CHAPTER XLVI TOLD IN THE STORM

“The storm,” said John, “will be upon us in a moment.”

 

Rosamund had found him by the gate of the White Cottage. Half a dozen words had put the happening before him. Two minutes had sufficed to inform Mrs. Trimwell that his return might be delayed. Three minutes saw him again beside Rosamund.

 

With no earthly clue to guide them, with north, south, east, west, to choose from, it was, so it seemed, a pure toss-up which route they should pursue.

 

After a moment’s consultation¹ they set out for the willows² and the river, deciding to take their way down stream. It was no less unlikely than any other road, though it certainly cannot be termed more likely.

 

[Pg 326]

 

Conversation, you may well believe, was non-existent; eyes and ears alert, they pursued their way. Hope at first held some sway in their hearts, but an hour’s fruitless walking brought it to a low ebb³.

 

“I think we had better turn back,” said Rosamund. “He would never have come further than this.”

 

It was then that John made the aforementioned remark.

 

“The storm will be upon us in a moment.”

 

As he spoke⁴ came the first low growl⁵ of thunder; a moment later a louder, deeper growl. A gust⁶ of wind swept the river, bending the rushes, breaking the still surface of the water into a thousand moving fragments. Then two or three big raindrops fell.

 

John glanced round quickly. Some three hundred yards lower down the river was a rough shed, a thing built of logs, and roofed with corrugated⁷ iron. Possibly it was used as a shelter for the men who cut the willows, which abounded⁸ in the sedgey meadows.

 

“Quick,” he cried indicating it. And they set off at a run.

 

They weren’t a moment too soon. They had [Pg 327]barely reached it, when the sky, seen through the opening of the shed, became a sea of white light, through which tore a blinding zig-zag, a veritable river of fire; a reverberating⁹ crash broke above them. And then the rain came down. It fell like bullets on the iron roof of the shed, deafening¹⁰, terrifying. The wind tore with insensate fury at the wooden walls, rushed through the opening in a swirl¹¹ of madness, lashing¹² the rain before it.

 

“Oh, Tony!” cried Rosamund. And she hid her face in her hands.

 

John saw the gesture, though the words were lost in the deafening noise around them.

 

Wisdom, prudence¹³, waiting, fled out into the storm, escaped on the wings of the gale¹⁴.

 

He caught her hands in his.

 

What he said was as lost as her own cry. But, after all, perhaps there was no need to hear the words.

1 consultation   

n.咨询；商量；商议；会议

参考例句：

• The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
• The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。

2 willows   

n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木

参考例句：

• The willows along the river bank look very beautiful. 河岸边的柳树很美。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Willows are planted on both sides of the streets. 街道两侧种着柳树。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 ebb   

vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态

参考例句：

• The flood and ebb tides alternates with each other.涨潮和落潮交替更迭。
• They swam till the tide began to ebb.他们一直游到开始退潮。

4 spoke   

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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 growl   

v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣

参考例句：

• The dog was biting,growling and wagging its tail.那条狗在一边撕咬一边低声吼叫，尾巴也跟着摇摆。
• The car growls along rutted streets.汽车在车辙纵横的街上一路轰鸣。

6 gust   

n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发

参考例句：

• A gust of wind blew the front door shut.一阵大风吹来，把前门关上了。
• A gust of happiness swept through her.一股幸福的暖流流遍她的全身。

7 corrugated   

adj.波纹的；缩成皱纹的；波纹面的；波纹状的v.（使某物）起皱褶(corrugate的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• a corrugated iron roof 波纹铁屋顶
• His brow corrugated with the effort of thinking. 他皱着眉头用心地思考。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 abounded   

v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Get-rich-quick schemes abounded, and many people lost their savings. “生财之道”遍地皆是，然而许多人一生积攒下来的钱转眼之间付之东流。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Shoppers thronged the sidewalks. Olivedrab and navy-blue uniforms abounded. 人行道上逛商店的人摩肩接踵，身着草绿色和海军蓝军装的军人比比皆是。 来自辞典例句

9 reverberating   

回响，回荡( reverberate的现在分词 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射

参考例句：

• The words are still ringing [reverberating] in one's ears. 言犹在耳。
• I heard a voice reverberating: "Crawl out! I give you liberty!" 我听到一个声音在回荡：“爬出来吧，我给你自由！”

10 deafening   

adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The noise of the siren was deafening her. 汽笛声震得她耳朵都快聋了。
• The noise of the machine was deafening. 机器的轰鸣声震耳欲聋。

11 swirl   

v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形

参考例句：

• The car raced roughly along in a swirl of pink dust.汽车在一股粉红色尘土的漩涡中颠簸着快速前进。
• You could lie up there,watching the flakes swirl past.你可以躺在那儿，看着雪花飘飘。

12 lashing   

n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The speaker was lashing the crowd. 演讲人正在煽动人群。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rain was lashing the windows. 雨急打着窗子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 prudence   

n.谨慎，精明，节俭

参考例句：

• A lack of prudence may lead to financial problems.不够谨慎可能会导致财政上出现问题。
• The happy impute all their success to prudence or merit.幸运者都把他们的成功归因于谨慎或功德。

14 gale   

n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等）

参考例句：

• We got our roof blown off in the gale last night.昨夜的大风把我们的房顶给掀掉了。
• According to the weather forecast,there will be a gale tomorrow.据气象台预报，明天有大风。