About eight o'clock the sun dispersed1 the heavy clouds, and the broad, fertile plain about Mulhausen lay basking2 in the warm, bright light of a perfect August Sunday. From the camp, now awake and bustling3 with life, could be heard the bells of the neighboring parishes, pealing4 merrily in the limpid5 air. The cheerful Sunday following so close on ruin and defeat had its own gayety, its sky was as serene6 as on a holiday.
Gaude suddenly took his bugle7 and gave the call that announced the distribution of rations8, whereat Loubet appeared astonished. What was it? What did it mean? Were they going to give out chickens, as he had promised Lapoulle the night before? He had been born in the Halles, in the Rue9 de la Cossonerie, was the unacknowledged son of a small huckster, had enlisted10 "for the money there was in it," as he said, after having been a sort of Jack-of-all-trades, and was now the gourmand12, the epicure13 of the company, continually nosing after something good to eat. But he went off to see what was going on, while Chouteau, the company artist, house-painter by trade at Belleville, something of a dandy and a revolutionary republican, exasperated14 against the government for having called him back to the colors after he had served his time, was cruelly chaffing Pache, whom he had discovered on his knees, behind the tent, preparing to say his prayers. There was a pious15 man for you! Couldn't he oblige him, Chouteau, by interceding16 with God to give him a hundred thousand francs or some such small trifle? But Pache, an insignificant17 little fellow with a head running up to a point, who had come to them from some hamlet in the wilds of Picardy, received the other's raillery with the uncomplaining gentleness of a martyr18. He was the butt19 of the squad20, he and Lapoulle, the colossal21 brute22 who had got his growth in the marshes23 of the Sologne, so utterly24 ignorant of everything that on the day of his joining the regiment25 he had asked his comrades to show him the King. And although the terrible tidings of the disaster at Froeschwiller had been known throughout the camp since early morning, the four men laughed, joked, and went about their usual tasks with the indifference26 of so many machines.
But there arose a murmur27 of pleased surprise. It was occasioned by Jean, the corporal, coming back from the commissary's, accompanied by Maurice, with a load of firewood. So, they were giving out wood at last, the lack of which the night before had deprived the men of their soup! Twelve hours behind time, only!
He was usually quite willing to take charge of the mess arrangements, and no one was inclined to say him nay30, for he cooked like an angel. On those occasions, however, Lapoulle would be given the most extraordinary commissions to execute.
"Go and look after the champagne--Go out and buy some truffles--"
On that morning a queer conceit31 flashed across his mind, such a conceit as only a Parisian _gamin_ contemplating33 the mystification of a greenhorn is capable of entertaining:
"Look alive there, will you! Come, hand me the chicken."
"The chicken! what chicken, where?"
"Why, there on the ground at your feet, stupid; the chicken that I promised you last night, and that the corporal has just brought in."
He pointed34 to a large, white, round stone, and Lapoulle, speechless with wonder, finally picked it up and turned it about between his fingers.
"A thousand thunders! Will you wash the chicken! More yet; wash its claws, wash its neck! Don't be afraid of the water, lazybones!"
And for no reason at all except the joke of it, because the prospect35 of the soup made him gay and sportive, he tossed the stone along with the meat into the kettle filled with water.
"That's what will give the bouillon a flavor! Ah, you didn't know that, _sacree andouille_! You shall have the pope's nose; you'll see how tender it is."
The squad roared with laughter at sight of Lapoulle's face, who swallowed everything and was licking his chops in anticipation37 of the feast. That funny dog, Loubet, he was the man to cure one of the dumps if anybody could! And when the fire began to crackle in the sunlight, and the kettle commenced to hum and bubble, they ranged themselves reverently38 about it in a circle with an expression of cheerful satisfaction on their faces, watching the meat as it danced up and down and sniffing39 the appetizing odor that it exhaled40. They were as hungry as a pack of wolves, and the prospect of a square meal made them forgetful of all beside. They had had to take a thrashing, but that was no reason why a man should not fill his stomach. Fires were blazing and pots were boiling from one end of the camp to the other, and amid the silvery peals41 of the bells that floated from Mulhausen steeples mirth and jollity reigned42 supreme43.
But just as the clocks were on the point of striking nine a commotion44 arose and spread among the men; officers came running up, and Lieutenant45 Rochas, to whom Captain Beaudoin had come and communicated an order, passed along in front of the tents of his platoon and gave the command:
"Pack everything! Get yourselves ready to march!"
"But the soup?"
"You will have to wait for your soup until some other day; we are to march at once."
Gaude's bugle rang out in imperious accents. Then everywhere was consternation46; dumb, deep rage was depicted47 on every countenance48. What, march on an empty stomach! Could they not wait a little hour until the soup was ready! The squad resolved that their bouillon should not go to waste, but it was only so much hot water, and the uncooked meat was like leather to their teeth. Chouteau growled50 and grumbled51, almost mutinously52. Jean had to exert all his authority to make the men hasten their preparations. What was the great urgency that made it necessary for them to hurry off like that? What good was there in hazing53 people about in that style, without giving them time to regain54 their strength? And Maurice shrugged55 his shoulders incredulously when someone said in his hearing that they were about to march against the Prussians and settle old scores with them. In less than fifteen minutes the tents were struck, folded, and strapped56 upon the knapsacks, the stacks were broken, and all that remained of the camp was the dying embers of the fires on the bare ground.
There were reasons, of importance that had induced General Douay's determination to retreat immediately. The despatch57 from the _sous-prefet_ at Schelestadt, now three days old, was confirmed; there were telegrams that the fires of the Prussians, threatening Markolsheim, had again been seen, and again, another telegram informed them that one of the enemy's army corps58 was crossing the Rhine at Huningue: the intelligence was definite and abundant; cavalry59 and artillery60 had been sighted in force, infantry61 had been seen, hastening from every direction to their point of concentration. Should they wait an hour the enemy would surely be in their rear and retreat on Belfort would be impossible. And now, in the shock consequent on defeat, after Wissembourg and Froeschwiller, the general, feeling himself unsupported in his exposed position at the front, had nothing left to do but fall back in haste, and the more so that what news he had received that morning made the situation look even worse than it had appeared the night before.
The staff had gone on ahead at a sharp trot62, spurring their horses in the fear lest the Prussians might get into Altkirch before them. General Bourgain-Desfeuilles, aware that he had a hard day's work before him, had prudently63 taken Mulhausen in his way, where he fortified64 himself with a copious65 breakfast, denouncing in language more forcible than elegant such hurried movements. And Mulhausen watched with sorrowful eyes the officers trooping through her streets; as the news of the retreat spread the citizens streamed out of their houses, deploring66 the sudden departure of the army for whose coming they had prayed so earnestly: they were to be abandoned, then, and all the costly67 merchandise that was stacked up in the railway station was to become the spoil of the enemy; within a few hours their pretty city was to be in the hands of foreigners? The inhabitants of the villages, too, and of isolated68 houses, as the staff clattered69 along the country roads, planted themselves before their doors with wonder and consternation depicted on their faces. What! that army, that a short while before they had seen marching forth71 to battle, was now retiring without having fired a shot? The leaders were gloomy, urged their chargers forward and refused to answer questions, as if ruin and disaster were galloping72 at their heels. It was true, then, that the Prussians had annihilated73 the army and were streaming into France from every direction, like the angry waves of a stream that had burst its barriers? And already to the frightened peasants the air seemed filled with the muttering of distant invasion, rising louder and more threatening at every instant, and already they were beginning to forsake74 their little homes and huddle75 their poor belongings76 into farm-carts; entire families might be seen fleeing in single file along the roads that were choked with the retreating cavalry.
In the hurry and confusion of the movement the 106th was brought to a halt at the very first kilometer of their march, near the bridge over the canal of the Rhone and Rhine. The order of march had been badly planned and still more badly executed, so that the entire 2d division was collected there in a huddle, and the way was so narrow, barely more than sixteen feet in width, that the passage of the troops was obstructed77.
Two hours elapsed, and still the 106th stood there watching the seemingly endless column that streamed along before their eyes. In the end the men, standing78 at rest with ordered arms, began to become impatient. Jean's squad, whose position happened to be opposite a break in the line of poplars where the sun had a fair chance at them, felt themselves particularly aggrieved79.
"Guess we must be the rear-guard," Loubet observed with good-natured raillery.
But Chouteau scolded: "They don't value us at a brass80 farthing, and that's why they let us wait this way. We were here first; why didn't we take the road while it was empty?"
And as they began to discern more clearly beyond the canal, across the wide fertile plain, along the level roads lined with hop-poles and fields of ripening81 grain, the movement of the troops retiring along the same way by which they had advanced but yesterday, gibes82 and jeers83 rose on the air in a storm of angry ridicule84.
"Ah, we are taking the back track," Chouteau continued. "I wonder if that is the advance against the enemy that they have been dinning85 in our ears of late! Strikes me as rather queer! No sooner do we get into camp than we turn tail and make off, never even stopping to taste our soup."
The derisive86 laughter became louder, and Maurice, who was next to Chouteau in the ranks, took sides with him. Why could they not have been allowed to cook their soup and eat it in peace, since they had done nothing for the last two hours but stand there in the road like so many sticks? Their hunger was making itself felt again; they had a resentful recollection of the savory87 contents of the kettle dumped out prematurely88 upon the ground, and they could see no necessity for this headlong retrograde movement, which appeared to them idiotic89 and cowardly. What chicken-livers they must be, those generals!
But Lieutenant Rochas came along and blew up Sergeant90 Sapin for not keeping his men in better order, and Captain Beaudoin, very prim91 and starchy, attracted by the disturbance92, appeared upon the scene.
"Silence in the ranks!"
Jean, an old soldier of the army of Italy who knew what discipline was, looked in silent amazement93 at Maurice, who appeared to be amused by Chouteau's angry sneers94; and he wondered how it was that a _monsieur_, a young man of his acquirements, could listen approvingly to things--they might be true, all the same--but that should not be blurted95 out in public. The army would never accomplish much, that was certain, if the privates were to take to criticizing the generals and giving their opinions.
At last, after another hour's waiting, the order was given for the 106th to advance, but the bridge was still so encumbered96 by the rear of the division that the greatest confusion prevailed. Several regiments98 became inextricably mingled99, and whole companies were swept away and compelled to cross whether they would or no, while others, crowded off to the side of the road, had to stand there and mark time; and by way of putting the finishing touch to the muddle100; a squadron of cavalry insisted on passing, pressing back into the adjoining fields the stragglers that the infantry had scattered101 along the roadside. At the end of an hour's march the column had entirely102 lost its formation and was dragging its slow length along, a mere103 disorderly rabble104.
Thus it happened that Jean found himself away at the rear, lost in a sunken road, together with his squad, whom he had been unwilling105 to abandon. The 106th had disappeared, nor was there a man or an officer of their company in sight. About them were soldiers, singly or in little groups, from all the regiments, a weary, foot-sore crew, knocked up at the beginning of the retreat, each man straggling on at his own sweet will whithersoever the path that he was on might chance to lead him. The sun beat down fiercely, the heat was stifling106, and the knapsack, loaded as it was with the tent and implements107 of every description, made a terrible burden on the shoulders of the exhausted108 men. To many of them the experience was an entirely new one, and the heavy great-coats they wore seemed to them like vestments of lead. The first to set an example for the others was a little pale faced soldier with watery109 eyes; he drew beside the road and let his knapsack slide off into the ditch, heaving a deep sigh as he did so, the long drawn110 breath of a dying man who feels himself coming back to life.
"There's a man who knows what he is about," muttered Chouteau.
He still continued to plod111 along, however, his back bending beneath its weary burden, but when he saw two others relieve themselves as the first had done he could stand it no longer. "Ah! _zut_!" he exclaimed, and with a quick upward jerk of the shoulder sent his kit112 rolling down an embankment. Fifty pounds at the end of his backbone113, he had had enough of it, thank you! He was no beast of burden to lug114 that load about.
Almost at the same moment Loubet followed his lead and incited115 Lapoulle to do the same. Pache, who had made the sign of the cross at every stone crucifix they came to, unbuckled the straps116 and carefully deposited his load at the foot of a low wall, as if fully117 intending to come back for it at some future time. And when Jean turned his head for a look at his men he saw that every one of them had dropped his burden except Maurice.
"Take up your knapsacks unless you want to have me put under arrest!"
But the men, although they did not mutiny as yet, were silent and looked ugly; they kept advancing along the narrow road, pushing the corporal before them.
"Will you take up your knapsacks! if you don't I will report you."
It was as if Maurice had been lashed32 with a whip across the face. Report them! that brute of a peasant would report those poor devils for easing their aching shoulders! And looking Jean defiantly118 in the face, he, too, in an impulse of blind rage, slipped the buckles119 and let his knapsack fall to the road.
"Very well," said the other in his quiet way, knowing that resistance would be of no avail, "we will settle accounts to-night."
Maurice's feet hurt him abominably120; the big, stiff shoes, to which he was not accustomed, had chafed121 the flesh until the blood came. He was not strong; his spinal122 column felt as if it were one long raw sore, although the knapsack that had caused the suffering was no longer there, and the weight of his piece, which he kept shifting from one shoulder to the other, seemed as if it would drive all the breath from his body. Great as his physical distress123 was, however, his moral agony was greater still, for he was in the depths of one of those fits of despair to which he was subject. At Paris the sum of his wrongdoing had been merely the foolish outbreaks of "the other man," as he put it, of his weak, boyish nature, capable of more serious delinquency should he be subjected to temptation, but now, in this retreat that was so like a rout124, in which he was dragging himself along with weary steps beneath a blazing sun, he felt all hope and courage vanishing from his heart, he was but a beast in that belated, straggling herd125 that filled the roads and fields. It was the reaction after the terrible disasters at Wissembourg and Froeschwiller, the echo of the thunder-clap that had burst in the remote distance, leagues and leagues away, rattling126 at the heels of those panic-stricken men who were flying before they had ever seen an enemy. What was there to hope for now? Was it not all ended? They were beaten; all that was left them was to lie down and die.
"It makes no difference," shouted Loubet, with the _blague_ of a child of the Halles, "but this is not the Berlin road we are traveling, all the same."
To Berlin! To Berlin! The cry rang in Maurice's ears, the yell of the swarming127 mob that filled the boulevards on that midsummer night of frenzied128 madness when he had determined129 to enlist11. The gentle breeze had become a devastating130 hurricane; there had been a terrific explosion, and all the sanguine132 temper of his nation had manifested itself in his absolute, enthusiastic confidence, which had vanished utterly at the very first reverse, before the unreasoning impulse of despair that was sweeping133 him away among those vagrant134 soldiers, vanquished135 and dispersed before they had struck a stroke.
"This confounded blunderbuss must weigh a ton, I think," Loubet went on. "This is fine music to march by!" And alluding136 to the sum he received as substitute: "I don't care what people say, but fifteen hundred 'balls' for a job like this is downright robbery. Just think of the pipes he'll smoke, sitting by his warm fire, the stingy old miser137 in whose place I'm going to get my brains knocked out!"
"As for me," growled Chouteau, "I had finished my time. I was going to cut the service, and they keep me for their beastly war. Ah! true as I stand here, I must have been born to bad luck to have got myself into such a mess. And now the officers are going to let the Prussians knock us about as they please, and we're dished and done for." He had been swinging his piece to and fro in his hand; in his discouragement he gave it a toss and landed it on the other side of the hedge. "Eh! get you gone for a dirty bit of old iron!"
The musket138 made two revolutions in the air and fell into a furrow139, where it lay, long and motionless, reminding one somehow of a corpse140. Others soon flew to join it, and presently the field was filled with abandoned arms, lying in long winrows, a sorrowful spectacle beneath the blazing sky. It was an epidemic141 of madness, caused by the hunger that was gnawing142 at their stomach, the shoes that galled143 their feet, their weary march, the unexpected defeat that had brought the enemy galloping at their heels. There was nothing more to be accomplished144; their leaders were looking out for themselves, the commissariat did not even feed them; nothing but weariness and worriment; better to leave the whole business at once, before it was begun. And what then? why, the musket might go and keep the knapsack company; in view of the work that was before them they might at least as well keep their arms free. And all down the long line of stragglers that stretched almost far as the eye could reach in the smooth and fertile country the muskets145 flew through the air to the accompaniment of jeers and laughter such as would have befitted the inmates146 of a lunatic asylum147 out for a holiday.
Loubet, before parting with his, gave it a twirl as a drum-major does his cane131. Lapoulle, observing what all his comrades were doing, must have supposed the performance to be some recent innovation in the manual, and followed suit, while Pache, in the confused idea of duty that he owed to his religious education, refused to do as the rest were doing and was loaded with obloquy149 by Chouteau, who called him a priest's whelp.
"Look at the sniveling papist! And all because his old peasant of a mother used to make him swallow the holy wafer every Sunday in the village church down there! Be off with you and go serve mass; a man who won't stick with his comrades when they are right is a poor-spirited cur."
Maurice toiled150 along dejectedly in silence, bowing his head beneath the blazing sun. At every step he took he seemed to be advancing deeper into a horrid151, phantom-haunted nightmare; it was as if he saw a yawning, gaping152 gulf153 before him toward which he was inevitably154 tending; it meant that he was suffering himself to be degraded to the level of the miserable155 beings by whom he was surrounded, that he was prostituting his talents and his position as a man of education.
And already he had deposited his musket upon a pile of stones, when Jean, who had tried without success to check the shameful157 proceedings158 of his men, saw what he was doing and hurried toward him.
"Take up your musket, at once! Do you hear me? take it up at once!"
Jean's face had flushed with sudden anger. Meekest159 and most pacific of men, always prone160 to measures of conciliation161, his eyes were now blazing with wrath162, his voice spoke163 with the thunders of authority. His men had never before seen him in such a state, and they looked at one another in astonishment164.
"Take up your musket at once, or you will have me to deal with!"
Maurice was quivering with anger; he let fall one single word, into which he infused all the insult that he had at command:
"Peasant!"
"Yes, that's just it; I am a peasant, while you, you, are a gentleman! And it is for that reason that you are a pig! Yes! a dirty pig! I make no bones of telling you of it."
Yells and cat-calls arose all around him, but the corporal continued with extraordinary force and dignity:
"When a man has learning he shows it by his actions. If we are brutes165 and peasants, you owe us the benefit of your example, since you know more than we do. Take up your musket, or _Nom de Dieu!_ I will have you shot the first halt we make."
Maurice was daunted166; he stooped and raised the weapon in his hand. Tears of rage stood in his eyes. He reeled like a drunken man as he labored167 onward168, surrounded by his comrades, who now were jeering169 at him for having yielded. Ah, that Jean! he felt that he should never cease to hate him, cut to the quick as he had been by that bitter lesson, which he could not but acknowledge he had deserved. And when Chouteau, marching at his side, growled: "When corporals are that way, we just wait for a battle and blow a hole in 'em," the landscape seemed red before his eyes, and he had a distinct vision of himself blowing Jean's brains out from behind a wall.
But an incident occurred to divert their thoughts; Loubet noticed that while the dispute was going on Pache had also abandoned his musket, laying it down tenderly at the foot of an embankment. Why? What were the reasons that had made him resist the example of his comrades in the first place, and what were the reasons that influenced him now? He probably could not have told himself, nor did he trouble his head about the matter, chuckling170 inwardly with silent enjoyment171, like a schoolboy who, having long been held up as a model for his mates, commits his first offense172. He strode along with a self-contented, rakish air, swinging his arms; and still along the dusty, sunlit roads, between the golden grain and the fields of hops36 that succeeded one another with tiresome173 monotony, the human tide kept pouring onward; the stragglers, without arms or knapsacks, were now but a shuffling174, vagrant mob, a disorderly array of vagabonds and beggars, at whose approach the frightened villagers barred their doors.
Something that happened just then capped the climax175 of Maurice's misery176. A deep, rumbling177 noise had for some time been audible in the distance; it was the artillery, that had been the last to leave the camp and whose leading guns now wheeled into sight around a bend in the road, barely giving the footsore infantrymen time to seek safety in the fields. It was an entire regiment of six batteries, and came up in column, in splendid order, at a sharp trot, the colonel riding on the flank at the center of the line, every officer at his post. The guns went rattling, bounding by, accurately178 maintaining their prescribed distances, each accompanied by its caisson, men and horses, beautiful in the perfect symmetry of its arrangement; and in the 5th battery Maurice recognized his cousin Honore. A very smart and soldierly appearance the quartermaster-sergeant presented on horseback in his position on the left hand of the forward driver, a good-looking light-haired man, Adolphe by name, whose mount was a sturdy chestnut179, admirably matched with the mate that trotted180 at his side, while in his proper place among the six men who were seated on the chests of the gun and its caisson was the gunner, Louis, a small, dark man, Adolphe's comrade; they constituted a team, as it is called, in accordance with the rule of the service that couples a mounted and an unmounted man together. They all appeared bigger and taller to Maurice, somehow, than when he first made their acquaintance at the camp, and the gun, to which four horses were attached, followed by the caisson drawn by six, seemed to him as bright and refulgent181 as a sun, tended and cherished as it was by its attendants, men and animals, who closed around it protectingly as if it had been a living sentient182 relative; and then, besides, the contemptuous look that Honore, astounded183 to behold184 him among that unarmed rabble, cast on the stragglers, distressed185 him terribly. And now the tail end of the regiment was passing, the _materiel_ of the batteries, prolonges, forges, forage-wagons, succeeded by the rag-tag, the spare men and horses, and then all vanished in a cloud of dust at another turn in the road amid the gradually decreasing clatter70 of hoofs186 and wheels.
"_Pardi_!" exclaimed Loubet, "it's not such a difficult matter to cut a dash when one travels with a coach and four!"
The staff had found Altkirch free from the enemy; not a Prussian had shown his face there yet. It had been the general's wish, not knowing at what moment they might fall upon his rear, that the retreat should be continued to Dannemarie, and it was not until five o'clock that the heads of columns reached that place. Tents were hardly pitched and fires lighted at eight, when night closed in, so great was the confusion of the regiments, depleted187 by the absence of the stragglers. The men were completely used up, were ready to drop with fatigue188 and hunger. Up to eight o'clock soldiers, singly and in squads189, came trailing in, hunting for their commands; all that long train of the halt, the lame190, and the disaffected191 that we have seen scattered along the roads.
As soon as Jean discovered where his regiment lay he went in quest of Lieutenant Rochas to make his report. He found him, together with Captain Beaudoin, in earnest consultation192 with the colonel at the door of a small inn, all of them anxiously waiting to see what tidings roll-call would give them as to the whereabouts of their missing men. The moment the corporal opened his mouth to address the lieutenant, Colonel Vineuil, who heard what the subject was, called him up and compelled him to tell the whole story. On his long, yellow face, where the intensely black eyes looked blacker still contrasted with the thick snow-white hair and the long, drooping193 mustache, there was an expression of patient, silent sorrow, and as the narrative194 proceeded, how the miserable wretches195 deserted196 their colors, threw away arms and knapsacks, and wandered off like vagabonds, grief and shame traced two new furrows197 on his blanched198 cheeks.
"Colonel," exclaimed Captain Beaudoin, in his incisive199 voice, not waiting for his superior to give an opinion, "it will best to shoot half a dozen of those wretches."
And the lieutenant nodded his head approvingly. But the colonel's despondent200 look expressed his powerlessness.
"There are too many of them. Nearly seven hundred! how are we to go to work, whom are we to select? And then you don't know it, but the general is opposed. He wants to be a father to his men, says he never punished a soldier all the time he was in Africa. No, no; we shall have to overlook it. I can do nothing. It is dreadful."
The captain echoed: "Yes, it is dreadful. It means destruction for us all."
Jean was walking off, having said all he had to say, when he heard Major Bouroche, whom he had not seen where he was standing in the doorway202 of the inn, growl49 in a smothered203 voice: "No more punishment, an end to discipline, the army gone to the dogs! Before a week is over the scoundrels will be ripe for kicking their officers out of camp, while if a few of them had been made an example of on the spot it might have brought the remainder to their senses."
No one was punished. Some officers of the rear-guard that was protecting the trains had been thoughtful enough to collect the muskets and knapsacks scattered along the road. They were almost all recovered, and by daybreak the men were equipped again, the operation being conducted very quietly, as if to hush204 the matter up as much as possible. Orders were given to break camp at five o'clock, but reveille sounded at four and the retreat to Belfort was hurriedly continued, for everyone was certain that the Prussians were only two or three leagues away. Again there was nothing to eat but dry biscuit, and as a consequence of their brief, disturbed rest and the lack of something to warm their stomachs the men were weak as cats. Any attempt to enforce discipline on the march that morning was again rendered nugatory205 by the manner of their departure.
The day was worse than its predecessor206, inexpressibly gloomy and disheartening. The aspect of the landscape had changed, they were now in a rolling country where the roads they were always alternately climbing and descending207 were bordered with woods of pine and hemlock208, while the narrow gorges209 were golden with tangled210 thickets211 of broom. But panic and terror lay heavy on the fair land that slumbered212 there beneath the bright sun of August, and had been hourly gathering213 strength since the preceeding day. A fresh dispatch, bidding the mayors of communes warn the people that they would do well to hide their valuables, had excited universal consternation. The enemy was at hand, then! Would time be given them to make their escape? And to all it seemed that the roar of invasion was ringing in their ears, coming nearer and nearer, the roar of the rushing torrent214 that, starting from Mulhausen, had grown louder and more ominous215 as it advanced, and to which every village that it encountered in its course contributed its own alarm amid the sound of wailing216 and lamentation217.
Maurice stumbled along as best he might, like a man walking in a dream; his feet were bleeding, his shoulders sore with the weight of gun and knapsack. He had ceased to think, he advanced automatically into the vision of horrors that lay before his eyes; he had ceased to be conscious even of the shuffling tramp of the comrades around him, and the only thing that was not dim and unreal to his sense was Jean, marching at his side and enduring the same fatigue and horrible distress. It was lamentable218 to behold the villages they passed through, a sight to make a man's heart bleed with anguish219. No sooner did the inhabitants catch sight of the troops retreating in disorderly array, with haggard faces and bloodshot eyes, than they bestirred themselves to hasten their flight. They who had been so confident only a short half month ago, those men and women of Alsace, who smiled when war was mentioned, certain that it would be fought out in Germany! And now France was invaded, and it was among them, above their abodes221, in their fields, that the tempest was to burst, like one of those dread201 cataclysms222 that lay waste a province in an hour when the lightnings flash and the gates of heaven are opened! Carts were backed up against doors and men tumbled their furniture into them in wild confusion, careless of what they broke. From the upper windows the women threw out a last mattress223, or handed down the child's cradle, that they had been near forgetting, whereon baby would be tucked in securely and hoisted224 to the top of the load, where he reposed225 serenely226 among a grove227 of legs of chairs and upturned tables. At the back of another cart was the decrepit228 old grandfather tied with cords to a wardrobe, and he was hauled away for all the world as if he had been one of the family chattels229. Then there were those who did not own a vehicle, so they piled their household goods haphazard230 on a wheelbarrow, while others carried an armful of clothing, and others still had thought only of saving the clock, which they went off pressing to their bosom231 as if it had been a darling child. They found they could not remove everything, and there were chairs and tables, and bundles of linen232 too heavy to carry, lying abandoned in the gutter233, Some before leaving had carefully locked their dwellings234, and the houses had a deathlike appearance, with their barred doors and windows, but the greater number, in their haste to get away and with the sorrowful conviction that nothing would escape destruction, had left their poor abodes open, and the yawning apertures235 displayed the nakedness of the dismantled236 rooms; and those were the saddest to behold, with the horrible sadness of a city upon which some great dread has fallen, depopulating it, those poor houses opened to the winds of heaven, whence the very cats had fled as if forewarned of the impending237 doom238. At every village the pitiful spectacle became more heartrending, the number of the fugitives239 was greater, as they clove240 their way through the ever thickening press, with hands upraised, amid oaths and tears.
But in the open country as they drew near Belfort, Maurice's heart was still more sorely wrung241, for there the homeless fugitives were in greater numbers and lined the borders of the road in an unbroken cortege. Ah! the unhappy ones, who had believed that they were to find safety under the walls of the fortifications! The father lashed the poor old nag242, the mother followed after, leading her crying children by the hand, and in this way entire families, sinking beneath the weight of their burdens, were strung along the white, blinding road in the fierce sunlight, where the tired little legs of the smaller children were unable to keep up with the headlong flight. Many had taken off their shoes and were going barefoot so as to get over the ground more rapidly, and half-dressed mothers gave the breast to their crying babies as they strode along. Affrighted faces turned for a look backward, trembling hands were raised as if to shut out the horizon from their sight, while the gale243 of panic tumbled their unkempt locks and sported with their ill-adjusted garments. Others there were, farmers and their men, who pushed straight across the fields, driving before them their flocks and herds244, cows, oxen, sheep, horses, that they had driven with sticks and cudgels from their stables; these were seeking the shelter of the inaccessible245 forests, of the deep valleys and the lofty hill-tops, their course marked by clouds of dust, as in the great migrations246 of other days, when invaded nations made way before their barbarian247 conquerors248. They were going to live in tents, in some lonely nook among the mountains, where the enemy would never venture to follow them; and the bleating249 and bellowing250 of the animals and the trampling251 of their hoofs upon the rocks grew fainter in the distance, and the golden nimbus that overhung them was lost to sight among the thick pines, while down in the road beneath the tide of vehicles and pedestrians252 was flowing still as strong as ever, blocking the passage of the troops, and as they drew near Belfort the men had to be brought to a halt again and again, so irresistible253 was the force of that torrent of humanity.
It was during one of those short halts that Maurice witnessed a scene that was destined254 to remain indelibly impressed upon his memory.
Standing by the road-side was a lonely house, the abode220 of some poor peasant, whose lean acres extended up the mountainside in the rear. The man had been unwilling to leave the little field that was his all and had remained, for to go away would have been to him like parting with life. He could be seen within the low-ceiled room, sitting stupidly on a bench, watching with dull, lack-luster eyes the passing of the troops whose retreat would give his ripe grain over to be the spoil of the enemy. Standing beside him was his wife, still a young woman, holding in her arms a child, while another was hanging by her skirts; all three were weeping bitterly. Suddenly the door was thrown open with violence and in its enframement appeared the grandmother, a very old woman, tall and lean of form, with bare, sinewy255 arms like knotted cords that she raised above her head and shook with frantic256 gestures. Her gray, scanty257 locks had escaped from her cap and were floating about her skinny face, and such was her fury that the words she shouted choked her utterance258 and came from her lips almost unintelligible259.
At first the soldiers had laughed. Wasn't she a beauty, the old crazy hag! Then words reached their ears; the old woman was screaming:
"Scum! Robbers! Cowards! Cowards!"
With a voice that rose shriller and more piercing still she kept lashing260 them with her tongue, expectorating insult on them, and taunting261 them for dastards with the full force of her lungs. And the laughter ceased, it seemed as if a cold wind had blown over the ranks. The men hung their heads, looked any way save that.
"Cowards! Cowards! Cowards!"
Then all at once her stature262 seemed to dilate263; she drew herself up, tragic264 in her leanness, in her poor old apology for a gown, and sweeping the heavens with her long arm from west to east, with a gesture so broad that it seemed to fill the dome265:
"Cowards, the Rhine is not there! The Rhine lies yonder! Cowards, cowards!"
They got under way again at last, and Maurice, whose look just then encountered Jean's, saw that the latter's eyes were filled with tears, and it did not alleviate266 his distress to think that those rough soldiers, compelled to swallow an insult that they had done nothing to deserve, were shamed by it. He was conscious of nothing save the intolerable aching in his poor head, and in after days could never remember how the march of that day ended, prostrated267 as he was by his terrible suffering, mental and physical.
The 7th corps had spent the entire day in getting over the fourteen or fifteen miles between Dannemarie and Belfort, and it was night again before the troops got settled in their bivouacs under the walls of the town, in the very same place whence they had started four days before to march against the enemy. Notwithstanding the lateness of the hour and their spent condition, the men insisted on lighting268 fires and making soup; it was the first time since their departure that they had had an opportunity to put warm food into their stomachs, and seated about the cheerful blaze in the cool air of evening they were dipping their noses in the porringers and grunting269 inarticulately in token of satisfaction when news came in that burst upon the camp like a thunderbolt, dumfoundering everyone. Two telegrams had just been received: the Prussians had not crossed the Rhine at Markolsheim, and there was not a single Prussian at Huningue. The passage of the Rhine at Markolsheim and the bridge of boats constructed under the electric light had existed merely in imagination, were an unexplained, inexplicable270 nightmare of the prefet at Schelestadt; and as for the army corps that had menaced Huningue, that famous corps of the Black Forest, that had made so much talk, it was but an insignificant detachment of Wurtemburgers, a couple of battalions271 of infantry and a squadron of cavalry, which had maneuvered272 with such address, marching and countermarching, appearing in one place and then suddenly popping up in another at a distance, as to gain for themselves the reputation of being thirty or forty thousand strong. And to think that that morning they had been near blowing up the viaduct at Dannemarie! Twenty leagues of fertile country had been depopulated by the most idiotic of panics, and at the recollection of what they had seen during their lamentable day's march, the inhabitants flying in consternation to the mountains, driving their cattle before them; the press of vehicles, laden273 with household effects, streaming cityward and surrounded by bands of weeping women and children, the soldiers waxed wroth and gave way to bitter, sneering274 denunciation of their leaders.
"Ah! it is too ridiculous too talk about!" sputtered275 Loubet, not stopping to empty his mouth, brandishing276 his spoon. "They take us out to fight the enemy, and there's not a soul to fight with! Twelve leagues there and twelve leagues back, and not so much as a mouse in front of us! All that for nothing, just for the fun of being scared to death!"
Chouteau, who was noisily absorbing the last drops in his porringer, bellowed277 his opinion of the generals, without mentioning names:
"The pigs! what miserable boobies they are, _hein_! A pretty pack of dunghill-cocks the government has given us as commanders! Wonder what they would do if they had an army actually before them, if they show the white feather this way when there's not a Prussian in sight, _hein_!--Ah no, not any of it in mine, thank you; soldiers don't obey such pigeon-livered gentlemen."
Someone had thrown another armful of wood on the fire for the pleasurable sensation of comfort there was in the bright, dancing flame, and Lapoulle, who was engaged in the luxurious278 occupation of toasting his shins, suddenly went off into an imbecile fit of laughter without in the least understanding what it was about, whereon Jean, who had thus far turned a deaf ear to their talk, thought it time to interfere279, which he did by saying in a fatherly way:
"You had better hold your tongue, you fellows! It might be the worse for you if anyone should hear you."
He himself, in his untutored, common-sense way of viewing things, was exasperated by the stupid incompetency280 of their commanders, but then discipline must be maintained, and as Chouteau still kept up a low muttering he cut him short:
"Be silent, I say! Here is the lieutenant: address yourself to him if you have anything to say."
Maurice had listened in silence to the conversation from his place a little to one side. Ah, truly, the end was near! Scarcely had they made a beginning, and all was over. That lack of discipline, that seditious spirit among the men at the very first reverse, had already made the army a demoralized, disintegrated281 rabble that would melt away at the first indication of catastrophe282. There they were, under the walls of Belfort, without having sighted a Prussian, and they were whipped.
The succeeding days were a period of monotony, full of uncertainty283 and anxious forebodings. To keep his troops occupied General Douay set them to work on the defenses of the place, which were in a state of incompleteness; there was great throwing up of earth and cutting through rock. And not the first item of news! Where was MacMahon's army? What was going on at Metz? The wildest rumors285 were current, and the Parisian journals, by their system of printing news only to contradict it the next day, kept the country in an agony of suspense286. Twice, it was said, the general had written and asked for instructions, and had not even received an answer. On the 12th of August, however, the 7th corps was augmented287 by the 3d division, which landed from Italy, but there were still only two divisions for duty, for the 1st had participated in the defeat at Froeschwiller, had been swept away in the general rout, and as yet no one had learned where it had been stranded288 by the current. After a week of this abandonment, of this entire separation from the rest of France, a telegram came bringing them the order to march. The news was well received, for anything was preferable to the prison life they were leading in Belfort. And while they were getting themselves in readiness conjecture289 and surmise290 were the order of the day, for no one as yet knew what their destination was to be, some saying that they were to be sent to the defense284 of Strasbourg, while others spoke with confidence of a bold dash into the Black Forest that was to sever97 the Prussian line of communication.
Early the next morning the 106th was bundled into cattle-cars and started off among the first. The car that contained Jean's squad was particularly crowded, so much so that Loubet declared there was not even room in it to sneeze. It was a load of humanity, sent off to the war just as a load of sacks would have been dispatched to the mill, crowded in so as to get the greatest number into the smallest space, and as rations had been given out in the usual hurried, slovenly291 manner and the men had received in brandy what they should have received in food, the consequence was that they were all roaring drunk, with a drunkenness that vented292 itself in obscene songs, varied293 by shrieks294 and yells. The heavy train rolled slowly onward; pipes were alight and men could no longer see one another through the dense295 clouds of smoke; the heat and odor that emanated296 from that mass of perspiring297 human flesh were unendurable, while from the jolting298, dingy299 van came volleys of shouts and laughter that drowned the monotonous300 rattle301 of the wheels and were lost amid the silence of the deserted fields. And it was not until they reached Langres that the troops learned that they were being carried back to Paris.
"Ah, _nom de Dieu!_" exclaimed Chouteau, who already, by virtue302 of his oratorical303 ability, was the acknowledged sovereign of his corner, "they will station us at Charentonneau, sure, to keep old Bismarck out of the Tuileries."
The others laughed loud and long, considering the joke a very good one, though no one could say why. The most trivial incidents of the journey, however, served to elicit304 a storm of yells, cat-calls, and laughter: a group of peasants standing beside the roadway, or the anxious faces of the people who hung about the way-stations in the hope of picking up some bits of news from the passing trains, epitomizing on a small scale the breathless, shuddering305 alarm that pervaded306 all France in the presence of invasion. And so it happened that as the train thundered by, a fleeting307 vision of pandemonium308, all that the good burghers obtained in the way of intelligence was the salutations of that cargo309 of food for powder as it hurried onward to its destination, fast as steam could carry it. At a station where they stopped, however, three well-dressed ladies, wealthy bourgeoises of the town, who distributed cups of bouillon among the men, were received with great respect. Some of the soldiers shed tears, and kissed their hands as they thanked them.
But as soon as they were under way again the filthy310 songs and the wild shouts began afresh, and so it went on until, a little while after leaving Chaumont, they met another train that was conveying some batteries of artillery to Metz. The locomotives slowed down and the soldiers in the two trains fraternized with a frightful311 uproar312. The artillerymen were also apparently313 very drunk; they stood up in their seats, and thrusting hands and arms out of the car-windows, gave this cry with a vehemence314 that silenced every other sound:
It was as if a cold wind, a blast from the charnel-house, had swept through the car. Amid the sudden silence that descended316 on them Loubet's irreverent voice was heard, shouting:
"Not very cheerful companions, those fellows!"
"But they are right," rejoined Chouteau, as if addressing some pot-house assemblage; "it is a beastly thing to send a lot of brave boys to have their brains blown out for a dirty little quarrel about which they don't know the first word."
And much more in the same strain. He was the type of the Belleville agitator317, a lazy, dissipated mechanic, perverting318 his fellow workmen, constantly spouting319 the ill-digested odds320 and ends of political harangues321 that he had heard, belching322 forth in the same breath the loftiest sentiments and the most asinine323 revolutionary clap-trap. He knew it all, and tried to inoculate324 his comrades with his ideas, especially Lapoulle, of whom he had promised to make a lad of spirit.
"Don't you see, old man, it's all perfectly325 simple. If Badinguet and Bismarck have a quarrel, let 'em go to work with their fists and fight it out and not involve in their row some hundreds of thousands of men who don't even know one another by sight and have not the slightest desire to fight."
The whole car laughed and applauded, and Lapoulle, who did not know who Badinguet[*] was, and could not have told whether it was a king or an emperor in whose cause he was fighting, repeated like the gigantic baby that he was:
[*] Napoleon III.
But Chouteau had turned to Pache, whom he now proceeded to take in hand.
"You are in the same boat, you, who pretend to believe in the good God. He has forbidden men to fight, your good God has. Why, then, are you here, you great simpleton?"
"_Dame_!" Pache doubtfully replied, "it is not for any pleasure of mine that I am here--but the gendarmes327--"
"Oh, indeed, the gendarmes! let the gendarmes go milk the ducks!--say, do you know what we would do, all of us, if we had the least bit of spirit? I'll tell you; just the minute that they land us from the cars we'd skip; yes, we'd go straight home, and leave that pig of a Badinguet and his gang of two-for-a-penny generals to settle accounts with their beastly Prussians as best they may!"
There was a storm of bravos; the leaven328 of perversion329 was doing its work and it was Chouteau's hour of triumph, airing his muddled330 theories and ringing the changes on the Republic, the Rights of Man, the rottenness of the Empire, which must be destroyed, and the treason of their commanders, who, as it had been proved, had sold themselves to the enemy at the rate of a million a piece. _He_ was a revolutionist, he boldly declared; the others could not even say that they were republicans, did not know what their opinions were, in fact, except Loubet, the concocter331 of stews332 and hashes, and _he_ had an opinion, for he had been for soup, first, last, and always; but they all, carried away by his eloquence333, shouted none the less lustily against the Emperor, their officers, the whole d----d shop, which they would leave the first chance they got, see if they wouldn't! And Chouteau, while fanning the flame of their discontent, kept an eye on Maurice, the fine gentleman, who appeared interested and whom he was proud to have for a companion; so that, by way of inflaming334 _his_ passions also, it occurred to him to make an attack on Jean, who had thus far been tranquilly335 watching the proceedings out of his half-closed eyes, unmoved among the general uproar. If there was any remnant of resentment336 in the bosom of the volunteer since the time when the corporal had inflicted337 such a bitter humiliation338 on him by forcing him to resume his abandoned musket, now was a fine chance to set the two men by the ears.
"I know some folks who talk of shooting us," Chouteau continued, with an ugly look at Jean; "dirty, miserable skunks339, who treat us worse than beasts, and, when a man's back is broken with the weight of his knapsack and Brownbess, _aie_! _aie_! object to his planting them in the fields to see if a new crop will grow from them. What do you suppose they would say, comrades, _hein_! now that we are masters, if we should pitch them all out upon the track, and teach them better manners? That's the way to do, _hein_! We'll show 'em that we won't be bothered any longer with their mangy wars. Down with Badinguet's bed-bugs! Death to the curs who want to make us fight!"
Jean's face was aflame with the crimson340 tide that never failed to rush to his cheeks in his infrequent fits of anger. He rose, wedged in though as he was between his neighbors as firmly as in a vise, and his blazing eyes and doubled fists had such a look of business about them that the other quailed341.
"_Tonnerre de Dieu!_ will you be silent, pig! For hours I have sat here without saying anything, because we have no longer any leaders, and I could not even send you to the guard-house. Yes, there's no doubt of it, it would be a good thing to shoot such men as you and rid the regiment of the vermin. But see here, as there's no longer any discipline, I will attend to your case myself. There's no corporal here now, but a hard-fisted fellow who is tired of listening to your jaw342, and he'll see if he can't make you keep your potato-trap shut. Ah! you d----d coward! You won't fight yourself and you want to keep others from fighting! Repeat your words once and I'll knock your head off!"
By this time the whole car, won over by Jean's manly343 attitude, had deserted Chouteau, who cowered344 back in his seat as if not anxious to face his opponent's big fists.
"And I care no more for Badinguet than I do for you, do you understand? I despise politics, whether they are republican or imperial, and now, as in the past, when I used to cultivate my little farm, there is but one thing that I wish for, and that is the happiness of all, peace and good-order, freedom for every man to attend to his affairs. No one denies that war is a terrible business, but that is no reason why a man should not be treated to the sight of a firing-party when he comes trying to dishearten people who already have enough to do to keep their courage up. Good Heavens, friends, how it makes a man's pulses leap to be told that the Prussians are in the land and that he is to go help drive them out!"
Then, with the customary fickleness345 of a mob, the soldiers applauded the corporal, who again announced his determination to thrash the first man of his squad who should declare non-combatant principles. Bravo, the corporal! they would soon settle old Bismarck's hash! And, in the midst of the wild ovation148 of which he was the object, Jean, who had recovered his self-control, turned politely to Maurice and addressed him as if he had not been one of his men:
"Monsieur, you cannot have anything in common with those poltroons. Come, we haven't had a chance at them yet; we are the boys who will give them a good basting346 yet, those Prussians!"
It seemed to Maurice at that moment as if a ray of cheering sunshine had penetrated347 his heart. He was humiliated348, vexed349 with himself. What! that man was nothing more than an uneducated rustic350! And he remembered the fierce hatred351 that had burned in his bosom the day he was compelled to pick up the musket that he had thrown away in a moment of madness. But he also remembered his emotion at seeing the two big tears that stood in the corporal's eyes when the old grandmother, her gray hairs streaming in the wind, had so bitterly reproached them and pointed to the Rhine that lay beneath the horizon in the distance. Was it the brotherhood352 of fatigue and suffering endured in common that had served thus to dissipate his wrathful feelings? He was Bonapartist by birth, and had never thought of the Republic except in a speculative353, dreamy way; his feeling toward the Emperor, personally, too, inclined to friendliness354, and he was favorable to the war, the very condition of national existence, the great regenerative school of nationalities. Hope, all at once, with one of those fitful impulses of the imagination, that were common in his temperament355, revived in him, while the enthusiastic ardor356 that had impelled357 him to enlist one night again surged through his veins358 and swelled359 his heart with confidence of victory.
"Why, of course, Corporal," he gayly replied, "we shall give them a basting!"
And still the car kept rolling onward with its load of human freight, filled with reeking360 smoke of pipes and emanations of the crowded men, belching its ribald songs and drunken shouts among the expectant throngs361 of the stations through which it passed, among the rows of white-faced peasants who lined the iron-way. On the 20th of August they were at the Pantin Station in Paris, and that same evening boarded another train which landed them next day at Rheims _en route_ for the camp at Chalons.
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1
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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basking
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的现在分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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bustling
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| adj.喧闹的 | |
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pealing
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| v.（使）（钟等）鸣响，（雷等）发出隆隆声( peal的现在分词 ) | |
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limpid
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| adj.清澈的，透明的 | |
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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bugle
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| n.军号，号角，喇叭；v.吹号，吹号召集 | |
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rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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enlist
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| vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍 | |
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gourmand
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| n.嗜食者 | |
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epicure
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| n.行家，美食家 | |
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exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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interceding
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| v.斡旋，调解( intercede的现在分词 )；说情 | |
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insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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hurrah
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| int.好哇，万岁，乌拉 | |
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bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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30
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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31
conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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32
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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33
contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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34
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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35
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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36
hops
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| 跳上[下]( hop的第三人称单数 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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37
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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38
reverently
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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39
sniffing
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| n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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40
exhaled
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| v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气 | |
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41
peals
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| n.（声音大而持续或重复的）洪亮的响声( peal的名词复数 )；隆隆声；洪亮的钟声；钟乐v.（使）（钟等）鸣响，（雷等）发出隆隆声( peal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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42
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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43
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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44
commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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45
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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46
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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47
depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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48
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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49
growl
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| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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50
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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51
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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52
mutinously
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| adv.反抗地，叛变地 | |
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53
hazing
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| n.受辱，被欺侮v.（使）笼罩在薄雾中( haze的现在分词 )；戏弄，欺凌（新生等，有时作为加入美国大学生联谊会的条件） | |
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54
regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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55
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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56
strapped
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| adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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57
despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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58
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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59
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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60
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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61
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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62
trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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63
prudently
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| adv. 谨慎地，慎重地 | |
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64
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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65
copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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66
deploring
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| v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的现在分词 ) | |
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67
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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68
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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69
clattered
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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70
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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71
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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72
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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73
annihilated
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| v.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃 | |
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74
forsake
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| vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃 | |
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75
huddle
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| vi.挤作一团；蜷缩；vt.聚集；n.挤在一起的人 | |
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76
belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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77
obstructed
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| 阻塞( obstruct的过去式和过去分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止 | |
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78
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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79
aggrieved
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| adj.愤愤不平的，受委屈的；悲痛的；（在合法权利方面）受侵害的v.令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式)；令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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80
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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81
ripening
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的现在分词 )；熟化；熟成 | |
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82
gibes
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| vi.嘲笑，嘲弄（gibe的第三人称单数形式） | |
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83
jeers
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| n.操纵帆桁下部（使其上下的）索具；嘲讽( jeer的名词复数 )v.嘲笑( jeer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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84
ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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85
dinning
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| vt.喧闹（din的现在分词形式） | |
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86
derisive
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| adj.嘲弄的 | |
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87
savory
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| adj.风味极佳的，可口的，味香的 | |
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88
prematurely
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| adv.过早地，贸然地 | |
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89
idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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90
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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91
prim
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| adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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92
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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93
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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94
sneers
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| 讥笑的表情（言语）( sneer的名词复数 ) | |
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95
blurted
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| v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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96
encumbered
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| v.妨碍，阻碍，拖累( encumber的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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97
sever
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| v.切开，割开；断绝，中断 | |
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98
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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99
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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100
muddle
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| n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱 | |
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101
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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102
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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103
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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104
rabble
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| n.乌合之众，暴民；下等人 | |
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105
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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106
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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107
implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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108
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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109
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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110
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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111
plod
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| v.沉重缓慢地走，孜孜地工作 | |
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112
kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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113
backbone
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| n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气 | |
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114
lug
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| n.柄，突出部，螺帽；(英）耳朵；（俚）笨蛋；vt.拖，拉，用力拖动 | |
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115
incited
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| 刺激，激励，煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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116
straps
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| n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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117
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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118
defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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119
buckles
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| 搭扣，扣环( buckle的名词复数 ) | |
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120
abominably
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| adv. 可恶地，可恨地，恶劣地 | |
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121
chafed
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| v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的过去式 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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122
spinal
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| adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的 | |
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123
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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124
rout
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| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
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125
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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126
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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127
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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128
frenzied
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| a.激怒的；疯狂的 | |
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129
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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130
devastating
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| adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的 | |
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131
cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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132
sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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133
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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134
vagrant
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| n.流浪者，游民；adj.流浪的，漂泊不定的 | |
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135
vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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136
alluding
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| 提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
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137
miser
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| n.守财奴，吝啬鬼 (adj.miserly) | |
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138
musket
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| n.滑膛枪 | |
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139
furrow
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| n.沟；垄沟；轨迹；车辙；皱纹 | |
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140
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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141
epidemic
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| n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的 | |
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142
gnawing
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| a.痛苦的，折磨人的 | |
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143
galled
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| v.使…擦痛( gall的过去式和过去分词 )；擦伤；烦扰；侮辱 | |
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144
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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145
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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146
inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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147
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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148
ovation
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| n.欢呼，热烈欢迎，热烈鼓掌 | |
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149
obloquy
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| n.斥责，大骂 | |
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150
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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151
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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152
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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153
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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154
inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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155
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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156
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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157
shameful
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| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
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158
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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159
meekest
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| adj.温顺的，驯服的( meek的最高级 ) | |
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160
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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161
conciliation
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| n.调解，调停 | |
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162
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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163
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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164
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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165
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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166
daunted
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| 使（某人）气馁，威吓( daunt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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167
labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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168
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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169
jeering
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| adj.嘲弄的，揶揄的v.嘲笑( jeer的现在分词 ) | |
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170
chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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171
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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172
offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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173
tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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174
shuffling
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| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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175
climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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176
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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177
rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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178
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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179
chestnut
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| n.栗树，栗子 | |
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180
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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181
refulgent
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| adj.辉煌的，灿烂的 | |
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182
sentient
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| adj.有知觉的，知悉的；adv.有感觉能力地 | |
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183
astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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184
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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185
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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186
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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187
depleted
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| adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词 | |
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188
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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189
squads
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| n.（军队中的）班( squad的名词复数 )；（暗杀）小组；体育运动的运动（代表）队；（对付某类犯罪活动的）警察队伍 | |
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190
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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191
disaffected
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| adj.（政治上）不满的，叛离的 | |
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192
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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193
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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194
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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195
wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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196
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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197
furrows
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| n.犁沟( furrow的名词复数 )；（脸上的）皱纹v.犁田，开沟( furrow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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198
blanched
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| v.使变白( blanch的过去式 )；使（植物）不见阳光而变白；酸洗（金属）使有光泽；用沸水烫（杏仁等）以便去皮 | |
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199
incisive
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| adj.敏锐的，机敏的，锋利的，切入的 | |
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200
despondent
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| adj.失望的，沮丧的，泄气的 | |
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201
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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202
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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203
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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204
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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205
nugatory
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| adj.琐碎的，无价值的 | |
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206
predecessor
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| n.前辈，前任 | |
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207
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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208
hemlock
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| n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉 | |
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209
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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210
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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211
thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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212
slumbered
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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213
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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214
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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215
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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216
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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217
lamentation
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| n.悲叹，哀悼 | |
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218
lamentable
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| adj.令人惋惜的，悔恨的 | |
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219
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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220
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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221
abodes
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| 住所( abode的名词复数 )； 公寓； （在某地的）暂住； 逗留 | |
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222
cataclysms
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| n.（突然降临的）大灾难( cataclysm的名词复数 ) | |
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223
mattress
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| n.床垫，床褥 | |
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224
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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225
reposed
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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226
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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227
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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228
decrepit
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| adj.衰老的，破旧的 | |
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229
chattels
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| n.动产，奴隶( chattel的名词复数 ) | |
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230
haphazard
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| adj.无计划的，随意的，杂乱无章的 | |
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231
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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232
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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233
gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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234
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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235
apertures
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| n.孔( aperture的名词复数 )；隙缝；（照相机的）光圈；孔径 | |
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236
dismantled
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| 拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消 | |
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237
impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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238
doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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239
fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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240
clove
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| n.丁香味 | |
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241
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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242
nag
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| v.(对…)不停地唠叨；n.爱唠叨的人 | |
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243
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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244
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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245
inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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246
migrations
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| n.迁移，移居( migration的名词复数 ) | |
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247
barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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248
conquerors
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| 征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
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249
bleating
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| v.（羊，小牛）叫( bleat的现在分词 )；哭诉；发出羊叫似的声音；轻声诉说 | |
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250
bellowing
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的现在分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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251
trampling
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| 踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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252
pedestrians
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| n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 ) | |
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253
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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254
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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255
sinewy
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| adj.多腱的，强壮有力的 | |
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256
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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257
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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258
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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259
unintelligible
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| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
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260
lashing
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| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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261
taunting
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| 嘲讽( taunt的现在分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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262
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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263
dilate
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| vt.使膨胀，使扩大 | |
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264
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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265
dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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266
alleviate
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| v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等) | |
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267
prostrated
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| v.使俯伏，使拜倒( prostrate的过去式和过去分词 )；（指疾病、天气等）使某人无能为力 | |
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268
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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269
grunting
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| 咕哝的，呼噜的 | |
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270
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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271
battalions
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| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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272
maneuvered
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| v.移动，用策略( maneuver的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵 | |
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273
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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274
sneering
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| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
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275
sputtered
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| v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的过去式和过去分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出 | |
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276
brandishing
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| v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀 | |
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277
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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278
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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279
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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280
incompetency
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| n.无能力，不适当 | |
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281
disintegrated
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| v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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282
catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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283
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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284
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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285
rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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286
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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287
Augmented
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| adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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288
stranded
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| a.搁浅的，进退两难的 | |
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289
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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290
surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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291
slovenly
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| adj.懒散的，不整齐的，邋遢的 | |
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292
vented
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| 表达，发泄（感情，尤指愤怒）( vent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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293
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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294
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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295
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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296
emanated
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的过去式和过去分词 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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297
perspiring
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| v.出汗，流汗( perspire的现在分词 ) | |
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298
jolting
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| adj.令人震惊的 | |
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299
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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300
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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301
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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302
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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303
oratorical
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| adj.演说的，雄辩的 | |
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304
elicit
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| v.引出,抽出,引起 | |
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305
shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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306
pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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307
fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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308
pandemonium
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| n.喧嚣，大混乱 | |
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309
cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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310
filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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311
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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312
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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313
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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314
vehemence
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| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
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315
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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316
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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317
agitator
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| n.鼓动者；搅拌器 | |
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318
perverting
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| v.滥用( pervert的现在分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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319
spouting
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| n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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320
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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321
harangues
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| n.高谈阔论的长篇演讲( harangue的名词复数 )v.高谈阔论( harangue的第三人称单数 ) | |
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322
belching
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| n. 喷出，打嗝 动词belch的现在分词形式 | |
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323
asinine
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| adj.愚蠢的 | |
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324
inoculate
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| v.给...接种，给...注射疫苗 | |
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325
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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326
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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327
gendarmes
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| n.宪兵，警官( gendarme的名词复数 ) | |
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328
leaven
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| v.使发酵；n.酵母；影响 | |
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329
perversion
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| n.曲解；堕落；反常 | |
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330
muddled
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| adj.混乱的；糊涂的；头脑昏昏然的v.弄乱，弄糟( muddle的过去式)；使糊涂；对付，混日子 | |
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331
concocter
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| n.调制者，策划者 | |
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332
stews
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| n.炖煮的菜肴( stew的名词复数 )；烦恼，焦虑v.炖( stew的第三人称单数 )；煨；思考；担忧 | |
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333
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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334
inflaming
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| v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的现在分词 ) | |
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335
tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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336
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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337
inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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338
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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339
skunks
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| n.臭鼬( skunk的名词复数 )；臭鼬毛皮；卑鄙的人；可恶的人 | |
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340
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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341
quailed
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| 害怕，发抖，畏缩( quail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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342
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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343
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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344
cowered
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的过去式 ) | |
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345
fickleness
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| n.易变；无常；浮躁；变化无常 | |
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346
basting
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| n.疏缝；疏缝的针脚；疏缝用线；涂油v.打( baste的现在分词 )；粗缝；痛斥；（烤肉等时）往上抹[浇]油 | |
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347
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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348
humiliated
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| 感到羞愧的 | |
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349
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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350
rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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351
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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352
brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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353
speculative
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| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
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354
friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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355
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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356
ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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357
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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358
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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359
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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360
reeking
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| v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的现在分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
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361
throngs
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| n.人群( throng的名词复数 )v.成群，挤满( throng的第三人称单数 ) | |
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