Fearful catastrophe1 had occurred. The ice-wall had been flung upon the wandering island, the volume below the water being five times that of the projecting part, it had come under the influence of the submarine currents, and, opening a way for itself between the broken ice-masses, it had fallen bodily upon Victoria Island, which, driven along by this mighty2 propelling force, was drifting rapidly to the south.
Mac-Nab and his companions, aroused by the noise of the avalanche4 dashing down upon the dog-house, stable, and principal house, had been able to escape in time, but now the work of destruction was complete. Not a trace remained of the buildings in which they had slept, and the island was bearing all its inhabitants with it to the unfathomable depths of the ocean! Perhaps, however, Mrs Barnett, Madge, Kalumah, and the astronomer6, were still living! Dead or alive they must be dug out.
At this thought Hobson recovered his composure and shouted —
“Get shovels7 and pickaxes! The house is strong! it may have held together! Let us set to work!”
There were plenty of tools and pickaxes, but it was really impossible to approach the enceinte. The masses of ice were rolling down from the summits of the icebergs8, and some parts of the ice-wall still towered amongst the ruins two hundred feet above the island. The force with which the tossing masses, which seemed to be surging all along the northern horizon, were overthrown10 can be imagined; the whole coast between the former Cape5 Bathurst and Cape Esquimaux was not only hemmed11 in, but literally12 invaded by these moving mountains, which, impelled13 by a force they could not resist, had already advanced more than a quarter of a mile inland.
Every moment the trembling of the ground and a loud report gave notice that another of these masses had rolled over, and there was a danger that the island would sink beneath the weight thrown upon it. A very apparent lowering of the level had taken place all along that part of the coast near Cape Bathurst, it was evidently gradually sinking down, and the sea had already encroached nearly as far as the lagoon14.
The situation of the colonists15 was truly terrible, unable as they were to attempt to save their companions, and driven from the enceinte by the crashing avalanches16, over which they had no power whatever. They could only wait, a prey17 to the most awful forebodings.
Day dawned at last, and how fearful a scene was presented by the districts around Cape Bathurst! The horizon was shut in on every side by ice-masses, but their advance appeared to be checked for the moment at least. The ruins of the ice-wall were at rest, and it was only now and then that a few blocks rolled down from the still tottering18 crests19 of the remaining icebergs. But the whole mass — a great part of its volume being sunk beneath the surface of the sea — was in the grasp of a powerful current, and was driving the island along with it to the south, that is to say, to the ocean, in the depths of which they would alike be engulfed20.
Those who were thus borne along upon the island were not fully21 conscious of the peril22 in which they stood. They had their comrades to save, and amongst them the brave woman who had so won all their hearts, and for whom they would gladly have laid down their lives. The time for action had come, they could again approach the palisades, and there was not a moment to lose, as the poor creatures had already been buried beneath the avalanche for six hours.
We have already said that Cape Bathurst no longer existed. Struck by a huge iceberg9 it had fallen bodily upon the factory, breaking the boat and crushing the dog-house and stable with the poor creatures in them. The principal house next disappeared beneath the masses of earth and sand, upon which rolled blocks of ice to a height of fifty or sixty feet. The court of the fort was filled up, of the palisade not a post was to be seen, and it was from beneath this accumulation of earth, sand, and ice, that the victims were to be dug out.
Before beginning to work Hobson called the head carpenter to him, and asked if he thought the house could bear the weight of the avalanche.
“I think so, sir,” replied Mac-Nab; “in fact, I may almost say I am sure of it. You remember how we strengthened it, it has been ‘casemated,’ and the vertical23 beams between the ceilings and floors must have offered great resistance; moreover, the layer of earth and sand with which the roof was first covered must have broken the shock of the fall of the blocks of ice from the icebergs.” “God grant you may be right, Mac-Nab,” replied Hobson, “and that we may be spared the great grief of losing our friends!”
The Lieutenant24 then sent for Mrs Joliffe, and asked her if plenty of provisions had been left in the house.
“Oh, yes,” replied Mrs Joliffe, “there was plenty to eat in the pantry and kitchen.”
“And any water?”
“Yes, water and rum too.”
“All right, then,” said Hobson, “they will not be starved — but how about air?”
To this question Mac-Nab could make no reply, and if, as he hoped, the house had not given way, the want of air would be the chief danger of the four victims. By prompt measures, however, they might yet be saved, and the first thing to be done was to open a communication with the outer air.
All set to work zealously25, men and women alike seizing shovels and pickaxes. The masses of ice, sand, and earth, were vigorously attacked at the risk of provoking fresh downfalls; but the proceedings26 were ably directed by Mac-Nab.
It appeared to him best to begin at the top of the accumulated masses, so as to roll down loose blocks on the side of the lagoon. The smaller pieces were easily dealt with, with pick and crowbar, but the large blocks had to be broken up. Some of great size were melted with the aid of a large fire of resinous27 wood, and every means was tried to destroy or get rid of the ice in the shortest possible time.
But so great was the accumulation, that although all worked without pause, except when they snatched a little food, there was no sensible diminution28 in its amount when the sun disappeared below the horizon. It was not, however, really of quite so great a height as before, and it was determined29 to go on working from above through the night, and when there was no longer any danger of fresh falls Mac-Nab hoped to be able to sink a vertical shaft30 in the compact mass, so as to admit the outer air to the house as soon as possible.
All night long the party worked at the excavation31, attacking the masses with iron and heat, as the one or the other seemed more likely to be effective. The men wielded32 the pickaxe whilst the women kept up the fires; but all were animated33 by one purpose — the saving of the lives of Mrs Barnett, Madge, Kalumah, and the astronomer.
When morning dawned the poor creatures had been buried for thirty hours in air necessarily very impure34 under so thick a cover.
The progress made in the night had been so great that Mac-Nab prepared to sink his shaft, which he meant to go straight down to the top of the house; and which, according to his calculation, would not have to be more than fifty feet deep. It would be easy enough to sink this shaft through the twenty feet of ice; but great difficulty would be experienced when the earth and sand were reached, as, being very brittle35, they would of course constantly fill in the shaft, and its sides would therefore have to be lined. Long pieces of wood were prepared for this purpose, and the boring proceeded. Only three men could work at it together, and the soldiers relieved each other constantly, so that the excavation seemed likely to proceed rapidly.
As might be supposed the poor fellows alternated between hope and fear when some obstacle delayed them. When a sudden fall undid36 their work they felt discouraged, and nothing but Mac-Nab’s steady voice could have rallied them. As the men toiled37 in turn at their weary task the women stood watching them from the foot of a hill, saying little, but often praying silently. They had now nothing to do but to prepare the food, which the men devoured38 in their short intervals39 of repose40.
The boring proceeded without any very great difficulty, but the ice was so hard that the progress was but slow. At the end of the second day Mac-Nab had nearly reached the layer of earth and sand, and could not hope to get to the top of the house before the end of the next day.
Night fell, but the work was continued by the light of torches. A “snow-house” was hastily dug out in one of the hummocks41 on the shore as a temporary shelter for the women and the little boy. The wind had veered42 to the south-west, and a cold rain began to fall, accompanied with occasional squalls; but neither the Lieutenant nor his men dreamt of leaving off work.
Now began the worst part of the task. It was really impossible to bore in the shifting masses of sand and earth, and it became necessary to prop3 up the sides of the shaft with wood, the loose earth being drawn43 to the surface in a bucket hung on a rope. Of course under the circumstances the work could not proceed rapidly, falls might occur at any moment, and the miners were in danger of being buried in their turn.
Mac-Nab was generally the one to remain at the bottom of the narrow shaft, directing the excavation, and frequently sounding with a long pick, but as it met with no resistance, it was evident that it did not reach the roof of the house.
When the morning once more dawned, only ten feet had been excavated44 in the mass of earth and sand, so that twenty remained to be bored through before the roof of the house could be reached, that is to say, if it had not given way, and still occupied the position it did before the fall of the avalanche.
It was now fifty-four hours since Mrs Barnett and her companions were buried!
Mac-Nab and the Lieutenant often wondered if they on their side had made any effort to open a communication with the outer air. They felt sure that with her usual courage, Mrs Barnett would have tried to find some way out if her movements were free. Some tools had been left in the house, and Kellet, one of the carpenter’s men, remembered leaving his pickaxe in the kitchen. The prisoners might have broken open one of the doors and begun to pierce a gallery across the layer of earth. But such a gallery could only be driven in a horizontal direction, and would be a much longer business than the sinking of a shaft from above, for the masses flung down by the avalanche, although only sixty feet deep, covered a space more than five hundred feet in diameter. Of course the prisoners could not be aware of this fact, and if they should succeed in boring their horizontal gallery, it would be eight days at least before they could cut through the last layer of ice, and by that time they would be totally deprived of air, if not of food.
Nevertheless the Lieutenant carefully went over every portion of the accumulation himself, and listened intently for any sounds of subterranean45 digging, but he heard nothing.
On the return of day the men toiled with fresh energy, bucket after bucket was drawn to the surface of the shaft loaded with earth. The clumsy wooden props46 answered admirably in keeping the earth from filling in the pit, a few falls occurred, but they were rapidly checked, and no fresh misfortunes occurred throughout the day, except that the soldier Garry received a blow on the head from a falling block of ice. The wound was not however severe, and he would not leave his work.
At four o’clock the shaft was fifty feet deep altogether, having been sunk through twenty feet of ice and thirty of sand and earth.
It was at this depth that Mac-Nab had expected to reach the roof of the house, if it had resisted the pressure of the avalanche.
He was then at the bottom of the shaft, and his disappointment and dismay can be imagined when, on driving his pickaxe into the ground as far as it would go, it met with no resistance whatever.
Sabine was with him, and for a few moments he remained with his arms crossed, silently looking at his companion.
“No roof then?” inquired the hunter.
“Nothing whatever,” replied the carpenter, “but let us work on, the roof has bent47 of course, but the floor of the loft48 cannot have given way. Another ten feet and we shall come to that floor, or else”——
Mac-Nab did not finish his sentence, and the two resumed their work with the strength of despair.
At six o’clock in the evening, another ten or twelve feet had been dug out.
Mac-Nab sounded again, nothing yet, his pick still sunk in the shifting earth, and flinging it from him, he buried his face in his hands and muttered —
“Poor things, poor things!” He then climbed to the opening of the shaft by means of the wood-work.
The Lieutenant and the Sergeant49 were together in greater anxiety than ever, and taking them aside, the carpenter told them of his dreadful disappointment.
“Then,” observed Hobson, “the house must have been crushed by the avalanche, and the poor people in it”——
“No!” cried the head-carpenter with earnest conviction, “no, it cannot have been crushed, it must have resisted, strengthened as it was. It cannot — it cannot have been crushed!”
“Well, then, what has happened?” said the Lieutenant in a broken voice, his eyes filling with tears.
“Simply this,” replied Mac Nab, “the house itself has remained intact, but the ground on which it was built must have sunk. The house has gone through the crust of ice which forma the foundation of the island. It has not been crushed, but engulfed, and the poor creatures in it”——
“Are drowned!” cried Long.
“Yes, Sergeant, drowned without a moment’s notice — drowned like passengers on a foundered50 vessel51!”
For some minutes the three men remained silent. Mac-Nab’s idea was probably correct. Nothing was more likely than that the ice forming the foundation of the island had given way under such enormous pressure. The vertical props which supported the beams of the ceiling, and rested on those of the floor, had evidently aided the catastrophe by their weight, and the whole house had been engulfed.
“Well, Mac-Nab,” said Hobson at last, “if we cannot find them alive”——
“We must recover their bodies,” added the head carpenter.
“And with these words Mac-Nab, accompanied by the Lieutenant, went back to his work at the bottom of the shaft without a word to any of his comrades of the terrible form his anxiety had now assumed.
The excavation continued throughout the night, the men relieving each other every hour, and Hobson and Mac-Nab watched them at work without a moment’s rest.
At three o’clock in the morning Kellet’s pickaxe struck against something hard, which gave out a ringing sound. The head carpenter felt it almost before he heard it.
“We have reached them!” cried the soldier, “they are saved.”
“Hold your tongue, and go on working,” replied the Lieutenant in a choked voice.
It was now seventy-six hours since the avalanche fell upon the house!
Kellet and his companion Pond resumed their work. The shaft must have nearly reached the level of the sea, and Mac Nab therefore felt that all hope was gone.
In less than twenty minutes the hard body which Kellet had struck was uncovered, and proved to be one of the rafters of the roof. The carpenter flung himself to the bottom of the shaft, and seizing a pickaxe sent the laths of the roof flying on every side. In a few moments a large aperture52 was made, and a figure appeared at it which it was difficult to recognise in the darkness.
It was Kalumah!
“Help! help!” she murmured feebly.
Hobson let himself down through the opening, and found himself up to the waist in ice-cold water. Strange to say, the roof had not given way, but as Mac-Nab had supposed, the house had sunk, and was full of water. The water did not, however, yet fill the loft, and was not more than a foot above the floor. There was still a faint hope!
The Lieutenant, feeling his way in the darkness, came across a motionless body, and dragging it to the opening he consigned53 it to Pond and Kellet. It was Thomas Black.
Madge, also senseless, was next found; and she and the astronomer were drawn up to the surface of the ground with ropes, where the open air gradually restored them to consciousness.
Mrs Barnett was still missing, but Kalumah led Hobson to the very end of the loft, and there he found the unhappy lady motionless and insensible, with her head scarcely out of the water.
The Lieutenant lifted her in his arms and carried her to the opening, and a few moments later he had reached the outer air with his burden, followed by Mac-Nab with Kalumah.
Every one gathered round Mrs Barnett in silent anxiety, and poor Kalumah, exhausted54 as she was, flung herself across her friend’s body.
Mrs Barnett still breathed, her heart still beat feebly, and revived by the pure fresh air she at last opened her eyes.
A cry of joy burst from every lip, a cry of gratitude55 to Heaven for the great mercy vouchsafed56, which was doubtless heard above.
Day was now breaking in the east, the sun was rising above the horizon, lighting57 up the ocean with its brilliant beams, and Mrs Barnett painfully staggered to her feet. Looking round her from the summit of the new mountain formed by the avalanche, which overlooked the whole island, she murmured in a changed and hollow voice ——
“The sea! the sea!”
Yes, the ocean now encircled the wandering island, the sea was open at last, and a true sea-horizon shut in the view from east to west.
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1
catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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prop
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| vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山 | |
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avalanche
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| n.雪崩，大量涌来 | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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astronomer
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| n.天文学家 | |
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shovels
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| n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份 | |
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icebergs
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| n.冰山，流冰( iceberg的名词复数 ) | |
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iceberg
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| n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人 | |
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overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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hemmed
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| 缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lagoon
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| n.泻湖，咸水湖 | |
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colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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avalanches
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| n.雪崩( avalanche的名词复数 ) | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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crests
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| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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engulfed
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| v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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vertical
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| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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zealously
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| adv.热心地；热情地；积极地；狂热地 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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resinous
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| adj.树脂的，树脂质的，树脂制的 | |
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diminution
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| n.减少；变小 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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excavation
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| n.挖掘，发掘；被挖掘之地 | |
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32
wielded
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的过去式和过去分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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impure
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| adj.不纯净的，不洁的；不道德的，下流的 | |
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brittle
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| adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的 | |
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Undid
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| v. 解开, 复原 | |
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toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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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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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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hummocks
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| n.小丘，岗( hummock的名词复数 ) | |
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veered
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| v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的过去式和过去分词 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转 | |
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43
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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excavated
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| v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘 | |
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subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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props
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| 小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋 | |
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47
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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loft
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| n.阁楼，顶楼 | |
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49
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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50
foundered
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| v.创始人( founder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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52
aperture
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| n.孔，隙，窄的缺口 | |
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53
consigned
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| v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃 | |
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54
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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55
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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56
vouchsafed
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| v.给予，赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 )；允诺 | |
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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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