CHAPTER XXIII ENTOMBED ALIVE

 For an instant Tom and his friends paused at the entrance to the wonderful cavern¹, and looked at the raging storm. It seemed madness to venture out into it, yet they had been driven from the cave by those who had every right of discovery to say who, and who should not, partake of its hospitality.

 

"We can't go out into that blow!" cried Ned. "It's enough to loosen the very mountains!"

 

"Let's stay here and defy them!" murmured Tom. "If the—if what we seek—is here we have as good a right to it as they have."

 

"We must go out," said Professor Bumper² simply. "I recognize the right of my rival to dispossess us."

 

"He may have the right, but it isn't human," said Mr. Damon. "Bless my overshoes! If Beecher himself were here he wouldn't have the heart to send us out in this storm."

 

"I would not give him the satisfaction of appealing to him," remarked Professor Bumper. "Come, we will go out. We have our ponchos⁴, and we are not fair-weather explorers. If we can't get to the lost city one way we will another. Come my friends."

 

And despite the downpour, the deafening⁵ thunder and the lightning that seemed ready to sear one's eyes, he walked out of the cave entrance, followed by Tom and the others.

 

"Come on!" cried Tom, in a voice he tried to render confident, as they went out into the terrible storm. "We'll beat 'em yet!"

 

The rain fell harder than ever. Small torrents⁶ were now rushing down the trail, and it was only a question of a few minutes before the place where they stood would be a raging river, so quickly does the rain collect in the mountains and speed toward the valleys.

 

"We must take to the forest!" cried Tom. "There'll be some shelter there, and I don't like the way the geography of this place is behaving. There may be a landslide⁷ at any moment."

 

As he spoke⁸ he motioned upward through the mist of the rain to the sloping side of the mountain towering above them. Loose stones were beginning to roll down, accompanied by patches of earth loosened by the water. Some of the patches carried with them bunches of grass and small bushes.

 

"Yes, it will be best to move into the jungle," said the professor. "Goosal, you had better take the lead."

 

It was wonderful to see how well the aged⁹ Indian bore up in spite of his years, and walked on ahead. They had left their mules¹⁰ tethered some distance back, in a sheltering clump¹¹ of trees, and they hoped the animals would be safe.

 

The guide found a place where they could leave the trail, though going down a dangerous slope, and take to the forest. As carefully as possible they descended¹² this, the rain continuing to fall, the wind to blow, the lightning to sizzle all about them and the thunder to boom in their ears.

 

They went on until they were beneath the shelter of the thick jungle growth of trees, which kept off some of the pelting¹³ drops.

 

"This is better!" exclaimed Ned, shaking his poncho³ and getting rid of some of the water that had settled on it.

 

"Bless my overcoat!" cried Mr. Damon. "We seem to have gotten out of the frying pan into the fire!"

 

"How?" asked Tom. "We are partly sheltered here, though had we stayed in the cave in spite of——"

 

A deafening crash interrupted him, and following the flash one of the giant trees of the forest was seen to blaze up and then topple over.

 

"Struck by lightning!" yelled Ned.

 

"Yes; and it may happen to us!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "We were safer from the lightning in the open. Maybe——"

 

Again came an interruption, but this time a different one. The very ground beneath their feet seemed to be shaking and trembling.

 

"What is it?" gasped¹⁴ Ned, while Goosal fell on his knees and began fervently¹⁵ to pray.

 

"It's an earthquake!" yelled Tom Swift.

 

As he spoke there came another sound—the sound of a mass of earth in motion. It came from the direction of the mountain trail they had just left. They looked toward it and their horror-stricken eyes saw the whole side of the mountain sliding down.

 

Slowly at first the earth slid down, but constantly gathering¹⁶ force and speed. In the face of this new disaster the rain seemed to have ceased and the thunder and lightning to be less severe. It was as though one force of nature gave way to the other.

 

"Look! Look!" gasped Ned.

 

In silence, which was broken now only by a low and ominous¹⁷ rumble¹⁸, more menacing than had been the awful fury of the elements, the travelers looked.

 

Suddenly there was a quicker movement of seemingly one whole section of the mountain. Great rocks and trees, carried down by the appalling¹⁹ force of the landslide were slipping over the trail, obliterating²⁰ it as though it had never existed.

 

"There goes the entrance to the cavern!" cried Ned, and as the others looked to where he pointed²¹ they saw the hole in the side of the mountain—the mouth of the cave that led to the lost city of Kurzon—completely covered by thousands of tons of earth and stones.

 

"That's the end of them!" exclaimed Tom, as the rumble of the earthquake died away.

 

"Of——" Ned stopped, his eyes staring.

 

"Of Professor Beecher's party. They're entombed alive!"

1 cavern   

n.洞穴，大山洞

参考例句：

• The cavern walls echoed his cries.大山洞的四壁回响着他的喊声。
• It suddenly began to shower,and we took refuge in the cavern.天突然下起雨来，我们在一个山洞里避雨。

2 bumper   

n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的

参考例句：

• The painting represents the scene of a bumper harvest.这幅画描绘了丰收的景象。
• This year we have a bumper harvest in grain.今年我们谷物丰收。

3 poncho   

n.斗篷，雨衣

参考例句：

• He yawned and curled his body down farther beneath the poncho.他打了个呵欠，把身子再蜷拢点儿，往雨披里缩了缩。
• The poncho is made of nylon.这雨披是用尼龙制造的。

4 ponchos   

n.斗篷( poncho的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The men cast off their packs, withdrew their ponchos and set up their pup tents again. 大家扔下了背包，取出了雨披，把小帐篷重又架了起来。 来自辞典例句

5 deafening   

adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The noise of the siren was deafening her. 汽笛声震得她耳朵都快聋了。
• The noise of the machine was deafening. 机器的轰鸣声震耳欲聋。

6 torrents   

n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断

参考例句：

• The torrents scoured out a channel down the hill side. 急流沿着山腰冲刷出一条水沟。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Sudden rainstorms would bring the mountain torrents rushing down. 突然的暴雨会使山洪暴发。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

8 spoke   

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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

10 mules   

骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者

参考例句：

• The cart was pulled by two mules. 两匹骡子拉这辆大车。
• She wore tight trousers and high-heeled mules. 她穿紧身裤和拖鞋式高跟鞋。

11 clump   

n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走

参考例句：

• A stream meandered gently through a clump of trees.一条小溪从树丛中蜿蜒穿过。
• It was as if he had hacked with his thick boots at a clump of bluebells.仿佛他用自己的厚靴子无情地践踏了一丛野风信子。

12 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

13 pelting   

微不足道的，无价值的，盛怒的

参考例句：

• The rain came pelting down. 倾盆大雨劈头盖脸地浇了下来。
• Hailstones of abuse were pelting him. 阵阵辱骂冰雹般地向他袭来。

14 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

15 fervently   

adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地

参考例句：

• "Oh, I am glad!'she said fervently. “哦，我真高兴！”她热烈地说道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• O my dear, my dear, will you bless me as fervently to-morrow?' 啊，我亲爱的，亲爱的，你明天也愿这样热烈地为我祝福么？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

16 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

17 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

18 rumble   

n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说

参考例句：

• I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
• We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定，天要下雨了。

19 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

20 obliterating   

v.除去( obliterate的现在分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭

参考例句：

• Michael smoked the competition, obliterating field in most of his events. 迈克尔让比赛放光，几乎淹没了他所参加的大多数项目。 来自互联网
• He heard Pam screaming.The noise became obliterating.Then solid darkness descended. 在一片混乱中，他听到了帕姆的尖叫。接下来，噪音消失了，黑暗降临了。 来自互联网

21 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。