"Big hand" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... "The big hand of the clock of the Military Hospital had just reached the minute mark of 7:50 a.m. when a great brown cloud was seen to issue from the side of the volcano, followed almost immediately by a cloud of vapory blackness, which separated from it and took a course downward to the ...
— Plotting in Pirate Seas • Francis Rolt-Wheeler
... Lally passed his big hand over the back of his head and looked puzzled, while a little smile lurked in the corners of ...
— Terry - Or, She ought to have been a Boy • Rosa Mulholland
... brushing away the big hand of Drew which would have pulled him down into his seat; "I've seen you bluff for two nights hand running. There ain't no man can bluff all the world ...
— Trailin'! • Max Brand
... with interest and tested its power of pointing north. Then he shook his head and handed it back to Cap'n Bill. The sailor dived into his pocket again and pulled out a pair of scissors, which he placed beside the compass on the palm of his big hand. "You may have ...
— The Sea Fairies • L. Frank Baum
... sound as usual. But he was dreaming and he spoke in his sleep. There was no one to hear him, for his faithful Margit was snoring loudly. Snatches of sentences and broken words came from Janci's lips: "The hand—the big hand—I see it—at his ...
— The Case of The Pool of Blood in the Pastor's Study • Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner
... expect," said the lover. He brought forth the little pistol, "Neighbor." He did not hand it across to Barker, but walked over to Barker's chair, and stood holding it for the doctor to see. When Barker reached for it to see better, since it was half hidden in the cow-puncher's big hand, Lin yielded it to him, but still stood and soon drew it back. "I take it around," he said, "and when one of those stories comes along, like there's plenty of, that she wants to get rid of me, I just kind o' take a look at 'Neighbor' ...
— Lin McLean • Owen Wister
... when it was done. Milly could only write very slowly, in rather big hand, so that her letters were never ...
— Milly and Olly • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... German silver mountings and saddle bags covered with black bear fur. A small red and black Navajo blanket served as a saddle pad and he found a fine Navajo bridle, too, woven of black horsehair, with a big hand-hammered silver buckle on ...
— The Blood of the Conquerors • Harvey Fergusson
... the wood. They saw nothing but William Cowan, lying like a dead man on the path. They took him up and carried him home; and when they undressed him to put him to bed, there, on each shoulder, was the mark of a big hand, BURNED INTO THE FLESH. It was weeks before the burns healed, and the scars never went away. Always, as long as William Cowan lived, he carried on his shoulders the prints ...
— The Story Girl • Lucy Maud Montgomery
... Miss Edith Herndon," squeaked the Professor, and when I put out my big hand to take her little one I thought I'd fall down on the deck on account of the Niagara of blood that seemed to ...
— The White Waterfall • James Francis Dwyer
... big hand descended on his mouth, and he was borne away before that last ill word ...
— Bob, Son of Battle • Alfred Ollivant
... a big stick in his hand. When little David saw it he shuddered and sat down helplessly on the woodshed floor, in among all the clutter and dirt. Jim, with his knuckles twisted into his streaming eyes, whirled around from under the big hand grasping his collar. When he saw Joel, he screamed worse than ever. "Don't let him kill me, Pa," he ...
— The Adventures of Joel Pepper • Margaret Sidney
... help in the work, and was trying to do so, altho so weak from illness that it required some effort to walk straight. But a big, black haired, black bearded Irishman, Owen McGrath of my company, one of the squad, objected. He laid a big hand kindly on my shoulder, and said: "Carparral, yez is not sthrong enough for this worrk, and yez don't have to do it, ayether. Jist give me the 't'ority to shupirintind it, and you go sit down." "I guess you're right, ...
— The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865 • Leander Stillwell
... gave the listener a pang. His big hand closed over the one he had been caressing. "You're in a prohibition state now," ...
— The Opened Shutters • Clara Louise Burnham
... man stepped up and put out a big hand, in which my mistress' little fingers were quite swallowed up. "I am glad to see you, Laura. Well, Joe, how d'ye do, old ...
— Beautiful Joe - An Autobiography of a Dog • by Marshall Saunders
... He felt a big hand placed on his shoulder. "I've got you, young one, come along with me," said ...
— Taking Tales - Instructive and Entertaining Reading • W.H.G. Kingston
... wife, her shapely feet elevated above the possible airs of the floor, continued to draw threads from the handkerchiefs she was making for Christmas. Claire played very well and, at five cents a point, he had to watch the game. On a specially big hand she piqued and repiqued. "That," she declared, "will pay you for caputting me." The jargon of their preoccupation, "A point of six; yes, to the ace; paid; and a quatorze, kings," was the only sound until Fanny rose, decidedly. "I am going to bed." She hesitated at ...
— Cytherea • Joseph Hergesheimer
... get all afternoon in school, An' sittin' at attention just because it is the rule, An' lookin' every now an' then up to the clock to see If that big hand an' little hand would ever get to three. I'd tell how children hurry home an' give the door a slam An' ask their mothers can they have a piece of bread ...
— The Path to Home • Edgar A. Guest
... said Jeekie; "no more good to us. Can go and see how Big Bonsa feel, if he like," and stretching out his big hand as though in a moment of abstraction, he removed the costly necklaces from their guide's neck and thrust them into the pouch he wore. Also he picked up the gilded linen mask which Alan had removed from his head and placed it in the same receptacle, remarking, that he "always taught ...
— The Yellow God - An Idol of Africa • H. Rider Haggard
... they?" cried Ken. He jumped up with paling cheek and blazing eye, and the big hand he shoved under Worry's nose trembled like a shaking leaf. "What I won't do to them will be funny! Swelled! Explode! Stand the gaff! Look here, Worry, maybe it's true, but I don't believe it.... I'll beat this Herne team! ...
— The Young Pitcher • Zane Grey
... but it's no use —I can't get time for anything these days. I must break off and write a postscript to Canon Wilberforce before I go to bed. This afternoon he left a luncheon-party half an hour ahead of the rest, and carried off my hat (which has Mark Twain in a big hand written in it.) When the rest of us came out there was but one hat that would go on my head—it fitted exactly, too. So wore it away. It had no name in it, but the Canon was the only man who was absent. I wrote ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain
... Dick Marston's big hand was on his. "Old man," Dick said, "you're all wrong, but if you won't let me talk about it I won't—now. Look here—we'll sneak to-morrow. Everybody's going off in cars for an all-day drive, and I'll start, and pull ...
— August First • Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews and Roy Irving Murray
... it dishonorable?" cried Mr. Cantwell, his face again turning deathly white with inward rage. "You, who admit having had a big hand in what was really ...
— The High School Pitcher - Dick & Co. on the Gridley Diamond • H. Irving Hancock
... Majesties," said the Ogre, with a jaunty wave of his big hand. "And farewell to you, Princess Edna. If I have not been as much of a Superman as I could wish, you may still find that I have profited by ...
— In Brief Authority • F. Anstey
... the arm after the modern fashion, and they threaded their way through the crowds made denser by the return of the working people. She had removed her right glove in the house and did not replace it immediately. His big hand clasped her rounded, beautiful arm, and a thrill of emotion swept him at the consciousness of her nearness, her sympathy, her open admiration and sweet companionship ...
— The One Woman • Thomas Dixon
... could have happened to him?" Mrs. Richie said, trembling; "you don't think he could have been run over, or—or anything?" She clutched at the big hand and clung to it. ...
— The Iron Woman • Margaret Deland
... any intent to offend, looked surprised, put down her spoon deliberately, got off her chair, took up her plate of pudding, and was making off with it. As she was passing Uncle James, however, he stretched out his big hand suddenly, and snatched the plate from her; but Beth in an instant doubled her little fist, and struck the plate from underneath, the concussion scattering the pudding all over the front ...
— The Beth Book - Being a Study of the Life of Elizabeth Caldwell Maclure, a Woman of Genius • Sarah Grand
... you all the money I have with me," he said, as he turned the contents of his purse into Rolla's big hand. "Count and see how much ...
— The Son of Monte-Cristo, Volume II (of 2) • Alexandre Dumas pere
... lips parted and her eyes bright, was a sight from which no man and few women could turn their eyes. Her vitality and happiness seemed to shine from her skin, almost to light up the dark and heavy figure of Socknersh in his Sunday blacks, as he staggered and stumbled, for he could not dance. His big hand pawed at her silken waist, while the other held hers crumpled in it—his hair was greased with butter, and his skin with the sweat of his endeavour as he turned ...
— Joanna Godden • Sheila Kaye-Smith
... the soft twilight; the dinner for which they found themselves so hungry. Afterward they climbed laughing into a big chair, and were pushed along between the moving lines of other chairs, far up the long boardwalk. And Norma, with her soft loose glove in Wolf's big hand, leaned back against the curved wicker seat, and looked at the little lighted shops, and listened to the scrape of feet and chatter of tongues and the solemn roll and crash of the waves, and stared up childishly at the arch of ...
— The Beloved Woman • Kathleen Norris
... middlin'," answered Jeff, extending his big hand. "Say, how's the other one, your brother as wus ...
— The Spirit of the Border - A Romance of the Early Settlers in the Ohio Valley • Zane Grey
... became distorted by fury. He seized Anatole by the collar of his uniform with his big hand and shook him from side to side till Anatole's face showed a ...
— War and Peace • Leo Tolstoy
... Don't worry; I'm not going to become maudlin about it. But I don't belong here, and you know, it. I have my work to do. Norah is the best sister that a woman ever had. And Max, you're an angel brother-in-law. But how can I stay on here and keep my self-respect?" I took Max's big hand in mine and gathered courage ...
— Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed • Edna Ferber
... yer frinds; we'll not harm a hair o' yer beautiful head, we won't. Ah! then, it's a swate child, it is, bless its fat face," said O'Riley, stroking the baby's head tenderly with his big hand. ...
— The World of Ice • Robert Michael Ballantyne
... at her approvingly as Tricksy toiled along beside Hamish, hoping that no one observed that she was hanging on to big hand. ...
— The Adventure League • Hilda T. Skae
... looked up wistfully into the orderly's face. It was a stranger he gazed at, yet voice, speech, and appearance were like the man's who had trained him from a puppy, and he gave a wriggle of pleasure when the big hand came down on his head, and the deep ...
— The Little Colonel's Hero • Annie Fellows Johnston
... shapeless outlines to his frightened imagination. Voices laughed and growled confusedly in his ears, and hands that seemed to him enormous pulled him about. Terror seized him, and with it came crazy, disconnected recollections of stories of robbery and murder, and he began to scream with fright. A big hand covered the whole of his face, and in the silence that followed his stifled scream, he heard a voice out in the yard, calling to the maids to come and ...
— Pelle the Conqueror, Complete • Martin Andersen Nexo
... taking his big hand in both her little ones, 'indeed we won't. It was very wrong of me to bother you; and you with—with—with so much to think of. Dear Harry, I don't want to go at all, indeed I don't,' and she turned away from the little path which led to the place ...
— The Three Clerks • Anthony Trollope
... around him as he rose to go, each offering advice and warnings, wringing his big hand. Boynton drew him a ...
— Terry - A Tale of the Hill People • Charles Goff Thomson
... he walked straight up to him, laid a big hand on his shoulder—the hand that wanted a finger—and, without a word, dragged him to the middle of the room. Kinlay turned quickly round, and putting his hand on his sheath knife drew the weapon. Without hesitation Paterson stepped forward ...
— The Pilots of Pomona • Robert Leighton
... light a pipe, and I caught up to it. The edge of the spade was like silver with use, and the big hand which grasped it was brown with dry earth. The lean neck of this figure was tinctured with many summers, and cross-hatched by the weather and mature maleness. I caught a smell of newly-turned earth. The figure moved ...
— Waiting for Daylight • Henry Major Tomlinson
... coming. In a moment there rose into view a great bearded face, that I felt for one quick instant was the face of a drowned man, long dead. Then the face opened at the mouth part, and spluttered and coughed. Another big hand came into view, and wiped the water from the eyes, which blinked rapidly, and then fixed themselves into a stare ...
— Carnacki, The Ghost Finder • William Hope Hodgson
... Milsom, and at his fellow-servants, in a stupid half-drunken manner, and rubbed his big head thoughtfully with his big hand. ...
— Run to Earth - A Novel • M. E. Braddon
... cellars and dives of Water Street to the shanties and goat ranges of the Upper Harlem. Stuart had never met a man so full of contagious health. He was a born physician. There was healing in the touch of his big hand. Healing light streamed from his brown eyes, and his iron-gray beard sparkled with it. His presence in a sick-room seemed to fill it with waves of life, and his influence over the patients to whom he ministered was ...
— The Root of Evil • Thomas Dixon
... huge back bending over. My aunt's mouth opens gently and remains open. The eyelids fall back almost completely upon the stiffened gleam of the eyes, which squint in the gray and bony mask. I see Crillon's big hand hover over the little mummified face, lowering the ...
— Light • Henri Barbusse
... some stories. After all, it was Doctor Willie who was the real hit of the evening. The convalescents rocked with joy in their roller chairs. Crutches came down in loud applause. When he sat down he slipped a big hand over Jane Brown's and ...
— Love Stories • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... for fear—it is n't real! It is so beautiful!" She stroked his big hand with her slender ...
— Polly of the Hospital Staff • Emma C. Dowd
... at her in astonishment, but her father put his big hand over the gate, and, wrenching the little latch open, strode up to the front door of ...
— John Ward, Preacher • Margaret Deland
... is like old times again," and a tear splattered down into the big hand. "What, crying, Mae?" "No, dear—that is, yes. I believe I am a little bit homesick. I wish I could go back behind my teens again. Do you remember the summer that I was twelve—that summer up by the lake? I wish you and I could paddle around in one of the old flat-bottomed ...
— Mae Madden • Mary Murdoch Mason
... him one of her inscrutable looks and then turned again to the stars. There was silence; Colin thought she must hear his heart thumping, but she seemed lost in her dreams. He put out his big hand and timidly, reverently, took hers, crushed verbena and all, as it lay on the balustrade. It rested like a prisoned bird within his; he could feel the nervous twitch of the ...
— Lady Bridget in the Never-Never Land • Rosa Praed
... colleague intervenes, Ledebour, a thin, grey-haired, actor-like person, of ascetic mien and resonant voice. "Checking free speech is an evil custom of this House," declares Ledebour. "Papa" Kaempf clangs his big hand-bell. He rules out "such improper expressions as 'evil custom' in this high House." Ledebour is the Reichstag's master of repartee. He rejoins smilingly:—"Very well, not an 'evil custom,' but not altogether a pleasant custom." Now the House ...
— The Land of Deepening Shadow - Germany-at-War • D. Thomas Curtin
... about de Lo'd bein' my Shepa'd," she commented, "an' I guess He'll not let me want. But He hasn't led me into green past'rs dis time. I wonder if de Good Lo'd made dis place, anyway," and she gazed ruefully around. "It looks to me as if de deb'l had a mighty big hand in it, fo' sich a mixed up contraption of a hole I nebber set my two eyes on befo'. An' to t'ink dat de Cun'l had to leab his nice home in Ol' Connec., an' come to a jumpin'-off place like dis. I hope de ever-lastin' fire will be seben times hot when it gits ...
— The King's Arrow - A Tale of the United Empire Loyalists • H. A. Cody
... for the belt, and with some muttered words he could not distinguish, she grasped his big hand in her little brown fingers, and touching it with her lips, twice—thrice—turned and ran away as swiftly as the little Indians who had ...
— That Girl Montana • Marah Ellis Ryan
... cross wiz you! Eez zat you annoy me!" And as though she were a doll, he pushed her from him, his big hand almost blotting out her pretty little face. The stool and Angela fell to the floor. She was furious. The devil in her was roused. Chagrined, she picked herself up. Her dainty plaid frock was covered with dust. She brushed it off as best ...
— The Bad Man • Charles Hanson Towne
... doctrines of a gentleman," snaps Dosson; and he throws out a big hand toward the drooping head. "Old Blossom-nose!" Then turning to Carrie. "The sheriff's a coming; he gave me that 'ere bill—yes, he did. He's down to the grocery, now. He's going around to all the cabins, and a-swearing 'em in a book, that they don't know ...
— Shadows of Shasta • Joaquin Miller
... made a move, as if he would snatch the book, but the big hand at his throat twisted the flannel shirt, and choked him. Patsy, holding the book in the glare of his white light, read the record of a man who had been much away from home. He had, according to the book, ridden with many conductors, whose ...
— Snow on the Headlight - A Story of the Great Burlington Strike • Cy Warman
... time below she had been wanting Raft and his big hand to pull her through. Satisfied, knowing he was on board and all right, but ...
— The Beach of Dreams • H. De Vere Stacpoole
... the door deliberately, and put a big hand on Doug's shoulder. "You fill yourself with some hot food, Spencer. You know better than to tackle this job empty. That girl is in a desperate frame of mind. You are going to have a struggle with her, if you do overtake her. You must be cool and save your mind and body. How did she come ...
— Judith of the Godless Valley • Honore Willsie
... her shaking mouth. She turned her head away, and he took it between his thumb and finger and turned it back again. Her neck moved stiffly. Her head felt small and brittle under the weight and pinch of the big hand. The smell and the sour, burning taste of the ...
— Mary Olivier: A Life • May Sinclair
... useful big hand!" she whispered. "It has been raised in defense of the sanctity of my home—and until you came there was 'none so poor to do ...
— Kindred of the Dust • Peter B. Kyne
... the miraculous discovery of crime, the visitations of the dead. Nance and her uncle would sit till the small hours with eyes wide open: Jonathan applauding the unexpected incidents with many a slap of his big hand; Nance, perhaps, more pleased with the narrator's eloquence and wise reflections; and then, again, days would follow of abstraction, of listless humming, of frequent apologies and long hours of silence. Once only, and then after a week of ...
— Lay Morals • Robert Louis Stevenson
... cried Allison, bringing down his big hand with a resounding slap upon his knee. "Mrs. Macdonald's the body for you! There's not a better woman in Rudham, and I know 'em pretty well in these parts. Her husband's only just gone up street; ...
— The Village by the River • H. Louisa Bedford
... the dragoon being blown, took a large glass of claret; and when Hickson and Dickson came down stairs, they found her ladyship in rather a theatrical attitude, on her knees, embracing her husband's big hand, and calling down blessings upon him, and owning that she was a wretch, a ...
— The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 2, January, 1851 • Various
... go back. The Captain and Mrs. Trevor were in the hall when the former nodded shortly to his man, and went into the drawing-room, while the Skipper saw his mother slip something, that looked like a yellow sixpence, into the man's big hand. ...
— The Little Skipper - A Son of a Sailor • George Manville Fenn
... shivering as the big hand closed more tightly on her arm. "Me? Why, sure I'll be pleased to see you get a job that's coming to you by rights, and that'll get you better ...
— Half Portions • Edna Ferber
... was innocent of make-up. Mrs. Harley had not yet recovered from her astonishment at having been swept to the altar after fifteen years of widowhood by this most simple and admirable man. Even then she was not quite sure that she was not dreaming all this. She patted his big hand and would have put her head against his chest if the brim of her hat had permitted her ...
— Who Cares? • Cosmo Hamilton
... the floor, I going over it at one end, and he at the other, when a cry came from the street, those about the entrance parted, and in walked John Paul himself. At sight of him my new adversary, who was preparing to deal me out a blow to fell an ox, dropped his arms in surprise, and held out his big hand. ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... words and whistling, and the offer of attractive dainties, be the stormy blusterer of last night? There is not a coaxing name that he does not lavish on them, while he fills their cups with fresh seed and water; and how carefully he moves his big hand as he strews the little cages with clean sand! He would not for worlds scare the poor little prisoners who cheer his lonely hours, and who have long since ceased to fear him. A turtle-dove takes peas, and ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers
... big hand swiftly, and felt it caught in a strong bony grip. And as their hands met Monteith's stern face suddenly broke out into an unexpected smile, a smile so brilliant and kindly that the boy felt it illuminate ...
— The Silver Maple • Marian Keith
... say, ma'am,' and he came back with a dozen great branches of them. I took them and thanked him. I told him it was dear of him to give them to me and I did hope he hadn't spoiled his bush. He—he—well, he emptied his mouth of a great deal of tobacco juice, wiped his big hand across it and said: 'It ain't my bush, ma'am, but you're just as welcome to them lilocks as if it was. There ain't nothin' in this town a pretty girl can't have for the askin'!' Thank goodness, the conductor ...
— The Lilac Girl • Ralph Henry Barbour
... side your bar ye may boss the wool business. But this is the mayor's side and the colonel is saying he's here to see His Honor. Colonel, ye'll take your seat and wait your turn!" He cupped his big hand under the ...
— All-Wool Morrison • Holman Day
... locks were matted with blood from a sword-cut above his forehead, one arm hung limp, and his tunic was torn and gashed. He had no weapons but a knife which he held blade upwards in the hollow of his big hand. ...
— The Path of the King • John Buchan
... put his big hand on the young man's shoulder. "Thank you, Abe," he said. "That does me good. I've always known that it was there. But it's a hard road, lad, a mighty hard road!" Then: "I wonder if we have an Indian in the outfit who knows ...
— The Winning of Barbara Worth • Harold B Wright
... "When his big hand got hold of mine, I kind of felt his timber," Samson writes. "I says to myself, 'There's a man it would be hard to tip over in ...
— The Boy Scouts Book of Campfire Stories • Various
... Peter's big hand shot out in greeting. "So you're Boss Stobart's son, are you? Well, well, you seem a fine lad, and you've sure got a fine father." He also shook hands with Vaughan, and added: "So we're to be mates, are we? You leave ...
— In the Musgrave Ranges • Jim Bushman
... no more, but his big hand pressing on my knee told me of his sympathy, another indication that there was ...
— The Rustlers of Pecos County • Zane Grey
... for a time, and then I was moved a little more, the big hand drawing me along very gently as if I was not quite in the right position; finally, after getting me straight, giving me a gentle thrust before leaving me quite at peace. All at once I was thoroughly aroused by a terrific yell, and I ...
— To The West • George Manville Fenn
... you do, Miss Sheldon?" he said, as Malcolm introduced them; "my wife and I have long wished to make your acquaintance," and here his big hand seemed ...
— Herb of Grace • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... him with delight) Nothing is changed, everything is in its old place!... Only everything is prettier!... There is the clock with the big hand which I broke the ...
— The Blue Bird: A Fairy Play in Six Acts • Maurice Maeterlinck
... forward, and drew a chair to the fire beside his son. Steenie laid his head on his father's knee, and the father laid his big hand on Steenie's head. Not a word was uttered. The mother might have found them in her way had she been inclined, but the thought did not come to her, and she went on making the porridge in great contentment, while Kirsty laid the cloth. The night was as ...
— Heather and Snow • George MacDonald
... when it came was of a disconcerting briefness and potency. He said very slowly, "Yes, I see it all. There is your spiritual husband; there are they" (indicating the valley with a sweep of a big hand), "and there are you, Emma, caught in a web of baffling and false ideas; and here am I, a real man who loves you, fearing neither the St. Michael nor them" (another gesture) "nor your doubts. I set myself, ...
— The Collectors • Frank Jewett Mather
... him; saw him standing shamefacedly there as if still inclined to break away and run for it; his head hanging down, his big hand moving nervously on the old book-strap which he wore for a belt. The necktie, which presumably Mrs. O'Connor had furnished him, was all awry, and in the half light they could see, too, that his old clothes were faded and torn. He seemed quite indifferent to everybody and ...
— Tom Slade with the Colors • Percy K. Fitzhugh
... rugged figure met the compact General with the easy generous attitude of a father ready to have it out with a wayward boy. His smile was friendly and the grip of his big hand cordial. ...
— The Southerner - A Romance of the Real Lincoln • Thomas Dixon
... a log of wood into the stove. Then he lit a short little pipe, full of very strong tobacco, called Mahorka, which has a smell like hot tin. And he puffed, and the smoke got in his eyes, and he wiped them with the back of his big hand. ...
— Old Peter's Russian Tales • Arthur Ransome
... and important. Was she not the mother of the five most wonderful puppies in all Saxony? They swarmed about his legs, pressing him with their little foolish heads. Ulrich stooped and picked up one in each big hand. But this causing jealousy and heartburning, laughing, he lay down upon a log. Then the whole five stormed over him, biting his hair, trampling with their clumsy paws upon his face; till suddenly they raced off in a body to attack a floating feather. Ulrich sat up and watched them, ...
— The Love of Ulrich Nebendahl • Jerome K. Jerome
... has dined well, and his big hand is stroking the Essence of Selfishness who purrs against his medalled chest under a caress as gentle as a woman's. He sings his favourite airs from "Faust" and "Aida" with gusto, and roars over the gallant stories of his aide-de-camp, who, being from the south ...
— A Village of Vagabonds • F. Berkeley Smith
... over to her and sat forward so that his knees nearly touched her thin black dress. He put out his big hand and caught one of her little ones; he thought for a moment that she was going to resist—then it lay there cold ...
— Fortitude • Hugh Walpole
... from the window and that she was crying, quietly; she put her hand on the boy's shoulder and patted it with a forlorn gesture which, to the foreman's eye, was as graceful as it was sad. He moved closer to Bud and his big hand fell on Cynthia's brother's other shoulder, as he realized that red hair could look pretty sometimes; and he wondered why the editor's singing made Cynthy cry; and at the same time he decided to be mighty good to Bud henceforth. The spell of night and song ...
— The Gentleman From Indiana • Booth Tarkington
... was as he had left it, the porcelain dish still in place. He scooped up the dish in one big hand and ran on into the room, letting the door shut itself behind him. He ran on, through the large room with its many tables, into ...
— Viewpoint • Gordon Randall Garrett
... to the ledge, looked over, made a strange sound with his throat, and with an icy fear in his great heart, that never had known fear before, he laid his big hand on Tom Moran's shoulder and said, "Stay here, Tom. I'll go. It will be better for me to go." And slipping over the ledge, he dropped down beside the unconscious boy. In another minute he was rubbing the cold hands, rousing the dormant ...
— The Shagganappi • E. Pauline Johnson
... help myself," the Colonel said, beating his head with his big hand. "I'm a madman when I get the liquor on board me; and ain't fit to be trusted with a spirit-bottle. When I once begin I can't stop till I've emptied it; and when I've swallowed it, Lord knows what I say or what I don't say. I dined at home here quite quiet. Grady gave me just my two ...
— The History of Pendennis • William Makepeace Thackeray
... of habit, the city kept to its daily routine, limp and unmeaning though much of it had come to be. The milkman, of course, held to his furious round in his comical two-wheeled cart, whirling up to alley gates, shouting and ringing his big hand-bell. In all his tracks followed the hooded bread-cart, with its light-weight loaves for worthless money and with only the staggering news for lagnappe. Families ate breakfast, one hour and another, wherever there was food. Day cabmen and draymen trotted ...
— Kincaid's Battery • George W. Cable
... no good to carry them back," Ridgeley had said, "and they are nice for Anne." His big hand had ...
— The Gay Cockade • Temple Bailey
... Dalgren looked in toward the bench as if he wanted and expected to be taken out. But Pat Donahue made no sign. Pat had trained many a pitcher by forcing him to take his medicine. Then Carroll, mask under his arm, rolling his big hand in his mitt, sauntered down to the pitcher's box. The sharp order of the umpire in no wise disconcerted him. He said something to Dalgren, vehemently nodding his head the while. Players and audience alike supposed he was trying to put a little heart into ...
— The Redheaded Outfield and Other Baseball Stories • Zane Grey
... cold voice acted with the effect of a dash of water in Catherson's face. He started, his big hand trembling, for though he had come to kill, he unknowingly wanted to hear some word from Randerson's lips in proof of his innocence. Had Randerson flinched, he would have taken that as a sign of guilt, as he now took the man's ...
— The Range Boss • Charles Alden Seltzer
... goes up our prison wall! That's the big hand that held the bright light. How good the air feels! Now for a chance to try our ...
— St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, September 1878, No. 11 • Various
... part," he remarked, his big hand playing with a paper-knife on one of the little tables, which, to a practised eye, suggested cards, "I am of the progressive party, thank you. I believe in opening up the country and putting railroads ...
— The Philistines • Arlo Bates
... close to her father's, and taken his big hand between her own, and was stroking and petting it as he spoke; and, ere she answered, she leaned her ...
— The Bow of Orange Ribbon - A Romance of New York • Amelia E. Barr
... (wait a bit), he ejaculated, breaking into Dutch in his agitation, and even catching hold of her white dress with his big hand. ...
— Jess • H. Rider Haggard
... away at once to visit some stinking savage? Ach! I am glad I thought of that just as I was beginning to turn his gloomy colour, like a chameleon on a black hat, for it explains everything," and he struck his thigh with his big hand and burst ...
— Marie - An Episode in The Life of the late Allan Quatermain • H. Rider Haggard
... the suspect was out of the door, on the pavement, when they closed on him. At the touch of Cassidy's big hand upon his shoulder he spun round, staring at them with wide-open, startled eyes. Above his scraggy beard his face was dappled white and red in patches, and under the mottled ...
— From Place to Place • Irvin S. Cobb
... what happened after that, Georgina's memory is a blank, save for a confused recollection of being galloped to Banbury Cross on somebody's knee, while a big hand helped her to clang the clapper of a bell far too heavy for her to swing alone. But some dim picture of the kindly face puckered into smiles for her comforting, stayed on in her mind as an object seen through a fog, and thereafter she never ...
— Georgina of the Rainbows • Annie Fellows Johnston
... Trew made appointments with Bulpert and held secret discussions with him, sheltering his words with a broad, big hand, enjoying greatly the sense of management, and, even more, the atmosphere of conspiracy. Bulpert, on his side, began to realize his importance, and treated Praed Street with a condescension that was meant to represent a correct and ...
— Love at Paddington • W. Pett Ridge
... name every officer in the country. But I hadn't much faith in looks, so I was certainly surprised when she pulls out a document with the great seal of the United States on it, and 'William Henry Humble' in a fine, big hand on the back. ...
— The Gentle Grafter • O. Henry
... not say it at all," he returned, heartily, as his big hand seemed to swallow up Fay's little soft fingers. "I will wish you God-speed instead, Lady Redmond. I dare say your cousin, Mr. Huntingdon, will be good enough to let us know how you are if he ever ...
— Wee Wifie • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... writing to me, and I suppose he thought I'd be interested. Of course, I was." She leaned toward him a trifle, a mere swaying of her body, like a lily in a breeze, and impulsively he placed his big hand ...
— Hidden Gold • Wilder Anthony
... leaned still a little more forward, put up one big hand to his cheek, let it drop down to his splendid throat, and kept the fingers inside his soft turn-down collar while he looked into ...
— Bella Donna - A Novel • Robert Hichens
... eyes reassured me. "Not to all strangers," he drawled, swinging his free foot over his horse's neck and settling his bulk on the saddle. One big hand fell, as by accident, over the pan of his long rifle. Watching, without seeming to, I saw his forefinger touch the priming, stealthily, ...
— The Maid-At-Arms • Robert W. Chambers
... had finished his artistic improvements on the front door, the new tenant had begun the transfer of his simple lares and penates in a big hand-propelled pushcart. The initial load consisted in the usual implements of eating, sitting, and sleeping. But the burden of the half-dozen succeeding trips was homogeneous. Clocks. Big clocks, little clocks, old clocks, new clocks, fat clocks, ...
— From a Bench in Our Square • Samuel Hopkins Adams
... tall bridegroom in tweeds tenderly help a little bride in mole-coloured taffeta and sable furs into the waiting car, the horn blew, the engines whirled, a big hand and a little one flourished handkerchiefs out of the window, a white satin shoe danced ridiculously after the wheels, and ...
— The Lady of the Basement Flat • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey
... an end. The Honorable Patrick reached for Mrs. Dougherty's cloak; but that was a matter of action instead of words, and Dougherty's big hand got ...
— The Voice of the City • O. Henry
... my pal now." He struck another match, and flared it, and screened it with his big hand, and showed the light again, and repeated the manoeuvre three times. "That is my pal now—and I have said to him 'No news to-night'; but to-morrow night and the night after, and so on for many nights to come, I shall be out there where ...
— The Dop Doctor • Clotilde Inez Mary Graves
... Fine!" and Skipper Zeb slapped Charley on the shoulder with his big hand and laughed his hearty laugh. "No worries! To-day's to-day and to-morrow's to-morrow! Cast away with plenty o' grub and a snug shelter and berth! Not so bad! Not so bad! That's gettin' out of a fix, now! Half the time a man worries there's nothin' to worry about. ...
— Left on the Labrador - A Tale of Adventure Down North • Dillon Wallace
... when her tears were nearly brimming over, she heard her grandfather say proudly, "Yes, this is Jessie, my little grandchild, Lizzie's little girl," and turning her head she saw him holding out his hand to her, and all was well once more. With granp's big hand holding hers so closely she could not feel that no one heard or cared, and the day looked ...
— The Story of Jessie • Mabel Quiller-Couch
... There's a fine fire on the hearth and the big lamp is stationary. Ephraim can't find fault with us for using that. We'll make out a list of the folks to ask. You, Alfy, shall do the writing, you do write such a fine, big hand. Come on, Molly girl! I'm so glad you begged to stay behind your ...
— Dorothy's House Party • Evelyn Raymond
... it, Mary," said Westonley, as he put his big hand upon the child's head, and then taking up Fraser's letter, he again read it aloud. It described in simple language Gerrard's desperate struggle with the alligator, then went on about his courage and fortitude under agonising pain, ...
— Tom Gerrard - 1904 • Louis Becke
... frank delight, his brown cheeks colored, his eyes sparkled. "Gosh!" said he. "I—like you!" For some time thereafter he remained red and silent, but he kept one big hand in the pocket where lay the gold cigarette case. There was a wordless song in Buddy Briskow's heart, for—he had made a friend. And ...
— Flowing Gold • Rex Beach
... in his great whisper, putting his big hand on my shoulder but making no further attempt to arise, "I'm going to put an end to war—to any sort of war! And all these things that must end. The world is beautiful, life is great and splendid, ...
— In the Days of the Comet • H. G. Wells
... himself and thrusting one big hand behind his back. "It is desperately hard for me to keep my fingers off you now, but if you say another word against Mrs. Leslie, look to yourself. Shackleby, you have heard him; now for the woman's sake listen to me. I have never wronged your wife by thought ...
— Thurston of Orchard Valley • Harold Bindloss
... his big hand to the hilt of his sword. "Patter an Ave quickly," he growled, "ere I slay you with the sight ...
— The God of Love • Justin Huntly McCarthy
... lad, sleep well;" and the big hand rested on the boy's shoulder to comfort him with its touch, but the man's face was turned with a straining expression towards the exit which he had last inspected, for it seemed to him that he had seen a streak of light, ...
— In Search of the Okapi - A Story of Adventure in Central Africa • Ernest Glanville
... one big hand against the crumpled list. "That butter churn of Mulford's. By God, I saw it! Same brand, same color. Even had scratches around the base where that old cat of his ...
— The Invaders • Benjamin Ferris
... clock. It was twenty-five minutes past five. He knew how to tell twelve o'clock and ten minutes to ten, but he had never got as far as twenty-five minutes past five; he could easily see, however, that the big hand was almost on top of the little hand. He edged away further from the wooden figure on the box; he was almost sure that the hand which held the cigars moved ...
— The Old Tobacco Shop - A True Account of What Befell a Little Boy in Search of Adventure • William Bowen
... enjoying yourself, my lass," he had said in his cheery voice, laying a big hand in tender caress ...
— The Farringdons • Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler
... Mr. Isaac Shelby," said Tom, putting a big hand into Mr. Shelby's bigger one. "I reckon I won't soon forget how you stepped out of ranks and tuk command when the boys was ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... big hand had grasped him again and had shown him to two long-legged creatures who he had guessed were human children, because they looked much as his mother had described them in one of her favorite lullaby coos. He had not ...
— Chico: the Story of a Homing Pigeon • Lucy M. Blanchard
... it," snapped Hiram, with comprehensive sweep of his big hand. He kicked the alligator into the fireplace, took down his overcoat and shrugged his shoulders into it. "Get your money counted and come 'round to town office for ...
— The Skipper and the Skipped - Being the Shore Log of Cap'n Aaron Sproul • Holman Day
... she said, patting his big hand. "Casey's a man. You will like him. Look away out there where the dust is rising! Aren't those men on horseback? Yes, they are. It must be Casey coming home." Her pleasure was ...
— Desert Conquest - or, Precious Waters • A. M. Chisholm
... she lifted up her head and looked him dumbly in the face,—dumbly, yet imploring a word of hope or comfort,—and it was more than the soft-hearted Scot could bear. "Major," said he, as he gently laid a big hand upon the black and tangled wealth of hair, "that lad in yonder would have been beyond the ken of civilization days ago if it hadn't been for this little savage. I'm thinking he'll sleep none the worse for her watching ...
— An Apache Princess - A Tale of the Indian Frontier • Charles King
... Hooper came straight to Bill, thrust out his big hand to grasp that of the smiling boy and in the other hand was held the bills of the wager, which he ...
— Radio Boys Cronies • Wayne Whipple and S. F. Aaron
... my dear," hiccoughed one, laying his big hand on Kate's shoulder, "you musn't run away, you know. By George! you're a pretty girl! ...
— Kate Danton, or, Captain Danton's Daughters - A Novel • May Agnes Fleming
... not very well know what was going to befall him, but he did not feel unsafe with John Farden, and besides, his lank frame was in the grasp of that big hand like a mouse in the power of a mastiff. So he let himself be hauled down the ladder, into an empty stall, where, behold, there was a dark lantern (which had been at bad work in its time), a pail, a brush, a bit of soap, and a ...
— Friarswood Post-Office • Charlotte M. Yonge
... the skipper as he spoke, and feeling that he was called upon to answer, the sturdy captain shook his head and brought his big hand down ...
— The Ocean Cat's Paw - The Story of a Strange Cruise • George Manville Fenn
... imagination to exploring all sorts of roseate mysteries. The first time he had ever held her hand—it was inside her muff, one icy December day when he hadn't any gloves on—the memory of the feel of that big hand, and of the timbre of his voice, left her starry-eyed with a new wonder. She dreamed of other caresses; of wonderful things that he should say to her and she should ...
— The Real Adventure • Henry Kitchell Webster
... such a big hand for, Pat?" "Why, you see my grandmother is dafe, and I'm writing a loud letter ...
— The New Pun Book • Thomas A. Brown and Thomas Joseph Carey
... big hand closed over David's little one, and the foreman smiled, but he didn't say anything, either. He waited ...
— The Doers • William John Hopkins
... forgetting everything for the sake of the one egg; and Rikki-tikki saw Teddy's father shoot out a big hand, catch Teddy by the shoulder, and drag him across the little table with the tea-cups, safe and out of reach ...
— The Kipling Reader - Selections from the Books of Rudyard Kipling • Rudyard Kipling
... murmur of beauty met them; and, as plainly as though the darkness had lifted into a blaze of light, the secretary at once realized that he stood in the presence of something greater than all he had hitherto known in this world. He had managed to find the clergyman's big hand, and he held it tightly through a twisted corner of his voluminous robe. The inner door next closed behind them. Skale, he was aware, had again stooped in the darkness to ...
— The Human Chord • Algernon Blackwood
... Marche-a-Terre, putting out his big hand nevertheless, as if to weigh the gold chain which hung round her neck and below ...
— The Chouans • Honore de Balzac
... dog hurt, sir?" and she stepped close to Oliver and laid her big hand on the dog's head, as it lay nestling close to ...
— The Fortunes of Oliver Horn • F. Hopkinson Smith
... perform—the sacrifice must be offered. But even the high priest, it would seem, must have been not above personal resentment. Sacrilege had been done—a fist had smashed again and again into the holy one's face. This it must have been that made him pause, that brought one big hand up in a grip of ...
— Two Thousand Miles Below • Charles Willard Diffin
... I am left now to work it out, to stick to the tasks that held me so strongly when my moments came. You say, I have success—this vulgar, tawdry, irksome, envied thing. I have it." He had a walnut in his big hand. "If that was my success," he said, and crushed it, and held it out ...
— The Door in the Wall And Other Stories • H. G. Wells
... of skepticism hovered about his full lips, as he raised his eyes to the girl's face, but the look of determination, of confidence that he met put his doubts to flight. "I believe you can do it, if any man can," and he put his big hand on her slight shoulders, as much as to say, "I'm behind you; ...
— Thoroughbreds • W. A. Fraser |
