‘Who’s there?’
‘I, Charles. I have news for you.’
‘Come in, come in!’
I entered and found Wilfrid in his bunk3 propped4 up on his elbow, his eyes looking twice their natural size with the intensity5 of his stare, and one long uncouth6 leg already flung over the edge so that his posture7 was as if he had been suddenly paralysed whilst in the act of springing on to the deck.
‘What news in the name of heaven? Quick, now, like a dear boy!’
‘There’s a schooner8-yacht uncommonly10 like your “Shark” away down on the lee bow visible from aloft.’
He whipped his other leg out of bed and sat bold upright. I had expected some extravagance of behaviour in him on his hearing this, but greatly to my surprise he sat silent in his bunk eyeing me, his brow dark and his lips moving for several seconds, which might have been minutes for the time they seemed to run into.
‘What is to-day, Charles?’
‘Thursday.’
‘Ha! It should be Monday. That light last night was an[157] omen11, as I told you. I knew some great event could not be far off.’ His eyes kindled12 under their quivering lids and an odd smile twisted his mouth into the expression of a sarcastic13 grin. It was as ugly a look in him as I had ever seen, and it gained heavily in the effect it produced by his comparatively quiet manner.
‘We are heading directly for her, of course?’
‘Finn has her about two points on the lee bow,’ said I.
‘Will that do?’ he exclaimed.
‘Why, yes; hold a weather-gage of the chase, it is said; though I think we shall be having a northerly blast upon us before the sun touches his meridian15.’
‘Is she the “Shark,” Charles?’
‘You know I never saw the vessel16, Wilf. But Finn and the chap on the yard seem to have no doubt of her, and the skipper ought to know anyway.’
On this he leapt to the deck with a cry of laughter, and coming up to me let fall his hand heavily upon my shoulder with such a grip of it that, spite of my having my coat on, it ached after he had let go like an attack of rheumatism17. ‘Now what say you?’ said he, stooping, for he was a taller man than I, and peering and grinning close into my face. ‘You looked upon this chase as a crazy undertaking18, didn’t you? The sea was such a mighty19 circle, Charles! the biggest ship in the world but an insignificant20 speck21 upon it, hey?’
He let go of me and brought his hands together, extending and slowly beating the air with them, with his body rocking. I awaited some passionate22 outfly, but whether his thoughts were too deep for words or that he was satisfied to think what at another time he might have stormed out with, he held his peace. Presently and very suddenly he abandoned his singular attitude and fell to collecting articles of his clothing which he pulled on as though he would tear them to pieces.
‘I’ll be with you on deck immediately,’ said I, going to the door. But he did not seem to know that I was present; all the time he strained and dragged at his clothes he talked to himself rapidly, fiercely; pausing once to smite23 his thigh24 with his open hand; following this on with a low, deep laugh, like that of a sleeper25 dreaming.
Well, thought I, as I stepped out and went to my berth, whether it prove the ‘Shark’ or not we shall have to ‘stand by,’ as Finn hinted, for some queer displays to-day. I met Miss Jennings’ maid in the cabin and asked if she was going to her mistress. She replied yes. ‘Then,’ said I, ‘give her my compliments and tell her that we have raised a large schooner-yacht during the night, and that Finn seems to think she is the “Shark.”’
As I entered my berth I caught myself smiling over my fancy of the look that would come into the sweet girl’s face when her maid gave her the message; the brilliant gleam of mingled26 alarm, temper, astonishment27 in her eyes, the sudden flush of her cheek[158] and its paleness afterwards, the consternation28 in the set of her lips and the agitation29 of her little hands like the fluttering of falling snow-flakes as she dressed. But in good sooth I too was feeling mightily30 excited once more; I had cooled down somewhat since going on deck and viewing the distant sail from the masthead; now that I was alone and could muse31, my pulse rose with my imaginations till it almost came to my thinking of myself as on the eve of some desperate and bloody32 business, boarding a pirate, say, with the chance of a live slow match in his magazine, or cutting out something heavily armed and full of men under a castle bristling33 with artillery34. Supposing the craft to be the ‘Shark,’ what was to be the issue? The ‘Bride’ would be recognised; and Hope-Kennedy was not likely, as I might take it, to let us float alongside of him if he could help it. Suppose we maimed her and compelled her to bring to; what then? I had asked Finn this question long before, and he had said it would not come to a hand-to-hand struggle. But how could he tell? If we offered to board they might threaten to fire into us, and a single shot, let alone a wounded or a killed man, might raise blood enough to end in as grim an affray as ever British colours floated over. Small wonder that my excitement rose with all these fancies and speculations36. And then again, supposing the stranger to be the ‘Shark,’ there was (to me) the astonishing coincidence of falling in with her—picking her up, indeed, as though we had been steered37 dead into her wake by some spirit hand instead of blundering on her through a stroke of luck, which had no more reference to Finn’s calculations, and suppositions and hopings, than to the indications of the nose of our chaste38 and gilded39 figure-head.
When I went on deck I spied Wilfrid coming down the forerigging. He held on very tightly and felt about with his sprawling40 feet with uncommon9 cautiousness for the ratlines ere relaxing his grip of the shrouds41. Finn was immediately under him, standing42 by, perhaps, to shoulder him up if he should turn dizzy. They reached the deck and came aft.
‘She’s not yet in sight from the cross-trees,’ exclaimed Wilfrid, puffing43 and irritable44 from nervousness and exertion45 and disappointment, ‘and I can’t climb higher.’
‘If she’s the “Shark,”’ said I, ‘you’re not going to raise her upon the horizon as if she were a beacon46. But there’s a spread of wings here that she can’t show anyhow, and it will be strange if her white plumes47 are not nodding above that blue edge by noon.’
‘Ay, sir,’ rumbled48 Finn, ‘specially with that coming along,’ pointing to the north, where the weather looked heavy and smoky and thunderous with a purple rounding of shadow upon the sea-line and a hot-looking copperish light flowing off the jagged summits into the dusty blue as though it were sundown that was reflected there, whilst the troubled roll of the swell49 out of the shadow on the ocean put a finishing touch to the countenance50 of storm you found spreading astern from north-east to north-west. ‘There’ll be wind enough[159] there, sir,’ said Finn, keeping his square-ended stumpy fore14-finger levelled, ‘to give us white water to above our bow ports anon, or I’m a codfish.’
Wilfrid turned about and fell to pacing the deck; he struck out as though walking for a wager51, tossing his legs and swinging his arms and measuring the planks52 from the wheel to very nearly abreast53 of the galley54. Such of the sailors as were to windward slided to the other side, where you saw them exchanging looks though there was no want of respect in their manner, but on the contrary an air of active sympathy as if they were getting to master the full meaning of the existence of that sail below the horizon by observing how the report of it worked in the baronet.
‘We must try and raise her,’ muttered Finn in my ear, ‘if only to pacify55 his honour by the sight of her. He can’t climb, and he’ll go out of himself if he don’t see her soon.’
‘But do you gain on her!’
‘Why, yes, she is visible from the cross-trees already. But Sir Wilfrid can’t get so high.’ Well, thought I, this should surely signify slower heels than the ‘Shark’ is allowed to have.
I went to the taffrail and overhung it, watching the sky astern with an occasional mechanical glance at the wool-white spin of the wake gushing56 over the surface of the jumble57 of the swell like steam from the funnel58 of a locomotive. It was blowing a fresh wind, though I guessed it would slacken away soon to pipe up in a fresh slant59 presently. The yacht was a great fabric60 of cloths, every stitch abroad that would hold air, and she drove through it humming, troubled as she was by the irregular heave of the sea. In fact her movements were so awkward as to render walking inconvenient61, and nothing, I believe, but the not knowing what he was about could have furnished Wilfrid with his steady shanks that morning. It was like a bit of sleep-walking, indeed, where a man who awake could not look down forty feet without desiring to cast himself out of a window, safely and exquisitely62 treads a narrow ledge63 of roof as high as the top of London Monument.
I was startled from my reverie by an exclamation64, and turning, saw him hastily approaching Miss Jennings, who had just arrived on deck. He came to her with his arms extended as though he would embrace her.
‘Laura, have you heard?’
‘Is it the “Shark,” Wilfrid?’
‘Finn says yes. She exactly answers to the “Shark’s” description. Hereabouts she should be, this is her track,—yes, yes, it is the “Shark.” Would God it were Monday!’ Then, seeing me looking, he bawled65, ‘Eh, Charles, what other ship should she prove? Fore and aft—fore and aft, of the “Shark’s” burthen, as you and Finn say, a schooner, a pleasure craft by the colour of her canvas—’ his face suddenly darkened, and he said something to Miss Jennings, but what I could not gather. She half turned away as if overcome by a sudden sense of sickness or faintness; the[160] effect of some expression of fierce joy, I dare say, on his part, some savage66 whisper of assurance that his opportunity was not far distant now which acted upon her nervous system that trembled yet to the surprise of the news I had sent her through her maid. There was something so sad and appealing in her beauty just then that but for the feelings it possessed67 me with I might scarcely have suspected what a lover’s heart I already carried in my breast for her. The troubled sweetness of her glances, her pale cheeks and lips, the swift rise and fall of her bosom68, betokened69 consternation and the conflict of many emotions and, as I could not but think, a subduing70 sense of loneliness. Well, I must say I loved her the better for this weakness of spirit, for this recoil71 from the confrontment that she had been endeavouring to persuade herself she was looking forward to with a longing72 for it only a little less venomous than Wilfrid’s. Nothing, I had thought again and again, but the soul of a fond, tender, chaste woman, gentle in mind and of a nature loveable, with the best weaknesses of her sex, could go clad in such graces as she walked in withal from her topmost curl of gold to the full, firm, elegant little foot on which she seemed to float to the buoyant measures of the yacht’s deck.
Wilfrid addressed her again hurriedly and eagerly with the gesticulations of a Jew in a passion. She answered softly, continuously sending scared looks over the yacht’s bow. I heard him name his wife, but it was not for me to join them nor to listen, so I overhung the taffrail afresh, observing that even now there was a noticeable weakening in the weight of the wind, whilst the swing of the swell from a little to the westward73 of north was growing more regular, a longer and fuller heave with an opalescent74 glance in the vapour immediately over the sea-line as though the weather was clearing past the rim35 of the ocean.
‘Mr. Monson.’
I turned. Miss Laura stood by my side. Wilfrid had left the deck. ‘Is that vessel, that is said to be ahead of us, the ‘Shark,’ do you think?’
‘I wish I knew positively75 for your sake, that I might relieve your anxiety.’
‘If she should prove to be the vessel that my sister is in’—she drew a long, tremulous breath—‘it will be a marvellous meeting, for I feel now as you have felt all through—now that that yacht is in sight from the mast up there—that this ocean is a vast wilderness76.’ She slowly ran her eyes, which were still charged with their scared look, along the sea-line.
‘Well, Miss Jennings, hanging and marriage go by destiny, they say, and so does chasing a wife at sea apparently77. I give you my word I am so excited I can scarcely talk.’
‘But it may not be the ‘Shark.’’
‘Why, no.’
‘I hope it is not,’ she cried, starting to the rise in her voice with a glance at the helmsman, who stood near us.
[161]
‘I can see that in your face,’ said I.
‘Oh, I hope it is not, and yet I want it to be the “Shark” too. Wilfrid must recover Henrietta. But it makes my heart stand still to think of our meeting. Oh, her shame! her shame! and then to find me here. And what is to happen?’
‘Best let that craft turn out to be the “Shark” though,’ said I. ‘Here we are with a programme of rambles78 that threatens the world’s end if we don’t fall in with the Colonel. Keep your heart up,’ said I gently. ‘What have you to fear? It is for the galled79 jade80 to wince81. Why t’other night you would have shot Hope-Kennedy had he stood up before you.’
She tried to smile, but the movement of her lips swiftly faded out into their expression of grief and consternation.
‘I will play my part,’ she exclaimed, twisting her ring upon her finger. ‘If my sister refuses to leave Colonel Hope-Kennedy I have made up my mind not to leave her. Where she goes I’ll go.’
‘I hope not,’ I interrupted, ‘for it might come, Miss Jennings, to my saying that where you go I’ll go, and the Colonel may have rather curious views on the subject of guests.’
‘You said you were too excited to talk,’ she exclaimed with a little colour mounting. ‘It may be that I am stupidly influenced by old memories. I was always afraid of Henrietta. She had an imperious manner, and an old lord whom I met at your cousin’s—I forget his name—told Wilfrid that her eyes made him think of Mrs. Siddons in her finest scenes. I fear her influence upon me when I begin to entreat82 her. I know how she will look.’
‘All this is mere83 nervousness,’ said I. ‘You thought of these things before, yet you are here. Besides, the sense of wrong-doing will mightily weaken the genius of wizardry in her—her power at least of exercising it and subduing by it—subduing even you, the tenderest and gentlest of girls; or depend on’t she’s no true member of your sex, but one of those demon-women whom Coleridge describes as wailing84 for their, or rather in her case for new, lovers.’
She made no reply. Shortly afterwards the breakfast bell summoned us below.
At table Wilfrid spoke85 little, but his manner was collected; whether it was that excitement was languishing86 in him or that he had managed to master himself, what he said was rational, his words and manner unclouded by that hectic87 which was wont88 to give the countenance of a high fever to all he said and did when anything happened to stir him up. He was stern and thoughtful, and it was easy to see that he accepted the vessel ahead as the ‘Shark,’ and that he was settling his plans. I was heartily89 grateful for this posture in him. I never knew anyone so fatiguing90 with his restlessness as my cousin. Half an hour of his company when he was much excited left one as tired, dry, and hollow as a four hours’ argument with an illogical man. He was too much preoccupied91 to notice how pale and subdued92 and scared Miss Laura[162] was, struggle as she might in his presence to seem otherwise. I talked very cautiously for fear of provoking a discussion that might heat him. Once he asked me in an angry, twitting way, as though to the heave-up within him of a sudden mood of wrath93 with a parcel of words atop which were bound to find the road out, whether I felt disposed now to challenge his judgment94, whether I was still of opinion that the ocean was too wide a field for such a chase as this, and so on, proceeding95 steadily96 but with rising warmth through the catalogue of my early objections to the voyage, but instead of answering him I praised the bit of virgin97 corned beef off which I was breakfasting, wondered why it was that poultry98 was always insipid99 at sea, and so forced him back into his dark and collected silence or obliged him to quit his subject.
However, his inability to keep his attention long fixed100 helped me here, for he never attempted to pick up the end of the thread I had cut, though, little as he spoke, two-thirds of what he delivered himself of might have been worked into hot arguments but for my cautious answers.
I was not surprised on going on deck to find the wind no more than a light draught101 with the main boom swinging to the long roll of the yacht and the canvas flapping with vicious snaps at sheet and yard-arm. The water seemed to wash thick as oil from the yacht’s sides, a dirty blue that went into an oozy102 sort of green northwards. There was a deadness in the lift of the swell that made you think of an idiot shouldering his way through a crowd, and the eye sought in vain for a streak103 of foam104 for the relief of the crisp vitality105 of it.
‘Is that wind or thunder, think you, Mr. Crimp?’ said I to the mate, whom I found in charge, whilst I pointed106 to the heaped-up folds of cloud astern, the brows of which were not far off the central sky that, spite of the sunshine, was blurred107 to the very luminary108 himself with the shadow in the north and with tatters and curls and streaks109 of rusty110 brassish vapour risen off the line of the main body and sulkily floating southwards.
‘Wind or thunder?’ answered Crimp with a dull, indifferent look; ‘well, ’tain’t tufted enough for thunder, but there’ll be a breeze, I allow, behind this here swell.’
‘Are we rising the chap ahead?’
‘Not noticeably. She’ll have to shift her hellum for us for that to happen at this pace,’ sending an askew111 glance over the side. I was leaving him. ‘Heard any more woices?’ he asked.
‘No, have you?’
‘No, and don’t want to. It’s been a puzzling me, though,’ he exclaimed, mumbling112 over a quid the juice of which had stained the corners of his mouth into so sour a sneer113 that no artist could have painted it better. ‘Tell’ee what it is. I’m a-going to believe in ghosts.’
‘You can’t do better,’ said I; ‘get hold of a ghost and it will explain everything for you.’
[163]
‘Well, ’taint a childish notion anyhow. There’s first class folks as believes in sperrits. What’s a ghost like? Ne’er a man as I’ve asked forrads knows saving the mute, who describes it as a houtline.’
‘What’s inside his outline?’ I asked.
‘Why, that there Muffin can’t get further than that. I says to him, how can a houtline speak? Look here, says he, answer me this: suppose ye takes a bottle and sucks out all the air from inside of it, what’s left? A wacuum, says I. And what’s a wacuum? says he. Why, I says, says I, space, ain’t it? I says. And what’s space? says he. Why nothen, I suppose, I says, says I. Then, says he, how can nothen exist? And yet, says he, it do exist, because ye can point to the bottle and say there it is. So with a ghost, says he; it’s a houtline with nothen inside it if you like, but it’s as real in its emptiness as the inside of a bottle with nothen in it.’
At any other time I should have hugely enjoyed an argument with this acrid114 old sailor on such a subject as ghosts. There is no company to my taste to equal that of a sour, prejudiced, ignorant salt of matured years, whose knowledge of life has been gained by looking at the world through a ship’s hawse pipe, and who is full to the throat with the sayings and the superstitions115 of the forecastle. Jacob Crimp was such a man. Indeed he was the best example of the kind that I can recollect116, thanks, perhaps, to the help he got from his queer sea-eyes, glutinous117 in appearance as a jelly-fish, one peering athwart the other with a look of quarrelling about them that most happily corresponded with the sulky expression of his face and the growl118 of his voice that was like a sea-blessing. But it was impossible to think of the schooner ahead and talk with this man about ghosts. I left him and got into the fore-shrouds and ascended119 to the cross-trees, where, receiving the glass from the fellow on the yard above, I took a view of the sea over the bow, and caught plainly the canvas of the vessel we were heading for,—her mainsail visible to the boom of it with a glimpse of her bowsprit end wriggling120 off into the dusky blue air at every rise of her bow to the lift of the swell. I noticed, however, that she had taken in her main gaff topsail, possibly with an eye to the weather astern; but it was a thing to set me problemising. Supposing her to be the ‘Shark,’ either she had not yet sighted us or she had no suspicion of us. Fidler, her captain, would, when we showed fair, be pretty sure to twig121 us by our rig; but was it likely that the Colonel and Lady Monson would gravely suppose that Wilfrid had started in chase of them? That, indeed, might depend upon whether her ladyship had missed the Colonel’s letter to her, which my cousin had asked me to read. Well, we should have to wait a little. My heart beat briskly as I descended to the deck. Put yourself in my place, and think of the sort of excitement that was threatened before that morning sun shining up there had set!
Half an hour later the weak draught had died out; the rolling[164] of the ‘Bride’ was putting a voice of thunder into her canvas, and the strain on hemp122 and spar presently obliged old Crimp to take in his studdingsails, which he followed on by ordering the topgallant-sail to be rolled up and the gaff topsail hauled down. Wilfrid, who had arrived on deck, stood haggardly eyeing these man?uvres, but he said nothing, contenting himself with an occasional look, as dark as the shadow astern of us, at the weather there, and a fretful stride to the rail and a stormy stare at the sallow oil-smooth water that came swelling123 to the counter and washing the length of the little ship in a manner that made her stagger at times most abominably124.
‘Let that vessel prove what she may,’ said I, sitting down on a grating abaft125 the wheel close to which he was standing, ‘we appear to have the heels of her in light airs, however it may be with her in a breeze of wind.’
‘How do you know?’ he inquired in a churchyard note.
‘Why,’ said I, ‘I was just now in the crosstrees and found her showing fair from them, whereas before breakfast she was only visible from the topgallantyard.’
He looked at me with a heavy, leaden eye, and said, ‘A plague on the wind! It has all gone; just when we want it too.’
‘We shall have a capful anon,’ I exclaimed; ‘no need to whistle for it. Mark how it brightens down upon the sea-line yonder as that shadow floats upwards126. That means wind enough to whiten this tumbling oiliness for us.’
He directed his gaze in a mechanical way towards the quarter in which I was looking, but said nothing. Miss Jennings came out of the companion. I took her hand and brought her to the grating.
‘A strange, oppressive calm,’ she cried; ‘how sickly the sunshine is! Nature looks to be in as dull a mood as we are.’
‘Wilf,’ said I, ‘if that schooner is the “Shark,” what will you do?’
‘What would you do?’ he answered sternly, as though he imagined I quizzed him, when God knows I was in a more sober and anxious humour than I can express.
‘Well,’ said I very quietly and gravely, ‘when I got my yacht within reach of her glasses, if I could manage it, I should signal that I wanted to speak her.’
‘Quite right; that’s what I shall do,’ said he.
‘But after!’ I exclaimed.
‘After what?’ he cried.
‘Why, confound it, Wilf, suppose she makes no response, holds on all, as we say at sea, and bowls along without taking the slightest notice of us.’
He approached me close, laid his great hand upon my shoulder and thrust his long arm forth127 straight as a handspike pointing to the forecastle gun. ‘There’s my answer to that,’ he cried in my ear in a voice as disagreeable as the sound of a saw with irritability;[165] ‘you wished me to strike it down into the hold, d’ye remember? you were for ridiculing128 it from the moment of your catching129 sight of it; yet without that messenger to deliver my mind what answer would there be to the question you have just now put? Oh my God,’ he suddenly cried, smiting130 his forehead, ‘I feel as if I shall go mad.’
He crossed to the other side of the deck and paced it alone. Miss Jennings was too much dejected by all this, by the excitement of the time, by nervousness, grief, anxiety, to converse131; nor, indeed, was my mood a very sociable132 one. I procured133 a chair for her, and, presently found myself alone, as Wilfrid was, wishing from the very bottom of my heart that Colonel Hope-Kennedy was hanged, her ladyship in a lunatic asylum134, and myself in my old West End haunts again, though somehow a misgiving135 as to the accuracy of this last desire visited me on a sudden with the glance I just then happened to cast at Miss Laura, who sat with her hands folded upon her lap, her head bowed in a posture of meditation136 that took an indescribable character of pathos137 from the expression on her sweet face.
It was now a little after ten o’clock. Crimp, who was pacing near me that Wilfrid might have the whole range of the weather quarterdeck to himself, suddenly rumbled out, ‘Here comes the wind at last!’ The stern of the yacht was still upon the north, where, at the very verge138 of the waters which sluggishly139 heaved like molten lead under the dark canopy140 of vapour that overhung them, the sea was roughening and whitening to the whipping of wind which looked at that distance to be coming along in a straight line, though as it approached us I witnessed a strange effect of long fibrine feelers sweeping141 out of the hoarse142 and rushing ridges143 of foam which were seething144 towards us—like darting145 livid tongues of creatures hidden in the yeast146 behind tipped with froth that made one think of the slender stem of a vessel ripping through the surface. In a few minutes the boiling popple was all about us, hissing147 to our counter with a shriek148 of wind which flashed with such spite into the great space of mainsail and the whole spread of square topsail that the yacht for a moment was bowed down to her ways, fair as it took her on her quarter. An instant she lay so, then came surging back to an almost level deck with her rigging alive as with the ringing of bells, took a sudden plunge149 forward, throwing from either bow a mass of creaming sea the summit of which went spinning like a snowstorm ahead of her, then gathering150 impulse in a long, floating, launching plunge as it were, she went sliding through it faster and faster yet till she had a wake like a millrace in chase of her.
It was a scene full of the life and spirit and reality of the ocean after the spell of sulky calm with its dingy151 northern heaving of water and its haze152 of weak, moist sunlight in the south and east. Finn to the first of the blast came on deck and fell a-bawling, the sailors sprang from rope to rope with lively heartiness153, the slack running gear blew out in semicircles, which with the curve of the canvas and the lean of the masts as the yacht swept forward with the brine boiling high along her, gave a wild, expectant, headlong[166] look to the whole rushing fabric, something indeed to make one fancy that the spirit of her owner, the expression of whose face had her own strained, eager, rushing air, so to speak, had passed into and vitalised her—mere structure of timber as she was—into passionate human yearnings.
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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omen
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| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
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kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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meridian
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| adj.子午线的；全盛期的 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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21
speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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22
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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23
smite
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| v.重击；彻底击败；n.打；尝试；一点儿 | |
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24
thigh
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| n.大腿；股骨 | |
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25
sleeper
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| n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺 | |
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26
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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27
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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28
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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29
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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30
mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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31
muse
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| n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感 | |
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32
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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33
bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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34
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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35
rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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36
speculations
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| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
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37
steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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38
chaste
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| adj.贞洁的；有道德的；善良的；简朴的 | |
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39
gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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40
sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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41
shrouds
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| n.裹尸布( shroud的名词复数 )；寿衣；遮蔽物；覆盖物v.隐瞒( shroud的第三人称单数 )；保密 | |
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42
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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43
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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44
irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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45
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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46
beacon
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| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
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47
plumes
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| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
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48
rumbled
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| 发出隆隆声，发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 轰鸣着缓慢行进； 发现…的真相； 看穿（阴谋） | |
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49
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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50
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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51
wager
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| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
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52
planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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53
abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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54
galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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55
pacify
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| vt.使(某人)平静(或息怒)；抚慰 | |
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56
gushing
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| adj.迸出的；涌出的；喷出的；过分热情的v.喷，涌( gush的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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57
jumble
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| vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆 | |
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58
funnel
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| n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集 | |
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59
slant
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| v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向 | |
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60
fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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61
inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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62
exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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63
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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64
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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65
bawled
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| v.大叫，大喊( bawl的过去式和过去分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物） | |
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66
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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67
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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68
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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69
betokened
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| v.预示，表示( betoken的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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70
subduing
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| 征服( subdue的现在分词 )； 克制； 制服； 色变暗 | |
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71
recoil
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| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
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72
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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73
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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74
opalescent
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| adj.乳色的，乳白的 | |
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75
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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76
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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77
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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78
rambles
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| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的第三人称单数 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
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79
galled
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| v.使…擦痛( gall的过去式和过去分词 )；擦伤；烦扰；侮辱 | |
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80
jade
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| n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠 | |
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81
wince
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| n.畏缩，退避，（因痛苦，苦恼等)面部肌肉抽动；v.畏缩，退缩，退避 | |
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82
entreat
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| v.恳求，恳请 | |
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83
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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84
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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85
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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86
languishing
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| a. 衰弱下去的 | |
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87
hectic
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| adj.肺病的；消耗热的；发热的；闹哄哄的 | |
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88
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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89
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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90
fatiguing
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| a.使人劳累的 | |
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91
preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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92
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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93
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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94
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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95
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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96
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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97
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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98
poultry
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| n.家禽，禽肉 | |
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99
insipid
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| adj.无味的，枯燥乏味的，单调的 | |
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100
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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101
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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102
oozy
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| adj.软泥的 | |
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103
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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104
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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105
vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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106
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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107
blurred
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| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
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108
luminary
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| n.名人，天体 | |
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109
streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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110
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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111
askew
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| adv.斜地；adj.歪斜的 | |
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112
mumbling
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 ) | |
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113
sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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114
acrid
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| adj.辛辣的，尖刻的，刻薄的 | |
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115
superstitions
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| 迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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116
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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117
glutinous
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| adj.粘的，胶状的 | |
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118
growl
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| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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119
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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120
wriggling
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）；蠕蠕 | |
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121
twig
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| n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解 | |
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122
hemp
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| n.大麻；纤维 | |
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123
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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124
abominably
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| adv. 可恶地，可恨地，恶劣地 | |
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125
abaft
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| prep.在…之后；adv.在船尾，向船尾 | |
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126
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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127
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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128
ridiculing
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| v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的现在分词 ) | |
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129
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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130
smiting
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的现在分词 ) | |
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131
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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132
sociable
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| adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的 | |
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133
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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134
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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135
misgiving
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕 | |
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136
meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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137
pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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138
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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139
sluggishly
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| adv.懒惰地；缓慢地 | |
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140
canopy
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| n.天篷，遮篷 | |
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141
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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142
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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143
ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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144
seething
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| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
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145
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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146
yeast
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| n.酵母；酵母片；泡沫；v.发酵；起泡沫 | |
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147
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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148
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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149
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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150
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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151
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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152
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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153
heartiness
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| 诚实，热心 | |
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