To my surprise, the Spanish woman came aboard while I was toasting my bacon, with word that her mistress and Don Pedro would follow as soon as they had risen from the breakfast table. Alisanda had sent her down to prepare food for me. The announcement of this brought a glow to my face which I saw did not pass unnoticed by the woman. But she masked all expression under her hard stolidity5, and when I declined her services, set about arranging her mistress's evening attire6 and returning it to its box.
Shortly afterwards Mr. Blennerhasset and his wife made their appearance, escorting my fellow travellers to the river bank and down to the boat itself. I hastened to add my adieus to the others, and the tactful couple, seeing that I was impatient to be under way, cut short what had threatened to be a protracted7 parting.
With repeated last calls of farewell and wavings of hat and handkerchief, we swung out into the current and drifted swiftly away from our over-hospitable host and hostess. A few minutes carried us below the cultivated upper portion of the island, and I noticed Don Pedro eying the wooded remainder with a peculiar8 intentness. Afterwards I was told that certain of the huge cypresses9 shadowed a bayou, in which at the time we passed there were already being collected boats and munitions10 for the flotilla that was to form the nucleus11 of Colonel Burr's ill-starred expedition.
Of this and the nefarious12 plans since charged to that great dreamer, I then had not the remotest suspicion, and soon turned my attention from the pondering señor.
Scattered13 up and down the midchannel for three miles or more was a string of barges14, flats, and keelboats, laden15 with flour, lumber16, and other up-river products, for the market at New Orleans. Like ourselves, they were coming down from the higher shipping-ports with the Spring fresh.
At my request, Alisanda kept within the house, until, by a vigorous bit of sculling, I had sent our craft beyond earshot of the nearest of these barges. The huge, clumsy craft, which must have been upwards17 of four hundred tons burden, was manned by the usual crew of twenty-five or thirty rowdy, drunken rivermen, whose ribaldry and rude jests were unfitted for the ears of a gentlewoman.
By adroit18 steering19 and an occasional return to my sculling, we were fortunate enough to keep our distance from these other boats, and for the greater part of the day I had the pleasure of pointing out to Alisanda the beauties of the river scenery. Rightful in fact, and most appropriate in truth, is the interpretation20 which tells us that "Ohio" means "the beautiful river."
A day of clear, warm sunshine, marred21 by only one shower, gave us our first chance to share the ever-shifting views of headlands and rolling, wooded hills. Though the forest was as yet only half in leaf, and the height of the flood covered all other than the highest of the bottoms, the nature of the scene was an unending wonder to my companions, who in turn compared it with the sterile22 mountains of Old Spain and the deserts of New Spain. They could not liken it to the tamed woodlands of England; for, notwithstanding a generation of settlement, with the river long since the main artery23 of a great commerce, these banks were as yet in many places unbroken wilderness24, the abode25 of elk and deer and wolf, of tigerish panther and lumbering26 bear.
High above us soared eagles and turkey buzzards, spying for carrion27 and live prey28, each according to his nature, as they had soared and spied in the late sixties and early seventies, when Gist29 and Boone and the great Washington first threaded the untraced wilderness and skimmed downstream in their bark canoes to the dark and bloody30 hunting-grounds of the hostile tribes. Since then what vast changes had come over the land! What thousands of homesteads hewn out of the gloomy depths of beech31 and oak, walnut32 and maple33 forest! What scores of settlements and towns, ranging in size up to Cincinnati, with its three hundred and more houses, many of brick and stone, its fifteen hundred whites and thousand slaves, its genteel coaches and chariots, and its educational institutions!
Yet, aside from the slaughtered35 buffalo and the backward-driven savage36, how small the change in the forest life! Along the rocky banks the deadly rattlesnake and copperhead still lay coiled in wait; the deer came timidly down to the water along old game traces where the panther still lurked37; and flocks of screaming, chattering38 paroquets still flew up river from the southwest, their emerald plumage contrasting with the bright hues39 of the redbirds and woodpeckers, the orioles and kingfishers.
The following day, below the mouth of the Scioto River, we had view of one of the strangest sights of the West,—a flight of passenger pigeons. The flock passed upstream above the left shore in a dense40 column and with a tremendous roaring sound of their millions of wings. Though we were going in a contrary direction, hours passed before we saw the last stragglers of their amazing multitude, and this despite the fact that they are among the swiftest of birds. While making a southward bend of the stream, we came beneath them, the lowermost flying so near overhead that I was able to kill a number simply by flinging fagots among them. As their flesh, though dark, is choice eating, we enjoyed a most savory41 pie at the evening meal.
During the night the boat caught me nodding and gave itself into the grasp of an eddy42, which held it fast for two hours or more. My regret over the delay was short-lived, since at dawn I made the welcome discovery that it had caused us to part company with the last of the cargo43 flotilla. The rivermen were well supplied with skiffs, and as some of them are not above theft and even outright44 piracy45, I had spent most of these two nights in vigilant46 watch, with my rifle and Don Pedro's pistols charged and primed against a night attack.
Less welcome than the absence of such consorts47 was the cold rain which set in before dawn and lasted well along toward noon, with now and then a slashing48 drive of sleet49. I spent the dreary50 hours fast asleep in my bunk51, for Don Pedro insisted upon his right to share the hardships of our voyage.
When I turned out, the sun had burst through, and the leaden clouds were rolling away to the eastward52. My first act was to sweep the Ohio shore with an anxious glance. The swiftly changing vistas53 of winding54 river and pleasant hills that undulated beneath their cloak of budding green, told me that we had entered upon the run of the Great Bend. By good fortune, I was just in time to sight the well-remembered hills of my childhood home. Another twist of the channel brought us in view of the Little Miami.
Cap in hand, I stepped to the side of the flat, and stood quiet and apart, gazing at the rough, white stone that rose clear against the sky-line on the first crest55 below the stream's mouth. What memories of childhood rushed in upon me! what bitterness and grief!
At last the envious56 river swept us around a masking hill. I turned slowly about, with all my heaviness plainly written in my look. Less than three paces behind me stood the señorita, her dark eyes fixed57 upon me with a soft pity far different from their usual mockery.
"You grieve!" she murmured.
"It is the grave of my mother."
Don Pedro dropped the handle of the steer-oar and turned to me with a courtesy that went far deeper than outer form. "Your mother? May the Virgin58 bless her!"
Alisanda made the sign of the cross, and her lips moved in quick prayer: "Ave Maria purisima—"
After a little the don ventured a word of consolation59: "It is a beautiful place for a tomb,—serene60 and grand on its solitary61 hillcrest. When my own time comes, may I rest as well!"
Serene!—beautiful! The words roused me from my unmanly weakness.
"You do not know!" I cried. "Her grave was dug among the ashes of our home. She was murdered by the Shawnees."
"In my boyhood—in ninety-one—the Spring before St. Clair's terrible defeat. The northern tribes raided the settlements from above Pittsburg to the lower Kentucky, with a fury before unknown. The ferocious63 braves crept by night through the very streets of Cincinnati and under the walls of Fort Washington. Our home, outlying yonder on the Little Miami, was one of the first struck. The memory of that morning is burned deep into my brain. My father had gone into town to barter64 some skins for flour, and my mother was part way down the hillside, ploughing for corn. I had gone up to the cabin to fetch a jug65 of cider, and was half-way back, when a score of Shawnees in their black war paint leaped from the ravine and set upon my mother.
"I ran to help her, but she, striking bravely at the treacherous66 savages with the ox-goad, screamed to me to fly for the guns. I turned as she fell under the stroke of a tomahawk. The murderers leaped after me, yelling and firing. Rifle balls and arrows whistled about me, some piercing my shirt. But I gained the cabin unhurt. On the pegs67 beside the door lay my father's rifle and his old Queen Anne musket68 of the Revolution, which I had that morning charged half to the muzzle69 with swanshot in preparation for a bear which had been stealing our porkers.
"Barring the door with one hand, I caught down the musket with the other, and fired through the nearest loophole. My pursuers were coming on fairly in a body, and the distance was such that the swanshot scattered just enough to cover the foremost warriors70. One fell dead and three more were wounded. In a twinkling all others than the one killed leaped to either side and checked their rush.
"But their chief came bounding up from the rear through their midst, flourishing his bloody tomahawk and yelling to them to come on. Young as I was, if given a support for the heavy barrel, I could handle my father's rifle as well as he himself. The chief fell within twenty paces of the door, with the hole of the rifle ball between his glaring eyes. At this, fearful that they had run upon a trap, the red warriors ran dodging72 and side-leaping to the nearest brush, while I caught up a knife and rushed out to scalp the chief—"
"Por Dios!" cried Don Pedro. "You ran out!—you took the scalp of the chief under the eyes of his followers73?"
"My mother's scalp hung at his belt. I was mad with fury. I would have struck the murderer even had the others already turned."
"They did turn?" asked Alisanda, her eyes widening with the horror of the vision she pictured.
"They turned as I burst from the cabin. I was surrounded—seized fast—but not before I had torn off the scalp of their chief and shaken it in their painted faces!" My eyes flamed at the memory of that fierce vengeance74.
"Madre de Dios!" breathed the Spaniard—"You stung them to wildest fury!"
"I sought to make them strike me down. Better death under the tomahawk than the slow agony of torture at the stake. What greater shame to them than for a boy of twelve to kill two of their most famous warriors,—to taunt75 them with the bloody scalp of their chief?"
"Yet they spared you!" whispered Alisanda, her eyes fixed upon my flushed face.
"For the torture. When they took me north to the Shawnee towns, I was made to run the gantlet. Being quick-footed and nimble, I avoided most of the heavier blows and midway of the line dodged76 out sideways, tripping up the old squaw who sought to stop me. Before the rabble77 could overtake me, I had set myself in the midst of the chiefs and foremost warriors of the village, whose dignity had prevented them from joining in the lesser78 torture.
"My craft in tripping the squaw and avoiding the greater number of my tormentors won me the protection of the chiefs, and while they waved off the boys and squaws, the young warrior71 Tecumseh, one of the brothers of the chief I had killed, claimed me for adoption79 in place of his kinsman80. The other brother, Elskwatawa, promptly81 seconded Tecumseh. After much dispute, their claim was allowed, and for three years I lived as a member of the tribe, always watched against escape, yet treated with utmost kindness.
"That Fall the leading members of my tribe were present with the braves of the Miamis, Delawares, Wyandots, Iroquois, and other tribes, who made a second Braddock's Defeat of their battle with General St. Clair. They brought back no captives, but such quantities of plunder82 and such tales of slaughter34 that I could hardly credit either my eyes or my ears.
"After this I was taken to the neighborhood of the British fort near the Maumee Rapids, where the notorious renegade McKee proved that even the worst of men have their better nature. He sought to ransom83 me from my adopted brothers. This was refused, but I was permitted to come and go freely to the fort. One day, chancing upon a book of physic in the scant84 library of the post surgeon, I showed such interest that the portly old doctor seized upon me as a protégé.
"Within a year I was forced to return to the Shawnee towns, but with me I took a Latin grammar and my precious treatise85 on physic. Again I was brought to the Maumee, and there placed for safekeeping in the fort during General Wayne's cautious but steady advance north from Fort Washington. This meant months more of study under the tuition of my kindly86 surgeon; so that upon the day of Wayne's glorious victory at Fallen Timbers, when he drove the routed warriors of the allied87 tribes past the very walls of the fort, I was further advanced in my studies than many an English schoolboy of seventeen or eighteen, and, I must confess, fast acquiring British sympathies.
"But the sight of Wayne's victorious88 cavalry89, who rode up defiantly90 within pistol-shot of the palisades, roused in me such a feverish91 desire to escape that I should have flung myself upon the bayonets of the sentinels rather than have remained. Fortunately the garrison92 was so intent upon the burning of the dwellings93 and trading establishments without the fort by our army, that I was able to slip over the stockade94 with the aid of a rope, and make off safely in the darkness."
Alisanda sighed her relief of the suspense95 that had held her tense. "So you escaped!" she exclaimed.
"To the American camp where I found both my father and my mother's cousin, Captain Van Rensselaer. The captain had been shot from his saddle during the battle, but was able to return with us to Cincinnati when my father's term of service as a mounted volunteer expired. It was Captain Rensselaer who, upon his return to New York, sent for me to complete my medical and other studies in Columbia College."
"Por Dios! What a life!" cried Don Pedro. "We also have our Indian battles. But to live among the ferocious savages—Santa Maria! Small wonder you men of the forest wilderness are men of iron!"
"Many settlers of soft fibre have come over the mountains since the days of peace. But the men who first hewed96 their homes in the wilderness had to be of iron. Such are those who now press on to the new frontiers of the South, the Lakes, and the Mississippi."
"Among whom is our friend Don Juan," replied Alisanda.
I looked, thinking to see a mocking glance, and instead found myself gazing down into the fathomless97 depths of her eyes.
点击收听单词发音
1 snug | |
adj.温暖舒适的,合身的,安全的;v.使整洁干净,舒适地依靠,紧贴;n.(英)酒吧里的私房 | |
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2 thigh | |
n.大腿;股骨 | |
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3 elk | |
n.麋鹿 | |
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4 buffalo | |
n.(北美)野牛;(亚洲)水牛 | |
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5 stolidity | |
n.迟钝,感觉麻木 | |
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6 attire | |
v.穿衣,装扮[同]array;n.衣着;盛装 | |
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7 protracted | |
adj.拖延的;延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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8 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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9 cypresses | |
n.柏属植物,柏树( cypress的名词复数 ) | |
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10 munitions | |
n.军火,弹药;v.供应…军需品 | |
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11 nucleus | |
n.核,核心,原子核 | |
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12 nefarious | |
adj.恶毒的,极坏的 | |
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13 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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14 barges | |
驳船( barge的名词复数 ) | |
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15 laden | |
adj.装满了的;充满了的;负了重担的;苦恼的 | |
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16 lumber | |
n.木材,木料;v.以破旧东西堆满;伐木;笨重移动 | |
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17 upwards | |
adv.向上,在更高处...以上 | |
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18 adroit | |
adj.熟练的,灵巧的 | |
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19 steering | |
n.操舵装置 | |
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20 interpretation | |
n.解释,说明,描述;艺术处理 | |
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21 marred | |
adj. 被损毁, 污损的 | |
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22 sterile | |
adj.不毛的,不孕的,无菌的,枯燥的,贫瘠的 | |
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23 artery | |
n.干线,要道;动脉 | |
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24 wilderness | |
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠 | |
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25 abode | |
n.住处,住所 | |
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26 lumbering | |
n.采伐林木 | |
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27 carrion | |
n.腐肉 | |
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28 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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29 gist | |
n.要旨;梗概 | |
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30 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
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31 beech | |
n.山毛榉;adj.山毛榉的 | |
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32 walnut | |
n.胡桃,胡桃木,胡桃色,茶色 | |
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33 maple | |
n.槭树,枫树,槭木 | |
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34 slaughter | |
n.屠杀,屠宰;vt.屠杀,宰杀 | |
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35 slaughtered | |
v.屠杀,杀戮,屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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37 lurked | |
vi.潜伏,埋伏(lurk的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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38 chattering | |
n. (机器振动发出的)咔嗒声,(鸟等)鸣,啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的,啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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39 hues | |
色彩( hue的名词复数 ); 色调; 信仰; 观点 | |
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40 dense | |
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
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41 savory | |
adj.风味极佳的,可口的,味香的 | |
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42 eddy | |
n.漩涡,涡流 | |
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43 cargo | |
n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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44 outright | |
adv.坦率地;彻底地;立即;adj.无疑的;彻底的 | |
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45 piracy | |
n.海盗行为,剽窃,著作权侵害 | |
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46 vigilant | |
adj.警觉的,警戒的,警惕的 | |
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47 consorts | |
n.配偶( consort的名词复数 );(演奏古典音乐的)一组乐师;一组古典乐器;一起v.结伴( consort的第三人称单数 );交往;相称;调和 | |
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48 slashing | |
adj.尖锐的;苛刻的;鲜明的;乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 );鞭打;割破;削减 | |
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49 sleet | |
n.雨雪;v.下雨雪,下冰雹 | |
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50 dreary | |
adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的 | |
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51 bunk | |
n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位;废话 | |
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52 eastward | |
adv.向东;adj.向东的;n.东方,东部 | |
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53 vistas | |
长条形景色( vista的名词复数 ); 回顾; 展望; (未来可能发生的)一系列情景 | |
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54 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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55 crest | |
n.顶点;饰章;羽冠;vt.达到顶点;vi.形成浪尖 | |
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56 envious | |
adj.嫉妒的,羡慕的 | |
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57 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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58 virgin | |
n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
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59 consolation | |
n.安慰,慰问 | |
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60 serene | |
adj. 安详的,宁静的,平静的 | |
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61 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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62 savages | |
未开化的人,野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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63 ferocious | |
adj.凶猛的,残暴的,极度的,十分强烈的 | |
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64 barter | |
n.物物交换,以货易货,实物交易 | |
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65 jug | |
n.(有柄,小口,可盛水等的)大壶,罐,盂 | |
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66 treacherous | |
adj.不可靠的,有暗藏的危险的;adj.背叛的,背信弃义的 | |
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67 pegs | |
n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 );挂钉;系帐篷的桩;弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 );使固定在某水平 | |
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68 musket | |
n.滑膛枪 | |
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69 muzzle | |
n.鼻口部;口套;枪(炮)口;vt.使缄默 | |
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70 warriors | |
武士,勇士,战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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71 warrior | |
n.勇士,武士,斗士 | |
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72 dodging | |
n.避开,闪过,音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 );回避 | |
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73 followers | |
追随者( follower的名词复数 ); 用户; 契据的附面; 从动件 | |
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74 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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75 taunt | |
n.辱骂,嘲弄;v.嘲弄 | |
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76 dodged | |
v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 );回避 | |
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77 rabble | |
n.乌合之众,暴民;下等人 | |
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78 lesser | |
adj.次要的,较小的;adv.较小地,较少地 | |
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79 adoption | |
n.采用,采纳,通过;收养 | |
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80 kinsman | |
n.男亲属 | |
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81 promptly | |
adv.及时地,敏捷地 | |
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82 plunder | |
vt.劫掠财物,掠夺;n.劫掠物,赃物;劫掠 | |
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83 ransom | |
n.赎金,赎身;v.赎回,解救 | |
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84 scant | |
adj.不充分的,不足的;v.减缩,限制,忽略 | |
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85 treatise | |
n.专著;(专题)论文 | |
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86 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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87 allied | |
adj.协约国的;同盟国的 | |
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88 victorious | |
adj.胜利的,得胜的 | |
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89 cavalry | |
n.骑兵;轻装甲部队 | |
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90 defiantly | |
adv.挑战地,大胆对抗地 | |
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91 feverish | |
adj.发烧的,狂热的,兴奋的 | |
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92 garrison | |
n.卫戍部队;驻地,卫戍区;vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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93 dwellings | |
n.住处,处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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94 stockade | |
n.栅栏,围栏;v.用栅栏防护 | |
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95 suspense | |
n.(对可能发生的事)紧张感,担心,挂虑 | |
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96 hewed | |
v.(用斧、刀等)砍、劈( hew的过去式和过去分词 );砍成;劈出;开辟 | |
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97 fathomless | |
a.深不可测的 | |
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