- Ardent
- Concentrated
- Concentrated in camp, by the sound of it
- Concentrated on listening in tents
- Deep
- Extreme
- Extremely forceful
- Strained
- Used a sieve
- Went through
- of Sift
- Anxious
- Anxious about being sent off east
- Anxious to flex muscles
- Become rigid
- Brace (oneself)
- Cliffhanging
- Drawn taut
- Filtered
- Passed through mesh
- Strained
- Strained (brain)
- of Rack