Don Luis ceased. A smile of amusement played round his lips. The recollection of those four minutes seemed to divert him immensely.
Valenglay and the Prefect of Police, who were neither of them men to be unduly1 surprised at courage and coolness, had listened to him, nevertheless, and were now looking at him in bewildered silence. Was it possible for a human being to carry heroism2 to such unlikely lengths?
Meanwhile, he went up to the other side of the chimney and pointed3 to a larger map, representing the French roads.
"You told me, Monsieur le Président, that the scoundrel's motor car had left Versailles and was going toward Nantes?"
"Yes; and all our arrangements are made to arrest him either on the way, or else at Nantes or at Saint-Nazaire, where he may intend to take ship."
Don Luis Perenna followed with his forefinger4 the road across France, stopping here and there, marking successive stages. And nothing could have been more impressive than this dumb show.
The man that he was, preserving his composure amid the overthrow5 of all that he had most at heart, seemed by his calmness to dominate time and circumstances. It was as though the murderer were running away at one end of an unbreakable thread of which Don Luis held the other, and as though Don Luis could stop his flight at any time by a mere6 movement of his finger and thumb.
As he studied the map, the master seemed to command not only a sheet of cardboard, but also the highroad on which a motor car was spinning along, subject to his despotic will.
He went back to the table and continued:
"The battle was over. And there was no question of its being resumed. My forty-two worthies7 found themselves face to face with a conqueror8, against whom revenge is always possible, by fair means or foul9, but with one who had subjugated10 them in a supernatural manner. There was no other explanation of the inexplicable11 facts which they had witnessed. I was a sorcerer, a kind of marabout, a direct emissary of the Prophet."
Valenglay laughed and said:
"Their interpretation12 was not so very unreasonable13, for, after all, you must have performed a sleight-of-hand trick which strikes me also as being little less than miraculous14."
"Monsieur le Président, do you know a curious short story of Balzac's called 'A Passion in the Desert?'"
"Yes."
"Does it? I don't quite see. You were not under the claws of a tigress.
There, was no tigress to tame in this instance."
"No, but there were women."
"Eh? How do you mean?"
"Upon my word, Monsieur le Président," said Don Luis gayly, "I should not like to shock you. But I repeat that the troop which carried me off on that week's march included women; and women are a little like Balzac's tigress, creatures whom it is not impossible to tame, to charm, to break in, until you make friends of them."
"I had a week."
"And complete liberty of action."
"No, no, Monsieur le Président. The eyes are enough to start with. The eyes give rise to sympathy, interest, affection, curiosity, a wish to know you better. After that, the merest opportunity—"
"And did an opportunity offer?"
"Yes, one night. I was fastened up, or at least they thought I was. I knew that the chief's favourite was alone in her tent close by. I went there. I left her an hour afterward17."
"And the tigress was tamed?"
"Yes, as thoroughly18 as Balzac's: tamed and blindly submissive."
"But there were several of them?"
"I know, Monsieur le President, and that was the difficulty. I was afraid of rivalry19. But all went well: the favourite was not jealous, far from it. And then, as I have told you, her submission20 was absolute. In short, I had five staunch, invisible friends, resolved to do anything I wanted and suspected by nobody.
"My plan was being carried out before we reached the last halting-place. My five secret agents collected all the arms during the night. They dashed the daggers21 to the ground and broke them. They removed the bullets from the pistols. They damped the powder. Everything was ready for ringing up the curtain."
Valenglay bowed.
"My compliments! You are a man of resource. And your scheme was not lacking in charm. For I take it that your five ladies were pretty?"
Don Luis put on a bantering22 expression. He closed his eyes, as if to recall his bliss23, and let fall the one word:
"Hags!"
The epithet24 gave rise to a burst of merriment. But Don Luis, as though in a hurry to finish his story, at once went on:
"In any case, they saved my life, the hussies, and their aid never failed me. My forty-two watch-dogs, deprived of their arms and shaking with fear in those solitudes25 where everything is a trap and where death lies in wait for you at any minute, gathered round me as their real protector. When we joined the great tribe to which they belonged I was their actual chief. And it took me less than three months of dangers faced in common, of ambushes26 defeated under my advice, of raids and pillages27 effected by my direction, to become the chief also of the whole tribe.
"I spoke28 their language, I practised their religion, I wore their dress, I conformed to their customs: alas29! had I not five wives? Henceforward, my dream, which had gradually taken definite shape in my mind, became possible.
"I sent one of my most faithful adherents30 to France, with sixty letters to hand to sixty men whose names and addresses he learned by heart. Those sixty men were sixty associates whom Arsène Lupin had disbanded before he threw himself from the Capri cliffs. All had retired31 from business, with a hundred thousand francs apiece in ready money and a small trade or public post to keep them occupied. I had provided one with a tobacconist's shop, another with a job as a park-keeper, others with sinecures32 in the government offices. In short, they were respectable citizens.
"To all of them—whether public servants, farmers, municipal councillors, grocers, sacristans, or what not—I wrote the same letter, made the same offer, and gave the same instructions in case they should accept…. Monsieur le Président, I thought that, of the sixty, ten or fifteen at most would come and join me: sixty came, Monsieur le President, sixty, and not one less! Sixty men punctually arrived at the appointed place.
"On the day fixed33, at the hour named, my old armed cruiser, the Ascendam, which they had brought back, anchored in the mouth of the Wady Draa, on the Atlantic coast, between Cape34 Nun35 and Cape Juby. Two longboats plied36 to and fro and landed my friends and the munitions37 of war which they had brought with them: camp furniture, quick-firing guns, ammunition38, motor-boats, stores and provisions, trading wares40, glass beads41, and cases of gold as well, for my sixty good men and true had insisted on turning their share of the old profits into cash and on putting into the new venture the six million francs which they had received from their governor….
"Need I say more, Monsieur le Président? Must I tell you what a chief like Arsène Lupin was able to attempt seconded by sixty fine fellows of that stamp and backed by an army of ten thousand well-armed and well-trained Moorish42 fanatics43? He attempted it; and his success was unparalleled.
"I do not think that there has ever been an idyl like that through which we lived during those fifteen months, first on the heights of the Atlas44 range and then in the infernal plains of the Sahara: an idyl of heroism, of privation, of superhuman torture and superhuman joy; an idyl of hunger and thirst, of total defeat and dazzling victory….
and main. Oh, what men! You know them, Monsieur le Président du Conseil!
You've had them to deal with, Monsieur le Préfet de Police! The beggars!
Tears come to my eyes when I think of some of them.
"There were Charolais and his son, who distinguished46 themselves in the case of the Princesse de Lamballe's tiara. There were Marco, who owed his fame to the Kesselbach case, and Auguste, who was your chief messenger, Monsieur le Président. There were the Growler and the Masher, who achieved such glory in the hunt for the crystal stopper. There were the brothers Beuzeville, whom I used to call the two Ajaxes. There were Philippe d'Antrac, who was better born than any Bourbon, and Pierre Le Grand and Tristan Le Roux and Joseph Le Jeune."
"And there was Arsène Lupin," said Valenglay, roused to enthusiasm by this list of Homeric heroes.
"And there was Arsène Lupin," repeated Don Luis.
He nodded his head, smiled, and continued, in a very quiet voice:
"I will not speak of him, Monsieur le Président. I will not speak of him, for the simple reason that you would not believe my story. What they tell about him when he was with the Foreign Legion is mere child's play beside what was to come later. Lupin was only a private soldier. In South Morocco he was a general. Not till then did Arsène Lupin really show what he could do. And, I say it without pride, not even I foresaw what that was. The Achilles of the legend performed no greater feats48. Hannibal and Caesar achieved no more striking results.
"All I need tell you is that, in fifteen months, Arsène Lupin conquered a kingdom twice the size of France. From the Berbers of Morocco, from the indomitable Tuaregs, from the Arabs of the extreme south of Algeria, from the negroes who overrun Senegal, from the Moors49 along the Atlantic coast, under the blazing sun, in the flames of hell, he conquered half the Sahara and what we may call ancient Mauretania.
"A kingdom of deserts and swamps? Partly, but a kingdom all the same, with oases50, wells, rivers, forests, and incalculable riches, a kingdom with ten million men and a hundred thousand warriors51. This is the kingdom which I offer to France, Monsieur le Président du Conseil."
Valenglay did not conceal52 his amazement53. Greatly excited and even perturbed54 by what he had learned, looking over his extraordinary visitor, with his hands clutching at the map of Africa, he whispered:
"Explain yourself; be more precise."
Don Luis answered:
"Monsieur le Président du Conseil, I will not remind you of the events of the last few years. France, resolving to pursue a splendid dream of dominion55 over North Africa, has had to part with a portion of the Congo. I propose to heal the painful wound by giving her thirty times as much as she has lost. And I turn the magnificent and distant dream into an immediate56 certainty by joining the small slice of Morocco which you have conquered to Senegal at one blow.
"To-day, Greater France in Africa exists. Thanks to me, it is a solid and compact expanse. Millions of square miles of territory and a coastline stretching for several thousand miles from Tunis to the Congo, save for a few insignificant57 interruptions."
"It's a Utopia," Valenglay protested.
"It's a reality."
"Nonsense! It will take us twenty years' fighting to achieve."
"It will take you exactly five minutes!" cried Don Luis, with irresistible58 enthusiasm. "What I offer you is not the conquest of an empire, but a conquered empire, duly pacified59 and administered, in full working order and full of life. My gift is a present, not a future gift.
"I, too, Monsieur le Président du Conseil, I, Arsène Lupin, had cherished a splendid dream. After toiling60 and moiling all my life, after knowing all the ups and downs of existence, richer than Croesus, because all the wealth of the world was mine, and poorer than Job, because I had distributed all my treasures, surfeited61 with everything, tired of unhappiness, and more tired still of happiness, sick of pleasure, of passion, of excitement, I wanted to do something that is incredible in the present day: to reign47!
"And a still more incredible phenomenon: when this thing was accomplished62, when the dead Arsène Lupin had come to life again as a sultan out of the Arabian Nights, as a reigning63, governing, law-giving Arsène Lupin, head of the state and head of the church, I determined64, in a few years, at one stroke, to tear down the screen of rebel tribes against which you were waging a desultory65 and tiresome66 war in the north of Morocco, while I was quietly and silently building up my kingdom at the back of it.
"Then, face to face with France and as powerful as herself, like a neighbour treating on equal terms, I would have cried to her, 'It's I, Arsène Lupin! Behold67 the former swindler and gentleman burglar! The Sultan of Adrar, the Sultan of Iguidi, the Sultan of El Djouf, the Sultan of the Tuaregs, the Sultan of Aubata, the Sultan of Brakna and Frerzon, all these am I, the Sultan of Sultans, grandson of Mahomet, son of Allah, I, I, I, Arsène Lupin!'
"And, before taking the little grain of poison that sets one free—for a man like Arsène Lupin has no right to grow old—I should have signed the treaty of peace, the deed of gift in which I bestowed68 a kingdom on France, signed it, below the flourishes of my grand dignitaries, kaids, pashas, and marabouts, with my lawful69 signature, the signature to which I am fully70 entitled, which I conquered at the point of my sword and by my all-powerful will: 'Arsène I, Emperor of Mauretania!'"
Don Luis uttered all these words in a strong voice, but without emphasis, with the very simple emotion and pride of a man who has done much and who knows the value of what he has done. There were but two ways of replying to him: by a shrug71 of the shoulders, as one replies to a madman, or by the silence that expresses reflection and approval.
The Prime Minister and the Prefect of Police said nothing, but their looks betrayed their secret thoughts. And deep down within themselves they felt that they were in the presence of an absolutely exceptional specimen72 of mankind, created to perform immoderate actions and fashioned by his own hand for a superhuman destiny.
Don Luis continued:
"It was a fine curtain, was it not, Monsieur le Président du Conseil? And the end was worthy73 of the work. I should have been happy to have had it so. Arsène Lupin dying on a throne, sceptre in hand, would have been a spectacle not devoid74 of glamour75. Arsène Lupin dying with his title of Arsène I, Emperor of Mauretania and benefactor76 of France: what an apotheosis77! The gods have willed it otherwise. Jealous, no doubt, they are lowering me to the level of my cousins of the old world and turning me into that absurd creature, a king in exile. Their will be done! Peace to the late Emperor of Mauretania. He has strutted78 and fretted79 his hour upon the stage.
"Arsène I is dead: long live France! Monsieur le Président du Conseil, I repeat my offer. Florence Levasseur is in danger. I alone can rescue her from the monster who is carrying her away. It will take me twenty-four hours. In return for twenty-four hours' liberty I will give you the Mauretanian Empire. Do you accept, Monsieur le Président du Conseil?"
"Well, certainly, I accept," said Valenglay, laughing. "What do you say, my dear Desmalions? The whole thing may not be very orthodox, but, hang it! Paris is worth a mass and the Kingdom of Mauretania is a tempting80 morsel81. We'll risk the experiment."
Don Luis's face expressed so sincere a joy that one might have thought that he had just achieved the most brilliant victory instead of sacrificing a crown and flinging into the gutter82 the most fantastic dream that mortal man had ever conceived and realized.
He asked:
"What guarantees do you require, Monsieur le Président?"
"None."
"I can show you treaties, documents to prove—"
"Don't trouble. We'll talk about all that to-morrow. Meanwhile, go ahead.
You are free."
The essential word, the incredible word, was spoken.
Don Luis took a few steps toward the door.
"One word more, Monsieur le Président," he said, stopping. "Among my former companions is one for whom I procured83 a post suited to his inclinations84 and his deserts. This man I did not send for to come to Africa, thinking that some day or other he might be of use to me through the position which he occupied. I am speaking of Mazeroux, a sergeant85 in the detective service."
"Sergeant Mazeroux, whom Caceres denounced, with corroborating86 evidence, as an accomplice87 of Arsène Lupin, is in prison."
"Sergeant Mazeroux is a model of professional honour, Monsieur le Président. I owed his assistance only to the fact that I was helping88 the police. I was accepted as an auxiliary89 and more or less patronized by Monsieur le Préfet. Mazeroux thwarted90 me in anything I tried to do that was at all illegal. And he would have been the first to take me by the collar if he had been so instructed. I ask for his release."
"Oho!"
"Monsieur le Président, your consent will be an act of justice and I beg you to grant it. Sergeant Mazerou shall leave France. He can be charged by the government with a secret mission in the south of Morocco, with the rank of colonial inspector91."
"Agreed," said Valenglay, laughing heartily92. And he added, "My dear Préfect, once we depart from the strictly93 lawful path, there's no saying where we come to. But the end justifies94 the means; and the end which we have in view is to have done with this loathsome95 Mornington case."
"This evening everything will be settled," said Don Luis.
"I hope so. Our men are on the track."
"They are on the track, but they have to check that track at every town, at every village, by inquiries96 made of every peasant they meet; they have to find out if the motor has not branched off somewhere; and they are wasting time. I shall go straight for the scoundrel."
"By what miracle?"
"That must be my secret for the present, Monsieur le Président."
"Very well. Is there anything you want?"
"This map of France."
"Take it."
"And a couple of revolvers."
"Monsieur le Préfet will be good enough to ask his inspectors97 for two revolvers and to give them to you. Is that all? Any money?"
"No, thank you, Monsieur le Président. I always carry a useful fifty thousand francs in my pocket-book, in case of need."
"In that case," said the Prefect of Police, "I shall have to send some one with you to the lockup. I presume your pocket-book was among the things taken from you."
Don Luis smiled:
"Monsieur le Préfet, the things that people can take from me are never of the least importance. My pocket-book is at the lockup, as you say. But the money—"
He raised his left leg, took his boot in his hands and gave a slight twist to the heel. There was a little click, and a sort of double drawer shot out of the front of the sole. It contained two sheafs of bank notes and a number of diminutive98 articles, such as a gimlet, a watch spring, and some pills.
"The wherewithal to escape," he said, "to live and—to die. Good-bye,
Monsieur le Président."
In the hall M. Desmalions told the inspectors to let their prisoner go free. Don Luis asked:
"Monsieur le Préfet, did Deputy Chief Weber give you any particulars about the brute's car?"
"Yes, he telephoned from Versailles. It's a deep-yellow car, belonging to the Compagnie des Comètes. The driver's seat is on the left. He's wearing a gray cloth cap with a black leather peak."
"Thank you, Monsieur le Préfet."
And he left the house.
* * * * *
An inconceivable thing had happened. Don Luis was free. Half an hour's conversation had given him the power of acting99 and of fighting the decisive battle.
He went off at a run. At the Trocadéro he jumped into a taxi.
"Go to Issy-les-Moulineaux!" he cried. "Full speed! Forty francs!"
The cab flew through Passy, crossed the Seine and reached the
Issy-les-Moulineaux aviation ground in ten minutes.
None of the aeroplanes was out, for there was a stiff breeze blowing. Don
Luis ran to the sheds. The owners' names were written over the doors.
"Davanne," he muttered. "That's the man I want."
The door of the shed was open. A short, stoutish100 man, with a long red face, was smoking a cigarette and watching some mechanics working at a monoplane. The little man was Davanne himself, the famous airman.
Don Luis took him aside and, knowing from the papers the sort of man that he was, opened the conversation so as to surprise him from the start:
"Monsieur," he said, unfolding his map of France, "I want to catch up some one who has carried off the woman I love and is making for Nantes by motor. The abduction took place at midnight. It is now about eight o'clock. Suppose that the motor, which is just a hired taxi with a driver who has no inducement to break his neck, does an average of twenty miles an hour, including stoppages—in twelve hours' time—that is to say, at twelve o'clock—our man will have covered two hundred and forty miles and reached a spot between Angers and Nantes, at this point on the map."
"Les Ponts-de-Drive," agreed Davanne, who was quietly listening.
"Very well. Suppose, on the other hand, that an aeroplane were to start from Issy-les-Moulineaux at eight o'clock in the morning and travel at the rate of sixty miles an hour, without stopping—in four hours' time—that is to say, at twelve o'clock—it would reach Les Ponts-de-Drive at the exact same moment as the motor. Am I right?"
"In that case, if we agree, all is well. Does your machine carry a passenger?"
"Sometimes she does."
"We'll start at once. What are your terms?"
"It depends. Who are you?"
"Arsène Lupin."
"The devil you are!" exclaimed Davanne, a little taken aback.
"I am Arsène Lupin. You must know the best part of what has happened from reading about it in the papers. Well, Florence Levasseur was kidnapped last night. I want to save her. What's your price?"
"Nothing."
"That's too much!"
"Perhaps, but the adventure amuses me. It will be an advertisement."
"Very well. But your silence is necessary until to-morrow. I'll buy it.
Here's twenty thousand francs."
Ten minutes later Don Luis was dressed in an airman's suit, cap, and goggles102; and an aeroplane rose to a height of two thousand five hundred feet to avoid the air currents, flew above the Seine, and darted103 due west across France.
Versailles, Maintenon, Chartres….
Don Luis had never been up in an aeroplane. France had achieved the conquest of the air while he was fighting with the Legion and in the plains of the Sahara. Nevertheless, sensitive though he was to new impressions—and what more exciting impression could he have than this?—he did not experience the heavenly delight of the man who for the first time soars above the earth. What monopolized104 his thoughts, strained his nerves, and excited his whole being to an exquisite105 degree was the as yet impossible but inevitable106 sight of the motor which they were pursuing.
Amid the tremendous swarm107 of things beneath them, amid the unexpected din39 of the wings and the engine, in the immensity of the sky, in the infinity108 of the horizon, his eyes sought nothing but that, and his ears admitted no other sound than the hum of the invisible car. His were the mighty109 and brutal110 sensations of the hunter chasing his game. He was the bird of prey111 whom the distraught quarry112 has no chance of escaping.
Nogent-le-Rotrou, La Ferté-Bernard, Le Mans….
The two companions did not exchange a single word. Before him Perenna saw Davanne's broad back and powerful neck and shoulders. But, by bending his head a little, he saw the boundless113 space beneath him; and nothing interested him but the white ribbon of road that ran from town to town and from village to village, at times quite straight, as though a hand had stretched it, and at others lazily winding114, broken by a river or a church.
On this ribbon, at some place always closer and closer, were Florence and her abductor!
He never doubted it! The yellow taxi was continuing its patient and plucky115 little effort. Mile after mile, through plains and villages, fields and forests, it was making Angers, with Les Ponts-de-Drive after, and, right at the end of the ribbon, the unattainable goal: Nantes, Saint-Nazaire, the steamer ready to start, and victory for the scoundrel….
He laughed at the idea. As if there could be a question of any victory but his, the victory of the falcon116 over its prey, the victory of the flying bird over the game that runs afoot! Not for a second did he entertain the thought that the enemy might have slunk away by taking another road.
There are some certainties that are equivalent to facts. And this one was so great that it seemed to him that his adversaries117 were obliged to comply with it. The car was travelling along the road to Nantes. It would cover an average of twenty miles an hour. And as he himself was travelling at the rate of sixty miles, the encounter would take place at the spot named, Les Ponts-de-Drive, and at the hour named, twelve o'clock.
A cluster of houses, a huge castle, towers, steeples: Angers….
Don Luis asked Davanne the time. It was ten minutes to twelve.
Already Angers was a vanished vision. Once more the open country, broken up with many-coloured fields. Through it all, a road.
And, on that road, a yellow motor.
The yellow motor! The brute's motor! The motor with Florence Levasseur!
Don Luis's joy contained no surprise. He knew so well that this was bound to happen!
Davanne turned round and cried:
"That's the one, isn't it?"
"Yes, go straight for them."
The airship dipped through space and caught up the car almost at once. Then Davanne slowed his engine and kept at six hundred feet above the car and a little way behind.
From here they made out all the details. The driver was seated on the left. He wore a gray cap with a black peak. It was one of the deep-yellow taxis of the Compagnie des Comètes. It was the taxi which they were pursuing. And Florence was inside with her abductor.
"At last," thought Don Luis, "I have them!"
They flew for some time, keeping the same distance.
Davanne waited for a signal which Don Luis was in no hurry to give. He was revelling118 in the sensation of his power, with a force made up of mingled119 pride, hatred120, and cruelty. He was indeed the eagle hovering121 overhead with its talons122 itching123 to rend124 live flesh. Escaped from the cage in which he had been imprisoned125, released from the bonds that fastened him, he had come all the way at full flight and was ready to swoop126 upon the helpless prey.
He lifted himself in his seat and gave Davanne his instructions:
"Be careful," he said, "not to brush too close by them. They might put a bullet into us."
Another minute passed.
Suddenly they saw that, half a mile ahead, the road divided into three, thus forming a very wide open space which was still further extended by two triangular127 patches of grass where the three roads met.
"Now?" asked Davanne, turning to Don Luis.
"Off you go!" cried Don Luis.
The aeroplane seemed to shoot down suddenly, as though driven by an irresistible force, which sent it flying like an arrow toward the mark. It passed at three hundred feet above the car, and then, all at once, checking its career, choosing the spot at which it meant to hit the target, calmly, silently, like a night-bird, steering129 clear of the trees and sign-posts, it alighted softly on the grass of the crossroads.
Don Luis sprang out and ran toward the motor, which was coming along at a rapid pace. He stood in the middle of the road, levelled his two revolvers, and shouted:
"Stop, or I fire!"
The terrified driver put on both brakes. The car pulled up.
Don Luis rushed to one of the doors.
"Thunder!" he roared, discharging one of his revolvers for no reason and smashing a window-pane.
There was no one in the car.
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unduly
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heroism
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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forefinger
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overthrow
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mere
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worthies
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conqueror
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foul
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subjugated
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inexplicable
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interpretation
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unreasonable
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miraculous
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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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premier
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afterward
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thoroughly
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rivalry
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submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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21
daggers
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| 匕首，短剑( dagger的名词复数 ) | |
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22
bantering
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| adj.嘲弄的v.开玩笑，说笑，逗乐( banter的现在分词 )；（善意地）取笑，逗弄 | |
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23
bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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24
epithet
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| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
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25
solitudes
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| n.独居( solitude的名词复数 )；孤独；荒僻的地方；人迹罕至的地方 | |
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ambushes
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| n.埋伏( ambush的名词复数 )；伏击；埋伏着的人；设埋伏点v.埋伏( ambush的第三人称单数 )；埋伏着 | |
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27
pillages
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| n.抢劫，掠夺( pillage的名词复数 )；掠夺者v.抢劫，掠夺( pillage的第三人称单数 ) | |
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28
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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29
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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30
adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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31
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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32
sinecures
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| n.工作清闲但报酬优厚的职位，挂名的好差事( sinecure的名词复数 ) | |
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33
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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34
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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35
nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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36
plied
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的过去式和过去分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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37
munitions
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| n.军火，弹药；v.供应…军需品 | |
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38
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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39
din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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40
wares
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| n. 货物, 商品 | |
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41
beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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42
moorish
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| adj.沼地的，荒野的，生[住]在沼地的 | |
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43
fanatics
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| 狂热者，入迷者( fanatic的名词复数 ) | |
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44
atlas
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| n.地图册，图表集 | |
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45
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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46
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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47
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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48
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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49
moors
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| v.停泊，系泊（船只）( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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50
oases
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| n.（沙漠中的）绿洲( oasis的名词复数 )；（困苦中）令人快慰的地方（或时刻）；乐土；乐事 | |
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51
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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52
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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53
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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54
perturbed
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| adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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56
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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57
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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58
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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pacified
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| 使（某人）安静( pacify的过去式和过去分词 )； 息怒； 抚慰； 在（有战争的地区、国家等）实现和平 | |
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60
toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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61
surfeited
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| v.吃得过多( surfeit的过去式和过去分词 )；由于过量而厌腻 | |
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62
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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63
reigning
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| adj.统治的，起支配作用的 | |
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64
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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65
desultory
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| adj.散漫的，无方法的 | |
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66
tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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67
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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68
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69
lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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70
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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71
shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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72
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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73
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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74
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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75
glamour
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| n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住 | |
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76
benefactor
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| n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人 | |
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77
apotheosis
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| n.神圣之理想；美化；颂扬 | |
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78
strutted
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| 趾高气扬地走，高视阔步( strut的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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79
fretted
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| 焦躁的，附有弦马的，腐蚀的 | |
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80
tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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81
morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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82
gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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83
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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84
inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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85
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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86
corroborating
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| v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的现在分词 ) | |
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87
accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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88
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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89
auxiliary
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| adj.辅助的，备用的 | |
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90
thwarted
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| 阻挠( thwart的过去式和过去分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过 | |
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91
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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92
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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93
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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94
justifies
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| 证明…有理( justify的第三人称单数 )； 为…辩护； 对…作出解释； 为…辩解（或辩护） | |
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95
loathsome
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| adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的 | |
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96
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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97
inspectors
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| n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官 | |
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98
diminutive
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| adj.小巧可爱的，小的 | |
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99
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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100
stoutish
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| 略胖的 | |
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101
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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102
goggles
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| n.护目镜 | |
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103
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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104
monopolized
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| v.垄断( monopolize的过去式和过去分词 )；独占；专卖；专营 | |
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105
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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106
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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107
swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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108
infinity
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| n.无限，无穷，大量 | |
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109
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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110
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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111
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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112
quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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113
boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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114
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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115
plucky
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| adj.勇敢的 | |
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116
falcon
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| n.隼，猎鹰 | |
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117
adversaries
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| n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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118
revelling
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| v.作乐( revel的现在分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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119
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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120
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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121
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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122
talons
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| n.（尤指猛禽的）爪( talon的名词复数 )；（如爪般的）手指；爪状物；锁簧尖状突出部 | |
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123
itching
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| adj.贪得的，痒的，渴望的v.发痒( itch的现在分词 ) | |
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124
rend
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| vt.把…撕开，割裂；把…揪下来，强行夺取 | |
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125
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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126
swoop
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| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
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127
triangular
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| adj.三角（形）的，三者间的 | |
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128
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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129
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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