"By the way," said he suddenly, "I think I'll take one of these pistols upstairs with me in case we have an alarm."
"An alarm!" said I.
"Yes, we've had a scare in this part lately. Old Acton, who is one of our county magnates, had his house broken into last Monday. No great damage done, but the fellows are still at large."
「我想我順便拿把手槍到樓上去，」他突然說道，「以防萬一我們有警訓。」
「警訓！」我說道。
「是的，最近我們附近遭到過驚嚇。老愛克頓，他是我們郡裡一個大地主，他的房子上星期一被人闖入。損失倒不大，但那些歹徒還沒抓到。」
at large的用法有以下三種。
1、在本文中，at large表示「在逃的； 未被捕獲的」。
例如：
The mountain lion that killed the hiker was still at large.
那頭咬死登山者的山獅尚未被捕獲。
The students are now being held on immigration charges. 8 others remain at large.
這幾名學生現在因非法移民指控而被扣押，其餘8人仍逍遙法外。
2、表示「長篇大套的；冗長的，詳細地」
例如：
The question was discussed at large.
這個問題已經詳細地討論過了。
We will talk at large about it later.
我們以後對這個再作詳盡探討。
3、表示「大體上；大體上說來，一般 」
例如：
That could be good news for the world at large.
這對全球市場來說會是個好兆頭。
That has brought citizens, particularly in the United States, a much better recognition of the world at large.
這就使公民，尤其是在美國，在整體上對世界有了一個更好的認識。