I was unharmed except for a slight bruise2 upon my forehead where it had struck the stone flagging as I fell.
I sprang to my feet to ascertain3 the cause of the light. It came from a torch in the hand of one of a party of four green warriors5, who were coming rapidly down the corridor toward me. They had not yet seen me, and so I lost no time in slipping into the first intersecting corridor that I could find. This time, however, I did not advance so far away from the main corridor as on the other occasion that had resulted in my losing Tars6 Tarkas and his guards.
The party came rapidly toward the opening of the passageway in which I crouched7 against the wall. As they passed by I breathed a sigh of relief. I had not been discovered, and, best of all, the party was the same that I had followed into the pits. It consisted of Tars Tarkas and his three guards.
I fell in behind them and soon we were at the cell in which the great Thark had been chained. Two of the warriors remained without while the man with the keys entered with the Thark to fasten his irons upon him once more. The two outside started to stroll slowly in the direction of the spiral runway which led to the floors above, and in a moment were lost to view beyond a turn in the corridor.
The torch had been stuck in a socket8 beside the door, so that its rays illuminated9 both the corridor and the cell at the same time. As I saw the two warriors disappear I approached the entrance to the cell, with a well-defined plan already formulated10.
While I disliked the thought of carrying out the thing that I had decided11 upon, there seemed no alternative if Tars Tarkas and I were to go back together to my little camp in the hills.
Keeping near the wall, I came quite close to the door to Tars Tarkas' cell, and there I stood with my longsword above my head, grasped with both hands, that I might bring it down in one quick cut upon the skull12 of the jailer as he emerged.
I dislike to dwell upon what followed after I heard the footsteps of the man as he approached the doorway13. It is enough that within another minute or two, Tars Tarkas, wearing the metal of a Warhoon chief, was hurrying down the corridor toward the spiral runway, bearing the Warhoon's torch to light his way. A dozen paces behind him followed John Carter, Prince of Helium.
The two companions of the man who lay now beside the door of the cell that had been Tars Tarkas' had just started to ascend14 the runway as the Thark came in view.
"Why so long, Tan Gama?" cried one of the men.
"I had trouble with a lock," replied Tars Tarkas. "And now I find that I have left my short-sword in the Thark's cell. Go you on, I'll return and fetch it."
"As you will, Tan Gama," replied he who had before spoken. "We shall see you above directly."
"Yes," replied Tars Tarkas, and turned as though to retrace16 his steps to the cell, but he only waited until the two had disappeared at the floor above. Then I joined him, we extinguished the torch, and together we crept toward the spiral incline that led to the upper floors of the building.
At the first floor we found that the hallway ran but halfway18 through, necessitating19 the crossing of a rear room full of green folk, ere we could reach the inner courtyard, so there was but one thing left for us to do, and that was to gain the second floor and the hallway through which I had traversed the length of the building.
Cautiously we ascended20. We could hear the sounds of conversation coming from the room above, but the hall still was unlighted, nor was any one in sight as we gained the top of the runway. Together we threaded the long hall and reached the balcony overlooking the courtyard, without being detected.
At our right was the window letting into the room in which I had seen Tan Gama and the other warriors as they started to Tars Tarkas' cell earlier in the evening. His companions had returned here, and we now overheard a portion of their conversation.
"What can be detaining Tan Gama?" asked one.
"He certainly could not be all this time fetching his shortsword from the Thark's cell," spoke15 another.
"His short-sword?" asked a woman. "What mean you?"
"Tan Gama left his short-sword in the Thark's cell," explained the first speaker, "and left us at the runway, to return and get it."
"Tan Gama wore no short-sword this night," said the woman. "It was broken in to-day's battle with the Thark, and Tan Gama gave it to me to repair. See, I have it here," and as she spoke she drew Tan Gama's short-sword from beneath her sleeping silks and furs.
The warriors sprang to their feet.
"There is something amiss here," cried one.
"'Tis even what I myself thought when Tan Gama left us at the runway," said another. "Methought then that his voice sounded strangely."
"Come! let us hasten to the pits."
We waited to hear no more. Slinging21 my harness into a long single strap22, I lowered Tars Tarkas to the courtyard beneath, and an instant later dropped to his side.
We had spoken scarcely a dozen words since I had felled Tan Gama at the cell door and seen in the torch's light the expression of utter bewilderment upon the great Thark's face.
"By this time," he had said, "I should have learned to wonder at nothing which John Carter accomplishes." That was all. He did not need to tell me that he appreciated the friendship which had prompted me to risk my life to rescue him, nor did he need to say that he was glad to see me.
This fierce green warrior4 had been the first to greet me that day, now twenty years gone, which had witnessed my first advent23 upon Mars. He had met me with levelled spear and cruel hatred24 in his heart as he charged down upon me, bending low at the side of his mighty25 thoat as I stood beside the incubator of his horde26 upon the dead sea bottom beyond Korad. And now among the inhabitants of two worlds I counted none a better friend than Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of the Tharks.
As we reached the courtyard we stood in the shadows beneath the balcony for a moment to discuss our plans.
"There be five now in the party, Tars Tarkas," I said; "Thuvia, Xodar, Carthoris, and ourselves. We shall need five thoats to bear us."
"Carthoris!" he cried. "Your son?"
"Yes. I found him in the prison of Shador, on the Sea of Omean, in the land of the First Born."
"I know not any of these places, John Carter. Be they upon Barsoom?"
"Upon and below, my friend; but wait until we shall have made good our escape, and you shall hear the strangest narrative27 that ever a Barsoomian of the outer world gave ear to. Now we must steal our thoats and be well away to the north before these fellows discover how we have tricked them."
In safety we reached the great gates at the far end of the courtyard, through which it was necessary to take our thoats to the avenue beyond. It is no easy matter to handle five of these great, fierce beasts, which by nature are as wild and ferocious28 as their masters and held in subjection by cruelty and brute29 force alone.
As we approached them they sniffed30 our unfamiliar31 scent32 and with squeals33 of rage circled about us. Their long, massive necks upreared raised their great, gaping34 mouths high above our heads. They are fearsome appearing brutes35 at best, but when they are aroused they are fully36 as dangerous as they look. The thoat stands a good ten feet at the shoulder. His hide is sleek37 and hairless, and of a dark slate38 colour on back and sides, shading down his eight legs to a vivid yellow at the huge, padded, nailless feet; the belly39 is pure white. A broad, flat tail, larger at the tip than at the root, completes the picture of this ferocious green Martian mount—a fit war steed for these warlike people.
As the thoats are guided by telepathic means alone, there is no need for rein40 or bridle41, and so our object now was to find two that would obey our unspoken commands. As they charged about us we succeeded in mastering them sufficiently42 to prevent any concerted attack upon us, but the din17 of their squealing43 was certain to bring investigating warriors into the courtyard were it to continue much longer.
At length I was successful in reaching the side of one great brute, and ere he knew what I was about I was firmly seated astride his glossy44 back. A moment later Tars Tarkas had caught and mounted another, and then between us we herded45 three or four more toward the great gates.
Tars Tarkas rode ahead and, leaning down to the latch47, threw the barriers open, while I held the loose thoats from breaking back to the herd46. Then together we rode through into the avenue with our stolen mounts and, without waiting to close the gates, hurried off toward the southern boundary of the city.
Thus far our escape had been little short of marvellous, nor did our good fortune desert us, for we passed the outer purlieus of the dead city and came to our camp without hearing even the faintest sound of pursuit.
Here a low whistle, the prearranged signal, apprised48 the balance of our party that I was returning, and we were met by the three with every manifestation49 of enthusiastic rejoicing.
But little time was wasted in narration50 of our adventure. Tars Tarkas and Carthoris exchanged the dignified51 and formal greetings common upon Barsoom, but I could tell intuitively that the Thark loved my boy and that Carthoris reciprocated52 his affection.
Xodar and the green Jeddak were formally presented to each other. Then Thuvia was lifted to the least fractious thoat, Xodar and Carthoris mounted two others, and we set out at a rapid pace toward the east. At the far extremity53 of the city we circled toward the north, and under the glorious rays of the two moons we sped noiselessly across the dead sea bottom, away from the Warhoons and the First Born, but to what new dangers and adventures we knew not.
Toward noon of the following day we halted to rest our mounts and ourselves. The beasts we hobbled, that they might move slowly about cropping the ochre moss-like vegetation which constitutes both food and drink for them on the march. Thuvia volunteered to remain on watch while the balance of the party slept for an hour.
It seemed to me that I had but closed my eyes when I felt her hand upon my shoulder and heard her soft voice warning me of a new danger.
"Arise, O Prince," she whispered. "There be that behind us which has the appearance of a great body of pursuers."
The girl stood pointing in the direction from whence we had come, and as I arose and looked, I, too, thought that I could detect a thin dark line on the far horizon. I awoke the others. Tars Tarkas, whose giant stature54 towered high above the rest of us, could see the farthest.
"It is a great body of mounted men," he said, "and they are travelling at high speed."
There was no time to be lost. We sprang to our hobbled thoats, freed them, and mounted. Then we turned our faces once more toward the north and took our flight again at the highest speed of our slowest beast.
For the balance of the day and all the following night we raced across that ochre wilderness55 with the pursuers at our back ever gaining upon us. Slowly but surely they were lessening56 the distance between us. Just before dark they had been close enough for us to plainly distinguish that they were green Martians, and all during the long night we distinctly heard the clanking of their accoutrements behind us.
As the sun rose on the second day of our flight it disclosed the pursuing horde not a half-mile in our rear. As they saw us a fiendish shout of triumph rose from their ranks.
Several miles in advance lay a range of hills—the farther shore of the dead sea we had been crossing. Could we but reach these hills our chances of escape would be greatly enhanced, but Thuvia's mount, although carrying the lightest burden, already was showing signs of exhaustion57. I was riding beside her when suddenly her animal staggered and lurched against mine. I saw that he was going down, but ere he fell I snatched the girl from his back and swung her to a place upon my own thoat, behind me, where she clung with her arms about me.
This double burden soon proved too much for my already overtaxed beast, and thus our speed was terribly diminished, for the others would proceed no faster than the slowest of us could go. In that little party there was not one who would desert another; yet we were of different countries, different colours, different races, different religions—and one of us was of a different world.
We were quite close to the hills, but the Warhoons were gaining so rapidly that we had given up all hope of reaching them in time. Thuvia and I were in the rear, for our beast was lagging more and more. Suddenly I felt the girl's warm lips press a kiss upon my shoulder. "For thy sake, O my Prince," she murmured. Then her arms slipped from about my waist and she was gone.
I turned and saw that she had deliberately58 slipped to the ground in the very path of the cruel demons59 who pursued us, thinking that by lightening the burden of my mount it might thus be enabled to bear me to the safety of the hills. Poor child! She should have known John Carter better than that.
Turning my thoat, I urged him after her, hoping to reach her side and bear her on again in our hopeless flight. Carthoris must have glanced behind him at about the same time and taken in the situation, for by the time I had reached Thuvia's side he was there also, and, springing from his mount, he threw her upon its back and, turning the animal's head toward the hills, gave the beast a sharp crack across the rump with the flat of his sword. Then he attempted to do the same with mine.
The brave boy's act of chivalrous60 self-sacrifice filled me with pride, nor did I care that it had wrested61 from us our last frail62 chance for escape. The Warhoons were now close upon us. Tars Tarkas and Xodar had discovered our absence and were charging rapidly to our support. Everything pointed63 toward a splendid ending of my second journey to Barsoom. I hated to go out without having seen my divine Princess, and held her in my arms once again; but if it were not writ64 upon the book of Fate that such was to be, then would I take the most that was coming to me, and in these last few moments that were to be vouchsafed65 me before I passed over into that unguessed future I could at least give such an account of myself in my chosen vocation66 as would leave the Warhoons of the South food for discourse67 for the next twenty generations.
As Carthoris was not mounted, I slipped from the back of my own mount and took my place at his side to meet the charge of the howling devils bearing down upon us. A moment later Tars Tarkas and Xodar ranged themselves on either hand, turning their thoats loose that we might all be on an equal footing.
The Warhoons were perhaps a hundred yards from us when a loud explosion sounded from above and behind us, and almost at the same instant a shell burst in their advancing ranks. At once all was confusion. A hundred warriors toppled to the ground. Riderless thoats plunged68 hither and thither69 among the dead and dying. Dismounted warriors were trampled70 underfoot in the stampede which followed. All semblance71 of order had left the ranks of the green men, and as they looked far above our heads to trace the origin of this unexpected attack, disorder72 turned to retreat and retreat to a wild panic. In another moment they were racing73 as madly away from us as they had before been charging down upon us.
We turned to look in the direction from whence the first report had come, and there we saw, just clearing the tops of the nearer hills, a great battleship swinging majestically74 through the air. Her bow gun spoke again even as we looked, and another shell burst among the fleeing Warhoons.
As she drew nearer I could not repress a wild cry of elation75, for upon her bows I saw the device of Helium.
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1
illuminating
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| a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的 | |
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bruise
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| n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤 | |
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3
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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tars
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| 焦油，沥青，柏油( tar的名词复数 ) | |
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crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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socket
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| n.窝，穴，孔，插座，插口 | |
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illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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10
formulated
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| v.构想出( formulate的过去式和过去分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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14
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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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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16
retrace
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| v.折回；追溯，探源 | |
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din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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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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necessitating
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| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的现在分词 ) | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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slinging
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| 抛( sling的现在分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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strap
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| n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎 | |
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advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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horde
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| n.群众，一大群 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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28
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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squeals
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| n.长而尖锐的叫声( squeal的名词复数 )v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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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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sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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slate
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| n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订 | |
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belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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squealing
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| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 ) | |
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glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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45
herded
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| 群集，纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 )； 放牧； （使）向…移动 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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latch
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| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
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48
apprised
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| v.告知，通知( apprise的过去式和过去分词 )；评价 | |
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49
manifestation
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| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
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50
narration
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| n.讲述，叙述；故事；记叙体 | |
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51
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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52
reciprocated
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| v.报答，酬答( reciprocate的过去式和过去分词 )；（机器的部件）直线往复运动 | |
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53
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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54
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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55
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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56
lessening
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| 减轻，减少，变小 | |
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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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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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demons
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| n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念 | |
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chivalrous
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| adj.武士精神的；对女人彬彬有礼的 | |
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61
wrested
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| （用力）拧( wrest的过去式和过去分词 )； 费力取得； （从…）攫取； （ 从… ） 强行取去… | |
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62
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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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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66
vocation
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| n.职业，行业 | |
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67
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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68
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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69
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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70
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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71
semblance
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| n.外貌，外表 | |
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72
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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73
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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74
majestically
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| 雄伟地； 庄重地； 威严地； 崇高地 | |
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elation
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| n.兴高采烈，洋洋得意 | |
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