Sophia's War: Chapters 20–28

by Avi
During the Revolutionary War, a twelve-year-old girl works as a spy and identifies a traitor planning a shocking plot.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–9, Chapters 10–19, Chapters 20–28, Chapters 29–48, Chapters 49–70
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. beget
    cause to happen, occur, or exist
    Thus does cruelty beget cruelty.
  2. intercede
    act between parties with a view to reconciling differences
    What if the lieutenant refused to intercede?
  3. flaxen
    pale yellowish to yellowish brown
    So I scanned the line of guards and picked out a young soldier. He was about the same age as William, with red cheeks and flaxen hair beneath his tall hat.
  4. ledger
    an accounting journal as a physical object
    The soldier sighed. “The sergeant down the line, miss. He’s got a ledger, but under orders from Provost Cunningham, he’s not to give out names.”
  5. veritable
    being truly so called; real or genuine
    I came to learn such a word as “galley,” the difference between “puller” and “beater,” how to ink type, plus a veritable encyclopedia of other words and tasks too numerous to list.
  6. drudgery
    hard, monotonous, routine work
    Though hard and inky work, it was never drudgery. I liked it. Moreover, Mr. Gaine was impressed—he said so—by my quickness and willingness to learn.
  7. posit
    put forward, as an idea
    “I assure you, Miss Calderwood, my positing to Staten Island is pure coincidence but, given the circumstance, you must agree, fortunate for all.”
  8. futile
    producing no result or effect
    Though there was no light within, I stood before it. Futile, of course. Yet I wanted to think that William’s face was one of those pressing at a window and that he saw me.
  9. elation
    a feeling of joy and pride
    The patriot cause was alive. Among the few with whom we still communicated, there was elation.
  10. apprehension
    fearful expectation or anticipation
    Filled with apprehension, I gripped my money tightly in hand and stepped forward, waiting until one of the guards drew near.
  11. doleful
    filled with or evoking sadness
    He lifted his doleful gaze to my face, so that it took all my strength to look back.
  12. dank
    unpleasantly cool and humid
    How sweet the name, sugarhouse. How cruel the reality. For we had entered a dank, murky hallway, where I was immediately assaulted by a suffocating stench of sweat, dirt, and excrement.
  13. prostrate
    stretched out and lying at full length along the ground
    Some men were leaning against the walls. Others sat. Many more lay prostrate on the stone floor.
  14. scant
    less than the correct or legal or full amount
    All were foul, with but scant clothing, a few bits looking like old uniforms.
  15. pallid
    pale, as of a person's complexion
    When the guard and I appeared, gaunt, pallid faces turned to me, staring as if I were an apparition.
  16. apparition
    a ghostly appearing figure
    When the guard and I appeared, gaunt, pallid faces turned to me, staring as if I were an apparition.
  17. entreaty
    earnest or urgent request
    Rather, these miserable men merely stared mutely at me with what I translated as wordless entreaties to do something, anything, to alleviate their degrading, putrid misery.
  18. degrading
    harmful to the mind or morals
    Rather, these miserable men merely stared mutely at me with what I translated as wordless entreaties to do something, anything, to alleviate their degrading, putrid misery.
  19. disintegration
    a loss of organization in some system
    The condition of the prisoners was, at best, horrendous. The scene I’d witnessed when first I entered was repeated everywhere. All was crowded. All was filth, reek, and the cruel calamity of human disintegration and rot.
  20. secrete
    generate and separate from cells or bodily fluids
    I could see for myself his thigh wound gave him much pain and was secreting greenish pus.
  21. blustery
    blowing in violent and abrupt bursts
    The day was much like the others we had been experiencing that early January; rock cold and blustery.
  22. gangly
    tall, thin, and awkward
    Even from afar, I recognized his thin, gangly form. I went right to him.
  23. sloop
    a sailing vessel with a single mast
    Ships of various sizes—I noticed a sloop and schooner, plus one frigate—were tied to the wharf.
  24. frigate
    a medium-sized warship of the 18th and 19th centuries
    Ships of various sizes—I noticed a sloop and schooner, plus one frigate—were tied to the wharf.
  25. mottled
    having spots or patches of color
    Against the New York shore, clumps of mottled, grit-encrusted ice had formed, while farther out larger chunks floated by like deformed and filthy swans.
  26. brig
    two-masted sailing vessel square-rigged on both masts
    I did see a two-masted brig, which appeared to be in ill repair.
  27. devoid
    completely wanting or lacking
    To my eyes, the whole scene was composed of multiple shades of mumpish gray, devoid of any warmth of life, a corpse-colored landscape.
  28. ruddy
    of the color between orange and purple in the color spectrum
    The soldiers, their ruddy faces reflecting the hellish glow, held out their hands as if to grasp those fiery fingers.
  29. prow
    the front part of a vessel
    Large chunks of ice floated by, thumping and shuddering our boat, whose prow constantly smacked the water’s surface, sending up cold spray, which froze upon me.
  30. gunwale
    a plank or ridge at the top of the side of a boat
    When we were very near to the ship, a sailor leaned over the gunwale. “Who’s there?” he called in a thick, guttural voice.
  31. guttural
    relating to or articulated in the throat
    When we were very near to the ship, a sailor leaned over the gunwale. “Who’s there?” he called in a thick, guttural voice.
  32. leer
    a suggestive or sneering look or grin
    “She? A lady, then?” I could hear the leer.
  33. unnerve
    disturb the composure of
    Next moment a rope ladder clumped down. That I had to climb unnerved me.
  34. taut
    pulled or drawn tight
    He grabbed the ladder, held it taut.
  35. yaw
    swerve unpredictably from a set course
    With our boat pitching and yawing beneath my feet, basket heavy in the crook of my arm, I took hold of the ladder with two hands.
  36. fetid
    offensively malodorous
    Standing there, trying to regain my breath and balance, I was engulfed by the fetid stench of decay.
  37. stupor
    a state of being half-awake
    Midst it all, as if similarly undone, were men like those I had seen in the sugarhouse. They lay or sat about in semifrozen stupor, their emaciated, dirty bodies protected with naught but rags.
  38. emaciated
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
    Midst it all, as if similarly undone, were men like those I had seen in the sugarhouse. They lay or sat about in semifrozen stupor, their emaciated, dirty bodies protected with naught but rags.
  39. haggard
    showing the wearing effects of overwork or care or suffering
    To a man, they appeared deceased and haggard, nearer the shores of death than life.
  40. slovenly
    negligent of neatness especially in dress and person
    British soldiers, slovenly in appearance, were standing guard, some with muskets in hand; others with clubs.
Created on Tue May 11 20:47:05 EDT 2021 (updated Fri May 28 10:34:17 EDT 2021)

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