Sanders turned to the rail and cast a wistful glance at the low-lying shore. He saw one corner of the white Residency, showing through the sparse1 _isisi_ palm at the end of the big garden--a smudge of green on yellow from this distance.
"I hate going--even for six months," he said.
Hamilton of the Houssas, with laughter in his blue eyes, and his fumed-oak face--lean and wholesome3 it was--all a-twitch, whistled with difficulty.
"Oh, yes, I shall come back again," said Sanders, answering the question in the tune4. "I hope things will go well in my absence."
"How can they go well?" asked Hamilton, gently. "How can the Isisi live, or the Akasava sow his barbarous potatoes, or the sun shine, or the river run when Sandi Sitani is no longer in the land?"
"I wouldn't have worried," Sanders went on, ignoring the insult, "if they'd put a good man in charge; but to give a pudden-headed soldier----"
"We thank you!" bowed Hamilton.
"----with little or no experience----"
"An insolent6 lie--and scarcely removed from an unqualified lie!" murmured Hamilton.
"To put him in my place!" apostrophized Sanders, tilting7 back his helmet the better to appeal to the heavens.
"'Orrible! 'Orrible!" said Hamilton; "and now I seem to catch the accusing eye of the chief officer, which means that he wants me to hop5. God bless you, old man!"
His sinewy8 paw caught the other's in a grip that left both hands numb9 at the finish.
"Keep well," said Sanders in a low voice, his hand on Hamilton's back, as they walked to the gangway. "Watch the Isisi and sit on Bosambo--especially Bosambo, for he is a mighty10 slippery devil."
"Leave me to deal with Bosambo," said Hamilton firmly, as he skipped down the companion to the big boat that rolled and tumbled under the coarse skin of the ship.
"I _am_ leaving you," said Sanders, with a chuckle12.
He watched the Houssa pick a finnicking way to the stern of the boat; saw the solemn faces of his rowmen as they bent13 their naked backs, gripping their clumsy oars11. And to think that they and Hamilton were going back to the familiar life, to the dear full days he knew! Sanders coughed and swore at himself.
"Oh, Sandi!" called the headman of the boat, as she went lumbering15 over the clear green swell16, "remember us, your servants!"
"I will remember, man," said Sanders, a-choke, and turned quickly to his cabin.
Hamilton sat in the stern of the surf-boat, humming a song to himself; but he felt awfully17 solemn, though in his pocket reposed18 a commission sealed redly and largely on parchment and addressed to: "Our well-beloved Patrick George Hamilton, Lieutenant19, of our 133rd 1st Royal Hertford Regiment20. Seconded for service in our 9th Regiment of Houssas--Greeting...."
"Master," said his Kroo servant, who waited his landing, "you lib for dem big house?"
"I lib," said Hamilton.
"Dem big house," was the Residency, in which a temporarily appointed Commissioner21 must take up his habitation, if he is to preserve the dignity of his office.
"Let us pray!" said Hamilton earnestly, addressing himself to a small snapshot photograph of Sanders, which stood on a side table. "Let us pray that the barbarian22 of his kindness will sit quietly till you return, my Sanders--for the Lord knows what trouble I'm going to get into before you return!"
The incoming mail brought Francis Augustus Tibbetts, Lieutenant of the Houssas, raw to the land, but as cheerful as the devil--a straight stick of a youth, with hair brushed back from his forehead, a sun-peeled nose, a wonderful collection of baggage, and all the gossip of London.
"I'm afraid you'll find I'm rather an ass23, sir," he said, saluting24 stiffly. "I've only just arrived on the Coast an' I'm simply bubbling over with energy, but I'm rather short in the brain department."
Hamilton, glaring at his subordinate through his monocle, grinned sympathetically.
"I'm not a whale of erudition myself," he confessed. "What is your name, sir?"
"Francis Augustus Tibbetts, sir."
"I shall call you Bones," said Hamilton, decisively.
Lieut. Tibbetts saluted25. "They called me Conk at Sandhurst, sir," he suggested.
"Bones!" said Hamilton, definitely.
"Bones it is, skipper," said Mr. Tibbetts; "an' now all this beastly formality is over we'll have a bottle to celebrate things." And a bottle they had.
It was a splendid evening they spent, dining on chicken and palm-oil chop, rice pudding and sweet potatoes. Hamilton sang, "Who wouldn't be a soldier in the Army?" and--by request--in his shaky falsetto baritone, "My heart is in the Highlands"; and Lieut. Tibbetts gave a lifelike imitation of Frank Tinney, which convulsed, not alone his superior officer, but some two-and-forty men of the Houssas who were unauthorized spectators through various windows and door cracks and ventilating gauzes.
Bones was the son of a man who had occupied a position of some importance on the Coast, and though the young man's upbringing had been in England, he had the inestimable advantage of a very thorough grounding in the native dialect, not only from Tibbetts, senior, but from the two native servants with whom the boy had grown up.
"I suppose there is a telegraph line to headquarters?" asked Bones that night before they parted.
"Certainly, my dear lad," replied Hamilton. "We had it laid down when we heard you were coming."
"Don't flither!" pleaded Bones, giggling26 convulsively; "but the fact is I've got a couple of dozen tickets in the Cambridgeshire Sweepstake, an' a dear pal2 of mine--chap named Goldfinder, a rare and delicate bird--has sworn to wire me if I've drawn27 a horse. D'ye think I'll draw a horse?"
"I shouldn't think you could draw a cow," said Hamilton. "Go to bed."
"Look here, Ham----" began Lieut. Bones.
"To bed! you insubordinate devil!" said Hamilton, sternly.
In the meantime there was trouble in the Akasava country.
II
Scarcely had Sanders left the land, when the _lokali_ of the Lower Isisi sent the news thundering in waves of sound.
Up and down the river and from village to village, from town to town, across rivers, penetrating28 dimly to the quiet deeps of the forest the story was flung. N'gori, the Chief of the Akasava, having some grievance29 against the Government over a question of fine for failure to collect according to the law, waited for no more than this intelligence of Sandi's going. His swift loud drums called his people to a dance-of-many-days. A dance-of-many-days spells "spears" and spears spell trouble. Bosambo heard the message in the still of the early night, gathered five hundred fighting men, swept down on the Akasava city in the drunken dawn, and carried away two thousand spears of the sodden31 N'gori.
A sobered Akasava city woke up and rubbed its eyes to find strange Ochori sentinels in the street and Bosambo in a sky-blue table-cloth, edged with golden fringe, stalking majestically32 through the high places of the city.
"This I do," said Bosambo to a shocked N'gori, "because my lord Sandi placed me here to hold the king's peace."
"Lord Bosambo," said the king sullenly33, "what peace do I break when I summon my young men and maidens35 to dance?"
"Your young men are thieves, and it is written that the maidens of the Akasava are married once in ten thousand moons," said Bosambo calmly; "and also, N'gori, you speak to a wise man who knows that clockety-clock-clock on a drum spells war."
There was a long and embarrassing silence.
"Now, Bosambo," said N'gori, after a while, "you have my spears and your young men hold the streets and the river. What will you do? Do you sit here till Sandi returns and there is law in the land?"
This was the one question which Bosambo had neither the desire nor the ability to answer. He might swoop36 down upon a warlike people, surprising them to their abashment37, rendering38 their armed forces impotent, but exactly what would happen afterwards he had not foreseen.
"I go back to my city," he said.
"And my spears?"
"Also they go with me," said Bosambo.
They eyed each other: Bosambo straight and muscular, a perfect figure of a man, N'gori grizzled and skinny, his brow furrowed39 with age.
"Lord," said N'gori mildly, "if you take my spears you leave me bound to my enemies. How may I protect my villages against oppression by evil men of Isisi?"
Bosambo sniffed--a sure sign of mental perturbation. All that N'gori said was true. Yet if he left the spears there would be trouble for him. Then a bright thought flicked40:
"If bad men come you shall send for me and I will bring my fine young soldiers. The palaver41 is finished."
With this course N'gori must feign42 agreement. He watched the departing army--paddlers sitting on swathes of filched43 spears. Once Bosambo was out of sight, N'gori collected all the convertible44 property of his city and sent it in ten canoes to the edge of the N'gombi country, for N'gombi folk are wonderful makers45 of spears and have a saleable stock hidden against emergency.
For the space of a month there was enacted46 a comedy of which Hamilton was ignorant. Three days after Bosambo had returned in triumph to his city, there came a frantic47 call for succour--a rolling, terrified rat-a-plan of sound which the _lokali_ man of the Ochori village read.
"Lord," said he, waking Bosambo in the dead of night, "there has come down a signal from the Akasava, who are pressed by their enemies and have no spears."
Bosambo was in the dark street instanter, his booming war-drum calling urgently. Twenty canoes filled with fighting men, paddling desperately48 with the stream, raced to the aid of the defenceless Akasava.
At dawn, on the beach of the city, N'gori met his ally. "I thank all my little gods you have come, my lord," said he, humbly49; "for in the night one of my young men saw an Isisi army coming against us."
"Where is the army?" demanded a weary Bosambo.
"Lord, it has not come," said N'gori, glibly50; "for hearing of your lordship and your swift canoes, I think it had run away."
Bosambo's force paddled back to the Ochori city the next day. Two nights after, the call was repeated--this time with greater detail. An N'gombi force of countless51 spears had seized the village of Doozani and was threatening the capital.
Again Bosambo carried his spears to a killing52, and again was met by an apologetic N'gori.
"Lord, it was a lie which a sick maiden34 spread," he explained, "and my stomach is filled with sorrow that I should have brought the mighty Bosambo from his wife's bed on such a night." For the dark hours had been filled with rain and tempest, and Bosambo had nearly lost one canoe by wreck53.
"Oh, fool!" said he, justly exasperated54, "have I nothing to do--I, who have all Sandi's high and splendid business in hand--but I must come through the rain because a sick maiden sees visions?"
"Bosambo, I am a fool," agreed N'gori, meekly55, and again his rescuer returned home.
"Now," said N'gori, "we will summon a secret palaver, sending messengers for all men to assemble at the rise of the first moon. For the N'gombi have sent me new spears, and when next the dog Bosambo comes, weary with rowing, we will fall upon him and there will be no more Bosambo left; for Sandi is gone and there is no law in the land."
III
Curiously56 enough, at that precise moment, the question of law was a very pressing one with two young Houssa officers who sat on either side of Sanders' big table, wet towels about their heads, mastering the intricacies of the military code; for Tibbetts was entering for an examination and Hamilton, who had only passed his own by a fluke, had rashly offered to coach him.
"I hope you understand this, Bones," said Hamilton, staring up at his subordinate and running his finger along the closely printed pages of the book before him.
"'Any person subject to military law,'" read Hamilton impressively, "'who strikes or ill-uses his superior officer shall, if an officer, suffer death or such less punishment as in this Act mentioned.' Which means," said Hamilton, wisely, "that if you and I are in action and you call me a liar14, and I give you a whack57 on the jaw58----"
"You get shot," said Bones, admiringly, "an' a rippin' good idea, too!"
"If, on the other hand," Hamilton went on, "I called you a liar--which I should be justified59 in doing--and you give me a whack on the jaw, I'd make you sorry you were ever born."
"That's military law, is it?" asked Bones, curiously.
"It is," said Hamilton.
"Then let's chuck it," said Bones, and shut up his book with a bang. "I don't want any book to teach me what to do with a feller that calls me a liar. I'll go you one game of picquet, for nuts."
"You're on," said Hamilton.
* * * * *
"My nuts I think, sir."
Bones carefully counted the heap which his superior had pushed over, "And--hullo! what the dooce do you want?"
Hamilton followed the direction of the other's eyes. A man stood in the doorway60, naked but for the wisp of skirt at his waist. Hamilton got up quickly, for he recognized the chief of Sandi's spies.
"O Kelili," said Hamilton in his easy Bomongo tongue, "why do you come and from whence?"
"From the island over against the Ochori, Lord," croaked61 the man, dry-throated. "Two pigeons I sent, but these the hawks62 took--a fisherman saw one taken by the Kasai, and my own brother, who lives in the Village of Irons, saw the other go--though he flew swiftly."
Hamilton's grave face set rigidly63, for he smelt64 trouble. You do not send pleasant news by pigeons.
"Speak," he said.
"Lord," said Kelili, "there is to be a killing palaver between the Ochori and the Akasava on the first rise of the full moon, for N'gori speaks of Bosambo evilly, and says that the Chief has raided him. In what manner these things will come about," Kelili went on, with the lofty indifference65 of one who had done his part of the business, so that he had left no room for carelessness, "I do not know, but I have warned all eyes of the Government to watch."
Bones followed the conversation without difficulty.
"What do people say?" asked Hamilton.
"Lord, they say that Sandi has gone and there is no law."
Hamilton of the Houssas grinned. "Oh, ain't there?" said he, in English, vilely66.
"Ain't there?" repeated an indignant Bones, "we'll jolly well show old Thinggumy what's what."
Bosambo received an envoy68 from the Chief of the Akasava, and the envoy brought with him presents of dubious69 value and a message to the effect that N'gori spent much of his waking moments in wondering how he might best serve his brother Bosambo, "The right arm on which I and my people lean and the bright eyes through which I see beauty."
Bosambo returned the messenger, with presents more valueless, and an assurance of friendship more sonorous70, more complete in rhetoric71 and aptness of hyperbole, and when the messenger had gone Bosambo showed his appreciation72 of N'gori's love by doubling the guard about the Ochori city and sending a strong picket73 under his chief headman to hold the river bend.
"Because," said this admirable philosopher, "life is like certain roots: some that taste sweet and are bitter in the end, and some that are vile67 to the lips and pleasant to the stomach."
It was a wild night, being in the month of rains. M'shimba M'shamba was abroad, walking with his devastating74 feet through the forest, plucking up great trees by their roots and tossing them aside as though they were so many canes75. There was a roaring of winds and a crashing of thunders, and the blue-white lightning snicked in and out of the forest or tore sprawling76 cracks in the sky. In the Ochori city they heard the storm grumbling77 across the river and were awakened78 by the incessant79 lightning--so incessant that the weaver80 birds who lived in palms that fringed the Ochori streets came chattering81 to life.
It was too loud a noise, that M'shimba M'shamba made for the _lokali_ man of the Ochori to hear the message that N'gori sent--the panic-message designed to lure30 Bosambo to the newly-purchased spears.
Bones heard it--Bones, standing82 on the bridge of the _Zaire_ pounding away upstream, steaming past the Akasava city in a sheet of rain.
"Wonder what the jolly old row is?" he muttered to himself, and summoned his sergeant83. "Ali," said he, in faultless Arabic, "what beating of drums are these?"
"Lord," said the sergeant, uneasily, "I do not know, unless they be to warn us not to travel at night. I am your man, Master," said he in a fret84, "yet never have I travelled with so great a fear: even our Lord Sandi does not move by night, though the river is his own child."
"It is written," said Bones, cheerfully, and as the sergeant saluted and turned away, the reckless Houssa made a face at the darkness. "If old man Ham would give me a month or two on the river," he mused85, "I'd set 'em alight, by Jove!"
By the miraculous86 interposition of Providence87 Bones reached the Ochori village in the grey clouded dawn, and Bosambo, early astir, met the lank88 figure of the youth, his slick sword dangling89, his long revolver holster strapped90 to his side, and his helmet on the back of his head, an eager warrior91 looking for trouble.
"Lord, of you I have heard," said Bosambo, politely; "here in the Ochori country we talk of no other thing than the new, thin Lord whose beautiful nose is like the red flowers of the forest."
"Leave my nose alone," said Bones, unpleasantly, "and tell me, Chief, what killing palaver is this I hear? I come from Government to right all wrongs--this is evidently his nibs92, Bosambo." The last passage was in his own native tongue and Bosambo beamed.
"Yes, sah!" said he in the English of the Coast. "I be Bosambo, good chap, fine chap; you, sah, you look um--you see um--Bosambo!"
He slapped his chest and Bones unbent.
"Look here, old sport," he said affably: "what the dooce is all this shindy about--hey?"
"No shindy, sah!" said Bosambo--being sure that all people of his city were standing about at a respectful distance, awe-stricken by the sight of their chief on equal terms with this new white lord.
"Dem feller he lib for Akasava, sah--he be bad feller: I be good feller, sah--C'istian, sah! Matt'ew, Marki, Luki, Johni--I savvy93 dem fine."
Happily, Bones continued the conversation in the tongue of the land. Then he learned of the dance which Bosambo had frustrated94, of the spears taken, and these he saw stacked in three huts.
Bones, despite the character he gave himself, was no fool, and, moreover, he had the advantage of knowing of the new N'gombi spears that were going out to the Akasava day by day; and when Bosambo told of the midnight summons that had come to him, Bones did the rapid exercise of mental figuring which is known as putting two and two together.
He wagged his head when Bosambo had finished his recital95, did this general of twenty-one. "You're a jolly old sportsman, Bosambo," he said very seriously, "and you're in the dooce of a hole, if you only knew it. But you trust old Bones--he'll see you through. By Gad96!"
Bosambo, bewildered but resourceful, hearing, without understanding, replied: "I be fine feller, sah!"
"You bet your life you are, old funnyface," agreed Bones, and screwed his eyeglass in the better to survey his protege.
IV
Chief N'gori organized a surprise party for Bosambo, and took so much trouble with the details, that, because of his sheer thoroughness, he deserved to have succeeded. _Lokali_ men concealed97 in the bush were waiting to announce the coming of the rescue party, when N'gori sent his cry for help crashing across the world. Six hundred spearmen stood ready to embark98 in fifty canoes, and five hundred more waited on either bank ready to settle with any survivors99 of the Ochori who found their way to land.
The best of plans are subject to the banal100 reservation, "weather permitting," and the signal intended to bring Bosambo to his destruction was swallowed up in the bellowings of the storm.
"This night being fine," said N'gori, showing his teeth, "Bosambo will surely come."
His Chief Counsellor, an ancient man of the royal tribe,[2] had unexpected warnings to offer. A man had seen a man, who had caught a glimpse of the _Zaire_ butting101 her way upstream in the dead of night. Was it wise, when the devil Sandi waited to smite102, and so close at hand, to engage in so high an adventure?
[Footnote 2: That which I call the Akasava proper is the very small, dominant103 clan104 of a tribe which is loosely called "Akasava," but is really Bowongo.]
"Old man, there is a hut in the forest for you," said N'gori, with significance, and the Counsellor wilted105, because the huts in the forest are for the sick, the old, and the mad, and here they are left to starve and die; "for," N'gori went on, "all men know that Sandi has gone to his people across the black waters, and the M'ilitani rules. Also, in nights of storms there are men who see even devils."
With more than ordinary care he prepared for the final settling with Bosambo the Robber, and there is a suggestion that he was encouraged by the chiefs of other lands, who had grown jealous of the Ochori and their offensive rectitude. Be that as it may, all things were made ready, even to the knives of sacrifice and the young saplings which had not been employed by the Akasava for their grisly work since the Year of Hangings.
At an hour before midnight the tireless _lokali_ sent out its call:
"We of the Akasava" (four long rolls and a quick
succession of taps)
"Danger threatens" (a long roll, a short roll,
and a triple tap-tap)
"Isisi fighting" (rolls punctuated106 by shorter
tattoos)
"Come to me" (a long crescendo107 roll and
patter of taps)
"Ochori" (nine rolls, curiously like
the yelping108 of a dog)
So the message went out: every village heard and repeated. The Isisi threw the call northward109; the N'gombi village, sent it westward110, and presently first the Isisi, then the N'gombi, heard the faint answer: "Coming--the Breaker of Lives," and returned the message to N'gori.
"Now I shall also break lives," said N'gori, and sacrificed a goat to his success.
Sixteen hundred fighting men waited for the signal from the hidden _lokali_ player, on the far side of the river bend. At the first hollow rattle111 of his sticks, N'gori pushed off in his royal canoe.
"Kill!" he roared, and went out in the white light of dawn to greet ten Ochori canoes, riding in fanshape formation, having as their centre a white and speckless112 _Zaire_ alive with Houssas and overburdened with the slim muzzles113 of Hotchkiss guns.
"Oh, Ko!" said N'gori dismally114, "this is a bad palaver!"
* * * * *
In the centre of his city, before a reproving squad115 of Houssas, a dumb man, taken in the act of armed aggression116, N'gori stood.
"You're a naughty boy," said Bones, reproachfully, "and if jolly old Sanders were here--my word, you'd catch it!"
N'gori listened to the unknown tongue, worried by its mystery. "Lord, what happens to me?" he asked.
Bones looked very profound and scratched his head. He looked at the Chief, at Bosambo, at the river all aglow117 in the early morning sunlight, at the _Zaire_, with her sinister118 guns a-glitter, and then back at the Chief. He was not well versed119 in the dialect of the Akasava, and Bosambo must be his interpreter.
"Very serious offence, old friend," said Bones, solemnly; "awfully serious--muckin' about with spears and all that sort of thing. I'll have to make a dooce of an example of you--yes, by Heaven!"
Bosambo heard and imperfectly understood. He looked about for a likely tree where an unruly chief might sway with advantage to the community.
"You're a bad, bad boy," said Bones, shaking his head; "tell him."
"Yes, sah!" said Bosambo.
"Tell him he's fined ten dollars."
But Bosambo did not speak: there are moments too full for words and this was one of them.
收听单词发音 |
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sparse
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| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
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pal
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| n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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insolent
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tilting
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| 倾斜，倾卸 | |
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sinewy
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numb
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| adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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13
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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lumbering
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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awfully
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reposed
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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commissioner
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barbarian
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ass
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saluting
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saluted
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giggling
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drawn
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penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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29
grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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30
lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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31
sodden
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| adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑 | |
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32
majestically
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| 雄伟地； 庄重地； 威严地； 崇高地 | |
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33
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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34
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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35
maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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36
swoop
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| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
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37
abashment
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| n.羞愧，害臊 | |
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38
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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39
furrowed
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| v.犁田，开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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41
palaver
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| adj.壮丽堂皇的；n.废话，空话 | |
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42
feign
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| vt.假装，佯作 | |
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43
filched
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| v.偷（尤指小的或不贵重的物品）( filch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
convertible
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| adj.可改变的，可交换，同意义的；n.有活动摺篷的汽车 | |
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45
makers
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| n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式） | |
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46
enacted
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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48
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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49
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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50
glibly
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| adv.流利地，流畅地；满口 | |
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51
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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52
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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53
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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54
exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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55
meekly
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| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
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56
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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57
whack
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| v.敲击，重打，瓜分；n.重击，重打，尝试，一份 | |
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58
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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59
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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60
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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61
croaked
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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hawks
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| 鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物 | |
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rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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64
smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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vilely
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| adv.讨厌地，卑劣地 | |
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vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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68
envoy
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| n.使节，使者，代表，公使 | |
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dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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sonorous
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| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
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71
rhetoric
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| n.修辞学，浮夸之言语 | |
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72
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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73
picket
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| n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫 | |
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74
devastating
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| adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的 | |
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75
canes
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| n.（某些植物，如竹或甘蔗的）茎( cane的名词复数 )；（用于制作家具等的）竹竿；竹杖 | |
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76
sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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77
grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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78
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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79
incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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80
weaver
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| n.织布工；编织者 | |
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81
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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82
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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83
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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84
fret
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| v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损 | |
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85
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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86
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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87
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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88
lank
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| adj.瘦削的；稀疏的 | |
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89
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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90
strapped
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| adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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91
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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92
nibs
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| 上司，大人物； 钢笔尖，鹅毛管笔笔尖( nib的名词复数 )； 可可豆的碎粒； 小瑕疵 | |
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93
savvy
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| v.知道，了解；n.理解能力，机智，悟性；adj.有见识的，懂实际知识的，通情达理的 | |
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94
frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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95
recital
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| n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会 | |
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96
gad
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| n.闲逛；v.闲逛 | |
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97
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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98
embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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99
survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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100
banal
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| adj.陈腐的，平庸的 | |
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101
butting
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| 用头撞人（犯规动作） | |
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102
smite
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| v.重击；彻底击败；n.打；尝试；一点儿 | |
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103
dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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104
clan
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| n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派 | |
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105
wilted
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| （使）凋谢，枯萎( wilt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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106
punctuated
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| v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的过去式和过去分词 )；不时打断某事物 | |
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107
crescendo
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| n.(音乐)渐强，高潮 | |
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108
yelping
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| v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的现在分词 ) | |
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109
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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110
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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111
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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112
speckless
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| adj.无斑点的，无瑕疵的 | |
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113
muzzles
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| 枪口( muzzle的名词复数 )； （防止动物咬人的）口套； （四足动物的）鼻口部； （狗）等凸出的鼻子和口 | |
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114
dismally
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| adv.阴暗地，沉闷地 | |
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115
squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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116
aggression
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| n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害 | |
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117
aglow
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| adj.发亮的；发红的；adv.发亮地 | |
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118
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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119
versed
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| adj. 精通，熟练 | |
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