Toward evening Father Fouchard, who was also haunted by a sensation of uneasiness in the midst of his studied taciturnity, was standing3 on his doorstep reflecting on the probable outcome of events. His son had no place in his thoughts, but he was speculating how he best might convert the misfortunes of others into fortune for himself, and as he revolved5 these considerations in his mind he noticed a tall, strapping6 young fellow, dressed in the peasant's blouse, who had been strolling up and down the road for the last minute or so, looking as if he did not know what to do with himself. His astonishment7 on recognizing him was so great that he called him aloud by name, notwithstanding that three Prussians happened to be passing at the time.
"Why, Prosper8! Is that you?"
The chasseur d'Afrique imposed silence on him with an emphatic9 gesture; then, coming closer, he said in an undertone:
"Yes, it is I. I have had enough of fighting for nothing, and I cut my lucky. Say, Father Fouchard, you don't happen to be in need of a laborer10 on your farm, do you?"
All the old man's prudence11 came back to him in a twinkling. He _was_ looking for someone to help him, but it would be better not to say so at once.
"A lad on the farm? faith, no--not just now. Come in, though, all the same, and have a glass. I shan't leave you out on the road when you're in trouble, that's sure."
Silvine, in the kitchen, was setting the pot of soup on the fire, while little Charlot was hanging by her skirts, frolicking and laughing. She did not recognize Prosper at first, although they had formerly13 served together in the same household, and it was not until she came in, bringing a bottle of wine and two glasses, that she looked him squarely in the face. She uttered a cry of joy and surprise; her sole thought was of Honore.
"Ah, you were there, weren't you? Is Honore all right?"
Prosper's answer was ready to slip from his tongue; he hesitated. For the last two days he had been living in a dream, among a rapid succession of strange, ill-defined events which left behind them no precise memory, as a man starts, half-awakened, from a slumber14 peopled with fantastic visions. It was true, doubtless, he believed he had seen Honore lying upon a cannon16, dead, but he would not have cared to swear to it; what use is there in afflicting17 people when one is not certain?
"Honore," he murmured, "I don't know, I couldn't say."
She continued to press him with her questions, looking at him steadily19.
"You did not see him, then?"
He waved his hands before him with a slow, uncertain motion and an expressive20 shake of the head.
"How can you expect one to remember! There were such lots of things, such lots of things. Look you, of all that d-----d battle, if I was to die for it this minute, I could not tell you that much--no, not even the place where I was. I believe men get to be no better than idiots, 'pon my word I do!" And tossing off a glass of wine, he sat gloomily silent, his vacant eyes turned inward on the dark recesses21 of his memory. "All that I remember is that it was beginning to be dark when I recovered consciousness. I went down while we were charging, and then the sun was very high. I must have been lying there for hours, my right leg caught under poor old Zephyr22, who had received a piece of shell in the middle of his chest. There was nothing to laugh at in my position, I can tell you; the dead comrades lying around me in piles, not a living soul in sight, and the certainty that I should have to kick the bucket too unless someone came to put me on my legs again. Gently, gently, I tried to free my leg, but it was no use; Zephyr's weight must have been fully23 up to that of the five hundred thousand devils. He was warm still. I patted him, I spoke24 to him, saying all the pretty things I could think of, and here's a thing, do you see, that I shall never forget as long as I live: he opened his eyes and made an effort to raise his poor old head, which was resting on the ground beside my own. Then we had a talk together: 'Poor old fellow,' says I, 'I don't want to say a word to hurt your feelings, but you must want to see me croak25 with you, you hold me down so hard.' Of course he didn't say he did; he couldn't, but for all that I could read in his great sorrowful eyes how bad he felt to have to part with me. And I can't say how the thing happened, whether he intended it or whether it was part of the death struggle, but all at once he gave himself a great shake that sent him rolling away to one side. I was enabled to get on my feet once more, but ah! in what a pickle26; my leg was swollen27 and heavy as a leg of lead. Never mind, I took Zephyr's head in my arms and kept on talking to him, telling him all the kind thoughts I had in my heart, that he was a good horse, that I loved him dearly, that I should never forget him. He listened to me, he seemed to be so pleased! Then he had another long convulsion, and so he died, with his big vacant eyes fixed28 on me till the last. It is very strange, though, and I don't suppose anyone will believe me; still, it is the simple truth that great, big tears were standing in his eyes. Poor old Zephyr, he cried just like a man--"
At this point Prosper's emotion got the better of him; tears choked his utterance29 and he was obliged to break off. He gulped30 down another glass of wine and went on with his narrative31 in disjointed, incomplete sentences. It kept growing darker and darker, until there was only a narrow streak32 of red light on the horizon at the verge33 of the battlefield; the shadows of the dead horses seemed to be projected across the plain to an infinite distance. The pain and stiffness in his leg kept him from moving; he must have remained for a long time beside Zephyr. Then, with his fears as an incentive34, he had managed to get on his feet and hobble away; it was an imperative35 necessity to him not to be alone, to find comrades who would share his fears with him and make them less. Thus from every nook and corner of the battlefield, from hedges and ditches and clumps36 of bushes, the wounded who had been left behind dragged themselves painfully in search of companionship, forming when possible little bands of four or five, finding it less hard to agonize37 and die in the company of their fellow-beings. In the wood of la Garenne Prosper fell in with two men of the 43d regiment38; they were not wounded, but had burrowed39 in the underbrush like rabbits, waiting for the coming of the night. When they learned that he was familiar with the roads they communicated to him their plan, which was to traverse the woods under cover of the darkness and make their escape into Belgium. At first he declined to share their undertaking40, for he would have preferred to proceed direct to Remilly, where he was certain to find a refuge, but where was he to obtain the blouse and trousers that he required as a disguise? to say nothing of the impracticability of getting past the numerous Prussian pickets41 and outposts that filled the valley all the way from la Garenne to Remilly. He therefore ended by consenting to act as guide to the two comrades. His leg was less stiff than it had been, and they were so fortunate as to secure a loaf of bread at a farmhouse43. Nine o'clock was striking from the church of a village in the distance as they resumed their way. The only point where they encountered any danger worth mentioning was at la Chapelle, where they fell directly into the midst of a Prussian advanced post before they were aware of it; the enemy flew to arms and blazed away into the darkness, while they, throwing themselves on the ground and alternately crawling and running until the fire slackened, ultimately regained44 the shelter of the trees. After that they kept to the woods, observing the utmost vigilance. At a bend in the road, they crept up behind an out-lying picket42 and, leaping on his back, buried a knife in his throat. Then the road was free before them and they no longer had to observe precaution; they went ahead, laughing and whistling. It was about three in the morning when they reached a little Belgian village, where they knocked up a worthy45 farmer, who at once opened his barn to them; they snuggled among the hay and slept soundly until morning.
The sun was high in the heavens when Prosper awoke. As he opened his eyes and looked about him, while the two comrades were still snoring, he beheld46 their entertainer engaged in hitching47 a horse to a great carriole loaded with bread, rice, coffee, sugar, and all sorts of eatables, the whole concealed48 under sacks of charcoal49, and a little questioning elicited50 from the good man the fact that he had two married daughters living at Raucourt, in France, whom the passage of the Bavarian troops had left entirely51 destitute52, and that the provisions in the carriole were intended for them. He had procured53 that very morning the safe-conduct that was required for the journey. Prosper was immediately seized by an uncontrollable desire to take a seat in that carriole and return to the country that he loved so and for which his heart was yearning55 with such a violent nostalgia56. It was perfectly57 simple; the farmer would have to pass through Remilly to reach Raucourt; he would alight there. The matter was arranged in three minutes; he obtained a loan of the longed-for blouse and trousers, and the farmer gave out, wherever they stopped, that he was his servant; so that about six o'clock he got down in front of the church, not having been stopped more than two or three times by the German outposts.
They were all silent for a while, then: "No, I had enough of it!" said Prosper. "If they had but set us at work that amounted to something, as out there in Africa! but this going up the hill only to come down again, the feeling that one is of no earthly use to anyone, that is no kind of a life at all. And then I should be lonely, now that poor Zephyr is dead; all that is left me to do is to go to work on a farm. That will be better than living among the Prussians as a prisoner, don't you think so? You have horses, Father Fouchard; try me, and see whether or not I will love them and take good care of them."
The old fellow's eyes gleamed, but he touched glasses once more with the other and concluded the arrangement without any evidence of eagerness.
"Very well; I wish to be of service to you as far as lies in my power; I will take you. As regards the question of wages, though, you must not speak of it until the war is over, for really I am not in need of anyone and the times are too hard."
Silvine, who had remained seated with Charlot on her lap, had never once taken her eyes from Prosper's face. When she saw him rise with the intention of going to the stable and making immediate54 acquaintance with its four-footed inhabitants, she again asked:
"Then you say you did not see Honore?"
The question repeated thus abruptly58 made him start, as if it had suddenly cast a flood of light in upon an obscure corner of his memory. He hesitated for a little, but finally came to a decision and spoke.
"See here, I did not wish to grieve you just now, but I don't believe Honore will ever come back."
"Never come back--what do you mean?"
"Yes, I believe that the Prussians did his business for him. I saw him lying across his gun, his head erect59, with a great wound just beneath the heart."
There was silence in the room. Silvine's pallor was frightful61 to behold62, while Father Fouchard displayed his interest in the narrative by replacing upon the table his glass, into which he had just poured what wine remained in the bottle.
"Are you quite certain?" she asked in a choking voice.
"_Dame_! as certain as one can be of a thing he has seen with his own two eyes. It was on a little hillock, with three trees in a group right beside it; it seems to me I could go to the spot blindfolded63."
If it was true she had nothing left to live for. That lad who had been so good to her, who had forgiven her her fault, had plighted64 his troth and was to marry her when he came home at the end of the campaign! and they had robbed her of him, they had murdered him, and he was lying out there on the battlefield with a wound under the heart! She had never known how strong her love for him had been, and now the thought that she was to see him no more, that he who was hers was hers no longer, aroused her almost to a pitch of madness and made her forget her usual tranquil65 resignation. She set Charlot roughly down upon the floor, exclaiming:
"Good! I shall not believe that story until I see the evidence of it, until I see it with my own eyes. Since you know the spot you shall conduct me to it. And if it is true, if we find him, we will bring him home with us."
Her tears allowed her to say no more; she bowed her head upon the table, her frame convulsed by long-drawn, tumultuous sobs66 that shook her from head to foot, while the child, not knowing what to make of such unusual treatment at his mother's hands, also commenced to weep violently. She caught him up and pressed him to her heart, with distracted, stammering67 words:
"My poor child! my poor child!"
Consternation68 was depicted69 on old Fouchard's face. Appearances notwithstanding, he did love his son, after a fashion of his own. Memories of the past came back to him, of days long vanished, when his wife was still living and Honore was a boy at school, and two big tears appeared in his small red eyes and trickled70 down his old leathery cheeks. He had not wept before in more than ten years. In the end he grew angry at the thought of that son who was his and upon whom he was never to set eyes again; he rapped out an oath or two.
"_Nom de Dieu!_ it is provoking all the same, to have only one boy, and that he should be taken from you!"
When their agitation71 had in a measure subsided72, however, Fouchard was annoyed that Silvine still continued to talk of going to search for Honore's body out there on the battlefield. She made no further noisy demonstration73, but harbored her purpose with the dogged silence of despair, and he failed to recognize in her the docile74, obedient servant who was wont75 to perform her daily tasks without a murmur18; her great, submissive eyes, in which lay the chief beauty of her face, had assumed an expression of stern determination, while beneath her thick brown hair her cheeks and brow wore a pallor that was like death. She had torn off the red kerchief that was knotted about her neck, and was entirely in black, like a widow in her weeds. It was all in vain that he tried to impress on her the difficulties of the undertaking, the dangers she would be subjected to, the little hope there was of recovering the corpse76; she did not even take the trouble to answer him, and he saw clearly that unless he seconded her in her plan she would start out alone and do some unwise thing, and this aspect of the case worried him on account of the complications that might arise between him and the Prussian authorities. He therefore finally decided77 to go and lay the matter before the mayor of Remilly, who was a kind of distant cousin of his, and they two between them concocted78 a story: Silvine was to pass as the actual widow of Honore, Prosper became her brother, so that the Bavarian colonel, who had his quarters in the Hotel of the Maltese Cross down in the lower part of the village, made no difficulty about granting a pass which authorized80 the brother and sister to bring home the body of the husband, provided they could find it. By this time it was night; the only concession81 that could be obtained from the young woman was that she would delay starting on her expedition until morning.
When morning came old Fouchard could not be prevailed on to allow one of his horses to be taken, fearing he might never set eyes on it again. What assurance had he that the Prussians would not confiscate82 the entire equipage? At last he consented, though with very bad grace, to loan her the donkey, a little gray animal, and his cart, which, though small, would be large enough to hold a dead man. He gave minute instructions to Prosper, who had had a good night's sleep, but was anxious and thoughtful at the prospect83 of the expedition now that, being rested and refreshed, he attempted to remember something of the battle. At the last moment Silvine went and took the counterpane from her own bed, folding and spreading it on the floor of the cart. Just as she was about to start she came running back to embrace Charlot.
"I entrust84 him to your care, Father Fouchard; keep an eye on him and see that he doesn't get hold of the matches."
"Yes, yes; never fear!"
They were late in getting off; it was near seven o'clock when the little procession, the donkey, hanging his head and drawing the narrow cart, leading, descended85 the steep hill of Remilly. It had rained heavily during the night, and the roads were become rivers of mud; great lowering clouds hung in the heavens, imparting an air of cheerless desolation to the scene.
Prosper, wishing to save all the distance he could, had determined87 on taking the route that lay through the city of Sedan, but before they reached Pont-Maugis a Prussian outpost halted the cart and held it for over an hour, and finally, after their pass had been referred, one after another, to four or five officials, they were told they might resume their journey, but only on condition of taking the longer, roundabout route by way of Bazeilles, to do which they would have to turn into a cross-road on their left. No reason was assigned; their object was probably to avoid adding to the crowd that encumbered88 the streets of the city. When Silvine crossed the Meuse by the railroad bridge, that ill-starred bridge that the French had failed to destroy and which, moreover, had been the cause of such slaughter89 among the Bavarians, she beheld the corpse of an artilleryman floating lazily down with the sluggish91 current. It caught among some rushes near the bank, hung there a moment, then swung clear and started afresh on its downward way.
Bazeilles, through which they passed from end to end at a slow walk, afforded a spectacle of ruin and desolation, the worst that war can perpetrate when it sweeps with devastating92 force, like a cyclone93, through a land. The dead had been removed; there was not a single corpse to be seen in the village streets, and the rain had washed away the blood; pools of reddish water were to be seen here and there in the roadway, with repulsive94, frowzy-looking debris95, matted masses that one could not help associating in his mind with human hair. But what shocked and saddened one more than all the rest was the ruin that was visible everywhere; that charming village, only three days before so bright and smiling, with its pretty houses standing in their well-kept gardens, now razed96, demolished97, annihilated98, nothing left of all its beauties save a few smoke-stained walls. The church was burning still, a huge pyre of smoldering99 beams and girders, whence streamed continually upward a column of dense100 black smoke that, spreading in the heavens, overshadowed the city like a gigantic funeral pall60. Entire streets had been swept away, not a house left on either side, nor any trace that houses had ever been there, save the calcined stone-work lying in the gutter101 in a pasty mess of soot102 and ashes, the whole lost in the viscid, ink-black mud of the thoroughfare. Where streets intersected the corner houses were razed down to their foundations, as if they had been carried away bodily by the fiery103 blast that blew there. Others had suffered less; one in particular, owing to some chance, had escaped almost without injury, while its neighbors on either hand, literally104 torn to pieces by the iron hail, were like gaunt skeletons. An unbearable105 stench was everywhere, noticeable, the nauseating106 odor that follows a great fire, aggravated107 by the penetrating108 smell of petroleum109, that had been used without stint110 upon floors and walls. Then, too, there was the pitiful, mute spectacle of the household goods that the people had endeavored to save, the poor furniture that had been thrown from windows and smashed upon the sidewalk, crazy tables with broken legs, presses with cloven sides and split doors, linen111, also, torn and soiled, that was trodden under foot; all the sorry crumbs112, the unconsidered trifles of the pillage113, of which the destruction was being completed by the dissolving rain. Through the breach114 in a shattered house-front a clock was visible, securely fastened high up on the wall above the mantel-shelf, that had miraculously115 escaped intact.
"The beasts! the pigs!" growled116 Prosper, whose blood, though he was no longer a soldier, ran hot at the sight of such atrocities117.
He doubled his fists, and Silvine, who was white as a ghost, had to exert the influence of her glance to calm him every time they encountered a sentry118 on their way. The Bavarians had posted sentinels near all the houses that were still burning, and it seemed as if those men, with loaded muskets119 and fixed bayonets, were guarding the fires in order that the flames might finish their work. They drove away the mere121 sightseers who strolled about in the vicinity, and the persons who had an interest there as well, employing first a menacing gesture, and in case that was not sufficient, uttering a single brief, guttural word of command. A young woman, her hair streaming about her shoulders, her gown plastered with mud, persisted in hanging about the smoking ruins of a little house, of which she desired to search the hot ashes, notwithstanding the prohibition122 of the sentry. The report ran that the woman's little baby had been burned with the house. And all at once, as the Bavarian was roughly thrusting her aside with his heavy hand, she turned on him, vomiting123 in his face all her despair and rage, lashing124 him with taunts125 and insults that were redolent of the gutter, with obscene words which likely afforded her some consolation126 in her grief and distress127. He could not have understood her, for he drew back a pace or two, eying her with apprehension128. Three comrades came running up and relieved him of the fury, whom they led away screaming at the top of her voice. Before the ruins of another house a man and two little girls, all three so weary and miserable129 that they could not stand, lay on the bare ground, sobbing130 as if their hearts would break; they had seen their little all go up in smoke and flame, and had no place to go, no place to lay their head. But just then a patrol went by, dispersing131 the knots of idlers, and the street again assumed its deserted132 aspect, peopled only by the stern, sullen133 sentries134, vigilant135 to see that their iniquitous136 instructions were enforced.
"The beasts! the pigs!" Prosper repeated in a stifled137 voice. "How I should like, oh! how I should like to kill a few of them!"
Silvine again made him be silent. She shuddered139. A dog, shut up in a carriage-house that the flames had spared and forgotten there for the last two days, kept up an incessant140, continuous howling, in a key so inexpressibly mournful that a brooding horror seemed to pervade141 the low, leaden sky, from which a drizzling142 rain had now begun to fall. They were then just abreast143 of the park of Montivilliers, and there they witnessed a most horrible sight. Three great covered carts, those carts that pass along the streets in the early morning before it is light and collect the city's filth144 and garbage, stood there in a row, loaded with corpses145; and now, instead of refuse, they were being filled with dead, stopping wherever there was a body to be loaded, then going on again with the heavy rumbling146 of their wheels to make another stop further on, threading Bazeilles in its every nook and corner until their hideous147 cargo148 overflowed149. They were waiting now upon the public road to be driven to the place of their discharge, the neighboring potter's field. Feet were seen projecting from the mass into the air. A head, half-severed from its trunk, hung over the side of the vehicle. When the three lumbering150 vans started again, swaying and jolting151 over the inequalities of the road, a long, white hand was hanging outward from one of them; the hand caught upon the wheel, and little by little the iron tire destroyed it, eating through skin and flesh clean down to the bones.
By the time they reached Balan the rain had ceased, and Prosper prevailed on Silvine to eat a bit of the bread he had had the foresight152 to bring with them. When they were near Sedan, however, they were brought to a halt by another Prussian post, and this time the consequences threatened to be serious; the officer stormed at them, and even refused to restore their pass, which he declared, in excellent French, to be a forgery153. Acting154 on his orders some soldiers had run the donkey and the little cart under a shed. What were they to do? were they to be forced to abandon their undertaking? Silvine was in despair, when all at once she thought of M. Dubreuil, Father Fouchard's relative, with whom she had some slight acquaintance and whose place, the Hermitage, was only a few hundred yards distant, on the summit of the eminence155 that overlooked the faubourg. Perhaps he might have some influence with the military, seeing that he was a citizen of the place. As they were allowed their freedom, conditionally156 upon abandoning their equipage, she left the donkey and cart under the shed and bade Prosper accompany her. They ascended157 the hill on a run, found the gate of the Hermitage standing wide open, and on turning into the avenue of secular158 elms beheld a spectacle that filled them with amazement159.
"The devil!" said Prosper; "there are a lot of fellows who seem to be taking things easy!"
On the fine-crushed gravel160 of the terrace, at the bottom of the steps that led to the house, was a merry company. Arranged in order around a marble-topped table were a sofa and some easy-chairs in sky-blue satin, forming a sort of fantastic open-air drawing-room, which must have been thoroughly161 soaked by the rain of the preceding day. Two zouaves, seated in a lounging attitude at either end of the sofa, seemed to be laughing boisterously163. A little infantryman, who occupied one of the fauteuils, his head bent164 forward, was apparently165 holding his sides to keep them from splitting. Three others were seated in a negligent166 pose, their elbows resting on the arms of their chairs, while a chasseur had his hand extended as if in the act of taking a glass from the table. They had evidently discovered the location of the cellar, and were enjoying themselves.
"But how in the world do they happen to be here?" murmured Prosper, whose stupefaction increased as he drew nearer to them. "Have the rascals167 forgotten there are Prussians about?"
But Silvine, whose eyes had dilated168 far beyond their natural size, suddenly uttered an exclamation169 of horror. The soldiers never moved hand or foot; they were stone dead. The two zouaves were stiff and cold; they both had had the face shot away, the nose was gone, the eyes were torn from their sockets170. If there appeared to be a laugh on the face of him who was holding his sides, it was because a bullet had cut a great furrow171 through the lower portion of his countenance172, smashing all his teeth. The spectacle was an unimaginably horrible one, those poor wretches173 laughing and conversing175 in their attitude of manikins, with glassy eyes and open mouths, when Death had laid his icy hand on them and they were never more to know the warmth and motion of life. Had they dragged themselves, still living, to that place, so as to die in one another's company? or was it not rather a ghastly prank176 of the Prussians, who had collected the bodies and placed them in a circle about the table, out of derision for the traditional gayety of the French nation?
"It's a queer start, though, all the same," muttered Prosper, whose face was very pale. And casting a look at the other dead who lay scattered177 about the avenue, under the trees and on the turf, some thirty brave fellows, among them Lieutenant178 Rochas, riddled179 with wounds and surrounded still by the shreds180 of the flag, he added seriously and with great respect: "There must have been some very pretty fighting about here! I don't much believe we shall find the bourgeois181 for whom you are looking."
Silvine entered the house, the doors and windows of which had been battered182 in and afforded admission to the damp, cold air from without. It was clear enough that there was no one there; the masters must have taken their departure before the battle. She continued to prosecute183 her search, however, and had entered the kitchen, when she gave utterance to another cry of terror. Beneath the sink were two bodies, fast locked in each other's arms in mortal embrace, one of them a zouave, a handsome, brown-bearded man, the other a huge Prussian with red hair. The teeth of the former were set in the latter's cheek, their arms, stiff in death, had not relaxed their terrible hug, binding184 the pair with such a bond of everlasting185 hate and fury that ultimately it was found necessary to bury them in a common grave.
Then Prosper made haste to lead Silvine away, since they could accomplish nothing in that house where Death had taken up his abode186, and upon their return, despairing, to the post where the donkey and cart had been detained, it so chanced that they found, in company with the officer who had treated them so harshly, a general on his way to visit the battlefield. This gentleman requested to be allowed to see the pass, which he examined attentively187 and restored to Silvine; then, with an expression of compassion188 on his face, he gave directions that the poor woman should have her donkey returned to her and be allowed to go in quest of her husband's body. Stopping only long enough to thank her benefactor189, she and her companion, with the cart trundling after them, set out for the Fond de Givonne, obedient to the instructions that were again given them not to pass through Sedan.
After that they bent their course to the left in order to reach the plateau of Illy by the road that crosses the wood of la Garenne, but here again they were delayed; twenty times they nearly abandoned all hope of getting through the wood, so numerous were the obstacles they encountered. At every step their way was barred by huge trees that had been laid low by the artillery90 fire, stretched on the ground like mighty190 giants fallen. It was the part of the forest that had suffered so severely191 from the cannonade, where the projectiles192 had plowed193 their way through the secular growths as they might have done through a square of the Old Guard, meeting in either case with the sturdy resistance of veterans. Everywhere the earth was cumbered with gigantic trunks, stripped of their leaves and branches, pierced and mangled194, even as mortals might have been, and this wholesale195 destruction, the sight of the poor limbs, maimed, slaughtered196 and weeping tears of sap, inspired the beholder197 with the sickening horror of a human battlefield. There were corpses of men there, too; soldiers, who had stood fraternally by the trees and fallen with them. A lieutenant, from whose mouth exuded198 a bloody199 froth, had been tearing up the grass by handfuls in his agony, and his stiffened200 fingers were still buried in the ground. A little farther on a captain, prone201 on his stomach, had raised his head to vent4 his anguish202 in yells and screams, and death had caught and fixed him in that strange attitude. Others seemed to be slumbering203 among the herbage, while a zouave; whose blue sash had taken fire, had had his hair and beard burned completely from his head. And several times it happened, as they traversed those woodland glades204, that they had to remove a body from the path before the donkey could proceed on his way. Presently they came to a little valley, where the sights of horror abruptly ended. The battle had evidently turned at this point and expended205 its force in another direction, leaving this peaceful nook of nature untouched. The trees were all uninjured; the carpet of velvety206 moss207 was undefiled by blood. A little brook210 coursed merrily among the duckweed, the path that ran along its bank was shaded by tall beeches211. A penetrating charm, a tender peacefulness pervaded212 the solitude213 of the lovely spot, where the living waters gave up their coolness to the air and the leaves whispered softly in the silence.
Prosper had stopped to let the donkey drink from the stream.
"Ah, how pleasant it is here!" he involuntarily exclaimed in his delight.
Silvine cast an astonished look about her, as if wondering how it was that she, too, could feel the influence of the peaceful scene. Why should there be repose214 and happiness in that hidden nook, when surrounding it on every side were sorrow and affliction? She made a gesture of impatience215.
"Quick, quick, let us be gone. Where is the spot? Where did you tell me you saw Honore?"
And when, at some fifty paces from there, they at last came out on the plateau of Illy, the level plain unrolled itself in its full extent before their vision. It was the real, the true battlefield that they beheld now, the bare fields stretching away to the horizon under the wan, cheerless sky, whence showers were streaming down continually. There were no piles of dead visible; all the Prussians must have been buried by this time, for there was not a single one to be seen among the corpses of the French that were scattered here and there, along the roads and in the fields, as the conflict had swayed in one direction or another. The first that they encountered was a sergeant216, propped217 against a hedge, a superb man, in the bloom of his youthful vigor218; his face was tranquil and a smile seemed to rest on his parted lips. A hundred paces further on, however, they beheld another, lying across the road, who had been mutilated most frightfully, his head almost entirely shot away, his shoulders covered with great splotches of brain matter. Then, as they advanced further into the field, after the single bodies, distributed here and there, they came across little groups; they saw seven men aligned219 in single rank, kneeling and with their muskets at the shoulder in the position of aim, who had been hit as they were about to fire, while close beside them a subaltern had also fallen as he was in the act of giving the word of command. After that the road led along the brink220 of a little ravine, and there they beheld a spectacle that aroused their horror to the highest pitch as they looked down into the chasm221, into which an entire company seemed to have been blown by the fiery blast; it was choked with corpses, a landslide222, an avalanche223 of maimed and mutilated men, bent and twisted in an inextricable tangle224, who with convulsed fingers had caught at the yellow clay of the bank to save themselves in their descent, fruitlessly. And a dusky flock of ravens225 flew away, croaking226 noisily, and swarms227 of flies, thousands upon thousands of them, attracted by the odor of fresh blood, were buzzing over the bodies and returning incessantly228.
"Where is the spot?" Silvine asked again.
They were then passing a plowed field that was completely covered with knapsacks. It was manifest that some regiment had been roughly handled there, and the men, in a moment of panic, had relieved themselves of their burdens. The debris of every sort with which the ground was thickly strewn served to explain the episodes of the conflict. There was a stubble field where the scattered _kepis_, resembling huge poppies, shreds of uniforms, epaulettes, and sword-belts told the story of one of those infrequent hand-to-hand contests in the fierce artillery duel229 that had lasted twelve hours. But the objects that were encountered most frequently, at every step, in fact, were abandoned weapons, sabers, bayonets, and, more particularly, chassepots; and so numerous were they that they seemed to have sprouted230 from the earth, a harvest that had matured in a single ill-omened day. Porringers and buckets, also, were scattered along the roads, together with the heterogeneous231 contents of knapsacks, rice, brushes, clothing, cartridges232. The fields everywhere presented an uniform scene of devastation233: fences destroyed, trees blighted234 as if they had been struck by lightning, the very soil itself torn by shells, compacted and hardened by the tramp of countless235 feet, and so maltreated that it seemed as if seasons must elapse before it could again become productive. Everything had been drenched236 and soaked by the rain of the preceding day; an odor arose and hung in the air persistently237, that odor of the battlefield that smells like fermenting238 straw and burning cloth, a mixture of rottenness and gunpowder240.
Silvine, who was beginning to weary of those fields of death over which she had tramped so many long miles, looked about her with increasing distrust and uneasiness.
"Where is the spot? where is it?"
But Prosper made no answer; he also was becoming uneasy. What distressed241 him even more than the sights of suffering among his fellow-soldiers was the dead horses, the poor brutes242 that lay outstretched upon their side, that were met with in great numbers. Many of them presented a most pitiful spectacle, in all sorts of harrowing attitudes, with heads torn from the body, with lacerated flanks from which the entrails protruded243. Many were resting on their back, with their four feet elevated in the air like signals of distress. The entire extent of the broad plain was dotted with them. There were some that death had not released after their two days' agony; at the faintest sound they would raise their head, turning it eagerly from right to left, then let it fall again upon the ground, while others lay motionless and momentarily gave utterance to that shrill244 scream which one who has heard it can never forget, the lament245 of the dying horse, so piercingly mournful that earth and heaven seemed to shudder138 in unison246 with it. And Prosper, with a bleeding heart, thought of poor Zephyr, and told himself that perhaps he might see him once again.
Suddenly he became aware that the ground was trembling under the thundering hoof-beats of a headlong charge. He turned to look, and had barely time to shout to his companion:
"The horses, the horses! Get behind that wall!"
From the summit of a neighboring eminence a hundred riderless horses, some of them still bearing the saddle and master's kit12, were plunging247 down upon them at break-neck speed. They were cavalry248 mounts that had lost their masters and remained on the battlefield, and instinct had counseled them to associate together in a band. They had had neither hay nor oats for two days, and had cropped the scanty249 grass from off the plain, shorn the hedge-rows of leaves and twigs250, gnawed251 the bark from the trees, and when they felt the pangs252 of hunger pricking253 at their vitals like a keen spur, they started all together at a mad gallop254 and charged across the deserted, silent fields, crushing the dead out of all human shape, extinguishing the last spark of life in the wounded.
The band came on like a whirlwind; Silvine had only time to pull the donkey and cart to one side where they would be protected by the wall.
"_Mon Dieu!_ we shall be killed!"
But the horses had taken the obstacle in their stride and were already scouring255 away in the distance on the other side with a rumble256 like that of a receding162 thunder-storm; striking into a sunken road they pursued it as far as the corner of a little wood, behind which they were lost to sight.
Silvine, when she had brought the cart back into the road, insisted that Prosper should answer her question before they proceeded further.
"Come, where is it? You told me you could find the spot with your eyes bandaged; where is it? We have reached the ground."
He, drawing himself up and anxiously scanning the horizon in every direction, seemed to become more and more perplexed257.
"There were three trees, I must find those three trees in the first place. Ah, _dame_! see here, one's sight is not of the clearest when he is fighting, and it is no such easy matter to remember afterward258 the roads one has passed over!"
Then perceiving people to his left, two men and a woman, it occurred to him to question them, but the woman ran away at his approach and the men repulsed259 him with threatening gestures; and he saw others of the same stripe, clad in sordid260 rags, unspeakably filthy261, with the ill-favored faces of thieves and murderers, and they all shunned262 him, slinking away among the corpses like jackals or other unclean, creeping beasts. Then he noticed that wherever these villainous gentry263 passed the dead behind them were shoeless, their bare, white feet exposed, devoid264 of covering, and he saw how it was: they were the tramps and thugs who followed the German armies for the sake of plundering265 the dead, the detestable crew who followed in the wake of the invasion in order that they might reap their harvest from the field of blood. A tall, lean fellow arose in front of him and scurried266 away on a run, a sack slung267 across his shoulder, the watches and small coins, proceeds of his robberies, jingling268 in his pockets.
A boy about fourteen or fifteen years old, however, allowed Prosper to approach him, and when the latter, seeing him to be French, rated him soundly, the boy spoke up in his defense269. What, was it wrong for a poor fellow to earn his living? He was collecting chassepots, and received five sous for every chassepot he brought in. He had run away from his village that morning, having eaten nothing since the day before, and engaged himself to a contractor270 from Luxembourg, who had an arrangement with the Prussians by virtue271 of which he was to gather the muskets from the field of battle, the Germans fearing that should the scattered arms be collected by the peasants of the frontier, they might be conveyed into Belgium and thence find their way back to France. And so it was that there was quite a flock of poor devils hunting for muskets and earning their five sous, rummaging272 among the herbage, like the women who may be seen in the meadows, bent nearly double, gathering273 dandelions.
"It's a dirty business," Prosper growled.
"What would you have! A chap must eat," the boy replied. "I am not robbing anyone."
Then, as he did not belong to that neighborhood and could not give the information that Prosper wanted, he pointed274 out a little farmhouse not far away where he had seen some people stirring.
Prosper thanked him and was moving away to rejoin Silvine when he caught sight of a chassepot, partially275 buried in a furrow. His first thought was to say nothing of his discovery; then he turned about suddenly and shouted, as if he could not help it:
"Hallo! here's one; that will make five sous more for you."
As they approached the farmhouse Silvine noticed other peasants engaged with spades and picks in digging long trenches277; but these men were under the direct command of Prussian officers, who, with nothing more formidable than a light walking-stick in their hands, stood by, stiff and silent, and superintended the work. They had requisitioned the inhabitants of all the villages of the vicinity in this manner, fearing that decomposition278 might be hastened, owing to the rainy weather. Two cart-loads of dead bodies were standing near, and a gang of men was unloading them, laying the corpses side by side in close contiguity279 to one another, not searching them, not even looking at their faces, while two men followed after, equipped with great shovels280, and covered the row with a layer of earth, so thin that the ground had already begun to crack beneath the showers. The work was so badly and hastily done that before two weeks should have elapsed each of those fissures281 would be breathing forth282 pestilence283. Silvine could not resist the impulse to pause at the brink of the trench276 and look at those pitiful corpses as they were brought forward, one after another. She was possessed284 by a horrible fear that in each fresh body the men brought from the cart she might recognize Honore. Was not that he, that poor wretch174 whose left eye had been destroyed? No! Perhaps that one with the fractured jaw285 was he? The one thing certain to her mind was that if she did not make haste to find him, wherever he might be on that boundless286, indeterminate plateau, they would pick him up and bury him in a common grave with the others. She therefore hurried to rejoin Prosper, who had gone on to the farmhouse with the cart.
"_Mon Dieu!_ how is it that you are not better informed? Where is the place? Ask the people, question them."
There were none but Prussians at the farm, however, together with a woman servant and her child, just come in from the woods, where they had been near perishing of thirst and hunger. The scene was one of patriarchal simplicity287 and well-earned repose after the fatigues288 of the last few days. Some of the soldiers had hung their uniforms from a clothes-line and were giving them a thorough brushing, another was putting a patch on his trousers, with great neatness and dexterity289, while the cook of the detachment had built a great fire in the middle of the courtyard on which the soup was boiling in a huge pot from which ascended a most appetizing odor of cabbage and bacon. There is no denying that the Prussians generally displayed great moderation toward the inhabitants of the country after the conquest, which was made the easier to them by the spirit of discipline that prevailed among the troops. These men might have been taken for peaceable citizens just come in from their daily avocations290, smoking their long pipes. On a bench beside the door sat a stout291, red-bearded man, who had taken up the servant's child, a little urchin292 five or six years old, and was dandling it and talking baby-talk to it in German, delighted to see the little one laugh at the harsh syllables293 which it could not understand.
Prosper, fearing there might be more trouble in store for them, had turned his back on the soldiers immediately on entering, but those Prussians were really good fellows; they smiled at the little donkey, and did not even trouble themselves to ask for a sight of the pass.
Then ensued a wild, aimless scamper294 across the bosom295 of the great, sinister296 plain. The sun, now sinking rapidly toward the horizon, showed its face for a moment from between two clouds. Was night to descend86 and surprise them in the midst of that vast charnel-house? Another shower came down; the sun was obscured, the rain and mist formed an impenetrable barrier about them, so that the country around, roads, fields, trees, was shut out from their vision. Prosper knew not where they were; he was lost, and admitted it: his memory was all astray, he could recall nothing precise of the occurrences of that terrible day but one before. Behind them, his head lowered almost to the ground, the little donkey trotted297 along resignedly, dragging the cart, with his customary docility298. First they took a northerly course, then they returned toward Sedan. They had lost their bearings and could not tell in which direction they were going; twice they noticed that they were passing localities that they had passed before and retraced299 their steps. They had doubtless been traveling in a circle, and there came a moment when in their exhaustion301 and despair they stopped at a place where three roads met, without courage to pursue their search further, the rain pelting302 down on them, lost and utterly303 miserable in the midst of a sea of mud.
But they heard the sound of groans304, and hastening to a lonely little house on their left, found there, in one of the bedrooms, two wounded men. All the doors were standing open; the two unfortunates had succeeded in dragging themselves thus far and had thrown themselves on the beds, and for the two days that they had been alternately shivering and burning, their wounds having received no attention, they had seen no one, not a living soul. They were tortured by a consuming thirst, and the beating of the rain against the window-panes added to their torment305, but they could not move hand or foot. Hence, when they heard Silvine approaching, the first word that escaped their lips was: "Drink! Give us to drink!" that longing306, pathetic cry, with which the wounded always pursue the by-passer whenever the sound of footsteps arouses them from their lethargy. There were many cases similar to this, where men were overlooked in remote corners, whither they had fled for refuge. Some were picked up even five and six days later, when their sores were filled with maggots and their sufferings had rendered them delirious307.
When Silvine had given the wretched men a drink Prosper, who, in the more sorely injured of the twain, had recognized a comrade of his regiment, a chasseur d'Afrique, saw that they could not be far from the ground over which Margueritte's division had charged, inasmuch as the poor devil had been able to drag himself to that house. All the information he could get from him, however, was of the vaguest; yes, it was over that way; you turned to the left, after passing a big field of potatoes.
Immediately she was in possession of this slender clue Silvine insisted on starting out again. An inferior officer of the medical department chanced to pass with a cart just then, collecting the dead; she hailed him and notified him of the presence of the wounded men, then, throwing the donkey's bridle308 across her arm, urged him along over the muddy road, eager to reach the designated spot, beyond the big potato field. When they had gone some distance she stopped, yielding to her despair.
"My God, where is the place! Where can it be?"
Prosper looked about him, taxing his recollection fruitlessly.
"I told you, it is close beside the place where we made our charge. If only I could find my poor Zephyr--"
And he cast a wistful look on the dead horses that lay around them. It had been his secret hope, his dearest wish, during the entire time they had been wandering over the plateau, to see his mount once more, to bid him a last farewell.
"It ought to be somewhere in this vicinity," he suddenly said. "See! over there to the left, there are the three trees. You see the wheel-tracks? And, look, over yonder is a broken-down caisson. We have found the spot; we are here at last!"
Quivering with emotion, Silvine darted309 forward and eagerly scanned the faces of two corpses, two artillerymen who had fallen by the roadside.
"He is not here! He is not here! You cannot have seen aright. Yes, that is it; some delusion310 must have cheated your eyes." And little by little an air-drawn hope, a wild delight crept into her mind. "If you were mistaken, if he should be alive! And be sure he is alive, since he is not here!"
Suddenly she gave utterance to a low, smothered311 cry. She had turned, and was standing on the very position that the battery had occupied. The scene was most frightful, the ground torn and fissured312 as by an earthquake and covered with wreckage313 of every description, the dead lying as they had fallen in every imaginable attitude of horror, arms bent and twisted, legs doubled under them, heads thrown back, the lips parted over the white teeth as if their last breath had been expended in shouting defiance314 to the foe315. A corporal had died with his hands pressed convulsively to his eyes, unable longer to endure the dread316 spectacle. Some gold coins that a lieutenant carried in a belt about his body had been spilled at the same time as his life-blood, and lay scattered among his entrails. There were Adolphe, the driver, and the gunner, Louis, clasped in each other's arms in a fierce embrace, their sightless orbs317 starting from their sockets, mated even in death. And there, at last, was Honore, recumbent on his disabled gun as on a bed of honor, with the great rent in his side that had let out his young life, his face, unmutilated and beautiful in its stern anger, still turned defiantly318 toward the Prussian batteries.
"Oh! my friend," sobbed319 Silvine, "my friend, my friend--"
She had fallen to her knees on the damp, cold ground, her hands joined as if in prayer, in an outburst of frantic320 grief. The word friend, the only name by which it occurred to her to address him, told the story of the tender affection she had lost in that man, so good, so loving, who had forgiven her, had meant to make her his wife, despite the ugly past. And now all hope was dead within her bosom, there was nothing left to make life desirable. She had never loved another; she would put away her love for him at the bottom of her heart and hold it sacred there. The rain had ceased; a flock of crows that circled above the three trees, croaking dismally321, affected322 her like a menace of evil. Was he to be taken from her again, her cherished dead, whom she had recovered with such difficulty? She dragged herself along upon her knees, and with a trembling hand brushed away the hungry flies that were buzzing about her friend's wide-open eyes.
She caught sight of a bit of blood-stained paper between Honore's stiffened fingers. It troubled her; she tried to gain possession of the paper, pulling at it gently, but the dead man would not surrender it, seemingly tightening323 his hold on it, guarding it so jealously that it could not have been taken from him without tearing it in bits. It was the letter she had written him, that he had always carried next his heart, and that he had taken from its hiding place in the moment of his supreme324 agony, as if to bid her a last farewell. It seemed so strange, was such a revelation, that he should have died thinking of her; when she saw what it was a profound delight filled her soul in the midst of her affliction. Yes, surely, she would leave it with him, the letter that was so dear to him! she would not take it from him, since he was so bent on carrying it with him to the grave. Her tears flowed afresh, but they were beneficent tears this time, and brought healing and comfort with them. She arose and kissed his hands, kissed him on the forehead, uttering meanwhile but that one word, which was in itself a prolonged caress325:
"My friend! my friend--"
Meantime the sun was declining; Prosper had gone and taken the counterpane from the cart, and between them they raised Honore's body, slowly, reverently326, and laid it on the bed-covering, which they had stretched upon the ground; then, first wrapping him in its folds, they bore him to the cart. It was threatening to rain again, and they had started on their return, forming, with the donkey, a sorrowful little cortege on the broad bosom of the accursed plain, when a deep rumbling as of thunder was heard in the distance. Prosper turned his head and had only time to shout:
"The horses! the horses!"
It was the starving, abandoned cavalry mounts making another charge. They came up this time in a deep mass across a wide, smooth field, manes and tails streaming in the wind, froth flying from their nostrils327, and the level rays of the fiery setting sun sent the shadow of the infuriated herd328 clean across the plateau. Silvine rushed forward and planted herself before the cart, raising her arms above her head as if her puny329 form might have power to check them. Fortunately the ground fell off just at that point, causing them to swerve330 to the left; otherwise they would have crushed donkey, cart, and all to powder. The earth trembled, and their hoofs331 sent a volley of clods and small stones flying through the air, one of which struck the donkey on the head and wounded him. The last that was seen of them they were tearing down a ravine.
"It's hunger that starts them off like that," said Prosper. "Poor beasts!"
Silvine, having bandaged the donkey's ear with her handkerchief, took him again by the bridle, and the mournful little procession began to retrace300 its steps across the plateau, to cover the two leagues that lay between it and Remilly. Prosper had turned and cast a look on the dead horses, his heart heavy within him to leave the field without having seen Zephyr.
A little below the wood of la Garenne, as they were about to turn off to the left to take the road that they had traversed that morning, they encountered another German post and were again obliged to exhibit their pass. And the officer in command, instead of telling them to avoid Sedan, ordered them to keep straight on their course and pass through the city; otherwise they would be arrested. This was the most recent order; it was not for them to question it. Moreover, their journey would be shortened by a mile and a quarter, which they did not regret, weary and foot-sore as they were.
When they were within Sedan, however, they found their progress retarded332 owing to a singular cause. As soon as they had passed the fortifications their nostrils were saluted333 by such a stench, they were obliged to wade334 through such a mass of abominable335 filth, reaching almost to their knees, as fairly turned their stomachs. The city, where for three days a hundred thousand men had lived without the slightest provision being made for decency336 or cleanliness, had become a cesspool, a foul337 sewer338, and this devil's broth79 was thickened by all sorts of solid matter, rotting hay and straw, stable litter, and the excreta of animals. The carcasses of the horses, too, that were knocked on the head, skinned, and cut up in the public squares, in full view of everyone, had their full share in contaminating the atmosphere; the entrails lay decaying in the hot sunshine, the bones and heads were left lying on the pavement, where they attracted swarms of flies. Pestilence would surely break out in the city unless they made haste to rid themselves of all that carrion339, of that stratum340 of impurity341, which, in the Rue15 de Minil, the Rue Maqua, and even on the Place Turenne, reached a depth of twelve inches. The Prussian authorities had taken the matter up, and their placards were to be seen posted about the city, requisitioning the inhabitants, irrespective of rank, laborers342, merchants, bourgeois, magistrates343, for the morrow; they were ordered to assemble, armed with brooms and shovels, and apply themselves to the task, and were warned that they would be subjected to heavy penalties if the city was not clean by night. The President of the Tribunal had taken time by the forelock, and might even then be seen scraping away at the pavement before his door and loading the results of his labors344 upon a wheelbarrow with a fire-shovel.
Silvine and Prosper, who had selected the Grande Rue as their route for traversing the city, advanced but slowly through that lake of malodorous slime. In addition to that the place was in a state of ferment239 and agitation that made it necessary for them to pull up almost at every moment. It was the time that the Prussians had selected for searching the houses in order to unearth345 those soldiers, who, determined that they would not give themselves up, had hidden themselves away. When, at about two o'clock of the preceding day, General de Wimpffen had returned from the chateau346 of Bellevue after signing the capitulation, the report immediately began to circulate that the surrendered troops were to be held under guard in the peninsula of Iges until such time as arrangements could be perfected for sending them off to Germany. Some few officers had expressed their intention of taking advantage of that stipulation347 which accorded them their liberty conditionally on their signing an agreement not to serve again during the campaign. Only one general, so it was said, Bourgain-Desfeuilles, alleging348 his rheumatism349 as a reason, had bound himself by that pledge, and when, that very morning, his carriage had driven up to the door of the Hotel of the Golden Cross and he had taken his seat in it to leave the city, the people had hooted350 and hissed351 him unmercifully. The operation of disarming352 had been going on since break of day; the manner of its performance was, the troops defiled209 by battalions353 on the Place Turenne, where each man deposited his musket120 and bayonet on the pile, like a mountain of old iron, which kept rising higher and higher, in a corner of the place. There was a Prussian detachment there under the command of a young officer, a tall, pale youth, wearing a sky-blue tunic355 and a cap adorned356 with a cock's feather, who superintended operations with a lofty but soldier-like air, his hands encased in white gloves. A zouave, in a fit of insubordination, having refused to give up his chassepot, the officer ordered that he be taken away, adding, in the same even tone of voice: "And let him be shot forthwith!" The rest of the battalion354 continued to defile208 with a sullen and dejected air, throwing down their arms mechanically, as if in haste to have the ceremony ended. But who could estimate the number of those who had disarmed357 themselves voluntarily, those whose muskets lay scattered over the country, out yonder on the field of battle? And how many, too, within the last twenty-four hours had concealed themselves, flattering themselves with the hope that they might escape in the confusion that reigned358 everywhere! There was scarcely a house but had its crew of those headstrong idiots who refused to respond when called on, hiding away in corners and shamming359 death; the German patrols that were sent through the city even discovered them stowed away under beds. And as many, even after they were unearthed360, stubbornly persisted in remaining in the cellars whither they had fled for shelter, the patrols were obliged to fire on them through the coal-holes. It was a man-hunt, a brutal361 and cruel battue, during which the city resounded362 with rifle-shots and outlandish oaths.
At the Pont du Meuse they found a throng363 which the donkey was unable to penetrate364 and were brought to a stand-still. The officer commanding the guard at the bridge, suspecting they were endeavoring to carry on an illicit365 traffic in bread or meat, insisted on seeing with his own eyes what was contained in the cart; drawing aside the covering, he gazed for an instant on the corpse with a feeling expression, then motioned them to go their way. Still, however, they were unable to get forward, the crowd momentarily grew denser366 and denser; one of the first detachments of French prisoners was being conducted to the peninsula of Iges under escort of a Prussian guard. The sorry band streamed on in long array, the men in their tattered367, dirty uniforms crowding one another, treading on one another's heels, with bowed heads and sidelong, hang-dog looks, the dejected gait and bearing of the vanquished368 to whom had been left not even so much as a knife with which to cut their throat. The harsh, curt369 orders of the guard urging them forward resounded like the cracking of a whip in the silence, which was unbroken save for the plashing of their coarse shoes through the semi-liquid mud. Another shower began to fall, and there could be no more sorrowful sight than that band of disheartened soldiers, shuffling370 along through the rain, like beggars and vagabonds on the public highway.
All at once Prosper, whose heart was beating as if it would burst his bosom with repressed sorrow and indignation, nudged Silvine and called her attention to two soldiers who were passing at the moment. He had recognized Maurice and Jean, trudging371 along with their companions, like brothers, side by side. They were near the end of the line, and as there was now no impediment in their way, he was enabled to keep them in view as far as the Faubourg of Torcy, as they traversed the level road which leads to Iges between gardens and truck farms.
"Ah!" murmured Silvine, distressed by what she had just seen, fixing her eyes on Honore's body, "it may be that the dead have the better part!"
Night descended while they were at Wadelincourt, and it was pitchy dark long before they reached Remilly. Father Fouchard was greatly surprised to behold the body of his son, for he had felt certain that it would never be recovered. He had been attending to business during the day, and had completed an excellent bargain; the market price for officers' chargers was twenty francs, and he had bought three for forty-five francs.
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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revolved
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| v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想 | |
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strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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prosper
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| v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣 | |
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emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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laborer
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| n.劳动者，劳工 | |
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prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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15
rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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16
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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17
afflicting
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| 痛苦的 | |
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18
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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19
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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20
expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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21
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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22
zephyr
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| n.和风，微风 | |
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23
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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24
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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25
croak
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| vi.嘎嘎叫，发牢骚 | |
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26
pickle
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| n.腌汁，泡菜；v.腌，泡 | |
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27
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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28
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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29
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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30
gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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31
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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32
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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33
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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34
incentive
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| n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机 | |
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35
imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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36
clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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37
agonize
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| v.使受苦，使苦闷 | |
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38
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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39
burrowed
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| v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的过去式和过去分词 )；翻寻 | |
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40
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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41
pickets
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| 罢工纠察员( picket的名词复数 ) | |
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42
picket
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| n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫 | |
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43
farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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44
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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45
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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46
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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47
hitching
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| 搭乘； （免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的现在分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上 | |
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48
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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49
charcoal
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| n.炭，木炭，生物炭 | |
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50
elicited
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| 引出，探出( elicit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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52
destitute
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| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
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53
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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54
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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55
yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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56
nostalgia
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| n.怀乡病，留恋过去，怀旧 | |
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57
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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58
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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59
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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60
pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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61
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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62
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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63
blindfolded
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| v.（尤指用布）挡住（某人）的视线( blindfold的过去式 )；蒙住（某人）的眼睛；使不理解；蒙骗 | |
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64
plighted
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| vt.保证，约定（plight的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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65
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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66
sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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67
stammering
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的现在分词 ) | |
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68
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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69
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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70
trickled
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| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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71
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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72
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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73
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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74
docile
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| adj.驯服的，易控制的，容易教的 | |
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75
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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76
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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77
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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78
concocted
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| v.将（尤指通常不相配合的）成分混合成某物( concoct的过去式和过去分词 )；调制；编造；捏造 | |
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79
broth
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| n.原(汁)汤(鱼汤、肉汤、菜汤等) | |
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80
authorized
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| a.委任的，许可的 | |
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81
concession
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| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
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82
confiscate
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| v.没收(私人财产)，把…充公 | |
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83
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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84
entrust
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| v.信赖，信托，交托 | |
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85
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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86
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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87
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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88
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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89
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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90
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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91
sluggish
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| adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的 | |
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92
devastating
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| adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的 | |
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93
cyclone
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| n.旋风，龙卷风 | |
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94
repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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95
debris
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| n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片 | |
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96
razed
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| v.彻底摧毁，将…夷为平地( raze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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97
demolished
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| v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
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98
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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99
smoldering
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| v.用文火焖烧，熏烧，慢燃( smolder的现在分词 ) | |
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100
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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101
gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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102
soot
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| n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟 | |
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103
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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104
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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105
unbearable
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| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
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106
nauseating
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| adj.令人恶心的，使人厌恶的v.使恶心，作呕( nauseate的现在分词 ) | |
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107
aggravated
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| 使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火 | |
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108
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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109
petroleum
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| n.原油，石油 | |
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110
stint
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| v.节省，限制，停止；n.舍不得化，节约，限制；连续不断的一段时间从事某件事 | |
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111
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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112
crumbs
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| int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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113
pillage
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| v.抢劫；掠夺；n.抢劫，掠夺；掠夺物 | |
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114
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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115
miraculously
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| ad.奇迹般地 | |
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116
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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117
atrocities
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| n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪 | |
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118
sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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119
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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120
musket
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| n.滑膛枪 | |
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121
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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122
prohibition
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| n.禁止；禁令，禁律 | |
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123
vomiting
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| 吐 | |
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124
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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125
taunts
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| 嘲弄的言语，嘲笑，奚落( taunt的名词复数 ) | |
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126
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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127
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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128
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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129
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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130
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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131
dispersing
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| adj. 分散的 动词disperse的现在分词形式 | |
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132
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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133
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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134
sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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135
vigilant
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| adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的 | |
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136
iniquitous
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| adj.不公正的；邪恶的；高得出奇的 | |
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137
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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138
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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139
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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140
incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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141
pervade
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| v.弥漫，遍及，充满，渗透，漫延 | |
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142
drizzling
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| 下蒙蒙细雨，下毛毛雨( drizzle的现在分词 ) | |
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143
abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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144
filth
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| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
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145
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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146
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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147
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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148
cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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149
overflowed
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| 溢出的 | |
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150
lumbering
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| n.采伐林木 | |
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151
jolting
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| adj.令人震惊的 | |
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152
foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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153
forgery
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| n.伪造的文件等，赝品，伪造（行为） | |
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154
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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155
eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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156
conditionally
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| adv. 有条件地 | |
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157
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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158
secular
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| n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的 | |
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159
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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160
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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161
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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162
receding
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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163
boisterously
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| adv.喧闹地，吵闹地 | |
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164
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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165
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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166
negligent
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| adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的 | |
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167
rascals
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| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
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168
dilated
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| adj.加宽的，扩大的v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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169
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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170
sockets
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| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
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171
furrow
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| n.沟；垄沟；轨迹；车辙；皱纹 | |
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172
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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173
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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174
wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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175
conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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176
prank
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| n.开玩笑，恶作剧；v.装饰；打扮；炫耀自己 | |
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177
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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178
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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179
riddled
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| adj.布满的；充斥的；泛滥的v.解谜，出谜题(riddle的过去分词形式) | |
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180
shreds
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| v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件） | |
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181
bourgeois
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| adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子 | |
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182
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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183
prosecute
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| vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官 | |
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184
binding
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| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
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185
everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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186
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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187
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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188
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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189
benefactor
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| n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人 | |
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190
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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191
severely
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|
| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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192
projectiles
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| n.抛射体( projectile的名词复数 )；（炮弹、子弹等）射弹，（火箭等）自动推进的武器 | |
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193
plowed
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| v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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194
mangled
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| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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195
wholesale
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|
| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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196
slaughtered
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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197
beholder
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| n.观看者，旁观者 | |
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198
exuded
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| v.缓慢流出，渗出，分泌出( exude的过去式和过去分词 )；流露出对（某物）的神态或感情 | |
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199
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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200
stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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201
prone
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|
| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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202
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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203
slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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204
glades
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| n.林中空地( glade的名词复数 ) | |
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205
expended
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| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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206
velvety
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| adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的 | |
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207
moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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208
defile
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| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
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209
defiled
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| v.玷污( defile的过去式和过去分词 )；污染；弄脏；纵列行进 | |
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210
brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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211
beeches
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| n.山毛榉( beech的名词复数 )；山毛榉木材 | |
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212
pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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213
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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214
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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215
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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216
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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217
propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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218
vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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219
aligned
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| adj.对齐的，均衡的 | |
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220
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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221
chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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222
landslide
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| n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利 | |
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223
avalanche
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| n.雪崩，大量涌来 | |
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224
tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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225
ravens
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| n.低质煤；渡鸦( raven的名词复数 ) | |
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226
croaking
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的现在分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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227
swarms
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| 蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
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228
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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229
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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230
sprouted
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| v.发芽( sprout的过去式和过去分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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231
heterogeneous
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| adj.庞杂的；异类的 | |
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232
cartridges
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| 子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头 | |
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233
devastation
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| n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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234
blighted
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| adj.枯萎的，摧毁的 | |
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235
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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236
drenched
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| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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237
persistently
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| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
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238
fermenting
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| v.（使）发酵( ferment的现在分词 )；（使）激动；骚动；骚扰 | |
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239
ferment
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| vt.使发酵；n./vt.（使）激动，（使）动乱 | |
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240
gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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241
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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242
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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243
protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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244
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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245
lament
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| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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246
unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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247
plunging
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|
| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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248
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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249
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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250
twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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251
gnawed
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| 咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物 | |
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252
pangs
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| 突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 )； 悲痛 | |
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253
pricking
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| 刺，刺痕，刺痛感 | |
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254
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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255
scouring
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| 擦[洗]净，冲刷，洗涤 | |
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256
rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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257
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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258
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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259
repulsed
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| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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260
sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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261
filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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262
shunned
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| v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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263
gentry
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| n.绅士阶级，上层阶级 | |
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264
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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265
plundering
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的现在分词 ) | |
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266
scurried
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| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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267
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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268
jingling
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| 叮当声 | |
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269
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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270
contractor
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| n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌 | |
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271
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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272
rummaging
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| 翻找，搜寻( rummage的现在分词 )； 海关检查 | |
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273
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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274
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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275
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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276
trench
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| n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕 | |
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277
trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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278
decomposition
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| n. 分解, 腐烂, 崩溃 | |
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279
contiguity
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| n.邻近，接壤 | |
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280
shovels
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| n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份 | |
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281
fissures
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| n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 )；裂伤；分歧；分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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282
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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283
pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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284
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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285
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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286
boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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287
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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288
fatigues
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| n.疲劳( fatigue的名词复数 )；杂役；厌倦；（士兵穿的）工作服 | |
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289
dexterity
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| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
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290
avocations
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| n.业余爱好，嗜好( avocation的名词复数 )；职业 | |
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292
urchin
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| n.顽童；海胆 | |
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293
syllables
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| n.音节( syllable的名词复数 ) | |
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294
scamper
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| v.奔跑，快跑 | |
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295
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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296
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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297
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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298
docility
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| n.容易教，易驾驶，驯服 | |
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299
retraced
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| v.折回( retrace的过去式和过去分词 )；回忆；回顾；追溯 | |
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300
retrace
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| v.折回；追溯，探源 | |
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301
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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302
pelting
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| 微不足道的，无价值的，盛怒的 | |
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303
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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304
groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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305
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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306
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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307
delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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308
bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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309
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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310
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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311
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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312
fissured
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| adj.裂缝的v.裂开( fissure的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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313
wreckage
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| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
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314
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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315
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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316
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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317
orbs
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| abbr.off-reservation boarding school 在校寄宿学校n.球，天体，圆形物( orb的名词复数 ) | |
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318
defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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319
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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320
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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321
dismally
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| adv.阴暗地，沉闷地 | |
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322
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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323
tightening
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| 上紧，固定，紧密 | |
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324
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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325
caress
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| vt./n.爱抚，抚摸 | |
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326
reverently
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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327
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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328
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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329
puny
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| adj.微不足道的，弱小的 | |
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330
swerve
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| v.突然转向，背离；n．转向，弯曲，背离 | |
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331
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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332
retarded
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| a.智力迟钝的，智力发育迟缓的 | |
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333
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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334
wade
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| v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉 | |
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335
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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336
decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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337
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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338
sewer
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| n.排水沟，下水道 | |
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339
carrion
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| n.腐肉 | |
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340
stratum
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| n.地层，社会阶层 | |
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341
impurity
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| n.不洁，不纯，杂质 | |
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342
laborers
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| n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工 | |
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343
magistrates
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| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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344
labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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345
unearth
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| v.发掘，掘出，从洞中赶出 | |
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346
chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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347
stipulation
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| n.契约，规定，条文；条款说明 | |
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348
alleging
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| 断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 ) | |
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349
rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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350
hooted
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| （使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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351
hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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352
disarming
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| adj.消除敌意的，使人消气的v.裁军( disarm的现在分词 )；使息怒 | |
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353
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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354
battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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355
tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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356
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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357
disarmed
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| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
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358
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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359
shamming
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| 假装，冒充( sham的现在分词 ) | |
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360
unearthed
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| 出土的（考古） | |
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361
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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362
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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363
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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364
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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365
illicit
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| adj.非法的，禁止的，不正当的 | |
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366
denser
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| adj. 不易看透的, 密集的, 浓厚的, 愚钝的 | |
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367
tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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368
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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369
curt
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| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
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370
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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371
trudging
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的现在分词形式） | |
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