MACHINE GUNS BEHIND the tall Black Water River dike1 barked for three minutes, then fell silent.
Throngs2 of Jiao-Gao soldiers who had been shouting a charge in the sorghum3 field fell headlongonto the dry roadbed and the scorched4 earth of the field, while, across the way, Granddad’s IronSociety soldiers, who were about to surrender, were cut down like sorghum; among them werelongtime devil worshippers who had followed Black Eye for a decade and young recruits whohad joined because of Granddad’s reputation. Neither their shiny shaved scalps, the raw ricesteeped in well water, the iron ancestor riding his tiger, nor the mule6 hoof7, monkey claw, andchicken skull8 shielded their bodies. The insolent9 machine-gun bullets streaked10 through the air toshatter their spines11 and legs and pierce their chests and bellies12. The red blood of the Jiao-Gaosoldiers and the green blood of the Iron Society soldiers converged13 to nourish the black earth ofthe fields. Years later, that soil would be the most fertile anywhere.
Having suffered defeat together at the hands of a common foe14, the retreating Jiao- Gaoregiment and Granddad’s Iron Society were immediately transformed from sworn enemies intoloyal allies. The living and the dead were cast together. Little Foot Jiang, wounded in the leg, andGranddad, wounded in the arm, were cast together. As Granddad lay with his head against LittleFoot Jiang’s bandaged leg, he noticed that his feet weren’t all that little, but their stinkoverwhelmed the stench of blood.
The machine guns opened fire again, their bullets smashing into the roadbed and the sorghumfield, where they raised puffs16 of dust. Jiao-Gao and Iron Society soldiers tried to bore their wayunder the ground. The topography couldn’t have been worse: nothing but flatland as far as theeye could see – not a blade of grass anywhere – and the blanket of whizzing bullets was like arazor-sharp sword slicing the air; anyone who raised his head was finished.
Another interval18 between bursts. Little Foot Jiang shouted, ‘Hand grenades!’
The machine guns roared again, then fell silent. The Jiao-Gao soldiers hurled19 at least a dozengrenades over the dike. A mighty20 explosion was followed by shrieks21 and cries, and an armwrapped in fluttering grey cloth sailed through the air. Granddad shouted, ‘It’s DetachmentLeader Leng, that son of a bitch Pocky Leng!’
The Jiao-Gao soldiers lobbed another round of grenades. Shrapnel flew, the water in the riverrippled, and a dozen columns of smoke rose from behind the dike. Seven or eight intrepid22 Jiao-Gao soldiers charged the dike, but they had barely reached the ridge23 when a burst of fire sentthem scrambling24 back, dead and dying jumbled25 together, until there was no telling who was who.
‘Retreat!’ Little Foot Jiang ordered.
The Jiao-Gao soldiers lobbed another round of grenades, and at the sound of explosions, thesurvivors crawled out of the pile of dead and beat a hasty retreat northward26, shooting as they ran.
Little Foot Jiang, helped to his feet by two of his men, fell in behind them.
Sensing the danger in retreating, Granddad stayed where he was. He wanted to get out of there,but this wasn’t the time. Some of his Iron Society soldiers joined the retreat, and the others werebeginning to get the same idea. ‘Don’t move,’ he said in a low voice.
Gunsmoke curled up from behind the dike, carrying with it the pitiful cries of wounded men.
Then Granddad heard a familiar voice shout: ‘Fire! Machine guns, machine guns!’
It was Pocky Leng’s voice, all right, and Granddad’s lips curled into a grim smile.
Granddad, with Father beside him, joined the Iron Society. He shaved his forehead and kneltbefore the ancestor on his tiger mount. When he saw the mended spot where his bullet had madea hole, he smiled to himself. It was as though it had happened only yesterday. Father also had thefront of his scalp shaved. The sight of the ebony razor in Black Eye’s hand chilled him, for hestill had dim memories of the fight that had occurred more than ten years earlier. But Black Eyeshaved his scalp without incident, then rubbed it with each of the freakish fetishes – the mulehoof, the monkey claw, and so on. The ceremony completed, Father’s body truly felt rigid27, asthough his flesh and blood had turned to iron.
Granddad was welcomed enthusiastically by the Iron Society soldiers, who, urged on by FiveTroubles, staged a revolt, demanding that Black Eye acknowledge Granddad as his deputy.
Once the issue of second-in-command was resolved, Five Troubles then worked on theirfighting spirit. He said that a thousand days of military training came to fruition in a singlemoment. Now that the Jap aggressors were wreaking28 havoc30 on the nation, he asked how long themen planned to practise their ‘iron’ skills without actually going out to kill the dwarf31 invaders32.
Most of the society soldiers were hot-blooded young men whose hatred33 of the Japanese was inthe marrow34 of their bones, and the silver-tongued Five Troubles spoke35 like an orator36, makingthem crave37 action on the battleield, to rage potent38 as an oil fire. Black Eye had no choice but toagree with him. Granddad took Five Troubles aside. ‘Are you sure your “iron” skills aresufficient to withstand bullets?’ Five Troubles just grinned slyly.
The Iron Society’s first battle was small, a brief skirmish with the Gao battalion39, a unit ofZhang Zhuxi’s puppet regiment15. The Iron Society soldiers, who were about to stage a raid on theXia Family Inn blockhouses, met up with the Gao battalion as it was returning from a raid ongrain stores. The two armies stopped and sized each other up. The Gao raiding party, made up ofsixty or seventy men in apricot-coloured uniforms, was heavily armed. Canvas cartridge40 beltswere slung41 across the men’s chests. Intermingled with the troops were dozens of donkeys andmules carrying sacks of grain. The black-clad Iron Society soldiers were armed only with spears,swords, and knives, except for a few dozen with pistols tucked in their belts.
‘What unit are you?’ a fat Gao-battalion officer asked from his horse.
Granddad reached into his belt and, as he drew his pistol, shouted, ‘The one that kills traitors43!’
He fired.
The fat officer tumbled off his horse, his head a bloody44 gourd45.
‘Amalai amalai amalai,’ the Iron Society soldiers chanted in unison46 as they launched afearsome charge. Frightened donkeys and mules42 broke and ran. The panicky puppet soldiers triedto escape, but the slower ones were hacked47 to death by the Iron Society soldiers’ knives andswords. Those who managed to get away began coming to their senses when they’d run about thedistance of an arrow’s flight. Quickly forming up ranks, they opened fire – pipa papa. But theundaunted Iron Society soldiers, having tasted blood, raised their chant and launched a ferociouscharge.
‘Spread out!’ Granddad shouted. ‘Crouch48!’
His shouts were drowned out by the sonorous49 chants of men charging in closed ranks, headshigh, chests thrust forward.
The puppet soldiers fired a salvo of bullets, cutting down more then twenty Iron Societysoldiers. Fresh blood sprayed the air as the shrill50 wails51 of wounded soldiers swirled52 around thefeet of their surviving comrades.
The Iron Society soldiers were stunned53. Another salvo, and more of them fell.
‘Spread out!’ Granddad yelled. ‘Flatten out!’
Now the puppet soldiers mounted a countercharge. Granddad rolled onto his side and jammeda clip into his pistol. Black Eye raised himself halfway54 up and bellowed55, ‘Get up! Chant! Ironhead iron arm iron wall iron barrier iron heart iron spleen iron sheet keep away bullets don’t dareapproach iron ancestor riding tiger urgent edict amalai?.?.?.’
A bullet whizzed over his head, and he hit the ground like a dog scrounging for shit.
With a sneer56, Granddad grabbed the pistol out of Black Eye’s trembling hand and shouted,‘Douguan!’
Father rolled over next to him. ‘Here I am, Dad!’
Granddad handed him Black Eye’s pistol. ‘Hold your breath, and don’t move. Don’t shoot tillthey’re closer.’
Then he shouted to his men, ‘If you’ve got a gun, get it ready. Don’t shoot till they’re almoston top of you!’
The puppet soldiers rushed boldly forward.
Fifty yards, forty yards, twenty, ten?.?.?. Father could see their yellow teeth.
Granddad jumped to his feet, guns blazing right and left. Seven of eight puppet soldiers boweddeeply, all the way to the ground. Father and Five Troubles fired with the same degree ofaccuracy. The puppet soldiers turned tail and ran, offering up their backs as inviting57 targets.
Finding his pistols inadequate58 for his purposes, Granddad picked up a rifle abandoned by afleeing soldier and opened fire.
This minor59 skirmish established Granddad as the unchallenged leader of the Iron Society. Thecruel, unnecessary deaths of so many of its soldiers had laid bare the folly60 of Black Eye’ssorcery. From then on they shunned61 the iron-body ceremony that had been forced upon them.
Guns? Those were needed. Sorcery and magic couldn’t stop bullets.
Pretending to be recruits, Granddad and Father joined the Jiao-Gao regiment and kidnappedLittle Foot Jiang in broad daylight. Next they joined the Leng detachment and kidnapped PockyLeng.
The exchange of the two hostages for weapons and warhorses fortified62 Granddad’s leadershipof the now- awesome63 Iron Society. Black Eye became superfluous64, a man in the way. FiveTroubles wanted to get rid of him, but Granddad always stopped him.
Following the kidnappings, the Iron Society became the most powerful force in all ofNortheast Gaomi Township, while the prestige of the Jiao-Gao and Leng regiments65 was silencedonce and for all. Peace having settled upon the land, Granddad’s thoughts turned to the grandfuneral for Grandma. From then on it was a process of accumulating wealth by whatever means,including the appropriation66 of a coffin67 and the murder of anyone who got in the way; the glory ofthe Yu family spread like an oil fire. But Granddad forgot the simple dialectic that a bright sundarkens, a full moon wanes68, a full cup overflows69, and decay follows prosperity. Grandma’s grandfuneral would be yet another of his great mistakes.
The machine guns behind the dike roared again. Granddad could tell there were only two of themnow, the others obviously taken out by the Jiao-Gao regiment hand grenades.
Granddad’s attention was caught by movement among the dozen or so Jiao-Gao soldiers whohad been mowed70 down by machine-gun fire on the dike. A skinny, blood-covered little mancrawled in agony up the slope, slower than a silkworm, slower than a snail71. Granddad knew hewas watching a hero in action, another of Northeast Gaomi Township’s magnificent seeds. Thesoldier stopped halfway up the slope, and Granddad watched him strain to roll over and remove ablood-stained hand grenade from his belt. He pulled the pin with his teeth, then ignited the fuse,sending a puff17 of smoke out from the wooden handle. Holding the armed grenade between histeeth, he dragged himself up to a clump72 of weeds growing on the dike. The green-tinted machine-gun barrels were dancing above him, sending puffs of smoke into the air.
Regret was what Granddad was feeling. Regret that he’d been so softhearted. When hekidnapped Pocky Leng, all he’d asked as ransom73 was a hundred rifles, five submachine guns, andfifty horses. He should have demanded these eight machine guns as well, but his years as a bandithad instilled74 in him a preference for light weapons over heavy ones. If he’d included thesemachine guns, Pocky Leng wouldn’t have been able to run amok today.
When the soldier reached the clump of weeds, he lobbed his grenade. The crack of anexplosion sounded behind the dike, sending the barrels of the machine guns soaring into the air.
The grenadier lay face down on the slope, not moving; his blood kept flowing, painfully,agonisingly, and very slowly. Granddad heaved a sigh.
That took care of Pocky Leng’s machine guns. ‘Douguan!’ Granddad yelled.
Pinned down by two heavy corpses75, Father was playing dead. Maybe I really am dead, hethought, not knowing if the warm blood covering him was his own or that of the corpses on topof him. When he heard Granddad’s yell, he raised his head, wiped the blood from his face withhis sleeve, and said between gasps76, ‘I’m here, Dad.?.?.?.’
Pocky Leng’s troops came pouring out from behind the dike, like spring bamboo after a rain,rifles at the ready. A hundred yards away, the Jiao-Gao soldiers, clearheaded once again, openedfire on the charging troops, the submachine guns they’d got from Five Troubles’ mounted troopscrackling loudly. The Leng soldiers tucked in their heads like a herd77 of turtles.
Granddad pulled the corpses off Father and dragged him free.
‘Were you hit?’ he asked.
‘I don’t think so,’ Father said after checking his arms and legs.
‘Let’s get out of here, men!’ Granddad shouted.
Twenty or more blood-spattered Iron Society soldiers stood up by leaning on their rifles andstaggered off towards the north. The Jiao-Gao soldiers didn’t fire at them. And although the Lengdetachment fired a few shots, their bullets went straight up in the air.
A shot rang out behind Granddad, and his neck felt as though someone had punched him; allthe heat in his body quickly flowed to that spot. He reached up and pulled back a palm coveredwith blood. When he spun78 around he spotted79 Black Eye, whose guts80 had spilled out onto theground, his large black eyes blinking heavily – once, twice, three times. Two golden tears hungin the corners of his eyes. Granddad smiled at him, and nodded slightly, then turned and ledFather slowly away.
Another shot rang out behind them.
Granddad heaved a long sigh. Father turned and saw a little black hole in Black Eye’s temple.
As night fell, the Leng detachment surrounded the Jiao-Gao and Iron Society soldiers, who hadwaged a desperate fight from the midst of Grandma’s funeral procession. Their ammunitionexhausted, the two detachments were huddled81 together, clenching82 their teeth and staring withbloodshot eyes at the relentlessly83 advancing Leng detachment, recently fortified by a squad84 fromthe Seventh Army. The setting sun lit up the evening clouds and dyed the groaning85 black earth.
Scattered86 across it were countless87 sons and daughters of Northeast Gaomi who had grown toadulthood on bright-red sorghum, and whose blood now formed streams that converged into ariver. Scavenger88 birds were drawn90 to the spot by the smell of blood. Most were circling above thehorses – like greedy children, they wanted the biggest pieces first.
Grandma’s coffin was pitted with pale bullet holes, having served as cover during the gunfight.
The roasted chickens, ducks, pigs, and sheep from the roadside shrines91 had provided sustenanceto the Jiao-Gao soldiers, several of whom now launched a bayonet charge but were mowed downby Leng bullets.
‘Hands up! Surrender!’ the heavily armed Leng troops yelled.
Granddad looked over at Little Foot Jiang, who returned his gaze. Neither said a word as theyraised their hands.
The white-gloved commander of the Leng detachment strode out from his bodyguard92 and saidwith a sneer, ‘Commander Yu, Commander Jiang. Enemies and lovers are destined93 to meet. Nowwhat do you have to say?’
‘I’m ashamed!’ Granddad said sadly.
‘I’m going to report you for the monstrous94 crime of disrupting the war against Japan on theEastern Jiao battlefront!’ Commander Jiang said.
Pocky Leng lashed95 him with his whip. ‘Your bones may be soft, but your mouth is plentyhard! Take them into the village!’ he ordered with a wave of the hand.
The Leng detachment bivouacked in our village that night, after putting their Jiao-Gao andIron Society prisoners in a shed, where they were guarded by a dozen soldiers armed withsubmachine guns. The moans of the wounded and the weeping of young soldiers who longed fortheir mothers, wives, and lovers didn’t let up all night long.
Like an injured bird, Father snuggled up in Granddad’s arms, where he could hear the beatingof Granddad’s heart, fast one moment, slow the next, like the music of tinkling96 bells. He fell intoa sound sleep, and dreamed of a woman who resembled both Grandma and Beauty. She strokedhis injured pecker with hot fingers, sending bolts of lightning up his backbone97. He woke with astart, feeling a sense of loss. The plaintive98 wails of the wounded floated over from the fields. Hedidn’t dare tell Granddad of his dream. As he sat up slowly, he could see the Milky99 Way througha hole in the shed roof. Suddenly it hit him: I’m almost sixteen!
At daybreak, the Leng detachment pulled down several tents, from which they removed thickropes. After tying up their prisoners in groups of five, they dragged them over to the willow100 treesbeside the inlet where the Iron Society had tethered its horses the night before. Little Foot Jiang,Granddad, and Father were tied to the tree nearest the bank. Big Tooth Yu’s grave mound101 laybeneath a solitary102 tree alongside the inlet. The white water lilies had risen with the water level,their new leaves floating on the surface. Cracks appeared in the dense103 layer of duckweed toreveal ribbons of green water disturbed by swimming frogs. On the other side of the bare villagewall, Father saw yesterday’s scars on today’s fields; the massacred fragments of the funeralprocession lay on the road like a gigantic python. Several Leng- detachment soldiers werechopping up the bodies of dead horses, the stench of dark-red blood permeating104 the chilly105 air.
Hearing a sigh from Little Foot Jiang, Father spun his head around and watched as the twocommanders exchanged looks of misery106, four listless eyes beneath lids heavy with exhaustion107.
The wound on Granddad’s shoulder had begun to fester, and the putrid108 smell drew red horsefliesthat had been feasting on the decaying corpses of donkeys and men; the bandage on Little FootJiang’s foot had unravelled109 and was hanging around his ankle like a strip of sausage casing.
Trickles110 of black blood oozed111 from the spot where Granddad had shot him.
It seemed to Father that both Granddad and Little Foot Jiang were trying to say something, butnot a word was spoken. He sighed and turned to gaze out over the broad black plain, shrouded112 ina milky-white mist.
More than eighty soldiers from the Jiao-Gao regiment and the Iron Society were tied to trees.
One of Granddad’s men was sobbing113, and the Jiao-Gao soldier next to him nudged him with hisshoulder: ‘Don’t cry, Brother- in- Law. Sooner or later we’ll get our revenge against ZhangZhuxi!’
The old Iron Society soldier wiped his filthy114 face on his filthy clothes. ‘I’m not crying overyour sister! She’s dead, and all the tears in the world won’t bring her back. I’m crying for us.
You and I are kin29 from neighbouring villages who saw each other every time we looked up, sohow did things turn out like this? I’m crying for your nephew, my son, Silver Ingot. He was onlyeighteen when he followed me into the Iron Society so he could avenge89 your sister. But before hetasted revenge your men killed him. He was on his knees, but you bayoneted him anyway! Youmean, cold-blooded bastards116! Don’t you have sons of your own?’
The old Iron Society soldier’s tears were burned dry by flames of anger. He roared at theragged Jiao-Gao soldiers, ‘Swine! You should have been out there fighting the Japanese. Or theiryellow puppets! Why did you turn your weapons on the Iron Society! You lousy traitors! Youforeign lackeys117?.?.?.’
‘Don’t go too far, Brother-in-Law,’ the Jiao-Gao soldier cautioned.
‘Who are you calling Brother-in-Law? Did you remember you had a brother-in-law when youwere throwing your damned grenades at your own nephew?’
‘All you see is one side, old man!’ yelled one of the Jiao-Gao officers. ‘If your Iron Societyhadn’t kidnapped Little Foot Jiang and demanded a ransom of a hundred rifles, we’d have had noreason to fight you. We needed the weapons to attack the Japanese, to give us a chance on thebattlefield, to propel us into the vanguard of the resistance!’
Father, whose voice was changing, felt compelled to enter the fray118: ‘You started it by stealingthe guns we’d hidden in the well,’ he said in a raspy squeak119. ‘We kidnapped him because youstole the dog pelts120 we’d hung on the walls to dry!’
He coughed up a gob of phlegm angrily and tried to spit it in the face of the Jiao-Gao officer,but it missed its mark and landed on the forehead of a tall, slightly hunchbacked Iron Societysoldier, who lashed out as though he’d been shot: ‘Douguan, fuck your living mother!’
The prisoners laughed, even though their aching arms were turning numb121 from the ropes andtheir future was clouded.
But Granddad just sneered122 and said, ‘What the hell are you arguing about? We’re all a bunchof whipped soldiers.’
While the sound of Granddad’s words still hung in the air, Little Foot Jiang, his face the colourof ashes, fell to the ground. Blood and pus oozed from his injured foot, which had swollen123 to thesize of a winter melon. The Jiao-Gao soldiers, held back by the ropes around them, could onlylook helplessly at their unconscious commander.
Just then the dapper Detachment Leader Leng strode out of his tent to join his men ininspecting the hundreds of rifles and two cases of wooden-handled grenades they’d capturedfrom the Iron Society and the Jiao-Gao regiment. Twirling his whip, he walked smugly towardsthe prisoners. Father heard the sound of heavy breathing behind him, and he could picture theangry look on Granddad’s face. The corners of Detachment Leader Leng’s mouth curled upward,and the fine wrinkles about his cheeks wriggled124 like little snakes.
‘Have you thought about what I’m going to do with you, Commander Yu?’ he asked with agiggle.
‘That’s up to you!’ Granddad replied.
‘It would be a waste of a good man to kill him. But if I don’t, you might kidnap me againsomeday!’
‘Killing me won’t close my eyes!’
With a swift kick, Father sent a road apple flying into Detachment Leader Leng’s chest.
Leng raised his whip, then let it drop. ‘I hear this little bastard115 only has one nut. Somebodycome over here and cut off the other one! That’ll keep him from biting and kicking!’
‘He’s just a boy, Old Leng,’ Granddad said. ‘Whatever you want to do you can do to me.’
‘Just a boy? The little bastard’s got more fight in him than a wolf cub125!’
Little Foot Jiang, who had regained126 consciousness, struggled to his feet.
‘Commander Jiang,’ Detachment Leader Leng said, ‘what do you think I should do with you?’
‘Killing me will only bring you trouble, Detachment Leader Leng,’ Commander Jiang saidwith bold assurance, but with his face bathed in cold sweat. ‘The day will come when the peopleliquidate you for your monstrous crime of slaughtering127 noble fighters of the anti- Japaneseresistance!’
‘You can pass the time here until I’ve had something to eat. I’ll deal with you then.’
The Leng soldiers sat around eating horsemeat and drinking sorghum wine.
Suddenly the sentry129 on the northern wall of the village fired a shot and ran into the village.
‘The Japs are coming – the Japs are coming!’
Detachment Leader Leng grabbed the sentry’s sleeve and asked angrily, ‘How many Japs? Arethey real Japs or lackeys?’
‘I think they’re lackeys. Their uniforms are yellow. A whole line of yellow, running towardsthe village at a crouch.’
‘Lackeys? Kill the sons of bitches. Company Commander Qi, take your men up to the wall,and hurry!’ he ordered.
Then he turned to two guards with machine guns. ‘Keep an eye on them,’ he commanded.
‘Pop ’em if they act up!’ Surrounded by his bodyguards130, he ran at a crouch towards the northernedge of the village.
Less than a quarter of an hour later, fighting broke out. The opening salvos of rifle fire werefollowed by machine-gun fire, and before long the air was filled with the shrieks of incomingprojectiles that exploded in the village, sending shrapnel slamming into the village wall and thetrunks of trees. Amid the din5 of shouting came the jiligulu of a foreign tongue.
It was real Japs after all, not lackeys. Detachment Leader Leng and his troops put up astubborn defence, but abandoned their positions after half an hour of fighting and fell back to thecover of toppled walls.
Japanese artillery131 shells were already falling into the inlet. The anxious Jiao-Gao and IronSociety soldiers stomped132 their feet and ducked their heads. ‘Untie133 us!’ they bellowed angrily.
‘Fuck your living mothers! Untie us! If you came out of Chinese pricks134, untie us. If you came outof Japanese pricks, then kill us!’
The guards ran to the stack of rifles and picked up two swords, with which they cut theirprisoners’ ropes.
Eighty soldiers ran like madmen to the stack of rifles and the pile of hand grenades; then,ignoring the numbness135 of their arms and the hunger in their bellies, they charged the Japanese,yelling wildly as they ran straight into a hail of lead.
Several dozen columns of smoke rose from the village wall following the explosions of thefirst salvo of hand grenades thrown by the Jiao-Gao and Iron Society soldiers.
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1
dike
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| n.堤，沟；v.开沟排水 | |
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throngs
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| n.人群( throng的名词复数 )v.成群，挤满( throng的第三人称单数 ) | |
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sorghum
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| n.高粱属的植物，高粱糖浆，甜得发腻的东西 | |
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scorched
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| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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hoof
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| n.(马，牛等的)蹄 | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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spines
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| n.脊柱( spine的名词复数 )；脊椎；（动植物的）刺；书脊 | |
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bellies
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| n.肚子( belly的名词复数 )；腹部；（物体的）圆形或凸起部份；腹部…形的 | |
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converged
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| v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的过去式 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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puffs
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| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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puff
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| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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shrieks
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intrepid
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| adj.无畏的，刚毅的 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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jumbled
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| adj.混乱的；杂乱的 | |
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northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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28
wreaking
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| 诉诸（武力），施行（暴力），发（脾气）( wreak的现在分词 ) | |
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29
kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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30
havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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31
dwarf
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| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
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32
invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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33
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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34
marrow
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| n.骨髓；精华；活力 | |
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35
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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36
orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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37
crave
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| vt.渴望得到，迫切需要，恳求，请求 | |
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38
potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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39
battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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40
cartridge
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| n.弹壳，弹药筒；(装磁带等的)盒子 | |
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41
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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42
mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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43
traitors
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| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
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44
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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45
gourd
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| n.葫芦 | |
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46
unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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47
hacked
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| 生气 | |
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48
crouch
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| v.蹲伏，蜷缩，低头弯腰；n.蹲伏 | |
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49
sonorous
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| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
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50
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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51
wails
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| 痛哭，哭声( wail的名词复数 ) | |
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52
swirled
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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54
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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55
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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56
sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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57
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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58
inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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59
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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60
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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61
shunned
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| v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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62
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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63
awesome
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| adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的 | |
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64
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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65
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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66
appropriation
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| n.拨款，批准支出 | |
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67
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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68
wanes
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| v.衰落( wane的第三人称单数 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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69
overflows
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| v.溢出，淹没( overflow的第三人称单数 )；充满；挤满了人；扩展出界，过度延伸 | |
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70
mowed
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| v.刈，割( mow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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71
snail
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| n.蜗牛 | |
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72
clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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73
ransom
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| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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74
instilled
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| v.逐渐使某人获得（某种可取的品质），逐步灌输( instill的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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75
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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76
gasps
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| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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77
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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78
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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79
spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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80
guts
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| v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠 | |
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81
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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82
clenching
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的现在分词 ) | |
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83
relentlessly
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| adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断 | |
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84
squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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85
groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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86
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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87
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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88
scavenger
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| n.以腐尸为食的动物，清扫工 | |
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89
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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90
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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91
shrines
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| 圣地，圣坛，神圣场所( shrine的名词复数 ) | |
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92
bodyguard
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| n.护卫，保镖 | |
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93
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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94
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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95
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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96
tinkling
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| n.丁当作响声 | |
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97
backbone
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| n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气 | |
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98
plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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99
milky
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| adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的 | |
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100
willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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101
mound
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| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
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102
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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103
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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104
permeating
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| 弥漫( permeate的现在分词 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透 | |
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105
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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106
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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107
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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108
putrid
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| adj.腐臭的；有毒的；已腐烂的；卑劣的 | |
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109
unravelled
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| 解开，拆散，散开( unravel的过去式和过去分词 )； 阐明； 澄清； 弄清楚 | |
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110
trickles
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| n.细流( trickle的名词复数 )；稀稀疏疏缓慢来往的东西v.滴( trickle的第三人称单数 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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111
oozed
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| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的过去式和过去分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
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112
shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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113
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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114
filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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115
bastard
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| n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子 | |
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116
bastards
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| 私生子( bastard的名词复数 )； 坏蛋； 讨厌的事物； 麻烦事 （认为别人走运或不幸时说）家伙 | |
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117
lackeys
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| n.听差( lackey的名词复数 )；男仆（通常穿制服）；卑躬屈膝的人；被待为奴仆的人 | |
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118
fray
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| v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗 | |
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119
squeak
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| n.吱吱声，逃脱；v.（发出）吱吱叫，侥幸通过；（俚）告密 | |
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120
pelts
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| n. 皮毛，投掷, 疾行 vt. 剥去皮毛，（连续）投掷 vi. 猛击，大步走 | |
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121
numb
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| adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木 | |
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122
sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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123
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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124
wriggled
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等） | |
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125
cub
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| n.幼兽，年轻无经验的人 | |
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126
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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127
slaughtering
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的现在分词 ) | |
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128
anti-
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| pref.[前缀]表示反抗，排斥 | |
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129
sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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130
bodyguards
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| n.保镖，卫士，警卫员( bodyguard的名词复数 ) | |
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131
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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132
stomped
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| v.跺脚，践踏，重踏( stomp的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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133
untie
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| vt.解开，松开；解放 | |
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134
pricks
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| 刺痛( prick的名词复数 )； 刺孔； 刺痕； 植物的刺 | |
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135
numbness
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| n.无感觉，麻木，惊呆 | |
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