All the morning I sat among flour and sugar possessing my soul in as much patience as I could command. Nothing came down the white road from the west. The sun melted the rime; the flies came out and buzzed in the window; Japp got himself out of bed, brewed5 strong coffee, and went back to his slumbers6. Presently it was dinner-time, and I went over to a silent meal with Wardlaw. When I returned I must have fallen asleep over a pipe, for the next thing I knew I was blinking drowsily8 at the patch of sun in the door, and listening for footsteps. In the dead stillness of the afternoon I thought I could discern a shuffling9 in the dust. I got up and looked out, and there, sure enough, was some one coming down the road.
But it was only a Kaffir, and a miserable-looking object at that. I had never seen such an anatomy10. It was a very old man, bent11 almost double, and clad in a ragged12 shirt and a pair of foul13 khaki trousers. He carried an iron pot, and a few belongings14 were tied up in a dirty handkerchief. He must have been a dacha4 smoker15, for he coughed hideously16, twisting his body with the paroxysms. I had seen the type before — the old broken-down native who had no kin7 to support him, and no tribe to shelter him. They wander about the roads, cooking their wretched meals by their little fires, till one morning they are found stiff under a bush.
4 Hemp17.
The native gave me a good-day in Kaffir, then begged for tobacco or a handful of mealie-meal.
I asked him where he came from.
‘From the west, Inkoos,’ he said, ‘and before that from the south. It is a sore road for old bones.’
I went into the store to fetch some meal, and when I came out he had shuffled18 close to the door. He had kept his eyes on the ground, but now he looked up at me, and I thought he had very bright eyes for such an old wreck19.
‘The nights are cold, Inkoos,’ he wailed20, ‘and my folk are scattered21, and I have no kraal. The aasvogels follow me, and I can hear the blesbok.’ ‘What about the blesbok?’ I asked with a start.
‘The blesbok are changing ground,’ he said, and looked me straight in the face.
‘And where are the hunters?’ I asked. ‘They are here and behind me,’ he said in English, holding out his pot for my meal, while he began to edge into the middle of the road.
I followed, and, speaking English, asked him if he knew of a man named Colles.
‘I come from him, young Baas. Where is your house? Ah, the school. There will be a way in by the back window? See that it is open, for I’ll be there shortly.’ Then lifting up his voice he called down in Sesuto all manner of blessings22 on me for my kindness, and went shuffling down the sunlit road, coughing like a volcano.
In high excitement I locked up the store and went over to Mr Wardlaw. No children had come to school that day, and he was sitting idle, playing patience. ‘Lock the door,’ I said, ‘and come into my room. We’re on the brink23 of explanations.’
In about twenty minutes the bush below the back-window parted and the Kaffir slipped out. He grinned at me, and after a glance round, hopped24 very nimbly over the sill. Then he examined the window and pulled the curtains.
‘Is the outer door shut?’ he asked in excellent English. ‘Well, get me some hot water, and any spare clothes you may possess, Mr Crawfurd. I must get comfortable before we begin our indaba.5 We’ve the night before us, so there’s plenty of time. But get the house clear, and see that nobody disturbs me at my toilet. I am a modest man, and sensitive about my looks.’
5 Council.
I brought him what he wanted, and looked on at an amazing transformation25. Taking a phial from his bundle, he rubbed some liquid on his face and neck and hands, and got rid of the black colouring. His body and legs he left untouched, save that he covered them with shirt and trousers from my wardrobe. Then he pulled off a scaly26 wig27, and showed beneath it a head of close-cropped grizzled hair. In ten minutes the old Kaffir had been transformed into an active soldierly-looking man of maybe fifty years. Mr Wardlaw stared as if he had seen a resurrection.
‘I had better introduce myself,’ he said, when he had taken the edge off his thirst and hunger. ‘My name is Arcoll, Captain James Arcoll. I am speaking to Mr Crawfurd, the storekeeper, and Mr Wardlaw, the schoolmaster, of Blaauwildebeestefontein. Where, by the way, is Mr Peter Japp? Drunk? Ah, yes, it was always his failing. The quorum28, however, is complete without him.’
By this time it was about sunset, and I remember I cocked my ear to hear the drums beat. Captain Arcoll noticed the movement as he noticed all else. ‘You’re listening for the drums, but you won’t hear them. That business is over here. To-night they beat in Swaziland and down into the Tonga border. Three days more, unless you and I, Mr Crawfurd, are extra smart, and they’ll be hearing them in Durban.’
It was not till the lamp was lit, the fire burning well, and the house locked and shuttered, that Captain Arcoll began his tale.
‘First,’ he said, ‘let me hear what you know. Colles told me that you were a keen fellow, and had wind of some mystery here. You wrote him about the way you were spied on, but I told him to take no notice. Your affair, Mr Crawfurd, had to wait on more urgent matters. Now, what do you think is happening?’ I spoke29 very shortly, weighing my words, for I felt I was on trial before these bright eyes. ‘I think that some kind of native rising is about to commence.’
‘Ay,’ he said dryly, ‘you would, and your evidence would be the spying and drumming. Anything more?’
‘I have come on the tracks of a lot of I.D.B. work in the neighbourhood. The natives have some supply of diamonds, which they sell bit by bit, and I don’t doubt but they have been getting guns with the proceeds.’
He nodded, ‘Have you any notion who has been engaged in the job?’
I had it on my tongue to mention Japp, but forbore, remembering my promise. ‘I can name one,’ I said, ‘a little yellow Portugoose, who calls himself Henriques or Hendricks. He passed by here the day before yesterday.’
Captain Arcoll suddenly was consumed with quiet laughter. ‘Did you notice the Kaffir who rode with him and carried his saddlebags? Well, he’s one of my men. Henriques would have a fit if he knew what was in those saddlebags. They contain my change of clothes, and other odds30 and ends. Henriques’ own stuff is in a hole in the spruit. A handy way of getting one’s luggage sent on, eh? The bags are waiting for me at a place I appointed.’ And again Captain Arcoll indulged his sense of humour. Then he became grave, and returned to his examination. ‘A rising, with diamonds as the sinews of war, and Henriques as the chief agent. Well and good! But who is to lead, and what are the natives going to rise about?’
‘I know nothing further, but I have made some guesses.’
‘Let’s hear your guesses,’ he said, blowing smoke rings from his pipe. ‘I think the main mover is a great black minister who calls himself John Laputa.’
Captain Arcoll nearly sprang out of his chair. ‘Now, how on earth did you find that out? Quick, Mr Crawfurd, tell me all you know, for this is desperately31 important.’
I began at the beginning, and told him the story of what happened on the Kirkcaple shore. Then I spoke of my sight of him on board ship, his talk with Henriques about Blaauwildebeestefontein, and his hurried departure from Durban.
Captain Arcoll listened intently, and at the mention of Durban he laughed. ‘You and I seem to have been running on lines which nearly touched. I thought I had grabbed my friend Laputa that night in Durban, but I was too cocksure and he slipped off. Do you know, Mr Crawfurd, you have been on the right trail long before me? When did you say you saw him at his devil-worship? Seven years ago? Then you were the first man alive to know the Reverend John in his true colours. You knew seven years ago what I only found out last year.’
‘Well, that’s my story,’ I said. ‘I don’t know what the rising is about, but there’s one other thing I can tell you. There’s some kind of sacred place for the Kaffirs, and I’ve found out where it is.’ I gave him a short account of my adventures in the Rooirand.
He smoked silently for a bit after I had finished. ‘You’ve got the skeleton of the whole thing right, and you only want the filling up. And you found out everything for yourself? Colles was right; you’re not wanting in intelligence, Mr Crawfurd.’
It was not much of a compliment, but I have never been more pleased in my life. This slim, grizzled man, with his wrinkled face and bright eyes, was clearly not lavish32 in his praise. I felt it was no small thing to have earned a word of commendation.
‘And now I will tell you my story,’ said Captain Arcoll. ‘It is a long story, and I must begin far back. It has taken me years to decipher it, and, remember, I’ve been all my life at this native business. I can talk every dialect, and I have the customs of every tribe by heart. I’ve travelled over every mile of South Africa, and Central and East Africa too. I was in both the Matabele wars, and I’ve seen a heap of other fighting which never got into the papers. So what I tell you you can take as gospel, for it is knowledge that was not learned in a day.’
He puffed33 away, and then asked suddenly, ‘Did you ever hear of Prester John?’
‘The man that lived in Central Asia?’ I asked, with a reminiscence of a story-book I had as a boy. ‘No, no,’ said Mr Wardlaw, ‘he means the King of Abyssinia in the fifteenth century. I’ve been reading all about him. He was a Christian34, and the Portuguese35 sent expedition after expedition to find him, but they never got there. Albuquerque wanted to make an alliance with him and capture the Holy Sepulchre.’
Arcoll nodded. ‘That’s the one I mean. There’s not very much known about him, except Portuguese legends. He was a sort of Christian, but I expect that his practices were as pagan as his neighbours’. There is no doubt that he was a great conqueror36. Under him and his successors, the empire of Ethiopia extended far south of Abyssinia away down to the Great Lakes.’
‘How long did this power last?’ I asked wondering to what tale this was prologue37.
‘That’s a mystery no scholar has ever been able to fathom38. Anyhow, the centre of authority began to shift southward, and the warrior39 tribes moved in that direction. At the end of the sixteenth century the chief native power was round about the Zambesi. The Mazimba and the Makaranga had come down from the Lake Nyassa quarter, and there was a strong kingdom in Manicaland. That was the Monomotapa that the Portuguese thought so much of.’
Wardlaw nodded eagerly. The story was getting into ground that he knew about.
‘The thing to remember is that all these little empires thought themselves the successors of Prester John. It took me a long time to find this out, and I have spent days in the best libraries in Europe over it. They all looked back to a great king in the north, whom they called by about twenty different names. They had forgotten about his Christianity, but they remembered that he was a conqueror.
‘Well, to make a long story short, Monomotapa disappeared in time, and fresh tribes came down from the north, and pushed right down to Natal40 and the Cape41. That is how the Zulus first appeared. They brought with them the story of Prester John, but by this time it had ceased to be a historical memory, and had become a religious cult42. They worshipped a great Power who had been their ancestor, and the favourite Zulu word for him was Umkulunkulu. The belief was perverted43 into fifty different forms, but this was the central creed44 — that Umkulunkulu had been the father of the tribe, and was alive as a spirit to watch over them.
‘They brought more than a creed with them. Somehow or other, some fetich had descended45 from Prester John by way of the Mazimba and Angoni and Makaranga. What it is I do not know, but it was always in the hands of the tribe which for the moment held the leadership. The great native wars of the sixteenth century, which you can read about in the Portuguese historians, were not for territory but for leadership, and mainly for the possession of this fetich. Anyhow, we know that the Zulus brought it down with them. They called it Ndhlondhlo, which means the Great Snake, but I don’t suppose that it was any kind of snake. The snake was their totem, and they would naturally call their most sacred possession after it.
‘Now I will tell you a thing that few know. You have heard of Tchaka. He was a sort of black Napoleon early in the last century, and he made the Zulus the paramount46 power in South Africa, slaughtering47 about two million souls to accomplish it. Well, he had the fetich, whatever it was, and it was believed that he owed his conquests to it. Mosilikatse tried to steal it, and that was why he had to fly to Matabeleland. But with Tchaka it disappeared. Dingaan did not have it, nor Panda, and Cetewayo never got it, though he searched the length and breadth of the country for it. It had gone out of existence, and with it the chance of a Kaffir empire.’
Captain Arcoll got up to light his pipe, and I noticed that his face was grave. He was not telling us this yarn48 for our amusement.
‘So much for Prester John and his charm,’ he said. ‘Now I have to take up the history at a different point. In spite of risings here and there, and occasional rows, the Kaffirs have been quiet for the better part of half a century. It is no credit to us. They have had plenty of grievances49, and we are no nearer understanding them than our fathers were. But they are scattered and divided. We have driven great wedges of white settlement into their territory, and we have taken away their arms. Still, they are six times as many as we are, and they have long memories, and a thoughtful man may wonder how long the peace will last. I have often asked myself that question, and till lately I used to reply, “For ever because they cannot find a leader with the proper authority, and they have no common cause to fight for.” But a year or two ago I began to change my mind.
‘It is my business to act as chief Intelligence officer among the natives. Well, one day, I came on the tracks of a curious person. He was a Christian minister called Laputa, and he was going among the tribes from Durban to the Zambesi as a roving evangelist. I found that he made an enormous impression, and yet the people I spoke to were chary50 of saying much about him. Presently I found that he preached more than the gospel. His word was “Africa for the Africans,” and his chief point was that the natives had had a great empire in the past, and might have a great empire again. He used to tell the story of Prester John, with all kinds of embroidery51 of his own. You see, Prester John was a good argument for him, for he had been a Christian as well as a great potentate52. ‘For years there has been plenty of this talk in South Africa, chiefly among Christian Kaffirs. It is what they call “Ethiopianism,” and American negroes are the chief apostles. For myself, I always thought the thing perfectly53 harmless. I don’t care a fig3 whether the native missions break away from the parent churches in England and call themselves by fancy names. The more freedom they have in their religious life, the less they are likely to think about politics. But I soon found out that Laputa was none of your flabby educated negroes from America, and I began to watch him.
‘I first came across him at a revival54 meeting in London, where he was a great success. He came and spoke to me about my soul, but he gave up when I dropped into Zulu. The next time I met him was on the lower Limpopo, when I had the pleasure of trying to shoot him from a boat.’ Captain Arcoll took his pipe from his mouth and laughed at the recollection.
‘I had got on to an I.D.B. gang, and to my amazement55 found the evangelist among them. But the Reverend John was too much for me. He went overboard in spite of the crocodiles, and managed to swim below water to the reed bed at the side. However, that was a valuable experience for me, for it gave me a clue.
‘I next saw him at a Missionary56 Conference in Cape Town, and after that at a meeting of the Geographical57 Society in London, where I had a long talk with him. My reputation does not follow me home, and he thought I was an English publisher with an interest in missions. You see I had no evidence to connect him with I.D.B., and besides I fancied that his real game was something bigger than that; so I just bided58 my time and watched.
‘I did my best to get on to his dossier, but it was no easy job. However, I found out a few things. He had been educated in the States, and well educated too, for the man is a good scholar and a great reader, besides the finest natural orator59 I have ever heard. There was no doubt that he was of Zulu blood, but I could get no traces of his family. He must come of high stock, for he is a fine figure of a man. ‘Very soon I found it was no good following him in his excursions into civilization. There he was merely the educated Kaffir; a great pet of missionary societies, and a favourite speaker at Church meetings. You will find evidence given by him in Blue–Books on native affairs, and he counted many members of Parliament at home among his correspondents. I let that side go, and resolved to dog him when on his evangelizing tours in the back-veld.
‘For six months I stuck to him like a leech60. I am pretty good at disguises, and he never knew who was the broken-down old Kaffir who squatted61 in the dirt at the edge of the crowd when he spoke, or the half-caste who called him “Sir” and drove his Cape-cart. I had some queer adventures, but these can wait. The gist62 of the thing is, that after six months which turned my hair grey I got a glimmering63 of what he was after. He talked Christianity to the mobs in the kraals, but to the indunas6 he told a different story.’
6 Lesser64 chiefs.
Captain Arcoll helped himself to a drink. ‘You can guess what that story was, Mr Crawfurd. At full moon when the black cock was blooded, the Reverend John forgot his Christianity. He was back four centuries among the Mazimba sweeping65 down on the Zambesi. He told them, and they believed him, that he was the Umkulunkulu, the incarnated66 spirit of Prester John. He told them that he was there to lead the African race to conquest and empire. Ay, and he told them more: for he has, or says he has, the Great Snake itself, the necklet of Prester John.’
Neither of us spoke; we were too occupied with fitting this news into our chain of knowledge.
Captain Arcoll went on. ‘Now that I knew his purpose, I set myself to find out his preparations. It was not long before I found a mighty67 organization at work from the Zambesi to the Cape. The great tribes were up to their necks in the conspiracy68, and all manner of little sects69 had been taken in. I have sat at tribal70 councils and been sworn a blood brother, and I have used the secret password to get knowledge in odd places. It was a dangerous game, and, as I have said, I had my adventures, but I came safe out of it — with my knowledge.
‘The first thing I found out was that there was a great deal of wealth somewhere among the tribes. Much of it was in diamonds, which the labourers stole from the mines and the chiefs impounded. Nearly every tribe had its secret chest, and our friend Laputa had the use of them all. Of course the difficulty was changing the diamonds into coin, and he had to start I.D.B. on a big scale. Your pal71, Henriques, was the chief agent for this, but he had others at Mozambique and Johannesburg, ay, and in London, whom I have on my list. With the money, guns and ammunition72 were bought, and it seems that a pretty flourishing trade has been going on for some time. They came in mostly overland through Portuguese territory, though there have been cases of consignments73 to Johannesburg houses, the contents of which did not correspond with the invoice74. You ask what the Governments were doing to let this go on. Yes, and you may well ask. They were all asleep. They never dreamed of danger from the natives, and in any case it was difficult to police the Portuguese side. Laputa knew our weakness, and he staked everything on it.
‘my first scheme was to lay Laputa by the heels; but no Government would act on my information. The man was strongly buttressed75 by public support at home, and South Africa has burned her fingers before this with arbitrary arrests. Then I tried to fasten I.D.B. on him, but I could not get my proofs till too late. I nearly had him in Durban, but he got away; and he never gave me a second chance. For five months he and Henriques have been lying low, because their scheme was getting very ripe. I have been following them through Zululand and Gazaland, and I have discovered that the train is ready, and only wants the match. For a month I have never been more than five hours behind him on the trail; and if he has laid his train, I have laid mine also.’
Arcoll’s whimsical, humorous face had hardened into grimness, and in his eyes there was the light of a fierce purpose. The sight of him comforted me, in spite of his tale.
‘But what can he hope to do?’ I asked. ‘Though he roused every Kaffir in South Africa he would be beaten. You say he is an educated man. He must know he has no chance in the long run.’
‘I said he was an educated man, but he is also a Kaffir. He can see the first stage of a thing, and maybe the second, but no more. That is the native mind. If it was not like that our chance would be the worse.’
‘You say the scheme is ripe,’ I said; ‘how ripe?’
Arcoll looked at the clock. ‘In half an hour’s time Laputa will be with ‘Mpefu. There he will stay the night. To-morrow morning he goes to Umvelos’ to meet Henriques. To-morrow evening the gathering76 begins.’
‘One question,’ I said. ‘How big a man is Laputa?’
‘The biggest thing that the Kaffirs have ever produced. I tell you, in my opinion he is a great genius. If he had been white he might have been a second Napoleon. He is a born leader of men, and as brave as a lion. There is no villainy he would not do if necessary, and yet I should hesitate to call him a blackguard. Ay, you may look surprised at me, you two pragmatical Scotsmen; but I have, so to speak, lived with the man for months, and there’s fineness and nobility in him. He would be a terrible enemy, but a just one. He has the heart of a poet and a king, and it is God’s curse that he has been born among the children of Ham. I hope to shoot him like a dog in a day or two, but I am glad to bear testimony77 to his greatness.’
‘If the rising starts tomorrow,’ I asked, ‘have you any of his plans?’
He picked up a map from the table and opened it. ‘The first rendezvous78 is somewhere near Sikitola’s. Then they move south, picking up contingents79; and the final concentration is to be on the high veld near Amsterdam, which is convenient for the Swazis and the Zulus. After that I know nothing, but of course there are local concentrations along the whole line of the Berg from Mashonaland to Basutoland. Now, look here. To get to Amsterdam they must cross the Delagoa Bay Railway. Well, they won’t be allowed to. If they get as far, they will be scattered there. As I told you, I too have laid my train. We have the police ready all along the scarp of the Berg. Every exit from native territory is watched, and the frontier farmers are out on commando. We have regulars on the Delagoa Bay and Natal lines, and a system of field telegraphs laid which can summon further troops to any point. It has all been kept secret, because we are still in the dark ourselves. The newspaper public knows nothing about any rising, but in two days every white household in South Africa will be in a panic. Make no mistake, Mr Crawfurd; this is a grim business. We shall smash Laputa and his men, but it will be a fierce fight, and there will be much good blood shed. Besides, it will throw the country back another half-century. Would to God I had been man enough to put a bullet through his head in cold blood. But I could not do it — it was too like murder; and maybe I shall never have the chance now.’
‘There’s one thing puzzles me,’ I said. ‘What makes Laputa come up here to start with? Why doesn’t he begin with Zululand?’
‘God knows! There’s sure to be sense in it, for he does nothing without reason. We may know tomorrow.’
But as Captain Arcoll spoke, the real reason suddenly flashed into my mind: Laputa had to get the Great Snake, the necklet of Prester John, to give his leadership prestige. Apparently80 he had not yet got it, or Arcoll would have known. He started from this neighbourhood because the fetich was somewhere hereabouts. I was convinced that my guess was right, but I kept my own counsel.
‘To-morrow Laputa and Henriques meet at Umvelos’, probably at your new store, Mr Crawfurd. And so the ball commences.’
My resolution was suddenly taken.
‘I think,’ I said, ‘I had better be present at the meeting, as representing the firm.’
Captain Arcoll stared at me and laughed. ‘I had thought of going myself,’ he said.
‘Then you go to certain death, disguise yourself as you please. You cannot meet them in the store as I can. I’m there on my ordinary business, and they will never suspect. If you’re to get any news, I’m the man to go.’
He looked at me steadily81 for a minute or so. ‘I’m not sure that’s such a bad idea of yours. I would be better employed myself on the Berg, and, as you say, I would have little chance of hearing anything. You’re a plucky82 fellow, Mr Crawfurd. I suppose you understand that the risk is pretty considerable.’
‘I suppose I do; but since I’m in this thing, I may as well see it out. Besides, I’ve an old quarrel with our friend Laputa.’
‘Good and well,’ said Captain Arcoll. ‘Draw in your chair to the table, then, and I’ll explain to you the disposition83 of my men. I should tell you that I have loyal natives in my pay in most tribes, and can count on early intelligence. We can’t match their telepathy; but the new type of field telegraph is not so bad, and may be a trifle more reliable.’
Till midnight we pored over maps, and certain details were burned in on my memory. Then we went to bed and slept soundly, even Mr Wardlaw. It was strange how fear had gone from the establishment, now that we knew the worst and had a fighting man by our side.
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rime
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| n.白霜；v.使蒙霜 | |
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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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fig
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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brewed
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| 调制( brew的过去式和过去分词 )； 酝酿； 沏（茶）； 煮（咖啡） | |
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slumbers
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kin
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drowsily
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shuffling
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anatomy
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bent
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ragged
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foul
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belongings
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smoker
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hideously
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hemp
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shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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wreck
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wailed
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scattered
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blessings
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brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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hopped
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| 跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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scaly
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| adj.鱼鳞状的；干燥粗糙的 | |
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wig
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| n.假发 | |
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quorum
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| n.法定人数 | |
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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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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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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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Portuguese
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| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
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conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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prologue
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| n.开场白，序言；开端，序幕 | |
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fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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natal
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| adj.出生的，先天的 | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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cult
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| n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜 | |
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perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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slaughtering
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的现在分词 ) | |
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yarn
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| n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事 | |
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grievances
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| n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚 | |
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chary
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| adj.谨慎的，细心的 | |
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embroidery
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| n.绣花，刺绣；绣制品 | |
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potentate
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| n.统治者；君主 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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bided
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| v.等待，停留( bide的过去式 )；居住；等待；面临 | |
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orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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leech
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| n.水蛭，吸血鬼，榨取他人利益的人；vt.以水蛭吸血；vi.依附于别人 | |
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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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gist
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| n.要旨；梗概 | |
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glimmering
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| n.微光，隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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incarnated
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| v.赋予（思想、精神等）以人的形体( incarnate的过去式和过去分词 )；使人格化；体现；使具体化 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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sects
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| n.宗派，教派( sect的名词复数 ) | |
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tribal
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| adj.部族的，种族的 | |
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pal
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| n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友 | |
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ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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consignments
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| n.托付货物( consignment的名词复数 )；托卖货物；寄售；托运 | |
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invoice
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| vt.开发票；n.发票，装货清单 | |
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buttressed
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| v.用扶壁支撑，加固( buttress的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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contingents
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| （志趣相投、尤指来自同一地方的）一组与会者( contingent的名词复数 )； 代表团； （军队的）分遣队； 小分队 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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plucky
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| adj.勇敢的 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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