CHAPTER XIII. THE END.

Frank was amazed at the cool nerve and effrontery¹ of the wretch². For a moment the young inventor was silent.

Then he said:

“You have one of our men in captivity³ here. I want him.”

The chief shook his head sullenly⁴.

“What?”

“Mebbe no.”

“Mebbe, yes!” cried Frank, angrily. “Come, I’ll blow you to perdition if you don’t give him up!”

“No can do dat.”

“Why?”

“White man killed!”

For a moment Frank reeled as if given a terrific blow. He turned ghastly pale. Then Gaston was dead.

“That is awful!” he thought.

But something in the Esquimau chief’s face caused him to start. He grasped the situation at once.

“You are lying!” he hissed⁵, leaning over the rail. “Give him up, or I’ll kill you and all your cowardly crew!”

The Esquimau chief laughed scornfully, and gave a peculiar⁶ cry. In a moment the vicinity was thronged⁷ with armed natives.

Frank saw that the crisis had come. There was no use in dallying⁸ further.

He picked up a bomb brought him by Barney and hurled⁹ it fairly into the midst of the murderous horde¹⁰.

In a flash there was a frightful¹¹ explosion. Heaps of dead and dying Esquimaux lay upon the ground.

The survivors¹² fled wildly. Frank leaped from the airship’s deck. He rushed into the nearest bough¹³ hut.

There was Gaston bound hand and foot.

“Thank God! you have come to save me!” cried the scientist. “You are none too soon!”

“But there is yet danger!” cried Frank. “Follow me quickly!”

To the airship they rushed. The Esquimaux were recovering and seemed ready to fight. But though he could have annihilated¹⁴ the whole gang, Frank did not wait for their attack.

Up into the air sprang the airship.

The course was at once set to the southward and for a week was firmly held. Then evidences of civilization appeared.

Canada was passed over, Lake Erie and then the United States was once more beneath the aerial voyagers.

Home again! There was an indescribable charm in the words.

The airship descended¹⁵ into Readestown one evening. The next morning every daily paper in the world was recording¹⁶ the return of the travelers from zone to zone.

James Spencer returned to his home where he was happily welcomed.

Professor Gaston took the first train to New York and reported to the committee of the scientific society.

The much-mooted question of the two Poles was settled forever. Professor Gaston was instantly made honorary member in every scientific society in the world.

Indeed, the honors thrust upon him were most burdensome.

Barney and Pomp were pleased to once more return to their duties in quiet old Readestown.

“I don’ fink I want berry much to do wif dem Arctic countries!” Pomp declared. “Dey am a pooty po’ place fo’ a live man.”

“Bejabers, I’m wid yez, naygur!” cried Barney. “Hurroo fer ould Oireland an’ Afriky!”

“And hurrah¹⁷ for America, the queen of all nations!” cried Frank Reade, Jr., with a laugh, for he had overheard them.

The Dart¹⁸ was at once taken to pieces. The strain of her long voyage would preclude¹⁹ any possibility of ever using her again.

But the young inventor had plenty of other plans to develop.

For many a day the famous trip of Frank Reade, Jr., and his airship, the Dart, from zone to zone, rang through the country.

But though this was certainly a most extraordinary feat²⁰, the young inventor had even mightier²¹ projects on hand, some of which the reader may hear of at a later day.

The End

1 effrontery   

n.厚颜无耻

参考例句：

• This is a despicable fraud . Just imagine that he has the effrontery to say it.这是一个可耻的骗局. 他竟然有脸说这样的话。
• One could only gasp at the sheer effrontery of the man.那人十足的厚颜无耻让人们吃惊得无话可说。

2 wretch   

n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人

参考例句：

• You are really an ungrateful wretch to complain instead of thanking him.你不但不谢他，还埋怨他，真不知好歹。
• The dead husband is not the dishonoured wretch they fancied him.死去的丈夫不是他们所想象的不光彩的坏蛋。

3 captivity   

n.囚禁；被俘；束缚

参考例句：

• A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
• He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。

4 sullenly   

不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地

参考例句：

• 'so what?" Tom said sullenly. “那又怎么样呢？”汤姆绷着脸说。
• Emptiness after the paper, I sIt'sullenly in front of the stove. 报看完，想不出能找点什么事做，只好一人坐在火炉旁生气。

5 hissed   

发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对

参考例句：

• Have you ever been hissed at in the middle of a speech? 你在演讲中有没有被嘘过？
• The iron hissed as it pressed the wet cloth. 熨斗压在湿布上时发出了嘶嘶声。

6 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

7 thronged   

v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Mourners thronged to the funeral. 吊唁者蜂拥着前来参加葬礼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The department store was thronged with people. 百货商店挤满了人。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 dallying   

v.随随便便地对待( dally的现在分词 )；不很认真地考虑；浪费时间；调情

参考例句：

• They've been dallying with the idea for years. 他们多年来一直有这个想法，但从没有认真考虑过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This kind of dallying is, in a sense, optimal. 从某种意义上来说，这种延迟是最理想的。 来自互联网

9 hurled   

v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂

参考例句：

• He hurled a brick through the window. 他往窗户里扔了块砖。
• The strong wind hurled down bits of the roof. 大风把屋顶的瓦片刮了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 horde   

n.群众，一大群

参考例句：

• A horde of children ran over the office building.一大群孩子在办公大楼里到处奔跑。
• Two women were quarrelling on the street,surrounded by horde of people.有两个妇人在街上争吵，被一大群人围住了。

11 frightful   

adj.可怕的；讨厌的

参考例句：

• How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊！
• We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。

12 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

13 bough   

n.大树枝，主枝

参考例句：

• I rested my fishing rod against a pine bough.我把钓鱼竿靠在一棵松树的大树枝上。
• Every bough was swinging in the wind.每条树枝都在风里摇摆。

14 annihilated   

v.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃

参考例句：

• Our soldiers annihilated a force of three hundred enemy troops. 我军战士消灭了300名敌军。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We annihilated the enemy. 我们歼灭了敌人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 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。

16 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

17 hurrah   

int.好哇，万岁，乌拉

参考例句：

• We hurrah when we see the soldiers go by.我们看到士兵经过时向他们欢呼。
• The assistants raised a formidable hurrah.助手们发出了一片震天的欢呼声。

18 dart   

v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲

参考例句：

• The child made a sudden dart across the road.那小孩突然冲过马路。
• Markov died after being struck by a poison dart.马尔科夫身中毒镖而亡。

19 preclude   

vt.阻止，排除，防止；妨碍

参考例句：

• We try to preclude any possibility of misunderstanding.我们努力排除任何误解的可能性。
• My present finances preclude the possibility of buying a car.按我目前的财务状况我是不可能买车的。

20 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

21 mightier   

adj. 强有力的，强大的，巨大的 adv. 很，极其

参考例句：

• But it ever rises up again, stronger, firmer, mightier. 但是，这种组织总是重新产生，并且一次比一次更强大，更坚固，更有力。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言
• Do you believe that the pen is mightier than the sword? 你相信笔杆的威力大于武力吗？