Chapter XXI. THE ESCAPE TO THE SHORE.

 To rouse themselves, hastily gather a few eatables, and make their way ashore¹ had been the work of a very short time, though done with great soreness and much hobbling, after their cramped-up night in the boat.

 

They halted on the south side of a sheltering rock, where the sun was beginning to shine against the gray stone. Katy hated to confess it, but really she was very, very tired, and was quite willing to let Aleck wrap her up in a thick blanket, and to lie quietly in a sunny nook of the rock while the boys set a fire crackling as near to her as was safe, and began to heat water for coffee. The mill had been forgotten, but Tug² had a piece of buckskin in his overcoat pocket, and folding the grains in this they crushed them between two stones, which did just as well as grinding them.

 

This done, the coffee-pot was filled and set upon the embers, and a moment later four cups were steaming with the hot, reviving liquid, and four tired hands were reaching towards the little heap of slices cut from the boiled ham which had been tossed into the boat the night before, when leaving the ice-raft. It had required all of Rex's strength of mind to keep his paws off these tempting³ pieces for some time past.

 

"Poor dog!" cried Jim; "we must give you something, if we are pretty short. Pity there was no fish left for you."

 

"He can have my slice of ham," Katy said, with a faint smile. "I can't eat it, somehow."

 

"Better try to eat a little, sis," Aleck said, "because—"

 

"Don't you touch a mouthful!" exclaimed Tug, snatching the shaving from her hand and tossing it to the dog, which swallowed it at a gulp⁴. "Just you wait a minute! I ought to go and kick myself for not thinking of it before!" And with this puzzling remark he rushed off over the ice.

 

They saw him rummage⁵ about the cargo⁶, and then start back, bringing his gun and a small package.

 

"Thought it would be just as well to make sure of the gun," he remarked, as he rejoined them; "and here's something, Katy, you can eat, I guess!" It was a box containing two dozen preserved figs⁷ that he opened, and handed to her. "I bought 'em just before we left Monore," he said, "and clean forgot 'em till now—sure as I'm a Dutchman!"

 

"Oh, give me one!" cried Jim.

 

"Jim Kincaid," said Tug, sternly, springing between the boy and Katy's hand, outstretched in generosity⁹, "if you touch one of those figs I'll thump¹⁰ you well! I didn't bring them all this way for a lubber like you to eat!" And in spite of all the girl's protests, Tug would not touch a fig⁸ himself nor allow her to give one to anybody else.

 

Aleck grinned, and munched¹¹ his tough morsel¹²; Jim scowled¹³, and gnawed¹⁴ at his shavings as though he enjoyed viciously tearing them into shreds¹⁵; Tug thought his beef was juicy and sweet, as he saw with what gusto poor Katy ate her fruit; and as for Rex, he dug his teeth into the tough remnant of the dried shank which had been given to him, as though he never expected to see another meal.

 

Refreshed and strengthened by their breakfast, meagre as it was, the boys prepared to begin the work of bringing the cargo ashore, though the weather was so cold that a thermometer would have marked nearly down to zero.

 

Aleck forbade Katy to help, so she curled up beside the wall of rock, which acted as a sort of oven to hold the warmth, where presently she fell asleep, and the boys, when they returned with their first sled-load of goods, were careful not to awaken¹⁶ her. So much had their stock been reduced that they found a second trip would enable them to bring everything of consequence ashore by carrying pretty large armfuls. They therefore distributed their loads as best they could, and started back from the abandoned boat, slipping and stumbling over the rough ice and through the cutting wind.

 

 

1 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

2 tug   

v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船

参考例句：

• We need to tug the car round to the front.我们需要把那辆车拉到前面。
• The tug is towing three barges.那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。

3 tempting   

a.诱人的, 吸引人的

参考例句：

• It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
• It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。

4 gulp   

vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽

参考例句：

• She took down the tablets in one gulp.她把那些药片一口吞了下去。
• Don't gulp your food,chew it before you swallow it.吃东西不要狼吞虎咽，要嚼碎了再咽下去。

5 rummage   

v./n.翻寻，仔细检查

参考例句：

• He had a good rummage inside the sofa.他把沙发内部彻底搜寻了一翻。
• The old lady began to rummage in her pocket for her spectacles.老太太开始在口袋里摸索，找她的眼镜。

6 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

7 figs   

figures 数字，图形，外形

参考例句：

• The effect of ring dyeing is shown in Figs 10 and 11. 环形染色的影响如图10和图11所示。
• The results in Figs. 4 and 5 show the excellent agreement between simulation and experiment. 图4和图5的结果都表明模拟和实验是相当吻合的。

8 fig   

n.无花果(树)

参考例句：

• The doctor finished the fig he had been eating and selected another.这位医生吃完了嘴里的无花果，又挑了一个。
• You can't find a person who doesn't know fig in the United States.你找不到任何一个在美国的人不知道无花果的。

9 generosity   

n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为

参考例句：

• We should match their generosity with our own.我们应该像他们一样慷慨大方。
• We adore them for their generosity.我们钦佩他们的慷慨。

10 thump   

v.重击，砰然地响；n.重击，重击声

参考例句：

• The thief hit him a thump on the head.贼在他的头上重击一下。
• The excitement made her heart thump.她兴奋得心怦怦地跳。

11 munched   

v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She munched on an apple. 她在大口啃苹果。
• The rabbit munched on the fresh carrots. 兔子咯吱咯吱地嚼着新鲜胡萝卜。 来自辞典例句

12 morsel   

n.一口，一点点

参考例句：

• He refused to touch a morsel of the food they had brought.他们拿来的东西他一口也不吃。
• The patient has not had a morsel of food since the morning.从早上起病人一直没有进食。

13 scowled   

怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He scowled his displeasure. 他满脸嗔色。
• The teacher scowled at his noisy class. 老师对他那喧闹的课堂板着脸。

14 gnawed   

咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物

参考例句：

• His attitude towards her gnawed away at her confidence. 他对她的态度一直在削弱她的自尊心。
• The root of this dead tree has been gnawed away by ants. 这棵死树根被蚂蚁唼了。

15 shreds   

v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件）

参考例句：

• Peel the carrots and cut them into shreds. 将胡罗卜削皮，切成丝。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I want to take this diary and rip it into shreds. 我真想一赌气扯了这日记。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

16 awaken   

vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起

参考例句：

• Old people awaken early in the morning.老年人早晨醒得早。
• Please awaken me at six.请于六点叫醒我。