During the first and second days of the strike, Stillwater presented an animated1 and even a festive2 appearance. Throngs3 of operatives in their Sunday clothes strolled through the streets, or lounged at the corners chatting with other groups; some wandered into the suburbs, and lay in the long grass under the elms. Others again, though these were few, took to the turnpike or the railroad track, and tramped across country.
It is needless to say that the bar-room of the tavern4 was crowded from early morning down to the hour when the law compelled Mr. Snelling to shut off his gas. After which, John Brown's "soul" could be heard "marching on" in the darkness, through various crooked5 lanes and alleys6, until nearly daybreak.
Among the earliest to scent7 trouble in the air was Han-Lin, the Chinaman before mentioned. He kept a small laundry in Mud Lane, where his name was painted perpendicularly8 on a light of glass in the basement window of a tenement9 house. Han-Lin intended to be buried some day in a sky-blue coffin10 in his own land, and have a dozen packs of firecrackers decorously exploded over his remains11. In order to reserve himself for this and other ceremonies involving the burning of a great quantity of gilt12 paper, he quietly departed for Boston at the first sign of popular discontent. As Dexter described it, "Han-Lin coiled up his pig-tail, put forty grains of rice in a yallar bag,--enough to last him a month!--and toddled13 off in his two-story wooden shoes." He could scarcely have done a wiser thing, for poor Han-Lin's laundry was turned wrong side out within thirty-six hours afterwards.
The strike was popular. The spirit of it spread, as fire and fever and all elemental forces spread. The two apprentices15 in Brackett's bakery had a dozen minds about striking that first morning. The younger lad, Joe Wiggin, plucked up courage to ask Brackett for a day off, and was lucky enough to dodge16 a piece of dough17 weighing nearly four pounds.
Brackett was making bread while the sun shone. He knew that before the week was over there would be no cash customers, and he purposed then to shut up shop.
On the third and fourth days there was no perceptible fall in the barometer18. Trade was brisk with Snelling, and a brass19 band was playing national airs on a staging erected20 on the green in front of the post-office. Nightly meetings took place at Grimsey's Hall, and the audiences were good-humored and orderly. Torrini advanced some Utopian theories touching21 a universal distribution of wealth, which were listened to attentively22, but failed to produce deep impression.
"That's a healthy idea of Torrini's about dervidin' up property," said Jemmy Willson. "I've heerd it afore; but it's sing'ler I never knowd a feller with any property to have that idea."
"Ther' 's a great dale in it, I can tell ye," replied Michael Hennessey, with a well-blackened Woodstock pipe between his teeth and his hands tucked under his coat-tails. "Isn't ther', Misther Stavens?"
When Michael had on his bottle-green swallow-tailed coat with the brass buttons, he invariably assumed a certain lofty air of ceremony in addressing his companions.
"It is sorter pleasant to look at," returned Stevens, "but it don't seem to me an idea that would work. Suppose that, after all the property was divided, a fresh shipload of your friends was to land at New York or Boston; would there be a new deal?"
"No, sir! by no means!" exclaimed Michael excitedly. "The furreners is counted out!"
"But you're a foreigner yourself, Mike."
"Am I, then? Bedad, I'm not! I'm a rale American Know Nothing."
"Well, Mike," said Stevens maliciously23, "when it comes to a reg'lar division of lands and greenbacks in the United States, I go in for the Chinese having their share."
"The Chinese!" shouted Michael. "Oh, murther, Misther Stevens! Ye wouldn't be fur dividin' with thim blatherskites!"
"Yes, with them,--as well as the rest," returned Stevens, dryly.
Meanwhile the directors and stockholders of the various mills took counsel in a room at the rear of the National Bank. Mr. Slocum, following Richard's advice, declined to attend the meeting in person, or to allow his name to figure on the list of vice-presidents.
"Why should we hitch24 our good cause to their doubtful one?" reflected Richard. "We have no concessions25 or proposals to make. When our men are ready to come back to us, they will receive just wages and fair treatment. They know that. We do not want to fight the molders. Let the iron-mills do their own fighting;" and Richard stolidly26 employed himself in taking an account of stock, and forwarding by express to their destination the ten or twelve carved mantel-pieces that happily completed the last contract.
Then his responsibilities shrunk to winding27 up the office clock and keeping Mr. Slocum firmly on his legs. The latter was by far the more onerous28 duty, for Mr. Slocum ran down two or three times in the course of every twenty-four hours, while the clock once wound was fixed29 for the day.
"If I could only have a good set of Waltham works put into your father," said Richard to Margaret, after one of Mr. Slocum's relapses, "he would go better."
"Poor papa! he is not a fighter, like you."
"Your father is what I call a belligerent30 non-combatant."
Richard was seeing a great deal of Margaret these days. Mr. Slocum had invited him to sleep in the studio until the excitement was past. Margaret was afraid to have him take that long walk between the yard and his lodgings31 in Lime Street, and then her father was an old man to be without any protection in the house in such untoward32 times.
So Richard slept in the studio, and had his plate at table, like one of the family. This arrangement was favorable to many a stolen five minutes with Margaret, in the hall or on the staircase. In these fortuitous moments he breathed an atmosphere that sustained him in his task of dispelling33 Mr. Slocum's recurrent fits of despondency. Margaret had her duties, too, at this period, and the forenoons were sacred to them.
One morning as she passed down the street with a small wicker basket on her arm, Richard said to Mr. Slocum,--
"Margaret has joined the strikers."
The time had already come to Stillwater when many a sharp-faced little urchin--as dear to the warm, deep bosom34 that had nursed it as though it were a crown prince--would not have had a crust to gnaw35 if Margaret Slocum had not joined the strikers. Sometimes her heart drooped36 on the way home from these errands, upon seeing how little of the misery37 she could ward14 off. On her rounds there was one cottage in a squalid lane where the children asked for bread in Italian. She never omitted to halt at that door.
Indeed, Margaret might then have gone loaded with diamonds through the streets at midnight. There was not a rough man in Stillwater who would not have reached forth41 an arm to shield her.
"It is costing me nearly as much as it would to carry on the yard," said Mr. Slocum, "but I never put out any stamps more willingly."
"You never took a better contract, sir, than when you agreed to keep Margaret's basket filled. It is an investment in real estate--hereafter."
"I hope so," answered Mr. Slocum, "and I know it's a good thing now."
Of the morals of Stillwater at this time, or at any time, the less said the better. But out of the slime and ooze42 below sprang the white flower of charity.
The fifth day fell on a Sabbath, and the churches were crowded. The Rev43. Arthur Langly selected his text from St. Matthew, chap. xxii, v. 21: "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's." But as he did not make it quite plain which was Caesar,--the trades-union or the Miantowona Iron Works,--the sermon went for nothing, unless it could be regarded as a hint to those persons who had stolen a large piece of belting from the Dana Mills. On the other hand, Father O'Meara that morning bravely told his children to conduct themselves in an orderly manner while they were out of work, or they would catch it in this world and in the next.
On the sixth day a keen observer might have detected a change in the atmosphere. The streets were thronged44 as usual, and the idlers still wore their Sunday clothes, but the holiday buoyancy of the earlier part of the week had evaporated. A turn-out on the part of one of the trades, though it was accompanied by music and a banner with a lively inscription45, failed to arouse general enthusiasm. A serious and even a sullen46 face was not rare among the crowds that wandered aimlessly up and down the village.
On the seventh day it required no penetration47 to see the change. There was decidedly less good-natured chaffing and more drunkenness, though Snelling had invoked49 popular contumely and decimated his bar-room by refusing to trust for drinks. Bracket had let his ovens cool, and his shutters50 were up. The treasury51 of the trades-union was nearly drained, and there were growlings that too much had been fooled away on banners and a brass band for the iron men's parade the previous forenoon. It was when Brackett's eye sighted the banner with "Bread or Blood" on it, that he had put up his shutters.
Torrini was now making violent harangues52 at Grimsey's Hall to largely augmented53 listeners, whom his words irritated without convincing. Shut off from the tavern, the men flocked to hear him and the other speakers, for born orators54 were just then as thick as unripe55 whortleberries. There was nowhere else to go. At home were reproaches that maddened, and darkness, for the kerosene56 had given out.
Though all the trades had been swept into the movement, it is not to be understood that every workman was losing his head. There were men who owned their cottages and had small sums laid by in the savings-bank; who had always sent their children to the district school, and listened themselves to at least one of Mr. Langly's sermons or one of Father O'Meara's discourses57 every Sunday. These were anchored to good order; they neither frequented the bar-room nor attended the conclaves58 at Grimsey's Hall, but deplored59 as deeply as any one the spirit that was manifesting itself. They would have returned to work now--if they had dared. To this class belonged Stevens.
"Why don't you come up to the hall, nights?" asked Durgin, accosting60 him on the street, one afternoon. "You'd run a chance of hearing me hold forth some of these evenings."
"You've answered your own question, William. I shouldn't like to see you making an idiot of yourself."
"This is a square fight between labor61 and capital," returned Durgin with dignity, "and every man ought to take a hand in it."
"William," said Stevens meditatively62, "do you know about the Siamese twins?"
"What about 'em,--they're dead, ain't they?" replied Durgin, with surprise.
"I believe so; but when they was alive, if you was to pinch one of those fellows, the other fellow would sing out. If you was to black the eye of the left-hand chap, the right-hand chap wouldn't have been able to see for a week. When either of 'em fetched the other a clip, he knocked himself down. Labor and capital is jined just as those two was. When you've got this fact well into your skull63, William, I shall be pleased to listen to your ideas at Grimsey's Hall or anywhere else."
Such conservatism as Stevens's, however, was necessarily swept out of sight for the moment. The wealthier citizens were in a state bordering on panic,--all but Mr. Lemuel Shackford. In his flapping linen64 duster, for the weather was very sultry now, Mr. Shackford was seen darting65 excitedly from street to street and hovering66 about the feverish67 crowds, like the stormy petrel wheeling on the edges of a gale68. Usually as chary69 of his sympathies as of his gold, he astonished every one by evincing an abnormal interest in the strikers. The old man declined to put down anything on the subscription70 paper then circulating; but he put down his sympathies to any amount. He held no stock in the concerns involved; he hated Slocum, and he hated the directors of the Miantowona Iron Works. The least he hoped was that Rowland Slocum would be laid out.
So far the strikers had committed no overt71 act of note, unless it was the demolition72 of Han-Lin's laundry. Stubbs, the provision dealer73, had been taught the rashness of exposing samples of potatoes in his door-way, and the "Tonsorial Emporium" of Professor Brown, a colored citizen, had been invaded by two humorists, who, after having their hair curled, refused to pay for it, and the professor had been too agitated74 to insist. The story transpiring75, ten or twelve of the boys had dropped in during the morning, and got shaved on the same terms. "By golly, gen'l'men!" expostulated the professor, "ef dis yah thing goes on, dis darkey will be cleaned cl'ar out fo de week's done." No act of real violence had been perpetrated as yet; but with bands of lawless men roaming over the village at all hours of the day and night, the situation was critical.
The wheel of what small social life there was in Stillwater had ceased to revolve76. With the single exception of Lemuel Shackford, the more respectable inhabitants kept in-doors as much as practicable. From the first neither Mr. Craggie nor Lawyer Perkins had gone to the hotel to consult the papers in the reading-room, and Mr. Pinkham did not dare to play on his flute77 of an evening. The Rev. Arthur Langly found it politic78 to do but little visiting in the parish. His was not the pinion79 to buffet80 with a wind like this, and indeed he was not explicitly81 called upon to do so. He sat sorrowfully in his study day by day, preparing the weekly sermon,--a gentle, pensive82 person, inclined in the best of weather to melancholia. If Mr. Langly had gone into arboriculture instead of into the ministry83, he would have planted nothing but weeping-willows.
In the mean time the mill directors continued their deliberations in the bank building, and had made several abortive84 attempts to effect an arrangement with the leaders of the union. This seemed every hour less possible and more necessary.
On the afternoon of the seventh day of the strike a crowd gathered in front of the residence of Mr. Alexander, the superintendent85 of the Miantowona Iron Works, and began groaning86 and hooting87. Mr. Alexander sought out Mr. Craggie, and urged him, as a man of local weight and one accustomed to addressing the populace, to speak a few words to the mob. That was setting Mr. Craggie on the horns of a cruel dilemma88. He was afraid to disoblige the representative of so powerful a corporation as the Miantowona Iron Works, but he equally dreaded89 to risk his popularity with seven or eight hundred voters; so, like the crafty90 chancellor91 in Tennyson's poem, he dallied92 with his golden chain, and, smiling, but the question by.
"Drat the man!" muttered Mr. Craggie, "does he want to blast my whole political career! _I_ can't pitch into our adopted countrymen."
There was a blot93 on the escutcheon of Mr. Craggie which he was very anxious not to have uncovered by any chance in these latter days,--his ancient affiliation94 with the deceased native American party.
The mob dispersed95 without doing damage, but the fact that it had collected and had shown an ugly temper sent a thrill of apprehension96 through the village. Mr. Slocum came in a great flurry to Richard.
"This thing ought to be stopped," said Mr. Slocum.
"If we were to drop that stipulation98 as to the increase of apprentices, no doubt many of the men would give over insisting on an advance."
"Our only salvation99 is to stick to our right to train as many workmen as we choose. The question of wages is of no account compared with that; the rate of wages will adjust itself."
"If we could manage it somehow with the marble workers," suggested Mr. Slocum, "that would demoralize the other trades, and they'd be obliged to fall in."
"I don't see that they lack demoralization."
"If something isn't done, they'll end up by knocking in our front doors or burning us all up."
"Let them."
"It's very well to say let them," exclaimed Mr. Slocum, petulantly100, "when you haven't any front door to be knocked in!"
"But I have you and Margaret to consider, if there were actual danger. When anything like violence threatens, there's an honest shoulder for every one of the hundred and fifty muskets101 in the armory102."
"Those muskets might get on the wrong shoulders."
"That isn't likely. You do not seem to know, sir, that there is a strong guard at the armory day and night."
"I was not aware of that."
"It is a fact all the same," said Richard; and Mr. Slocum went away easier in his mind, and remained so--two or three hours.
On the eighth, ninth, and tenth days the clouds lay very black along the horizon. The marble workers, who began to see their mistake, were reproaching the foundry men with enticing103 them into to coalition104, and the spinners were hot in their denunciations of the molders. Ancient personal antagonisms105 that had been slumbering106 started to their feet. Torrini fell out of favor, and in the midst of one of his finest perorations107 uncomplimentary missiles, selected from the animal kingdom, had been thrown at him. The grand torchlight procession on the night of the ninth culminated108 in a disturbance109, in which many men got injured, several badly, and the windows of Brackett's bakery were stove in. A point of light had pierced the darkness,--the trades were quarreling among themselves!
The selectmen had sworn in special constables110 among the citizens, and some of the more retired111 streets were now patrolled after dark, for there had been threats of incendiarism.
Bishop's stables burst into flames one midnight,--whether fired intentionally112 or accidentally was not known; but the giant bellows113 at Dana's Mills was slit114 and two belts were cut at the Miantowona Iron Works that same night.
At this juncture115 a report that out-of-town hands were coming to replace the strikers acted on the public mind like petroleum116 on fire. A large body of workmen assembled near the railway station,--to welcome them. There was another rumor117 which caused the marble workers to stare at each other aghast. It was to the effect that Mr. Slocum, having long meditated118 retiring from business, had now decided48 to do so, and was consulting with Wyndham, the keeper of the green-house, about removing the division wall and turning the marble yard into a peach garden. This was an unlooked-for solution of the difficulty. Stillwater without any Slocum's Marble Yard was chaos119 come again.
"Good Lord, boys!" cried Piggott, "if Slocum should do that!"
Meanwhile, Snelling's bar had been suppressed by the authorities, and a posse of policemen, borrowed from South Millville, occupied the premises120. Knots of beetle-browed men, no longer in holiday gear, but chiefly in their shirt-sleeves, collected from time to time at the head of the main street, and glowered121 threateningly at the single policeman pacing the porch of the tavern. The Stillwater Grays were under arms in the armory over Dundon's drugstore. The thoroughfare had ceased to be safe for any one, and Margaret's merciful errands were necessarily brought to an end. How the poor creatures who had depended on her bounty122 now continued to exist was a sorrowful problem.
Matters were at this point, when on the morning of the thirteenth day Richard noticed the cadaverous face of a man peering into the yard through the slats of the main gate. Richard sauntered down there, with his hands in his pockets. The man was old Giles, and with him stood Lumley and Peterson, gazing thoughtfully at the sign outside,--
NO ADMITTANCE EXCEPT ON BUSINESS.
The roughly lettered clapboard, which they had heedlessly passed a thousand times, seemed to have taken a novel significance to them.
_Richard_. What's wanted there?
_Giles. [Very affably.]_ We was lookin' round for a job, Mr. Shackford.
_Richard_. We are not taking on any hands at present.
_Giles_. Didn't know but you was. Somebody said you was.
_Richard_. Somebody is mistaken.
_Giles_. P'rhaps to-morrow, or nex' day?
_Richard_. Rather doubtful, Giles.
_Giles. [Uneasily.]_ Mr. Slocum ain't goin' to give up business, is he?
_Richard_. Why shouldn't he, if it doesn't pay? The business is carried on for his amusement and profit; when the profit stops it won't be amusing any longer. Mr. Slocum is not going to run the yard for the sake of the Marble Workers' Association. He would rather drive a junk-cart. He might be allowed to steer123 that himself.
_Giles_. Oh!
_Richard_. Good-morning, Giles.
_Gikles_. 'Mornin', Mr. Shackford.
Richard rushed back to Mr. Slocum.
"The strike is broken, sir!"
"What do you mean?"
"Thank God!" cried Mr. Slocum.
An hour or so later a deputation of four, consisting of Stevens, Denyven, Durgin, and Piggott, waited upon Mr. Slocum in his private office, and offered, on behalf of all the departments, to resume work at the old rates.
Mr. Slocum replied that he had not objected to the old rates, but the new, and that he accepted their offer--conditionally.
"You have overlooked one point, Mr. Stevens."
"Which one, sir?"
"The apprentices."
"We thought you might not insist there, sir."
"I insist on conducting my own business in my own way."
"Then, sir, the Association don't object to a reasonable number of apprentices."
"How many is that?"
"Very well, Stevens. Go round to the front gate and Mr. Shackford will let you in."
There were two doors to the office, one leading into the yard, and the other, by which the deputation had entered and was now making its exit, opened upon the street.
Richard heaved a vast sigh of relief as he took down the beam securing the principal entrance.
"Good-morning, boys," he chirped127, with a smile as bright as newly minted gold. "I hope you enjoyed yourselves."
The quartet ducked their heads bashfully, and Stevens replied, "Can't speak for the others, Mr. Shackford, but I never enjoyed myself worse."
Piggott lingered a moment behind the rest, and looking back over his shoulder said, "That peach garden was what fetched us!"
Richard gave a loud laugh, for the peach garden had been a horticultural invention of his own.
In the course of the forenoon the majority of the hands presented themselves at the office, dropping into the yard in gangs of five or six, and nearly all were taken on. To dispose definitely of Lumley, Giles, and Peterson, they were not taken on at Slocum's Yard, though they continued to be, directly or indirectly128, Slocum's pensioners129, even after they were retired to the town farm.
Once more the chisels130 sounded merrily under the long shed. That same morning the spinners went back to the mules131, but the molders held out until nightfall, when it was signified to them that they demands would be complied with.
The next day the steam-whistles of the Miantowona Iron Works and Dana's Mills sent the echoes flying beyond that undulating line of pines and hemlocks132 which half encircles Stillwater, and falls away loosely on either side, like an unclasped girdle.
A calm, as if from out the cloudless blue sky that arched it day after day, seemed to drift down upon the village. Han-Lin, with no more facial expression than an orange, suddenly reappeared on the streets, and went about repairing his laundry, unmolested. The children were playing in the sunny lanes again, unafraid, and mothers sat on doorsteps in the summer twilights, singing softly to the baby in arm. There was meat on the table, and the tea-kettle hummed comfortably at the back of the stove. The very winds that rustled133 through the fragrant134 pines, and wandered fitfully across the vivid green of the salt marshes135, breathed peace and repose136.
Then, one morning, this blissful tranquility was rudely shattered. Old Mr. Lemuel Shackford had been found murdered in his own house in Welch's Court.
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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festive
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| adj.欢宴的，节日的 | |
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throngs
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| n.人群( throng的名词复数 )v.成群，挤满( throng的第三人称单数 ) | |
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tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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perpendicularly
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| adv. 垂直地, 笔直地, 纵向地 | |
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tenement
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coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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toddled
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| v.（幼儿等）东倒西歪地走( toddle的过去式和过去分词 )；蹒跚行走；溜达；散步 | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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apprentices
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| 学徒，徒弟( apprentice的名词复数 ) | |
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dodge
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dough
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| n.生面团；钱，现款 | |
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barometer
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| n.气压表，睛雨表，反应指标 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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ERECTED
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touching
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attentively
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maliciously
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hitch
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concessions
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stolidly
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winding
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onerous
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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belligerent
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lodgings
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untoward
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dispelling
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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gnaw
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| v.不断地啃、咬；使苦恼，折磨 | |
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36
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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38
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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39
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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40
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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41
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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42
ooze
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| n.软泥，渗出物；vi.渗出，泄漏；vt.慢慢渗出，流露 | |
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43
rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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44
thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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46
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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47
penetration
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| n.穿透，穿人，渗透 | |
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48
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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49
invoked
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| v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求 | |
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50
shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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51
treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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52
harangues
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| n.高谈阔论的长篇演讲( harangue的名词复数 )v.高谈阔论( harangue的第三人称单数 ) | |
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53
Augmented
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| adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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54
orators
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| n.演说者，演讲家( orator的名词复数 ) | |
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55
unripe
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| adj.未成熟的；n.未成熟 | |
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56
kerosene
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| n.(kerosine)煤油，火油 | |
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57
discourses
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| 论文( discourse的名词复数 )； 演说； 讲道； 话语 | |
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58
conclaves
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| n.秘密会议，教皇选举会议，红衣主教团( conclave的名词复数 ) | |
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59
deplored
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| v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60
accosting
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| v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的现在分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭 | |
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61
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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62
meditatively
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| adv.冥想地 | |
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63
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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64
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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65
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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66
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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67
feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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68
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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69
chary
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| adj.谨慎的，细心的 | |
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70
subscription
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| n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方） | |
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71
overt
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| adj.公开的，明显的，公然的 | |
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72
demolition
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| n.破坏,毁坏,毁坏之遗迹 | |
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73
dealer
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| n.商人，贩子 | |
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74
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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75
transpiring
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| （事实，秘密等）被人知道( transpire的现在分词 )； 泄露； 显露； 发生 | |
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76
revolve
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| vi.(使)旋转；循环出现 | |
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77
flute
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| n.长笛；v.吹笛 | |
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78
politic
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| adj.有智虑的；精明的；v.从政 | |
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79
pinion
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| v.束缚；n.小齿轮 | |
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80
buffet
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| n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台 | |
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81
explicitly
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| ad.明确地，显然地 | |
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82
pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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83
ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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84
abortive
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| adj.不成功的，发育不全的 | |
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85
superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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86
groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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87
hooting
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| （使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的现在分词 )； 倒好儿； 倒彩 | |
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88
dilemma
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| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
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89
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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90
crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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91
chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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92
dallied
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| v.随随便便地对待( dally的过去式和过去分词 )；不很认真地考虑；浪费时间；调情 | |
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93
blot
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| vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍 | |
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94
affiliation
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| n.联系，联合 | |
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95
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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96
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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97
bracing
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| adj.令人振奋的 | |
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98
stipulation
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| n.契约，规定，条文；条款说明 | |
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99
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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100
petulantly
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101
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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102
armory
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| n.纹章，兵工厂，军械库 | |
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103
enticing
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| adj.迷人的；诱人的 | |
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104
coalition
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| n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合 | |
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105
antagonisms
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| 对抗，敌对( antagonism的名词复数 ) | |
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106
slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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107
perorations
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| n.（演说等的）结束语，结论( peroration的名词复数 )；夸夸其谈的演说 | |
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108
culminated
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| v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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109
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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110
constables
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| n.警察( constable的名词复数 ) | |
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111
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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112
intentionally
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| ad.故意地，有意地 | |
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113
bellows
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| n.风箱；发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的名词复数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的第三人称单数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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114
slit
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| n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂 | |
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115
juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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116
petroleum
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| n.原油，石油 | |
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117
rumor
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| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
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118
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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119
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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120
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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121
glowered
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| v.怒视( glower的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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122
bounty
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| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
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123
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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124
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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125
backbone
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| n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气 | |
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126
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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127
chirped
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| 鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的过去式 ) | |
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128
indirectly
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| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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129
pensioners
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| n.领取退休、养老金或抚恤金的人( pensioner的名词复数 ) | |
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130
chisels
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| n.凿子，錾子( chisel的名词复数 )；口凿 | |
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131
mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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132
hemlocks
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| 由毒芹提取的毒药( hemlock的名词复数 ) | |
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133
rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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134
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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135
marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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136
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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