Read the passage below from The First Men in the Moon. "Poor Bedford," he says of me, and "this poor young man," and he blames himself for inducing a young man, "by no means well equipped for such adventures," to leave a planet "on which he was indisputably fitted to succeed" on so precarious a mission.
Which of the following words could replace the bold word in the passage above, while preserving its meaning?

hazardous
secret
ridiculous
prominent