The Horse Marines
(1911)
The Rt. Hon. R.B. Haldane, Secretary of State for War6, was questioned in the House of Commons on April 8th about the rocking-horses which the War Office is using for the purpose of teaching recruits to ride. Lord Ronaldshay asked the War Secretary if rocking-horses were to be supplied to all the cavalry1 regiments3 for teaching recruits to ride. ‘The noble Lord,’ replied Mr. Haldane, ‘is doubtless alluding4 to certain dummy5 horses on rockers which have been tested with very satisfactory results.’ . . . The mechanical steed is a wooden horse with an astonishing tail. It is painted brown and mounted on swinging rails. The recruit leaps into the saddle and pulls at the reins6 while the riding-instructor rocks the animal to and fro with his foot. The rocking-horses are being made at Woolwich. They are quite cheap.
— Daily Paper.
6 Now Viscount Haldane of Cloan.
My instructions to Mr. Leggatt, my engineer, had been accurately7 obeyed. He was to bring my car on completion of annual overhaul8, from Coventry via London, to Southampton Docks to await my arrival; and very pretty she looked, under the steamer’s side among the railway lines, at six in the morning. Next to her new paint and varnish9 I was most impressed by her four brand-new tyres.
‘But I didn’t order new tyres,’ I said as we moved away. ‘These are Irresilients, too.’
‘Treble-ribbed,’ said Leggatt. ‘Diamond-stud sheathing10.’
‘Then there has been a mistake.’
‘Oh no, sir; they’re gratis11.’
The number of motor manufacturers who give away complete sets of treble-ribbed Irresilient tyres is so limited that I believe I asked Leggatt for an explanation.
‘I don’t know that I could very well explain, sir,’ was the answer. ‘It ‘ud come better from Mr. Pyecroft. He’s on leaf at Portsmouth — staying with his uncle. His uncle ‘ad the body all night. I’d defy you to find a scratch on her even with a microscope.’
‘Then we will go home by the Portsmouth road,’ I said.
And we went at those speeds which are allowed before the working-day begins or the police are thawed12 out. We were blocked near Portsmouth by a battalion13 of Regulars on the move.
‘Whitsuntide manoeuvres just ending,’ said Leggatt. ‘They’ve had a fortnight in the Downs.’
He said no more until we were in a narrow street somewhere behind Portsmouth Town Railway Station, where he slowed at a green-grocery shop. The door was open, and a small old man sat on three potato-baskets swinging his feet over a stooping blue back.
‘You call that shinin’ ’em?’ he piped. ‘Can you see your face in ’em yet? No! Then shine ’em, or I’ll give you a beltin’ you’ll remember!’
‘If you stop kickin’ me in the mouth perhaps I’d do better,’ said Pyecroft’s voice meekly15.
We blew the horn.
Pyecroft arose, put away the brushes, and received us not otherwise than as a king in his own country.
‘Are you going to leave me up here all day?’ said the old man.
Pyecroft lifted him down and he hobbled into the back room.
‘It’s his corns,’ Pyecroft explained. ‘You can’t shine corny feet — and he hasn’t had his breakfast.’
‘I haven’t had mine either,’ I said.
‘Breakfast for two more, uncle,’ Pyecroft sang out.
‘Go out an’ buy it then,’ was the answer, ‘or else it’s half-rations16.’
Pyecroft turned to Leggatt, gave him his marketing17 orders, and despatched him with the coppers18.
‘I have got four new tyres on my car,’ I began impressively.
‘Yes,’ said Mr. Pyecroft. ‘You have, and I will say’— he patted my car’s bonnet19 —‘you earned ’em.’
‘I want to know why —,’ I went on.
‘Quite justifiable20. You haven’t noticed anything in the papers, have you?’
‘I’ve only just landed. I haven’t seen a paper for weeks.’
‘Then you can lend me a virgin21 ear. There’s been a scandal in the Junior Service — the Army, I believe they call ’em.’
A bag of coffee-beans pitched on the counter. ‘Roast that,’ said the uncle from within.
Pyecroft rigged a small coffee-roaster, while I took down the shutters22, and sold a young lady in curl-papers two bunches of mixed greens and one soft orange.
‘Sickly stuff to handle on an empty stomach, ain’t it?’ said Pyecroft.
‘What about my new tyres?’ I insisted.
‘Oh, any amount. But the question is’— he looked at me steadily23 —‘is this what you might call a court-martial or a post-mortem inquiry24?’
‘Strictly25 a post-mortem,’ said I.
‘That being so,’ said Pyecroft, ‘we can rapidly arrive at facts. Last Thursday — the shutters go behind those baskets — last Thursday at five bells in the forenoon watch, otherwise ten-thirty A.M., your Mr. Leggatt was discovered on Westminster Bridge laying his course for the Old Kent Road.’
‘But that doesn’t lead to Southampton,’ I interrupted.
‘Then perhaps he was swinging the car for compasses. Be that as it may, we found him in that latitude27, simultaneous as Jules and me was ong route for Waterloo to rejoin our respective ships — or Navies I should say. Jules was a permissionaire, which meant being on leaf, same as me, from a French cassowary-cruiser at Portsmouth. A party of her trusty and well-beloved petty officers ‘ad been seeing London, chaperoned by the R.C. Chaplain. Jules ‘ad detached himself from the squadron and was cruisin’ on his own when I joined him, in company of copious28 lady-friends. But, mark you, your Mr. Leggatt drew the line at the girls. Loud and long he drew it.’
‘I’m glad of that,’ I said.
‘You may be. He adopted the puristical formation from the first. “Yes,” he said, when we was annealing him at — but you wouldn’t know the pub —“I am going to Southampton,” he says, “and I’ll stretch a point to go via Portsmouth; but,” says he, “seeing what sort of one hell of a time invariably trarnspires when we cruise together, Mr. Pyecroft, I do not feel myself justified31 towards my generous and long-suffering employer in takin’ on that kind of ballast as well.” I assure you he considered your interests.’
‘And the girls?’ I asked.
‘Oh, I left that to Jules. I’m a monogomite by nature. So we embarked32 strictly ong gar?ong. But I should tell you, in case he didn’t, that your Mr. Leggatt’s care for your interests ‘ad extended to sheathing the car in matting and gunny-bags to preserve her paint-work. She was all swathed up like an I-talian baby.’
‘He is careful about his paint-work,’ I said.
‘For a man with no Service experience I should say he was fair homicidal on the subject. If we’d been Marines he couldn’t have been more pointed33 in his allusions34 to our hob-nailed socks. However, we reduced him to a malleable36 condition, and embarked for Portsmouth. I’d seldom rejoined my vaisseau ong automobile37, avec a fur coat and goggles38. Nor ‘ad Jules.’
‘Did Jules say much?’ I asked, helplessly turning the handle of the coffee-roaster.
‘That’s where I pitied the pore beggar. He ‘adn’t the language, so to speak. He was confined to heavings and shruggin’s and copious Mong Jews! The French are very badly fitted with relief-valves. And then our Mr. Leggatt drove. He drove.’
‘Was he in a very malleable condition?’
‘Not him! We recognised the value of his cargo40 from the outset. He hadn’t a chance to get more than moist at the edges. After which we went to sleep; and now we’ll go to breakfast.’
We entered the back room where everything was in order, and a screeching41 canary made us welcome. The uncle had added sausages and piles of buttered toast to the kippers. The coffee, cleared with a piece of fish-skin, was a revelation.
Leggatt, who seemed to know the premises42, had run the car into the tiny backyard where her mirror-like back almost blocked up the windows. He minded shop while we ate. Pyecroft passed him his rations through a flap in the door. The uncle ordered him in, after breakfast, to wash up, and he jumped in his gaiters at the old man’s commands as he has never jumped to mine.
‘To resoom the post-mortem,’ said Pyecroft, lighting43 his pipe. ‘My slumbers44 were broken by the propeller45 ceasing to revolve46, and by vile47 language from your Mr. Leggatt.’
‘I— I—’ Leggatt began, a blue-checked duster in one hand and a cup in the other.
‘When you’re wanted aft you’ll be sent for, Mr. Leggatt,’ said Pyecroft amiably48. ‘It’s clean mess decks for you now. Resooming once more, we was on a lonely and desolate49 ocean near Portsdown, surrounded by gorse bushes, and a Boy Scout50 was stirring my stomach with his little copper-stick.’
‘“You count ten,” he says.
‘“Very good, Boy Jones,” I says, “count ’em,” and I hauled him in over the gunnel, and ten I gave him with my large flat hand. The remarks he passed, lying face down tryin’ to bite my leg, would have reflected credit on any Service. Having finished I dropped him overboard again, which was my gross political error. I ought to ‘ave killed him; because he began signalling — rapid and accurate — in a sou’westerly direction. Few equatorial calms are to be apprehended51 when B.P.‘s little pets take to signallin’. Make a note o’ that! Three minutes later we were stopped and boarded by Scouts52 — up our backs, down our necks, and in our boots! The last I heard from your Mr. Leggatt as he went under, brushin’ ’em off his cap, was thanking Heaven he’d covered up the new paint-work with mats. An ‘eroic soul!’
‘Not a scratch on her body,’ said Leggatt, pouring out the coffee-grounds.
‘And Jules?’ said I.
‘Oh, Jules thought the much advertised Social Revolution had begun, but his mackintosh hampered53 him.
‘You told me to bring the mackintosh,’ Leggatt whispered to me.
‘And when I ‘ad ’em half convinced he was a French vicomte coming down to visit the Commander-inChief at Portsmouth, he tried to take it off. Seeing his uniform underneath54, some sucking Sherlock Holmes of the Pink Eye Patrol (they called him Eddy55) deduced that I wasn’t speaking the truth. Eddy said I was tryin’ to sneak56 into Portsmouth unobserved — unobserved mark you!— and join hands with the enemy. It trarnspired that the Scouts was conducting a field-day against opposin’ forces, ably assisted by all branches of the Service, and they was so afraid the car wouldn’t count ten points to them in the fray57, that they’d have scalped us, but for the intervention58 of an umpire — also in short under-drawers. A fleshy sight!’
Here Mr. Pyecroft shut his eyes and nodded. ‘That umpire,’ he said suddenly, ‘was our Mr. Morshed — a gentleman whose acquaintance you have already made and profited by, if I mistake not7.’
7 ‘Their Lawful59 Occasions,’ Traffics and Discoveries.
‘Oh, was the Navy in it too?’ I said; for I had read of wild doings occasionally among the Boy Scouts on the Portsmouth Road, in which Navy, Army, and the world at large seemed to have taken part.
‘The Navy was in it. I was the only one out of it — for several seconds. Our Mr. Morshed failed to recognise me in my fur boa, and my appealin’ winks60 at ’im behind your goggles didn’t arrive. But when Eddy darling had told his story, I saluted61, which is difficult in furs, and I stated I was bringin’ him dispatches from the North. My Mr. Morshed cohered62 on the instant. I’ve never known his ethergram installations out of order yet. “Go and guard your blessed road,” he says to the Fratton Orphan63 Asylum64 standing65 at attention all round him, and, when they was removed —“Pyecroft,” he says, still sotte voce, “what in Hong–Kong are you doing with this dun-coloured sampan?”
‘It was your Mr. Leggatt’s paint-protective matting which caught his eye. She did resemble a sampan, especially about the stern-works. At these remarks I naturally threw myself on ‘is bosom66, so far as Service conditions permitted, and revealed him all, mentioning that the car was yours. You know his way of working his lips like a rabbit? Yes, he was quite pleased. “His car!” he kept murmuring, working his lips like a rabbit. “I owe ’im more than a trifle for things he wrote about me. I’ll keep the car.”
‘Your Mr. Leggatt now injected some semi-mutinous68 remarks to the effect that he was your chauffeur69 in charge of your car, and, as such, capable of so acting70. Mr. Morshed threw him a glarnce. It sufficed. Didn’t it suffice, Mr. Leggatt?’
‘I knew if something didn’t happen, something worse would,’ said Leggatt. ‘It never fails when you’re aboard.’
‘And Jules?’ I demanded.
‘Jules was, so to speak, panicking in a water-tight flat through his unfortunate lack of language. I had to introduce him as part of the entente71 cordiale, and he was put under arrest, too. Then we sat on the grass and smoked, while Eddy and Co. violently annoyed the traffic on the Portsmouth Road, till the umpires, all in short panties, conferred on the valuable lessons of the field-day and added up points, same as at target-practice. I didn’t hear their conclusions, but our Mr. Morshed delivered a farewell address to Eddy and Co., tellin’ ’em they ought to have deduced from a hundred signs about me, that I was a friendly bringin’ in dispatches from the North. We left ’em tryin’ to find those signs in the Scout book, and we reached Mr. Morshed’s hotel at Portsmouth at 6.27 P.M. ong automobile. Here endeth the first chapter.’
‘Begin the second,’ I said.
The uncle and Leggatt had finished washing up and were seated, smoking, while the damp duster dried at the fire.
‘About what time was it,’ said Pyecroft to Leggatt, ‘when our Mr. Morshed began to talk about uncles?’
‘When he came back to the bar, after he’d changed into those rat-catcher clothes,’ said Leggatt.
‘That’s right. “Pye,” said he, “have you an uncle?” “I have,” I says. “Here’s santy to him,” and I finished my sherry and bitters to you, uncle.’
‘That’s right,’ said Pyecroft’s uncle sternly. ‘If you hadn’t I’d have belted you worth rememberin’, Emmanuel. I had the body all night.’
Pyecroft smiled affectionately. ‘So you ‘ad, uncle, an’ beautifully you looked after her. But as I was saying, “I have an uncle, too,” says Mr. Morshed, dark and lowering. “Yet somehow I can’t love him. I want to mortify72 the beggar. Volunteers to mortify my uncle, one pace to the front.”
‘I took Jules with me the regulation distance. Jules was getting interested. Your Mr. Leggatt preserved a strictly nootral attitude.
‘“You’re a pressed man,” says our Mr. Morshed. “I owe your late employer much, so to say. The car will manoeuvre14 all night, as requisite73.”
‘Mr. Leggatt come out noble as your employee, and, by ‘Eaven’s divine grace, instead of arguing, he pleaded his new paint and varnish which was Mr. Morshed’s one vital spot (he’s lootenant on one of the new catch-’em-alive-o’s now). “True,” says he, “paint’s an ‘oly thing. I’ll give you one hour to arrange a modus vivendi. Full bunkers and steam ready by 9 P.M. to-night, if you please.”
‘Even so, Mr. Leggatt was far from content. I ‘ad to arrange the details. We run her into the yard here.’ Pyecroft nodded through the window at my car’s glossy74 back-panels. ‘We took off the body with its mats and put it in the stable, substitooting (and that yard’s a tight fit for extensive repairs) the body of uncle’s blue delivery cart. It overhung a trifle, but after I’d lashed75 it I knew it wouldn’t fetch loose. Thus, in our composite cruiser, we repaired once more to the hotel, and was immediately dispatched to the toy-shop in the High Street where we took aboard one rocking-horse which was waiting for us.’
‘Took aboard what?’ I cried.
‘One fourteen-hand dapple-grey rocking-horse, with pure green rockers and detachable tail, pair gashly glass eyes, complete set ‘orrible grinnin’ teeth, and two bloody-red nostrils76 which, protruding77 from the brown papers, produced the tout78 ensemble79 of a Ju-ju sacrifice in the Benin campaign. Do I make myself comprehensible?’
‘Perfectly. Did you say anything?’ I asked.
‘Only to Jules. To him, I says, wishing to try him. “Allez à votre bateau. Je say mon Lootenong. Eel30 voo donneray porkwor.” To me, says he, “Vous ong ate hurroo! Jamay de la vee!” and I saw by his eye he’d taken on for the full term of the war. Jules was a blue-eyed, brindle-haired beggar of a useful make and inquirin’ habits. Your Mr. Leggatt he only groaned80.’
Leggatt nodded. ‘It was like nightmares,’ he said. ‘It was like nightmares.’
‘Once more, then,’ Pyecroft swept on, ‘we returned to the hotel and partook of a sumptuous81 repast, under the able and genial82 chairmanship of our Mr. Morshed, who laid his projecks unreservedly before us. “In the first place,” he says, opening out bicycle-maps, “my uncle, who, I regret to say, is a brigadier-general, has sold his alleged83 soul to Dicky Bridoon for a feathery hat and a pair o’ gilt84 spurs. Jules, conspuez l’oncle!” So Jules, you’ll be glad to hear —’
‘One minute, Pye,’ I said. ‘Who is Dicky Bridoon?’
‘I don’t usually mingle85 myself up with the bickerings of the Junior Service, but it trarnspired that he was Secretary o’ State for Civil War, an’ he’d been issuing mechanical leather-belly gee-gees which doctors recommend for tumour86 — to the British cavalry in loo of real meat horses, to learn to ride on. Don’t you remember there was quite a stir in the papers owing to the cavalry not appreciatin’ ’em? But that’s a minor87 item. The main point was that our uncle, in his capacity of brigadier-general, mark you, had wrote to the papers highly approvin’ o’ Dicky Bridoon’s mechanical substitutes an ‘ad thus obtained promotion88 — all same as a agnosticle stoker psalm-singin’ ‘imself up the Service under a pious29 captain. At that point of the narrative89 we caught a phosphorescent glimmer90 why the rocking-horse might have been issued; but none the less the navigation was intricate. Omitting the fact it was dark and cloudy, our brigadier-uncle lay somewhere in the South Downs with his brigade, which was manoeuvrin’ at Whitsum manoeuvres on a large scale — Red Army versus91 Blue, et cetera; an’ all we ‘ad to go by was those flapping bicycle-maps and your Mr. Leggatt’s groans92.’
‘I was thinking what the Downs mean after dark,’ said Leggatt angrily.
‘They was worth thinkin’ of,’ said Pyecroft. ‘When we had studied the map till it fair spun93, we decided94 to sally forth95 and creep for uncle by hand in the dark, dark night, an’ present ’im with the rocking-horse. So we embarked at 8.57 P.M.’
‘One minute again, please. How much did Jules understand by that time?’ I asked.
‘Sufficient unto the day — or night, perhaps I should say. He told our Mr. Morshed he’d follow him more sang frays96, which is French for dead, drunk, or damned. Barrin’ ‘is paucity97 o’ language, there wasn’t a blemish98 on Jules. But what I wished to imply was, when we climbed into the back parts of the car, our Lootenant Morshed says to me, “I doubt if I’d flick99 my cigar-ends about too lavish100, Mr. Pyecroft. We ought to be sitting on five pounds’ worth of selected fireworks, and I think the rockets are your end.” Not being able to smoke with my ‘ead over the side I threw it away; and then your Mr. Leggatt, ‘aving been as nearly mutinous as it pays to be with my Mr. Morshed, arched his back and drove.’
‘Where did he drive to, please?’ said I.
‘Primerrily, in search of any or either or both armies; seconderrily, of course, in search of our brigadier-uncle. Not finding him on the road, we ran about the grass looking for him. This took us to a great many places in a short time. Ow ‘eavenly that lilac did smell on top of that first Down — stinkin’ its blossomin’ little heart out!’
‘I ‘adn’t leesure to notice,’ said Mr. Leggatt. ‘The Downs were full o’ chalk-pits, and we’d no lights.’
‘We ‘ad the bicycle-lamp to look at the map by. Didn’t you notice the old lady at the window where we saw the man in the night-gown? I thought night-gowns as sleepin’ rig was extinck, so to speak.’
‘I tell you I ‘adn’t leesure to notice,’ Leggatt repeated.
‘That’s odd. Then what might ‘ave made you tell the sentry102 at the first camp we found that you was the Daily Express delivery-waggon?’
‘You can’t touch pitch without being defiled,’ Leggatt answered. ‘‘Oo told the officer in the bath we were umpires?’
‘Well, he asked us. That was when we found the Territorial104 battalion undressin’ in slow time. It lay on the left flank o’ the Blue Army, and it cackled as it lay, too. But it gave us our position as regards the respective armies. We wandered a little more, and at 11.7 P.M., not having had a road under us for twenty minutes, we scaled the heights of something or other — which are about six hundred feet high. Here we ‘alted to tighten105 the lashings of the superstructure, and we smelt106 leather and horses three counties deep all round. We was, as you might say, in the thick of it.’
‘“Ah!” says my Mr. Morshed. “My ‘orizon has indeed broadened. What a little thing is an uncle, Mr. Pyecroft, in the presence o’ these glitterin’ constellations107! Simply ludicrous!” he says, “to waste a rocking-horse on an individual. We must socialise it. But we must get their ‘eads up first. Touch off one rocket, if you please.”
‘I touched off a green three-pounder which rose several thousand metres, and burst into gorgeous stars. “Reproduce the manoeuvre,” he says, “at the other end o’ this ridge26 — if it don’t end in another cliff.” So we steamed down the ridge a mile and a half east, and then I let Jules touch off a pink rocket, or he’d ha’ kissed me. That was his only way to express his emotions, so to speak. Their heads come up then all around us to the extent o’ thousands. We hears bugles108 like cocks crowing below, and on the top of it a most impressive sound which I’d never enjoyed before because ‘itherto I’d always been an inteegral part of it, so to say — the noise of ‘ole armies gettin’ under arms. They must ‘ave anticipated a night attack, I imagine. Most impressive. Then we ‘eard a threshin’-machine. “Tutt! Tutt! This is childish!” says Lootenant Morshed. “We can’t wait till they’ve finished cutting chaff109 for their horses. We must make ’em understand we’re not to be trifled with. Expedite ’em with another rocket, Mr. Pyecroft.”
‘“It’s barely possible, sir,” I remarks, “that that’s a searchlight churnin’ up,” and by the time we backed into a providential chalk cutting (which was where our first tyre went pungo) she broke out to the northward110, and began searching the ridge. A smart bit o’ work.’
‘‘Twasn’t a puncture111. The inner tube had nipped because we skidded112 so,’ Leggatt interrupted.
‘While your Mr. Leggatt was effectin’ repairs, another searchlight broke out to the southward, and the two of ’em swept our ridge on both sides. Right at the west end of it they showed us the ground rising into a hill, so to speak, crowned with what looked like a little fort. Morshed saw it before the beams shut off. “That’s the key of the position!” he says. “Occupy it at all hazards.”
‘“I haven’t half got occupation for the next twenty minutes,” says your Mr. Leggatt, rootin’ and blasphemin’ in the dark. Mark, now, ‘ow Morshed changed his tactics to suit ‘is environment. “Right!” says he. “I’ll stand by the ship. Mr. Pyecroft and Jules, oblige me by doubling along the ridge to the east with all the maroons113 and crackers114 you can carry without spilling. Read the directions careful for the maroons, Mr. Pyecroft, and touch them off at half-minute intervals115. Jules represents musketry an’ maxim116 fire under your command. Remember, it’s death or Salisbury Gaol117! Prob’ly both!”
‘By these means and some moderately ‘ard runnin’, we distracted ’em to the eastward118. Maroons, you may not be aware, are same as bombs, with the anarchism left out. In confined spots like chalk-pits, they knock a four-point-seven silly. But you should read the directions before’and. In the intervals of the slow but well-directed fire of my cow-guns, Jules, who had found a sheep-pond in the dark a little lower down, gave what you might call a cinematograph reproduction o’ sporadic119 musketry. They was large size crackers, and he concluded with the dull, sickenin’ thud o’ blind shells burstin’ on soft ground.’
‘How did he manage that?’ I said.
‘You throw a lighted squib into water and you’ll see,’ said Pyecroft. ‘Thus, then, we improvised120 till supplies was exhausted121 and the surrounding landscapes fair ‘owled and ‘ummed at us. The Jun or Service might ‘ave ‘ad their doubts about the rockets but they couldn’t overlook our gunfire. Both sides tumbled out full of initiative. I told Jules no two flat-feet ‘ad any right to be as happy as us, and we went back along the ridge to the derelict, and there was our Mr. Morshed apostrophin’ his ‘andiwork over fifty square mile o’ country with “Attend, all ye who list to hear!” out of the Fifth Reader. He’d got as far as “And roused the shepherds o’ Stonehenge, the rangers122 o’ Beaulieu” when we come up, and he drew our attention to its truth as well as its beauty. That’s rare in poetry, I’m told. He went right on to —“The red glare on Skiddaw roused those beggars at Carlisle”— which he pointed out was poetic123 license124 for Leith Hill. This allowed your Mr. Leggatt time to finish pumpin’ up his tyres. I ‘eard the sweat ‘op off his nose.’
‘You know what it is, sir,’ said poor Leggatt to me.
‘It warfted across my mind, as I listened to what was trarnspirin’, that it might be easier to make the mess than to wipe it up, but such considerations weighed not with our valiant125 leader.
‘“Mr. Pyecroft,” he says, “it can’t have escaped your notice that we ‘ave one angry and ‘ighly intelligent army in front of us, an’ another ‘ighly angry and equally intelligent army in our rear. What ‘ud you recommend?”
‘Most men would have besought126 ’im to do a lateral127 glide128 while there was yet time, but all I said was: “The rocking-horse isn’t expended129 yet, sir.”
‘He laid his hand on my shoulder. “Pye,” says he, “there’s worse men than you in loftier places. They shall ‘ave it. None the less,” he remarks, “the ice is undeniably packing.”
‘I may ‘ave omitted to point out that at this juncture130 two large armies, both deprived of their night’s sleep, was awake, as you might say, and hurryin’ into each other’s arms. Here endeth the second chapter.’
He filled his pipe slowly. The uncle had fallen asleep. Leggatt lit another cigarette.
‘We then proceeded ong automobile along the ridge in a westerly direction towards the miniature fort which had been so kindly131 revealed by the searchlight, but which on inspection132 (your Mr. Leggatt bumped into an outlyin’ reef of it) proved to be a wurzel-clump133; c’est-à-dire, a parallelogrammatic pile of about three million mangold-wurzels, brought up there for the sheep, I suppose. On all sides, excep’ the one we’d come by, the ground fell away moderately quick, and down at the bottom there was a large camp lit up an’ full of harsh words of command.
‘“I said it was the key to the position,” Lootenant Morshed remarks. “Trot out Persimmon!” which we rightly took to read, “Un-wrap the rocking-horse.”
‘“Houp la!” says Jules in a insubordinate tone, an’ slaps Persimmon on the flank.
‘“Silence!” says the Lootenant. “This is the Royal Navy, not Newmarket”; and we carried Persimmon to the top of the mangel-wurzel clump as directed.
‘Owing to the inequalities of the terrain134 (I do think your Mr. Leggatt might have had a spirit-level in his kit135) he wouldn’t rock free on the bed-plate, and while adjustin’ him, his detachable tail fetched adrift. Our Lootenant was quick to seize the advantage.
‘“Remove that transformation,” he says. “Substitute one Roman candle. Gas-power is superior to manual propulsion.”
‘So we substituted. He arranged the pièce de resistarnce in the shape of large drums — not saucers, mark you — drums of coloured fire, with printed instructions, at proper distances round Persimmon. There was a brief interregnum while we dug ourselves in among the wurzels by hand. Then he touched off the fires, not omitting the Roman candle, and, you may take it from me, all was visible. Persimmon shone out in his naked splendour, red to port, green to starboard, and one white light at his bows, as per Board o’ Trade regulations. Only he didn’t so much rock, you might say, as shrug39 himself, in a manner of speaking, every time the candle went off. One can’t have everything. But the rest surpassed our highest expectations. I think Persimmon was noblest on the starboard or green side — more like when a man thinks he’s seeing mackerel in hell, don’t you know? And yet I’d be the last to deprecate the effect of the port light on his teeth, or that blood-shot look in his left eye. He knew there was something going on he didn’t approve of. He looked worried.’
‘Did you laugh?’ I said.
‘I’m not much of a wag myself; nor it wasn’t as if we ‘ad time to allow the spectacle to sink in. The coloured fires was supposed to burn ten minutes, whereas it was obvious to the meanest capacity that the Junior Service would arrive by forced marches in about two and a half. They grarsped our topical allusion35 as soon as it was across the foot-lights, so to speak. They were quite chafed136 at it. Of course, ‘ad we reflected, we might have known that exposin’ illuminated137 rockin’-horses to an army that was learnin’ to ride on ’em partook of the nature of a double entender, as the French say — same as waggling the tiller lines at a man who’s had a hanging in the family. I knew the cox of the Archimandrite’s galley138 ‘arf killed for a similar plaisan-teree. But we never anticipated lobsters139 being so sensitive. That was why we shifted. We could ‘ardly tear our commandin’ officer away. He put his head on one side, and kept cooin’. The only thing he ‘ad neglected to provide was a line of retreat; but your Mr. Leggatt — an ‘eroic soul in the last stage of wet prostration140 — here took command of the van, or, rather, the rear-guard. We walked downhill beside him, holding on to the superstructure to prevent her capsizing. These technical details, ‘owever, are beyond me.’ He waved his pipe towards Leggatt.
‘I saw there was two deepish ruts leadin’ down ‘ill somewhere,’ said Leggatt. ‘That was when the soldiers stopped laughin’, and begun to run uphill.’
‘Stroll, lovey, stroll!’ Pyecroft corrected. ‘The Dervish rush took place later.’
‘So I laid her in these ruts. That was where she must ‘ave scraped her silencer a bit. Then they turned sharp right — the ruts did — and then she stopped bonnet-high in a manure-heap, sir; but I’ll swear it was all of a one in three gradient. I think it was a barnyard. We waited there,’ said Leggatt.
‘But not for long,’ said Pyecroft. ‘The lights were towering out of the drums on the position we ‘ad so valiantly141 abandoned; and the Junior Service was escaladin’ it en masse. When numerous bodies of ‘ighly trained men arrive simultaneous in the same latitude from opposite directions, each remarking briskly, “What the ‘ell did you do that for?” detonation142, as you might say, is practically assured. They didn’t ask for extraneous143 aids. If we’d come out with sworn affidavits144 of what we’d done they wouldn’t ‘ave believed us. They wanted each other’s company exclusive. Such was the effect of Persimmon on their clarss feelings. Idol’try, I call it! Events transpired145 with the utmost velocity146 and rapidly increasing pressures. There was a few remarks about Dicky Bridoon and mechanical horses, and then some one was smacked147 — hard by the sound — in the middle of a remark.’
‘That was the man who kept calling for the Forty-fifth Dragoons,’ said Leggatt. ‘He got as far as Drag . . . ’
‘Was it?’ said Pyecroft dreamily. ‘Well, he couldn’t say they didn’t come. They all came, and they all fell to arguin’ whether the Infantry148 should ‘ave Persimmon for a regimental pet or the Cavalry should keep him for stud purposes. Hence the issue was soon clouded with mangold-wurzels. Our commander said we ‘ad sowed the good seed, and it was bearing abundant fruit. (They weigh between four and seven pounds apiece.) Seein’ the children ‘ad got over their shyness, and ‘ad really begun to play games, we backed out o’ the pit and went down, by steps, to the camp below, no man, as you might say, making us afraid. Here we enjoyed a front view of the battle, which rolled with renewed impetus149, owing to both sides receiving strong reinforcements every minute. All arms were freely represented; Cavalry, on this occasion only, acting in concert with Artillery150. They argued the relative merits of horses versus feet, so to say, but they didn’t neglect Persimmon. The wounded rolling downhill with the wurzels informed us that he had long ago been socialised, and the smallest souvenirs were worth a man’s life. Speaking broadly, the Junior Service appeared to be a shade out of ‘and, if I may venture so far. They did not pay prompt and unhesitating obedience151 to the “Retires” or the “Cease Fires” or the “For ‘Eaven’s sake come to bed, ducky” of their officers, who, I regret to say, were ‘otly embroiled152 at the heads of their respective units.’
‘How did you find that out?’ I asked.
‘On account of Lootenant Morshed going to the Mess tent to call on his uncle and raise a drink; but all hands had gone to the front. We thought we ‘eard somebody bathing behind the tent, and we found an oldish gentleman tryin’ to drown a boy in knickerbockers in a horse-trough. He kept him under with a bicycle, so to speak. He ‘ad nearly accomplished153 his fell design, when we frustrated154 him. He was in a highly malleable condition and full o’ juice de spree. “Arsk not what I am,” he says. “My wife ‘ll tell me that quite soon enough. Arsk rather what I’ve been,” he says. “I’ve been dinin’ here,” he says. “I commanded ’em in the Eighties,” he says, “and, Gawd forgive me,” he says, sobbin’ ‘eavily, “I’ve spent this holy evening telling their Colonel they was a set of educated inefficients. Hark to ’em!” We could, without strainin’ ourselves; but how he picked up the gentle murmur67 of his own corps155 in that on-the-knee party up the hill I don’t know. “They’ve marched and fought thirty mile today,” he shouts, “and now they’re tearin’ the intestines156 out of the Cavalry up yonder! They won’t stop this side the gates o’ Delhi,” he says. “I commanded their ancestors. There’s nothing wrong with the Service,” he says, wringing157 out his trousers on his lap. “‘Eaven pardon me for doubtin’ ’em! Same old game — same young beggars.”
‘The boy in the knickerbockers, languishing158 on a chair, puts in a claim for one drink. “Let him go dry,” says our friend in shirt-tails. “He’s a reporter. He run into me on his filthy159 bicycle and he asked me if I could furnish ’im with particulars about the mutiny in the Army. You false-‘earted proletarian publicist,” he says, shakin’ his finger at ’im-for he was reelly annoyed —“I’ll teach you to defile103 what you can’t comprebend! When my regiment2’s in a state o’ mutiny, I’ll do myself the honour of informing you personally. You particularly ignorant and very narsty little man,” he says, “you’re no better than a dhobi’s donkey! If there wasn’t dirty linen160 to wash, you’d starve,” he says, “and why I haven’t drowned you will be the lastin’ regret of my life.”
‘Well, we sat with ’em and ‘ad drinks for about half-an-hour in front of the Mess tent. He’d ha’ killed the reporter if there hadn’t been witnesses, and the reporter might have taken notes of the battle; so we acted as two-way buffers161, in a sense. I don’t hold with the Press mingling162 up with Service matters. They draw false conclusions. Now, mark you, at a moderate estimate, there were seven thousand men in the fighting line, half of ’em hurt in their professional feelings, an’ the other half rubbin’ in the liniment, as you might say. All due to Persimmon! If you ‘adn’t seen it you wouldn’t ‘ave believed it. And yet, mark you, not one single unit of ’em even resorted to his belt. They confined themselves to natural producks — hands and the wurzels. I thought Jules was havin’ fits, till it trarnspired the same thought had impressed him in the French language. He called it incroyable, I believe. Seven thousand men, with seven thousand rifles, belts, and bayonets, in a violently agitated163 condition, and not a ungenteel blow struck from first to last. The old gentleman drew our attention to it as well. It was quite noticeable.
‘Lack of ammunition164 was the primerry cause of the battle ceasin’. A Brigade–Major came in, wipin’ his nose on both cuffs165, and sayin’ he ‘ad ‘ad snuff. The brigadier-uncle followed. He was, so to speak, sneezin’. We thought it best to shift our moorings without attractin’ attention; so we shifted. They ‘ad called the cows ‘ome by then. The Junior Service was going to bye-bye all round us, as happy as the ship’s monkey when he’s been playin’ with the paints, and Lootenant Morshed and Jules kept bowin’ to port and starboard of the superstructure, acknowledgin’ the unstinted applause which the multitude would ‘ave given ’em if they’d known the facts. On the other ‘and, as your Mr. Leggatt observed, they might ‘ave killed us.
‘That would have been about five bells in the middle watch, say half-past two. A well-spent evening. There was but little to be gained by entering Portsmouth at that hour, so we turned off on the grass (this was after we had found a road under us), and we cast anchors out at the stern and prayed for the day.
‘But your Mr. Leggatt he had to make and mend tyres all our watch below. It trarnspired she had been running on the rim101 o’ two or three wheels, which, very properly, he hadn’t reported till the close of the action. And that’s the reason of your four new tyres. Mr. Morshed was of opinion you’d earned ’em. Do you dissent166?’
I stretched out my hand, which Pyecroft crushed to pulp167. ‘No, Pye,’ I said, deeply moved, ‘I agree entirely168. But what happened to Jules?’
‘We returned him to his own Navy after breakfast. He wouldn’t have kept much longer without some one in his own language to tell it to. I don’t know any man I ever took more compassion169 on than Jules. ‘Is sufferings swelled170 him up centimetres, and all he could do on the Hard was to kiss Lootenant Morshed and me, and your Mr. Leggatt. He deserved that much. A cordial beggar.’
Pyecroft looked at the washed cups on the table, and the low sunshine on my car’s back in the yard.
‘Too early to drink to him,’ he said. ‘But I feel it just the same.’
The uncle, sunk in his chair, snored a little; the canary answered with a shrill171 lullaby. Pyecroft picked up the duster, threw it over the cage, put his finger to his lips, and we tiptoed out into the shop, while Leggatt brought the car round.
‘I’ll look out for the news in the papers,’ I said, as I got in.
‘Oh, we short-circuited that! Nothing trarnspired excep’ a statement to the effect that some Territorial battalions172 had played about with turnips173 at the conclusion of the manoeuvres The taxpayer174 don’t know all he gets for his money. Farewell!’
We moved off just in time to be blocked by a regiment coming towards the station to entrain for London.
‘Beg your pardon, sir,’ said a sergeant175 in charge of the baggage, ‘but would you mind backin’ a bit till we get the waggons176 past?’
‘Certainly,’ I said. ‘You don’t happen to have a rocking-horse among your kit, do you?’
The rattle177 of our reverse drowned his answer, but I saw his eyes. One of them was blackish-green, about four days old.
收听单词发音 |
1
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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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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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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alluding
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| 提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
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dummy
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| n.假的东西；(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头 | |
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reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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overhaul
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| v./n.大修，仔细检查 | |
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varnish
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| n.清漆；v.上清漆；粉饰 | |
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sheathing
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| n.覆盖物，罩子v.将（刀、剑等）插入鞘( sheathe的现在分词 )；包，覆盖 | |
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gratis
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| adj.免费的 | |
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thawed
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| 解冻 | |
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battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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manoeuvre
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| n.策略，调动；v.用策略，调动 | |
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meekly
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| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
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rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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marketing
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| n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西 | |
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coppers
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| 铜( copper的名词复数 )； 铜币 | |
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bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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justifiable
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| adj.有理由的，无可非议的 | |
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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eel
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| n.鳗鲡 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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allusions
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| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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malleable
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| adj.(金属)可锻的;有延展性的；(性格)可训练的 | |
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automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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goggles
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| n.护目镜 | |
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shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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screeching
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| v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
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premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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slumbers
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| 睡眠，安眠( slumber的名词复数 ) | |
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propeller
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| n.螺旋桨，推进器 | |
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revolve
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| vi.(使)旋转；循环出现 | |
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vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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amiably
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| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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50
scout
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| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
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apprehended
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| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解 | |
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scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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53
hampered
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| 妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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55
eddy
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| n.漩涡，涡流 | |
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56
sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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57
fray
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| v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗 | |
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58
intervention
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| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
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59
lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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60
winks
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| v.使眼色( wink的第三人称单数 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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61
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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62
cohered
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| v.黏合( cohere的过去式和过去分词 )；联合；结合；（指看法、推理等）前后一致 | |
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orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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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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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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mutinous
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| adj.叛变的，反抗的；adv.反抗地，叛变地；n.反抗，叛变 | |
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chauffeur
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| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
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70
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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71
entente
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| n.协定；有协定关系的各国 | |
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72
mortify
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| v.克制，禁欲，使受辱 | |
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73
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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74
glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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75
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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76
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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77
protruding
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
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tout
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| v.推销，招徕；兜售；吹捧，劝诱 | |
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79
ensemble
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| n.合奏(唱)组；全套服装；整体，总效果 | |
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80
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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81
sumptuous
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| adj.豪华的，奢侈的，华丽的 | |
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82
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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83
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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84
gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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85
mingle
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| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
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86
tumour
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| n.(tumor)(肿)瘤，肿块 | |
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87
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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88
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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89
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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90
glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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91
versus
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| prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下 | |
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92
groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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93
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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94
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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95
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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96
frays
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| n.（使布、绳等）磨损，磨破( fray的名词复数 )v.（使布、绳等）磨损，磨破( fray的第三人称单数 ) | |
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97
paucity
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| n.小量，缺乏 | |
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98
blemish
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| v.损害；玷污；瑕疵，缺点 | |
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99
flick
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| n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动 | |
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100
lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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101
rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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102
sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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103
defile
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| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
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104
territorial
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| adj.领土的，领地的 | |
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105
tighten
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| v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧 | |
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106
smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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107
constellations
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| n.星座( constellation的名词复数 )；一群杰出人物；一系列（相关的想法、事物）；一群（相关的人） | |
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108
bugles
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| 妙脆角，一种类似薯片但做成尖角或喇叭状的零食； 号角( bugle的名词复数 )； 喇叭； 匍匐筋骨草； （装饰女服用的）柱状玻璃（或塑料）小珠 | |
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109
chaff
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| v.取笑，嘲笑；n.谷壳 | |
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110
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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111
puncture
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| n.刺孔，穿孔；v.刺穿，刺破 | |
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112
skidded
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| v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的过去式和过去分词 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区 | |
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113
maroons
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| n.逃亡黑奴（maroon的复数形式）vt.把…放逐到孤岛（maroon的第三人称单数形式） | |
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114
crackers
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| adj.精神错乱的，癫狂的n.爆竹( cracker的名词复数 )；薄脆饼干；（认为）十分愉快的事；迷人的姑娘 | |
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115
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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116
maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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117
gaol
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| n.(jail)监狱；(不加冠词)监禁；vt.使…坐牢 | |
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118
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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119
sporadic
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| adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的 | |
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120
improvised
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| a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
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121
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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122
rangers
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| 护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员 | |
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123
poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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124
license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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125
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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126
besought
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| v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的过去式和过去分词 )；(beseech的过去式与过去分词) | |
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127
lateral
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| adj.侧面的，旁边的 | |
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128
glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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129
expended
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| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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130
juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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131
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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132
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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133
clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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134
terrain
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| n.地面，地形，地图 | |
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135
kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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136
chafed
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| v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的过去式 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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137
illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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138
galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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139
lobsters
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| 龙虾( lobster的名词复数 )； 龙虾肉 | |
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140
prostration
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| n. 平伏, 跪倒, 疲劳 | |
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141
valiantly
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| adv.勇敢地，英勇地；雄赳赳 | |
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142
detonation
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| n.爆炸；巨响 | |
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143
extraneous
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| adj.体外的；外来的；外部的 | |
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144
affidavits
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| n.宣誓书，（经陈述者宣誓在法律上可采作证据的）书面陈述( affidavit的名词复数 ) | |
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145
transpired
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| （事实，秘密等）被人知道( transpire的过去式和过去分词 )； 泄露； 显露； 发生 | |
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146
velocity
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| n.速度，速率 | |
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147
smacked
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| 拍，打，掴( smack的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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148
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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149
impetus
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| n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力 | |
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150
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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151
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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152
embroiled
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| adj.卷入的；纠缠不清的 | |
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153
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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154
frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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155
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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156
intestines
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| n.肠( intestine的名词复数 ) | |
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157
wringing
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| 淋湿的，湿透的 | |
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158
languishing
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| a. 衰弱下去的 | |
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159
filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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160
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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161
buffers
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| 起缓冲作用的人（或物）( buffer的名词复数 )； 缓冲器； 减震器； 愚蠢老头 | |
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162
mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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163
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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164
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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165
cuffs
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| n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打，拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 ) | |
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166
dissent
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| n./v.不同意，持异议 | |
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167
pulp
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| n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆 | |
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168
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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169
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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170
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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171
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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172
battalions
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| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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173
turnips
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| 芜青( turnip的名词复数 )； 芜菁块根； 芜菁甘蓝块根； 怀表 | |
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174
taxpayer
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| n.纳税人 | |
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175
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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176
waggons
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| 四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车 | |
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177
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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