Some in a Palace, all Marble and Brick,
Some behind Hedges for less than a kick, tell me
What's it matter,
The Stars will say,
We've been ga-zing, back at ye,
Many a Day,
And there's nothing we haven't seen
More than one way,
Sing Deny o deny o day...
[Recitative]
Now some go to Bath, where, like candle and Moth3, even men of the Cloth seek them out. Whilst others run Pitches where diggers of Ditches may scatter4 their Riches about. Tho' the tools of their Trade may be differently made, for their Arts they are paid, all the same,— 'Pon Astronomer's Couch or Coquette's, all avouch5, 'tis a reckless Debowch of a Game—
There are Stars yet to see, There are Planets hiding, Peepers are we, with a Lust6 abiding7, Some style it 'Providence,' Others say, 'God,—
Some call it even, and some call it Odd, Yes but what's it matter, The Stars will say, &c.
"We've a while before Sirius,— " Maskelyne flush'd with Song, "what say I do yours now, and you do mine later?"
"What?" Mason begins to edge toward the Tent opening.
"Your natal8 Chart, Mason. Have you ever had it done?"
"Well..."
"It's all right, neither have I,— perhaps most Lens-folk would rather not know. But as we're old Charlatans9 together, maroon'd here in this other-worldly Place, and withal sharing the same Ruling Planet,— rather, Goddess,— to whose least sigh we must attend, or risk more than we ought,— eh?"
Mason blinks. Is it the Altitude? Hardly do to get into a Kick-up with Clive of India's brother-in-law, he supposes. Hey? What if this isn't Insanity10? and no worse than the frantic12 chumminess of Exile.... Ahrrh, yet suppose, more harshly, that 'tis Bradley whom Maskelyne wishes to snuggle up to,— Mason having run into any number of amateur Star-gazers with the same ideas about access to the A.R.,— back Home, 'twas possible to wave them Adieu till they be absorb'd back into the human Nebulosity of the Town,— but here in a Tent in the middle of the 360-degree Ocean,— what choice does he have?
"Date of Birth?”
"Don't know. They had me baptiz'd May Day, and that's the day I mark."
"So you were born some weeks earlier, perhaps in Aries, even Pisces.... Less probably, in Taurus, yet,— " he is giving Mason the heavy 0.0.
"If it's helpful, I am told that of the Qualities observ'd in my comport13?ment, those of the classick Taurean prevail,— Persistent15, Phlegmatick, Provok'd only with great difficulty,— our Passion of Titanick Scope, our Fate, ever to be prick'd at by small men in spangl'd Costumes."
"First of May, then, shall we?" So Maskelyne goes to work. By Dark-Lanthorn-Light, his face a-glimmer and smooth as wax, whilst the Sea crashes up to them past the baffling of vertiginous16 Peaks and Ravines, he pencils out a Wheel, and begins to fill it with Glyphs and Numerals. At one point, as if without thinking, he reaches back and releases his Queue, and hair swings forward to either side, curtaining him and his bright eyes with the calculations. Soon he is passing wordless remarks such as "Hmm!" and "Yaacch!,"— Mason beginning to huff somewhat, feeling like a Model to whom an Artist is making cryptic17 Suggestions. "There," says Maskelyne at last. "Will ye look at all those Venus aspects...La, la, la— Where's that Mountain, again?"
"You're right, after all, I'd rather not know. Sorry to've put ye to all this trouble,— "
"First of all, doesn't it seem odd, that you and Mr. Dixon, with your natal signs rul'd by Venus and the Sun respectively, should have lately, as partners, observ'd the conjunction of those very two bodies,— the Event occurring, as well, in the Sign of the Twins?"
Shrugging, "Chance of a Sun ruler, one in twelve. Chance of a Venus ruler, two in twelve,— Chance of the Pair, two in one hundred forty-four,— a Coincidence appealing, yet not overwhelming."
"Yet as Odds,— say, upon a Race,—
Tho' it takes Mason a while to recognize it, Maskelyne has been try?ing to convey the Dimensions of his Curiosity. As a man of Religion, he has often enough sought among the smaller Probabilities for proofs of God's recent Attendance, has practis'd Epsilonics for the sake of stronger Faith, as what deep-dyed Newtonian would not? One in seventy-
two, or point zero one four, is not a figure he can be quite comfortable with. Tis not quite Miraculous20 enough, there's the very Deuce of it. And if not quite a clear Intervention21 by the Creator, not quite from Heaven, then what Power is this an Act of?
It takes dogged Effort for Mason to prize even this much Speculation22 out of him. Yet what else after all is there to do in this miserable23 Place, but smoke Pipes and discuss God,— as newly met guests at some Assembly might discuss a common Acquaintance but lately withdrawn24?
"Your natal Jupiter lies in Gemini,— the very Sign in which the late Transit25 occurr'd, of which you Lads made that very fine Ob. Traditionally, Wealth from Collaboration,— yet both Mercury and Venus are in Aries,— possibly your Natal Sign,— favoring Independence, Leadership,— and both lie blessedly Sextile to your Moon in Aquarius.. .humane26, inclin'd to Science, a devotee of Reason.. .'tho squar'd by your Sun of course—" He has fallen into a kind of mystickal Bustling27, like a Gypsy at the Fair. "But dear oh dear, not much sign of Mr. Dixon at all.. .nothing closer than your Mars in Virgo, standing28 two and a half Degrees in from the Cusp with Leo, suggesting you make him a truculent29 and wary30 neighbor." His shiny-eyed, vixenish Phiz peering out of all that loose Hair.
"You take a deep Interest in Mr. Dixon?"
A Parsonickal spread of Hands. "Shallow curiosity, Sir,— the ama?teur Observer's Curse. Yet, now ye've rais'd it,— have there been others, who.. .have taken an Interest in him? Who can they be,— and what may they expect?"
"Well. It can't be the Honorable E.I.C., can it? Or you'd know. Wouldn't you."
"As much as you. There being the fitful Rumor31 that your Mr. Peach will be nam'd a Director."
"As well as a Long-Establish'd Truth," Mason, later, will fear he snapp'd back, "that your Lord Clive may have anything he damn'd wishes. What of it? Any repayment32 I may owe Sam Peach, is many orders of Magnitude beneath the Arrangements proper to,— " pausing to deepen his Voice, "Clive,— of In-dia,"— Mason having found that inflecting the Name thus, whilst reliably nettling33 Maskelyne, also seems strangely to amuse him.
"We are quite the Pair, then,— that is, I presume," peering at Mason, "both Subjects of the same Invisible Power? No? What is it, think ye? Something richer than many a Nation, yet with no Boundaries,— which, tho' never part of any Coalition34, yet maintains its own great Army and Navy,— able to pay for the last War, as the next, with no more bother than finding the Key to a certain iron Box,— yet which allows the Bri-tannick Governance that gave it Charter, to sink beneath oceanick Waves of Ink incarnadine."
"Bless us!" Mason cries. "Another Riddle35! Hold, permit me to guess...."
"Or perhaps, like our Tapster, you entertain Fancies, as to my rela?tions with Lord Clive. Splendid! Out of Dark Policy do I encourage it in all, as little as object to it,— yet the Truth is so drab, Mason, indeed, since Peggy and he return'd, I've been to Berkeley Square but once, not seen them above thrice more,— ever in Company, certainly not in Pri?vate. Clive and I do not play Whist together, nor in Disguise haunt the Snares36 of Ranelagh,— he did not bring me back a jewel'd Telescope, nor am I his Connection in London for the purchase of Opium37. Seldom if ever does he, upon the least movement of my Eyebrow38, rush forward insisting I take Waggon-Loads of Oriental Treasure."
"Being the very least I should've expected,— what are Brothers-in-law for? Perhaps, wishing any Gifts to you to be appropriate, he yet remains39 unclear as to the Range of your Interests."
"He's not yet ready to make use of me, that's all. Someday he must...I've been paid for...it shan't cost him anything." Maskelyne's Phiz, with its one-sided smile and wary eyes and need for Complicity, would not have grown this cautious, had some blows not already landed. Whatever his Bargain, he is not happy with it. Mason, who as yet hasn't seen the terms of his own, is but apprehensive40.
"Here we are," Maskelyne plaintively41, "Englishmen in the bloom of Sanity11, being snatch'd away, one by one, high and low, ev'ryday, like some population of distraught Malays waiting for the call of Amok,— going along, at what we style Peace with the Day,— all at once, Bang-o! another 'un out in the Street waving the old Krees,— being British of course, more likely a butter-knife or something,— yet with no Place, no
Link upon the Great Chain, at all safe,— none however exalted,— no and that is why I fear so, dear Colleague, for my sister, and for the great Soldier whose Fate is hers...," peering out now from a burrow43 of Anxi?ety, dug one long sour midwatch upon the next.
Mason has no way to tell how deliberate this is. Maskelyne, as all Lon?don, has known about Clive's use of Opium,— yet what Comfort can Mason give him? Such things have ended badly before,— whilst Maske?lyne has ever presented an Enigma44. Long before they met, Mason felt his sidling Advent45, cloak'd as by Thames-side Leagues of Smoke and Mists. At last,— at first,— he saw the introductory Letter, as Dr. Bradley in the Octagon Room brought it fretfully to and fro, muttering, "Damn difficult to make out, seems to be instructing me in the matter of Lunar Dis?tances,— yet somehow I can't quite...here, see if you can make any sense,— " letting go of it, allowing the document to flutter Earthward faster than Mason could dive to catch it, and disappearing toward the Observers' Kitchen.
At first, and then upon re-reading, he could make no more sense of the Letter than Bradley had done. One of Mason's chores as Assistant was to review just such Correspondence. Since the Longitude46 Act of 1714, which offer'd Prizes up to twenty thousand Pounds for a reliable way to find the true Longitude at Sea, the Observatory47 had become a Tar1?get for Suggestions, Schemes, Rants48, Sermons, full-length Books, all directed to Bradley's Attention, upon the Problem of the Longitude. Though some were cagy, hinting at Amazing Simplicity49 and Ingenious Devising, whilst giving no details, most of the letters were all-out philo-sophick confessions50, showing either an unhealthy naivete, or an inner certainty that the Scheme would never work anyway. For many, it was at least a chance to Rattle51 at length to a World that was ignoring them. Others were more passionate52 as to the worth of their Inventions, though employing Arts more of the Actor-Projector than of the Geometer. Occa?sionally Insanity roll'd a sly Eye-ball into the picture. Treatises53 on "Par18-ageography" arriv'd, with alternative Maps of the World superimpos'd upon the more familiar ones. Many,— as had the elder Cabot upon his deathbed,— claim'd to've been told the Secrets of the Longitude by God (or, as some preferr'd, Thatwhichever Created Earth and her Rate of
Spin). Others told of Rapture54 by creatures not precisely55 Angels, nor yet Demons,— styl'd "Agents of Altitude." That they were taken aloft and shewn the Earth as it appear'd from the Distance of the Sun, and that the Navigator of the Vessel56 us'd a kind of Micrometer, whose Lines were clapp'd to the Diameter of the Earth, and that the measuring device read 8.75 seconds of Arc, "not in our numbers of course, not until accurately57 transnumerated, from theirs.— More than happy to share details of this toilsome Conversion58, upon duly authorized59 request.— Yet, as there now exists no further need for a foreign expedition to obtain the Earth's Solar Parallax from the Transit of Venus, You would oblige me by recalling your own Parties and using what influence you can with Astronomers60 of other Principalities, as well as among the Jesuits &c." A retir'd Naval61 officer wrote from Hampshire of the great Asymmetrick Principle he had discover'd, "an invisible Grain built into Creation, whereby, 'tis less work to rip than to cross-cut, to multiply than to divide, to take the Derivative62 than the Integral,— and, coming to my Point,— to obtain the Latitude63 than the Longitude. For the one, we need only know the Sun's elevation64 at Noon,— yet from the difficulty of finding the other, enter-prizes have founder'd, fleets have perish'd, treasure unreckonable lies beneath th' indifferent Sea. The solution is simple enough, though lengthier65. I have practis'd its Elements from various Quarter-decks, in all conditions from close-reef'd to becalm'd,— my Zero Meridian66 not upon Greenwich, nor Paris, but a certain Himalayan Observatory, in Thi?bet, the Book of Tables I consult being reduced from Observations made there by the celebrated67 Dr. Zhang, then, as now, in exile. These are not Lunars, nor yet Galileans, but based upon the very slow Progress of what is undoubtedly68 a Planet, though no one else claims to've seen it, near ? Geminorum."
Bradley ask'd Mason to read that part aloud, twice. "Aye, the Star I do recall,— lying upon the Zodiacal Path, a Pebble70, a Clod, just in front of Castor's left foot, perhaps eternally about to be kick'd," if Bradley, who was never mistaken, was not mistaken, "— hence 'Propus,' though Flamsteed, paronomastickally disposed, call'd it 'Tropus' because it mark'd the turning point of the Summer Solstice."
"Although," Mason attentively71 foot-noting, "that Point presently lies somewhat to the east.”
"Well,— you know just about where we mean, then, Charles. I do seem to recollect72, now...well within the Field...aye, some kind of blur73.. .a greenish blue. Perhaps I noted74 it down. Welcome to have a look, on your own Time of course, make sure you fix it with your Lady, they don't like it when you're up at night you know.. .prowling about.. .believe in their Hearts that men are Were-wolves, have you noticed? Never mind— you never heard a thing— "
And before the Echo had quite gone, in came Susannah, the lightest of dove-gray fans beneath her Eyes,— as if knowing her destiny, Mason thought, ashamed as he did at how it sounded, helpless before the great Cruel Unspoken,— the Astronomer's desire for a son,— and her fear
that she might find, in their next Attempt, her own dissolution Yes, he
had entertain'd such vile75 Conjectures76, as who would not? He'd also imagin'd her lounging about all day, scoffing77 Sweets, shooing admirers out different doorways78 whilst admitting others, answering spousal impor?tunities thro' Doors that remain'd shut, issuing Bradley ultimata79 and extravagant80 requisitions. Chocolates. A Coach and Six to go to her Mantua-Maker's. A full season's Residence at Bath. A Commission abroad for an Admirer grown inconvenient81....
Not all Predators82 are narrow-set of Eye. In Town, some of the more ruthless Beauties have gone far disguis'd as wide-eyed Prey83. Such a feral Doe was Susannah. If Bradley knew of this, 'twas an Article of his senti?mental Service long agreed to.
The absence of further children after Miss Bradley was a secret Text denied to Mason. He seeth'd with it, a Beast in lean times, prowling for signs, turn'd by any Scent84 however contradictory,— or, to a Beast, unbeastly. She was back in Chalford. Had she ever slept with Bradley again? Did she have Bradley on her Name, but Mason on her Mind? Did she dream of Mason now as he'd once dreamt of her? Was that Oinking upon the Rooftop?— Their Trajectories85 never, Mason thought with dis?may, even to cross,— tho' he'd've settl'd for that,— one passionate Hour, one only, then estrangement86 eternal, so craz'd had he been after Susan?nah Peach.
I was only sixteen, upon your wedding day, I stood outside the churchyard, and cried.
And now I'm working for the man, who carried you away, And ev'ry day I see you by his side.
Sometimes you're smiling,— sometimes you ain't, Most times you never look my way,— I'm still as a Mill-Pond, I'm as patient as a Saint, Wond'ring if there's things you'd like to say.
Oh, are you day-dreaming of me,
Do you tuck me in at Night,
When he's fast asleep beside you,
Are those Fingers doing right?
How can Love conquer all,
When Love can be so blind? and you've got
Bradley on your Name,
And Mason on your Mind—
When it falls Mason's turn at Maskelyne's natal Chart, he grows unac-customedly cheery, breezing through the computation and filling in the last Aspect with a Flourish. "There's the old Horo. Now, let us have a look, shall we. Hum."
"Pray you, Moon aspects only,— spare me the rest."
"Poh, Superstition87. Your Moon is in Taurus, and making a grand trine with Mars and Venus. Wish ye Joy of that, I'm sure. No Squares...no Squares? Mercy." A Snort. "You're Fortune's little Pet. Abnormal num?ber of trines and sextiles, as well,— in ev'ry Combination,— yet another promise of Good Luck. Jupiter and Mercury in your birth Sign,— Mer?cury's retrograde, but then Mercury's always retrograde,— hey?"
"The fell Datum89!" cries Maskelyne. "I slip down streets unnam'd to the salons90 of unregister'd Rhetorick-Masters, where all struggle to teach me, yet continues it my curse, that the World cannot understand me when I express myself. My letters are ignor'd, my monographs91 rejected. Mercury retrograde! Tiny, fleet Trickster, yet counterponderating all these Blessings93 Astrologickal!"
"Excuse me? I'm not actually sure that I—
"Ah! Now 'tis you, even you, Mason! What use are Trines and Sex-tiles, if Human Discourse94 be denied me? Fly on, fly on, Midge of Mis?chief,— thou hast triumph'd!”
Mason understands that he may if he wishes see himself thro' Duty at St. Helena by baiting Maskelyne thus, any time he has a Velleity to. He also understands how quickly the amusement value of this will fade. "Usu?ally," he feels nonetheless impell'd to suggest, "a Messenger going the other way is returning, after having deliver'd his Message someplace else."
Maskelyne frowns and begins to consider this. The next day, after smoking a while in silence, "Perhaps that's it. Explains a good deal, doesn't it? A Message that never came to me. How shall I proceed?— waste what scrap95 of Life-Span remains to me, attempting to find out what it was?"
"According to this Chart," advises Mason, "you'll find out sooner or later. Refrain from struggle, allow your Life to convey it to you when it will, and as in all else, Bob's your Uncle. Or in this case, Brother-in-Law.”
Mason, up on the Ridge96, finds himself wondering about Dixon,— whether he has arriv'd safely at the Cape97,— what, if he be there, he may be doing at a particular moment,— given the time of day or night, and Weather unknown. "Our daily lives to distant Stars attuned," he writes in a Letter to Dixon he then decides not to send,—
("Just a moment," Pitt says.
"You saw this Document?" inquires Pliny.
"Good Lads!" cries Uncle Ives, blessing92 each with a Pistole. "No, no, don't thank me, the only condition is that you spend it wisely. Prudently98 invested, it could provide you a tidy Fund by the time you're establish'd enough as Attorneys to need a friendly Judge now and then. Be better of course if you were partners. Confuse people."
"Our idea, actually," says Pitt, "is for one of us to run away and pre?tend to lead a Wastrel's Life, whilst the other applies himself diligently99 to the Law,—
- making it even less possible to tell you apart," declares their Aunt Euphie.)
Mason can calculate roughly when Dixon may be at the Snout, watching Jupiter and its Harem of moons, and when up in the Malay quarter, inspecting some Harem of his own. He imagines Dixon learn?ing to cook a Khari with orange leaves, re-inventing the Frikkadel, putting that G-dawful Ketjap in ev'rything.
Believing he has walked away from the Cape and successfully not
looked back, to see what Plutonian wife, in what thin garment, may
after all have follow'd,— tho' none of them is anyone's Eurydice, he
knows well enough who that is,— or would be, were he Orpheus
enough to carry a Tune88 in a Bucket,— Mason continues to wonder, how
Dixon has brought himself to turn, and then, to appearance imper?
turbable as a Clam100, go back in,— back to Jet, Greet, Els, Austra,
Johanna, the unsunn'd Skins, the Ovine Aromas101, the Traffick to and
from the Medicine-Cabinet at all hours, the Whispering in the Corners,
the never-ending Intrigues,— whilst coiled behind all gazes the great
Worm of Slavery. No hour of the Chapter-Ring is exempt102 from the
echoes of Heated Voices off unadorn'd Walls. The Girls, having raided
their Father's Snuff Supply, dashing about, colliding and dreamy, and
talking to no effect
By the time Dixon arrives, a number of stories have just begun to cir103?culate...the Town pretends to be shock'd. Church services, far from the Ordeals104 Johanna has expected, turn lively at last, with smirks105 and stares and eye-avoidance, in full knowledge that ev'ryone knows ev'ryone else's secrets,— she feels she's being admitted at last to the adult life of the Cape...tho' nothing, understand, for all the racing106 up and down stairs and hanging out windows, has really "happen'd," as these matters are reckon'd,— so that she feels like an imposter, too, which is not without its own thrill of shame, before the Faces of the Congregation, where within the Brass-bound mercilessness of Sunday, these multiple acts of sisterhood will continue, till after a while the focus shifts to some new Bathsheba.
Cornelius, for his part, is not having quite so easy a time of it. Sud?denly, wherever he goes, Dixon finds this unstable107 Butter-box up the wrong end of some Elephant Gun swiveling ever in Dixon's direction, as if the Dutchman had decided108 to accept him as a fair substitute for Mason. Through the streets, in the great South-East wind, the wig-snatching, flame-fanning, judgment-warping Wind, they chase, Cor?nelius presently setting the Fork'd Support in the blowing dirt, with some smoldering109 naval slow-match he carries in his teeth igniting a giant full Dutch-ounce blast whose Ball ricochets off the roof-tiles, sending small
Slides of red fragments into the street a good ten feet wide and short, windage calculations out here being matters more of Sentiment than of Science. He pauses to reload, his hair-tie loos'd and then blown away downwind whilst Dixon lopes on, unwilling110 to believe that the Dutchman can still feel unrequited enough to want to go through this exercise again,— until the next great crack, echoing from the hillside, as the hor-netting sphere this time explodes a watermelon at a nearby market stand, and the greengrocers head for cover. As the Dutchman, unhurried, stolid111, probably insane, is reloading for yet another onslaught, this time Musketoon-style with a great pink Fist-ful of bullets, Dixon, having had enough, turns and makes a run at him. There seems to be time. As he gets near, he sees white all 'round Vroom's irises113, and though it may not matter in a short while, knows that the Dutchman has never faced a charging animal in his life,— until now, it seems, for he stands para?lyzed, powder horn slipping from his grasp, screaming, "No! I am sup?posed to do this!"
Dixon takes the weapon gently away. "My life, for that ass14 Mason's? Excuse me, the Mails, I've not been getting my Gazette,— was there some amendment114 to the Code of Honor that no one told me of?"
"This is not about Honor, it is about Blood!"
"Aye, and were you a Malay Lad I shouldn't be that surprised...? but as you're a Dutch Lad, well, well, this 'running amok' business,— not that much in your people's line, is it, there's a good fellow...," coaxing115 him along before the wind, "same as we don't see that many Malays, do we really, standing about in wooden shoes, eh? fingers stopping up holes in the Dike116 sort of thing, no we don't, now just around this corner, good,— a little Soupkie ought to be just the Ar-ticle...?—
"Soupkie," the Dutchman in a stricken monotone, nodding.
"Through this door, Mynheer,— there he is,— Abdul, you son of a sea-camel. We need a crock of your Special reserve gin, with the unusual herbs in it,— have the Nautch Girls come in yet? Eeh, well,— we'll just be over here, in the Corner... ?"
"Ice. Ice."
"Quite so, Cornelius,— I may call you that mayn't I,— Ice Abdul by all means and perhaps two pipes as well?" He waves Cornelius into the Tavern117. "My Local,— The World's End.”
They retreat to a dark corner and for the next several hours, in a fra?grant Nebulosity that provides comfort when Dixon cannot, go a-sorting in some detail thro' the Vrooms' domestic Sadness. Dixon is astonished at its depth, though it all becomes difficult to follow after a while. The fire roars, above it the Haunch of some Animal unfamiliar118 to Englishmen is slowly turn'd, and basted119. A Phillippino guitar player strums a careless Suite120 of Nautical121 Melodies, at the end of each of which he grins, "Not done yet! More to come, Sí?" Tallow candles gut122?ter and go out, as others are relit elsewhere in the Room. The wind hoots123 up and down the alley-ways, Table Bay slowly but measurably is blown seaward, the Town being borne away from the Shore-line at the same rate, and as the evening falls, in from all this peculiar124 Weather, hair and costumes blown and tangl'd, wearing Cast-offs from the days of the Sumptuary Laws, which the Slaves who got them either sold again promptly125, or could not bring themselves to wear, in Ticklingburgs and Paduasoy, Swanskin and Shalloon, Brabant Lace and Ostrich-Feather Hats, here enter a Parade of curiously126 turned-out young crea?tures, most of whom appear to know Dixon,— each to go sit at a table-ful of Sailors, take a pipe or a drink, and eventually leave with a nautical Prize in tow. The Phillippino strums passionate minor69-key Declarations of Longing127. The Smoke in the room, though chiefly from tobacco, includes as well that of Opium, Hemp128, and Cloves129, so that anyone who walks in must become intoxicated130, merely by standing and breathing.
Dixon came ashore131 intending to clear Mason's Name of all Suspicion before Cornelius, if not before the Town, but somehow no opening for this has occurred. "Here's what we'll do," proposes Cornelius now, gravely giddy, "— we will go to the Company Lodge132, where the women are of all races, sizes, and specialties133. We'll use my membership to get in, and you, that is the Royal Society, will then pay for everything."
"I am happy to see you thus return'd to what the Dutch must reckon Sanity," replies Dixon, for whom the Scene before them has begun to break up into small swarming134 Bits of Color, "and of course I'd be nothing but delighted...?"
The Company Seraglio smells of sandalwood and burning Musk112. There is difficulty at the Door, regarding some unpaid135 Dues.... The
Barometer in the ebony case upon the Wall cannot be read, the Letter?ing too intricate, the Numerals possibly in some System other than the Arabic. There is no column of Mercury, no moving Pointer. Yet Pres?sure may be read by the Adept136, remaining invisible until sought for— The Instrument hangs above a velvet137 Meridien from France, near a painting of a mounted settler at dusk, somewhere out in Hottentot Land with his old smooth-bore athwart the Saddle, the Mountains between here and Home all grays, except for the sunset catching138 their Peaks a strange thinn'd luminous139 Red. And there. In the Shadows, all but painted over,—
Once again Dixon's unsuspicious Heart is surpriz'd. The first person to enter the Room is Austra, in a black velvet Gown and a leather collar, being leash-led by a tiny, expressionless Malay Sylph. It is evident from the Leer on Cornelius's Phiz, that the Tableau140 has been arrang'd for Dixon. There is enough time for her to recognize him, and know that he will not help her, either, before she passes into another Room, not look?ing back, to continue this slavery within Slavery....At the moment of her
Vanishing, he pays her full Notice for the first time,— tho' who could have avoided some Overspill from Mason's obsession141? even with Mason seldom able to bore Dixon upon the Topick, Dixon most usually being out satisfying his more general Desire for anything, and on lucky Days everything, the World might be presenting to him, moment by moment. Had he not been under Siege rather by imps142 of Appetite indiscriminate, might he and Mason have become Rivals for her Attention? Thus stands he gawping after her.
"Let no one say that we cannot have Fun, when we must," Cornelius declares, thumping143 Dixon upon the Shoulder. "It is our Garden of Amusement, here."
Something a bit too Churchlike for Dixon, however,— a devotion to ritual and timing144, the Space under-lit, what light there is as White as Wig-Powder, flowing from pure white candles, burning smoothly145 in the still air, and from bowls of incense146 close by, white Smoke in the same unwavering Ascent147. Now in high Humor, Cornelius shows him secret Pornoscopes, conceal'd by fanciful room decorations, where Burghers may recline, grunting148 expressively149, and spy upon one another in Activi-
ties that may be elephantine, birdlike, over in a flash, long as Church,
enclos'd in hopeless desire for, revenge on, escape from some Woman,
somewhere along these befabl'd and dolorous150 Company Lanes, someone
said, some Woman
The Opium-Girls are kept in a room of their own. That the substance is smoked in a Pipe has put it immediately in favor among the Dutch Gentlemen. Taken with tobacco, producing a vertiginous Swoon, such as might require most of an evening of drinking spirits to obtain, it seems to promise a great savings151 in time and cash, a thought these thrifty152 trades?men find enchanting153. Before this Surrender to Sloth154, however, Lust is schedul'd, splashing outside the Church-drawn boundaries of marriage, as across racial lines. Slave Women are brought here from ev'rywhere in this Hemisphere, to serve as dreamy, pliant155 shadows, Baths of Flesh darker than Dutch, the dangerously beautiful Extrusion156 of everything these white brothers, seeking Communion, cannot afford to contain,— whilst their wives, if adverted157 to at all, are imagin'd at home, sighing over needlework, or the Bible.
The Gunfire is at nine, in practice this curfew is stretched for as much as an hour, but by ten the sailors, so cheery, young, and careless with money, have to be out. After they are gone passes a silent period, an enshadowment which, prolonged past a certain point upon the Clock-Face, begins to rouse apprehension158 among the filles, for they know their Night has begun, and who is coming for them now, and some of what will be done to them. Many who have been to Rooms forbidden the others, report seeing, inside these, a Door to at least one Room further, which may not be opened. The Penetralia of the Lodge are thus, even to those employed there, a region without a map. Anything may be there. Perhaps miracles are still possible,— both evil miracles, such as occur when excesses of Ill Treatment are transform'd to Joy,— quite common in this Era,— and the reverse, when excesses of Well-being159 at length bring an Anguish160 no less painful for being metaphysickal,— Good Miracles. Even in a Polity sunny, bustling, and order'd as Cape Town, for reasons that mystify all (some blame the South-East winds, pointing to now-legendary examples of insane behavior in the dry season, whilst others whisper of magickal Practices of the Natives or Malays), howbeit, now and then, Madness will visit by Surprize, taking away to its Realm of Voices and Pain even a mind in the rosiest161 fullness of Sanity. When they are too dangerous to roam free, the town Madmen are kept as a responsi?bility of the Company, confin'd in padded rooms in the Slave Lodge. Sometimes for their amusement the Herren will escort a particularly dis?obedient employee to a Madman's cell, push her inside, and lock the door. Next to each cell is a Viewing Room where the gentlemen may then observe, through a wall of Glass disguis'd as a great Mirror, the often quite unviewable Rencontre. The Madmen are of every race, condition, and degree of Affliction, from the amiably162 delusionary to the remorse163?lessly homicidal. Some of them hate women, some desire them, some know hate and desire as but minor aspects of a greater, Oceanick Impulse, in which, report those who survive, it is unquestionably better not to be included. Again, some do not survive. When the Herren cannot return their Remains to their villages, they dispose of them by sea, that the Jackals may not have them.
What so far there have been only rumors164 of, is a room nine by seven feet and five inches, being with Dutch parsimony165 reduc'd to a quarter-size replica166 of the cell at Fort William, Calcutta, in which 146 Euro?peans were oblig'd to spend the night of 20—21 June 1756. There persists along the Company nerve-lines a terrible simple nearness to the Night of the "Black Hole," some Zero-Point of history, reckoning whence, all the Marvels167 to follow,— Quebec, Dr. Halley's Comet, the Battle of Quiberon Bay, aye and the Transit of Venus, too,— would elapse as fugitive168 as Opium dreams, and mattering less.... To find the Black Hole in a menu of Erotic Scenarios169 surprizes no one at this par?ticular end of the World,— Residents, visitors, even a few Seamen170 of elevated sensibility have return'd, whenever possible, to be urg'd along by graceful171 Lodge-Nymphs in indigo172 Dhotis and Turbans, dainty scimi?tars2 a-flash, commanding their naked "Captives" to squeeze together more and more tightly into the scale-model cell with as many Slaves,— impersonating Europeans,— as will make up the complement173, calcu?lated at thirty-six, best able to afford visitors an authentick Sense of the Black Hole of Calcutta Experience.
"If one did not wish to suffer Horror directly," comments the Revd in his Day-Book, "one might either transcend174 it spiritually, or eroticize it
carnally,— the sex Entrepreneurs reasoning that the combination of Equatorial heat, sweat, and the flesh of strangers in enforc'd intimacy175 might be Pleasurable,— that therefore might some dramatiz'd approach to death under such circumstances be pleasurable as well, with all squirming together in a serpent's Nest of Limbs and Apertures176 and penises, immobiliz'd in a bondage177 of similarly bound bodies, lubricated with a gleaming mixture of their own shar'd sweat, piss, and feces, nothing to breathe but one another's exhausted178 breaths, moving toward some single slow warm Explosion—"
(Tho' he does not of course read any of this aloud,— choosing rather to skim ahead to the Moral.)
"Behind our public reaction to the Event, the outrage179 and Piety180, what else may abide,— what untouchable Residue181? Small numbers of people go on telling much larger numbers what to do with their precious Lives,— among these Multitudes, all but a few go on allowing them to do so. The British in India encourage the teeming182 populations they rule to teem183 as much as they like, whilst taking their land for themselves, and then restricting the parts of it the People will be permitted to teem upon.
"Yet hear the Cry, 0 Lord, when even a small Metaphor184 of this conti?nental Coercion185 is practis'd in Reverse, as 'twas in the old B.H. of C.
" 'Metaphor!' you cry,— 'Sir, an hundred twenty lives were lost!'
"I reply, 'British lives. What think you the overnight Harvest of Death is, in Calcutta alone, in Indian lives?— not only upon that one Night, but ev'ry Night, in Streets that few could even tell you how to get to,— Street upon desperate Street, till the smoke of the Pyres takes it all into the Invisible, yet, invisible, doth it go on. All of which greatly suiteth the Company, and to whatever Share it has negotiated, His Majesty's Gov?ernment as well.'''
Cornelius has vanish'd into the Room of the Beasts, "A peculiarly Afrikaner Taste," he pauses to advise Dixon, "- - you might not enjoy it!" A slender dark Arm, full of Bangles, emerges from the Door-way, and a practis'd Hand removes his Hat. "Let's go, Simba."
Dixon has some idea of roaming the Lodge, finding a secret Tunnel to the Castle, searching for Austra,— tho' what he will do then is less clear to him. He gets no further than a small on-Premises Tap-room, where, paus'd for what they are pleas'd down in these Parts to term "Ale," he encounters whom but Police Agent Bonk, wearing a Dressing-Gown of red Velvet galloon'd with Gold, sweating copiously186 and trying to get Drunk on Cape Madeira.
"You are back? When did you arrive?"
"Your Shop didn't know about it?"
"I am done with that. I am a Farmer now. This is my last night in Cape
Town, tho' I might have remain'd here, as a Free Burgher. Tomorrow I put
my Family in an Ox-waggon, and start North. Perhaps over the Moun?
tains. Out of the reach of the Company, who desire total Control over ev'ry
moment of ev'ry Life here. I could not for them longer work. The Moun?
tains beckon'd, the vast Hottentot Land beyond And at last, do you
know, a curious thing happen'd. The more the Company exerted itself,— Searches in the middle of the Night, property impounded,— the more Farmers up-country felt press'd to move North, away from the Castle. They styl'd it 'Trekking,' and themselves 'Trekkers.' The demands of my job,— the amount of Surveillance alone they wish'd,— were overwhelm?ing. The Supervisors187 each week coming up with newer and less realistick Quotas188. No time for anything. Out there are green rolling Leagues of farm?land and Range, Bushmen for the most part docile189, I am assur'd, wild Game ev'rywhere, and best of all no more Company orders to obey."
' Tis a brave Venture...?— much Success."
"I'm confident about most of it,— the one thing causing me some Apprehension,— do you mind if we,— that is, you're not in the middle of anything,—
"Ev'ryone else's Fun, it seems."
"I can fire a Rifle when I'm standing still, you see,— it is the Shoot?ing and Loading whilst on Horseback, that worries me. I don't know how to do it,— and 'tis said there's no use going out there if you don't. Now, I was leaning toward an Oortman, then I heard, no, they're too heavy, too much Powder to carry, you're better off with a Bobbejaanboud, you put the butt42 on the ground and muzzle-load from the Saddle, and if you're press'd for time, why simply hit the Ground with the Butt, and the pow?der comes out this over-siz'd Priming Hole and into the Pan,— but then I thought, Well, suppose I got the Oortman anyway, then enlarg'd the Hole myself....”
Dixon returns to the Vroom residence at Dawn, all but carrying an equally, tho' perhaps not likewise, exhausted Cornelius. Ev'ryone is up. The Daughters run about, regarding Dixon out of the corners of their Eyes. What enchanted190 Mason about these Girls, Dixon comes to realize, with some consternation191, is their readiness to seek the Shadow, avoid the light, believe in what haunts these shores exactly to the Atom,— ghosts ev'rywhere,— Slaves, Hottentots driven into exile, animals remorselessly Savage,— a Reservoir of Sin, whose Weight, like that of the atmosphere, is borne day after day unnotic'd, adverted to only when some Vacuum is encounter'd,— a Stranger in Town, a Malay publickly distraught, an hour at the Lodge,— into which its Contents might rush with a Turbulence192 felt and wonder'd at by all. The Vroom Girls and their counterparts all over town are Daughters of the End of the World, smiling more than they ought, chirping193 when need?ful, alert to each instant of the long Day as likely as the next to hold a chance of Ruin. In their Dreams they ever return to Prisons of Stone, to Gates with Seals 'tis Death to break, the odor of soap and Slops, the Stillness of certain Corridors, the unchallengeable Love of a Tyrant194, Yellow Light from unseen Watch-Fires flickering195 upon the Wall, and unexpectedly, rounding a particular Corner, to the tall Clock from Home, ringing the Quarter-Hour.
One by one the girls have grown up believing the Vroom Clock, a long-case heirloom brought from Holland, to be a living Creature, con19?scious of itself, and of them, too, with its hooded196 Face, its heartbeat, the bearing of a solemn Messenger. It stands deep in the House, in a pas?sageway between the Front and the Back,— the two Worlds,— witness to everything that transpires197 within hearing-range with but its one Hour-Hand, and two Bells, a Great and a Small, for striking the Hours and Quarter-hours. They call it 'Boet,'— the traditional name, here, for an elder Brother.
When Mason and Dixon arriv'd with the Ellicott Clock, the Girls assum'd it was a Traveling Companion of the Englishmen. Later, when Dixon return'd with a different Clock, Mr. Shelton's, no-one notic'd but Greet. "Please go carefully," she takes him aside to whisper. "They think Charles and you've something to do with the Longitude. After you were gone, they came to believe, that the Royal Society's Clock, which you had with you, was able to keep Errorless Time at Sea,— a British State Secret,— we are apt to believe anything here. The East India Company is about to present two fabulous198 Clocks, of Gold encrusted with Dia?monds, with tiny Clock-Work Birds and such, to the Emperor of China. 'Twould be far wiser of you, to hide this new Clock, and pretend that you are back for.. .some other reason."
"The Transit's run, Lass, all that remains is to find the Going of the Clock, and,— eeh,— why Greet, the very idea."
"They all know I'm in here with you." She seizes the two sides of her Bodice and tears it apart. A young Bosom199 appears, pale and pink. "Did you just do that? Shall I call out that you did? Or was it a Spontaneous Seam Separation, apt to happen to any Bodice, really?"
"Thou did it, Lass."
"They won't believe that."
"So they may say. But they know thee."
"Brutal200 Albion, you are making it difficult for me to love you." She presses together a few hidden Snaps, and the Bodice is once again com?plete. "Mr. Mason was never so cold."
"Mason is naturally affectionate. Tho' he appears not to know one end of a Woman from another, yet 'tis all he thinks about, when he has a moment to think. Would tha denounce me to the Company Castle, then?"
"Go carefully."
Down in the Castle, however, they are facing a Dilemma201. There is an unpremeditated wave of Enthusiasm for two-handed Clocks currently sweeping202 over the Dutch, both here and back in Holland. Soon, during an interrogation, someone will wish to note the precise time that each question is ask'd, or action taken, by a clock with two hands,— not because anyone will ever review it,— perhaps to intimidate203 the subject with the most advanc'd mechanical Device of its time, certainly because Minute-Scal'd Accuracy is possible by now, and there is room for Min?utes to be enter'd in the Records. Any new Clock in their Neighborhood is thus eligible204 for the Honor.
Word has finally reach'd them, however, of Dixon's connection with Christopher Le Maire. They assume, without Reflection, that the Jesuit must belong to some branch of the Dutch Le Maires, fam'd among whom were Jacob, navigator and explorer of the southern seas, and Isaac, the East India Company Director and speculator, notorious for having intro?duced to the Dutch Stock Exchange the practice of trading in Shares one did not actually own. And the Priest is currently teaching in Flanders, is he not? Accordingly, Dixon's Dossier is flagg'd in Yellow, which means, "Caution,— may be connected dangerously," allowing him to go on as ever at the Cape, running before any wind of Sensory205 delight, as the Church-Faithful carouse206, Slaves conspire207 their Freedom, and Func?tionaries flee the Castle, and head for open Country.
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tar
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| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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tars
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| 焦油，沥青，柏油( tar的名词复数 ) | |
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moth
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| n.蛾，蛀虫 | |
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scatter
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| vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散 | |
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avouch
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| v.确说，断言 | |
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lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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abiding
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| adj.永久的，持久的，不变的 | |
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natal
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| adj.出生的，先天的 | |
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charlatans
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| n.冒充内行者，骗子( charlatan的名词复数 ) | |
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insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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sanity
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| n.心智健全，神智正常，判断正确 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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comport
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| vi.相称，适合 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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vertiginous
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| adj.回旋的；引起头晕的 | |
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cryptic
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| adj.秘密的，神秘的，含义模糊的 | |
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par
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| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
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con
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| n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的 | |
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miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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intervention
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| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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transit
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| n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过 | |
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humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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bustling
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| adj.喧闹的 | |
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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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truculent
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| adj.野蛮的，粗野的 | |
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30
wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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31
rumor
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| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
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32
repayment
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| n.偿还，偿还款；报酬 | |
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nettling
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| 扎结绳结 | |
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coalition
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| n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合 | |
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35
riddle
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| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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36
snares
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| n.陷阱( snare的名词复数 )；圈套；诱人遭受失败（丢脸、损失等）的东西；诱惑物v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的第三人称单数 ) | |
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opium
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| n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的 | |
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38
eyebrow
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| n.眉毛，眉 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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plaintively
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| adv.悲哀地，哀怨地 | |
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butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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burrow
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| vt.挖掘(洞穴)；钻进；vi.挖洞；翻寻；n.地洞 | |
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enigma
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| n.谜，谜一样的人或事 | |
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advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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longitude
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| n.经线，经度 | |
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observatory
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| n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台 | |
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rants
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| n.夸夸其谈( rant的名词复数 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨v.夸夸其谈( rant的第三人称单数 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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confessions
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| n.承认( confession的名词复数 )；自首；声明；（向神父的）忏悔 | |
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rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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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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treatises
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| n.专题著作，专题论文，专著( treatise的名词复数 ) | |
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rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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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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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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authorized
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| a.委任的，许可的 | |
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astronomers
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| n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 ) | |
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naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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derivative
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| n.派(衍)生物；adj.非独创性的，模仿他人的 | |
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latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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lengthier
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| adj.长的，漫长的，啰嗦的( lengthy的比较级 ) | |
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meridian
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| adj.子午线的；全盛期的 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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pebble
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| n.卵石，小圆石 | |
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71
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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72
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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73
blur
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| n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚 | |
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74
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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75
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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76
conjectures
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| 推测，猜想( conjecture的名词复数 ) | |
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77
scoffing
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| n. 嘲笑, 笑柄, 愚弄 v. 嘲笑, 嘲弄, 愚弄, 狼吞虎咽 | |
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78
doorways
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| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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79
ultimata
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| 根本的原理 | |
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80
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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81
inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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82
predators
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| n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面） | |
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83
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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84
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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85
trajectories
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| n.弹道( trajectory的名词复数 )；轨道；轨线；常角轨道 | |
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86
estrangement
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| n.疏远，失和，不和 | |
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87
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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88
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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89
datum
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| n.资料；数据；已知数 | |
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90
salons
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| n.（营业性质的）店( salon的名词复数 )；厅；沙龙（旧时在上流社会女主人家的例行聚会或聚会场所）；（大宅中的）客厅 | |
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91
monographs
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| n.专著，专论( monograph的名词复数 ) | |
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92
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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93
blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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94
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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95
scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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96
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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97
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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98
prudently
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| adv. 谨慎地，慎重地 | |
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99
diligently
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| ad.industriously;carefully | |
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100
clam
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| n.蛤，蛤肉 | |
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101
aromas
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| n.芳香( aroma的名词复数 )；气味；风味；韵味 | |
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102
exempt
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| adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者 | |
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103
cir
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| abbr.circular 通知；circulation （货币，货物等的）流通；circle 圆；circa (Latin=about) （拉丁语）大约 | |
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104
ordeals
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| n.严峻的考验，苦难的经历( ordeal的名词复数 ) | |
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105
smirks
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| n.傻笑，得意的笑( smirk的名词复数 )v.傻笑( smirk的第三人称单数 ) | |
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106
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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107
unstable
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| adj.不稳定的，易变的 | |
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108
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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109
smoldering
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| v.用文火焖烧，熏烧，慢燃( smolder的现在分词 ) | |
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110
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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111
stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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112
musk
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| n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫 | |
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113
irises
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| n.虹( iris的名词复数 )；虹膜；虹彩；鸢尾（花） | |
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114
amendment
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| n.改正，修正，改善，修正案 | |
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115
coaxing
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱；“锻炼”效应 | |
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116
dike
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| n.堤，沟；v.开沟排水 | |
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117
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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118
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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119
basted
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| v.打( baste的过去式和过去分词 )；粗缝；痛斥；（烤肉等时）往上抹[浇]油 | |
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120
suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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121
nautical
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| adj.海上的，航海的，船员的 | |
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122
gut
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| n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏 | |
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123
hoots
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| 咄，啐 | |
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124
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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125
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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126
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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127
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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128
hemp
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| n.大麻；纤维 | |
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129
cloves
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| n.丁香（热带树木的干花，形似小钉子，用作调味品，尤用作甜食的香料）( clove的名词复数 )；蒜瓣(a garlic ~|a ~of garlic) | |
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130
intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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131
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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132
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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133
specialties
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| n.专门，特性，特别；专业( specialty的名词复数 )；特性；特制品；盖印的契约 | |
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134
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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135
unpaid
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| adj.未付款的，无报酬的 | |
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136
adept
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| adj.老练的，精通的 | |
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137
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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138
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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139
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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140
tableau
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| n.画面，活人画（舞台上活人扮的静态画面） | |
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141
obsession
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| n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感) | |
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142
imps
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| n.（故事中的）小恶魔( imp的名词复数 )；小魔鬼；小淘气；顽童 | |
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143
thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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144
timing
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| n.时间安排，时间选择 | |
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145
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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146
incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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147
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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148
grunting
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| 咕哝的，呼噜的 | |
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149
expressively
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| ad.表示(某事物)地；表达地 | |
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150
dolorous
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| adj.悲伤的；忧愁的 | |
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151
savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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152
thrifty
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| adj.节俭的；兴旺的；健壮的 | |
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153
enchanting
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| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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154
sloth
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| n.[动]树懒；懒惰，懒散 | |
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155
pliant
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| adj.顺从的；可弯曲的 | |
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156
extrusion
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| n.挤出；推出；喷出；赶出 | |
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157
adverted
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| 引起注意（advert的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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158
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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159
well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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160
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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161
rosiest
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| adj.玫瑰色的( rosy的最高级 )；愉快的；乐观的；一切都称心如意 | |
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162
amiably
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| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
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163
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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164
rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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165
parsimony
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| n.过度节俭，吝啬 | |
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166
replica
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| n.复制品 | |
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167
marvels
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| n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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168
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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169
scenarios
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| n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本 | |
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170
seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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171
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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172
indigo
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| n.靛青，靛蓝 | |
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173
complement
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| n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足 | |
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174
transcend
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| vt.超出，超越(理性等)的范围 | |
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175
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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176
apertures
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| n.孔( aperture的名词复数 )；隙缝；（照相机的）光圈；孔径 | |
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177
bondage
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| n.奴役，束缚 | |
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178
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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179
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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180
piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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181
residue
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| n.残余，剩余，残渣 | |
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182
teeming
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| adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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183
teem
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| vi.(with)充满，多产 | |
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184
metaphor
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| n.隐喻，暗喻 | |
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185
coercion
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| n.强制，高压统治 | |
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186
copiously
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| adv.丰富地，充裕地 | |
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187
supervisors
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| n.监督者，管理者( supervisor的名词复数 ) | |
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188
quotas
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| （正式限定的）定量( quota的名词复数 )； 定额； 指标； 摊派 | |
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189
docile
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| adj.驯服的，易控制的，容易教的 | |
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190
enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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191
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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192
turbulence
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| n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流 | |
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193
chirping
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| 鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的现在分词 ) | |
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194
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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195
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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196
hooded
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| adj.戴头巾的；有罩盖的；颈部因肋骨运动而膨胀的 | |
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197
transpires
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| （事实，秘密等）被人知道( transpire的第三人称单数 )； 泄露； 显露； 发生 | |
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198
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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199
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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200
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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201
dilemma
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| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
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202
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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203
intimidate
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| vt.恐吓，威胁 | |
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204
eligible
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| adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的 | |
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205
sensory
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| adj.知觉的，感觉的，知觉器官的 | |
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206
carouse
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| v.狂欢；痛饮；n.狂饮的宴会 | |
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207
conspire
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| v.密谋，（事件等）巧合，共同导致 | |
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