1
And then above the flames of Manhattan Island came a battle, the first battle in the air. The Americans had realised the price their waiting game must cost, and struck with all the strength they had, if haply they might still save New York from this mad Prince of Blood and Iron, and from fire and death.
They came down upon the Germans on the wings of a great gale1 in the twilight2, amidst thunder and rain. They came from the yards of Washington and Philadelphia, full tilt3 in two squadrons, and but for one sentinel airship hard by Trenton, the surprise would have been complete.
The Germans, sick and weary with destruction, and half empty of ammunition5, were facing up into the weather when the news of this onset6 reached them. New York they had left behind to the south-eastward, a darkened city with one hideous7 red scar of flames. All the airships rolled and staggered, bursts of hailstorm bore them down and forced them to fight their way up again; the air had become bitterly cold. The Prince was on the point of issuing orders to drop earthward and trail copper9 lightning chains when the news of the aeroplane attack came to him. He faced his fleet in line abreast10 south, had the drachenflieger manned and held ready to cast loose, and ordered a general ascent11 into the freezing clearness above the wet and darkness.
The news of what was imminent12 came slowly to Bert's perceptions. He was standing13 in the messroom at the time and the evening rations15 were being served out. He had resumed Butteridge's coat and gloves, and in addition he had wrapped his blanket about him. He was dipping his bread into his soup and was biting off big mouthfuls. His legs were wide apart, and he leant against the partition in order to steady himself amidst the pitching and oscillation of the airship. The men about him looked tired and depressed16; a few talked, but most were sullen17 and thoughtful, and one or two were air-sick. They all seemed to share the peculiarly outcast feeling that had followed the murders of the evening, a sense of a land beneath them, and an outraged19 humanity grown more hostile than the Sea.
Then the news hit them. A red-faced sturdy man, a man with light eyelashes and a scar, appeared in the doorway20 and shouted something in German that manifestly startled every one. Bert felt the shock of the altered tone, though he could not understand a word that was said. The announcement was followed by a pause, and then a great outcry of questions and suggestions. Even the air-sick men flushed and spoke21. For some minutes the mess-room was Bedlam22, and then, as if it were a confirmation23 of the news, came the shrill24 ringing of the bells that called the men to their posts.
Bert with pantomime suddenness found himself alone.
"What's up?" he said, though he partly guessed.
He stayed only to gulp25 down the remainder of his soup, and then ran along the swaying passage and, clutching tightly, down the ladder to the little gallery. The weather hit him like cold water squirted from a hose. The airship engaged in some new feat26 of atmospheric27 Jiu-Jitsu. He drew his blanket closer about him, clutching with one straining hand. He found himself tossing in a wet twilight, with nothing to be seen but mist pouring past him. Above him the airship was warm with lights and busy with the movements of men going to their quarters. Then abruptly28 the lights went out, and the Vaterland with bounds and twists and strange writhings was fighting her way up the air.
He had a glimpse, as the Vaterland rolled over, of some large buildings burning close below them, a quivering acanthus of flames, and then he saw indistinctly through the driving weather another airship wallowing along like a porpoise30, and also working up. Presently the clouds swallowed her again for a time, and then she came back to sight as a dark and whale-like monster, amidst streaming weather. The air was full of flappings and pipings, of void, gusty31 shouts and noises; it buffeted32 him and confused him; ever and again his attention became rigid33--a blind and deaf balancing and clutching.
"Wow!"
Something fell past him out of the vast darknesses above and vanished into the tumults35 below, going obliquely36 downward. It was a German drachenflieger. The thing was going so fast he had but an instant apprehension37 of the dark figure of the aeronaut crouched38 together clutching at his wheel. It might be a manoeuvre39, but it looked like a catastrophe40.
"Gaw!" said Bert.
"Pup-pup-pup" went a gun somewhere in the mirk ahead and suddenly and quite horribly the Vaterland lurched, and Bert and the sentinel were clinging to the rail for dear life. "Bang!" came a vast impact out of the zenith, followed by another huge roll, and all about him the tumbled clouds flashed red and lurid41 in response to flashes unseen, revealing immense gulfs. The rail went right overhead, and he was hanging loose in the air holding on to it.
For a time Bert's whole mind and being was given to clutching. "I'm going into the cabin," he said, as the airship righted again and brought back the gallery floor to his feet. He began to make his way cautiously towards the ladder. "Whee-wow!" he cried as the whole gallery reared itself up forward, and then plunged42 down like a desperate horse.
Crack! Bang! Bang! Bang! And then hard upon this little rattle43 of shots and bombs came, all about him, enveloping44 him, engulfing45 him, immense and overwhelming, a quivering white blaze of lightning and a thunder-clap that was like the bursting of a world.
Just for the instant before that explosion the universe seemed to be standing still in a shadowless glare.
It was then he saw the American aeroplane. He saw it in the light of the flash as a thing altogether motionless. Even its screw appeared still, and its men were rigid dolls. (For it was so near he could see the men upon it quite distinctly.) Its stern was tilting46 down, and the whole machine was heeling over. It was of the Colt-Coburn-Langley pattern, with double up-tilted wings and the screw ahead, and the men were in a boat-like body netted over. From this very light long body, magazine guns projected on either side. One thing that was strikingly odd and wonderful in that moment of revelation was that the left upper wing was burning downward with a reddish, smoky flame. But this was not the most wonderful thing about this apparition47. The most wonderful thing was that it and a German airship five hundred yards below were threaded as it were on the lightning flash, which turned out of its path as if to take them, and, that out from the corners and projecting points of its huge wings everywhere, little branching thorn-trees of lightning were streaming.
Like a picture Bert saw these things, a picture a little blurred48 by a thin veil of wind-torn mist.
The crash of the thunder-clap followed the flash and seemed a part of it, so that it is hard to say whether Bert was the rather deafened49 or blinded in that instant.
And then darkness, utter darkness, and a heavy report and a thin small sound of voices that went wailing50 downward into the abyss below.
2
There followed upon these things a long, deep swaying of the airship, and then Bert began a struggle to get back to his cabin. He was drenched51 and cold and terrified beyond measure, and now more than a little air-sick. It seemed to him that the strength had gone out of his knees and hands, and that his feet had become icily slippery over the metal they trod upon. But that was because a thin film of ice had frozen upon the gallery.
He never knew how long his ascent of the ladder back into the airship took him, but in his dreams afterwards, when he recalled it, that experience seemed to last for hours. Below, above, around him were gulfs, monstrous52 gulfs of howling wind and eddies53 of dark, whirling snowflakes, and he was protected from it all by a little metal grating and a rail, a grating and rail that seemed madly infuriated with him, passionately54 eager to wrench55 him off and throw him into the tumult34 of space.
Once he had a fancy that a bullet tore by his ear, and that the clouds and snowflakes were lit by a flash, but he never even turned his head to see what new assailant whirled past them in the void. He wanted to get into the passage! He wanted to get into the passage! He wanted to get into the passage! Would the arm by which he was clinging hold out, or would it give way and snap? A handful of hail smacked56 him in the face, so that for a time he was breathless and nearly insensible. Hold tight, Bert! He renewed his efforts.
He found himself, with an enormous sense of relief and warmth, in the passage. The passage was behaving like a dice-box, its disposition57 was evidently to rattle him about and then throw him out again. He hung on with the convulsive clutch of instinct until the passage lurched down ahead. Then he would make a short run cabin-ward, and clutch again as the fore-end rose.
Behold58! He was in the cabin!
He snapped-to the door, and for a time he was not a human being, he was a case of air-sickness. He wanted to get somewhere that would fix him, that he needn't clutch. He opened the locker59 and got inside among the loose articles, and sprawled60 there helplessly, with his head sometimes bumping one side and sometimes the other. The lid shut upon him with a click. He did not care then what was happening any more. He did not care who fought who, or what bullets were fired or explosions occurred. He did not care if presently he was shot or smashed to pieces. He was full of feeble, inarticulate rage and despair. "Foolery!" he said, his one exhaustive comment on human enterprise, adventure, war, and the chapter of accidents that had entangled62 him. "Foolery! Ugh!" He included the order of the universe in that comprehensive condemnation64. He wished he was dead.
He saw nothing of the stars, as presently the Vaterland cleared the rush and confusion of the lower weather, nor of the duel65 she fought with two circling aeroplanes, how they shot her rear-most chambers66 through, and how she fought them off with explosive bullets and turned to run as she did so.
The rush and swoop67 of these wonderful night birds was all lost upon him; their heroic dash and self-sacrifice. The Vaterland was rammed68, and for some moments she hung on the verge69 of destruction, and sinking swiftly, with the American aeroplane entangled with her smashed propeller70, and the Americans trying to scramble71 aboard. It signified nothing to Bert. To him it conveyed itself simply as vehement72 swaying. Foolery! When the American airship dropped off at last, with most of its crew shot or fallen, Bert in his locker appreciated nothing but that the Vaterland had taken a hideous upward leap.
But then came infinite relief, incredibly blissful relief. The rolling, the pitching, the struggle ceased, ceased instantly and absolutely. The Vaterland was no longer fighting the gale; her smashed and exploded engines throbbed73 no more; she was disabled and driving before the wind as smoothly74 as a balloon, a huge, windspread, tattered75 cloud of aerial wreckage77.
To Bert it was no more than the end of a series of disagreeable sensations. He was not curious to know what had happened to the airship, nor what had happened to the battle. For a long time he lay waiting apprehensively78 for the pitching and tossing and his qualms79 to return, and so, lying, boxed up in the locker, he presently fell asleep.
3
He awoke tranquil80 but very stuffy81, and at the same time very cold, and quite unable to recollect82 where he could be. His head ached, and his breath was suffocated83. He had been dreaming confusedly of Edna, and Desert Dervishes, and of riding bicycles in an extremely perilous85 manner through the upper air amidst a pyrotechnic display of crackers86 and Bengal lights--to the great annoyance87 of a sort of composite person made up of the Prince and Mr. Butteridge. Then for some reason Edna and he had begun to cry pitifully for each other, and he woke up with wet eye-lashes into this ill-ventilated darkness of the locker. He would never see Edna any more, never see Edna any more.
He thought he must be back in the bedroom behind the cycle shop at the bottom of Bun Hill, and he was sure the vision he had had of the destruction of a magnificent city, a city quite incredibly great and splendid, by means of bombs, was no more than a particularly vivid dream.
"Grubb!" he called, anxious to tell him.
The answering silence, and the dull resonance88 of the locker to his voice, supplementing the stifling89 quality of the air, set going a new train of ideas. He lifted up his hands and feet, and met an inflexible90 resistance. He was in a coffin91, he thought! He had been buried alive! He gave way at once to wild panic. "'Elp!" he screamed. "'Elp!" and drummed with his feet, and kicked and struggled. "Let me out! Let me out!"
For some seconds he struggled with this intolerable horror, and then the side of his imagined coffin gave way, and he was flying out into daylight. Then he was rolling about on what seemed to be a padded floor with Kurt, and being punched and sworn at lustily.
He sat up. His head bandage had become loose and got over one eye, and he whipped the whole thing off. Kurt was also sitting up, a yard away from him, pink as ever, wrapped in blankets, and with an aluminium92 diver's helmet over his knee, staring at him with a severe expression, and rubbing his downy unshaven chin. They were both on a slanting93 floor of crimson94 padding, and above them was an opening like a long, low cellar flap that Bert by an effort perceived to be the cabin door in a half-inverted condition. The whole cabin had in fact turned on its side.
"What the deuce do you mean by it, Smallways?" said Kurt, "jumping out of that locker when I was certain you had gone overboard with the rest of them? Where have you been?"
"What's up?" asked Bert.
"This end of the airship is up. Most other things are down."
"Was there a battle?"
"There was."
"Who won?"
"I haven't seen the papers, Smallways. We left before the finish. We got disabled and unmanageable, and our colleagues--consorts I mean--were too busy most of them to trouble about us, and the wind blew us--Heaven knows where the wind IS blowing us. It blew us right out of action at the rate of eighty miles an hour or so. Gott! what a wind that was! What a fight! And here we are!"
"Where?"
"In the air, Smallways--in the air! When we get down on the earth again we shan't know what to do with our legs."
"But what's below us?"
"Canada, to the best of my knowledge--and a jolly bleak96, empty, inhospitable country it looks."
"But why ain't we right ways up?"
Kurt made no answer for a space.
"Last I remember was seeing a sort of flying-machine in a lightning flash," said Bert. "Gaw! that was 'orrible. Guns going off! Things explodin'! Clouds and 'ail8. Pitching and tossing. I got so scared and desperate--and sick. You don't know how the fight came off?"
"Not a bit of it. I was up with my squad4 in those divers97' dresses, inside the gas-chambers, with sheets of silk for caulking98. We couldn't see a thing outside except the lightning flashes. I never saw one of those American aeroplanes. Just saw the shots flicker99 through the chambers and sent off men for the tears. We caught fire a bit--not much, you know. We were too wet, so the fires spluttered out before we banged. And then one of their infernal things dropped out of the air on us and rammed. Didn't you feel it?"
"I felt everything," said Bert. "I didn't notice any particular smash--"
"They must have been pretty desperate if they meant it. They slashed100 down on us like a knife; simply ripped the after gas-chambers like gutting101 herrings, crumpled102 up the engines and screw. Most of the engines dropped off as they fell off us--or we'd have grounded--but the rest is sort of dangling103. We just turned up our nose to the heavens and stayed there. Eleven men rolled off us from various points, and poor old Winterfeld fell through the door of the Prince's cabin into the chart-room and broke his ankle. Also we got our electric gear shot or carried away--no one knows how. That's the position, Smallways. We're driving through the air like a common aerostat, at the mercy of the elements, almost due north--probably to the North Pole. We don't know what aeroplanes the Americans have, or anything at all about it. Very likely we have finished 'em up. One fouled104 us, one was struck by lightning, some of the men saw a third upset, apparently105 just for fun. They were going cheap anyhow. Also we've lost most of our drachenflieger. They just skated off into the night. No stability in 'em. That's all. We don't know if we've won or lost. We don't know if we're at war with the British Empire yet or at peace. Consequently, we daren't get down. We don't know what we are up to or what we are going to do. Our Napoleon is alone, forward, and I suppose he's rearranging his plans. Whether New York was our Moscow or not remains106 to be seen. We've had a high old time and murdered no end of people! War! Noble war! I'm sick of it this morning. I like sitting in rooms rightway up and not on slippery partitions. I'm a civilised man. I keep thinking of old Albrecht and the Barbarossa.... I feel I want a wash and kind words and a quiet home. When I look at you, I KNOW I want a wash. Gott!"--he stifled107 a vehement yawn--"What a Cockney tadpole108 of a ruffian you look!"
"Can we get any grub?" asked Bert.
"Heaven knows!" said Kurt.
He meditated109 upon Bert for a time. "So far as I can judge, Smallways," he said, "the Prince will probably want to throw you overboard--next time he thinks of you. He certainly will if he sees you.... After all, you know, you came als Ballast.... And we shall have to lighten ship extensively pretty soon. Unless I'm mistaken, the Prince will wake up presently and start doing things with tremendous vigour110.... I've taken a fancy to you. It's the English strain in me. You're a rum little chap. I shan't like seeing you whizz down the air.... You'd better make yourself useful, Smallways. I think I shall requisition you for my squad. You'll have to work, you know, and be infernally intelligent and all that. And you'll have to hang about upside down a bit. Still, it's the best chance you have. We shan't carry passengers much farther this trip, I fancy. Ballast goes over-board--if we don't want to ground precious soon and be taken prisoners of war. The Prince won't do that anyhow. He'll be game to the last."
4
By means of a folding chair, which was still in its place behind the door, they got to the window and looked out in turn and contemplated112 a sparsely113 wooded country below, with no railways nor roads, and only occasional signs of habitation. Then a bugle114 sounded, and Kurt interpreted it as a summons to food. They got through the door and clambered with some difficulty up the nearly vertical115 passage, holding on desperately116 with toes and finger-tips, to the ventilating perforations in its floor. The mess stewards117 had found their fireless heating arrangements intact, and there was hot cocoa for the officers and hot soup for the men.
Bert's sense of the queerness of this experience was so keen that it blotted118 out any fear he might have felt. Indeed, he was far more interested now than afraid. He seemed to have touched down to the bottom of fear and abandonment overnight. He was growing accustomed to the idea that he would probably be killed presently, that this strange voyage in the air was in all probability his death journey. No human being can keep permanently119 afraid: fear goes at last to the back of one's mind, accepted, and shelved, and done with. He squatted120 over his soup, sopping121 it up with his bread, and contemplated his comrades. They were all rather yellow and dirty, with four-day beards, and they grouped themselves in the tired, unpremeditated manner of men on a wreck76. They talked little. The situation perplexed122 them beyond any suggestion of ideas. Three had been hurt in the pitching up of the ship during the fight, and one had a bandaged bullet wound. It was incredible that this little band of men had committed murder and massacre123 on a scale beyond precedent124. None of them who squatted on the sloping gas-padded partition, soup mug in hand, seemed really guilty of anything of the sort, seemed really capable of hurting a dog wantonly. They were all so manifestly built for homely125 chalets on the solid earth and carefully tilled fields and blond wives and cheery merrymaking. The red-faced, sturdy man with light eyelashes who had brought the first news of the air battle to the men's mess had finished his soup, and with an expression of maternal126 solicitude127 was readjusting the bandages of a youngster whose arm had been sprained128.
Bert was crumbling129 the last of his bread into the last of his soup, eking130 it out as long as possible, when suddenly he became aware that every one was looking at a pair of feet that were dangling across the downturned open doorway. Kurt appeared and squatted across the hinge. In some mysterious way he had shaved his face and smoothed down his light golden hair. He looked extraordinarily131 cherubic. "Der Prinz," he said.
A second pair of boots followed, making wide and magnificent gestures in their attempts to feel the door frame. Kurt guided them to a foothold, and the Prince, shaved and brushed and beeswaxed and clean and big and terrible, slid down into position astride of the door. All the men and Bert also stood up and saluted132.
The Prince surveyed them with the gesture of a man who site a steed. The head of the Kapitan appeared beside him.
Then Bert had a terrible moment. The blue blaze of the Prince's eye fell upon him, the great finger pointed133, a question was asked. Kurt intervened with explanations.
"So," said the Prince, and Bert was disposed of.
Then the Prince addressed the men in short, heroic sentences, steadying himself on the hinge with one hand and waving the other in a fine variety of gesture. What he said Bert could not tell, but he perceived that their demeanor134 changed, their backs stiffened135. They began to punctuate136 the Prince's discourse137 with cries of approval. At the end their leader burst into song and all the men with him. "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott," they chanted in deep, strong tones, with an immense moral uplifting. It was glaringly inappropriate in a damaged, half-overturned, and sinking airship, which had been disabled and blown out of action after inflicting138 the cruellest bombardment in the world's history; but it was immensely stirring nevertheless. Bert was deeply moved. He could not sing any of the words of Luther's great hymn139, but he opened his mouth and emitted loud, deep, and partially140 harmonious141 notes....
Far below, this deep chanting struck on the ears of a little camp of Christianised half-breeds who were lumbering142. They were breakfasting, but they rushed out cheerfully, quite prepared for the Second Advent61. They stared at the shattered and twisted Vaterland driving before the gale, amazed beyond words. In so many respects it was like their idea of the Second Advent, and then again in so many respects it wasn't. They stared at its passage, awe-stricken and perplexed beyond their power of words. The hymn ceased. Then after a long interval143 a voice came out of heaven. "Vat29 id diss blace here galled144 itself; vat?"
They made no answer. Indeed they did not understand, though the question repeated itself.
And at last the monster drove away northward145 over a crest146 of pine woods and was no more seen. They fell into a hot and long disputation....
The hymn ended. The Prince's legs dangled147 up the passage again, and every one was briskly prepared for heroic exertion148 and triumphant149 acts. "Smallways!" cried Kurt, "come here!"
5
Then Bert, under Kurt's direction, had his first experience of the work of an air-sailor.
The immediate150 task before the captain of the Vaterland was a very simple one. He had to keep afloat. The wind, though it had fallen from its earlier violence, was still blowing strongly enough to render the grounding of so clumsy a mass extremely dangerous, even if it had been desirable for the Prince to land in inhabited country, and so risk capture. It was necessary to keep the airship up until the wind fell and then, if possible, to descend151 in some lonely district of the Territory where there would be a chance of repair or rescue by some searching consort95. In order to do this weight had to be dropped, and Kurt was detailed152 with a dozen men to climb down among the wreckage of the deflated153 air-chambers and cut the stuff clear, portion by portion, as the airship sank. So Bert, armed with a sharp cutlass, found himself clambering about upon netting four thousand feet up in the air, trying to understand Kurt when he spoke in English and to divine him when he used German.
It was giddy work, but not nearly so giddy as a rather overnourished reader sitting in a warm room might imagine. Bert found it quite possible to look down and contemplate111 the wild sub-arctic landscape below, now devoid154 of any sign of habitation, a land of rocky cliffs and cascades156 and broad swirling157 desolate158 rivers, and of trees and thickets159 that grew more stunted160 and scrubby as the day wore on. Here and there on the hills were patches and pockets of snow. And over all this he worked, hacking161 away at the tough and slippery oiled silk and clinging stoutly162 to the netting. Presently they cleared and dropped a tangle63 of bent163 steel rods and wires from the frame, and a big chunk164 of silk bladder. That was trying. The airship flew up at once as this loose hamper165 parted. It seemed almost as though they were dropping all Canada. The stuff spread out in the air and floated down and hit and twisted up in a nasty fashion on the lip of a gorge166. Bert clung like a frozen monkey to his ropes and did not move a muscle for five minutes.
But there was something very exhilarating, he found, in this dangerous work, and above every thing else, there was the sense of fellowship. He was no longer an isolated167 and distrustful stranger among these others, he had now a common object with them, he worked with a friendly rivalry168 to get through with his share before them. And he developed a great respect and affection for Kurt, which had hitherto been only latent in him. Kurt with a job to direct was altogether admirable; he was resourceful, helpful, considerate, swift. He seemed to be everywhere. One forgot his pinkness, his light cheerfulness of manner. Directly one had trouble he was at hand with sound and confident advice. He was like an elder brother to his men.
All together they cleared three considerable chunks169 of wreckage, and then Bert was glad to clamber up into the cabins again and give place to a second squad. He and his companions were given hot coffee, and indeed, even gloved as they were, the job had been a cold one. They sat drinking it and regarding each other with satisfaction. One man spoke to Bert amiably170 in German, and Bert nodded and smiled. Through Kurt, Bert, whose ankles were almost frozen, succeeded in getting a pair of top-boots from one of the disabled men.
In the afternoon the wind abated171 greatly, and small, infrequent snowflakes came drifting by. Snow also spread more abundantly below, and the only trees were clumps172 of pine and spruce in the lower valleys. Kurt went with three men into the still intact gas-chambers, let out a certain quantity of gas from them, and prepared a series of ripping panels for the descent. Also the residue173 of the bombs and explosives in the magazine were thrown overboard and fell, detonating loudly, in the wilderness174 below. And about four o'clock in the afternoon upon a wide and rocky plain within sight of snow-crested cliffs, the Vaterland ripped and grounded.
It was necessarily a difficult and violent affair, for the Vaterland had not been planned for the necessities of a balloon. The captain got one panel ripped too soon and the others not soon enough. She dropped heavily, bounced clumsily, and smashed the hanging gallery into the fore-part, mortally injuring Von Winterfeld, and then came down in a collapsing175 heap after dragging for some moments. The forward shield and its machine gun tumbled in upon the things below. Two men were hurt badly--one got a broken leg and one was internally injured--by flying rods and wires, and Bert was pinned for a time under the side. When at last he got clear and could take a view of the situation, the great black eagle that had started so splendidly from Franconia six evenings ago, sprawled deflated over the cabins of the airship and the frost-bitten rocks of this desolate place and looked a most unfortunate bird--as though some one had caught it and wrung176 its neck and cast it aside. Several of the crew of the airship were standing about in silence, contemplating177 the wreckage and the empty wilderness into which they had fallen. Others were busy under the imromptu tent made by the empty gas-chambers. The Prince had gone a little way off and was scrutinising the distant heights through his field-glass. They had the appearance of old sea cliffs; here and there were small clumps of conifers, and in two places tall cascades. The nearer ground was strewn with glaciated boulders178 and supported nothing but a stunted Alpine179 vegetation of compact clustering stems and stalkless flowers. No river was visible, but the air was full of the rush and babble180 of a torrent181 close at hand. A bleak and biting wind was blowing. Ever and again a snowflake drifted past. The springless frozen earth under Bert's feet felt strangely dead and heavy after the buoyant airship.
6
So it came about that that great and powerful Prince Karl Albert was for a time thrust out of the stupendous conflict he chiefly had been instrumental in provoking. The chances of battle and the weather conspired182 to maroon183 him in Labrador, and there he raged for six long days, while war and wonder swept the world. Nation rose against nation and air-fleet grappled air-fleet, cities blazed and men died in multitudes; but in Labrador one might have dreamt that, except for a little noise of hammering, the world was at peace.
There the encampment lay; from a distance the cabins, covered over with the silk of the balloon part, looked like a gipsy's tent on a rather exceptional scale, and all the available hands were busy in building out of the steel of the framework a mast from which the Vaterland's electricians might hang the long conductors of the apparatus184 for wireless185 telegraphy that was to link the Prince to the world again. There were times when it seemed they would never rig that mast. From the outset the party suffered hardship. They were not too abundantly provisioned, and they were put on short rations, and for all the thick garments they had, they were but ill-equipped against the piercing wind and inhospitable violence of this wilderness. The first night was spent in darkness and without fires. The engines that had supplied power were smashed and dropped far away to the south, and there was never a match among the company. It had been death to carry matches. All the explosives had been thrown out of the magazine, and it was only towards morning that the bird-faced man whose cabin Bert had taken in the beginning confessed to a brace186 of duelling pistols and cartridges187, with which a fire could be started. Afterwards the lockers188 of the machine gun were found to contain a supply of unused ammunition.
The night was a distressing189 one and seemed almost interminable. Hardly any one slept. There were seven wounded men aboard, and Von Winterfeld's head had been injured, and he was shivering and in delirium190, struggling with his attendant and shouting strange things about the burning of New York. The men crept together in the mess-room in the darkling, wrapped in what they could find and drank cocoa from the fireless heaters and listened to his cries. In the morning the Prince made them a speech about Destiny, and the God of his Fathers and the pleasure and glory of giving one's life for his dynasty, and a number of similar considerations that might otherwise have been neglected in that bleak wilderness. The men cheered without enthusiasm, and far away a wolf howled.
Then they set to work, and for a week they toiled192 to put up a mast of steel, and hang from it a gridiron of copper wires two hundred feet by twelve. The theme of all that time was work, work continually, straining and toilsome work, and all the rest was grim hardship and evil chances, save for a certain wild splendour in the sunset and sunrise in the torrents193 and drifting weather, in the wilderness about them. They built and tended a ring of perpetual fires, gangs roamed for brushwood and met with wolves, and the wounded men and their beds were brought out from the airship cabins, and put in shelters about the fires. There old Von Winterfeld raved194 and became quiet and presently died, and three of the other wounded sickened for want of good food, while their fellows mended. These things happened, as it were, in the wings; the central facts before Bert's consciousness were always firstly the perpetual toil191, the holding and lifting, and lugging195 at heavy and clumsy masses, the tedious filing and winding196 of wires, and secondly197, the Prince, urgent and threatening whenever a man relaxed. He would stand over them, and point over their heads, southward into the empty sky. "The world there," he said in German, "is waiting for us! Fifty Centuries come to their Consummation." Bert did not understand the words, but he read the gesture. Several times the Prince grew angry; once with a man who was working slowly, once with a man who stole a comrade's ration14. The first he scolded and set to a more tedious task; the second he struck in the face and ill-used. He did no work himself. There was a clear space near the fires in which he would walk up and down, sometimes for two hours together, with arms folded, muttering to himself of Patience and his destiny. At times these mutterings broke out into rhetoric198, into shouts and gestures that would arrest the workers; they would stare at him until they perceived that his blue eyes glared and his waving hand addressed itself always to the southward hills. On Sunday the work ceased for half an hour, and the Prince preached on faith and God's friendship for David, and afterwards they all sang: "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott."
In an improvised199 hovel lay Von Winterfeld, and all one morning he raved of the greatness of Germany. "Blut und Eisen!" he shouted, and then, as if in derision, "Welt-Politik--ha, ha!" Then he would explain complicated questions of polity to imaginary hearers, in low, wily tones. The other sick men kept still, listening to him. Bert's distracted attention would be recalled by Kurt. "Smallways, take that end. So!"
Slowly, tediously, the great mast was rigged and hoisted200 foot by foot into place. The electricians had contrived201 a catchment pool and a wheel in the torrent close at hand--for the little Mulhausen dynamo with its turbinal volute used by the telegraphists was quite adaptable202 to water driving, and on the sixth day in the evening the apparatus was in working order and the Prince was calling--weakly, indeed, but calling--to his air-fleet across the empty spaces of the world. For a time he called unheeded.
The effect of that evening was to linger long in Bert's memory. A red fire spluttered and blazed close by the electricians at their work, and red gleams xan up the vertical steel mast and threads of copper wire towards the zenith. The Prince sat on a rock close by, with his chin on his hand, waiting. Beyond and to the northward was the cairn that covered Von Winterfeld, surmounted203 by a cross of steel, and from among the tumbled rocks in the distance the eyes of a wolf gleamed redly. On the other hand was the wreckage of the great airship and the men bivouacked about a second ruddy flare204. They were all keeping very still, as if waiting to hear what news might presently be given them. Far away, across many hundreds of miles of desolation, other wireless masts would be clicking, and snapping, and waking into responsive vibration205. Perhaps they were not. Perhaps those throbs206 upon the ethers wasted themselves upon a regardless world. When the men spoke, they spoke in low tones. Now and then a bird shrieked207 remotely, and once a wolf howled. All these things were set in the immense cold spaciousness208 of the wild.
7
Bert got the news last, and chiefly in broken English, from a linguist209 among his mates. It was only far on in the night that the weary telegraphist got an answer to his calls, but then the messages came clear and strong. And such news it was!
"I say," said Bert at his breakfast, amidst a great clamour, "tell us a bit."
"All de vorlt is at vor!" said the linguist, waving his cocoa in an illustrative manner, "all de vorlt is at vor!"
Bert stared southward into the dawn. It did not seem so.
"All de vorlt is at vor! They haf burn' Berlin; they haf burn' London; they haf burn' Hamburg and Paris. Chapan hass burn San Francisco. We haf mate a camp at Niagara. Dat is whad they are telling us. China has cot drachenflieger and luftschiffe beyont counting. All de vorlt is at vor!"
"Gaw!" said Bert.
"Yess," said the linguist, drinking his cocoa.
"Burnt up London, 'ave they? Like we did New York?"
"It wass a bombardment."
"They don't say anything about a place called Clapham, or Bun Hill, do they?"
"I haf heard noding," said the linguist.
That was all Bert could get for a time. But the excitement of all the men about him was contagious210, and presently he saw Kurt standing alone, hands behind him, and looking at one of the distant waterfalls very steadfastly211. He went up and saluted, soldier-fashion. "Beg pardon, lieutenant," he said.
Kurt turned his face. It was unusually grave that morning. "I was just thinking I would like to see that waterfall closer," he said. "It reminds me--what do you want?"
"I can't make 'ead or tail of what they're saying, sir. Would you mind telling me the news?"
"Damn the news," said Kurt. "You'll get news enough before the day's out. It's the end of the world. They're sending the Graf Zeppelin for us. She'll be here by the morning, and we ought to be at Niagara--or eternal smash--within eight and forty hours.... I want to look at that waterfall. You'd better come with me. Have you had your rations?"
"Yessir."
"Very well. Come."
And musing212 profoundly, Kurt led the way across the rocks towards the distant waterfall.
For a time Bert walked behind him in the character of an escort; then as they passed out of the atmosphere of the encampment, Kurt lagged for him to come alongside.
"We shall be back in it all in two days' time," he said. "And it's a devil of a war to go back to. That's the news. The world's gone mad. Our fleet beat the Americans the night we got disabled, that's clear. We lost eleven--eleven airships certain, and all their aeroplanes got smashed. God knows how much we smashed or how many we killed. But that was only the beginning. Our start's been like firing a magazine. Every country was hiding flying-machines. They're fighting in the air all over Europe--all over the world. The Japanese and Chinese have joined in. That's the great fact. That's the supreme213 fact. They've pounced214 into our little quarrels.... The Yellow Peril84 was a peril after all! They've got thousands of airships. They're all over the world. We bombarded London and Paris, and now the French and English have smashed up Berlin. And now Asia is at us all, and on the top of us all.... It's mania215. China on the top. And they don't know where to stop. It's limitless. It's the last confusion. They're bombarding capitals, smashing up dockyards and factories, mines and fleets."
"Did they do much to London, sir?" asked Bert.
"Heaven knows...."
He said no more for a time.
"This Labrador seems a quiet place," he resumed at last. "I'm half a mind to stay here. Can't do that. No! I've got to see it through. I've got to see it through. You've got to, too. Every one.... But why?... I tell you--our world's gone to pieces. There's no way out of it, no way back. Here we are! We're like mice caught in a house on fire, we're like cattle overtaken by a flood. Presently we shall be picked up, and back we shall go into the fighting. We shall kill and smash again--perhaps. It's a Chino-Japanese air-fleet this time, and the odds216 are against us. Our turns will come. What will happen to you I don't know, but for myself, I know quite well; I shall be killed."
"You'll be all right," said Bert, after a queer pause.
"No!" said Kurt, "I'm going to be killed. I didn't know it before, but this morning, at dawn, I knew it--as though I'd been told."
"'Ow?"
"I tell you I know."
"But 'ow COULD you know?"
"I know."
"Like being told?"
"Like being certain.
"I know," he repeated, and for a time they walked in silence towards the waterfall.
Kurt, wrapped in his thoughts, walked heedlessly, and at last broke out again. "I've always felt young before, Smallways, but this morning I feel old--old. So old! Nearer to death than old men feel. And I've always thought life was a lark217. It isn't.... This sort of thing has always been happening, I suppose--these things, wars and earthquakes, that sweep across all the decency218 of life. It's just as though I had woke up to it all for the first time. Every night since we were at New York I've dreamt of it.... And it's always been so--it's the way of life. People are torn away from the people they care for; homes are smashed, creatures full of life, and memories, and little peculiar18 gifts are scalded and smashed, and torn to pieces, and starved, and spoilt. London! Berlin! San Francisco! Think of all the human histories we ended in New York!... And the others go on again as though such things weren't possible. As I went on! Like animals! Just like animals."
He said nothing for a long time, and then he dropped out, "The Prince is a lunatic!"
They came to a place where they had to climb, and then to a long peat level beside a rivulet219. There a quantity of delicate little pink flowers caught Bert's eye. "Gaw!" he said, and stooped to pick one. "In a place like this."
Kurt stopped and half turned. His face winced220.
"I never see such a flower," said Bert. "It's so delicate."
"Pick some more if you want to," said Kurt.
Bert did so, while Kurt stood and watched him.
"Funny 'ow one always wants to pick flowers," said Bert.
Kurt had nothing to add to that.
They went on again, without talking, for a long time.
At last they came to a rocky hummock221, from which the view of the waterfall opened out. There Kurt stopped and seated himself on a rock.
"That's as much as I wanted to see," he explained. "It isn't very like, but it's like enough."
"Like what?"
"Another waterfall I knew."
He asked a question abruptly. "Got a girl, Smallways?"
"Funny thing," said Bert, "those flowers, I suppose.--I was jes' thinking of 'er."
"So was I."
"WHAT! Edna?"
"No. I was thinking of MY Edna. We've all got Ednas, I suppose, for our imaginations to play about. This was a girl. But all that's past for ever. It's hard to think I can't see her just for a minute--just let her know I'm thinking of her."
"Very likely," said Bert, "you'll see 'er all right."
"No," said Kurt with decision, "I KNOW."
"I met her," he went on, "in a place like this--in the Alps--Engstlen Alp. There's a waterfall rather like this one--a broad waterfall down towards Innertkirchen. That's why I came here this morning. We slipped away and had half a day together beside it. And we picked flowers. Just such flowers as you picked. The same for all I know. And gentian."
"I know" said Bert, "me and Edna--we done things like that. Flowers. And all that. Seems years off now."
"She was beautiful and daring and shy, Mein Gott! I can hardly hold myself for the desire to see her and hear her voice again before I die. Where is she?... Look here, Smallways, I shall write a sort of letter--And there's her portrait." He touched his breast pocket.
"You'll see 'er again all right," said Bert.
"No! I shall never see her again.... I don't understand why people should meet just to be torn apart. But I know she and I will never meet again. That I know as surely as that the sun will rise, and that cascade155 come shining over the rocks after I am dead and done.... Oh! It's all foolishness and haste and violence and cruel folly222, stupidity and blundering hate and selfish ambition--all the things that men have done--all the things they will ever do. Gott! Smallways, what a muddle223 and confusion life has always been--the battles and massacres224 and disasters, the hates and harsh acts, the murders and sweatings, the lynchings and cheatings. This morning I am tired of it all, as though I'd just found it out for the first time. I HAVE found it out. When a man is tired of life, I suppose it is time for him to die. I've lost heart, and death is over me. Death is close to me, and I know I have got to end. But think of all the hopes I had only a little time ago, the sense of fine beginnings!... It was all a sham225. There were no beginnings.... We're just ants in ant-hill cities, in a world that doesn't matter; that goes on and rambles226 into nothingness. New York--New York doesn't even strike me as horrible. New York was nothing but an ant-hill kicked to pieces by a fool!
"Think of it, Smallways: there's war everywhere! They're smashing up their civilisation227 before they have made it. The sort of thing the English did at Alexandria, the Japanese at Port Arthur, the French at Casablanca, is going on everywhere. Everywhere! Down in South America even they are fighting among themselves! No place is safe--no place is at peace. There is no place where a woman and her daughter can hide and be at peace. The war comes through the air, bombs drop in the night. Quiet people go out in the morning, and see air-fleets passing overhead--dripping death--dripping death!"
收听单词发音 |
1
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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onset
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| n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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ail
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| v.生病，折磨，苦恼 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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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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ration
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| n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应 | |
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rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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21
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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22
bedlam
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| n.混乱，骚乱；疯人院 | |
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confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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gulp
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| vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽 | |
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26
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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27
atmospheric
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| adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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29
vat
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| n.(=value added tax)增值税，大桶 | |
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porpoise
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| n.鼠海豚 | |
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gusty
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| adj.起大风的 | |
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buffeted
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| 反复敲打( buffet的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续猛击； 打来打去； 推来搡去 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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tumults
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| 吵闹( tumult的名词复数 )； 喧哗； 激动的吵闹声； 心烦意乱 | |
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obliquely
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| adv.斜； 倾斜； 间接； 不光明正大 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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manoeuvre
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| n.策略，调动；v.用策略，调动 | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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43
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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44
enveloping
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的现在分词 ) | |
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45
engulfing
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| adj.吞噬的v.吞没，包住( engulf的现在分词 ) | |
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46
tilting
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| 倾斜，倾卸 | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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48
blurred
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| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
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49
deafened
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| 使聋( deafen的过去式和过去分词 )； 使隔音 | |
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50
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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51
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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52
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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53
eddies
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| （水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
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54
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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55
wrench
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| v.猛拧；挣脱；使扭伤；n.扳手；痛苦，难受 | |
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56
smacked
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| 拍，打，掴( smack的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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57
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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58
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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locker
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| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
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sprawled
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| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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62
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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64
condemnation
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| n.谴责; 定罪 | |
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65
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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66
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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67
swoop
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| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
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68
rammed
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| v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输 | |
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69
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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70
propeller
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| n.螺旋桨，推进器 | |
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71
scramble
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| v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料 | |
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72
vehement
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| adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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73
throbbed
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| 抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动 | |
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74
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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75
tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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76
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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77
wreckage
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| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
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78
apprehensively
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| adv.担心地 | |
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79
qualms
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| n.不安；内疚 | |
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80
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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81
stuffy
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| adj.不透气的，闷热的 | |
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82
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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83
suffocated
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| （使某人）窒息而死( suffocate的过去式和过去分词 )； （将某人）闷死； 让人感觉闷热； 憋气 | |
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84
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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85
perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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86
crackers
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| adj.精神错乱的，癫狂的n.爆竹( cracker的名词复数 )；薄脆饼干；（认为）十分愉快的事；迷人的姑娘 | |
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87
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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88
resonance
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| n.洪亮；共鸣；共振 | |
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89
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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90
inflexible
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| adj.不可改变的，不受影响的，不屈服的 | |
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91
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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92
aluminium
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| n.铝 (=aluminum) | |
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93
slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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94
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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95
consort
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| v.相伴；结交 | |
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96
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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97
divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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98
caulking
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| n.堵缝；敛缝；捻缝；压紧v.堵（船的）缝( caulk的现在分词 )；泥…的缝；填塞；使不漏水 | |
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99
flicker
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| vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现 | |
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100
slashed
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| v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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101
gutting
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| n.去内脏v.毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的现在分词 )；取出…的内脏 | |
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102
crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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103
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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104
fouled
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| v.使污秽( foul的过去式和过去分词 )；弄脏；击球出界；（通常用废物）弄脏 | |
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105
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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106
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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107
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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108
tadpole
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| n.[动]蝌蚪 | |
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109
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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110
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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111
contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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112
contemplated
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| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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113
sparsely
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| adv.稀疏地；稀少地；不足地；贫乏地 | |
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114
bugle
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| n.军号，号角，喇叭；v.吹号，吹号召集 | |
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115
vertical
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| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
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116
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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117
stewards
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| （轮船、飞机等的）乘务员( steward的名词复数 )； （俱乐部、旅馆、工会等的）管理员； （大型活动的）组织者； （私人家中的）管家 | |
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118
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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119
permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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120
squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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121
sopping
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| adj. 浑身湿透的 动词sop的现在分词形式 | |
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122
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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123
massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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124
precedent
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| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
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125
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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126
maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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127
solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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128
sprained
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| v.&n. 扭伤 | |
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129
crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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130
eking
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| v.（靠节省用量）使…的供应持久( eke的现在分词 )；节约使用；竭力维持生计；勉强度日 | |
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131
extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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132
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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133
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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134
demeanor
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| n.行为；风度 | |
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135
stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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136
punctuate
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| vt.加标点于；不时打断 | |
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137
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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138
inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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139
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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140
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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141
harmonious
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| adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的 | |
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142
lumbering
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| n.采伐林木 | |
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143
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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144
galled
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| v.使…擦痛( gall的过去式和过去分词 )；擦伤；烦扰；侮辱 | |
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145
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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146
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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147
dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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148
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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149
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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150
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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151
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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152
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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153
deflated
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| adj. 灰心丧气的 | |
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154
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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155
cascade
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| n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下 | |
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156
cascades
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| 倾泻( cascade的名词复数 )； 小瀑布（尤指一连串瀑布中的一支）； 瀑布状物； 倾泻（或涌出）的东西 | |
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157
swirling
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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158
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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159
thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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160
stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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161
hacking
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| n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动 | |
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162
stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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163
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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164
chunk
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| n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量） | |
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165
hamper
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| vt.妨碍，束缚，限制；n.(有盖的)大篮子 | |
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166
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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167
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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168
rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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169
chunks
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| 厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分 | |
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170
amiably
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| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
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171
abated
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| 减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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172
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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173
residue
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| n.残余，剩余，残渣 | |
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174
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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175
collapsing
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| 压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂 | |
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176
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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177
contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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178
boulders
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| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
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179
alpine
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| adj.高山的；n.高山植物 | |
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180
babble
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| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
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181
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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182
conspired
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| 密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致 | |
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183
maroon
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| v.困住，使（人）处于孤独无助之境；n.逃亡黑奴；孤立的人；酱紫色，褐红色；adj.酱紫色的，褐红色的 | |
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184
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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185
wireless
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| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
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186
brace
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| n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
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187
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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188
lockers
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| n.寄物柜( locker的名词复数 ) | |
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189
distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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190
delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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191
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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192
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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193
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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194
raved
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| v.胡言乱语( rave的过去式和过去分词 )；愤怒地说；咆哮；痴心地说 | |
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195
lugging
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| 超载运转能力 | |
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196
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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197
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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198
rhetoric
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| n.修辞学，浮夸之言语 | |
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199
improvised
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| a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
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200
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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201
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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202
adaptable
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| adj.能适应的，适应性强的，可改编的 | |
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203
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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204
flare
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| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
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205
vibration
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| n.颤动，振动；摆动 | |
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206
throbs
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| 体内的跳动( throb的名词复数 ) | |
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207
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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208
spaciousness
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| n.宽敞 | |
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209
linguist
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| n.语言学家；精通数种外国语言者 | |
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210
contagious
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| adj.传染性的，有感染力的 | |
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211
steadfastly
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| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
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212
musing
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| n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式 | |
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213
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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214
pounced
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| v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
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215
mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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216
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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217
lark
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| n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏 | |
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218
decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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219
rivulet
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| n.小溪，小河 | |
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220
winced
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| 赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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221
hummock
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| n.小丘 | |
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222
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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223
muddle
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| n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱 | |
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224
massacres
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| 大屠杀( massacre的名词复数 )； 惨败 | |
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225
sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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226
rambles
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| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的第三人称单数 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
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227
civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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