"Instant" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... suddenly sparkled again. In an instant all her woes were forgotten, even her ancestor's flattened nose, and with a merry, hearty laugh ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers
... of the Saulteaux tribe of Indians, having had communication of the treaty hereto annexed, made on the 15th day of September instant, between Her Majesty the Queen and the Cree and Saulteaux Indians and other Indians at Qu'Appelle Lakes, but not having been present at the councils held at the Qu'Appelle Lakes between Her Majesty's Commissioners and the several Indian Chiefs and others therein named, at which the ...
— The Treaties of Canada with The Indians of Manitoba - and the North-West Territories • Alexander Morris
... He had raised an arm to arrest the retreat of the young mariner, and by a natural movement his hand slid along the limb it had grasped, until it held that of Seadrift. The instant he touched the soft and ungloved palm, an idea, as novel as it was sudden, crossed his brain. Retreating a step or two, he examined the light and agile form of the other, from head to feet. The frown ...
— The Water-Witch or, The Skimmer of the Seas • James Fenimore Cooper
... she had kissed Dick flashed across her mind, but in an instant it was gone; and bending her head, she laid her lips to her husband's. It in no way disgusted her to do so; she was glad of the occasion, and was only surprised at the dull and obtuse anxiety she experienced. They then spoke of indifferent things, but the flow of conversation was often ...
— A Mummer's Wife • George Moore
... them, beyond half-formed whispers of endearment: no one came in to molest them: there was work enough and to spare, that night, for all in Scutari. The thought of interruption never crossed Cecil's mind for an instant. Always careless and defiant of conventionality, or the world's opinion, she was tenfold more reckless now. Her head was bent down, and her eyes closed; so that she could not see how the hollows deepened on her lover's face; nor how the pallor of his ...
— Sword and Gown - A Novel • George A. Lawrence
... said Mrs Frog in a wheedling tone, rendered almost desperate by the sudden necessity for instant invention, "but the doctor said I was to ask if baby had got over it, or if 'e was to send round ...
— Dusty Diamonds Cut and Polished - A Tale of City Arab Life and Adventure • R.M. Ballantyne
... few moments to see what all the fuss was about, we saw his spouse in her modest dress of olive green on a low branch. She, too, uttered the cry "chip-chur!" and seemed disturbed by our call. Looking around for the object of their solicitude, our eyes fell at the same instant on the nest. We dared not speak, but an ecstatic glance from my comrade, with a hand laid on her heart to indicate her emotions, announced that our hopes were fulfilled; it was ...
— Little Brothers of the Air • Olive Thorne Miller
... two mischievous eyes looking around the corner of the building. In an instant she had despatched him to clear the room of its horror, and was bringing Dot, a protesting prisoner, ...
— The Wide Awake Girls in Winsted • Katharine Ellis Barrett
... the fashion of thirty years before, and carried an ancient parasol with a deep silk fringe. As she reached the sidewalk she dropped her handkerchief. Standing still a moment, she regarded it with grave displeasure, then tried to take it up on the point of her parasol. In an instant the young doctor had crossed the street, picked up the handkerchief, and offered it to her with a bow and ...
— Geoffrey Strong • Laura E. Richards
... summit of a little knoll, with a pipe between his teeth and his back against a palm-tree, Trent was lounging away an hour of the breathless night. Usually a sound sleeper, the wakefulness, which had pursued him from the instant his head had touched his travelling pillow an hour or so back, was not only an uncommon occurrence, but one which seemed proof against any effort on his part to overcome it. So he had risen and stolen away from the little camp where his companions ...
— A Millionaire of Yesterday • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... narrow stairs laughing and talking. Duncombe and Phyllis came last, and their hands met for an instant behind the ...
— A Maker of History • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... before you go, you must tell me how and when I can see Reuben. I want to see him at the earliest possible moment. Poor fellow! He must not be allowed to feel that his friends have forgotten him even for a single instant." ...
— The Red Thumb Mark • R. Austin Freeman
... Bills, or Prospectuses intended for insertion in our next Monthly Part, must be sent to the Office, 186. Fleet Street, by Friday the 27th instant. ...
— Notes and Queries, 1850.12.21 - A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, - Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. • Various
... of a moment for the young man to make his way through the crowd and confront the woman. The instant her eye fell on him, she exclaimed: "Oh, sir, you will do something for me. Make them release me, for the love of God. My boy, my poor boy is drowning, and they will not let me go." "It would be madness; she will jump into the ...
— Reading Made Easy for Foreigners - Third Reader • John L. Huelshof
... of the General Commanding for the impending operations, and a rough outline of the task which he has allotted to the troops under your command, were communicated to you in my G.S.R. Z. 18, dated 22nd instant. ...
— Gallipoli Diary, Volume 2 • Ian Hamilton
... published in Paris, "would like the League to maintain what may be called a permanent military general staff. The duties of this organization would be to keep a hawklike eye on the misdemeanors, actual or threatened, of any state or group of states, and to be empowered with authority to call into instant action a great international military force for the frustration or suppression of such aggression. The French have frankly in mind the possibility that an unrepentant and unregenerate Germany is the most likely menace not only to ...
— The Inside Story Of The Peace Conference • Emile Joseph Dillon
... daughters of a small farmer, and were going to a neighbouring chateau to dance at the birth-day of one of the ladies of the family. Mr. Younge complimented them on their beauty; they smiled with more grace than seemed to belong to their station. Our ladies at this instant came up; the young peasants made a curtsey, which instantly betrayed their secret to Mrs. Younge and Mademoiselle St. Sillery. "Where is the masque?" said the latter. "In the Chateau de Thiery," replied one of them, "about a fourth part of a league through ...
— Travels through the South of France and the Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808 • Lt-Col. Pinkney
... We need not marvel at extinction; if we must marvel, let it be at our presumption in imagining for a moment that we understand the many complex contingencies, on which the existence of each species depends. If we forget for an instant, that each species tends to increase inordinately, and that some check is always in action, yet seldom perceived by us, the whole economy of nature will be utterly obscured. Whenever we can precisely say why this species is more abundant ...
— On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection • Charles Darwin
... she caught his hand in both of hers, and then with another impulse, which she could not control, she caught his head to her bosom. For one instant her arms wrapped him round, and she murmured something in a language he did not understand—the language of the Roumelian country. It was only one swift instant, and then with shocked exclamation she broke away from him, dropped into a chair, and buried ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker
... melody, the invitation of the bugle, that dearest mistress of the heart of man. My blood leaped. I started up. I started forward. The sweep of the ranks drew me on and in irresistibly. I would have raised my voice. I sought to stay, if for but one instant, this army of brave men, this panorama of exalted war, this incomparable pageant of a day gone by! It was the Singing Mouse that checked me; for ...
— The Singing Mouse Stories • Emerson Hough
... in terms of time, amounted to no more than a single flash, the fraction of an instant's contact. An hour or so later, being very young and very human, the things of everyday resumed their sway. A new dress engaged her fancy, a railway journey through—to her—untrodden country excited her, a picturesque street scene held her delighted interest. ...
— Deadham Hard • Lucas Malet
... In an instant Sissy was sobered. It wasn't possible that she was to be sent to bed before supper! To be a waiter was the height of happiness ...
— The Madigans • Miriam Michelson
... elephants with nowadays," said Schaunard, handling the weapon lovingly. "A child could carry it, and there is nothing living it will not kill." He laughed softly to himself, and then directed Armand to bring forward an elephant gun of the old pattern. In an instant the young man returned, staggering under the weight of the immense rifle, shod with a heel ...
— The Pools of Silence • H. de Vere Stacpoole
... in full exercise. The alarm was struck by the sentinels keeping firing at me. I arrived at the banks of Harlem,—five men met me with their bayonets at my heart; to resist was instant death, and to ...
— American Prisoners of the Revolution • Danske Dandridge
... after her fugitive son. In the present instance, he was but just in time to avoid a blow aimed at him with the former of these weapons, and to make a hasty escape to the house of a friend in the neighbourhood; where, concerting the best means of baffling pursuit, he decided upon an instant flight to London. The letters, which I am about to give, were written, immediately on his arrival in town, to some friends at Southwell, from whose kind interference in his behalf, it may fairly be concluded ...
— Life of Lord Byron, Vol. I. (of VI.) - With his Letters and Journals. • Thomas Moore
... bitterness, her foot tapping the parquet unceasingly. "Do you think he would have stooped to avenge himself on YOU? On you! Or that he could hurt me one hundredth part as much here as—as—" She broke off stammering. Her scorn faltered for an instant. "Bah! he is a man! He knows!" she exclaimed superbly, her chin in the air, "but you are boys. You ...
— The House of the Wolf - A Romance • Stanley Weyman
... an instant; but her faith had, after all, remained intact and perfect. Her reason told her, that, if he had really loved Sarah Brandon, her enemies, M. Elgin and M. de Brevan, would not have taken such pains to make ...
— The Clique of Gold • Emile Gaboriau
... at parting, and held it so warmly that she, who had known so little friendship, was much affected, and tears rose to her aerial-grey eyes. The instant that she was gone Henchard's state showed itself more distinctly; having shut the door he sat in his dining-room stiffly erect, gazing at the opposite wall as if he ...
— The Mayor of Casterbridge • Thomas Hardy
... the wheel; in another instant he would be beside Jeff, and discovery was certain. Jeff leaned over and unhooked the coach lamp, as if to assist him with its light. As if in turning, he STUMBLED, broke the lamp, ignited the kerosene, and scattered the wick and blazing fluid over the haunches of the wheelers! ...
— Jeff Briggs's Love Story • Bret Harte
... generals returning from campaigns abroad were required to disband their legions on entering the sacred soil. But the materials of these legions remained a distinct order from the rest of the population, capable of instant combination, and in combination irresistible save by opposing combinations of the same kind. The Senate might continue to debate, the Comitia might elect the annual magistrates. The established institutions preserved the form and something of the reality of power in a people governed so ...
— Caesar: A Sketch • James Anthony Froude
... contemplative has thus pursued his eternal image, and possessed in this purity the bosom of the Father by the Son, he is illuminated by the divine truth, and receives anew at each instant the eternal birth; and he goes forth according to the mode of light, in a divine contemplation. And here arises the fourth and last point—that is to say, the loving meeting, in which before all else resides ...
— Light, Life, and Love • W. R. Inge
... eyes would gleam with excitement, his lips would be pressed together, and he would end by banging on the paper with his open hand, and shouting in his exultation. You would think that his one mission in life was to invent torpedoes. But next instant, if you were to express surprise as to how it was that the Egyptian workmen elevated the stones to the top of the pyramids, out would come the pencil and envelope, and he would propound a scheme for doing that with equal energy and conviction. This ingenuity ...
— The Stark Munro Letters • J. Stark Munro
... stairs she swayed for an instant, grasped blindly at the rail. Through the floating smoke below the dead man lay there by the latticed window—where they ...
— Barbarians • Robert W. Chambers
... sight appeared sweeping enough. It contained the following words: 'Whereas we think fit that a general press from all protections as above mentioned shall commence at London and in the neighbourhood thereof on the night of Monday next, the 7th instant, you are therefore (after taking the proper preparatory measures with all possible secrecy) hereby required to impress and to give orders to the lieutenants under your command to impress all persons of the above-mentioned denominations ...
— Sea-Power and Other Studies • Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge
... from the root of the tuba. With the possible exception of curare, this is the deadliest poison known, the slightest scratch from a dart thus poisoned paralyzing the respiratory center and causing almost instant death. The dart is expelled from the sumpitan by a quick, sharp exhalation of the breath. In fact, M. de Haan told me that among certain of the Dyak tribes virtually all of the men suffer from rupture ...
— Where the Strange Trails Go Down • E. Alexander Powell
... controlled Thermopylae, but a week after signing the peace he had destroyed Phocian unity and usurped their place on the great Council which met at Delphi. This evident attack on the liberty of southern Greece raised a fever of excitement at Athens. The war-party clamoured for instant action; strangely enough Demosthenes advised his city to observe the peace. In contrast with his fiery audience he speaks with perfect coolness and calm. He reviews the immediate past, explains the shameful part played by an actor ...
— Authors of Greece • T. W. Lumb
... and spread his hands in the form of a semi-circle. An instant later there was a blinding flash, and when Rob recovered from it and opened his eyes the Demon of ...
— The Master Key - An Electrical Fairy Tale • L. Frank Baum
... says; and drink drowns care, as the proverb says. But can drink deliver a person from fear by day, and fear by night? I believe, if I had dropped a word about the pocketbook, it would have sobered me in an instant. Have you any remark to make on ...
— I Say No • Wilkie Collins
... military service. In 1915, his volume of poems, Sappho in Leukas, attracted immediately the attention of discriminating critics. The prologue shows that noble devotion to art, that high faith in it, entirely beyond the understanding of the Philistine, but which awakens an instant and accurate vibration in the heart of ...
— The Advance of English Poetry in the Twentieth Century • William Lyon Phelps
... In an instant the intelligent animal was flying after the girls, who quickly recognized his hoof-beats. Meanwhile the men who had captured Dick and Bob knew the danger they would run remaining on the ground, and they hurried away with the two boys, letting Bob's bay ...
— The Liberty Boys Running the Blockade - or, Getting Out of New York • Harry Moore
... heard him jump out of bed, stumble and grope about, and then strike a match; and in another instant the door opened, and in the interstice appeared a homely nightcapped bourgeois pulling on his trousers. There flashed on me incongruously the thought of our English laureate's stately home by the sea, in ...
— Without Prejudice • Israel Zangwill
... He disrobed himself, and placed his head on the block. "I give thanks," said he, "to my heavenly Master for helping me to await this blow without fear; for not permitting me to be cast down for a single instant by terror. I repose my head as willingly on this block as I ever laid it down to sleep." This is faith in Patriotism! See Charles I., in his turn,—that model of a kingly death. At the moment that he was ...
— Atheism Among the People • Alphonse de Lamartine
... they tried to begin their concert again two or three times. These frogs came safely to Oxford; and the day after their arrival, a stupid housemaid took off the top of the bottle to see what was inside; one of the frogs croaked at that instant, and so frightened her that she dared not put the cover on again. They all got loose in the garden, where I believe the ducks ate them, for I never ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol 6 • Various
... the party who went on shore in the boats. A native who was out at the ship was roughly dealt with, for some real or supposed case of pilfering. He was fired at and mortally wounded, and when taken on shore bleeding and dying, his enraged friends roused all on the spot to seek instant revenge. Hence the deadly attack on the party in the boats at the beach, in which the stones flew like bullets and ended in the death of M. de Langle, his brother officer, and ten of the crew. The natives wound up the bodies of the Frenchmen in native cloth and ...
— Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before • George Turner
... took an instant and truly savage dislike to his mother's new friend. He had been always, of course, "odd" in his feelings about people, but never was he "odder" than he was with Mrs. Carter. "Little lamb," she said, when she saw ...
— The Golden Scarecrow • Hugh Walpole
... out of the wagon in an instant and moved forward with Harry. "You would better remain with the team, George," ...
— The Wonder Island Boys: Exploring the Island • Roger Thompson Finlay
... Steve! Steve of Medicine Bow! The pleasant Steve of my first evening in the West. Some change of beard had delayed my instant recognition of his face. Here he sat sentenced to die. A shock, chill and painful, ...
— The Virginian - A Horseman Of The Plains • Owen Wister
... necessary to get over the ten miles after we were in the city before we reached our hotel. It was not very convenient to make inquiries, either, when driving in streets crowded to the limit where our car could not halt for an instant without stopping the entire procession. We would often get into a pocket behind a slow-moving truck or street car and be compelled to crawl along for several ...
— British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car - Being A Record Of A Five Thousand Mile Tour In England, - Wales And Scotland • Thomas D. Murphy
... sorrowful mystery, she appeared depressed, faint, and almost powerless; but the instant the celebration of a joyful feast commenced, both body and soul revived to a new life, as if refreshed by the dew of new graces, and she continued in this calm, quiet, and happy state, quite released from every kind of suffering, until the evening. These things took place in her soul quite independently ...
— The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ • Anna Catherine Emmerich
... again and again. Truly, thou hast profited finely by my admonitions, let alone that she hath shown thee her aversion in many ways. But this I have to say to thee; she hath up to now, not for any love she beareth thee, but at my instant entreaty, kept silence of that which thou hast done; but she will do so no more; I have given her leave to do what seemeth good to her, an thou annoy her again in aught. What wilt thou do, an she tell her brothers?' The gentleman having ...
— The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio • Giovanni Boccaccio
... mental notes for future coinage. They were not people to her, just material. She loved them, she reveled in them, she dreamed of them, just as a collector of curios gloats over the treasures he amasses. She classified them in a literary note-book for her own use, and kept them on file for instant reference. ...
— Sunny Slopes • Ethel Hueston
... the edge of a small cliff, the last on the mountain side. Without knowing it, he had crossed the trail leading upward three times. He stepped on some ice on the rocks, and the next instant was launched into space. ...
— The Rover Boys in Alaska - or Lost in the Fields of Ice • Arthur M. Winfield
... his eyes, and never, for a moment, did he feel sure of the execution of his project. But even if every question had been settled, every doubt cleared away, every difficulty overcome, he would probably have renounced his design on the instant, as something absurd, monstrous, and impossible. But there were still a host of matters to arrange, of problems to solve. As to procuring the hatchet, this trifle did not trouble Raskolnikoff in the least, for nothing was easier. As a matter of fact Nastasia was scarcely ever at ...
— The Continental Classics, Volume XVIII., Mystery Tales • Various
... on himself, by setting his Mind in order, preparing it for another World, and reconciling it to the Thoughts of Death. I must therefore acquaint you, that besides those usual Methods of Charity, of which I have before spoken, I am at this very Instant finding out a convenient Place where I may build an Alms-house, which I intend to endow very handsomely, for a Dozen superannuated Husbandmen. It will be a great pleasure to me to say my Prayers twice a-day with Men of my own [Years ...
— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele
... the garden, higher, higher.... But in that instant they shall learn The shattering ecstasy of our fire, And the weak ...
— The Home Book of Verse, Vol. 2 (of 4) • Various
... confide. Can thy good deeds in former times Outweigh the balance of thy crimes? 30 What widow or what orphan prays To crown thy life with length of days? A pious action's in thy power, Embrace with joy the happy hour. Now, while you draw the vital air, Prove your intention is sincere. This instant give a hundred pound; Your neighbours want, and you abound.' 'But why such haste?' the sick man whines; 'Who knows as yet what Heaven designs? 40 Perhaps I may recover still; That sum and more are in my will? ...
— The Poetical Works of Addison; Gay's Fables; and Somerville's Chase • Joseph Addison, John Gay, William Sommerville
... Joukahainen Paused a moment and reflected, 130 And he pondered for an instant, Though his hands to shoot were ready, One would shoot, and one restrained him, But ...
— Kalevala, Volume I (of 2) - The Land of the Heroes • Anonymous
... length from the jet. If the hydrogen is mixed with air a slight explosion occurs, but if pure it burns quietly in the tube. The operation is repeated until the gas burns quietly, when the tube is quickly brought back over the jet for an instant, whereby the escaping hydrogen is ignited by ...
— An Elementary Study of Chemistry • William McPherson
... sufficed this time, "You'll marry her as soon as you're a man," she insisted, and she would not let this tragic picture go. It was a case for his biggest efforts, and he opened his mouth to threaten instant self-destruction unless she became happy at once. But he had threatened this too frequently of late, even shown himself drawing the knife across ...
— Sentimental Tommy - The Story of His Boyhood • J. M. Barrie
... himself, and gazed at her again in a forgetfulness somewhat embarrassing. Joyce was trying to think of something to say when he broke out once more, "Yes, I supposed of course you were a man, and not so very young, either. I had pictured you the moral image of your father"—he stopped an instant, then asked with a sort of regretful note in ...
— Joyce's Investments - A Story for Girls • Fannie E. Newberry
... the flank of his roan with a spur and the animal began to pick its way down the steep trail among the loose rubble. Not for an instant did the rider relax his vigilance as he descended. At the ford he examined the ground carefully to make sure that nobody had crossed since the shower of the afternoon. Swinging to the saddle again, he put his horse to the water and splashed through to the opposite shore. Once more he ...
— The Sheriff's Son • William MacLeod Raine
... same instant the car was assailed by a most terrifying shriek; the visitors started in alarm, the women turned pale and shrank back. The shriek was followed by another, louder and yet more agonizing—for once started upon that journey, the hog never came back; ...
— The Jungle • Upton Sinclair
... rear of the house, and across the river, said he would meet his fate as a warrior. Taking his rifle, he went to the front door, and throwing it open, fired upon the array of warriors as he gave the war-whoop, and, in an instant after, fell dead; pierced with twenty balls. Chillie, at this moment, sprang from the window, leaped into the river, and made his escape, though fired at repeatedly. A detachment was immediately sent to execute Hawkins at his home, which was ...
— The Memories of Fifty Years • William H. Sparks
... demonstrate the sheer impossibility of vesting in a popular council the discipline and administration of such a force as the Metropolitan Police.... Suppose, for example, that news arrived either from America or Ireland which required instant and secret action by the police throughout London against a Fenian outbreak. Is it to be contended that a meeting of the Watch Committee is to be summoned ... a debate to be raised and a vote taken?... When the Government determined to arrest Davitt, ...
— The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke V1 • Stephen Gwynn
... instant she was sitting at Ivan's bed, kindly and solicitously inquiring, "Does your ...
— Mother • Maxim Gorky
... was for the girl. In a moment, by sheer strength, he had jerked her safely up into the road; while the Spaniards recoiled right and left, fancying him for the moment some mountain giant or supernatural foe. His hurrah undeceived them in an instant, and a cry of "English! Dogs!" arose, but arose too late. The men of Devon had followed their captain's lead: a storm of arrows left five Spaniards dead, and a dozen more wounded, and down leapt Salvation Yeo, his white hair streaming behind him, with twenty good swords more, and the ...
— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 8 • Charles H. Sylvester
... said to represent the patron saint of the church restoring to life some children who had been mutilated and pickled by the devil. There was also a fine old tomb which contained the remains of John Blacknall and Jane his wife, who appeared to have died simultaneously, or, as recorded, "at one instant time at the house within the site of the dissolved monastery of the Blessed Virgin Marie, of Abingdon, whereof he was owner." The following was the curious inscription on ...
— From John O'Groats to Land's End • Robert Naylor and John Naylor
... Darzee's wife was wiser. She flew off her nest as Nagaina came along, and flapped her wings about Nagaina's head. If Darzee had helped they might have turned her, but Nagaina only lowered her hood and went on. Still, the instant's delay brought Rikki-tikki up to her, and as she plunged into the rat-hole where she and Nag used to live, his little white teeth were clenched on her tail, and he went down with her—and very few mongooses, however wise and old they ...
— The Jungle Book • Rudyard Kipling
... occasionally extracts would be read from books written in a style whose precision and eloquence excited his admiration, or whose affecting solemnity moved him deeply, though he knew perfectly well that the whole came from his own brain. This he could either cause or permit, and could in an instant change the subject of the conversation or command it into silence. He would sometimes throw his pillow against the wall and say, "Be still! I'll hear no more till daybreak!" And this has taken place when he was in calm health in mind, and, except weakness, ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 3, No. 20, June, 1859 • Various
... In an instant the good dog sprang to the child's side, barking furiously, for every dog in Switzerland knows that those who sleep on ...
— The Book of Stories for the Storyteller • Fanny E. Coe
... For an instant he stood speechless, and Herbert feared that he would fall into a fit; but the old giant was too strong for that! For one short moment he stood thus, and in a terrible ...
— Hidden Hand • Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
... he said hurriedly, "but not now. There isn't time. Wait here. I'll be back. I'll be back the instant I ...
— The Unspeakable Perk • Samuel Hopkins Adams
... among the officers, and was by them communicated to the soldiery. The number of croakers in garrison became perfectly frightful, lugubrious looks and dismal prophecies being encountered every where. The severe losses sustained by H.M.'s 44th under Captain Swayne, on the 4th instant, had very much discouraged the men of that regiment; and it is a lamentable fact that some of those European soldiers, who were naturally expected to exhibit to their native brethren in arms an example of endurance and fortitude, ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXVIII. February, 1843. Vol. LIII. • Various
... instant a perfectly tense silence reigned. Then from under a shadowy basket the Cat crept out, shining, sinuous, with extended paw, and began to pat a sprig of ...
— Peace on Earth, Good-will to Dogs • Eleanor Hallowell Abbott
... locked, but Ralph tore it open in an instant. A woman's frantic screams echoed as the young railroader dashed into the house. He was quickly up the front stairs. At the top landing he paused momentarily, unable to look about him clearly because of the dense ...
— Ralph on the Overland Express - The Trials and Triumphs of a Young Engineer • Allen Chapman
... an almost paternal smile upon his face, he laid before me some pages of manuscript, and in an insinuating voice said: "Would you mind keeping your eye upon this whilst I run over this proof?" In an instant I grasped his meaning. I had been engaged as editor, and he proposed to fill up my spare time by employing me as a proof-reader. For a moment I was almost apoplectic with indignation at what I regarded as an outrage upon my dignity. To this day I am ...
— Memoirs of Sir Wemyss Reid 1842-1885 • Stuart J. Reid, ed.
... breaking away and running toward the rock from which the sound had proceeded. Both men took after him, but a shot from Frank's gun caused them to halt. They stood still for an instant, their figures tense and tall, and then turned and ran, almost tumbling over ...
— The Boy Scout Camera Club - The Confession of a Photograph • G. Harvey Ralphson
... monkey, who once in his life did that which was above his duty; who lived in continual terror of the great baboon, and yet, when the brute had sprung upon his friend the keeper, and was tearing out his throat, conquered his fear by love, and, at the risk of instant death, sprang in turn upon his dreaded enemy, and bit and ...
— Health and Education • Charles Kingsley
... from the parade, an unexpected attack was made upon the militia, who fled in the utmost confusion, and rushing into camp through the first line of continental troops, which had been formed the instant the first gun was discharged, threw them too into disorder. The exertions of the officers to restore order were not entirely successful. The Indians pressed close upon the heels of the flying militia, and engaged General Butler with great ...
— The Life of George Washington, Vol. 4 (of 5) • John Marshall
... current growing weaker and weaker in the wire coil. A dim procession of moving shadows seemed slowly unfolding down the darkening walls. I scarcely dared to shut my eyes for one moment, for fear of losing the least glimmer of this precious light. Every instant it seemed about to vanish and the dense blackness to come rolling ...
— A Journey to the Interior of the Earth • Jules Verne
... a sudden there was a tremendous explosion of oaths and other noises—the chair and table went over in a lump, a clash of steel followed, and then a cry of pain, and the next instant I saw Black Dog in full flight, and the captain hotly pursuing, both with drawn cutlasses, and the former streaming blood from the left shoulder. Just at the door the captain aimed at the fugitive one last tremendous cut, ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 6 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson
... cast by the infinite I hung an instant there, and threw my ray To make the rainbow. A microcosm I Reflecting all. Then back I fell again, And though I perished not, I was no more."— ...
— The Religions of Japan - From the Dawn of History to the Era of Meiji • William Elliot Griffis
... under observation, and, as he sprung, pushed vigorously with his oar. The gap between boat and shore widened in an instant, and Albert, failing to obtain a foothold on the boat, fell back, with a splash that sent a cascade over his friend and the boatman, into three feet of muddy water. By the time he had scrambled out, his ...
— The White Feather • P. G. Wodehouse
... heaven. [26] nobles and peasants, filled with a desire for adventure and a sense of personal sin, no surer way of satisfying either was to be found than the long pilgrimage to the Saviour's tomb. In France and England the call met with instant response. Unfortunately for the future of civilization, the call met with but small response from the nobles of ...
— THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION • ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY
... my clothes, you thief! You have been robbing me! Thief! thief!" cried she. "Oh, why is Luigi not here? Give me my kirtle! Off with my clothes, this instant, you rogue!" ...
— Prince Eugene and His Times • L. Muhlbach
... "In an instant I had resolved to go. It seemed to me that I should die if I stayed under that roof another night. So I begged him to wait a minute, ran up stairs, packed my things; and came down and told the family that I was going home. They ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 122, December, 1867 • Various
... married the chevalier Adrien de Mauprat. When Richelieu fell into disgrace, the king made count Baradas his chief minister, but scarcely had he so done when a despatch was put into his hand revealing the conspiracy, and Richelieu ordered Baradas' instant ...
— Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol 1 - A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook • The Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D.
... succeeded in explaining the phenomena of the skies. The savant therefore can in his study meet with the intelligence which directs the universe. If he makes no mistake in his calculations, the eclipse begins at the precise hour which he has indicated. If the eclipse did not take place at the instant foreseen, no one would suspect Nature of not following the course prescribed by the directing intelligence; the inference would be that there had been a fault in observation, or an error of figures on the part of ...
— The Heavenly Father - Lectures on Modern Atheism • Ernest Naville
... both boys as they saw that the flames from the brushwood had made their way into a corner of the garage, just where the firecrackers had been placed. For an instant they hesitated, then both leaped forward again and commenced to stamp ...
— Dave Porter in the Gold Fields - The Search for the Landslide Mine • Edward Stratemeyer
... of the place tickled my adventurous palate, the loathsomeness of the sign gripped me hardly by the heart and made my blood run icily for an instant. Who does not recall to mind moments and places when he seems to have stepped out of the real living world into some grey, uncanny land of dreams, where the very air is thick and haunted with some quality of unknown fear and unknown oppression? So it seemed ...
— Marjorie • Justin Huntly McCarthy
... instant demands for denials, for explanations, and for proceedings against the wicked libeller. Then it turned out that the story was true, and, in the end, the Japanese officials had to admit its truth. It was said, as an excuse, that the Resident-General ...
— Korea's Fight for Freedom • F.A. McKenzie
... simple word or hand-touch or glance, and every meeting had been a new delight. But now suddenly the being of each shook and called to the other in wild need of the nearer nearness which is comfort and help. It was early—early morning—the heath spread about them wide and empty, and at that very instant a skylark sprang from its hidden nest in the earth and circled upward to heaven singing ...
— Robin • Frances Hodgson Burnett
... that the combined force of such a multitude of slightly suspicious circumstances must be not only appreciable, but even remain an inconvenient, not to say a formidable fact. Let me point out that the supposed remark is nothing else but a fallacy; which is detected the instant it ...
— The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel According to S. Mark • John Burgon
... iron gate, endeavoring to discern something on the other side by means of the openings in the planks,—the earnestness of her attitude and the fixed gaze with which she seemed to seek the object of her wishes, proving how much her feelings were interested in the matter. At that instant the little side-gate leading from the waste ground to the street was noiselessly opened, and a tall, powerful young man appeared. He was dressed in a common gray blouse and velvet cap, but his carefully arranged hair, beard ...
— The Count of Monte Cristo • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... he bethought him that the knowledge might be of value, and it might help to float once more his shipwrecked fortunes. The haste with which Vallancey had proffered a frivolous explanation of Richard's words, the bustle with which upon the instant he swept Richard and Sir Rowland from the house to get to horse and ride out to Bridgwater were in themselves circumstances that went to heighten those suspicions of Sir Rowland's. But lacking all opportunity for investigation ...
— Mistress Wilding • Rafael Sabatini
... that instant he started the propeller. The motor roared like a salvo of guns, and streaks of fire could be seen shooting from one cylinder to the other, until there was a perfect ...
— Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice • Victor Appleton
... fountain were still gushing. Once, when after a day of restless pain she had sunk into an uneasy slumber, she was aroused by the fervent pressure of that mother's kiss, and through her half-opening eyelids she perceived the tears which were flowing over her pale face. In an instant the arms of the affectionate child were clasped about her neck, and the soft ...
— The Wedding Guest • T.S. Arthur
... these multitudinous terrestrial changes I cannot conceive as antecedent a single series of states of consciousness—cannot, for instance, think of it as causing the hundred thousand breakers that are at this instant curling over on the shores of England. How, then, is it possible for me to conceive an 'originating Mind,' which I must represent to myself as a single series of states of consciousness, working the infinitely multiplied sets of changes simultaneously going on in worlds too numerous to count, ...
— A Candid Examination of Theism • George John Romanes
... she took him by the hand, and led him to the chink; where, to his amazement, he beheld the glittering Elf sporting with his child, and caressing her in the arbor. He knew not what to say; an exclamation of astonishment escaped him, and Zerina raised her eyes. On the instant she grew pale, and trembled violently; not with friendly, but with indignant looks, she made the sign of threatening, and then said to Elfrida "Thou canst not help it, dearest heart; but outsiders will never learn sense, wise as they believe themselves." She embraced the little one with ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. IV • Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke
... daring, for her life, to ask the tiniest Englishman to do a single thing he doesn't like;—nor any salvation, either of Queen or Realm, being any more possible to God, unless under the direction of the Royal Society: then, note the estimate of height and depth in poetry, swept in an instant, 'high lyric to low rational.' Pindar to Pope (knowing Pope's height, too, all the while, no man better); then, the poetic power of France—resumed in a word—Beranger; then the cut at Marmion, entirely deserved, as we shall see, yet kindly given, for everything he names ...
— The Crown of Wild Olive • John Ruskin
... active, brisk, brisk as a lark, brisk as a bee; lively, animated, vivacious; alive, alive and kicking; frisky, spirited, stirring. nimble, nimble as a squirrel; agile; light-footed, nimble-footed; featly[obs3], tripping. quick, prompt, yare[obs3], instant, ready, alert, spry, sharp, smart; fast &c. (swift) 274; quick as a lamplighter, expeditious; awake, broad awake; go-ahead, live wide-awake &c. (intelligent) 498[U.S.]. forward, eager, strenuous, zealous, enterprising, in earnest; resolute &c. 604. industrious, assiduous, diligent, sedulous, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus
... those whose eyes, from natural debility, cannot long, continue the same kind of exertion. For the same reason, in making these experiments, the result becomes much varied if the eyes, after viewing any object, are removed on other objects for but an instant of time, before we close them to view the spectrum; for the light from the object, of which we had only a transient view, in the very time of closing our eyes acts as a stimulus on the fatigued ...
— Zoonomia, Vol. I - Or, the Laws of Organic Life • Erasmus Darwin
... the idea of a grotesque hell and of a fantastic heaven, while it substitutes the conception of a gradual rise in the scale of existence without any monstrous change which would turn us in an instant from man to angel or devil. The system, though different from previous ideas, does not, as it seems to me, run counter in any radical fashion to the old beliefs. In ancient maps it was usual for the cartographer ...
— The Vital Message • Arthur Conan Doyle
... issue commandment for the espousals of thy daughter the Lady Badr al-Budur to my son Alaeddin he turned to and addressed the Minister who answered privily, after which the Sultan gave me his reply." Then she enumerated the King's demands and said, "O my son, he indeed expecteth of thee an instant reply but I fancy that we have no answer for him." And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and ceased to say her ...
— Supplemental Nights, Volume 3 • Richard F. Burton
... statue, with his eyes set wide and unwinking like a corpse's, every limb and muscle rigid, his body tense and immovable as a stone image. The sight was terrible. It was as if the living man had been transformed in an instant into a ghastly trap, to catch those soft, warm, pretty hands! She ceased her efforts to break away, but stood white and almost fainting, and ...
— Double Trouble - Or, Every Hero His Own Villain • Herbert Quick
... seat suddenly, and struck the alarum. The next instant each person on board knew that an accident had happened. The engines were stopped and reversed within two minutes. Blue-lights were burned on the paddle-boxes, and showed a knot in the cable as it lay ...
— St. Nicholas, Vol. 5, No. 5, March, 1878 • Various
... the favor of you to inform the honorable Senate of the United States that I propose to take the oath prescribed by the Constitution to the President of the United States before he enters on the execution of his office, on Friday, the 4th instant, at 12 o'clock, in the Hall ...
— A Compilation of Messages and Letters of the Presidents - 2nd section (of 3) of Volume 2: John Quincy Adams • Editor: James D. Richardson
... two terrible meteors; and, with a sudden motion of his arm, he seemed to hold the men at a distance, while his god-like figure stood, a tower in collected might. Awe-struck, they paused, but it was only for an instant. The sight of Edwin, now starting from his sleep, his aghast countenance, while he felt for his weapons, his cry when he recollected they were gone, inspired the assassins with fresh courage. Battle-axes, swords, and rattling chains, now flashed before ...
— The Scottish Chiefs • Miss Jane Porter
... leaf-hutted capital. He sought the king, his tale he told. Ma-anda faltered not, nor stayed. He seized his spear, he left the tent: Shook off the brown arms of his queens, Who clasped his knees with wailing screams; On pain of instant death forbade That man should spy or follow him; And down the pathway, arching dim, Fearless and light of heart and bold Followed ...
— Verses • Susan Coolidge
... the utmost daring and indifference. A flock of them will take possession of a palmyra palm, and so effectually can they crouch and conceal themselves among the leaves that, on the slightest alarm, the whole party becomes invisible in an instant. The presence of a dog, however, excites such irrepressible curiosity that, in order to watch his movements, they never fail to betray themselves. They may be frequently seen congregated on the roof of a native hut; and, some years ago, the child of a European clergyman, stationed ...
— Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon • Robert A. Sterndale
... experiencing the most bitter grief when the moment arrived for quitting my native shore. Your sorrow, that of my friends, Henrietta,[2] all rushed upon my thoughts, and my heart was torn by a thousand painful feelings. I could not at that instant find any excuse for my own conduct. If you could know all that I have suffered, and the melancholy days that I have passed, whilst thus flying from all that I love best in the World! Must I join to this affliction the grief of hearing that you do not pardon ...
— Memoirs, Correspondence and Manuscripts of General Lafayette • Lafayette
... dust, yet everywhere the more carelessly living; the heart is neither lifeless wood nor stone, and yet it thinks not 'all is vanishing!'" Then turning, he directed his chariot to go back, and no longer waste his time in wandering. How could he, whilst in fear of instant death, go wandering here and there with lightened heart! The charioteer remembering the king's exhortation feared much nor dared go back; straightforward then he pressed his panting steeds, passed onward to the gardens, came to the groves ...
— Sacred Books of the East • Various
... Mouse is one of the smallest of the little people who live in the Green Forest. Being so small he is one of the most timid. You see, by day and by night sharp eyes are watching for Whitefoot and he knows it. Never one single instant, while he is outside where sharp eyes of hungry enemies may see him, does he forget that they are watching for him. To forget even for one little minute might mean—well, it might mean the end of little Whitefoot, but a dinner for some one with a ...
— The Burgess Animal Book for Children • Thornton W. Burgess
... moment of extreme peril, and for the instant Snap's heart seemed to stop beating. Then little Giant turned swiftly and pulled the trigger of his shotgun and sent the load into the wolf's ear. There was one short yelp, a leap of agony, and the wolf landed ...
— Guns And Snowshoes • Captain Ralph Bonehill
... real to them than the sounding storm. There was danger in it. It drew them back and back. It was poignant and reminiscent. It came to them like the long stillness before their passion. They had waited here before, like this, through moments tense and increasing, for the supreme, toppling instant of their joy. ...
— Anne Severn and the Fieldings • May Sinclair |
