Entering that gable-ended Spouter-Inn, you found yourself in a wide, low, straggling entry with old-fashioned wainscots, reminding one of the bulwarks1 of some condemned2 old craft. On one side hung a very large oil painting so thoroughly3 besmoked, and every way defaced, that in the unequal crosslights by which you viewed it, it was only by diligent4 study and a series of systematic5 visits to it, and careful inquiry6 of the neighbors, that you could any way arrive at an understanding of its purpose. Such unaccountable masses of shades and shadows, that at first you almost thought some ambitious young artist, in the time of the New England hags, had endeavored to delineate chaos8 bewitched. But by dint9 of much and earnest contemplation, and oft repeated ponderings, and especially by throwing open the little window towards the back of the entry, you at last come to the conclusion that such an idea, however wild, might not be altogether unwarranted.
But what most puzzled and confounded you was a long, limber, portentous10, black mass of something hovering11 in the centre of the picture over three blue, dim, perpendicular12 lines floating in a nameless yeast13. A boggy14, soggy, squitchy picture truly, enough to drive a nervous man distracted. Yet was there a sort of indefinite, half-attained, unimaginable sublimity15 about it that fairly froze you to it, till you involuntarily took an oath with yourself to find out what that marvellous painting meant. Ever and anon a bright, but, alas17, deceptive18 idea would dart19 you through.-- It's the Black Sea in a midnight gale20.--It's the unnatural21 combat of the four primal22 elements.--It's a blasted heath.-- It's a Hyperborean winter scene.--It's the breaking-up of the icebound stream of Time. But at last all these fancies yielded to that one portentous something in the picture's midst. That once found out, and all the rest were plain. But stop; does it not bear a faint resemblance to a gigantic fish? even the great leviathan himself?
In fact, the artist's design seemed this: a final theory of my own, partly based upon the aggregated23 opinions of many aged24 persons with whom I conversed25 upon the subject. The picture represents a Cape26-Horner in a great hurricane; the half-foundered ship weltering there with its three dismantled27 masts alone visible; and an exasperated28 whale, purposing to spring clean over the craft, is in the enormous act of impaling29 himself upon the three mast-heads.
The opposite wall of this entry was hung all over with a heathenish array of monstrous30 clubs and spears. Some were thickly set with glittering teeth resembling ivory saws; others were tufted with knots of human hair; and one was sickle-shaped, with a vast handle sweeping31 round like the segment made in the new-mown grass by a long-armed mower32. You shuddered33 as you gazed, and wondered what monstrous cannibal and savage34 could ever have gone a death-harvesting with such a hacking35, horrifying36 implement37. Mixed with these were rusty38 old whaling lances and harpoons39 all broken and deformed41. Some were storied weapons. With this once long lance, now wildly elbowed, fifty years ago did Nathan Swain kill fifteen whales between a sunrise and a sunset. And that harpoon40--so like a corkscrew now--was flung in Javan seas, and run away with by a whale, years afterwards slain42 off the Cape of Blanco. The original iron entered nigh the tail, and, like a restless needle sojourning in the body of a man, travelled full forty feet, and at last was found imbedded in the hump.
Crossing this dusky entry, and on through yon low-arched way-- cut through what in old times must have been a great central chimney with fireplaces all round--you enter the public room. A still duskier place is this, with such low ponderous43 beams above, and such old wrinkled planks44 beneath, that you would almost fancy you trod some old craft's cockpits, especially of such a howling night, when this corner-anchored old ark rocked so furiously. On one side stood a long, low, shelf-like table covered with cracked glass cases, filled with dusty rarities gathered from this wide world's remotest nooks. Projecting from the further angle of the room stands a dark-looking den--the bar--a rude attempt at a right whale's head. Be that how it may, there stands the vast arched bone of the whale's jaw46, so wide, a coach might almost drive beneath it. Within are shabby shelves, ranged round with old decanters, bottles, flasks48; and in those jaws49 of swift destruction, like another cursed Jonah (by which name indeed they called him), bustles50 a little withered51 old man, who, for their money, dearly sells the sailors deliriums and death.
Abominable52 are the tumblers into which he pours his poison. Though true cylinders53 without--within, the villanous green goggling54 glasses deceitfully tapered55 downwards56 to a cheating bottom. Parallel meridians57 rudely pecked into the glass, surround these footpads' goblets58. Fill to this mark, and your charge is but a penny; to this a penny more; and so on to the full glass-- the Cape Horn measure, which you may gulp59 down for a shilling.
Upon entering the place I found a number of young seamen60 gathered about a table, examining by a dim light divers61 specimens62 of skrimshander. I sought the landlord, and telling him I desired to be accommodated with a room, received for answer that his house was full-- not a bed unoccupied. "But avast," he added, tapping his forehead, "you haint no objections to sharing a harpooneer's blanket, have ye? I s'pose you are goin' a-whalin', so you'd better get used to that sort of thing."
I told him that I never liked to sleep two in a bed; that if I should ever do so, it would depend upon who the harpooneer might be, and that if he (the landlord) really had no other place for me, and the harpooneer was not decidedly objectionable, why rather than wander further about a strange town on so bitter a night, I would put up with the half of any decent man's blanket.
"I thought so. All right; take a seat. Supper?--you want supper? Supper'll be ready directly."
I sat down on an old wooden settle, carved all over like a bench on the Battery. At one end a ruminating63 tar16 was still further adorning64 it with his jack-knife, stooping over and diligently65 working away at the space between his legs. He was trying his hand at a ship under full sail, but he didn't make much headway, I thought.
At last some four or five of us were summoned to our meal in an adjoining room. It was cold as Iceland-- no fire at all--the landlord said he couldn't afford it. Nothing but two dismal66 tallow candles, each in a winding67 sheet. We were fain to button up our monkey jackets, and hold to our lips cups of scalding tea with our half frozen fingers. But the fare was of the most substantial kind--not only meat and potatoes, but dumplings; good heavens! dumplings for supper! One young fellow in a green box coat, addressed himself to these dumplings in a most direful manner.
"My boy," said the landlord, "you'll have the nightmare to a dead sartainty."
"Landlord," I whispered, "that aint the harpooneer is it?"
"Oh, no," said he, looking a sort of diabolically68 funny, "the harpooneer is a dark complexioned69 chap. He never eats dumplings, he don't-- he eats nothing but steaks, and he likes 'em rare."
"The devil he does," says I. "Where is that harpooneer? Is he here?"
"He'll be here afore long," was the answer.
I could not help it, but I began to feel suspicious of this "dark complexioned" harpooneer. At any rate, I made up my mind that if it so turned out that we should sleep together, he must undress and get into bed before I did.
Supper over, the company went back to the bar-room, when, knowing not what else to do with myself, I resolved to spend the rest of the evening as a looker on.
Presently a rioting noise was heard without. Starting up, the landlord cried, "That's the Grampus's crew. I seed her reported in the offing this morning; a three years' voyage, and a full ship. Hurrah71, boys; now we'll have the latest news from the Feegees."
A tramping of sea boots was heard in the entry; the door was flung open, and in rolled a wild set of mariners72 enough. Enveloped73 in their shaggy watch coats, and with their heads muffled74 in woollen comforters, all bedarned and ragged75, and their beards stiff with icicles, they seemed an eruption76 of bears from Labrador. They had just landed from their boat, and this was the first house they entered. No wonder, then, that they made a straight wake for the whale's mouth-- the bar--when the wrinkled little old Jonah, there officiating, soon poured them out brimmers all round. One complained of a bad cold in his head, upon which Jonah mixed him a pitch-like potion of gin and molasses, which he swore was a sovereign cure for all colds and catarrhs whatsoever77, never mind of how long standing7, or whether caught off the coast of Labrador, or on the weather side of an ice-island.
The liquor soon mounted into their heads, as it generally does even with the arrantest topers newly landed from sea, and they began capering78 about most obstreperously79.
I observed, however, that one of them held somewhat aloof80, and though he seemed desirous not to spoil the hilarity81 of his shipmates by his own sober face, yet upon the whole he refrained from making as much noise as the rest. This man interested me at once; and since the sea-gods had ordained82 that he should soon become my shipmate (though but a sleeping partner one, so far as this narrative83 is concerned), I will here venture upon a little description of him. He stood full six feet in height, with noble shoulders, and a chest like a coffer-dam. I have seldom seen such brawn84 in a man. His face was deeply brown and burnt, making his white teeth dazzling by the contrast; while in the deep shadows of his eyes floated some reminiscences that did not seem to give him much joy. His voice at once announced that he was a Southerner, and from his fine stature85, I thought he must be one of those tall mountaineers from the Alleghanian Ridge86 in Virginia. When the revelry of his companions had mounted to its height, this man slipped away unobserved, and I saw no more of him till he became my comrade on the sea. In a few minutes, however, he was missed by his shipmates, and being, it seems, for some reason a huge favorite with them, they raised a cry of "Bulkington! Bulkington! where's Bulkington?" and darted87 out of the house in pursuit of him.
It was now about nine o'clock, and the room seeming almost supernaturally quiet after these orgies, I began to congratulate myself upon a little plan that had occurred to me just previous to the entrance of the seamen.
No man prefers to sleep two in a bed. In fact, you would a good deal rather not sleep with your own brother. I don't know how it is, but people like to be private when they are sleeping. And when it comes to sleeping with an unknown stranger, in a strange inn, in a strange town, and that stranger a harpooneer, then your objections indefinitely multiply. Nor was there any earthly reason why I as a sailor should sleep two in a bed, more than anybody else; for sailors no more sleep two in a bed at sea, than bachelor Kings do ashore88. To be sure they all sleep together in one apartment, but you have your own hammock, and cover yourself with your own blanket, and sleep in your own skin.
The more I pondered over this harpooneer, the more I abominated89 the thought of sleeping with him. It was fair to presume that being a harpooneer, his linen90 or woollen, as the case might be, would not be of the tidiest, certainly none of the finest. I began to twitch91 all over. Besides, it was getting late, and my decent harpooneer ought to be home and going bedwards. Suppose now, he should tumble in upon me at midnight-- how could I tell from what vile92 hole he had been coming?
"Landlord! I've changed my mind about that harpooneer.-- I shan't sleep with him. I'll try the bench here."
"Just as you please; I'm sorry I cant47 spare ye a tablecloth93 for a mattress94, and it's a plaguy rough board here"--feeling of the knots and notches95. "But wait a bit, Skrimshander; I've got a carpenter's plane there in the bar--wait, I say, and I'll make ye snug96 enough." So saying he procured97 the plane; and with his old silk handkerchief first dusting the bench, vigorously set to planing away at my bed, the while grinning like an ape. The shavings flew right and left; till at last the plane-iron came bump against an indestructible knot. The landlord was near spraining98 his wrist, and I told him for heaven's sake to quit--the bed was soft enough to suit me, and I did not know how all the planing in the world could make eider down of a pine plank45. So gathering99 up the shavings with another grin, and throwing them into the great stove in the middle of the room, he went about his business, and left me in a brown study.
I now took the measure of the bench, and found that it was a foot too short; but that could be mended with a chair. But it was a foot too narrow, and the other bench in the room was about four inches higher than the planed one-- so there was no yoking100 them. I then placed the first bench lengthwise along the only clear space against the wall, leaving a little interval101 between, for my back to settle down in. But I soon found that there came such a draught102 of cold air over me from under the sill of the window, that this plan would never do at all, especially as another current from the rickety door met the one from the window, and both together formed a series of small whirlwinds in the immediate103 vicinity of the spot where I had thought to spend the night.
The devil fetch that harpooneer, thought I, but stop, couldn't I steal a march on him--bolt his door inside, and jump into his bed, not to be wakened by the most violent knockings? It seemed no bad idea but upon second thoughts I dismissed it. For who could tell but what the next morning, so soon as I popped out of the room, the harpooneer might be standing in the entry, all ready to knock me down!
Still looking around me again, and seeing no possible chance of spending a sufferable night unless in some other person's bed, I began to think that after all I might be cherishing unwarrantable prejudices against this unknown harpooneer. Thinks I, I'll wait awhile; he must be dropping in before long. I'll have a good look at him then, and perhaps we may become jolly good bedfellows after all--there's no telling.
But though the other boarders kept coming in by ones, twos, and threes, and going to bed, yet no sign of my harpooneer.
"Landlord! said I, "what sort of a chap is he--does he always keep such late hours?" It was now hard upon twelve o'clock.
The landlord chuckled105 again with his lean chuckle104, and seemed to be mightily106 tickled107 at something beyond my comprehension. "No," he answered, "generally he's an early bird--airley to bed and airley to rise--yea, he's the bird what catches the worm. But to-night he went out a peddling108, you see, and I don't see what on airth keeps him so late, unless, may be, he can't sell his head."
"Can't sell his head?--What sort of a bamboozingly story is this you are telling me?" getting into a towering rage. "Do you pretend to say, landlord, that this harpooneer is actually engaged this blessed Saturday night, or rather Sunday morning, in peddling his head around this town?"
"That's precisely109 it," said the landlord, "and I told him he couldn't sell it here, the market's overstocked."
"With what?" shouted I.
"With heads to be sure; ain't there too many heads in the world?"
"I tell you what it is, landlord," said I quite calmly, "you'd better stop spinning that yarn110 to me--I'm not green."
"May be not," taking out a stick and whittling111 a toothpick, "but I rayther guess you'll be done brown if that ere harpooneer hears you a slanderin' his head."
"I'll break it for him," said I, now flying into a passion again at this unaccountable farrago of the landlord's.
"It's broke a'ready," said he.
"Broke," said I--"broke, do you mean?"
"Sartain, and that's the very reason he can't sell it, I guess."
"Landlord," said I, going up to him as cool as Mt. Hecla in a snowstorm--"landlord, stop whittling. You and I must understand one another, and that too without delay. I come to your house and want a bed; you tell me you can only give me half a one; that the other half belongs to a certain harpooneer. And about this harpooneer, whom I have not yet seen, you persist in telling me the most mystifying and exasperating112 stories tending to beget113 in me an uncomfortable feeling towards the man whom you design for my bedfellow--a sort of connexion, landlord, which is an intimate and confidential114 one in the highest degree. I now demand of you to speak out and tell me who and what this harpooneer is, and whether I shall be in all respects safe to spend the night with him. And in the first place, you will be so good as to unsay that story about selling his head, which if true I take to be good evidence that this harpooneer is stark115 mad, and I've no idea of sleeping with a madman; and you, sir, you I mean, landlord, you, sir, by trying to induce me to do so knowingly would thereby116 render yourself liable to a criminal prosecution117."
"Wall," said the landlord, fetching a long breath, "that's a purty long sarmon for a chap that rips a little now and then. But be easy, be easy, this here harpooneer I have been tellin' you of has just arrived from the south seas, where he bought up a lot of 'balmed New Zealand heads (great curios, you know), and he's sold all on 'em but one, and that one he's trying to sell to-night, cause to-morrow's Sunday, and it would not do to be sellin' human heads about the streets when folks is goin' to churches. He wanted to last Sunday, but I stopped him just as he was goin' out of the door with four heads strung on a string, for all the airth like a string of inions."
This account cleared up the otherwise unaccountable mystery, and showed that the landlord, after all, had had no idea of fooling me-- but at the same time what could I think of a harpooneer who stayed out of a Saturday night clean into the holy Sabbath, engaged in such a cannibal business as selling the heads of dead idolators?
"Depend upon it, landlord, that harpooneer is a dangerous man."
"He pays reg'lar," was the rejoinder. "But come, it's getting dreadful late, you had better be turning flukes--it's a nice bed: Sal and me slept in that ere bed the night we were spliced119. There's plenty of room for two to kick about in that bed; it's an almighty120 big bed that. Why, afore we give it up, Sal used to put our Sam and little Johnny in the foot of it. But I got a dreaming and sprawling121 about one night, and somehow, Sam got pitched on the floor, and came near breaking his arm. After that, Sal said it wouldn't do. Come along here, I'll give ye a glim in a jiffy;" and so saying he lighted a candle and held it towards me, offering to lead the way. But I stood irresolute122; when looking at a clock in the corner, he exclaimed "I vum it's Sunday--you won't see that harpooneer to-night; he's come to anchor somewhere--come along then; do come; won't ye come?"
I considered the matter a moment, and then up stairs we went, and I was ushered123 into a small room, cold as a clam124, and furnished, sure enough, with a prodigious125 bed, almost big enough indeed for any four harpooneers to sleep abreast126.
"There," said the landlord, placing the candle on a crazy old sea chest that did double duty as a wash-stand and centre table; "there, make yourself comfortable now; and good night to ye." I turned round from eyeing the bed, but he had disappeared.
Folding back the counterpane, I stooped over the bed. Though none of the most elegant, it yet stood the scrutiny127 tolerably well. I then glanced round the room; and besides the bedstead and centre table, could see no other furniture belonging to the place, but a rude shelf, the four walls, and a papered fireboard representing a man striking a whale. Of things not properly belonging to the room, there was a hammock lashed128 up, and thrown upon the floor in one corner; also a large seaman's bag, containing the harpooneer's wardrobe, no doubt in lieu of a land trunk. Likewise, there was a parcel of outlandish bone fish hooks on the shelf over the fire-place, and a tall harpoon standing at the head of the bed.
But what is this on the chest? I took it up, and held it close to the light, and felt it, and smelt129 it, and tried every way possible to arrive at some satisfactory conclusion concerning it. I can compare it to nothing but a large door mat, ornamented130 at the edges with little tinkling131 tags something like the stained porcupine132 quills133 round an Indian moccasin. There was a hole or slit134 in the middle of this mat, as you see the same in South American ponchos135. But could it be possible that any sober harpooneer would get into a door mat, and parade the streets of any Christian136 town in that sort of guise137? I put it on, to try it, and it weighed me down like a hamper138, being uncommonly139 shaggy and thick, and I thought a little damp, as though this mysterious harpooneer had been wearing it of a rainy day. I went up in it to a bit of glass stuck against the wall, and I never saw such a sight in my life. I tore myself out of it in such a hurry that I gave myself a kink in the neck.
I sat down on the side of the bed, and commenced thinking about this head-peddling harpooneer, and his door mat. After thinking some time on the bed-side, I got up and took off my monkey jacket, and then stood in the middle of the room thinking. I then took off my coat, and thought a little more in my shirt sleeves. But beginning to feel very cold now, half undressed as I was, and remembering what the landlord said about the harpooneer's not coming home at all that night, it being so very late, I made no more ado, but jumped out of my pantaloons and boots, and then blowing out the light tumbled into bed, and commended myself to the care of heaven.
Whether that mattress was stuffed with corncobs or broken crockery, there is no telling, but I rolled about a good deal, and could not sleep for a long time. At last I slid off into a light doze140, and had pretty nearly made a good offing towards the land of Nod, when I heard a heavy footfall in the passage, and saw a glimmer141 of light come into the room from under the door.
Lord save me, thinks I, that must be the harpooneer, the infernal head-peddler. But I lay perfectly142 still, and resolved not to say a word till spoken to. Holding a light in one hand, and that identical New Zealand head in the other, the stranger entered the room, and without looking towards the bed, placed his candle a good way off from me on the floor in one corner, and then began working away at the knotted cords of the large bag I before spoke143 of as being in the room. I was all eagerness to see his face, but he kept it averted144 for some time while employed in unlacing the bag's mouth. This accomplished145, however, he turned round--when, good heavens; what a sight! Such a face! It was of a dark, purplish, yellow color, here and there stuck over with large blackish looking squares. Yes, it's just as I thought, he's a terrible bedfellow; he's been in a fight, got dreadfully cut, and here he is, just from the surgeon. But at that moment he chanced to turn his face so towards the light, that I plainly saw they could not be sticking-plasters at all, those black squares on his cheeks. They were stains of some sort or other. At first I knew not what to make of this; but soon an inkling of the truth occurred to me. I remembered a story of a white man--a whaleman too-- who, falling among the cannibals, had been tattooed146 by them. I concluded that this harpooneer, in the course of his distant voyages, must have met with a similar adventure. And what is it, thought I, after all! It's only his outside; a man can be honest in any sort of skin. But then, what to make of his unearthly complexion70, that part of it, I mean, lying round about, and completely independent of the squares of tattooing147. To be sure, it might be nothing but a good coat of tropical tanning; but I never heard of a hot sun's tanning a white man into a purplish yellow one. However, I had never been in the South Seas; and perhaps the sun there produced these extraordinary effects upon the skin. Now, while all these ideas were passing through me like lightning, this harpooneer never noticed me at all. But, after some difficulty having opened his bag, he commenced fumbling148 in it, and presently pulled out a sort of tomahawk, and a seal-skin wallet with the hair on. Placing these on the old chest in the middle of the room, he then took the New Zealand head--a ghastly thing enough-- and crammed149 it down into the bag. He now took off his hat-- a new beaver150 hat--when I came nigh singing out with fresh surprise. There was no hair on his head--none to speak of at least-- nothing but a small scalp-knot twisted up on his forehead. His bald purplish head now looked for all the world like a mildewed151 skull152. Had not the stranger stood between me and the door, I would have bolted out of it quicker than ever I bolted a dinner.
Even as it was, I thought something of slipping out of the window, but it was the second floor back. I am no coward, but what to make of this headpeddling purple rascal153 altogether passed my comprehension. Ignorance is the parent of fear, and being completely nonplussed154 and confounded about the stranger, I confess I was now as much afraid of him as if it was the devil himself who had thus broken into my room at the dead of night. In fact, I was so afraid of him that I was not game enough just then to address him, and demand a satisfactory answer concerning what seemed inexplicable155 in him.
Meanwhile, he continued the business of undressing, and at last showed his chest and arms. As I live, these covered parts of him were checkered156 with the same squares as his face, his back, too, was all over the same dark squares; he seemed to have been in a Thirty Years' War, and just escaped from it with a sticking-plaster shirt. Still more, his very legs were marked, as if a parcel of dark green frogs were running up the trunks of young palms. It was now quite plain that he must be some abominable savage or other shipped aboard of a whaleman in the South Seas, and so landed in this Christian country. I quaked to think of it. A peddler of heads too--perhaps the heads of his own brothers. He might take a fancy to mine--heavens! look at that tomahawk!
But there was no time for shuddering157, for now the savage went about something that completely fascinated my attention, and convinced me that he must indeed be a heathen. Going to his heavy grego, or wrapall, or dreadnaught, which he had previously158 hung on a chair, he fumbled159 in the pockets, and produced at length a curious little deformed image with a hunch160 on its back, and exactly the color of a three days' old Congo baby. Remembering the embalmed161 head, at first I almost thought that this black manikin was a real baby preserved in some similar manner. But seeing that it was not at all limber, and that it glistened162 a good deal like polished ebony, I concluded that it must be nothing but a wooden idol118, which indeed it proved to be. For now the savage goes up to the empty fire-place, and removing the papered fire-board, sets up this little hunch-backed image, like a tenpin, between the andirons. The chimney jambs and all the bricks inside were very sooty, so that I thought this fire-place made a very appropriate little shrine163 or chapel164 for his Congo idol.
I now screwed my eyes hard towards the half hidden image, feeling but ill at ease meantime--to see what was next to follow. First he takes about a double handful of shavings out of his grego pocket, and places them carefully before the idol; then laying a bit of ship biscuit on top and applying the flame from the lamp, he kindled165 the shavings into a sacrificial blaze. Presently, after many hasty snatches into the fire, and still hastier withdrawals166 of his fingers (whereby he seemed to be scorching167 them badly), he at last succeeded in drawing out the biscuit; then blowing off the heat and ashes a little, he made a polite offer of it to the little negro. But the little devil did not seem to fancy such dry sort of fare at all; he never moved his lips. All these strange antics were accompanied by still stranger guttural noises from the devotee, who seemed to be praying in a sing-song or else singing some pagan psalmody or other, during which his face twitched168 about in the most unnatural manner. At last extinguishing the fire, he took the idol up very unceremoniously, and bagged it again in his grego pocket as carelessly as if he were a sportsman bagging a dead woodcock.
All these queer proceedings169 increased my uncomfortableness, and seeing him now exhibiting strong symptoms of concluding his business operations, and jumping into bed with me, I thought it was high time, now or never, before the light was put out, to break the spell in which I had so long been bound.
But the interval I spent in deliberating what to say, was a fatal one. Taking up his tomahawk from the table, he examined the head of it for an instant, and then holding it to the light, with his mouth at the handle, he puffed170 out great clouds of tobacco smoke. The next moment the light was extinguished, and this wild cannibal, tomahawk between his teeth, sprang into bed with me. I sang out, I could not help it now; and giving a sudden grunt171 of astonishment172 he began feeling me.
Stammering173 out something, I knew not what, I rolled away from him against the wall, and then conjured174 him, whoever or whatever he might be, to keep quiet, and let me get up and light the lamp again. But his guttural responses satisfied me at once that he but ill comprehended my meaning.
"Who-e debel you?"--he at last said--"you no speak-e, dam-me, I kill-e." And so saying the lighted tomahawk began flourishing about me in the dark.
"Landlord, for God's sake, Peter Coffin175!" shouted I. "Landlord! Watch! Coffin! Angels! save me!"
"Speak-e! tell-ee me who-ee be, or dam-me, I kill-e!" again growled176 the cannibal, while his horrid177 flourishings of the tomahawk scattered178 the hot tobacco ashes about me till I thought my linen would get on fire. But thank heaven, at that moment the landlord came into the room light in hand, and leaping from the bed I ran up to him.
"Don't be afraid now," said he, grinning again, "Queequeg here wouldn't harm a hair of your head."
"Stop your grinning," shouted I, "and why didn't you tell me that that infernal harpooneer was a cannibal?"
"I thought ye know'd it;--didn't I tell ye, he was a peddlin' heads around town?--but turn flukes again and go to sleep. Queequeg, look here--you sabbee me, I sabbee--you this man sleepe you--you sabbee?"
"Me sabbee plenty"--grunted Queequeg, puffing179 away at his pipe and sitting up in bed.
"You gettee in," he added, motioning to me with his tomahawk, and throwing the clothes to one side. He really did this in not only a civil but a really kind and charitable way. I stood looking at him a moment. For all his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely180 looking cannibal. What's all this fuss I have been making about, thought I to myself--the man's a human being just as I am: he has just as much reason to fear me, as I have to be afraid of him. Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian.
"Landlord," said I, "tell him to stash181 his tomahawk there, or pipe, or whatever you call it; tell him to stop smoking, in short, and I will turn in with him. But I don't fancy having a man smoking in bed with me. It's dangerous. Besides, I ain't insured."
This being told to Queequeg, he at once complied, and again politely motioned me to get into bed--rolling over to one side as much as to say-- I won't touch a leg of ye."
"Good night, landlord," said I, "you may go."
I turned in, and never slept better in my life.
1 bulwarks | |
n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 );保障;支柱;舷墙 | |
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2 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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3 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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4 diligent | |
adj.勤勉的,勤奋的 | |
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5 systematic | |
adj.有系统的,有计划的,有方法的 | |
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6 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
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7 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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8 chaos | |
n.混乱,无秩序 | |
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9 dint | |
n.由于,靠;凹坑 | |
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10 portentous | |
adj.不祥的,可怕的,装腔作势的 | |
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11 hovering | |
鸟( hover的现在分词 ); 靠近(某事物); (人)徘徊; 犹豫 | |
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12 perpendicular | |
adj.垂直的,直立的;n.垂直线,垂直的位置 | |
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13 yeast | |
n.酵母;酵母片;泡沫;v.发酵;起泡沫 | |
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14 boggy | |
adj.沼泽多的 | |
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15 sublimity | |
崇高,庄严,气质高尚 | |
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16 tar | |
n.柏油,焦油;vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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17 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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18 deceptive | |
adj.骗人的,造成假象的,靠不住的 | |
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19 dart | |
v.猛冲,投掷;n.飞镖,猛冲 | |
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20 gale | |
n.大风,强风,一阵闹声(尤指笑声等) | |
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21 unnatural | |
adj.不自然的;反常的 | |
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22 primal | |
adj.原始的;最重要的 | |
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23 aggregated | |
a.聚合的,合计的 | |
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24 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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25 conversed | |
v.交谈,谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
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26 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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27 dismantled | |
拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 ); 拆卸; 废除; 取消 | |
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28 exasperated | |
adj.恼怒的 | |
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29 impaling | |
钉在尖桩上( impale的现在分词 ) | |
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30 monstrous | |
adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的 | |
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31 sweeping | |
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的 | |
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32 mower | |
n.割草机 | |
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33 shuddered | |
v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 );发抖;(机器、车辆等)突然震动;颤动 | |
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34 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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35 hacking | |
n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动 | |
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36 horrifying | |
a.令人震惊的,使人毛骨悚然的 | |
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37 implement | |
n.(pl.)工具,器具;vt.实行,实施,执行 | |
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38 rusty | |
adj.生锈的;锈色的;荒废了的 | |
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39 harpoons | |
n.鱼镖,鱼叉( harpoon的名词复数 )v.鱼镖,鱼叉( harpoon的第三人称单数 ) | |
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40 harpoon | |
n.鱼叉;vt.用鱼叉叉,用鱼叉捕获 | |
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41 deformed | |
adj.畸形的;变形的;丑的,破相了的 | |
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42 slain | |
杀死,宰杀,杀戮( slay的过去分词 ); (slay的过去分词) | |
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43 ponderous | |
adj.沉重的,笨重的,(文章)冗长的 | |
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44 planks | |
(厚)木板( plank的名词复数 ); 政纲条目,政策要点 | |
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45 plank | |
n.板条,木板,政策要点,政纲条目 | |
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46 jaw | |
n.颚,颌,说教,流言蜚语;v.喋喋不休,教训 | |
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47 cant | |
n.斜穿,黑话,猛扔 | |
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48 flasks | |
n.瓶,长颈瓶, 烧瓶( flask的名词复数 ) | |
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49 jaws | |
n.口部;嘴 | |
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50 bustles | |
热闹( bustle的名词复数 ); (女裙后部的)衬垫; 撑架 | |
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51 withered | |
adj. 枯萎的,干瘪的,(人身体的部分器官)因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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52 abominable | |
adj.可厌的,令人憎恶的 | |
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53 cylinders | |
n.圆筒( cylinder的名词复数 );圆柱;汽缸;(尤指用作容器的)圆筒状物 | |
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54 goggling | |
v.睁大眼睛瞪视, (惊讶的)转动眼珠( goggle的现在分词 ) | |
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55 tapered | |
adj. 锥形的,尖削的,楔形的,渐缩的,斜的 动词taper的过去式和过去分词 | |
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56 downwards | |
adj./adv.向下的(地),下行的(地) | |
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57 meridians | |
n.子午圈( meridian的名词复数 );子午线;顶点;(权力,成就等的)全盛时期 | |
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58 goblets | |
n.高脚酒杯( goblet的名词复数 ) | |
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59 gulp | |
vt.吞咽,大口地吸(气);vi.哽住;n.吞咽 | |
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60 seamen | |
n.海员 | |
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61 divers | |
adj.不同的;种种的 | |
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62 specimens | |
n.样品( specimen的名词复数 );范例;(化验的)抽样;某种类型的人 | |
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63 ruminating | |
v.沉思( ruminate的现在分词 );反复考虑;反刍;倒嚼 | |
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64 adorning | |
修饰,装饰物 | |
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65 diligently | |
ad.industriously;carefully | |
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66 dismal | |
adj.阴沉的,凄凉的,令人忧郁的,差劲的 | |
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67 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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68 diabolically | |
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69 complexioned | |
脸色…的 | |
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70 complexion | |
n.肤色;情况,局面;气质,性格 | |
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71 hurrah | |
int.好哇,万岁,乌拉 | |
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72 mariners | |
海员,水手(mariner的复数形式) | |
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73 enveloped | |
v.包围,笼罩,包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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74 muffled | |
adj.(声音)被隔的;听不太清的;(衣服)裹严的;蒙住的v.压抑,捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 );用厚厚的衣帽包着(自己) | |
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75 ragged | |
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的 | |
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76 eruption | |
n.火山爆发;(战争等)爆发;(疾病等)发作 | |
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77 whatsoever | |
adv.(用于否定句中以加强语气)任何;pron.无论什么 | |
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78 capering | |
v.跳跃,雀跃( caper的现在分词 );蹦蹦跳跳 | |
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79 obstreperously | |
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80 aloof | |
adj.远离的;冷淡的,漠不关心的 | |
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81 hilarity | |
n.欢乐;热闹 | |
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82 ordained | |
v.任命(某人)为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 );授予(某人)圣职;(上帝、法律等)命令;判定 | |
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83 narrative | |
n.叙述,故事;adj.叙事的,故事体的 | |
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84 brawn | |
n.体力 | |
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85 stature | |
n.(高度)水平,(高度)境界,身高,身材 | |
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86 ridge | |
n.山脊;鼻梁;分水岭 | |
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87 darted | |
v.投掷,投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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88 ashore | |
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
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89 abominated | |
v.憎恶,厌恶,不喜欢( abominate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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90 linen | |
n.亚麻布,亚麻线,亚麻制品;adj.亚麻布制的,亚麻的 | |
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91 twitch | |
v.急拉,抽动,痉挛,抽搐;n.扯,阵痛,痉挛 | |
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92 vile | |
adj.卑鄙的,可耻的,邪恶的;坏透的 | |
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93 tablecloth | |
n.桌布,台布 | |
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94 mattress | |
n.床垫,床褥 | |
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95 notches | |
n.(边缘或表面上的)V型痕迹( notch的名词复数 );刻痕;水平;等级 | |
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96 snug | |
adj.温暖舒适的,合身的,安全的;v.使整洁干净,舒适地依靠,紧贴;n.(英)酒吧里的私房 | |
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97 procured | |
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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98 spraining | |
扭伤(关节)( sprain的现在分词 ) | |
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99 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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100 yoking | |
配轭,矿区的分界 | |
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101 interval | |
n.间隔,间距;幕间休息,中场休息 | |
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102 draught | |
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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103 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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104 chuckle | |
vi./n.轻声笑,咯咯笑 | |
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105 chuckled | |
轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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106 mightily | |
ad.强烈地;非常地 | |
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107 tickled | |
(使)发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 ); (使)愉快,逗乐 | |
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108 peddling | |
忙于琐事的,无关紧要的 | |
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109 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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110 yarn | |
n.纱,纱线,纺线;奇闻漫谈,旅行轶事 | |
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111 whittling | |
v.切,削(木头),使逐渐变小( whittle的现在分词 ) | |
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112 exasperating | |
adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
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113 beget | |
v.引起;产生 | |
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114 confidential | |
adj.秘(机)密的,表示信任的,担任机密工作的 | |
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115 stark | |
adj.荒凉的;严酷的;完全的;adv.完全地 | |
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116 thereby | |
adv.因此,从而 | |
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117 prosecution | |
n.起诉,告发,检举,执行,经营 | |
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118 idol | |
n.偶像,红人,宠儿 | |
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119 spliced | |
adj.(针织品)加固的n.叠接v.绞接( splice的过去式和过去分词 );捻接(两段绳子);胶接;粘接(胶片、磁带等) | |
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120 almighty | |
adj.全能的,万能的;很大的,很强的 | |
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121 sprawling | |
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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122 irresolute | |
adj.无决断的,优柔寡断的,踌躇不定的 | |
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123 ushered | |
v.引,领,陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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124 clam | |
n.蛤,蛤肉 | |
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125 prodigious | |
adj.惊人的,奇妙的;异常的;巨大的;庞大的 | |
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126 abreast | |
adv.并排地;跟上(时代)的步伐,与…并进地 | |
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127 scrutiny | |
n.详细检查,仔细观察 | |
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128 lashed | |
adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 );煽动;紧系;怒斥 | |
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129 smelt | |
v.熔解,熔炼;n.银白鱼,胡瓜鱼 | |
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130 ornamented | |
adj.花式字体的v.装饰,点缀,美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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131 tinkling | |
n.丁当作响声 | |
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132 porcupine | |
n.豪猪, 箭猪 | |
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133 quills | |
n.(刺猬或豪猪的)刺( quill的名词复数 );羽毛管;翮;纡管 | |
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134 slit | |
n.狭长的切口;裂缝;vt.切开,撕裂 | |
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135 ponchos | |
n.斗篷( poncho的名词复数 ) | |
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136 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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137 guise | |
n.外表,伪装的姿态 | |
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138 hamper | |
vt.妨碍,束缚,限制;n.(有盖的)大篮子 | |
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139 uncommonly | |
adv. 稀罕(极,非常) | |
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140 doze | |
v.打瞌睡;n.打盹,假寐 | |
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141 glimmer | |
v.发出闪烁的微光;n.微光,微弱的闪光 | |
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142 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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143 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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144 averted | |
防止,避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 ); 转移 | |
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145 accomplished | |
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
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146 tattooed | |
v.刺青,文身( tattoo的过去式和过去分词 );连续有节奏地敲击;作连续有节奏的敲击 | |
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147 tattooing | |
n.刺字,文身v.刺青,文身( tattoo的现在分词 );连续有节奏地敲击;作连续有节奏的敲击 | |
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148 fumbling | |
n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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149 crammed | |
adj.塞满的,挤满的;大口地吃;快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满;填入;临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
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150 beaver | |
n.海狸,河狸 | |
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151 mildewed | |
adj.发了霉的,陈腐的,长了霉花的v.(使)发霉,(使)长霉( mildew的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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152 skull | |
n.头骨;颅骨 | |
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153 rascal | |
n.流氓;不诚实的人 | |
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154 nonplussed | |
adj.不知所措的,陷于窘境的v.使迷惑( nonplus的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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155 inexplicable | |
adj.无法解释的,难理解的 | |
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156 checkered | |
adj.有方格图案的 | |
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157 shuddering | |
v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 );发抖;(机器、车辆等)突然震动;颤动 | |
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158 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
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159 fumbled | |
(笨拙地)摸索或处理(某事物)( fumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 乱摸,笨拙地弄; 使落下 | |
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160 hunch | |
n.预感,直觉 | |
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161 embalmed | |
adj.用防腐药物保存(尸体)的v.保存(尸体)不腐( embalm的过去式和过去分词 );使不被遗忘;使充满香气 | |
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162 glistened | |
v.湿物闪耀,闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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163 shrine | |
n.圣地,神龛,庙;v.将...置于神龛内,把...奉为神圣 | |
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164 chapel | |
n.小教堂,殡仪馆 | |
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165 kindled | |
(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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166 withdrawals | |
n.收回,取回,撤回( withdrawal的名词复数 );撤退,撤走;收回[取回,撤回,撤退,撤走]的实例;推出(组织),提走(存款),戒除毒瘾,对说过的话收回,孤僻 | |
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167 scorching | |
adj. 灼热的 | |
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168 twitched | |
vt.& vi.(使)抽动,(使)颤动(twitch的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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169 proceedings | |
n.进程,过程,议程;诉讼(程序);公报 | |
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170 puffed | |
adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 );喷着汽(或烟)移动;吹嘘;吹捧 | |
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171 grunt | |
v.嘟哝;作呼噜声;n.呼噜声,嘟哝 | |
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172 astonishment | |
n.惊奇,惊异 | |
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173 stammering | |
v.结巴地说出( stammer的现在分词 ) | |
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174 conjured | |
用魔术变出( conjure的过去式和过去分词 ); 祈求,恳求; 变戏法; (变魔术般地) 使…出现 | |
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175 coffin | |
n.棺材,灵柩 | |
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176 growled | |
v.(动物)发狺狺声, (雷)作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 );低声咆哮着说 | |
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177 horrid | |
adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的 | |
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178 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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179 puffing | |
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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180 comely | |
adj.漂亮的,合宜的 | |
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181 stash | |
v.藏或贮存于一秘密处所;n.隐藏处 | |
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