leads Taggart and Gallup and Shipton to his gold!"
She understood how Babe Deveril, as any man should be, was relieved at knowing that the man he had stricken down was not dead; that he, himself, was not hunted as a murderer. And yet she was vaguely10 distressed11 and uneasy. She felt a change in him, and in his attitude toward her.... When he awaited her reply, she made none. Again fatigue12 swept over her, and with it a new stirring of uneasiness....
There was a drop of coffee left; she leaned forward and took it, thinking: "He had his tobacco, and it has bolstered13 up his nerves." She drank and then sat back, leaning against a tree, her face hidden from him, while she searched his face in the dim light, searched it with a stubborn desire to read the most hidden thought in his brain.
"I am tired," she said after a long while. He could make nothing of her voice, low and impersonal14, and with no inflection to give it expression beyond the brief meanings of the words themselves. "Very tired. Yet necessity drives. And it is not safe here, so near them. I can go on for another hour, perhaps two or three hours. That will mean ... how far? Four or five miles; maybe six, seven?"
Not only for one hour, not alone for just two or three hours did they push on. But for half of that silent,
[Pg 136]
starry night. A score of times Babe Deveril said to her: "We've done our stunt15; if any girl on earth ever earned rest, you've done it." But always there was that driving force and that allure16, and another ridge just ahead, and her answer: "Another mile.... I can do it."
Deveril, with a lighted match cupped in his hand, looked at his watch.
"It's long after midnight; nearly one o'clock."
They found a sheltered spot among the tall pines; above them the keen edge of an up-thrust ridge; just below a thick-grown clump17 of underbrush; underfoot dry needles, fallen and drifted from the pines. Again he was all courtesy and kindliness18 toward her, seeing her hard pressed, judging her, despite her mask of hardihood, near collapse19. So he cut pine boughs20 with his knife and broke them with his hands, and of them piled her a couch. She thanked him gently; impulsively21 she gave him her hand ... though, as his caught it eagerly, she jerked it away quickly.... He watched her lie down, snuggling her cheek against the curve of her arm. Near by he lay down on his back, his two hands under his head, his eyes on the stars. A curious smile twitched22 at his lips.
And then, just as they were dropping off to sleep, they heard far off a long-drawn, howling cry piercing through the great hush23. Lynette started up, her blood quickening; as she had heard Bruce Standing's warning call that first time, so now did she think to hear it again. Deveril leaped to his feet, no less startled. A moment later he called softly to her, and it seemed to Lynette that he forced a tone of lightness which did not ring true:
"A timber wolf ... but one that runs on four legs! It won't come near." Then, as she made no answer
[Pg 137]
and he could not see her face, he asked sharply: "What did you think it was?"
She shivered and lay back.
"I didn't know."
And to herself she whispered:
"And I don't know now!"
Here among the uplands it was a night of piercing cold. The nearer the dawn drew on, the icier grew the fingers of the wind which swept the ridges25 and probed into the cañons. For a little while both Lynette and Deveril slept the heavy sleep of exhaustion26. But, after the first couple of hours, neither slept beyond brief, uncomfortable dozes27. They shivered and woke and stirred; they found a growing torture in the rude couches they slept upon, in the hard ground and stones, which seemed always thrusting up in new places. Long before the night had begun to thin to the first of daybreak's hint, Lynette was sitting, her back to a tree, torn between the two impossibilities, that of remaining awake, that of remaining asleep. Deveril got up and began stamping about, trying to get warm and drive the cramp28 and soreness out of his muscles.
"A few more days and nights like this," he grumbled29, "would be enough to kill a pair of Esquimos! We've got to find us some sort of half-way decent shelter for another night, and we've got to arrange to take a holiday and rest up."
It was all that she could do to keep her teeth from chattering31 by shutting them hard together; her only answer was a shivery sigh. She could scarcely make him out, where he trod back and forth32, the darkness held so thick. She began to think so longingly33 of a fire that in comparison with its cheer and warmth she felt that possible discovery by Taggart would be a small misfortune. She could almost welcome being put under
[Pg 138]
arrest; taken back to Big Pine and jail; given a bed and covers and one long sleep.
"Awake?" queried34 Deveril.
She nodded, as though he could see her nod through the dark. Then, with an effort, she said an uncertain: "Y-e-s."
"I'll tell you," he said presently, coming close to her and looking down upon the blot35 in the darkness which her huddled36 figure made at the base of the pine. "Taggart will be on his way soon; he'll hardly wait for day. He'll go the straightest, quickest way to the Big Bear country. That means he'll steer37 on straight into Buck Valley. If you and I went that way, we'd have him and his crowd at our heels all day, and never know how close they were; and I, for one, am damned sick of that feeling that somebody's creeping up on us all the time! So we swerve38 out from the direct way as soon as we start; we curve off to the north for a couple of miles; then we make a bend around toward the upper end of what I fancy must be the Grub Stake Cañon Joe is headed for. That way we'll always have two or three miles between our trail and theirs; at times we'll be five or six miles off to the side. That means, of course, that they're pretty sure to get to Joe's diggings ahead of us; not over half a day at that. For we're well ahead of them now. And, in any case, you can bet the last sardine39 we've got that they'll be a day or two just poking40 around, prospecting41 and trying to make sure of what they've grabbed off.... Agreed, pardner?"
"Yes. I could even start now, just to get those few miles between our trail and theirs. Then, when the sun was up and it was warm, we could have a rest and an hour's sleep."
So, walking slowly, painfully, carrying what was left of their small stock of provisions, they started on in the
[Pg 139]
dark. Up a ridge they went and into the thinning edge of the coming dawn; they picked their way among trees and rocks; little by little they were able to see in more detail what lay about them. Along the ridge they tramped northward42. They were warmer now that they walked; or, rather, they were some degrees less cold. Gradually their paces grew swifter, as some of the stiffness went out of their bodies; gradually the shadows thinned; the stars paled, the east asserted itself above the other points of the compass, softly tinted43. The sleeping world began to awake all about them; birds stirred with the first drowsy44 twitterings. The pallid46 eastern tints47 grew brighter; as from a wine-cup, life was spilled again upon the mountain tops. A bird began a clear-noted48, joyous49 singing; all of a sudden the morning breeze seemed sweeter and softer; there came a brilliant, flaming glory in the sky which drew their eyes; all life forces which had been at ebb50 began to flow strongly once more; the sun thrust a gleaming golden edge up into the upper world, rolling majestically51 from the under world. Deveril looked into her eyes and laughed softly; her eyes smiled back into his.... She felt as though she had had a bad dream, but was awake now; as though last night her nerves had tricked her into wrongly judging her companion. Doubtings always flock in the night; joy is never more joyous than when breaking forth with the new day.
"It isn't so bad, after all," said Deveril. "Now, if we only had a pack-mule and a roll of blankets and a bit of canvas.... What more would you ask, Lynette Brooke, for a lark52 and a holiday to remember pleasantly when we grew to be doddering old folks?"
"As long as you are wishing," returned Lynette lightly, "why not place an order with the King of Ifs for a gun and some fishing-tackle and a frying-pan and
[Pg 140]
some more coffee? And a couple of hats; an outing suit for me." She looked down at her suit; it was torn in numerous places; it was gummed and sticky here and there with the resin53 from pines; it caught upon every bush. "Then, you know, a needle and some thread; a dozen fresh eggs, bread, and butter...."
"Too much soft living has spoiled you!" he laughed.
"If so, I am in ideal training to get unspoiled in short order!" she laughed back.
And for all of this was the rising sun and the new, bright day responsible; for the ancient way of youth playing up to youth.
What was happening within both of them was a great nervous relaxation54. They knew where Taggart and Gallup were, or at least were confident that there was no immediate55 danger of Taggart and Gallup overhauling56 them; they knew where Mexicali Joe was and where he was going. For the moment they were freed from that crushing sense of uncertainty57 welded to menace which had borne down upon them ever since they fled from Big Pine. And consequently joy of life sprang up as a spring leaps the instant that the weight is plucked from it.
"It's our lucky day!" said Deveril.
For the sun was scarcely up when a plump young rabbit hopped58 square into their path, and Deveril, with a lucky throw, killed it with a rock. And just as they were speaking of thirst, they came to a tiny trickle59 of water among the rocks; and while Lynette was boiling coffee over a tiny blaze, Deveril was preparing grilled60 cottontail for breakfast. Savory61 odors floating out through the woodlands. Lynette was singing softly:
"Merry it is in the good Greenwood!"
They ate and rested and the sun warmed them. For
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a full two hours they scarcely stirred. Then they drank again; Lynette bathed her hands and face and arms; she set her hair in order, refashioning the two thick braids. She shut one eye and then the other, striving to make certain that there was not a black smudge somewhere upon her nose. They were starting on when Deveril said soberly:
"Shall I save the rabbit skin?"
"Why?" she asked innocently.
A twinkle came into his eyes.
"A few more days of this sort of life, and My Lady Linnet is going to require a new gown! Perhaps rabbit furs, if hunting is good, will do it!"
She laughed at him, and her eyes were daring as she sang, improvising62 as to melody:
"And for vest of pall45, thy fingers small,
That wont63 on harp24 to stray,
A cloak must sheer from the slaughtered64 deer,
To keep the cold away!"
"Lynette!"
A flash from her gay mood had set his eyes on fire. He sprang up and came toward her, his two hands out. But as a black cloud can run over the face of the young moon, so did a sudden change of mood wipe the tempting65 look out of her eyes and darken them. Her spirit had peeped forth at him, merry-making; as quick as bird-flight it was gone, and she stepped back and looked at him steadily66, cool now and aloof67 and dampening to a man's ardent68 nonsense.
"You have a way of saying something, Babe Deveril," she told him coolly, "which appeals to me. In your own upstanding words: 'Let's go!'"
He laughed back at her lightly, hiding under a light cloak his own chagrin69. At that moment he had wanted her in his arms; had wanted that as he wanted neither
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Mexicali Joe's gold nor any other coldly glittering thing. Now he felt himself growing angry with her....
"Right. You've said it. Let's go."
He made short work of catching70 up the few articles they were to carry with them and of stamping into dead coals the few remaining glowing embers of their fire. Then, striding ahead, he led the way. And for a matter of a mile or more she was hard beset71 to keep up with him.
The day was filled with happenings to divert their thoughts from any one channel. They startled, in a tiny meadow, three deer, which shot away through a tangle72 of brush, leaping, plunging73, shooting forward and down a slope like great, gleaming, graceful74 arrows. "A man could live like a king here, with a rifle," said Deveril longingly. They saw a tall, thin wisp of smoke an hour before noon; it stood against the sky to the southwest of them, at a distance of perhaps two miles. "Taggart's noonday camp," they decided75, deciding further that Taggart must have insisted on an early start, and therefore had found his stomach demanding lunch well before midday. Later, some two or three hours after twelve, they heard the long, reverberating76 crack and rumble30 and echo of a rifle-shot. "Taggart's crowd, killing77 a deer or bear or rabbit," they imagined. And all along they were contented78, making what time they could through the open spaces, over the ridges, down through tiny green valleys and up long, dreary79 slopes, resting frequently, never hastening beyond their powers, secure in knowing that the Taggart trail and the Lynette-Deveril trail, though paralleling, would have no common point of contact before both trails ran into the country in the vicinity of the Big Bear Creek, the rim80 of the Timber-Wolf country.
[Pg 143]
"The whole thing," exulted81 Babe Deveril, "lies in the fact that we know where they are and they haven't the least idea where we are! We know where they are going, and they haven't a guess which way we are steering82...."
"Do you know," said Lynette thoughtfully, "I don't believe that Mexicali Joe intends for a minute to lead them to his gold!"
Deveril looked at her in astonishment83.
"You don't! Why, couldn't you see that Taggart put the fear of the Lord into him? That Gallup, slick as wet soap, tricked him? That...."
She broke in impatiently, saying:
"Yet Joe.... He seemed to me to give in to them in something too much of a hurry ... as though he had his own wits about him, his own last card in the hole, as dad used to say. I wonder...."
He stared at her, puzzled.
"When you feel things," he muttered, none too pleasantly, "you get me guessing. I don't know yet how you came to know that the Taggart bunch was at our heels yesterday. But you did know; and you were right. As to this other hunch84 of yours...."
"You'll see," said Lynette serenely85. "Joe isn't the biggest fool in that crowd of four. You wait and see."
"You'll give me the creeps yet," said Deveril.
They both laughed and went on—through brushy tangles86; over rocky ridges; through spacious87 forests; across soft, springy meadows; up slope, down slope; on and on and endlessly on. Once they frightened a young bear that was tearing away as if its life depended upon it upon an old stump88; the bear snorted and went lumbering89 away, as Deveril said, like a young freight-train gone mad; Lynette, as she admitted afterward90, was
[Pg 144]
twice as frightened, but did not run, herself, because the bear ran first and because she couldn't get the hang of her feet as quickly as he could! They came upon several bands of mountain-quail, which shot away, buzzing like overgrown bees; Deveril hurled91 stones and curses at many a scampering92 rabbit; once she and once he caught a glimpse of that dark gleam, come and gone in a flash, which might have been coyote or timber-wolf.... They did not speak of Bruce Standing. But they wondered, both of them....
Toward four o'clock in the afternoon they heard for the second time the crack of a rifle-shot. Farther to the south of them this time; a hint farther eastward93; fainter than when first heard. Taggart, they held in full confidence, was following the trail which they had mapped for him; he was going on steadily; he was forging ahead of them. And yet they were content that this was so. They rested more often; they relaxed more and more.
And before the brief reverberations of a distant rifle-shot had done echoing through the gorges94, they came to a full stop and determined95 to make camp. Not for a second, all day long, had Deveril swerved96 from his determination to "dig in in comfort for the night." They were, as both were willing to admit, "done in."
Deveril employed his pocket-knife, long ago dulled, and now whetted97 after a fashion upon a rough stone, to whack98 off small pine and willow99 and the more leafy of sage100 branches. He made of them a goodly heap. Then he gathered dead limbs, fallen from the parent trees, making his second pile. All the while Lynette kept a small dry-wood and pine-cone fire going hotly; little smoke, little swirl101 of sparks to rise above the grove102 in which they were encamping; plenty of heat for body warmth and for cooking. She was preoccupied103, moving
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about listlessly. So this was Bruce Standing's country? She looked about her with an ever-deepening interest; this was a fitting land for such a man. Bigness and dominance and a certain vital freshness struck altogether the key-note here—and suggested Timber-Wolf. If he were not dead after all—— Well, then, he would be somewhere near now for like a wounded animal, he would have returned to his solitudes104.
Deveril found near by a level space under the pines. Here he sought out a scraggly tree which expressed an earth-loving soul in low-drooped branches. Against a low arm which ran out horizontally from the trunk he began placing his longer dead limbs, the butts105 in the ground, sloping, the effect soon that of a tent. Against these a high-piled wall of leafy branches. He stood back, judging from which direction the wind would come. He piled more branches. Into his nostrils106, filled with the resinous107 incense108 of broken pine twigs109, floated the tempting aromas110 which spread out in all directions from Lynette's cooking. He cocked his eye at the slanting111 sun; it was still early. He yielded to the insistent112 invitation, and came down into the little cup of a meadow to her, and she watched him coming: a picturesque113 figure in the forest land, his black hair rumpled114, his slender figure swinging on, his sleeves rolled back, his eyes full of the flicker115 of his lively spirit.
When Deveril was hard pressed along the trail, worn out and on the alert for oncoming danger from any quarter, he was impersonal; a mere116 ally on whom she could depend. At moments like this one, when he was rested and relaxed, and grasped in his eager hands a bit of the swift life flowing by, he became different. A man now—a young man—one with quick lights in his eyes and a lilting eagerness in his voice.
"It would be great sport," he said, "all life long ...
[Pg 146]
to come home to you and find you waiting ... with a smile and a wee cup o' tea! And...."
He was half serious, half laughing; she made a hasty light rejoinder, and invited him to a hot supper waiting him.
They made a merry, frivolously117 light meal of it. There was plenty to eat; water near by; there was coffee; above them the infinity118 of blue, darkening skies, about them the peace and silence of the solitudes. And within their souls security, if only for the swiftly passing moment. They chose to be gay; they laughed often; Deveril asked her where she had learned to quote Scott and she asked him, in obvious retort, if he thought that she had never been to school! He sang for her, low-voiced and musically, a Spanish love-song; she made high pretense119 at missing the significance of the impassioned southern words. He, having finished eating and having nearly finished his cigarette, lying back upon the thick-padded pine-needles, jerked himself up, of a mood for free translation; she, being quick of intuition, forestalled120 him, crying out: "While I clean up our can dishes, if you will finish making camp...."
He laughed at her, but got up and went back, whistling his love-song refrain to his house-building. She, busied over her own labors121, found time more than once to glance at him through the trees ... wondering about him, trying to probe her own instinctive122 distrust of one who had all along befriended her.
When she joined him a few minutes later, coming up the slope slowly, she looked tired, he thought, and listless. She sat down and watched him finishing his labors; all of her spontaneous gaiety had fled; she was silent and did not smile and appeared preoccupied. She sighed two or three times, unconsciously, but her sighs did not escape him. Always he had held her sex to be
[Pg 147]
an utterly123 baffling, though none the less an equally fascinating one. Now he would have given more than a little for a clew to her thoughts ... or dreamings ... or vague preoccupation....
"My lady's bower124!" he said lightly. "And what does my lady have to say of it?"
A truly bowery little shelter it was, on leaning poles in an inverted125 V, with leafy boughs making thick walls, through which only slender sun-rays slipped in a golden dust; within a high-heaped pile of fragrant126 boughs, with a heap of smaller green twigs and resinous pine-tips for her couch.
"You are so good to me, Babe Deveril," was her grave answer.
And not altogether did her answer please him, for a quick hint of frown touched his eyes, though he banished127 it almost before she was sure of it. Those words of hers, though they thanked him, most of all reminded him of his goodness and gentleness with her, and thus went farther and assured him that she still counted upon his goodness and gentleness.
"I am afraid, Babe Deveril," she added quickly, though still her eyes were grave and her lips unsmiling, "that I am pretty well tired out ... all sort of let-down like, as an old miner I once knew used to say! It's going to be sundown in a few minutes; can't we treat ourselves to the luxury of a good blazing camp-fire, and sit by it, and get good and warm and rested?"
Had she spoken her true thought she would have cried out instead:
"What troubles me, Babe Deveril, is that I am half afraid of you. And, all of a sudden, of the wilderness. And of life and of all the mysteries of the unknown! I am as near screaming from sheer nervousness at this instant as I ever was in my life."
[Pg 148]
But Deveril, who could glean128 of her emotions only what she allowed to lie among her spoken words, cried heartily129:
"You just bet your sweet life we'll have a crackling, roaring fire. Taggart and his crowd are half a dozen miles away right now and still going; our fire down in that hollow will never cast a gleam over the big ridge yonder and the other ridges which lie in between him and us. Come ahead, my dear; here's for a real bonfire."
That "my dear" escaped him; but she did not appear to have noted it. She rose and followed him back to their dying fire. He began piling on dead branches; they caught and crackled and shot showering sparks aloft. He brought more fuel, laying it close by. Already the blaze had driven her back; she sat down by a pine, her knees in her hands, her head tipped forward so that her face was shadowed, her two curly braids over her shoulders.
Deveril lay near her, his hand palming his chin.
"Tell me, pretty maiden," he said lightly, "how far to the nearest barber shop?"
"And tell me," she returned, looking at her fingers, "if in that same shop they have a manicurist?"
Having glanced at her hands, she sighed, and then began working with her hair; there was one thing which must not be utterly neglected. She knew that if once it became snarled130, she had small hope of saving it; no comb, no brush, no scissors to snip132 off a troublesome lock; only the inevitable133 result of such an utter snarl131 that she, too, in a week of this sort of thing, must needs seek a barber who understood bobbing a maid's hair. And with hair such as Lynette's, glorious, bronzy, with all the brighter glowing colors of the sunlight snared134 in it, any true girl should shudder135 at the barber's scissors.
[Pg 149]
All without warning a great booming voice crashed into their ears, shattering the silence, as Bruce Standing bore down upon them from the ridge, shouting:
"So, now I've got you! Got both of you! Got you where I want you, by the living God!"
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1
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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noose
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| n.绳套，绞索（刑）；v.用套索捉；使落入圈套；处以绞刑 | |
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3
defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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4
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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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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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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bolstered
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| v.支持( bolster的过去式和过去分词 )；支撑；给予必要的支持；援助 | |
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impersonal
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| adj.无个人感情的，与个人无关的，非人称的 | |
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stunt
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| n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长 | |
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allure
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| n.诱惑力，魅力；vt.诱惑，引诱，吸引 | |
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clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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kindliness
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| n.厚道，亲切，友好的行为 | |
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collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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impulsively
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| adv.冲动地 | |
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twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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harp
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| n.竖琴；天琴座 | |
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ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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26
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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27
dozes
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| n.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的名词复数 )v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的第三人称单数 ) | |
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28
cramp
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| n.痉挛；[pl.](腹)绞痛；vt.限制，束缚 | |
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29
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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30
rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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31
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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32
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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33
longingly
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| adv. 渴望地 热望地 | |
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34
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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35
blot
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| vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍 | |
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36
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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37
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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38
swerve
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| v.突然转向，背离；n．转向，弯曲，背离 | |
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39
sardine
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| n.[C]沙丁鱼 | |
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40
poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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41
prospecting
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| n.探矿 | |
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42
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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43
tinted
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| adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词 | |
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44
drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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45
pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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46
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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47
tints
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| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
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48
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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49
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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50
ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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51
majestically
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| 雄伟地； 庄重地； 威严地； 崇高地 | |
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52
lark
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| n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏 | |
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53
resin
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| n.树脂，松香，树脂制品；vt.涂树脂 | |
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54
relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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55
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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56
overhauling
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| n.大修；拆修；卸修；翻修v.彻底检查( overhaul的现在分词 )；大修；赶上；超越 | |
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57
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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58
hopped
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| 跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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59
trickle
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| vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散 | |
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60
grilled
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| adj. 烤的, 炙过的, 有格子的 动词grill的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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61
savory
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| adj.风味极佳的，可口的，味香的 | |
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62
improvising
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| 即兴创作（improvise的现在分词形式） | |
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63
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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64
slaughtered
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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65
tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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66
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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67
aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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68
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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69
chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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70
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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71
beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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72
tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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73
plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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74
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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75
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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76
reverberating
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| 回响，回荡( reverberate的现在分词 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射 | |
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77
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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78
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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79
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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80
rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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81
exulted
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| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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82
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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83
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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84
hunch
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| n.预感，直觉 | |
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85
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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86
tangles
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| （使）缠结， （使）乱作一团( tangle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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87
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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88
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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89
lumbering
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| n.采伐林木 | |
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90
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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91
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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92
scampering
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| v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的现在分词 ) | |
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93
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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94
gorges
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| n.山峡，峡谷( gorge的名词复数 )；咽喉v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的第三人称单数 )；作呕 | |
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95
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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96
swerved
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| v.（使）改变方向，改变目的( swerve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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97
whetted
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| v.（在石头上）磨（刀、斧等）( whet的过去式和过去分词 )；引起，刺激（食欲、欲望、兴趣等） | |
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98
whack
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| v.敲击，重打，瓜分；n.重击，重打，尝试，一份 | |
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99
willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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100
sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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101
swirl
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| v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形 | |
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102
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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103
preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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104
solitudes
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| n.独居( solitude的名词复数 )；孤独；荒僻的地方；人迹罕至的地方 | |
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105
butts
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| 笑柄( butt的名词复数 )； （武器或工具的）粗大的一端； 屁股； 烟蒂 | |
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106
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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107
resinous
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| adj.树脂的，树脂质的，树脂制的 | |
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108
incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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109
twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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110
aromas
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| n.芳香( aroma的名词复数 )；气味；风味；韵味 | |
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111
slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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112
insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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113
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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114
rumpled
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| v.弄皱，使凌乱( rumple的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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115
flicker
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| vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现 | |
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116
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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117
frivolously
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| adv.轻浮地，愚昧地 | |
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118
infinity
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| n.无限，无穷，大量 | |
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119
pretense
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| n.矫饰，做作，借口 | |
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120
forestalled
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| v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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121
labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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122
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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123
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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124
bower
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| n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽 | |
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125
inverted
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| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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126
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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127
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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128
glean
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| v.收集(消息、资料、情报等) | |
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129
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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130
snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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131
snarl
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| v.吼叫，怒骂，纠缠，混乱；n.混乱，缠结，咆哮 | |
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132
snip
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| n.便宜货，廉价货，剪，剪断 | |
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133
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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134
snared
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| v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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135
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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