Mrs. Simons was very reluctant, but her daughter resolutely6 held out her hand to the old Palikar. She said to him in English, with roguish pleasantry: “It is much honor that you do us, very interesting, sir, because at this moment we are the Clephtes, and you are the victim!”
The King replied with much confidence: “Thank you, Mademoiselle; you are too good!”
Mary-Ann’s pretty hand was colored like a piece of rosy7 satin which had been in a shop-window for three months. Believe, however, that I did not have to beg to kiss it. I then touched my lips to Mrs. Simons’ skinny hand. “Courage! Monsieur,” cried the old lady as she was going away. Mary-Ann said nothing; but she threw me a glance capable of rousing an army. Such looks are worth a proclamation!
When the last man of the escort had disappeared, Hadgi-Stavros took me to one side and said to me: “Eh, well! we have then made some mistake!”
“Alas8! Yes, we were not clever.”
“This ransom9 is not paid. Will it be? I believe so. These English women seem to be friendly to you.”
“Be not uneasy: within three days I shall be far from Parnassus.”
“All right, so much the better. I have great need of money, as you know. Our bad luck on Monday will tax our income heavily. We must make up our personal and material losses.”
“You can complain with good grace. You have obtained a hundred thousand francs at one stroke!”
“No, ninety! the monk10 has already taken his tithe11. Of that sum, which seems enormous to you, there will be only twenty thousand for me. Our expenses are considerable; there are heavy charges. What would be done if the company of stock-holders should decide to build a Hotel des Invalides, as has been talked of? There are always pensions to be paid to the widows and orphans12 of the band. Fever and bullets yearly relieve us of thirty men, and you can see where that places us. Our expenses would scarcely be met; I should have to pay money out of my own pocket, my dear sir!”
“Have you never happened to lose more than once?”
“Once, only. I had received fifty thousand francs on account, of the society. One of my secretaries, whom I afterward13 hung, fled to Thessaly with the sum. I had to make up the deficit14: I was responsible. My share amounted to seven thousand francs; I lost, then, forty-three thousand. But the knave15 who stole from me paid dearly. I punished him according to the Persian mode. Before hanging him, his teeth were pulled, one after the other, and they were driven, with a mallet16, into his cranium—for a good example, you understand. I am not wicked, but I suffer no one to put me in the wrong.”
It rejoiced my heart that the old Palikar, who was not wicked, should lose the eighty thousand francs of Mrs. Simons’ ransom, and that he would receive the news when my cranium and my teeth were not in his camp. He put his arm through mine, and said familiarly:
“How are you going to kill the time till your departure? These ladies are gone and the house will seem large. Do you wish to look at the Athenian papers? The monk brought some to me. I rarely read them. I know exactly the price the articles are worth, since I pay for them. Here you will find the Gazette officielle, l’Esperance, Pallicare, Caricature. Each one ought to speak of us. Poor readers! I leave you. If you find anything curious, tell me about it.”
L’Esperance, printed in French, and intended to fool Europe, devoted17 a long article to denying the latest news of brigandage18. It cleverly joked the simple travelers who saw a thief in every ragged20 peasant, an armed band in every cloud of dust, and who asked pardon of the first thorn-bush on which their clothes were caught. This truth-telling sheet vaunted the security of the roads, celebrated21 the disinterestedness22 of the natives, exalted23 the quiet and seclusion24 which one was sure of finding on all the mountains in the kingdom.
The Pallicare, printed under the supervision25 of some of Hadgi-Stavros’ friends, contained an eloquent26 biography of its hero. It recounted that this Theseus of modern times, the only man in our century who had never been vanquished27, had made a sortie in the direction of the Scironian Rock. Betrayed by the weakness of his companions, he had withdrawn28 with small loss. But seized with profound distaste for a degenerate29 profession, he had renounced30, henceforth, the practice of brigandage, and had left Greece; he had exiled himself in Europe, where his fortune, gloriously acquired, would enable him to live like a prince. “And now,” added the Pallicare, “go, come, travel across the plain and in the mountain! Bankers and Merchants, Greeks, strangers, travelers, you have nothing to fear; the King of the Mountains wished, like Charles V., to abdicate32 at the height of his glory and power.”
The Gazette officielle read as follows:
“Sunday, 3d instant, at 5 o’clock in the evening, the military chest containing 20,000 francs, which a large company was guarding on its way to Argos, was attacked by the band of Hadgi-Stavros, known as the King of the Mountains! The brigands33, to the number of three or four hundred, fell upon the soldiers with incredible ferocity. But the first two companies of the second battalion34 of the 4th Line, under the command of the brave Nicola[=i]dis, opposed them with a heroic resistance. The savage35 attacking party were repulsed36 at the point of the bayonet and left the field covered with the dead. Report has it that Hadgi-Stavros was seriously wounded. Our loss was insignificant37.
“The same day, and the same hour, Her Majesty’s troops were victors in another skirmish, about ten leagues distant. It was at the summit of Parnassus, four furlongs from Castia, that the 2d Company of the 1st Battalion of gendarmes38 defeated Hadgi-Stavros’ band. There, according to the report of the brave Captain Pericles, the King of the Mountains was wounded. Unfortunately, this success was dearly bought. The brigands, protected by the rocks and shrubs40, had killed or seriously wounded ten of the soldiers. A young officer, M. Spiro, graduate of the Erelpides School, died a heroic death on the field of battle. In the presence of such great misfortunes, it is no mean consolation41 that there, as everywhere, the law reigns42.”
The journal La Caricature contained a badly printed lithograph43, in which I recognized, however, Captain Pericles and the King of the Mountains. The godson and godfather were holding each other in close embrace. Below this cartoon, the artist had written the following sentence:
“This Is How They Fought!”
“It seems,” I said to myself, “that I am not alone in their confidence, and that Pericles’ secret is an open secret.”
I folded up the papers, and while waiting the King’s return, I meditated44 upon the position in which Mrs. Simons had left me. Surely, it was fine to owe my freedom to no one but myself, and much braver to leave a prison by a feat39 of courage, than by a schoolboy’s trick. I could, in a day or two, become a hero of romance, and the object of admiration45 of all the young girls in Europe. No doubt Mary-Ann would adore me when she saw me safe and sound after so perilous46 an escape. I might make a misstep in that slippery path. What if I broke a leg or arm! Would Mary-Ann look with favor on a lame47 and crippled man? I must, moreover, expect to be guarded night and day. My plan, ingenious as it was, could be executed only after the death of my guard. To kill a man is no small affair, even for a doctor. It is nothing in words, especially when one speaks to the woman whom one loves. But, since Mary-Ann’s departure, I was no longer deranged48. It seemed less easy to procure49 a weapon and to use it. A poniard thrust is a surgical50 operation which ought to make an honest man’s flesh creep. What do you say, Monsieur? I think that my future mother-in-law had treated her hoped-for son-in-law very contemptuously. It would not have cost her much to have sent me 15,000 francs ransom, taking them, later, out of Mary-Ann’s dowry. Fifteen thousand francs would have been of little value to me the day of my marriage. It seemed of much account in the condition in which I found myself, on the eve of murdering a man, and descending51 some hundreds of meters by a ladder without any rungs. I cursed Mrs. Simons as heartily52 as the generality of sons-in-law curse their mothers-in-law in all civilized53 lands. As I had maledictions to spare, I directed some of them against my friend John Harris, who had abandoned me to my lot. I said to myself, that if we could have exchanged places, that I would never have left him eight days without news.
I excused Lobster54, who was very young; and Giacomo, who was not very intelligent, and also M. Mérinay, whose downright selfishness I fully55 understood. One easily pardons treason in such egotists, because one never counts on them. But Harris, who had risked his life to save an old negress in Boston! Was I not of as much account as a negress? I believed, in truth, without any aristocratic prejudices, that I was worth two or three times as much.
Hadgi-Stavros came to change the course of my thoughts by offering a means of escape more simple and less dangerous. It was only necessary to have legs, and, thank God! I was not lacking in that particular. The King surprised me just as I was yawning fearfully.
“Do you feel dull?” he asked. “It is the reading. I never can open a book without fear of dislocating my jaws56. I am pleased to see that doctors cannot endure it any better than I. But why not employ the time you remain to better advantage? You came here to gather the mountain plants; your box has received nothing these eight days. Would you like to search for some, under guard of two men? I am too good a fellow for you to refuse this little favor. Each must pursue his course in this lower world. You collect plants; I, money. You can say to those who sent you here: ‘Here are plants gathered in Hadgi-Stavros’ Kingdom!’ If you find one which is beautiful and strange, and of which one has never heard in your country, you must give it my name, and call it the Queen of the Mountains!”
“But truly,” I thought, “if I was a league from here, with two brigands, would it not be possible to out-strip them? There was no doubt but that danger would give me double strength. He who runs best is he who has the most to gain! Why is the hare the swiftest of all animals? Because he is the most terrified!”
I accepted the King’s offer, and, on the spot, he placed two guards over me. He gave them no minute instructions. He simply said:
“Here is milord, worth 15,000 francs; if you lose him, you will have to bring him back or pay the sum.”
My attendants did not look like invalids57; they had neither wounds, bruises58, nor injury of any sort; their muscles were like steel, and it was not to be expected that they would be retarded59 by any constraint60 of their foot-gear, because they wore large moccasins, which left their heels bare. Passing them in review, I noticed, not without regret, two pistols as long as children’s guns. I, however, did not lose courage. By reason of keeping bad company, the whizzing of bullets had become familiar to me. I slung61 my box over my shoulder and started.
“Much pleasure to you!” cried the King.
“Adieu! Sire!”
“Not so, if you please; au revoir!”
I drew my companions in the direction of Athens; it was so much gained from the enemy. They made no resistance, and allowed me to go where I wished. These bandits, much better brought up than Pericles’ four guards, allowed me plenty of room. I did not feel, at each step, the point of their elbows in my ribs62. They picked on the path green stuff for the evening meal. As for me, I appeared very eager in my work; I pulled up, on the right hand and on the left, tufts of grass of no account; I pretended to choose a sprig from the mass, and I placed it very carefully in the bottom of my box, taking care not to overload63 myself; it was enough of a burden that I carried. I had once known, at a horse race, of a jockey who was beaten because he carried a burden weighing five kilogrammes. My gaze seemed fixed64 upon the ground, but you can well believe that the interest was feigned65. Under such circumstances one is not a botanist66, one is a prisoner. Pellison would never have amused himself with spiders if he had had a file with which to saw his bars. I may have, perhaps, seen that day unknown plants which would have made a naturalist’s fortune; but I troubled myself no more about them than as if they had been common wall-flowers. I am sure that I passed near a fine specimen67 of the boryana variabilis! It would have weighed a half-pound with its roots. I did not even honor it with a look. I saw only two things: Athens in the distance, and the two brigands on either side. I secretly watched the rascals’ eyes, in the hope that something would distract their attention; but, whether they were right at hand or ten feet away, whether they were occupied in picking their salads or following the flight of the vultures, they kept an incessant69 watch on my movements.
An idea came to me to give them serious occupation. We were in a narrow path, which evidently led towards Athens. I saw at my left a beautiful bunch of broom which grew on the top of a rock. I pretended to be eager to secure it as a treasure. I made five or six attempts to scale the precipitous bowlder on which it blossomed. I seemed so determined70 to reach it that one of my guards offered himself as a short ladder. This was not exactly what I had counted on. I felt obliged to accept his services, but, in climbing upon his shoulders, I hurt him so cruelly with my hob-nailed shoes, that he groaned71 with agony and let me drop to the ground. His comrade, who was interested in the process of the enterprise, said to him: “Wait! I will mount instead of milord, I have no nails in my shoes.” No sooner said than done; he sprang up, seized it by the stalk, shook it, pulled it, tore it up by the root and cried out. I was already running away, without looking behind. Their stupefaction gave me a good ten seconds’ advantage. But they lost no time in accusing each other, for I soon heard them following me. I redoubled my efforts; the path was a good one, even, smooth, made for me. We descended72 a steep declivity73. I ran desperately74, my arms pressed to my sides, without noticing the stones which rolled under my heels, or looking to see where I put my feet. I fairly flew over the path; rocks and bushes on either side seemed to be running in the opposite direction; I was light-footed, I was supple75, my body weighed little; I had wings. But the four foot-falls wearied my ears. Suddenly, they ceased; I heard nothing more. Had they become weary of following me? A little cloud of dust rose ten steps ahead of me. A little further on, a white spot suddenly appeared on a gray rock. I heard two detonations76 at the same instant. The brigands had discharged their pistols! I was not hit, and I still sped on. The pursuit began again; I heard the breathless voices calling to me: “Stop! Stop!” I did not stop. I lost the path, but I still ran on, not knowing where I was going. A ditch as wide as a river presented itself; but I was flying too fast to measure distances. I jumped, I was saved!—my suspenders broke!—I was lost!
You laugh! I would like to see you run without suspenders, holding in both hands the band of your trousers! Five minutes afterward, I was again a captive. The men hand-cuffed me, fettered78 my legs, and drove me with switches to Hadgi-Stavros’ camp.
The King treated me as a bankrupt who had carried away 15,000 francs. “Monsieur,” he said to me, “I had a better opinion of you. I thought I knew honest men! your face deceived me. I would never have believed that you were capable of doing wrong, above all, after the way in which I have treated you. Do not be astonished if I, henceforth, use severe measures; you have forced me to do so. You will remain in your chamber79 until further orders. One of my officers will remain with you under your tent. This is only a precaution. In case of a repetition of the offense80, it is punishment which will be given you. Vasile, it is to thee I commit Monsieur.”
Vasile saluted81 me with his usual courtesy.
“Ah! wretch82!” I thought, “it is thou who throwest infants into the fire! It is thou who wouldst have embraced Mary-Ann; it is thou who wouldst have stabbed me on Ascension Day. Oh, well! I prefer to settle with thee rather than with another!”
I will not relate to you the details of the three days I passed in my tent with Vasile. The scamp gave me a dose of disgust which I do not wish to share with anyone. He did not wish me any ill; he even had a certain sympathy for me. I believe that if I had been his own prisoner, that he would have released me without ransom. My face had pleased him at first sight. I recalled to him a younger brother who had been condemned83 to death and hanged. But these friendly overtures85 wearied me a hundred times more than bad treatment. He did not wait until sunrise to say “good-morning” to me; at night-fall, he never missed a long list of successes which he wished me. He aroused me, in my deepest sleep, to ascertain86 if I was well covered. At table, he gave me good service; at dessert he begged of me to listen to some stories which he wished to relate. And always that hand was before me ready to shake mine. I fiercely opposed his advances. It seemed to me unnecessary to include a roaster of infants in my list of friends, and I had no desire to press the hand of a man whom I had condemned to death. My conscience permitted me to kill him; was it not a case of legitimate87 defense88? but I did have scruples89 about killing90 him treacherously91, and I ought, at least, to put him on his guard by hostile and menacing attitude. While repulsing92 his advances, his kindness, and repelling93 his polite attentions, I carefully watched for a chance to escape; but his friendship, more vigilant94 than hate, did not lose sight of me for an instant. When I hung over the cascade95 in order to impress upon my mind the unequal places in the bank, Vasile would draw me from my contemplation with maternal96 solicitude97: “Take care!” he would say to me, pulling me back by the feet! “if thou shouldst fall by some unhappy chance, I should reproach myself all my life.” When, at night, I stealthily tried to rise, he jumped from his bed, asking if I needed anything. Never was there a more watchful98 rascal68. He turned around me like a squirrel in a cage.
What, above everything, made me despair, was the confidence he had in me. I expressed, one day, a desire to examine his arms. He placed his dagger99 in my hand. It was Russian blade, of inlaid steel, from the famous sword factory of Toula. I drew it from its sheath, I tried the point with my finger, I turned it toward his breast, choosing the place between the fourth and fifth ribs. “Do not press on it, thou mightest kill me!” Truly, by pressing on it a little, I could have given him his just desserts, but something stayed my hand. It is to be regretted that honest men recoil100 from killing assassins, when the latter feel no compunctions about killing honest people. I put the weapon back into its case. Vasile held out his pistol to me, but I refused it, and I told him that my curiosity was satisfied. He cocked it, he made me look at the priming, he placed it on his head, and said to me: “See! thou art no longer guarded!”
No longer guarded! eh! parbleu! that was exactly what I wished. But the occasion was too good a one, and the traitor101 paralyzed me. If I had killed him at such a moment, I would not have felt equal to enduring his last look. Much better to give the blow in the night. Unfortunately, instead of hiding his arms, he placed them ostensibly between his bed and mine.
At last, I conceived a plan for escaping, without awakening102 him or killing him. The idea flashed across my mind, Sunday, the 11th day of May, at 6 o’clock. I had noticed, on Ascension Day, that Vasile loved to drink, and that it took but little wine to intoxicate104 him. I invited him to dine with me. This exhibition of friendship mounted to his brain; the wine of Aegina did the rest! Hadgi-Stavros, who had not honored me with a visit since I had lost his esteem105, still acted as a generous host. My table was better served than his own. I could have drunk a goat-skin of wine or a cask of rhaki. Vasile, admitted to his share of these luxuries, began the repast with touching106 humility107. He kept three feet from the table, like a peasant invited to his master’s house. Little by little, the wine lessened108 the distance. At eight o’clock, my guardian109 explained his character to me. At nine, stutteringly related to me the adventures of his youth, and a series of exploits which would have made a Criminal Examining Magistrate’s hair stand on end. At ten, he became philanthropic; this heart of tempered steel was dissolving in the rhaki, like Cleopatra’s pearl in the vinegar. He swore to me that he became a bandit because of his love for humanity; that he would make his fortune in ten years, would found a hospital with his savings111, and then retire to a monastery112 on Mount Athos. He promised that he would not forget me in his prayers. I took advantage of his good intentions in order to make him drink an enormous cup of rhaki. I might have offered him boiling pitch; he was too much my friend to refuse me. Soon, he lost his voice; his head swung from the right to the left, from the left to the right, with the regularity113 of a pendulum114; he held out his hand to me; it alighted on the remains115 of the roast, this he shook cordially, fell over on his back, and slept the sleep of the Egyptian Sphinx, which the French cannons116 have never awakened117.
I had not an instant to lose; the minutes were golden. I took his pistol, which I threw to the bottom of the ravine. I seized his dagger, and was going to throw that down also, when the thought came to me that it would be useful in cutting up the turf. My watch showed eleven o’clock. I extinguished the two torches of resinous118 wood which had lighted our table; the light might attract the King’s attention. It was a beautiful night. No moon at all, but the sky was studded with stars; it was just the kind of night for my purpose. The turf, cut in long strips, came up like cloth. I had a sufficient quantity at the end of an hour. As I carried them to the spring, I stumbled against Vasile. He raised himself, heavily, and through habit, asked me if I needed anything. I let fall my burden and seated myself near the drunken man, and begged him to drink one more cup to my health. “Yes!” he mumbled119, “I am thirsty.” I filled for him the copper120 cup for the last time. He drank half of it; spilled the remainder over his face and neck, attempted to get up, fell over on his face, with his arms extended, and moved no more. I ran to my dike121, and novice122 as I was, the brook123 was solidly dammed up in forty-five minutes; it was a quarter of one o’clock. To the noise of the cascade succeeded a profound silence. Fear seized me. I reflected that the King probably slept lightly, like most old people, and that the unusual silence would probably awake him. In the tumult124 of thoughts which filled my mind, I remembered a scene in the Barbier de Seville, where Bartholo was awakened when he ceased to hear a piano. I glided125 under the trees to the staircase, and looked toward the King’s cabinet. He was sleeping peacefully beside his pipe-bearer. I crept stealthily along within twenty feet of his tree, I listened; all were asleep. I went back to my dam, passing through a puddle126 of icy water, which was already up to my ankles, flung myself down and looked over the abyss. The side of the mountain had gradually become polished. There were, here and there, cavities in which water had formed in pools. I had taken accurate note; these places were where I could put my feet. I returned to my tent, took my box which was suspended over my bed, and slung it over my shoulders. In passing the place where we had dined, I picked up a part of a loaf, and a piece of meat which the water had not yet wet. I put these provisions in my box for my breakfast next morning. The dam still held well, the wind ought to have dried my path; it was nearly two o’clock. I wished, in case of an encounter with any one, to take Vasile’s dagger, but it was under the water and I could lose no time searching for it. I took off my shoes, I tied them together, and hung them on the strap127 of my box. At last, after thinking of everything, throwing a last look at my earthworks, giving a thought to my family at home, and sending a kiss in the direction of Athens and Mary-Ann, I threw one leg over the edge, I seized with both hands a tree which hung over the abyss, and I started out, trusting to God to help me.
It was rough work, harder than I had supposed when looking down. The rock, not entirely128 dry, gave me a feeling of clammy cold, like the contact of a serpent. I had not calculated distances accurately129, and the points of support were farther apart than I had hoped. Twice I took a wrong course in moving to the left. I had to return, a work of incredible difficulty. Hope abandoned me often, but not my will. My foot slipped; I mistook a shadow for a projection130, and I fell fifteen or twenty feet, clinging with my hands and body to the side of the mountain, without finding a place to stop myself. A root of a fig-tree caught me by the cuff77 of my coat-sleeve, you can see the marks here. A little further on, a bird, hidden in a little hole, on the mountain side, flew out between my legs so suddenly, and frightened me so, that I almost fell head first. I advanced with feet and hands, especially with my hands. My arms seemed broken, and I heard the tendons creak like the cords of a harp131. My nails were so cruelly torn that they ceased to pain me. Perhaps, if I had been able to measure the distance still before me, I would have felt renewed strength; but when I turned my head, I became so dizzy that I abandoned the attempt. To sustain my courage, I talked to myself; I spoke132 out loud between my clenched133 teeth. I said: “One more step for my father! yet another for Mary-Ann! still one more for the confusion of the brigands and the rage of Hadgi-Stavros!”
My feet at last rested on a broad ledge134. It seemed to me that the soil had changed color. I bent135 my knees, I seated myself, I turned my head. I was only ten feet from the brook. I had reached the red rocks. The smooth stone, full of hollows, in which the water still stood, allowed me to take breath and rest a little. I drew out my watch; it was only half past two. I would have believed that my journey had taken three nights. I examined my arms and legs, to ascertain if I still possessed136 them all; in this kind of an expedition one never knows what will happen. I had had good luck; I had suffered some contusions and the skin was rubbed off in two or three places. The worst sufferer was my paletot. I looked up, not to thank Heaven, but to assure myself that nothing had moved in my camping place. I heard only the drops of water filtering through my dam. All was well; I was reassured137; I knew where to find Athens; adieu to the King of the Mountains!
I was about to leap to the bottom of the ravine, when a whitish form jumped up before me, and I heard the most furious barking which had ever awakened morning echoes. Alas! Monsieur, the enemies of man roamed at all hours around the camp, and one of them had scented138 me. I cannot describe the fury and hate which possessed me at meeting him; one does not detest139 to this degree an irrational140 being. I would have much preferred to find myself face to face with a wolf, with a tiger, or a white bear, noble beasts, who would have eaten me without saying anything, but who would not have denounced me. Ferocious141 beasts hunt for themselves; but to think of this horrible dog who was about to devour142 me, with a great uproar143, in order to serve Hadgi-Stavros! I overwhelmed him with insults; I hurled144 the most odious145 names at him; do the best I could yet he spoke louder than I. I changed my tune31, I tried the effect of kind words, I spoke to him sweetly in Greek, in the tongue of his fathers; he gave but one response to all my advances, and the response awoke the mountain echoes. A thought struck me! I was silent; he ceased barking. I stretched myself out among the pools of water; he crouched146 at the foot of the rock with low growls147. I pretended to sleep; he slept. I glided, inch by inch, toward the brook; he was up with a bound, and I had only time to regain148 my platform. My hat remained in the hands of the enemy, or rather, in the teeth of the enemy. An instant afterward, it was no more than a pulp149, a chewed up mass, a rag of a hat! Poor hat! I pitied it! I put myself in its place. If I could have escaped, less a few mouthfuls, I would not have considered the matter a great while, I would have made allowances for the dog’s share. But these monsters are not satisfied with killing people, they eat them!
I was convinced that he was hungry; that if I could find enough to surfeit150 him, he might possibly bite me, but he would not devour me. I had some provisions, I would sacrifice them; my only regret was that I did not have a hundred times more. I threw a piece of bread to him; he swallowed it in one mouthful; imagine a pebble151 which falls into a well. As I looked piteously at the small portion which still remained, I saw, in the bottom of the box, a white package, which gave me a new idea. It was a small amount of arsenic152, used in my zoological preparations. I used it in stuffing birds, but no law prevented me from putting a few grains into the body of a dog. My speaker, with sharpened appetite, demanded more: “Wait,” I said to him, “I am going to give thee a morsel153 of my own making!” The package contained about 35 grammes of a pretty powder, white and shining. I turned five or six into a small pool of water, and I put the remainder in my pocket. I carefully diluted154 a portion for the animal; I waited until the acid was well dissolved; I dipped into the solution a piece of bread, which soaked it all up, like a sponge. The dog sprang upon it with a good appetite and swallowed it at once.
Why was not I provided with a little strychnine, or some other good poison more fearful than arsenic? It was after three o’clock, and the results of my experiment were not instantaneous. About half after three, the dog began to howl with all his strength. I had not gained much; barking and howling, cries of fury, or of agony, were all to the same purpose—that is—the awakening of Hadgi-Stavros. Soon the animal fell into frightful155 convulsions; he foamed156 at the mouth; he was seized with nausea157, he made violent effort to throw off the poison. It was a sweet sight to me, and I enjoyed it; the death of the enemy was my only way of escape, and death was vanquishing158 him. I hoped that, conquered by the poison, he would permit me to leave; but he raged against me, he opened his foam-flecked and bloody159 jaws, as if to reproach me with my presents, and to tell me that he would not die without vengeance160. I threw my handkerchief to him; he tore it as savagely161 as my hat. The sky began to lighten. I became convinced that I had committed a useless murder. An hour later, the brigands would be upon me. I looked up to that horrid162 place which I had left without expecting to return to it, and to which the dog’s endurance was forcing me. A volume of water suddenly poured over the rock and threw me, face down. The icy water, filled with huge pieces of turf, stones, fragments of rock rolled over me. The dam had broken, and the whole body of water poured over my head. A trembling seized me! I became chilled, my blood congealed163! I looked toward the dog; he was still at the foot of my rock, struggling with death, with the current, with anything, jaws open and eyes turned towards me. This must end. I took off my box, clutched it by the straps164, and pounded that hideous165 head with such fury that the enemy left me the field of battle. The torrent166 seized him, rolled him over two or three times, and carried him, I know not where.
I jumped into the water; it was up to my waist; I clung to the rocks; I went with the current; I was over the bank; I shook myself, I cried: “Hurrah for Mary-Ann!”
Four brigands rose out of the earth! they caught me by the collar, saying: “Here thou art, assassin! Come! we will take thee back! the King will be happy! Vasile will be avenged167!”
It appeared, that without knowing it, I had drowned my friend, Vasile.
At that time, Monsieur, I had never killed a man; Vasile was my first. I have fought others since, to defend myself and to save my life; but Vasile is the only one who has caused me any remorse168, although his end was, probably, the result of a very innocent imprudence. You know that it is only the first step! No murderer, discovered by the police, surrounded with soldiers and led to the scene of his crime, hung his head more humbly170 than I. I dared not raise my eyes to the good people who had arrested me; I did not feel equal to encountering the eyes of these reprobates171; I trembled; I presented a guilty appearance; I knew that I must appear before my judge, and be placed before my victim. How could I confront the King’s frown, after what I had done? How could I see, without dying of shame, the inanimate body of the unfortunate Vasile? My knees shook; I would have fallen but for the kicks I received from those following me.
I crossed the deserted172 camp, the King’s cabinet, occupied by some of the wounded, and I descended, or, rather, I fell to the bottom of the staircase to my chamber. The waters had receded173, leaving traces of mud everywhere. A small pool of water still remained where I had raised the dam. The bandits, the King, and the monk, stood in a circle, about a dark and muddy object, the sight of which made my hair stand on end: it was Vasile! Heaven preserve you, Monsieur, from the sight of a corpse174 of your own making! The water and the mud, rushing over him, had deposited on him a hideous layer. Have you ever seen a great fly which had been caught, three or four days before, in a large spider-web? The artisan of the web, not being able to rid himself of his visitor, had enveloped175 him in a tangle176 of gray threads, and changed him to an unformed and unrecognizable mass. Such was Vasile a few hours after he had dined with me. I found him ten feet from the path where I had bidden him farewell. I do not know whether the brigands had laid him there, or whether he had thrown himself there, in his convulsions of agony; I am inclined to believe, however, that death had come to him gently. Full of wine as I had left him, he must have succumbed177, without a struggle, to some cerebral178 congestion179.
A menacing murmur180, which was a bad augury181, greeted my arrival. Hadgi-Stavros, with pale and contracted brow, walked up to me, seized me by the left wrist, and dragged me so violently that he dislocated my arm. He threw me into the middle of the circle with such force, that I almost fell on my victim; I instantly recoiled182.
“Look!” he cried in thundering tones, “look at what you have done! rejoice in your work; gaze upon your crime! Wretch! but where would you have stopped? Who would have said, the day I received you here, that I had opened my door to an assassin?”
I stammered183 some excuses; I tried to show the judge that I was guilty only of imprudence. I warmly accused myself of having intoxicated184 my guardian in order to escape his watchfulness185, and to flee without hindrance186 from my prison; but I defended myself from the crime of assassinating187 him. Was it my fault if the rise of waters drowned him an hour after my departure? The proof that I had wished him no evil, was that I had not stabbed him when he was dead drunk, and that I had his weapons at hand. They could wash the body and see that he was not wounded.
“At least,” the King replied, “confess that your act was very selfish and very culpable188! When your life was not threatened, when you were held here for only a small sum, you fled through avarice189; you thought only of saving a few écus, and you did not trouble yourself about this poor unfortunate whom you left to die! You never thought of me! that you were going to deprive me of a valuable officer! And what moment did you choose to betray us? The day on which all kinds of troubles assailed190 us; when I had sustained a defeat; when I had lost my best soldiers; when Sophocles was wounded; when the Corfuan was dying; when the little Spiro, upon whom I relied, was killed; when all my men were weary and discouraged; it was then you had the heart to relieve me of Vasile! Have you, then, no humane192 sentiments? Would it not have been a hundred times better to have paid your ransom honestly, as became a good prisoner, than to have it said you sacrificed a life for 15,000 francs?”
“Eh! Zounds! You have killed people, and for less!”
He replied with dignity: “That is my business; it is not yours. I am a brigand19, and you are a doctor. I am Greek, and you are German.”
To that, I had nothing to reply. I felt convinced from the trembling of every fiber193 of my heart, that I had neither been born nor brought up to the profession of killing men. The King, angry at my silence, raised his voice, and said:
“Do you know, miserable194 young man, who was the excellent man of whose death you are guilty? He was a descendant of those heroic brigands of Souli who fought fierce battles for their religion, and against Ali de Tebelen, Pasha of Janina. For four generations, all of his ancestors have either been hung or decapitated; not one has died in his bed. Only six years ago, his own brother perished in Epirus, having been condemned to death; he had killed a Mohammedan. Devotion and courage are hereditary196 in that family. Never did Vasile forget his religious duties. He gave to the churches; he gave to the poor. At Easter, he always lighted a larger taper197 than any one else. He would have killed himself rather than violate the law of abstinence, or eat meat on a fast-day. He economized198 in order to retire to a convent on Mount Athos. Did you know it?”
I humbly confessed that I did know it.
“Do you know that he was the most steadfast199 of all my band? I do not wish to detract from the personal merit of those who are listening to me, but Vasile possessed a blind devotion, a fearless obedience200, a true zeal201 under all circumstances. No labor202 was too great for his courage; no occupation too repugnant for his fidelity203. He would have killed every one in the kingdom if I had ordered him to do so. He would have torn out his best friend’s eye, if I had given him a sign with my little finger. And you have killed him! Poor Vasile! when I shall have a village to burn, a miser195 to torture, a woman to cut in pieces, an infant to burn alive, who will replace thee?”
All the brigands, electrified204 by this funeral oration205, cried in one voice. “We! We!” Some held out their arms to the King, others unsheathed their daggers206; the most zealous207 leveled their pistols at me. Hadgi-Stavros checked their enthusiasm: he stepped in front of me to shield me, and went on with his discourse208 in these words:
“Be consoled, Vasile, thou shalt not rest without vengeance. If I listened only to my grief, I would offer to thy manes thy murderer’s head; but it is worth 15,000 francs, and that thought restrains me. Thou, thyself, if thou couldst speak, as formerly209 in our councils, thou wouldst beg me to spare him; thou wouldst refuse so costly210 a vengeance. It is not proper, in the circumstances in which thy death has left us, to do foolish things, and to throw money away.”
He stopped a moment; I drew a deep breath.
“But,” the King went on, “I will know how to reconcile interest with justice. I will chastise211 the guilty one without risking the capital. His punishment shall be the most beautiful ornament212 of funeral obsequies; and, from above, from the homes of the Palikars, to which thy spirit has gone, thou shalt contemplate213, with joy, an expiatory214 punishment, which shall not cost us a sou!”
This peroration215 aroused the audience. I was the only one not charmed. I puzzled my brain trying to imagine what the King had in store for me, and I felt so little assured, that my teeth chattered216. Surely, I ought to esteem myself happy to save my life, and the preservation217 of my head seemed no mean advantage; but I knew the inventive imagination of these Greeks of the highway. Hadgi-Stavros, without putting me to death, could inflict218 such chastisement219 as would make me hate life. The old rascal refused to inform me as to what punishment he had in store for me. He pitied my agony so little, that he compelled me to assist in the funeral ceremonies of his lieutenant220.
The body was stripped of its garments, carried to the brook, and bathed. Vasile’s features were changed but little; his mouth, half-open, still bore the silly smile of the drunkard; his open eyes preserved a stupid look. His limbs had not lost their suppleness221; the rigor222 mortis does not come, for a long time, to those who die by accident.
The King’s coffee-bearer and pipe-bearer proceeded to dress the dead. The King bore the expenses as heir. Vasile had no relatives, and all his property reverted223 to the King. They clothed the body in a fine shirt, a shirt of beautiful percale, and a vest embroidered224 with silver. They covered his wet locks with a bonnet225 which was nearly new. They put leggins of red silk on the legs which would never run again. Slippers226 of Russia leather were slipped on his feet. In all his life, poor Vasile had never been so clean nor so gorgeous. They touched his lips with carmine227; they whitened and rouged228 his face as if he was a young actor about to step on the stage. During the whole operation, the bandit orchestra executed a lugubrious229 air, which you must have heard in the streets of Athens. I congratulate myself that I did not die in Greece, because the music is abominable230, and I never could have consoled myself, if I had been buried to that air.
Four brigands began to dig a grave in the middle of the chamber, upon the place where Mrs. Simons’ tent stood, and on the spot where Mary-Ann had slept. Two others ran to the store-house to find wax-tapers, which they distributed. I was given one with all the others. The monk intoned the service for the dead. Hadgi-Stavros made the responses in firm tones which went to the depths of my soul. There was a light breeze, and the wax from my taper fell upon my hand in a burning shower; but that, alas! was a small thing in comparison with what awaited me. I would have willingly endured that trouble, if the ceremony could never have been finished.
It was finished at last. When the last oration had been delivered, the King solemnly approached the bier on which the body lay, and kissed Vasile’s lips. The bandits, one by one, followed his example. I shivered at the thought that my turn was coming. I tried to hide behind two who had already performed their duty, but they saw me and said: “It is your turn! Start then! You certainly owe him that!”
Was this, at last, the expiation231 which awaited me? A just man would have been satisfied, at least. I swear to you, Monsieur, that it is no child’s play to kiss the lips of a corpse, above all, when one can reproach one’s self with being the instrument of his death. I walked toward the bier, I looked at the face whose eyes seemed to laugh at my embarrassment232. I bent my head, I slightly touched the lips. A humorous brigand applied233 his hand to the nape of my neck. My mouth struck the cold lips! I felt the icy teeth, and seized with horror, I raised my head, carrying away with me I know not what terror of death, which seizes me at this moment! Women are very fortunate, they have the resource of fainting!
They then lowered the body into the earth, they threw in a handful of flowers, a loaf of bread, an apple, and a little wine. This latter was the thing of which he had the least need. The grave was quickly filled, more quickly than I wished. A brigand observed that they must get two sticks for a cross. Hadgi-Stavros replied: “Be quiet! we will put up milord’s sticks.” I leave it to you to think whether my heart beat tumultuously. What sticks? What was there in common between sticks and me?
The King made a sign to his pipe-bearer, who ran to the office and came back with two long laurel poles. Hadgi-Stavros took the funeral bier and laid it upon the grave. He pressed it down hard into the freshly turned earth, and he raised it up at one end, while the other lay in the soil, and he smilingly said to me: “It is for you that I am working! Take off your shoes, if you please!”
He must have read in my eyes a question full of agony and terror, for he replied to the demand which I dared not address to him:
“I am not wicked, and I have always detested234 useless severity. That is why I wish to inflict on you a chastisement which will be of use to us, inasmuch as it will dispense2 with any future watchfulness over you. You have had for several days a craze to escape. I hope, that when you have received twenty blows of the stick upon the soles of your feet, you will no longer need to be watched, and your love for traveling will cease for some time. I know what the punishment is; the Turks treated me to a dose of it in my youth, and I know, by experience, that one does not die of it. One suffers much from it; you will cry out, I warn you of it. Vasile will hear from the depths of his tomb, and he will be pleased with us.”
At this announcement, my first thought was to use my legs while I still had the freedom to do so. But you must believe that my will was very weak, for it was impossible to put one foot before the other. Hadgi-Stavros raised me from the ground as lightly as we pick up an insect in our path. I felt myself bound down and unshod, before a thought, leaving my brain, had time to act upon any of my members. I knew neither upon what they supported my feet, nor how they kept them from falling at the first stroke of the stick. I saw the two sticks lifted in the air, the one to the right, the other to the left; I closed my eyes and waited. I certainly did not wait the tenth part of a second, and yet, so short a time was sufficient to send a tender thought to my father, a kiss to Mary-Ann, and more than a hundred imprecations to be divided between Mrs. Simons and John Harris.
I did not become unconscious for an instant; it is a weakness which I never possessed, I have told you so. There was, also, nothing to lose. The first blow was so terrific that I believed that those which followed could amount to little. It took me in the middle of the soles, under that small, elastic235 arch, just in front of the heel, which supports the body. It was not the foot that hurt me most that time; but I believed that the bones of my poor legs were breaking in pieces. The second blow struck lower, just under the heels; it gave me a shock, profound, violent, which made my whole vertebral column quiver, and filled my brain with a frightful tumult that almost split my cranium. The third was given directly on the toes and produced an acute and stinging sensation, which shot all over my body and made me believe, for an instant, that the stick had hit me on the end of the nose. It was at this moment that the blood flowed for the first time. The blows succeeded each other in the same order and in the same places, at equal intervals236. I had enough courage to keep silent during the first two; I cried out at the third; I howled at the fourth; I groaned at the fifth, and those which followed. At the tenth, the flesh itself could suffer no more; I was silent. But the prostration237 of my physical force diminished, in no wise, the clearness of my perceptions. I could not have raised my eyelids238, and yet the lightest sounds reached my ears. I lost no word of what was said around me. It was an observation which I shall remember later, if I practice medicine. Doctors do not hesitate to condemn84 a sick man, four feet from his bed, without thinking that perhaps the poor devil can hear them. I heard a young brigand say to the King: “He is dead. What good to weary two men without profit to any one?” Hadgi-Stavros replied: “Fear nothing. I received sixty, one after another, and two days afterward I danced the Romanique.”
“How didst thou do that?”
“I used the pomade of the Italian renegade, Ludgi-Bey—Where were we? How many blows?”
“Seventeen.”
“Three more, my children; and lay on the last ones hard.”
The stick had done its work well. The last blows fell upon a bloody but insentient mass of flesh. Pain had nearly paralyzed me!
They raised me from the stretcher; they unbound the cords; they swathed my feet with compresses dipped in fresh water, and, as I had the thirst of the wounded, they gave me a large cup of wine. Anger returned with my strength. I do not know whether you have ever been bastinadoed, but I know nothing more humiliating than physical chastisement. In order to become the sovereign of the whole world, I would not, for an instant, be the slave of a vile239 stick. Born in the nineteenth century, understanding the use of steam and electricity, possessing a good share of the secrets of nature, knowing thoroughly240 all that science has invented for the well-being241 and security of man, knowing also how to cure fevers, how to prevent taking small-pox, and then, not to be able to defend one’s self against a blow from a stick. It is a little too much, surely! If I had been a soldier and had submitted to corporal punishment, I should certainly have killed my chiefs!
When I felt myself seated on the slimy ground, my feet paralyzed with pain, my hand useless; when I saw around me the men who had beaten me, the ones who had struck me and those who had seen me punished; anger, shame, a feeling of outraged242 dignity, of justice violated, of intelligence brutalized, swept through my enfeebled body in a wave of hate, of revolt, and of vengeance. I forgot everything, prudence169, interest, discretion245, the future, and I gave free vent110 to the thoughts which stifled246 me; a torrent of abuse poured from my lips, while an overflow247 of bile mounted to my eyes. Surely, I am no orator248, and my solitary249 studies have given me no exercise in the use of words, but indignation, which has made some poets, lent me, for a quarter of an hour, the savage eloquence250 of those prisoners who rendered up their souls with insults and who breathed their last sighs in the face of the Roman conquerors251. Everything which can outrage243 a man in his pride, in his affections, and in his dearest sentiments I said to the King of the Mountains. I put him in the rank with unclean animals, and I denied him even the name of man. I insulted him through his mother, his wife, his daughter, and all of his posterity252. I would like to repeat to you, verbatim, all that I made him listen to, but words are wanting to-day, as I am not angry. I invented terms which are not found in the dictionary, but which were understood, however, for the audience of outcasts howled under my words like a pack of hounds under the lash103 of whippers-in. But although I kept watch of the old Palikar, eagerly scanning the muscles of his face, and searching for the slightest trace of a frown, I could discern not the slightest sign of emotion. Hadgi-Stavros’ face was like that of a marble statue. He replied to all insults with a contemptuous silence. His attitude exasperated253 me to madness. I was certainly insane for a moment. A red cloud like blood passed before my eyes. I rose suddenly on my wounded feet. I saw a pistol thrust in the waist-band of one of the brigands, I pulled it out, I aimed it at the King, I drew the trigger, and fell back murmuring, “I am avenged!”
It was the King himself who raised me. I looked at him with an astonishment254 as great as if I had seen him walking out of hell. He seemed not at all moved, and smiled as tranquilly255 as an immortal256. And moreover, Monsieur, I had not missed him. My ball had touched his forehead, a little above the left eyebrow257; a trace of blood testified to it. Possibly the pistol was badly loaded, or the powder poor, or it may be, that the ball had glanced across the bone, but whatever it was, my bullet had made only an abrasion258.
The invulnerable monster seated me carefully on the ground, leaned toward me, pulled my ear and said: “Why do you attempt the impossible, young man? I warned you that I had a head that was bullet-proof, and you know that I never lie. Were you not told that Ibrahim had seven Egyptians shoot at me and that he was unsuccessful? I hope that you do not pretend to be more powerful than seven Egyptians? But do you know that you have a nimble hand for a Northern man? Peste! if my mother, of whom you spoke lightly a few moments ago, had not endowed me with strength, I would now be a dead man. Another, in my place, would have died without having time to say, ‘Thank you!’ As for me, such things rejuvenate259 me. It recalls my best days. At your age, I exposed my life four times a day, and I only digested the better for it. Come, I will pardon you your hasty action. But as all my subjects are not proof against bullets, and that you may commit no new imprudence, I shall apply to your hands the same treatment as your feet received. Nothing prevents us from punishing you immediately; I will wait, however, until to-morrow, in the interests of your health. You see the stick is a blunt weapon which kills no one; you have yourself proved that one bastinadoed man is worth two. To-morrow’s ceremony will occupy you. Prisoners do not know how to pass the time. It was idleness which gave you bad counsels. Rest easy, moreover; as soon as your ransom arrives, I will cure your wounds. I still have some of Ludgi-Bey’s balm. There will be no signs of them at the end of two days, and you can dance at the ball at the Palace, without telling your partners that they are leaning on the arm of a cavalier who has been beaten.”
I am not a Greek, and the insults wounded me as grievously as the blows. I shook my fist in the old rascal’s face, and cried out with all my strength:
“No, wretch! my ransom will never be paid! No! I have not asked anyone for the money! Thou wilt260 get from me only my head, which will serve thee nothing. Take it quickly if it seems good to thee. It will do me a favor and thyself also. Thou wilt spare me two weeks of torture, and the disgust of looking at thee, which is the most of all. Thou wilt save my board for fifteen days. Do not miss it, it is the only benefit that thou wilt reap from me!”
He smiled, shrugged his shoulders, and replied: “Ta! ta! ta! ta! Thus it is with young people! Extremists in everything! They throw the helve after the hatchet261. If I listened to you, I would regret it before eight hours had passed, and so would you. The Englishwomen will pay, I am sure of it. I know women yet, although I have lived in retirement262 for a long time. What would be said if I killed you to-day, and your ransom arrived to-morrow? The story would go out that I had broken my word, and my prisoners would allow themselves to be killed like sheep, without asking a centime of their parents. It would spoil the trade.”
“Ah! thou believest that the Englishwomen will pay thee, my clever fellow? Yes, they will pay thee as thou meritest!”
“You are very good.”
“Their ransom will cost thee 80,000 francs, dost thou hear? Eighty thousand francs out of thy pocket!”
“Do not say such things. One would think that the blows of the stick had turned your brain.”
“I tell thee the truth. Dost thou recall the name of thy prisoners?”
“No, but I have it in writing.”
“I will jog thy memory. The lady called herself Mrs. Simons.”
“Well!”
“Partner of the firm of Barley263 in London.”
“My banker?”
“Precisely.”
“How doest thou know my banker’s name?”
“Because thou didst dictate264 before me.”
“What matter, after all? They cannot escape; they are not Greeks, they are English; the courts—I will make complaint!”
“And thou wouldst lose. They have a receipt!”
“That is so. But by what mischance did I give them a receipt?”
“Because I advised thee to do it, poor man!”
“Wretch! dog wrongly baptized! heretic of hell! thou hast ruined me! thou hast betrayed me! Thou hast robbed me! eighty thousand francs! I am responsible! If they were the bankers of the company, I would lose only my share. But they hold only my capital; I shall lose it all. Art thou very sure that she is a partner of the firm of Barley?”
“As I am sure of dying to-day.”
“No! thou shalt not die till to-morrow. Thou hast not suffered enough. We will make thee pay for those 80,000 francs. What punishment can we invent? Eighty thousand francs! Eighty thousand deaths would be little. What have I done to this traitor who has robbed me! Peuh! Child’s play, a pleasantry! He has not howled two hours! I must invent something better. But may be there are two firms of the same name?”
“Cavendish Square, No. 31.”
“Yes, it is the same. Fool! why didst thou not warn me instead of betraying me? I would have asked double the sum. They would have paid it; they have the means. I would not have given the receipt; I will never give another. No! no! it is the last time! Received a hundred thousand francs of Mrs. Simons! What a foolish sentence! Was it really I who dictated265 that? But I reflect now; I did not sign it. Yes, but my seal is equal to a signature! There are twenty letters in my name. Why didst thou demand this receipt? What do you expect from those ladies? Fifteen thousand francs for thy ransom? Selfishness, everywhere! Thou shouldst have confided266 in me; I would have let thee go without the ransom; I would even have paid thee. If thou art poor, as thou sayest thou art, thou shouldst know how good money is. Thou thinkest only of a sum of 80,000 francs? Dost thou know what a heap that would make in a room? How many pieces of gold? How much money one could make in business with 80,000 francs? It is a calamity267! Thou hast robbed me of a fortune! Thou hast robbed my daughter, the only being I love in the world. It is for her that I work. But, if thou knowest my affairs, thou knowest that I scour191 the mountains for a whole year to gain 40,000 francs. Thou hast plundered268 me of two years’ income; it is as if I had slept for two years!”
I had then found the tender chord. The old Palikar was touched to the heart. I knew that there was a heavy score against me, and I expected no mercy, and moreover, I experienced an intense joy in seeing that impassable mask torn asunder269 and that stony270 face wrung271 with emotion. I rejoiced to see in his wrinkled face, the convulsive movements of passion, as the ship-wrecked boat lost in a raging sea, admires, afar off, the wave which is to engulf272 it. I was like the thinking reed, which the brutal244 universe crushes into a shapeless mass, and which consoles itself in dying with the lofty thought of its superiority. I said to myself, with pride: “I shall die by torture, but I am the master of my master, and the executioner of my execution!”
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1
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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dispense
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| vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施 | |
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dispensed
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| v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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ransom
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| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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tithe
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| n.十分之一税；v.课什一税，缴什一税 | |
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orphans
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| 孤儿( orphan的名词复数 ) | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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deficit
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| n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差 | |
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knave
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| n.流氓；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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mallet
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| n.槌棒 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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brigandage
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| n.抢劫；盗窃；土匪；强盗 | |
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brigand
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| n.土匪，强盗 | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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disinterestedness
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exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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27
vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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28
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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29
degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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renounced
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| v.声明放弃( renounce的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布放弃；宣布与…决裂；宣布摒弃 | |
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31
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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32
abdicate
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| v.让位，辞职，放弃 | |
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33
brigands
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| n.土匪，强盗( brigand的名词复数 ) | |
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34
battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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35
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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36
repulsed
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| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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37
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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38
gendarmes
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| n.宪兵，警官( gendarme的名词复数 ) | |
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39
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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40
shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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41
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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42
reigns
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| n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期 | |
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43
lithograph
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| n.平板印刷，平板画；v.用平版印刷 | |
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44
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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45
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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46
perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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47
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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48
deranged
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| adj.疯狂的 | |
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49
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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50
surgical
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| adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的 | |
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51
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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52
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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53
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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54
lobster
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| n.龙虾，龙虾肉 | |
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55
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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56
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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57
invalids
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| 病人，残疾者( invalid的名词复数 ) | |
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58
bruises
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| n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 ) | |
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59
retarded
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| a.智力迟钝的，智力发育迟缓的 | |
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60
constraint
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| n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物 | |
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61
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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62
ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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63
overload
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| vt.使超载；n.超载 | |
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64
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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65
feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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66
botanist
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| n.植物学家 | |
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67
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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68
rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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69
incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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70
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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71
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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72
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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73
declivity
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| n.下坡，倾斜面 | |
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74
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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75
supple
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|
| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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76
detonations
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| n.爆炸 （声）( detonation的名词复数 ) | |
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77
cuff
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| n.袖口；手铐；护腕；vt.用手铐铐；上袖口 | |
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78
fettered
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| v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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79
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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80
offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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81
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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82
wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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83
condemned
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|
| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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84
condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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85
overtures
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| n.主动的表示，提议；（向某人做出的）友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 )；（歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的）序曲，前奏曲 | |
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86
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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87
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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88
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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89
scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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90
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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91
treacherously
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| 背信弃义地； 背叛地； 靠不住地； 危险地 | |
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92
repulsing
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| v.击退( repulse的现在分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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93
repelling
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| v.击退( repel的现在分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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94
vigilant
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|
| adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的 | |
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95
cascade
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| n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下 | |
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96
maternal
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|
| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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97
solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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98
watchful
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|
| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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99
dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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100
recoil
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| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
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101
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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102
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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103
lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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104
intoxicate
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| vt.使喝醉，使陶醉，使欣喜若狂 | |
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105
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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106
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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107
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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108
lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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109
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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110
vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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111
savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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112
monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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113
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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114
pendulum
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| n.摆，钟摆 | |
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115
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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116
cannons
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| n.加农炮，大炮，火炮( cannon的名词复数 ) | |
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117
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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118
resinous
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| adj.树脂的，树脂质的，树脂制的 | |
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119
mumbled
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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120
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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121
dike
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| n.堤，沟；v.开沟排水 | |
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122
novice
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| adj.新手的，生手的 | |
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123
brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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124
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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125
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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126
puddle
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| n.(雨)水坑，泥潭 | |
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127
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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128
entirely
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|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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129
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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130
projection
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| n.发射，计划，突出部分 | |
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131
harp
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| n.竖琴；天琴座 | |
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132
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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133
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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134
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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135
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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136
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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137
reassured
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|
| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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138
scented
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|
| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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139
detest
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| vt.痛恨，憎恶 | |
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140
irrational
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| adj.无理性的，失去理性的 | |
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141
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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142
devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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143
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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144
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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145
odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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146
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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147
growls
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的第三人称单数 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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148
regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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149
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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150
surfeit
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| v.使饮食过度；n.(食物)过量，过度 | |
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151
pebble
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| n.卵石，小圆石 | |
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152
arsenic
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| n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的 | |
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153
morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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154
diluted
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| 无力的，冲淡的 | |
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155
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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156
foamed
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| 泡沫的 | |
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157
nausea
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| n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶) | |
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158
vanquishing
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| v.征服( vanquish的现在分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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159
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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160
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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161
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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162
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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163
congealed
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| v.使凝结，冻结( congeal的过去式和过去分词 )；（指血）凝结 | |
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164
straps
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| n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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165
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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166
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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167
avenged
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| v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 )；为…报复 | |
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168
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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169
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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170
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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171
reprobates
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| n.道德败坏的人，恶棍( reprobate的名词复数 ) | |
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172
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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173
receded
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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174
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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175
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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176
tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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177
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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178
cerebral
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| adj.脑的，大脑的；有智力的，理智型的 | |
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179
congestion
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| n.阻塞，消化不良 | |
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180
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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181
augury
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| n.预言，征兆，占卦 | |
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182
recoiled
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| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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183
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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184
intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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185
watchfulness
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| 警惕，留心； 警觉（性） | |
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186
hindrance
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| n.妨碍，障碍 | |
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187
assassinating
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| v.暗杀( assassinate的现在分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏 | |
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188
culpable
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| adj.有罪的，该受谴责的 | |
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189
avarice
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| n.贪婪；贪心 | |
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190
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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191
scour
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| v.搜索；擦，洗，腹泻，冲刷 | |
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192
humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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193
fiber
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| n.纤维，纤维质 | |
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194
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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195
miser
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| n.守财奴，吝啬鬼 (adj.miserly) | |
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196
hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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197
taper
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| n.小蜡烛，尖细，渐弱；adj.尖细的；v.逐渐变小 | |
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198
economized
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| v.节省，减少开支( economize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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199
steadfast
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| adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的 | |
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200
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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201
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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202
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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203
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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204
electrified
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| v.使电气化( electrify的过去式和过去分词 )；使兴奋 | |
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205
oration
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| n.演说，致辞，叙述法 | |
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206
daggers
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| 匕首，短剑( dagger的名词复数 ) | |
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207
zealous
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| adj.狂热的，热心的 | |
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208
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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209
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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210
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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211
chastise
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| vt.责骂，严惩 | |
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212
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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213
contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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214
expiatory
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| adj.赎罪的，补偿的 | |
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215
peroration
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| n.（演说等之）结论 | |
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216
chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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217
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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218
inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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219
chastisement
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| n.惩罚 | |
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220
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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221
suppleness
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| 柔软； 灵活； 易弯曲； 顺从 | |
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222
rigor
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| n.严酷，严格，严厉 | |
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223
reverted
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| 恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还 | |
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224
embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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225
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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226
slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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227
carmine
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| n.深红色，洋红色 | |
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228
rouged
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| 胭脂，口红( rouge的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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229
lugubrious
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| adj.悲哀的，忧郁的 | |
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230
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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231
expiation
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| n.赎罪，补偿 | |
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232
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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233
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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234
detested
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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235
elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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236
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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237
prostration
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| n. 平伏, 跪倒, 疲劳 | |
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238
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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239
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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240
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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241
well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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242
outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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243
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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244
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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245
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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246
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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247
overflow
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| v.(使)外溢，(使)溢出；溢出，流出，漫出 | |
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248
orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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249
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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250
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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251
conquerors
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| 征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
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252
posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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253
exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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254
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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255
tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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256
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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257
eyebrow
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| n.眉毛，眉 | |
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258
abrasion
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| n.磨（擦）破，表面磨损 | |
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259
rejuvenate
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| v.(使)返老还童；(使)恢复活力 | |
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260
wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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261
hatchet
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| n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀 | |
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262
retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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263
barley
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| n.大麦，大麦粒 | |
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264
dictate
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| v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令 | |
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265
dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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266
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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267
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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268
plundered
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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269
asunder
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| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
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270
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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271
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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272
engulf
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| vt.吞没，吞食 | |
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