As soon as the others saw that I had managed to light the lamp, we bundled Alphonse into the farther end of the canoe with a threat which calmed him down wonderfully, that if he would insist upon making the darkness hideous17 with his cries we would put him out of suspense18 by sending him to join the Wakwafi and wait for Annette in another sphere, and began to discuss the situation as well as we could. First, however, at Good’s suggestion, we bound two paddles mast-fashion in the bows so that they might give us warning against any sudden lowering of the roof of the cave or waterway. It was clear to us that we were in an underground river or, as Alphonse defined it, ‘main drain’, which carried off the superfluous19 waters of the lake. Such rivers are well known to exist in many parts of the world, but it has not often been the evil fortune of explorers to travel by them. That the river was wide we could clearly see, for the light from the bull’s-eye lantern failed to reach from shore to shore, although occasionally, when the current swept us either to one side or the other, we could distinguish the rock wall of the tunnel, which, as far as we could make out, appeared to arch about twenty-five feet above our heads. As for the current itself, it ran, Good estimated, at least eight knots, and, fortunately for us, was, as is usual, fiercest in the middle of the stream. Still, our first act was to arrange that one of us, with the lantern and a pole there was in the canoe, should always be in the bows ready, if possible, to prevent us from being stove in against the side of the cave or any projecting rock. Umslopogaas, having already dined, took the first turn. This was absolutely, with one exception, all that we could do towards preserving our safety. The exception was that another of us took up a position in the stern with a paddle by means of which it was possible to steer20 the canoe more or less and to keep her from the sides of the cave. These matters attended to, we made a somewhat sparing meal off the cold buck’s meat (for we did not know how long it might have to last us), and then feeling in rather better spirits I gave my opinion that, serious as it undoubtedly21 was, I did not consider our position altogether without hope, unless, indeed, the natives were right, and the river plunged22 straight down into the bowels23 of the earth. If not, it was clear that it must emerge somewhere, probably on the other side of the mountains, and in that case all we had to think of was to keep ourselves alive till we got there, wherever ‘there’ might be. But, of course, as Good lugubriously24 pointed25 out, on the other hand we might fall victims to a hundred unsuspected horrors—or the river might go on winding26 away inside the earth till it dried up, in which case our fate would indeed be an awful one.
‘Well, let us hope for the best and prepare ourselves for the worst,’ said Sir Henry, who is always cheerful and even spirited—a very tower of strength in the time of trouble. ‘We have come out of so many queer scrapes together, that somehow I almost fancy we shall come out of this,’ he added.
This was excellent advice, and we proceeded to take it each in our separate way—that is, except Alphonse, who had by now sunk into a sort of terrified stupor27. Good was at the helm and Umslopogaas in the bows, so there was nothing left for Sir Henry and myself to do except to lie down in the canoe and think. It certainly was a curious, and indeed almost a weird28, position to be placed in—rushing along, as we were, through the bowels of the earth, borne on the bosom29 of a Stygian river, something after the fashion of souls being ferried by Charon, as Curtis said. And how dark it was! The feeble ray from our little lamp did but serve to show the darkness. There in the bows sat old Umslopogaas, like Pleasure in the poem, {Endnote 9} watchful30 and untiring, the pole ready to his hand, and behind in the shadow I could just make out the form of Good peering forward at the ray of light in order to make out how to steer with the paddle that he held and now and again dipped into the water.
‘Well, well,’ thought I, ‘you have come in search of adventures, Allan my boy, and you have certainly got them. At your time of life, too! You ought to be ashamed of yourself; but somehow you are not, and, awful as it all is, perhaps you will pull through after all; and if you don’t, why, you cannot help it, you see! And when all’s said and done an underground river will make a very appropriate burying-place.’
At first, however, I am bound to say that the strain upon the nerves was very great. It is trying to the coolest and most experienced person not to know from one hour to another if he has five minutes more to live, but there is nothing in this world that one cannot get accustomed to, and in time we began to get accustomed even to that. And, after all, our anxiety, though no doubt natural, was, strictly31 speaking, illogical, seeing that we never know what is going to happen to us the next minute, even when we sit in a well-drained house with two policemen patrolling under the window—nor how long we have to live. It is all arranged for us, my sons, so what is the use of bothering?
It was nearly midday when we made our dive into darkness, and we had set our watch (Good and Umslopogaas) at two, having agreed that it should be of a duration of five hours. At seven o’clock, accordingly, Sir Henry and I went on, Sir Henry at the bow and I at the stern, and the other two lay down and went to sleep. For three hours all went well, Sir Henry only finding it necessary once to push us off from the side; and I that but little steering32 was required to keep us straight, as the violent current did all that was needed, though occasionally the canoe showed a tendency which had to be guarded against to veer33 and travel broadside on. What struck me as the most curious thing about this wonderful river was: how did the air keep fresh? It was muggy34 and thick, no doubt, but still not sufficiently35 so to render it bad or even remarkably36 unpleasant. The only explanation that I can suggest is that the water of the lake had sufficient air in it to keep the atmosphere of the tunnel from absolute stagnation37, this air being given out as it proceeded on its headlong way. Of course I only give the solution of the mystery for what it is worth, which perhaps is not much.
When I had been for three hours or so at the helm, I began to notice a decided38 change in the temperature, which was getting warmer. At first I took no notice of it, but when, at the expiration39 of another half-hour, I found that it was getting hotter and hotter, I called to Sir Henry and asked him if he noticed it, or if it was only my imagination. ‘Noticed it!’ he answered; ‘I should think so. I am in a sort of Turkish bath.’ Just about then the others woke up gasping40, and were obliged to begin to discard their clothes. Here Umslopogaas had the advantage, for he did not wear any to speak of, except a moocha.
Hotter it grew, and hotter yet, till at last we could scarcely breathe, and the perspiration41 poured out of us. Half an hour more, and though we were all now stark42 naked, we could hardly bear it. The place was like an antechamber of the infernal regions proper. I dipped my hand into the water and drew it out almost with a cry; it was nearly boiling. We consulted a little thermometer we had—the mercury stood at 123 degrees. From the surface of the water rose a dense43 cloud of steam. Alphonse groaned45 out that we were already in purgatory46, which indeed we were, though not in the sense that he meant it. Sir Henry suggested that we must be passing near the seat of some underground volcanic47 fire, and I am inclined to think, especially in the light of what subsequently occurred, that he was right. Our sufferings for some time after this really pass my powers of description. We no longer perspired48, for all the perspiration had been sweated out of us. We simply lay in the bottom of the boat, which we were now physically49 incapable50 of directing, feeling like hot embers, and I fancy undergoing very much the same sensations that the poor fish do when they are dying on land—namely, that of slow suffocation51. Our skins began to crack, and the blood to throb52 in our heads like the beating of a steam-engine.
This had been going on for some time, when suddenly the river turned a little, and I heard Sir Henry call out from the bows in a hoarse53, startled voice, and, looking up, saw a most wonderful and awful thing. About half a mile ahead of us, and a little to the left of the centre of the stream—which we could now see was about ninety feet broad—a huge pillar-like jet of almost white flame rose from the surface of the water and sprang fifty feet into the air, when it struck the roof and spread out some forty feet in diameter, falling back in curved sheets of fire shaped like the petals54 of a full-blown rose. Indeed this awful gas jet resembled nothing so much as a great flaming flower rising out of the black water. Below was the straight stalk, a foot or more thick, and above the dreadful bloom. And as for the fearfulness of it and its fierce and awesome55 beauty, who can describe it? Certainly I cannot. Although we were now some five hundred yards away, it, notwithstanding the steam, lit up the whole cavern56 as clear as day, and we could see that the roof was here about forty feet above us, and washed perfectly57 smooth with water. The rock was black, and here and there I could make out long shining lines of ore running through it like great veins58, but of what metal they were I know not.
On we rushed towards this pillar of fire, which gleamed fiercer than any furnace ever lit by man.
‘Keep the boat to the right, Quatermain—to the right,’ shouted Sir Henry, and a minute afterwards I saw him fall forward senseless. Alphonse had already gone. Good was the next to go. There they lay as though dead; only Umslopogaas and I kept our senses. We were within fifty yards of it now, and I saw the Zulu’s head fall forward on his hands. He had gone too, and I was alone. I could not breathe; the fierce heat dried me up. For yards and yards round the great rose of fire the rock-roof was red-hot. The wood of the boat was almost burning. I saw the feathers on one of the dead swans begin to twist and shrivel up; but I would not give in. I knew that if I did we should pass within three or four yards of the gas jet and perish miserably59. I set the paddle so as to turn the canoe as far from it as possible, and held on grimly.
My eyes seemed to be bursting from my head, and through my closed lids I could see the fierce light. We were nearly opposite now; it roared like all the fires of hell, and the water boiled furiously around it. Five seconds more. We were past; I heard the roar behind me.
Then I too fell senseless. The next thing that I recollect60 is feeling a breath of air upon my face. My eyes opened with great difficulty. I looked up. Far, far above me there was light, though around me was great gloom. Then I remembered and looked. The canoe still floated down the river, and in the bottom of it lay the naked forms of my companions. ‘Were they dead?’ I wondered. ‘Was I left alone in this awful place?’ I knew not. Next I became conscious of a burning thirst. I put my hand over the edge of the boat into the water and drew it up again with a cry. No wonder: nearly all the skin was burnt off the back of it. The water, however, was cold, or nearly so, and I drank pints61 and splashed myself all over. My body seemed to suck up the fluid as one may see a brick wall suck up rain after a drought; but where I was burnt the touch of it caused intense pain. Then I bethought myself of the others, and, dragging myself towards them with difficulty, I sprinkled them with water, and to my joy they began to recover—Umslopogaas first, then the others. Next they drank, absorbing water like so many sponges. Then, feeling chilly—a queer contrast to our recent sensations—we began as best we could to get into our clothes. As we did so Good pointed to the port side of the canoe: it was all blistered62 with heat, and in places actually charred63. Had it been built like our civilized64 boats, Good said that the planks65 would certainly have warped66 and let in enough water to sink us; but fortunately it was dug out of the soft, willowy wood of a single great tree, and had sides nearly three inches and a bottom four inches thick. What that awful flame was we never discovered, but I suppose that there was at this spot a crack or hole in the bed of the river through which a vast volume of gas forced its way from its volcanic home in the bowels of the earth towards the upper air. How it first became ignited is, of course, impossible to say—probably, I should think, from some spontaneous explosion of mephitic gases.
As soon as we had got some things together and shaken ourselves together a little, we set to work to make out where we were now. I have said that there was light above, and on examination we found that it came from the sky. Our river that was, Sir Henry said, a literal realization67 of the wild vision of the poet {Endnote 10}, was no longer underground, but was running on its darksome way, not now through ‘caverns measureless to man’, but between two frightful68 cliffs which cannot have been less than two thousand feet high. So high were they, indeed, that though the sky was above us, where we were was dense gloom—not darkness indeed, but the gloom of a room closely shuttered in the daytime. Up on either side rose the great straight cliffs, grim and forbidding, till the eye grew dizzy with trying to measure their sheer height. The little space of sky that marked where they ended lay like a thread of blue upon their soaring blackness, which was unrelieved by any tree or creeper. Here and there, however, grew ghostly patches of a long grey lichen69, hanging motionless to the rock as the white beard to the chin of a dead man. It seemed as though only the dregs or heavier part of the light had sunk to the bottom of this awful place. No bright-winged sunbeam could fall so low: they died far, far above our heads.
By the river’s edge was a little shore formed of round fragments of rock washed into this shape by the constant action of water, and giving the place the appearance of being strewn with thousands of fossil cannon70 balls. Evidently when the water of the underground river is high there is no beach at all, or very little, between the border of the stream and the precipitous cliffs; but now there was a space of seven or eight yards. And here, on this beach, we determined71 to land, in order to rest ourselves a little after all that we had gone through and to stretch our limbs. It was a dreadful place, but it would give an hour’s respite72 from the terrors of the river, and also allow of our repacking and arranging the canoe. Accordingly we selected what looked like a favourable73 spot, and with some little difficulty managed to beach the canoe and scramble74 out on to the round, inhospitable pebbles75.
‘My word,’ called out Good, who was on shore the first, ‘what an awful place! It’s enough to give one a fit.’ And he laughed.
Instantly a thundering voice took up his words, magnifying them a hundred times. ‘Give one a fit—Ho! ho! ho!’—‘A fit, Ho! ho! ho!’ answered another voice in wild accents from far up the cliff—a fit! a fit! a fit! chimed in voice after voice—each flinging the words to and fro with shouts of awful laughter to the invisible lips of the other till the whole place echoed with the words and with shrieks76 of fiendish merriment, which at last ceased as suddenly as they had begun.
‘Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!’ the Titanic78 echoes thundered, shrieked79, and wailed80 in every conceivable tone.
‘Ah,’ said Umslopogaas calmly, ‘I clearly perceive that devils live here. Well, the place looks like it.’
I tried to explain to him that the cause of all the hubbub81 was a very remarkable and interesting echo, but he would not believe it.
‘Ah,’ he said, ‘I know an echo when I hear one. There was one lived opposite my kraal in Zululand, and the Intombis [maidens] used to talk with it. But if what we hear is a full-grown echo, mine at home can only have been a baby. No, no—they are devils up there. But I don’t think much of them, though,’ he added, taking a pinch of snuff. ‘They can copy what one says, but they don’t seem to be able to talk on their own account, and they dare not show their faces,’ and he relapsed into silence, and apparently82 paid no further attention to such contemptible83 fiends.
After this we found it necessary to keep our conversation down to a whisper—for it was really unbearable84 to have every word one uttered tossed to and fro like a tennis-ball, as precipice85 called to precipice.
But even our whispers ran up the rocks in mysterious murmurs86 till at last they died away in long-drawn sighs of sound. Echoes are delightful87 and romantic things, but we had more than enough of them in that dreadful gulf88.
As soon as we had settled ourselves a little on the round stones, we went on to wash and dress our burns as well as we could. As we had but a little oil for the lantern, we could not spare any for this purpose, so we skinned one of the swans, and used the fat off its breast, which proved an excellent substitute. Then we repacked the canoe, and finally began to take some food, of which I need scarcely say we were in need, for our insensibility had endured for many hours, and it was, as our watches showed, midday. Accordingly we seated ourselves in a circle, and were soon engaged in discussing our cold meat with such appetite as we could muster89, which, in my case at any rate, was not much, as I felt sick and faint after my sufferings of the previous night, and had besides a racking headache. It was a curious meal. The gloom was so intense that we could scarcely see the way to cut our food and convey it to our mouths. Still we got on pretty well, till I happened to look behind me—my attention being attracted by a noise of something crawling over the stones, and perceived sitting upon a rock in my immediate90 rear a huge species of black freshwater crab91, only it was five times the size of any crab I ever saw. This hideous and loathsome-looking animal had projecting eyes that seemed to glare at one, very long and flexible antennae92 or feelers, and gigantic claws. Nor was I especially favoured with its company. From every quarter dozens of these horrid93 brutes94 were creeping up, drawn, I suppose, by the smell of the food, from between the round stones and out of holes in the precipice. Some were already quite close to us. I stared quite fascinated by the unusual sight, and as I did so I saw one of the beasts stretch out its huge claw and give the unsuspecting Good such a nip behind that he jumped up with a howl, and set the ‘wild echoes flying’ in sober earnest. Just then, too, another, a very large one, got hold of Alphonse’s leg, and declined to part with it, and, as may be imagined, a considerable scene ensued. Umslopogaas took his axe95 and cracked the shell of one with the flat of it, whereon it set up a horrid screaming which the echoes multiplied a thousandfold, and began to foam96 at the mouth, a proceeding97 that drew hundreds more of its friends out of unsuspected holes and corners. Those on the spot perceiving that the animal was hurt fell upon it like creditors98 on a bankrupt, and literally99 rent it limb from limb with their huge pincers and devoured100 it, using their claws to convey the fragments to their mouths. Seizing whatever weapons were handy, such as stones or paddles, we commenced a war upon the monsters—whose numbers were increasing by leaps and bounds, and whose stench was overpowering. So fast as we cracked their armour101 others seized the injured ones and devoured them, foaming102 at the mouth, and screaming as they did so. Nor did the brutes stop at that. When they could they nipped hold of us—and awful nips they were—or tried to steal the meat. One enormous fellow got hold of the swan we had skinned and began to drag it off. Instantly a score of others flung themselves upon the prey103, and then began a ghastly and disgusting scene. How the monsters foamed104 and screamed, and rent the flesh, and each other! It was a sickening and unnatural105 sight, and one that will haunt all who saw it till their dying day—enacted as it was in the deep, oppressive gloom, and set to the unceasing music of the many-toned nerve-shaking echoes. Strange as it may seem to say so, there was something so shockingly human about these fiendish creatures—it was as though all the most evil passions and desires of man had got into the shell of a magnified crab and gone mad. They were so dreadfully courageous106 and intelligent, and they looked as if they understood. The whole scene might have furnished material for another canto107 of Dante’s ‘Inferno’, as Curtis said.
‘I say, you fellows, let’s get out of this or we shall all go off our heads,’ sung out Good; and we were not slow to take the hint. Pushing the canoe, around which the animals were now crawling by hundreds and making vain attempts to climb, off the rocks, we bundled into it and got out into mid-stream, leaving behind us the fragments of our meal and the screaming, foaming, stinking108 mass of monsters in full possession of the ground.
‘Those are the devils of the place,’ said Umslopogaas with the air of one who has solved a problem, and upon my word I felt almost inclined to agree with him.
Umslopogaas’ remarks were like his axe—very much to the point.
‘What’s to be done next?’ said Sir Henry blankly.
‘Drift, I suppose,’ I answered, and we drifted accordingly. All the afternoon and well into the evening we floated on in the gloom beneath the far-off line of blue sky, scarcely knowing when day ended and night began, for down in that vast gulf the difference was not marked, till at length Good pointed out a star hanging right above us, which, having nothing better to do, we observed with great interest. Suddenly it vanished, the darkness became intense, and a familiar murmuring sound filled the air. ‘Underground again,’ I said with a groan44, holding up the lamp. Yes, there was no doubt about it. I could just make out the roof. The chasm109 had come to an end and the tunnel had recommenced. And then there began another long, long night of danger and horror. To describe all its incidents would be too wearisome, so I will simply say that about midnight we struck on a flat projecting rock in mid-stream and were as nearly as possible overturned and drowned. However, at last we got off, and went upon the uneven110 tenor111 of our way. And so the hours passed till it was nearly three o’clock. Sir Henry, Good, and Alphonse were asleep, utterly112 worn out; Umslopogaas was at the bow with the pole, and I was steering, when I perceived that the rate at which we were travelling had perceptibly increased. Then, suddenly, I heard Umslopogaas make an exclamation113, and next second came a sound as of parting branches, and I became aware that the canoe was being forced through hanging bushes or creepers. Another minute, and the breath of sweet open air fanned my face, and I felt that we had emerged from the tunnel and were floating upon clear water. I say felt, for I could see nothing, the darkness being absolutely pitchy, as it often is just before the dawn. But even this could scarcely damp my joy. We were out of that dreadful river, and wherever we might have got to this at least was something to be thankful for. And so I sat down and inhaled114 the sweet night air and waited for the dawn with such patience as I could command.
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1
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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disperse
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| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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7
ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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laterally
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| ad.横向地；侧面地；旁边地 | |
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10
celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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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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thwarts
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| 阻挠( thwart的第三人称单数 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过 | |
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buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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prostrated
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| v.使俯伏，使拜倒( prostrate的过去式和过去分词 )；（指疾病、天气等）使某人无能为力 | |
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uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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bowels
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| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
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lugubriously
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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veer
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| vt.转向，顺时针转，改变；n.转向 | |
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muggy
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| adj.闷热的；adv.（天气）闷热而潮湿地；n.（天气）闷热而潮湿 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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stagnation
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| n. 停滞 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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expiration
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| n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物 | |
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gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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42
stark
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| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
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dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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44
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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45
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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46
purgatory
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| n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的 | |
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47
volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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48
perspired
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| v.出汗，流汗( perspire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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50
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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51
suffocation
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| n.窒息 | |
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52
throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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53
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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54
petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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55
awesome
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| adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的 | |
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56
cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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58
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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59
miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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60
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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61
pints
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| n.品脱( pint的名词复数 )；一品脱啤酒 | |
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62
blistered
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| adj.水疮状的，泡状的v.（使）起水泡( blister的过去式和过去分词 )；（使表皮等）涨破，爆裂 | |
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63
charred
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| v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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warped
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| adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
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realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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lichen
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| n.地衣, 青苔 | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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72
respite
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| n.休息，中止，暂缓 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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scramble
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| v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料 | |
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pebbles
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| [复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
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76
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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titanic
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| adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的 | |
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shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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81
hubbub
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| n.嘈杂；骚乱 | |
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82
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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84
unbearable
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| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
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85
precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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86
murmurs
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| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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88
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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crab
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| n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气 | |
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antennae
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| n.天线；触角 | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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96
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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creditors
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| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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99
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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100
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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101
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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102
foaming
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| adj.布满泡沫的；发泡 | |
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103
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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104
foamed
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| 泡沫的 | |
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105
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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106
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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107
canto
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| n.长篇诗的章 | |
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108
stinking
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| adj.臭的，烂醉的，讨厌的v.散发出恶臭( stink的现在分词 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透 | |
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109
chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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110
uneven
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| adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的 | |
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111
tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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112
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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113
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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114
inhaled
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| v.吸入( inhale的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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