"Wal, stranger, I reckon we could take 'em if we wanted tu!"
"Yes," I replied, "if you think them worth the price. But if you do, you rate them even more highly than they rate themselves; and English colonists6 are not much behind the citizens of the model Republic in honest self-esteem."
"Wal," he said, "how much du yew7 calc'late we shall hev to pay?"
"Not more, perhaps, than you can afford; only California, and every
Atlantic seaport8 from Portland to Galveston."
"Reckon yew may be about right, stranger," he said, falling back with tolerable good-humour; and, to do them justice, the bystanders seemed to think the retort no worse than the provocation9 deserved.
"I am sorry," said my friend, "you should have fallen in with so unpleasant a specimen10 of the character your countrymen ascribe with too much reason to Americans. I have been long in England, and never met with such discourtesy from any one who recognised me as an American."
After this our conversation became less reserved; and I found that I was conversing11 with one of the most renowned12 officers of irregular cavalry13 in the late Confederate service—a service which, in the efficiency, brilliancy, and daring of that especial arm, has never been surpassed since Maharbal's African Light Horse were recognised by friends and foes14 as the finest corps15 in the small splendid army of Hannibal.
Colonel A—— (the reader will learn why I give neither his name nor real rank) spoke with some bitterness of the inquisitiveness16 which rendered it impossible, he said, to trust an American with a secret, and very difficult to keep one without lying. We were presently joined by Major B——, who had been employed during the war in the conduct of many critical communications, and had shown great ingenuity17 in devising and unravelling18 ciphers19. On this subject a somewhat protracted21 discussion arose. I inclined to the doctrine22 of Poe, that no cipher20 can be devised which cannot be detected by an experienced hand; my friends indicated simple methods of defeating the processes on which decipherers rely.
"Poe's theory," said the Major, "depends upon the frequent recurrence23 of certain letters, syllables24, and brief words in any given language; for instance, of e's and t's, tion and ed, a, and, and the in English. Now it is perfectly25 easy to introduce abbreviations for each of the common short words and terminations, and equally easy to baffle the decipherer's reliance thereon by inserting meaningless symbols to separate the words; by employing two signs for a common letter, or so arranging your cipher that no one shall without extreme difficulty know which marks stand for single and which for several combined letters, where one letter ends and another begins."
After some debate, Colonel A—— wrote down and handed me two lines in a cipher whose character at once struck me as very remarkable26.
"I grant," said I, "that these hieroglyphics27 might well puzzle a more practised decipherer than myself. Still, I can point out even here a clue which might help detection. There occur, even in these two lines, three or four symbols which, from their size and complication, are evidently abbreviations. Again, the distinct forms are very few, and have obviously been made to serve for different letters by some slight alterations28 devised upon a fixed29 rule. In a word, the cipher has been constructed upon a general principle; and though it may take a long time to find out what that principle is, it affords a clue which, carefully followed out, will probably lead to detection."
"You have perceived," said Colonel A——, "a fact which it took me very long to discover. I have not deciphered all the more difficult passages of the manuscript from which I took this example; but I have ascertained31 the meaning of all its simple characters, and your inference is certainly correct."
Here he stopped abruptly32, as if he thought he had said too much, and the subject dropped.
We reached New York early in the morning and separated, having arranged to visit that afternoon a celebrated33 "spiritual" medium who was then giving séances in the Empire City, and of whom my friend had heard and repeated to me several more or less marvellous stories. Our visit, however, was unsatisfactory; and as we came away Colonel A—— said—
"Well, I suppose this experience confirms you in your disbelief?"
"No," said I. "My first visits have generally been failures, and I have more than once been told that my own temperament34 is most unfavourable to the success of a seance. Nevertheless, I have in some cases witnessed marvels35 perfectly inexplicable36 by known natural laws; and I have heard and read of others attested37 by evidence I certainly cannot consider inferior to my own."
"Why," he said, "I thought from your conversation last night you were a complete disbeliever."
"I believe," answered I, "in very little of what I have seen. But that little is quite sufficient to dispose of the theory of pure imposture38. On the other hand, there is nothing spiritual and nothing very human in the pranks39 played by or in the presence of the mediums. They remind one more of the feats40 of traditionary goblins; mischievous41, noisy, untrustworthy; insensible to ridicule42, apparently43 delighting to make fools of men, and perfectly indifferent to having the tables turned upon themselves."
"But do you believe in goblins?"
"No," I replied; "no more than in table-turning ghosts, and less than in apparitions44. I am not bound to find either sceptics or spiritualists in plausible45 explanations. But when they insist on an alternative to their respective theories, I suggest Puck as at least equally credible46 with Satan, Shakespeare, or the parrot-cry of imposture. It is the very extravagance of illogical temper to call on me to furnish an explanation because I say 'we know far too little of the thing itself to guess at its causes;' but of the current guesses, imposture seems inconsistent with the evidence, and 'spiritual agency' with the character of the phenomena47."
"That," replied Colonel A——, "sounds common sense, and sounds even more commonplace. And yet, no one seems really to draw a strong, clear line between non-belief and disbelief. And you are the first and only man I ever met who hesitates to affirm the impossibility of that which seems to him wildly improbable, contrary at once to received opinion and to his own experience, and contrary, moreover, to all known natural laws, and all inferences hitherto drawn48 from them. Your men of science dogmatise like divines, not only on things they have not seen, but on things they refuse to see; and your divines are half of them afraid of Satan, and the other half of science."
"The men of science have," I replied, "like every other class, their especial bias49, their peculiar50 professional temptation. The anti-religious bigotry51 of Positivists is quite as bitter and irrational52 as the theological bigotry of religious fanatics53. At present the two powers countervail and balance each other. But, as three hundred years ago I should certainly have been burnt for a heretic, so fifty or a hundred years hence, could I live so long, I should be in equal apprehension54 of being burnt by some successor of Mr. Congreve, Mr. Harrison, or Professor Huxley, for presuming to believe in Providential government."
"The intolerance of incredulity," returned Colonel A——, "is a sore subject with me. I once witnessed a phenomenon which was to me quite as extraordinary as any of the 'spiritual' performances. I have at this moment in my possession apparently irresistible55 evidence of the reality of what then took place; and I am sure that there exists at a point on the earth's surface, which unluckily I cannot define, strong corroborative56 proof of my story. Nevertheless, the first persons who heard it utterly57 ridiculed58 it, and were disposed to treat me either as a madman, or at best as an audacious trespasser59 on that privilege of lying which belonged to them as mariners60. I told it afterwards to three gentlemen of station, character, and intelligence, every one of whom had known me as soldier, and I hope as gentleman, for years; and in each case the result was a duel61, which has silenced those who imputed62 to me an unworthy and purposeless falsehood, but has left a heavy burden on my conscience, and has prevented me ever since from repeating what I know to be true and believe to be of greater interest, and in some sense of greater importance, than any scientific discovery of the last century. Since the last occasion on which I told it seven years have elapsed, and I never have met any one but yourself to whom I have thought it possible to disclose it."
"I have," I answered, "an intense interest in all occult phenomena; believing in regard to alleged63 magic, as the scientists say of practical science, that every one branch of such knowledge throws light on others; and if there be nothing in your story which it is personally painful to relate, you need not be silenced by any apprehension of discourteous64 criticism on my part."
"I assure you," he said, "I have no such wish now to tell the story as I had at first. It is now associated with the most painful incident of my life, and I have lost altogether that natural desire for sympathy and human interest in a matter deeply interesting to myself, which, like every one else, I felt at first, and which is, I suppose, the motive65 that prompts us all to relate often and early any occurrence that has keenly affected66 us, in whatever manner. But I think that I have no right to suppress so remarkable a fact, if by telling it I can place it effectually on record for the benefit of men sensible enough to believe that it may have occurred, especially since somewhere in the world there must yet exist proof that it did occur. If you will come to my rooms in —— Street tomorrow, Number 999, I will not promise, but I think that I shall have made up my mind to tell you what I have to tell, and to place in your hands that portion of the evidence which is still at my command—evidence that has a significance of its own, to which my experience is merely episodical."
I spent that evening with the family of a friend, one of several former officers of the Confederacy, whose friendship is the one permanent and valuable result of my American tour. I mentioned the Colonel's name, and my friend, the head of the family, having served with him through the Virginian campaigns, expressed the highest confidence in his character, the highest opinion of his honour and veracity68; but spoke with bitter regret and pain of the duels69 in which he had been engaged, especially of one which had been fatal; remarking that the motive in each instance remained unknown even to the seconds. "I am sure," he said "that they were not, could not have been, fought for the one cause that would justify70 them and explain the secrecy71 of the quarrel—some question involving female honour or reputation. I can hardly conceive that any one of his adversaries72 could have called in question in any way the personal loyalty of Colonel A——; and, as you remarked of General M——, it is too absurd for a man who had faced over and over again the fire of a whole brigade, who had led charges against fourfold numbers, to prove his personal courage with sword or pistol, or to think that any one would have doubted either his spirit or his nerve had he refused to fight, whatever the provocation. Moreover, in each case he was the challenger."
"Then these duels have injured him in Southern opinion, and have probably tended to isolate73 him from society?"
"No," he replied. "Deeply as they were regretted and disapproved74, his services during the war were so brilliant, and his personal character stands so high, that nothing could have induced his fellow-soldiers to put any social stigma75 upon him. To me he must know that he would be most welcome. Yet, though we have lived in the same city for five years, I have only encountered him three or four times in the street, and then he has passed with the fewest possible words, and has neither given me his address nor accepted my urgent invitations to visit us here. I think that there is something in the story of those duels that will never be known, certainly something that has never been guessed yet. And I think that either the circumstances in which they must have had their origin, or the duels themselves, have so weighed upon his spirits, perhaps upon his conscience, that he has chosen to avoid his former friends, most of them also the friends of his antagonists76. Though the war ruined him as utterly as any of the thousands of Southern gentlemen whom it has reduced from wealth to absolute poverty, he has refused every employment which would bring him before the public eye."
"Is there," I asked, "any point of honour on which you could suppose him to be so exceptionally sensitive that he would think it necessary to take the life of a man who touched him on that point, though afterwards his regret, if not repentance77, might be keen enough to crush his spirit or break his heart?"
The General paused for a moment, and his son then interposed—
"I have heard it said that Colonel A—— was in general the least quarrelsome of Confederate officers; but that on more than one occasion, where his statement upon some point of fact had been challenged by a comrade, who did not intend to question his veracity but simply the accuracy of his observation, their brother officers had much trouble in preventing a serious difficulty."
The next day I called as agreed upon my new-found friend, and with some reluctance78 he commenced his story.
"During the last campaign, in February 1865, I was sent by General Lee with despatches for Kirby Smith, then commanding beyond the Mississippi. I was unable to return before the surrender, and, for reasons into which I need not enter, I believed myself to be marked out by the Federal Government for vengeance79. If I had remained within their reach, I might have shared the fate of Wirz and other victims of calumnies80 which, once put in circulation during the war, their official authors dared not retract81 at its close. Now I and others, who, if captured in 1865, might probably have been hanged, are neither molested82 nor even suspected of any other offence than that of fighting, as our opponents fought, for the State to which our allegiance was due. However, I thought it necessary to escape before the final surrender of our forces beyond the Mississippi. I made my way to Mexico, and, like one or two Southern officers of greater distinction than myself, entered the service of the Emperor Maximilian, not as mere67 soldiers of fortune, but because, knowing better than any but her Southern neighbours knew it the miserable83 anarchy84 of Mexico under the Republic, we regarded conquest as the one chance of regeneration for that country, and the Emperor Maximilian as a hero who had devoted85 himself to a task heroic at once in its danger and difficulty—the restoration of a people with whom his house had a certain historical connection to a place among the nations of the civilised world. After his fall, I should certainly have been shot had I been caught by the Juarists in pursuit of me. I gained the Pacific coast, and got on board an English vessel86, whose captain—loading for San Francisco—generously weighed anchor and sailed with but half a cargo87 to give me a chance of safety. He transferred me a few days afterwards to a Dutch vessel bound for Brisbane, for at that time I thought of settling in Queensland. The crew was weak-handed, and consisted chiefly of Lascars, Malays, and two or three European desperadoes of all languages and of no country. Her master was barely competent to the ordinary duties of his command; and it was no surprise to me when the first storm that we encountered drove us completely out of our course, nor was I much astonished that the captain was for some days, partly from fright and partly from drink, incapable88 of using his sextant to ascertain30 the position of the ship. One night we were awakened89 by a tremendous shock; and, to spare you the details of a shipwreck90, which have nothing to do with my story, we found ourselves when day broke fast on a coral reef, about a mile from an island of no great size, and out of sight of all other land. The sextant having been broken to pieces, I had no means of ascertaining91 the position of this island, nor do I now know anything of it except that it lay, in the month of August, within the region of the southeast trade winds. We pulled on shore, but, after exploring the island, it was found to yield nothing attractive to seamen92 except cocoa-nuts, with which our crew had soon supplied themselves as largely as they wished, and fish, which were abundant and easily caught, and of which they were soon tired. The captain, therefore, when he had recovered his sobriety and his courage, had no great difficulty in inducing them to return to the ship, and endeavour either to get her off or construct from her timbers a raft which, following the course of the winds, might, it was thought, bring them into the track of vessels93. This would take some time, and I meanwhile was allowed to remain (my own wish) on terra firma; the noise, dirt, and foul94 smells of the vessel being, especially in that climate, intolerable.
"About ten o'clock in the morning of the 25th August 1867, I was lying towards the southern end of the island, on a little hillock tolerably clear of trees, and facing a sort of glade95 or avenue, covered only with brush and young trees, which allowed me to see the sky within perhaps twenty degrees of the horizon. Suddenly, looking up, I saw what appeared at first like a brilliant star considerably96 higher than the sun. It increased in size with amazing rapidity, till, in a very few seconds after its first appearance, it had a very perceptible disc. For an instant it obscured the sun. In another moment a tremendous shock temporarily deprived me of my senses, and I think that more than an hour had elapsed before I recovered them. Sitting up, somewhat confused, and looking around me, I became aware that some strange accident had occurred. In every direction I saw such traces of havoc97 as I had witnessed more than once when a Confederate force holding an impenetrable woodland had been shelled at random98 for some hours with the largest guns that the enemy could bring into the field. Trees were torn and broken, branches scattered99 in all directions, fragments of stone, earth, and coral rock flung all around. Particularly I remember that a piece of metal of considerable size had cut off the tops of two or three trees, and fixed itself at last on what was now the summit of one about a third of whose length had been broken off and lay on the ground. I soon perceived that this miraculous100 bombardment had proceeded from a point to the north-eastward, the direction in which at that season and hour the sun was visible. Proceeding101 thitherward, the evidences of destruction became every minute more marked, I might say more universal. Trees had been thrown down, torn up by the roots, hurled102 against one another; rocks broken and flung to great distances, some even thrown up in the air, and so reversed in falling that, while again half buried in the soil, they exposed what had been their undermost surface. In a word, before I had gone two miles I saw that the island had sustained a shock which might have been that of an earthquake, which certainly equalled that of the most violent Central American earthquakes in severity, but which had none of the special peculiarities103 of that kind of natural convulsion. Presently I came upon fragments of a shining pale yellow metal, generally small, but in one or two cases of remarkable size and shape, apparently torn from some sheet of great thickness. In one case I found embedded104 between two such jagged fragments a piece of remarkably105 hard impenetrable cement. At last I came to a point from which through the destruction of the trees the sea was visible in the direction in which the ship had lain; but the ship, as in a few moments I satisfied myself, had utterly disappeared. Reaching the beach, I found that the shock had driven the sea far up upon the land; fishes lying fifty yards inland, and everything drenched106 in salt water. At last, guided by the signs of ever-increasing devastation107, I reached the point whence the mischief108 had proceeded. I can give no idea in words of what I there found. The earth had been torn open, rooted up as if by a gigantic explosion. In some places sharp-pointed fragments of the coral rock, which at a depth of several feet formed the bed of the island, were discernible far below the actual surface. At others, the surface itself was raised several feet by dèbris of every kind. What I may call the crater109—though it was no actual hole, but rather a cavity torn and then filled up by falling fragments—was two or three hundred feet in circumference110; and in this space I found considerable masses of the same metallic111 substance, attached generally to pieces of the cement. After examining and puzzling myself over this strange scene for some time, my next care was to seek traces of the ship and of her crew; and before long I saw just outside the coral reef what had been her bowsprit, and presently, floating on the sea, one of her masts, with the sail attached. There could be little doubt that the shock had extended to her, had driven her off the reef where she had been fixed into the deep water outside, where she must have sunk immediately, and had broken her spars. No traces of her crew were to be seen. They had probably been stunned112 at the same time that they were thrown into deep water; and before I came in sight of the point where she had perished, whatever animal bodies were to be found must have been devoured113 by the sharks, which abounded114 in that neighbourhood. Dismay, perplexity, and horror prevented my doing anything to solve my doubts or relieve my astonishment115 before the sun went down; and during the night my sleep was broken by snatches of horrible dreams and intervals116 of waking, during which I marvelled117 over what I had seen, scarcely crediting my memory or my senses. In the morning, I went back to the crater, and with some tools that had been left on shore contrived118 to dig somewhat deeply among the debris119 with which it was filled. I found very little that could enlighten me except pieces of glass, of various metals, of wood, some of which seemed apparently to have been portions of furniture; and one damaged but still entire relic120, which I preserved and brought away with me."
Here the Colonel removed a newspaper which had covered a portion of his table, and showed me a metallic case beaten out of all shape, but apparently of what had been a silvery colour, very little rusted121, though much soiled. This he opened, and I saw at once that it was of enormous thickness and solidity, to which and to favouring circumstances it owed its preservation122 in the general ruin he described. That it had undergone some severe and violent shock there could be no question. Beside the box lay a less damaged though still seriously injured object, in which I recognised the resemblance of a book of considerable thickness, and bound in metal like that of the case. This I afterwards ascertained beyond doubt to be a metalloid alloy123 whereof the principal ingredient was aluminium124, or some substance so closely resembling it as not to be distinguishable from it by simple chemical tests. A friend to whom I submitted a small portion broken off from the rest expressed no doubt that it was a kind of aluminium bronze, but inclined to believe that it contained no inconsiderable proportion of a metal with which chemists are as yet imperfectly acquainted; perhaps, he said, silicon125; certainly something which had given to the alloy a hardness and tenacity126 unknown to any familiar metallurgical compound.
"This," said my friend, opening the volume, "is a manuscript which was contained in this case when I took it from among the debris of the crater. I should have told you that I found there what I believed to be fragments of human flesh and bone, but so crushed and mangled127 that I could form no positive conclusion. My next care was to escape from the island, which I felt sure lay far from the ordinary course of merchant vessels. A boat which had brought me ashore—the smaller of the two belonging to the ship—had fortunately been left on the end of the island furthest from that on which the vessel had been driven, and had, owing to its remoteness, though damaged, not been fatally injured by the shock. I repaired this, made and fixed a mast, and with no little difficulty contrived to manufacture a sort of sail from strips of bark woven together. Knowing that, even if I could sustain life on the island, life under such circumstances would not be worth having, I was perfectly willing to embark128 upon a voyage in which I was well aware the chances of death were at least as five to one. I caught and contrived to smoke a quantity of fish sufficient to last me for a fortnight, and filled a small cask with brackish129 but still drinkable water. In this vessel, thus stored, I embarked130 about a fortnight after the day of the mysterious shock. On the second evening of my voyage I was caught by a gale131 which compelled me to lower the sail, and before which I was driven for three days and nights, in what direction I can hardly guess. On the fourth morning the wind had fallen, and by noon it was a perfect calm. I need not describe what has been described by so many shipwrecked sailors,—the sufferings of a solitary132 voyager in an open boat under a tropical sun. The storm had supplied me with water more than enough; so that I was spared that arch-torture of thirst which seems, in the memory of such sufferers, to absorb all others. Towards evening a slight breeze sprang up, and by morning I came in sight of a vessel, which I contrived to board. Her crew, however, and even her captain, utterly discredited133 such part of my strange story as I told them. On that point, however, I will say no more than this: I will place this manuscript in your hands. I will give you the key to such of its ciphers as I have been able to make out. The language, I believe, for I am no scholar, is Latin of a medi?val type; but there are words which, if I rightly decipher them, are not Latin, and hardly seem to belong to any known language; most of them, I fancy, quasi-scientific terms, invented to describe various technical devices unknown to the world when the manuscript was written. I only make it a condition that you shall not publish the story during my life; that if you show the manuscript or mention the tale in confidence to any one, you will strictly134 keep my secret; and that if after my death, of which you shall be advised, you do publish it, you will afford no clue by which the donor135 could be confidently identified."
"I promise," said I. "But I should like to ask you one question. What do you conceive to have been the cause of the extraordinary shock you felt and of the havoc you witnessed? What, in short, the nature of the occurrence and the origin of the manuscript you entrust136 to my care?"
"Why need you ask me?" he returned. "You are as capable as myself of drawing a deduction137 from what I have told you, and I have told you everything, I believe, that could assist you. The manuscript will tell the rest."
"But," said I, "an actual eye-witness often receives from a number of little facts which he cannot remember, which are perhaps too minute to have been actually and individually noted138 by him, an impression which is more likely to be correct than any that could be formed by a stranger on the fullest cross-questioning, on the closest examination of what remains139 in the witness's memory. I should like to hear, before opening the manuscript, what you believe to have been its origin.
"I can only say," he answered, "that what must be inferred from the manuscript is what I had inferred before I opened it. That same explanation was the only one that ever occurred to me, even in the first night. It then seemed to me utterly incredible, but it is still the only conceivable explanation that my mind can suggest."
"Did you," asked I, "connect the shock and the relics140, which I presume you know were not on the island before the shock, with the meteor and the strange obscuration of the sun?"
"I certainly did," he said. "Having done so, there could be but one conclusion as to the quarter from which the shock was received."
The examination and transcription of the manuscript, with all the help afforded me by my friend's previous efforts, was the work of several years. There is, as the reader will see, more than one hiatus valde deflendus, as the scholiasts have it, and there are passages in which, whether from the illegibility141 of the manuscript or the employment of technical terms unknown to me, I cannot be certain of the correctness of my translation. Such, however, as it is, I give it to the world, having fulfilled, I believe, every one of the conditions imposed upon me by my late and deeply regretted friend.
The character of the manuscript is very curious, and its translation was exceedingly difficult. The material on which it is written resembles nothing used for such purposes on Earth. It is more like a very fine linen142 or silken web, but it is far closer in texture143, and has never been woven in any kind of loom144 at all like those employed in any manufacture known to history or archaeology145. The letters, or more properly symbols, are minute, but executed with extraordinary clearness. I should fancy that something more like a pencil than a pen, but with a finer point than that of the finest pencil, was employed in the writing. Contractions146 and combinations are not merely frequent, but almost universal. There is scarcely an instance in which five consecutive147 letters are separately written, and there is no single line in which half a dozen contractions, often including from four to ten letters, do not occur. The pages are of the size of an ordinary duodecimo, but contain some fifty lines per page, and perhaps one hundred and fifty letters in each line. What were probably the first half dozen pages have been utterly destroyed, and the next half dozen are so mashed148, tattered149, and defaced, that only a few sentences here and there are legible. I have contrived, however, to combine these into what I believe to be a substantially correct representation of the author's meaning. The Latin is of a monastic—sometimes almost canine—quality, with many words which are not Latin at all. For the rest, though here and there pages are illegible150, and though some symbols, especially those representing numbers or chemical compounds, are absolutely undecipherable, it has been possible to effect what I hope will be found a clear and coherent translation. I have condensed the narrative151 but have not altered or suppressed a line for fear of offending those who must be unreasonable152, indeed, if they lay the offence to my charge.
One word more. It is possible, if not likely, that some of those friends of the narrator, for whom the account was evidently written, may still be living, and that these pages may meet their eyes. If so, they may be able to solve the few problems that have entirely153 baffled me, and to explain, if they so choose, the secrets to which, intentionally154 or through the destruction of its introductory portion, the manuscript affords no clue.
I must add that these volumes contain only the first section of the MS. record. The rest, relating the incidents of a second voyage and describing another world, remains in my hands; and, should this part of the work excite general attention, the conclusion will, by myself or by my executors, be given to the public. Otherwise, on my death, it will be placed in the library of some national or scientific institution.
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haphazard
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| adj.无计划的，随意的，杂乱无章的 | |
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continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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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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loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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yew
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seaport
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| n.海港，港口，港市 | |
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provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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renowned
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| adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的 | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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inquisitiveness
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| 好奇，求知欲 | |
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ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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unravelling
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| 解开，拆散，散开( unravel的现在分词 )； 阐明； 澄清； 弄清楚 | |
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ciphers
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| n.密码( cipher的名词复数 )；零；不重要的人；无价值的东西 | |
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cipher
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| n.零；无影响力的人；密码 | |
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21
protracted
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| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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23
recurrence
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| n.复发，反复，重现 | |
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syllables
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| n.音节( syllable的名词复数 ) | |
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25
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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hieroglyphics
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| n.pl.象形文字 | |
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alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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29
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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30
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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31
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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33
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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34
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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35
marvels
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| n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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36
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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37
attested
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| adj.经检验证明无病的，经检验证明无菌的v.证明( attest的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；声称…属实；使宣誓 | |
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38
imposture
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| n.冒名顶替，欺骗 | |
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39
pranks
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| n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
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40
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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41
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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42
ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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43
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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44
apparitions
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| n.特异景象( apparition的名词复数 )；幽灵；鬼；（特异景象等的）出现 | |
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45
plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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46
credible
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| adj.可信任的，可靠的 | |
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47
phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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48
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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49
bias
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| n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见 | |
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50
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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51
bigotry
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| n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等 | |
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52
irrational
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| adj.无理性的，失去理性的 | |
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53
fanatics
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| 狂热者，入迷者( fanatic的名词复数 ) | |
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54
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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56
corroborative
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| adj.确证（性）的，确凿的 | |
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57
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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58
ridiculed
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| v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
trespasser
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| n.侵犯者；违反者 | |
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60
mariners
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| 海员，水手（mariner的复数形式） | |
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61
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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62
imputed
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| v.把（错误等）归咎于( impute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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64
discourteous
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| adj.不恭的，不敬的 | |
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65
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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67
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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68
veracity
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| n.诚实 | |
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69
duels
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| n.两男子的决斗( duel的名词复数 )；竞争，斗争 | |
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70
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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71
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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72
adversaries
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| n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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73
isolate
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| vt.使孤立，隔离 | |
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74
disapproved
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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75
stigma
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| n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头 | |
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76
antagonists
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| 对立[对抗] 者，对手，敌手( antagonist的名词复数 )； 对抗肌； 对抗药 | |
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77
repentance
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| n.懊悔 | |
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78
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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79
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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80
calumnies
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| n.诬蔑，诽谤，中伤（的话）( calumny的名词复数 ) | |
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81
retract
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| vt.缩回，撤回收回，取消 | |
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82
molested
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| v.骚扰( molest的过去式和过去分词 )；干扰；调戏；猥亵 | |
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83
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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84
anarchy
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| n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序 | |
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85
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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86
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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87
cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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88
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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89
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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90
shipwreck
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| n.船舶失事，海难 | |
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91
ascertaining
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的现在分词 ) | |
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92
seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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93
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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94
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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95
glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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96
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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97
havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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98
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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99
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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100
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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101
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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102
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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103
peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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104
embedded
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| a.扎牢的 | |
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105
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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106
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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107
devastation
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| n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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108
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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109
crater
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| n.火山口，弹坑 | |
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110
circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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111
metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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112
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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113
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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114
abounded
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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115
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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116
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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117
marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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118
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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119
debris
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| n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片 | |
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120
relic
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| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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121
rusted
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| v.（使）生锈( rust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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122
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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123
alloy
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| n.合金，(金属的)成色 | |
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124
aluminium
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| n.铝 (=aluminum) | |
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125
silicon
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| n.硅(旧名矽) | |
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126
tenacity
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| n.坚韧 | |
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127
mangled
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| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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128
embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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129
brackish
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| adj.混有盐的；咸的 | |
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130
embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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131
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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132
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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133
discredited
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| 不足信的，不名誉的 | |
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134
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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135
donor
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| n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体 | |
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136
entrust
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| v.信赖，信托，交托 | |
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137
deduction
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| n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎 | |
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138
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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139
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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140
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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141
illegibility
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| n.不清不楚，不可辨认，模糊 | |
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142
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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143
texture
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| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
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144
loom
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| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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145
archaeology
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| n.考古学 | |
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146
contractions
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| n.收缩( contraction的名词复数 )；缩减；缩略词；（分娩时）子宫收缩 | |
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147
consecutive
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| adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的 | |
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148
mashed
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| a.捣烂的 | |
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149
tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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150
illegible
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| adj.难以辨认的，字迹模糊的 | |
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151
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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152
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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153
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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154
intentionally
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| ad.故意地，有意地 | |
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