"Untying" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... child?" The elephant, which was standing by, seemed aware of the subject of the conversation, and kept eyeing the keeper, who had on a bulky waist-cloth; and no sooner had he uttered these words than the animal threw his trunk round him, and untying the waist-cloth, a quantity of rice fell to ...
— Stories of Animal Sagacity • W.H.G. Kingston
... afterwards, beginning from the 14th of Kartik, comes the Diwali festival. In Betul the bridal couple are seated in the centre of a square made of four plough yokes, while a leaf of the pipal tree and a piece of turmeric are tied by a string round both their wrists. The untying of the string by the local Brahman constitutes the essential and binding portion of the marriage. Among the Lonhare subcaste a curious ceremony is performed after the wedding. A swing is made, and ...
— The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India - Volume IV of IV - Kumhar-Yemkala • R.V. Russell
... said Abner, untying the strings which held him to the bags. "Old Deacon has done very well this time; ...
— Dotty Dimple at Her Grandmother's • Sophie May
... a long time now—much longer than it has taken me to tell of it. The moon path was of course altered, but it didn't make much matter. The Queen ordered them all to take to their horses, and giving Milly a kiss on her rosy lips, she clambered down and untying the lady birds from the strings of the night-cap got into her sleigh. She cracked her musquito-leg whip, away went the lady birds and they passed through the window—how, I don't know, but I'm sure I saw them do it. The Queen saw me again as ...
— Seven Little People and their Friends • Horace Elisha Scudder
... blowing into the lungs of the calf; by holding the breath we produce the same result as by tying up the windpipe—that is to say, we keep the lungs in a state of expansion; and by releasing the breath we are, as it were, untying the windpipe, leaving the lungs to dwindle down gradually to ...
— The Mechanism of the Human Voice • Emil Behnke
... the problem at length, but were not equal to it. So the modus vivendi was stretched a rope's length, and the treachery clause expanded to include any untying or attempted untying before their arrival at Murguia's. Scrupulously simultaneous, they arose, found their pistols, and mounted their horses. To guard against any sudden varying in rapidity of travel and its consequences, each wrapped the ...
— The Missourian • Eugene P. (Eugene Percy) Lyle
... the five principal parts just indicated—introduction, rise or tying of the knot, climax, fall or untying of the knot, and denouement—there are three other elements or factors that need to be pointed out. The first is the cause or exciting impulse of the dramatic action, and naturally stands between ...
— Elementary Guide to Literary Criticism • F. V. N. Painter
... raised his garment, and, untying a deep red sash, with which his nether clothes were fastened, he presented it to Pao-y. "This sash," he remarked, "is an article brought as tribute from the Queen of the Hsi Hsiang Kingdom. If you attach this round you ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book II • Cao Xueqin
... a little exclamation of pleasure from Rose, who had just discovered a small white parcel at her plate. She was untying it with eager fingers, while her colour came and went. A card fluttered out, face upward. "To my dear Rose, with love from Aunt Francesca," was written ...
— Old Rose and Silver • Myrtle Reed
... some pieces of spar and petrifactions which Helen had acquired on an expedition to Matlock with the Stauntons. The book-shelf, however, was to Anne the most attractive object in the room; and whilst Helen was untying the strings of her portfolio, she went ...
— Abbeychurch - or, Self-Control and Self-Conceit • Charlotte M. Yonge
... the Plot: tis extreme[ly] elaborate; and yet, withal, easy. For the [Greek: desis], or Untying of it: 'tis so admirable, that, when it is done, no one of the audience would think the Poet could have missed it; and yet, it was concealed so much before the last Scene, that any other way would sooner ...
— An English Garner - Critical Essays & Literary Fragments • Edited by Professor Arber and Thomas Seccombe
... taking a good deal of trouble for a very small and not very useful portion of the population of the country: and it is not to be wondered at that many citizens, and not a few Congressmen, are much disposed to cut the knot instead of untying it, and summarily dismiss the Indian as the subject of peculiar consideration, by enfranchising him, not for any good it may do to him, but for the relief ...
— The Indian Question (1874) • Francis A. Walker
... stay in the water long, before he was quite well done, and as hard as a brick all the way through; so, untying the rag, he jumped out of the kettle as tough and as bright as any ...
— Denslow's Humpty Dumpty • William Wallace Denslow
... across the dry grass to where a little black mule, not much larger than a goat, was standing. Beck greeted her with a bray astonishing for one of her size, and a switch with her rope of a tail. Unheeding the cheerful greeting, Religion gave all her attention to untying the halter, and soon they were going along the sandy road ...
— Shapes that Haunt the Dusk • Various
... Benjamin was occupied in untying his bag of dollars, and did not observe the approach of the magistrate, while Natty turned his face, in which every muscle was working, away from him in disgust, without answering. Rather encouraged than daunted by this exhibition of dislike, ...
— The Pioneers • James Fenimore Cooper
... as if she carried a burden on her back. Mandy was on her knees before the hamper, untying the rosy packages. ...
— The Trumpeter Swan • Temple Bailey
... Wise, having carefully wrung out her dishcloth, poured out the water and swept the little sink, was slowly untying her kitchen apron, full of a thankful sense of the quiet hour before her wherein to knit and muse beside the front window ...
— The Panchronicon • Harold Steele Mackaye
... drank some home-made elderberry wine and told briefly of the fire. Of the more serious part of the night's experience, of course, we said nothing. But when at last we had left the family on the porch and the good doctor was untying our steed, I asked him the same question I had put to ...
— The Circular Staircase • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... annoying habit of eating one another's head-ropes reciprocally. When this happens you find chains if you can, and then they eat the framework of the stall. If you come up to protest, they pretend to be asleep, and eat your arm as you pass. They also have a playful way of untying their breast-pads and standing on them, and if you are conscientious, you can amuse yourself by rescuing these articles from ...
— In the Ranks of the C.I.V. • Erskine Childers
... Untying their horses, Pontiac and his companion turned them up the slope leading to the stream above the waterfall. Here the pair consulted for some time. What was said neither White Buffalo nor those with him could make out. ...
— On the Trail of Pontiac • Edward Stratemeyer
... winning Of a kiss at Love's beginning, When two mutual hearts are sighing For the knot there's no untying! ...
— The Home Book of Verse, Vol. 2 (of 4) • Various
... him and found a colt tied, outside a door, on the street. As they untied it, some of the men standing there said, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" The disciples answered as Jesus had told them, and the men let them take it. When they had brought it to Jesus, they threw their cloaks upon it, and he mounted it. Many also spread their clothes on the road, ...
— The Children's Bible • Henry A. Sherman
... much, brains to speak of," said he, "but if I did happen to blow out what little I may have, it would be the easiest settlement of the difficulty. It would be cutting the knot, instead of attempting the impossible task of untying it. Nobody would blame me. Everybody would mourn for me, and, above all, four tender female hearts would feel a pang of sorrow for my untimely fate. By all four I should be not cursed, but canonized. Only one class would suffer, and those would be welcome to their agonies. I allude, of course, ...
— The Lady of the Ice - A Novel • James De Mille
... fluted tiles, and close by was a small outhouse, apparently built up against a piece of ruined stone wall. Under a large half-dead mulberry-tree that was now sending its last fluttering leaves in at the open doorways, a shrivelled, hardy old woman was untying a goat with two kids, and Baldassarre could see that part of the outbuilding was occupied by live stock; but the door of the other part was open, and it was empty of everything but some tools and straw. ...
— Romola • George Eliot
... them. Nevertheless I must not flinch from my task here, for I think that this particular point forms perhaps the vital knot of the present philosophic situation, and I imagine that the times are ripe, or almost ripe, for a serious attempt to be made at its untying. ...
— A Pluralistic Universe - Hibbert Lectures at Manchester College on the - Present Situation in Philosophy • William James
... speak of you so often that I feel as though I were well acquainted with you," she said, untying the girl's bonnet and removing ...
— Kidnapped at the Altar - or, The Romance of that Saucy Jessie Bain • Laura Jean Libbey
... she replied, untying the red tape with trembling fingers. 'Here is the certificate of marriage which my poor Annie gave me on her dying bed. I would have shown it before to all Beorminster had I known of Mrs Pansey's false reports. Look at it, bishop.' She thrust it into ...
— The Bishop's Secret • Fergus Hume
... Dolor was unhappy. If you had seen him as he sat patiently untying his wonderful cloak, which was done up in a very tight parcel, using his deft little hands, and knitting his brows with determination, while his eyes glistened with pleasure, you might ...
— The Little Lame Prince - Rewritten for Young Readers by Margaret Waters • Dinah Maria Mulock
... the king. The peasant stepped to the table. After deliberately untying the string of the gray linen bag, he turned it upside down, and poured out the contents. The queen uttered an exclamation of surprise, and the king himself was unable to suppress his astonishment; for gold-piece after gold-piece rolled from ...
— Napoleon and the Queen of Prussia • L. Muhlbach
... the house on that side, at which were moored several boats belonging to the fishermen about. It was as she thought; a stooping figure, dim and hazy in the morning fog, which blurred the nearest outlines and veiled the more distant, was untying one of the boats, and had slipped the oars into ...
— A Christmas Accident and Other Stories • Annie Eliot Trumbull
... lurking-places, from which when you have escaped, you will have gained nothing except that you will have freed yourself from difficulties with which you need never have hampered yourself. What is the use of laboriously untying knots which you yourself have tied, in order that you might untie them? Yet, just as some knots are tied in fun and for amusement, so that a tyro may find difficulty in untying them, which knots he who tied them can loose without any trouble, because he knows the joinings and the difficulties of ...
— L. Annaeus Seneca On Benefits • Seneca
... thundering sea. Boats couldn't live. They smashed two and lost both crews. Four sailors volunteered in succession to carry a light line ashore. And each man, in turn, dead at the end of it, was hauled back on board. While they were untying the last one, Graham, with an arm like a leg, stripped for it and went to it. And he did it, although the pounding he got on the sand broke his bad arm and staved in three ribs. But he made the line fast before he quit. ...
— The Little Lady of the Big House • Jack London
... hand-bag from the floor, and placed it on the table before him. The exertion brought on a spasm of coughing. When he had recovered from this, he drew an old wallet from his pocket and took from it a key, with which he unlocked the satchel. Then, drawing forth a package and untying and unrolling it, he shook it out and held it up for Robert Burnham to look at. It was a little flannel cloak. It had once been white, but it was sadly stained and soiled now. The delicate ribbons that had ornamented it were completely faded, and ...
— Burnham Breaker • Homer Greene
... stopped and commenced untying the thongs which secured the mysterious parcel, and exposed to the delighted eyes of Mike—his ...
— Afar in the Forest • W.H.G. Kingston
... the water was not above their knees. They could see the low shore now at a distance of but a few hundred yards ahead, and untying the ropes under their arms they let the spar drift on, and waded forward until they reached the land. There was a long mud bank yet to cross, and exhausted as they were it took them a long time to do this; ...
— By England's Aid or The Freeing of the Netherlands (1585-1604) • G.A. Henty
... left old John Sedley in a great state of agitation and excitement. His daughter could not induce him to settle down to his customary occupations or amusements that night. He passed the evening fumbling amongst his boxes and desks, untying his papers with trembling hands, and sorting and arranging them against Jos's arrival. He had them in the greatest order—his tapes and his files, his receipts, and his letters with lawyers and correspondents; the documents relative to the wine project (which failed from a ...
— Vanity Fair • William Makepeace Thackeray
... scarf pins, &c. Some were in their cases, while the others were tied up with tape in pieces of newspaper folded in two. Raskolnikoff did not hesitate, he laid hands on these jewels, and stowed them away in the pockets of his coat and trousers, without opening the cases or untying the packets; but he was ...
— The Continental Classics, Volume XVIII., Mystery Tales • Various
... Hastily untying their canoes from the roots of the tree, Ned and Randy paddled away in the darkness, leaving Clay and Nugget to make ...
— Canoe Boys and Campfires - Adventures on Winding Waters • William Murray Graydon
... obliged my brother to turn the mill thus all night. About break of day he left him without untying him, and went to his wife's chamber. Bacbouc continued there for some time, and at last the young slave came and untied him. "Ah!" said the treacherous wretch, "how my mistress and I pitied you! We had no hand in this ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Complete • Anonymous
... and only gave me one long speech, recounting the miraculous preservation of Artaspe and Spiridate, sons of King Artaserse and lovers of the two ladies; the treachery, discovery, and violent end of Dario—in fact, the untying of the knot firmly twisted in the third act. The audience paid visits, talked, laughed, played faro, so far as I could learn, throughout the play. Nor do I wonder at it, for not the finest acting in the world could have galvanised into life any one link of its dreary chain. When the curtain ...
— The Fool Errant • Maurice Hewlett
... apprehensions. They then came near enough, to take some beads and nails, which were tied to a piece of wood, and thrown into the canoe. They seemed afraid to touch these things, and put the piece of wood aside without untying them. This, however, might arise from superstition; for Omai told us, that when they saw us offering them presents, they asked something for their Eatooa, or god. He also, perhaps improperly, put the question to ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 15 (of 18) • Robert Kerr
... incidents. Care must, likewise, be taken, that the hints, made use of to introduce the incidents, are not too strong, that the spectator may enjoy the pleasure of finding out their meaning; but commonly the weak place in our comedy is the untying of the plot, in which we almost always fail, on account of the difficulty which there is in disentangling of what has been perplexed. To perplex an intrigue is easy; the imagination does it by itself; but it must be disentangled merely ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes - Volume V: Miscellaneous Pieces • Samuel Johnson
... was getting into his boat and untying the painter that had moored it to a bush. Even then we had to wait before coming back to life, for he sat still a minute or two, with his hands on the sculls, and looked our way, as if he were gazing at us. Of course we ...
— The Lightning Conductor Discovers America • C. N. (Charles Norris) Williamson and A. M. (Alice Muriel)
... dramatic plot is the working plan by which the story is made to lead up to the crisis (or complication, or cross-roads of choice), and then swiftly down to the outcome (or unfolding of the mystery, or untying of the knot, or ...
— Writing the Photoplay • J. Berg Esenwein and Arthur Leeds
... better man and not led away against his higher nature by the chance of falling in with bad companions. Aunt Jane thought her resemblance to Chris's aunt a remarkable coincidence and an opportunity for appealing to his better self which should be improved. She wanted to improve it by untying his hands, because he had sprained his wrist in his childhood and it was sensitive. He had sprained it in rescuing a little companion from drowning, the child of a drunkard who had unfeelingly thrown his offspring down a well. This episode had been an example to Chris which had kept ...
— Spanish Doubloons • Camilla Kenyon
... because it was after sundown?" Resolutely curbing the desire to dart fearful glances to the right, and to the left, and behind her, she kept her face to the front, and plunged into the woods following the little creek. A few minutes later she gained the trail, and untying the buckskin, mounted and headed him toward the scattering lights of ...
— Prairie Flowers • James B. Hendryx
... Dickson disappeared in the tent; and then came a yell of horror that made every man jump for the tent, just as Dickson staggered out with a squirming bundle in his arms, that he quickly laid down on the ground and began frantically untying the deerskin thongs with ...
— The Cave of Gold - A Tale of California in '49 • Everett McNeil
... now seated themselves on a tombstone, and Old Mortality untying the bundle of extracts, laid them down in loose compact; then taking up the first, and reading the superscription, shewing for what newspaper it was intended, he reversed it on the tombstone.—"This," said he, "is for "The Times, British Press, ...
— Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. • Pierce Egan
... lying bound alone in the semi-dark, and Evan submitted. Aunt Liza made very sure that he could not see under the bandage over his eyes. Then untying the knots that bound his ankles, she helped him to his feet, and steered him out through the door. Placing his foot on the bottom step she bade him mount the stairs. At the top she led him towards the front of the building and through ...
— The Deaves Affair • Hulbert Footner
... ran over, untying the animal, which uttered a whinny of recognition. In saddle, Tom ...
— The Young Engineers in Colorado • H. Irving Hancock
... a contest between ladies of the 19th century for a rock crystal vase which belonged to Niccolo Niccoli,' Andrea explained with solemnity; 'a vase, on which is engraved the Trojan Anchises untying one of the sandals of Venus Aphrodite. The entertainment will be given gratis, at one o'clock to-morrow afternoon, in the Public Sale-rooms of the Via Sistina. Contending parties—the Princess of Ferentino, the Duchess of Scerni and the ...
— The Child of Pleasure • Gabriele D'Annunzio
... as she climbed in. "Never mind about untying 'em, Alf; cut the laces and get 'em ...
— Ship's Company, The Entire Collection • W.W. Jacobs
... take one, Arthur; I was just reading it when—" She did not finish the sentence, but began hastily untying the parcel to get the book, while her brother rang the bell, and ordered a cab "for ...
— Fan • Henry Harford
... here just now," pursued Marfa Timofyevna, tying and untying the tassels of her reticule. "She was not quite well. Shurotchka, where are you? Come here, my girl; why can't you sit still a little? My head aches too. It must be the effect of the ...
— A House of Gentlefolk • Ivan Turgenev
... of the cause, there was something in the sound that denoted danger; and, instinctively influenced by this idea, the young officer rose from his seat upon the log; and, untying his horse, leaped into the saddle. It was not with the intention of moving away from the spot—for the moon was not visible as yet—but with the knowledge that on horseback he would be the better prepared ...
— The Tiger Hunter • Mayne Reid
... same agreeable manner as his predecessors, "without the untying of purse-strings." Perhaps he used the purse's contents for the more pressing claim of the great Palace of which he built so large a part; perhaps he handed it, still filled, to Innocent VI who built the famous fortifications of Avignon and protected himself against the marauding "White Companies," ...
— Cathedrals and Cloisters of the South of France, Volume 1 • Elise Whitlock Rose
... would have to do. Jim now spoke up in his joking way and said, "They will find enough to do before we get to California. For example I will show you what Will and his scouts have done on our last trip across." At the same time he was untying the sack that held the Indian scalps we had taken on our last trip to California. When he emptied the sack it was amusing to us to see their faces. Their first expression was of surprise, and the next was of horror. Jim took up one of the scalps and shook it out and said, "Taking these is ...
— Chief of Scouts • W.F. Drannan
... some water standing on a table, and the dowager poured out a tumblerful and drank it, though not accustomed to the beverage. Untying her bonnet-strings she sat ...
— Elster's Folly • Mrs. Henry Wood
... now," said Lucy, soothingly. Slowly she reached a hand toward his head. He drew it back as far as he could. She stepped around, closer, and more back of him, and put a hand on him, gently, for an instant. Then she slipped out of the brush and, untying one lasso from the pommel, she returned to the horse and pulled it from round his legs. He was free now, except the hackamore, and that rope was slack. Lucy stood near him, watching him, talking to him, waiting for him to get up. She could ...
— Wildfire • Zane Grey
... and spelling-book," Madeline replied, untying and throwing off her bonnet, in the vain hope that it might bring relief to her poor, giddy head, which throbbed so fearfully that all her ideas seemed for the ...
— Aikenside • Mary J. Holmes
... watery light showed itself through the bare branches. Petya shook himself, jumped up, took a ruble from his pocket and gave it to Likhachev; then he flourished the saber, tested it, and sheathed it. The Cossacks were untying their horses and tightening ...
— War and Peace • Leo Tolstoy
... on the stick. Around the dog's neck was tied a cravat of dirty buck-skin. Untying and opening it, Frank found the inner surface covered with writing, evidently traced in berry-juice with a quill or a stick. ...
— Captured by the Navajos • Charles A. Curtis
... was above stairs untying her glove, Rachel slipped into the parlor, took a small silver cup from the beaufet, and clapped it into her pocket. Sally ran down lamenting that she had lost her sixpence, which she verily believed was owing to her having put it into a left glove, instead of a right one. Rachel comforted ...
— Stories for the Young - Or, Cheap Repository Tracts: Entertaining, Moral, and Religious. Vol. VI. • Hannah More
... this adventure upon himself is that he cannot pass a volume which is tied with a string. He spends his days and Saturday nights in tying and untying books with broken covers. Even the evidence of a clearly-lettered title upon the back fails to satisfy him. He is restless until he has made a thorough search in the ...
— The Bibliotaph - and Other People • Leon H. Vincent
... of you," the Kid comforted. "I'll give you a doughnut if you're hungry. I've got some left, but you'll have to pick out the glass where the jelly broke on it." He reined closer to the bank and slid off and began untying the sadly depleted bag from behind the cantle. Miss Allen offered to do it for him, and was beautifully snubbed. The Kid may have been just a frightened, lost little boy before he met her—but that was a secret hidden in the silences of the ...
— The Flying U's Last Stand • B. M. Bower
... had spoken his name, softly and without embarrassment. With her nervous fingers tying and untying the two corners of a little handkerchief in her lap, she went on, after a moment of silence in which the ticking of Keok's clock seemed tense ...
— The Alaskan • James Oliver Curwood
... Untying the cane, she raised it in the air, and threw it with all the force she could command into the ...
— Infelice • Augusta Jane Evans Wilson
... women on board—a rough enough creature, Heaven knows! in common weather; but her stifled sobs showed that the mournful sight had stirred up all the woman within her. She had opened the bosom of the poor boy's shirt, and untying the riband that fastened a small gold crucifix round his neck, she placed it in his cold hand. The young midshipman was of a respectable family in Limerick, her native place, and a Catholic—another strand of the cord that bound her to him. When the ...
— Tom Cringle's Log • Michael Scott
... uninviting to Europeans, they went for a walk till about ten o'clock. Finding large numbers of people assembling in an open space near a large building they rejoined the king, taking off their hats and untying their hair, "that we might appear the more decent" in the eyes of the natives. The proceedings consisted of marching of men laden with yams tied on to sticks, of considerable speech-making, and various performances ...
— The Life of Captain James Cook • Arthur Kitson
... Linden, not well knowing what to say; and Mr. Brown, untying a silk handkerchief, produced three shirts, two pots of pomatum, a tobacco canister with a German pipe, four pair of silk stockings, two gold seals, three rings, and ...
— The Disowned, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... began to look quite interested, and, untying the strings of her bonnet, exclaimed, "Dear ...
— The Garies and Their Friends • Frank J. Webb
... Eberhardt, with an apology for the necessity of his actions, had bound them. Chester, after sleeping for perhaps an hour, had roused up, and, by holding his hands over the blaze, had loosened the knot that bound them. Then quickly untying his feet, he had relieved the German officer of his weapons, and in turn had bound and gagged him. He was just approaching Hal when the ...
— The Boy Allies in the Trenches - Midst Shot and Shell Along the Aisne • Clair Wallace Hayes
... Quarto, Octavo, Duodecimo, etc., with their respective notes to little purpose; for these annotators upon matters of no difficulty, are so tedious, that you can't get rid of their enlargements without sleeping, but at any real knot are too modest to interrupt any man's Curiosity in the untying of it. After so many years, I say, it happened upon the taking of Belgrade this author was made entire; made so because the new is suspected to be illegitimate: But it has so many features of the lawful father, that he was at least thought of when 'twas got. Now the story's made out, the character ...
— The Satyricon • Petronius Arbiter
... would not go to the window, or she might have seen him; she longed to do so, but it appeared so undignified. She sat quite still in her chair; but she heard his quick step at the hail door; she was sure—she could have sworn to his step—and then she heard the untying of cords, and pulling down of luggage. Lord Ballindine was again in the house, and the dearest wish of her ...
— The Kellys and the O'Kellys • Anthony Trollope
... man proceeded to open the bag. He took out a parcel wrapped loosely in brown paper, and about the size of a large book. It was tied with string, and the man seemed unnecessarily long untying the knot. When at last the string was off and the paper unfolded, there appeared a series of smaller packages inside. The man took them out very carefully, almost as if they had been alive, Blake thought, and set them in a row upon his knees. They were dollar bills. Blake, all in a flutter, craned ...
— The Empty House And Other Ghost Stories • Algernon Blackwood
... Man seemed very much encouraged. He stopped untying the black velvet ribbon from his leg. He ...
— Fairy Prince and Other Stories • Eleanor Hallowell Abbott
... Liza was here just now,"—went on Marfa Timofeevna, tying and untying the cords of her reticule. "She is not quite well. Schurotchka, where art thou? Come hither, my mother, why canst thou not sit still? And I have a headache. It must be from that—from the singing and from ...
— A Nobleman's Nest • Ivan Turgenieff
... Untying the long tasseled strings that bound a small brown buckskin bag, my mother spread upon a mat beside her bunches of colored beads, just as an artist arranges the paints upon his palette. On a lapboard she smoothed out a double sheet of soft white buckskin; and drawing from a beaded case that ...
— American Indian stories • Zitkala-Sa
... silence as she stood at such moments, lifting her shawl from her head to listen; then she went on. She knew where a boat had by chance been left that day; it was a small rough boat, lying close under the roots of a pine tree, and tied to its trunk. In this she bestowed her bundle, and untying the string, pushed from the shore. She could hardly see the opposite side of the little Ahwewee in the darkness; she rowed at once into the midst of its rapid current; once there, she dipped her oars to steer rather than to propel. ...
— The Zeit-Geist • Lily Dougall
... Molly, quickly. She was untying the bonnet, and taking off the worn, but neatly mended gloves; there was the soft luxuriant black hair, shading the pale, innocent face,—the little notable-looking brown hands, with the wedding-ring for sole ornament. The child ...
— Wives and Daughters • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
... so touched by this thoughtfulness on her sister's part, that she was a long time in untying the cord. She did not want to look up just then, for her ...
— 'Our guy' - or, The elder brother • Mrs. E. E. Boyd
... just, his little mannerisms, his fads, his ways, are what mostly endear him to us. The man of lavish liberality is all the more lovable if he has an intense dislike to cutting the string of a parcel, and loves to fill his drawers with little hanks of twine, the untying of which stands for many wasted hours. If we know a man to be simple-minded, forbearing, and conscientious, we like him all the better when he tells for the fiftieth time an ancient story, prefacing it by anxious inquiries, which are smilingly rebutted, ...
— From a College Window • Arthur Christopher Benson
... dollars and a quarter expected to do so much? Aunt Izzie must have been a witch, indeed, to make it hold out. But she did, and next day all the precious bundles came home. How Katy enjoyed untying the strings! ...
— What Katy Did • Susan Coolidge
... the other. Being brought uniformly before unjust tribunals—that is, tribunals corrupted and bribed by their own vanity—it is not wonderful that this great question should have been stifled and overlaid with peremptory decrees, dogmatically cutting the knot rather than skilfully untying it, as often as it has been moved afresh, and put upon the roll for a re-hearing. It is no mystery to those who are in the secret, and who can lay A and B together, why it should have happened that the most interesting of all literary questions, and ...
— The Uncollected Writings of Thomas de Quincey—Vol. 1 - With a Preface and Annotations by James Hogg • Thomas de Quincey
... soul-stirring strains, and urged every one to do their best to find the missing Princess. In the night she had been taken away, while the Prince and everybody were asleep. "And now," said the Queen, untying her scarf, and holding it up, "away with you, every one! Search every house, garden, mountain, and plain, in the land, and the first one who comes to me with news of the Princess Aufalia, shall wear my scarf!" ...
— Ting-a-ling • Frank Richard Stockton
... beating heart that Dick Morrison ran out of the house, down the front steps, and hastily untying the horse, jumped into the buggy and was off like ...
— Dick the Bank Boy - Or, A Missing Fortune • Frank V. Webster
... bights seized to the standing part (Fig. 76). This is particularly well adapted to heavy rope or where a shortening must be made quickly. Fig. 77 shows another very simple shortening, which requires no description. This will not withstand a very great strain but is secure from untying by accident and is very useful for taking up spare rope of lashings on bundles or baggage. "Sheepshanks," or "Dogshanks," are widely used for shortening rope, especially where both ends are fast, as they can be readily made in the centre of a tied rope. There are ...
— Knots, Splices and Rope Work • A. Hyatt Verrill
... father, who was dying, called his seven sons around his bed, and showed them a bundle of small sticks tied together, and asked each one to try to break all the sticks at once, without untying the bundle. ...
— Parker's Second Reader • Richard G. Parker
... Carroll, untying the packet. There were three or four closely written notes in Spanish ...
— Maruja • Bret Harte
... his entertainment by Aeolus, of whom he received a fair wind for the present, and all the rest of the winds tied up in a bag; which his men untying, flew out, and carried him back to Aeolus, who refused to receive him. His adventure at Laestrygonia with Antiphates, where of twelve ships he lost eleven, men and all. How he went thence to the Isle of Aea, where half of ...
— DONE INTO ENGLISH PROSE • S. H. BUTCHER, M.A.
... care—I don't care!" he moaned, and desperately set about untying his left boot to get at the other fifty. "The devil will toss me into the flames on his three-pronged fork for this night's work, I know! But perhaps I shall win yet, and then I'll get a wife to sit up with me o' nights, ...
— The Return of the Native • Thomas Hardy
... same system on this occasion as when counting the days of traditional ceremonies, that is by the tying and untying of knots in ...
— My Friends the Savages - Notes and Observations of a Perak settler (Malay Peninsula) • Giovanni Battista Cerruti
... Sergeant Troy. I am staying in this place.—There! it is undone at last, you see. Your light fingers were more eager than mine. I wish it had been the knot of knots, which there's no untying!" ...
— Far from the Madding Crowd • Thomas Hardy
... Anne. They were assembled on the green plot outside the churchyard-gate, dressed in their common clothes, and the sergeant who had been putting them through their drill was the man who nailed up the proclamation. He was now engaged in untying a canvas money-bag, from which he drew forth a handful of shillings, giving one to each man ...
— The Trumpet-Major • Thomas Hardy
... if the latter were there they were under more old clothes, even worse than those the Christmas saint was wearing. Santa Claus hurriedly pawed over the upper layer and then took out a little package wrapped in tissue paper. Untying the string, he exposed a small pasteboard box and from this box he lifted some ...
— Thankful's Inheritance • Joseph C. Lincoln
... the lantern and sat down on the steps waiting for the boy. From the corral back of the store came the sound of trampling hoofs and an occasional word from Young Pete, who seemed to be a long time at the simple task of untying a drag-rope. The store-keeper grew suspicious and finally strode back to the corral. His first intimation of Pete's real intent was a glimpse of the boy astride the big bay and blinking in the rays ...
— The Ridin' Kid from Powder River • Henry Herbert Knibbs
... careful in ordering each Protasis or Entrance, Epitasis or working up, Catastasis or heighth, and Catastrophe or unravelling the Plot; which last he was famous for making it spring necessarily from the Incidents, and neatly and dextrously untying the Knot, whilst others of a grosser make, would either tear, or cut it in pieces. In short (setting aside some few things which we shall mention by and by) Terence may serve for the best and most perfect Model for our Dramatick Poets to imitate, provided they exactly ...
— Prefaces to Terence's Comedies and Plautus's Comedies (1694) • Lawrence Echard
... half asleep yet," he said, untying the horse. "But Jim knows his business all right—don't you, Jim?" patting the long nose ...
— Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz • L. Frank Baum.
... secured each foot in such wise that the knots came in the middle of the tape, and to make untying them absolutely impossible, I drew the two ends of the long ribbon back under the psychic's chair and tacked them securely to the shelf of a bookcase about two feet from the hind legs. To loosen them was entirely out of ...
— The Shadow World • Hamlin Garland
... safely and while Trot was untying the rope Cap'n Bill reached into a crevice of the rock and drew out several tallow candles and a box of wax matches, which he thrust into the capacious pockets of his "sou'wester." This sou'wester was a short coat of oilskin which the old sailor ...
— The Scarecrow of Oz • L. Frank Baum
... fared sumptuously, constantly drinking. He at length reached a point below zero. Half crazed, he staggers off to the fence across the way where the farmers who had come to town to do their shopping on Saturday had hitched their teams, and, untying a horse that was hitched to a buggy, Gus thought he would take a ride. Lumbering into the buggy, as a drunken man can, he drove down the main street of the town in broad daylight and out into the country. In an hour or so the owner getting ready to return, misses his horse ...
— The Twin Hells • John N. Reynolds
... no school. In his latest Sunday-school book, Ralph Overton, the good boy, not only attended school slavishly, so that at thirteen he "could write a good business hand"; but he practised those little tricks of picking up every pin, always untying the string instead of cutting it, keeping his shoes neatly polished and his hands clean, which were, in a simpler day, held to lay the foundations of commercial success in our republic. Besides this, Ralph had to be bright and cheery to every one, to work for his widowed mother after ...
— The Seeker • Harry Leon Wilson
... watched. What was Flibbertigibbet doing? Her fingers were busy untying the piece of red mohair tape with which her heavy braid was fastened in a neat loop. She put it around her apron, tying it fast; then, blousing the blue denim in front to a pouch like a fashion-plate shirt waist, she said in an undertone to ...
— Flamsted quarries • Mary E. Waller
... Mrs. Gorham exchanged glances as Allen busied himself untying a small package he had brought with him. In the girl's face there was deep concern, but Eleanor found it difficult to conceal ...
— The Lever - A Novel • William Dana Orcutt
... yesterday," he said. "Been pricing flats around Morningside. You want to start untying those apron strings and unpinning that cap, ...
— Strictly Business • O. Henry
... note to our chief, and at eight he appeared. I need not dwell upon his surprise as he listened to the full relation of my encounter with Le Moyne, about which and our subsequent difficulty he already knew something. When I quietly told him the rest of the story and, untying the ribbon, laid the dusty package on the table, he became grave. He very evidently did not approve of our method of securing the papers, but whatever he may have felt as to the right or wrong of what we had done was lost in astonishment ...
— A Diplomatic Adventure • S. Weir Mitchell
... bursting into tears, dropping her parcel, and untying her bonnet-strings] Oh, Mr. David, I won't mix the crockery, ...
— The Melting-Pot • Israel Zangwill
... minutes the old man recovered, and untying the narrow coarse cravat which he wore, wiped the ...
— The Poor Scholar - Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of - William Carleton, Volume Three • William Carleton
... in bedraggled fashion in rusty black, wore a common black straw hat and a thick veil; but it seemed to me that the dexterous hands at work untying the bundle were slim and white, and I perceived a pair of hideous cotton gloves lying on the turf beside her. As she threw open the wrappings and lifted out something that looked like a small shrimping-net, I stepped around the bush, crossed ...
— The Devil Doctor • Sax Rohmer
... Murrell had landed and were coming along the path, the outlaw a step or two in advance of his friend. They reached the horses and were untying them when the thicket suddenly disgorged the three men; each held a cocked pistol; two of these pistols covered Murrell and the third was ...
— The Prodigal Judge • Vaughan Kester
... busily untying the sheet he had brought, and spreading out the contents upon the bed, and he did not pause ...
— The Battle Ground • Ellen Glasgow
... brother, continued the barber, thus to turn the mill all night; about break of day he left him, without untying him, and went to his wife's chamber. Bacbouc continued there for some time; and at last the young slave came and untied him. Ah! said the treacherous wretch, how my mistress and I bemoaned you! We had no hand in this wicked trick which her ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Volume 1 • Anonymous
... to look over the papers, which were closely written over in a singular hand, and I read for some time, till at last I said to myself, "It will do". And then I looked at the other bundle for some time, without untying it; and at last I said, "It will do also". And then I turned to the fire, and, putting my feet against the sides of the grate, I leaned back on my chair, and, with my eyes upon the ...
— Lavengro - The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest • George Borrow
... from his pocket. Its seals had already been broken. Untying the strings, he began carefully to unwrap the paper—the thick yellow banking manila, and then the oiled inner wrapping. So finally he opened up the solid mass of—what? He looked closer. Crisp, beautiful, one thousand dollar bills. Whew! He had never seen a bill of this size ...
— Seven Keys to Baldpate • Earl Derr Biggers
... probably economical reason it was usually a woman who was chosen for this particular duty, and Groby gave as his motive in selecting Tess that she was one of those who best combined strength with quickness in untying, and both with staying power, and this may have been true. The hum of the thresher, which prevented speech, increased to a raving whenever the supply of corn fell short of the regular quantity. As Tess and the man who fed could never turn their heads ...
— Tess of the d'Urbervilles - A Pure Woman • Thomas Hardy
... speech he was going off on the points of his toes, intending to slip off to Clifford Hall, and tell his father that both cutting out and untying had proved impossible, but, to his horror, the Colonel emerged from his ambuscade and collared him. Then took place two short ...
— A Perilous Secret • Charles Reade
... determining, That though no part of the child's body should appear,—that baptism shall, nevertheless, be administered to it by injection,—par le moyen d'une petite canulle,—Anglice a squirt.—'Tis very strange that St. Thomas Aquinas, who had so good a mechanical head, both for tying and untying the knots of school-divinity,—should, after so much pains bestowed upon this,—give up the point at last, as a second La chose impossible,—'Infantes in maternis uteris existentes (quoth St. Thomas!) baptizari ...
— The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman • Laurence Sterne
... well-nigh done for him already," said Roberts, quickly untying Eric's hands, round which the cords had been pulled so tight as to leave two blue rings round his wrists. "Poor fellow, poor fellow! it's all over now," he murmured soothingly, as the boy's body fell motionless into his arms, which he hastily stretched to prevent him from ...
— Eric • Frederic William Farrar
... Cap, calmly untying her hat; "this is the first time I ever heard it was impudent in a little girl to give ...
— Hidden Hand • Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
... seated themselves in a shady spot, untying their sun-bonnets and holding their hot and dusty faces towards ...
— The Happy Adventurers • Lydia Miller Middleton
... Cool herself, she imagined the same of him, having good grounds for the delusion; so they passed through the cottage-garden and beneath the low porchway, into her little sitting-room, where she was proceeding to speak composedly of her preference for cottages, while untying her bonnet-strings:—'If I had begun my life in a cottage!'—when really a big storm-wave caught her from shore and whirled her to mid-sea, out of every sensibility but the swimming one of her loss of self in ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... brute!" said the Major, tersely. "I shall not suffer thy cruelties to continue!" As he spoke, he snatched away the bag from its uneasy possessor and applied himself to untying its confining cord. Oppressed by the fear that goes with evil-doing, the man hesitated for a moment before attempting to retrieve what ...
— Lords of the Housetops - Thirteen Cat Tales • Various
... Instead of untying, however, Driggs opened his clasp knife, and cut the cords at Dick's wrists, after which he untied the big handkerchief that had ...
— The Grammar School Boys of Gridley - or, Dick & Co. Start Things Moving • H. Irving Hancock
... time he sprang to his feet and drove the woman out of the lodge. Untying his war-bags he produced a white buffalo-robe and arranged it to sit on. This was next to the bat-skin his strongest protector. When seated on it he lost contact with the earth—he was elevated above all its influences. Having arranged his gun, shield and war-bonnet over certain ...
— The Way of an Indian • Frederic Remington |
