His wrists were lashed6 over his head to a peg7 driven deeply into the ground; his ankles were bound to another. He could turn his head from side to side, but any further movement was impossible. He ate only bits of food dropped into his mouth by a dirty-fingered slave, a cowed hunter captured from a tribe overwhelmed in the migration8 of the horsemen.
"Ho—taker of axes!" A toe jarred into his ribs9, and Ross bit back the grunt10 of pain which answered that rude bid for his attention. He saw in the dim light Ennar's face and was savagely11 glad to note the discolorations about the right eye and along the jaw12 line, the signatures left by his own skinned knuckles13.
"Ho—warrior!" Ross returned hoarsely14, trying to lade that title with all the scorn he could summon.
Ennar's hand, holding a knife, swung into his limited range of vision. "To clip a sharp tongue is a good thing!" The young tribesman grinned as he knelt down beside the helpless prisoner.
Ross knew a thrill of fear worse than any pain. Ennar might be about to do just what he hinted! Instead, the knife swung up and Ross felt the sawing at the cords about his wrists, enduring the pain in the raw gouges15 they had cut in his flesh with gratitude16 that it was not mutilation which had brought Ennar to him. He knew that his arms were free, but to draw them down from over his head was almost more than he could do, and he lay quiet as Ennar loosed his feet.
"Up!"
Without Ennar's hands pulling at him, Ross could not have reached his feet. Nor did he stay erect17 once he had been raised, crashing forward on his face as the other let him go, hot anger eating at him because of his own helplessness.
In the end, Ennar summoned two slaves who dragged Ross into the open where a council assembled about a fire. A debate was in progress, sometimes so heated that the speakers fingered their knife or ax hilts when they shouted their arguments. Ross could not understand their language, but he was certain that he was the subject under discussion and that Foscar had the deciding vote and had not yet given the nod to either side.
Ross sat where the slaves had dumped him, rubbing his smarting wrists, so deathly weary in mind and beaten in body that he was not really interested in the fate they were planning for him. He was content merely to be free of his bonds, a small favor, but one he savored18 dully.
He did not know how long the debate lasted, but at length Ennar came to stand over him with a message. "Your chief—he give many good things for you. Foscar take you to him."
"My chief is not here," Ross repeated wearily, making a protest he knew they would not heed19. "My chief sits by the bitter water and waits. He will be angry if I do not come. Let Foscar fear his anger——"
Ennar laughed. "You run from your chief. He will be happy with Foscar when you lie again under his hand. You will not like that—I think it so!"
"I think so, too," Ross agreed silently.
He spent the rest of that night lying between the watchful20 Ennar and another guard, though they had the humanity not to bind21 him again. In the morning he was allowed to feed himself, and he fished chunks22 of venison out of a stew23 with his unwashed fingers. But in spite of the messiness, it was the best food he had eaten in days.
The trip, however, was not to be a comfortable one. He was mounted on one of the shaggy horses, a rope run under the animal's belly24 to loop one foot to the other. Fortunately, his hands were bound so he was able to grasp the coarse, wiry mane and keep his seat after a fashion. The nose rope of his mount was passed to Tulka, and Ennar rode beside him with only half an eye for the path of his own horse and the balance of his attention for the prisoner.
They headed northeast, with the mountains as a sharp green-and-white goal against the morning sky. Though Ross's sense of direction was not too acute, he was certain that they were making for the general vicinity of the hidden village, which he believed the ship people had destroyed. He tried to discover something of the nature of the contact which had been made between the aliens and the horsemen.
"How find other chief?" he asked Ennar.
The young man tossed one of his braids back across his shoulder and turned his head to face Ross squarely. "Your chief come our camp. Talk with Foscar—two—four sleeps ago."
"How talk with Foscar? With hunter talk?"
For the first time Ennar did not appear altogether certain. He scowled25 and then snapped, "He talk—Foscar, us. We hear right words—not woods creeper talk. He speak to us good."
Ross was puzzled. How could the alien out of time speak the proper language of a primitive26 tribe some thousands of years removed from his own era? Were the ship people also familiar with time travel? Did they have their own stations of transfer? Yet their fury with the Reds had been hot. This was a complete mystery.
"This chief—he look like me?"
Again Ennar appeared at a loss. "He wear covering like you."
"But was he like me?" persisted Ross. He didn't know what he was trying to learn, only that it seemed important at that moment to press home to at least one of the tribesmen that he was different from the man who had put a price on his head and to whom he was to be sold.
"Not like!" Tulka spoke27 over his shoulder. "You look like hunter people—hair, eyes—Strange chief no hair on head, eyes not like——"
"You saw him too?" Ross demanded eagerly.
"I saw. I ride to camp—they come so. Stand on rock, call to Foscar. Make magic with fire—it jump up!" He pointed28 his arm stiffly at a bush before them on the trail. "They point little, little spear—fire come out of the ground and burn. They say burn our camp if we do not give them man. We say—not have man. Then they say many good things for us if we find and bring man——"
"But they are not my people," Ross cut in. "You see, I have hair, I am not like them. They are bad——"
"You may be taken in war by them—chief's slave." Ennar had a reply to that which was logical according to the customs of his own tribe. "They want slave back—it is so."
"My people strong too, much magic," Ross pushed. "Take me to bitter water and they pay much—more than stranger chief!"
Both tribesmen were amused. "Where bitter water?" asked Tulka.
Ross jerked his head to the west. "Some sleeps away——"
"Some sleeps!" repeated Ennar jeeringly31. "We ride some sleeps, maybe many sleeps where we know not the trails—maybe no people there, maybe no bitter water—all things you say with split tongue so that we not give you back to master. We go this way not even one sleep—find chief, get good things. Why we do hard thing when we can do easy?"
What argument could Ross offer in rebuttal to the simple logic30 of his captors? For a moment he raged inwardly at his own helplessness. But long ago he had learned that giving away to hot fury was no good unless one did it deliberately32 to impress, and then only when one had the upper hand. Now Ross had no hand at all.
For the most part they kept to the open, whereas Ross and the other two agents had skulked33 in wooded areas on their flight through this same territory. So they approached the mountains from a different angle, and though he tried, Ross could pick out no familiar landmarks34. If by some miracle he was able to free himself from his captors, he could only head due west and hope to strike the river.
At midday their party made camp in a grove35 of trees by a spring. The weather was as unseasonably warm as it had been the day before, and flies, brought out of cold-weather hiding, attacked the stamping horses and crawled over Ross. He tried to keep them off with swings of his bound hands, for their bites drew blood.
Having been tumbled from his mount, he remained fastened to a tree with a noose36 about his neck while the horsemen built a fire and broiled37 strips of deer meat.
It would seem that Foscar was in no hurry to get on, since after they had eaten, the men continued to lounge at ease, some even dropping off to sleep. When Ross counted faces he learned that Tulka and another had both disappeared, possibly to contact and warn the aliens they were coming.
It was midafternoon before the scouts38 reappeared, as unobtrusively as they had gone. They went before Foscar with a report which brought the chief over to Ross. "We go. Your chief waits—"
Ross raised his swollen39, bitten face and made his usual protest. "Not my chief!"
Foscar shrugged40. "He say so. He give good things to get you back under his hand. So—he your chief!"
Once again Ross was boosted on his mount, and bound. But this time the party split into two groups as they rode off. He was with Ennar again, just behind Foscar, with two other guards bringing up the rear. The rest of the men, leading their mounts, melted into the trees. Ross watched that quiet withdrawal41 speculatively42. It argued that Foscar did not trust those he was about to do business with, that he was taking certain precautions of his own. Only Ross could not see how that distrust, which might be only ordinary prudence43 on Foscar's part, could in any way be an advantage for him.
They rode at a pace hardly above a walk into a small open meadow narrowing at the east. Then for the first time Ross was able to place himself. They were at the entrance to the valley of the village, about a mile away from the narrow throat above which Ross had lain to spy and had been captured, for he had come from the north over the spurs of rising ridges44.
Ross's horse was pulled up as Foscar drove his heel into the ribs of his own mount, sending it at a brisker pace toward the neck of the valley. There was a blot45 of blue there—more than one of the aliens were waiting. Ross caught his lip between his teeth and bit down on it hard. He had stood up to the Reds, to Foscar's tribesmen, but he shrank from meeting those strangers with an odd fear that the worst the men of his own species could do would be but a pale shadow to the treatment he might meet at their hands.
Foscar was now a toy man astride a toy horse. He halted his galloping47 mount to sit facing the handful of strangers. Ross counted four of them. They seemed to be talking, though there was still a good distance separating the mounted man and the blue suits.
Minutes passed before Foscar's arm raised in a wave to summon the party guarding Ross. Ennar kicked his horse to a trot48, towing Ross's mount behind, the other two men thudding along more discreetly49. Ross noted50 that they were both armed with spears which they carried to the fore29 as they rode.
They were perhaps three quarters of the way to join Foscar, and Ross could see plainly the bald heads of the aliens as their faces turned in his direction. Then the strangers struck. One of them raised a weapon shaped similarly to the automatic Ross knew, except that it was longer in the barrel.
Ross did not know why he cried out, except that Foscar had only an ax and dagger51 which were both still sheathed52 at his belt. The chief sat very still, and then his horse gave a swift sidewise swerve53 as if in fright. Foscar collapsed54, limp, bonelessly, to the trodden turf, to lie unmoving face down.
Ennar whooped55, a cry combining defiance56 and despair in one. He reined57 up with violence enough to set his horse rearing. Then, dropping his hold on the leading rope of Ross's mount, he whirled and set off in a wild dash for the trees to the left. A spear lanced across Ross's shoulder, ripping at the blue fabric58, but his horse whirled to follow the other, taking him out of danger of a second thrust. Having lost his opportunity, the man who had wielded59 the spear dashed by at Ennar's back.
Ross clung to the mane with both hands. His greatest fear was that he might slip from the saddle pad and since he was tied by his feet, lie unprotected and helpless under those dashing hoofs60. Somehow he managed to cling to the horse's neck, his face lashed by the rough mane while the animal pounded on. Had Ross been able to grasp the dangling61 nose rope, he might have had a faint chance of controlling that run, but as it was he could only hold fast and hope.
He had only broken glimpses of what lay ahead. Then a brilliant fire, as vivid as the flames which had eaten up the Red village, burst from the ground a few yards ahead, sending the horse wild. There was more fire and the horse changed course through the rising smoke. Ross realized that the aliens were trying to cut him off from the thin safety of the woodlands. Why they didn't just shoot him as they had Foscar he could not understand.
The smoke of the burning grass was thick, cutting between him and the woods. Might it also provide a curtain behind which he could hope to escape both parties? The fire was sending the horse back toward the waiting ship people. Ross could hear a confused shouting in the smoke. Then his mount made a miscalculation, and a tongue of red licked too close. The animal screamed, dashing on blindly straight between two of the blazes and away from the blue-clad men.
Ross coughed, almost choking, his eyes watering as the stench of singed62 hair thickened the smoke. But he had been carried out of the fire circle and was shooting back into the meadowland. Mount and unwilling63 rider were well away from the upper end of that cleared space when another horse cut in from the left, matching speed to the uncontrolled animal to which Ross clung. It was one of the tribesmen riding easily.
The trick worked, for the wild race slowed to a gallop46 and the other rider, in a feat64 of horsemanship at which Ross marveled, leaned from his seat to catch the dangling nose rope, bringing the runaway65 against his own steady steed. Ross shaken, still coughing from the smoke and unable to sit upright, held to the mane. The gallop slowed to a rocking pace and finally came to a halt, both horses blowing, white-foam patches on their chests and their riders' legs.
Having made his capture, the tribesman seemed indifferent to Ross, looking back instead at the wide curtain of grass smoke, frowning as he studied the swift spread of the fire. Muttering to himself, he pulled the lead rope and brought Ross's horse to follow in the direction from which Ennar had brought the captive less than a half hour earlier.
Ross tried to think. The unexpected death of their chief might well mean his own, should the tribe's desire for vengeance66 now be aroused. On the other hand, there was a faint chance that he could now better impress them with the thought that he was indeed of another clan67 and that to aid him would be to work against a common enemy.
But it was hard to plan clearly, though wits alone could save him now. The parley68 which had ended with Foscar's murder had brought Ross a small measure of time. He was still a captive, even though of the tribesmen and not the unearthly strangers. Perhaps to the ship people these primitives69 were hardly higher in scale than the forest animals.
Ross did not try to talk to his present guard, who towed him into the western sun of late afternoon. They halted at last in that same small grove where they had rested at noon. The tribesman fastened the mounts and then walked around to inspect the animal Ross had ridden. With a grunt he loosened the prisoner and spilled him unceremoniously on the ground while he examined the horse. Ross levered himself up to sight the mark of the burn across that roan hide where the fire had blistered70 the skin.
Thick handfuls of mud from the side of the spring were brought and plastered over the seared strip. Then, having rubbed down both animals with twists of grass, the man came over to Ross, pushed him back to the ground, and studied his left leg.
Ross understood. By rights, his thigh71 should also have been scorched72 where the flame had hit, yet he had felt no pain. Now as the tribesman examined him for a burn, he could not see even the faintest discoloration of the strange fabric. He remembered how the aliens had strolled unconcerned through the burning village. As the suit had insulated him against the cold of the ice, so it would seem that it had also protected him against the fire, for which he was duly thankful. His escape from injury was a puzzle to the tribesman, who, failing to find any trace of burn on him, left Ross alone and went to sit well away from his prisoner as if he feared him.
They did not have long to wait. One by one, those who had ridden in Foscar's company gathered at the grove. The very last to come were Ennar and Tulka, carrying the body of their chief. The faces of both men were smeared73 with dust and when the others sighted the body they, too, rubbed dust into their cheeks, reciting a string of words and going one by one to touch the dead chieftain's right hand.
Ennar, resigning his burden to the others, slid from his tired horse and stood for a long moment, his head bowed. Then he gazed straight at Ross and came across the tiny clearing to stand over the man of a later time. The boyishness which had been a part of him when he had fought at Foscar's command was gone. His eyes were merciless as he leaned down to speak, shaping each word with slow care so that Ross could understand the promise—that frightful74 promise:
"Woods rat, Foscar goes to his burial fire. And he shall take a slave with him to serve him beyond the sky—a slave to run at his voice, to shake when he thunders. Slave-dog, you shall run for Foscar beyond the sky, and he shall have you forever to walk upon as a man walks upon the earth. I, Ennar, swear that Foscar shall be sent to the chiefs in the sky in all honor. And that you, dog-one, shall lie at his feet in that going!"
He did not touch Ross, but there was no doubt in Ross's mind that he meant every word he spoke.
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1
battered
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adj.磨损的;v.连续猛击;磨损 | |
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bruise
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n.青肿,挫伤;伤痕;vt.打青;挫伤 | |
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minor
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adj.较小(少)的,较次要的;n.辅修学科;vi.辅修 | |
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prospect
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n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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contemplate
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vt.盘算,计议;周密考虑;注视,凝视 | |
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lashed
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adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 );煽动;紧系;怒斥 | |
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7
peg
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n.木栓,木钉;vt.用木钉钉,用短桩固定 | |
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migration
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n.迁移,移居,(鸟类等的)迁徙 | |
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9
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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10
grunt
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v.嘟哝;作呼噜声;n.呼噜声,嘟哝 | |
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11
savagely
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adv. 野蛮地,残酷地 | |
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12
jaw
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n.颚,颌,说教,流言蜚语;v.喋喋不休,教训 | |
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13
knuckles
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n.(指人)指关节( knuckle的名词复数 );(指动物)膝关节,踝v.(指人)指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 );(指动物)膝关节,踝 | |
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14
hoarsely
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adv.嘶哑地 | |
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15
gouges
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n.凿( gouge的名词复数 );乱要价;(在…中)抠出…;挖出…v.凿( gouge的第三人称单数 );乱要价;(在…中)抠出…;挖出… | |
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16
gratitude
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adj.感激,感谢 | |
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erect
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n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
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18
savored
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v.意味,带有…的性质( savor的过去式和过去分词 );给…加调味品;使有风味;品尝 | |
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19
heed
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v.注意,留意;n.注意,留心 | |
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20
watchful
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adj.注意的,警惕的 | |
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21
bind
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vt.捆,包扎;装订;约束;使凝固;vi.变硬 | |
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22
chunks
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厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 ); (某物)相当大的数量或部分 | |
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23
stew
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n.炖汤,焖,烦恼;v.炖汤,焖,忧虑 | |
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24
belly
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n.肚子,腹部;(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分,膛 | |
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25
scowled
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怒视,生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26
primitive
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adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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27
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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28
pointed
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adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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fore
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adv.在前面;adj.先前的;在前部的;n.前部 | |
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logic
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n.逻辑(学);逻辑性 | |
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31
jeeringly
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adv.嘲弄地 | |
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32
deliberately
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adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地 | |
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33
skulked
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v.潜伏,偷偷摸摸地走动,鬼鬼祟祟地活动( skulk的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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landmarks
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n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 );目标;(标志重要阶段的)里程碑 ~ (in sth);有历史意义的建筑物(或遗址) | |
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grove
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n.林子,小树林,园林 | |
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36
noose
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n.绳套,绞索(刑);v.用套索捉;使落入圈套;处以绞刑 | |
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37
broiled
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a.烤过的 | |
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38
scouts
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侦察员[机,舰]( scout的名词复数 ); 童子军; 搜索; 童子军成员 | |
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swollen
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adj.肿大的,水涨的;v.使变大,肿胀 | |
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40
shrugged
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vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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41
withdrawal
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n.取回,提款;撤退,撤军;收回,撤销 | |
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speculatively
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adv.思考地,思索地;投机地 | |
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43
prudence
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n.谨慎,精明,节俭 | |
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44
ridges
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n.脊( ridge的名词复数 );山脊;脊状突起;大气层的)高压脊 | |
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45
blot
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vt.弄脏(用吸墨纸)吸干;n.污点,污渍 | |
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46
gallop
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v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔;飞速发展 | |
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47
galloping
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adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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48
trot
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n.疾走,慢跑;n.老太婆;现成译本;(复数)trots:腹泻(与the 连用);v.小跑,快步走,赶紧 | |
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49
discreetly
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ad.(言行)审慎地,慎重地 | |
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50
noted
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adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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51
dagger
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n.匕首,短剑,剑号 | |
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52
sheathed
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adj.雕塑像下半身包在鞘中的;覆盖的;铠装的;装鞘了的v.将(刀、剑等)插入鞘( sheathe的过去式和过去分词 );包,覆盖 | |
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53
swerve
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v.突然转向,背离;n.转向,弯曲,背离 | |
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54
collapsed
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adj.倒塌的 | |
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55
whooped
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叫喊( whoop的过去式和过去分词 ); 高声说; 唤起 | |
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56
defiance
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n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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57
reined
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勒缰绳使(马)停步( rein的过去式和过去分词 ); 驾驭; 严格控制; 加强管理 | |
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58
fabric
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n.织物,织品,布;构造,结构,组织 | |
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59
wielded
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手持着使用(武器、工具等)( wield的过去式和过去分词 ); 具有; 运用(权力); 施加(影响) | |
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60
hoofs
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n.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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61
dangling
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悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 ); 摆动不定; 用某事物诱惑…; 吊胃口 | |
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62
singed
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v.浅表烧焦( singe的过去式和过去分词 );(毛发)燎,烧焦尖端[边儿] | |
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63
unwilling
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adj.不情愿的 | |
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64
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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65
runaway
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n.逃走的人,逃亡,亡命者;adj.逃亡的,逃走的 | |
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66
vengeance
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n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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67
clan
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n.氏族,部落,宗族,家族,宗派 | |
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68
parley
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n.谈判 | |
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69
primitives
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原始人(primitive的复数形式) | |
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70
blistered
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adj.水疮状的,泡状的v.(使)起水泡( blister的过去式和过去分词 );(使表皮等)涨破,爆裂 | |
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71
thigh
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n.大腿;股骨 | |
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72
scorched
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烧焦,烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 ); 使(植物)枯萎,把…晒枯; 高速行驶; 枯焦 | |
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73
smeared
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弄脏; 玷污; 涂抹; 擦上 | |
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74
frightful
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adj.可怕的;讨厌的 | |
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