The Wreckers: Chapters 4–7

by Iain Lawrence
A young sailor washes up on the shore of a remote island where the people pray for shipwrecks and scavenge the wreckage.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–7, Chapters 8–11, Chapters 12–18
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. buttress
    reinforce with a support usually of stone or brick
    And at the top of the hill was the church I'd seen from the far shore, a huge gray building of buttressed walls and a bell tower three stories high.
  2. parson
    someone authorized to conduct religious worship
    “That's the parson," said Mawgan. “Takes his afternoon walk every day in the churchyard."
  3. providential
    peculiarly fortunate or appropriate
    “Keep him close to you, Simon. It is providential that you found him before the others could."
  4. canter
    a smooth three-beat gait
    At a canter, we circled round the back of the village, then over the stone bridge.
  5. glower
    look angry or sullen as if to signal disapproval
    It seemed he was glowering, but when I wiped my eyes I saw only a smile on his face.
  6. engulf
    flow over or cover completely
    To the west, the sky had become an ugly blue. And the shadows had darkened until it seemed that beyond each rise lay a vast, gloomy lake that engulfed us as we thundered down.
  7. solemn
    dignified and somber in manner or character
    “There's Galilee,” he said in a solemn, quiet voice.
  8. gauge
    judge tentatively or form an estimate of
    "I'm far enough from the sea that I only rarely hear the surf. Yet I'm close enough I can hear a pistol shot." It was a curious way to gauge distance.
  9. decanter
    a bottle with a stopper; for serving drinks
    Pulled up to its rim were high-backed chairs plush with leather, and on its polished top sat chalices of silver, crystal decanters, rows and rows of delicate glasses.
  10. finery
    elaborate or showy attire and accessories
    For every bauble that he owned there was a drowned sailor. For each bit of finery a man lay buried in the moor.
  11. jovial
    full of or showing high-spirited merriment
    His face, so jovial before, had become fierce as a lion’s.
  12. abide
    put up with something or somebody unpleasant
    “But I hear stories like those, and they make me angry. I like a good wreck as much as the next man, but I won’t abide false lights and I won’t stand for murder.”
  13. flounder
    move clumsily or struggle to move, as in mud or water
    But through it poked the heads of fish, thrusting up as though she'd baked them alive as they floundered for air.
  14. nonchalance
    the trait of remaining calm and seeming not to care
    “We haven't had a coffee wreck in the longest time.” I was stung by the way that even Mary could talk, with such nonchalance, of what came from the drowning of sailors.
  15. knoll
    a small natural mound
    "This way!” cried Mary, and veered to the south, to the top of a knoll.
  16. furlong
    a unit of length equal to 220 yards
    She beat me by a furlong and was already seated on the ground—flush-faced, her skirts smoothed around her—when I gained the summit and slid from the pony.
  17. gale
    a strong wind moving 34–40 knots
    To the south was the Channel, with a glower of clouds over faraway France: a gale in the offing.
  18. writhe
    move in a twisting or contorted motion
    I could imagine the scene as Mary described it, Stumps writhing on the ground as the axe rose and fell.
  19. cinch
    pull, fasten, or tie something tightly
    But just as easily I could imagine a cable cinching on his legs, Simon Mawgan wielding a lantern instead of an axe.
  20. specter
    a ghostly appearing figure
    I looked down at the sea, and I thought of old Riggins, who'd told me stories of specters and ghost ships as the Isle of Skye sailed on a rolling sea.
  21. befall
    happen or be the case in the course of events or by chance
    "Too many dangers by half," he had said, hoping to save me from the very thing that had befallen us.
  22. abreast
    alongside each other, facing in the same direction
    The flowers grew in rows, twelve abreast, filling the space.
  23. bluff
    a high steep bank
    “Sometimes I imagine this whole bluff"—she spread her arms, and her skirts tumbled loose—“all that you see, covered with flowers, each for a wreck."
  24. naught
    a quantity of no importance
    "Whichy way it goes, it's better than doing naught."
  25. whinny
    make a characteristic sound, of a horse
    The ponies whinnied and tugged at their bridles.
  26. bridle
    headgear for a horse
    The ponies whinnied and tugged at their bridles.
  27. clamor
    a loud, harsh, or strident noise
    With a great clamor of pounding hooves and groaning wood, the wagon swayed toward us in a boil of dust.
  28. tempest
    a strong storm with violent winds
    "They say the Widow commands the winds,” said Mary. "She raises tempests.”
  29. wake
    the wave that spreads behind a boat as it moves forward
    We started off down the road, side by side in the Widow's wake. The dust from her wagon flurried ahead of us like a little tornado.
  30. divot
    a piece of turf dug out of a lawn or fairway
    Mary was a length ahead—the hind hooves of her pony kicked divots of sod as we swung out onto the edge of the moor.
  31. gallivant
    wander aimlessly in search of pleasure
    "I didn't say you could go gallivanting across the countryside."
  32. headstrong
    habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition
    I was worried about you, is all. I suppose it was Mary's idea, was it? 'Course it was. Headstrong girl, that one.
  33. grovel
    show submission or fear
    Eli fell back as though the words had struck him like cannonballs. He groveled for the blankets and at the same time erased the picture on the ground.
  34. flourish
    a showy gesture
    And he sat like that, silent as a stone, until Mary arrived—beaming ear to ear—with a covered dish that she put with a flourish in the middle of the table.
  35. baleful
    threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
    There were even more pilchards than last time, their poor blackened heads poking from the crust, watching me balefully with round, dead eyes.
  36. wield
    handle effectively
    While I choked down my share a swallow at a time, Simon Mawgan worked at his like a coal miner wielding shovel and pick.
  37. dwindle
    become smaller or lose substance
    He held it until the flame dwindled, then tossed it into a brass pot on the floor.
  38. blanch
    turn pale, as if in fear
    I must have blanched, and he laughed. “Don't look so shocked, lad. Mary told me everything."
  39. livid
    furiously angry
    I found it hard to believe that this was the same man I'd seen only hours before, livid with rage as he lashed at Eli with a riding crop.
  40. excise
    a fee measured by the amount of business done
    "Bring the coast guard. Bring the excise men.”
Created on Fri Jul 23 10:12:43 EDT 2021 (updated Tue Jul 27 10:25:03 EDT 2021)

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