"Untie" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... colonel, dreamily. "That is, untie em and let the stage go ahead," he continued, springing to his feet. "I'll ...
— Romance of California Life • John Habberton
... you!" called out the Squire. "Come! Untie this man! Who is he?" A dozen willing fingers quickly unknotted the rope and the bag was slipped from the ...
— Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates • Howard Pyle
... force us to continue the war. And besides I doubt whether we could maintain the place with Brent besieging us in front, and the whole naval force of Virginia, under the command of such expert seamen as Gardiner and Larimore, attacking us from the river. No, no, the only way to untie the Gordian knot is to cut it, and the only way to extricate ourselves from this difficulty is to ...
— Southern Literature From 1579-1895 • Louise Manly
... aid of the benevolent, she no longer trusts to the magic of oratory to "melt the tender soul to pity," and untie the purse-strings; but, grown wise by experience, she sends in her card in the shape of "a guinea ticket, bottle of wine included;" and thus appeals, if not to the heart, at least to its ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 1, August 28, 1841 • Various
... And he began to untie the bag, and soon disclosed to the view of the coast-guards, not the lemons, but almost half a peck of smooth, ...
— Frank, the Young Naturalist • Harry Castlemon
... untie, sir,' returned Miss Miggs, 'and therefore your requests does not surprise me. But missis has—and while you sit up, mim'—she added, turning to the locksmith's wife, 'I couldn't, no, not if twenty times the quantity of cold water was aperiently running down my back at this moment, ...
— Barnaby Rudge • Charles Dickens
... to danger and exposure to temptation can show us what we are. By this test was I now tried, and found to be cowardly and rash. Men can deliberately untie the thread of life, and of this I had deemed myself capable. It was now that I stood upon the brink of fate, that the knife of the sacrificer was aimed at my heart, I shuddered, and betook myself to any means of escape, ...
— Stories by Modern American Authors • Julian Hawthorne
... about a short, upright peg behind the hoop. We supposed that the paddle and the harpoon went with the kayak. But the owner did not see it in that light. As soon as it had been hauled on deck, he proceeded to untie the thongs, much to the amusement of the captain. As we wished these articles to go together, nothing remained but to drive a new bargain for them. Raed, therefore, took one of our large jack-knives from his pocket, and, opening it, pointed ...
— Left on Labrador - or, The cruise of the Schooner-yacht 'Curlew.' as Recorded by 'Wash.' • Charles Asbury Stephens
... doing?—putting your hand there? IYAJI.—I am feeling for your tail. If you don't put out your tail at once, I shall make you! (Takes his towel, and with it ties Kidahachi's hands behind his back, and then drives him before him.) KIDAHACHI.—Please untie ...
— Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan - First Series • Lafcadio Hearn
... my father, "I thought that would fetch you. So you have come to your senses then, and we can go on together? Untie your horse, Henry, while I charge ...
— The Unspeakable Gentleman • John P. Marquand
... boards at No.—Twenty-third street; but he spends most of his time at the office. No matter what time of night he comes home, he never goes to his own room till he has looked at Lila, and kissed her good-night. Master Felix, please don't untie her hat, the wind will blow her ...
— St. Elmo • Augusta J. Evans
... very ingenious person who tied this knot," said Pandora to herself. "But I think I could untie it nevertheless. I am resolved, at least, to find the two ...
— Myths That Every Child Should Know - A Selection Of The Classic Myths Of All Times For Young People • Various
... swimmers was known as "Red." And it was a favorite trick of his to tie hard knots in other boys' garments while the owners of them were in the pond. Usually he wet the knots, because wetting them made them harder to untie. ...
— The Tale of Old Dog Spot • Arthur Scott Bailey
... the few hundred roubles which constituted their principal income. The old man marched on blindfold through the tangle of his pecuniary difficulties, trying to conceal them, and only succeeding in augmenting them; having neither the courage nor the patience to untie the knots one ...
— In the Yule-Log Glow, Book I - Christmas Tales from 'Round the World • Various
... which is obligatory and solely valid, he has surrendered his entire being; having made no reservation, "he has nothing to claim." Undoubtedly, some will grumble, because, with them, the old wrinkle remains and artificial habits still cover over the original instinct. Untie the mill-horse, and he will still go round in the same track; let the mountebank's dog be turned loose, and he will still raise himself on his hind-legs; if we would bring them back to their natural gait we must handle them roughly. ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 4 (of 6) - The French Revolution, Volume 3 (of 3) • Hippolyte A. Taine
... he began to untie the string that was knotted around the bag. "Charlie Black was going to drown them for Mr. Fritz, but he said Meg could have them. ...
— Four Little Blossoms at Oak Hill School • Mabel C. Hawley
... grimy hands into the front of my byrnie, and there they found the king's letter, which they seized with a shout of delight. Then they took my arms, wondering at the sword with its wondrous hilt. Only my ring mail byrnie they could not take from me, as they feared to untie my arms. ...
— A Prince of Cornwall - A Story of Glastonbury and the West in the Days of Ina of Wessex • Charles W. Whistler
... do must be done quickly," he said, in a quiet, decided tone. "They'll wake up before long, and there won't be any chance. You, Tom, take that near animal, and I'll tackle the other. Jest untie them quiet and easy, and when I say the word start. ...
— The Young Explorer • Horatio Alger
... epicure's finer relish—and poured near a litre of wine down his tunnel of a throat, before he deigned to regard whether I lived or was dead. His next act was to recite the rosary aloud, on his knees, with intense fervour; and his next—after three prostrations in honour of the Trinity—to untie the cord about his middle and add a knot or two to the multitude already there. With this formidable scourge circling about in his hand, he came ...
— The Fool Errant • Maurice Hewlett
... and by her aunt Georgina, who is, and always has been, like another sister. Two big dogs, a bloodhound and a St. Bernard, direct from a convent of that name, where I think you once were, are their principal attendants in the green lanes. These latter instantly untie the neckerchiefs of all tramps and prowlers who approach their presence, so that they wander about without any escort, and drive big horses in basket-phaetons through murderous bye-ways, and never come to grief. They are very ...
— The Letters of Charles Dickens - Vol. 2 (of 3), 1857-1870 • Charles Dickens
... the three signalmen turned in at the spot where they had left their horses, and began to untie the animals. While they were doing this, Life leaned over ...
— An Undivided Union • Oliver Optic
... slumber. Play thy part well, and show thy remorse at cheating thy master—even for a lakh[35] of rupees—yea, and show fear of what will happen to thee, and pretend distrust of him. At length succumb again, and as the moon just shows above the mountains untie his bonds and do thus and thus—' and he whispered instructions while a light shone in the eyes of Moussa Isa, the Somali, and a ...
— Driftwood Spars - The Stories of a Man, a Boy, a Woman, and Certain Other People Who - Strangely Met Upon the Sea of Life • Percival Christopher Wren
... Log or Journal, did I look down at him, unable to speak or utter a sound. I then tried to untie the Towle but could not, owing to feeling weak and sick and the knots ...
— Bab: A Sub-Deb • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... from the hitching-rack, and much chatting of neighbors was everywhere. Jim Shirley was not at church today, and Jo saw Leigh Shirley going alone toward the farther end of the rack where her buggy stood, while three or four young men were rushing to untie her horse. Jo, turning to speak to some neighbors, did not notice who had outdistanced the others in this country church courtesy until she realized that the crowd was going, and down the deserted hitching line Leigh Shirley sat ...
— Winning the Wilderness • Margaret Hill McCarter
... leave them here," Jack said. "If they managed to untie each other they would give the alarm, and if we had to come back we should be caught. If they could not manage to untie each other they might lie here and die. I think we had ...
— A Chapter of Adventures • G. A. Henty
... Anne the fust day, an' ole Meshach's Samson knocked him a sprawlin', an' Meshach hisself finished him. To-day he starts in to lead off yon poor imbecile, Levin Dennis, and, as I expresses my opinion of it, he draws his knife on me; so I takes my foot, Judge, that you have seen me untie a knot with, and I spiles his wrist with it. Take care of his knife, Levin,—he's a pore ...
— The Entailed Hat - Or, Patty Cannon's Times • George Alfred Townsend
... returned once more to the chateau, N'Oun Doare riding his new purchase, when it entered into his head to untie one of the knots on the halter. He did so, and immediately descended in the middle of Paris—which we must take the story-teller's word for it is five hundred ...
— Legends & Romances of Brittany • Lewis Spence
... the first vegetables in the spring. Put the stalks of the same length, in bunches together, and tie them with strings; boil it three-quarters of an hour in clear water; (if you put salt in, it turns it dark;) have buttered toast in the bottom of a deep dish; untie the strings, and put the asparagus in; sprinkle it over with pepper and salt, and put butter on. Asparagus is also agreeable in ...
— Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers • Elizabeth E. Lea
... difficult, as nearly all our company-books and papers were captured by guerillas at the commencement of the spring campaign. "Patience and perseverance" is our motto; and yet many times, as we endeavor to unravel the snarls and untie the knots, we find that the ...
— Three Years in the Federal Cavalry • Willard Glazier
... their son in the kiosk under her palm-tree. But this is curiosity of a class which Disraeli is not unwilling to awaken, but which he never cares to satisfy. He places the problems in a heap before us, and he leaves us to untie the knots. It is a highly characteristic trait of his mind as a writer that he is for ever preoccupied with the beginnings of things, and as little as possible with ...
— Some Diversions of a Man of Letters • Edmund William Gosse
... Has the cockatoo learned to sing? No, I am sorry to say, he is as noisy as ever, and not at all musical. We keep him quiet by giving him sticks to break, and knotted cord to untie; and when he has been good I take him on my lap, and rub his head and wings, which he greatly likes. I never yet saw the animal, down to a little mouse, that would not be fond of those who treated it tenderly; and the pleasure of being loved is so great, that I only wonder how anybody can neglect ...
— Kindness to Animals - Or, The Sin of Cruelty Exposed and Rebuked • Charlotte Elizabeth
... not Death, is the real enemy to be combated, and in this combat, at least, man can do much. Few men can have lived long without realising how many things are worse than death, and how many knots there are in life that Death alone can untie. ...
— The Map of Life - Conduct and Character • William Edward Hartpole Lecky
... when the goats began to chew the clothes I took the dog and went back to the entrance of the park, and dad and the King swam back to where the clothes and the goats were, and when they drove the goats away, and couldn't untie the knots, the King gave the grand hailing sign of distress, or something, and the guards of the palace and some cavalry came on the run, and the park seemed filled with an army, and I bid the dog good-bye, and went back to the hotel alone ...
— Peck's Bad Boy Abroad • George W. Peck
... wind; and the rain was pouring through us. I saw him take out the oars, but I knew they'd do no good in such a chop, even if they didn't break; and pretty soon he found it so, for he drew them in and began to untie the anchor-rope and wind it round his waist. ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 9, No. 55, May, 1862 • Various
... through indolence or hurry, passed over the Gordian knots which had occurred in the course of their studies, Sidney seems to have stopped, and sitten deliberately and patiently down, resolved not to cut but to untie them before he rose, so as not only to make himself master of the knowledge which they concealed, but to discover also how the knot came to be tied; whether it arose from the unavoidable difficulty ...
— Discourse of the Life and Character of the Hon. Littleton Waller Tazewell • Hugh Blair Grigsby
... and the blind, and the poor people, with much gratitude, would insist upon bringing fowls and milk in return for our attention to their wants. These I would never accept, but on many occasions, upon my refusal, the women would untie the legs of a bundle of chickens, and allow them to escape in our camp, rather than be compelled to return with their offering. Even the fakeers (priests) were our great friends, although we were Christians, and in my broken ...
— The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia • Samuel W. Baker
... country, I proceeded to take off my shoes before entering the house, but the prince, having been informed some time or other that such was not the custom in England, insisted on my abstaining from doing so. I had already taken off one shoe and was proceeding to untie the other when, catching me by one arm and his followers by the other, he dragged me in. You can imagine how comical and undignified I looked, with one shoe on and the other off! Still, I managed to be equal ...
— Corea or Cho-sen • A (Arnold) Henry Savage-Landor
... rest! After we have had plenty to eat and still more to drink will be time enough. Perhaps the ladies will untie those packages," cried Wawrzecki. ...
— The Comedienne • Wladyslaw Reymont
... to his beating heart. Even when the first gush of love subsided a little he could not be so reasonable as he used to be. He was wild against his own father, hers, and every obstacle, and implored her to marry him at once by special license, and leave the old people to untie the ...
— A Perilous Secret • Charles Reade
... become of this? As I am man, My state is desperate for my master's love; As I am woman— now, alas the day!— What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe! O time, thou must untangle this, not I; It is too hard a knot for me to untie! [Exit.] ...
— Twelfth Night; or, What You Will • William Shakespeare [Hudson edition]
... warned the captain. "We'll untie you. But if you try to duck into the bush, now or later, ...
— The Pathless Trail • Arthur O. (Arthur Olney) Friel
... peevish. desafio challenge, duel. desaforado huge, disorderly. desangrar to bleed. desapacible disagreeable, harsh. desaparecer to disappear. desarrollar to unroll, develop. desatar to untie, loosen. desazonar to disgust, make ill-humored. desbordar to overflow. descalzo barefooted. descansar to rest, repose. descanso repose. descarga discharge, volley. descargar to discharge, unload. descarnar to strip off the flesh. descender ...
— Novelas Cortas • Pedro Antonio de Alarcon
... kicked it far back, out of reach. Rick scooped up the table and slid it along the floor at them. The table caught them like a pair of tenpins and knocked them into the corner. He turned back to Barby and started to untie her, his fingers racing. ...
— The Electronic Mind Reader • John Blaine
... sunshine their lives passed on, until the appointed day arrived that was to see them bound, not by the graceful true-lovers' knot, which either might untie, but by a chain light as downy fetters if borne in mutual love, and galling as ponderous iron links, if heart answered not heart and the chafing ...
— After the Storm • T. S. Arthur
... all the heroic girls who afterwards meekly untie their bonnets just as they were ready to go to the church to wed against their keeper's will; and then sit down awaiting orders as to whom they must marry. Jennie was not the only girl who, in the first flush of passion, is prepared to go through fire, or die at the ...
— The Story of Louis Riel: The Rebel Chief • Joseph Edmund Collins
... lead to passivity and not to activity on the part of the pupils. And it may be said here that constant and too much telling is probably the greatest and most widespread mistake in teaching. Teachers are constantly cutting the knots for children who should be left to untie them for themselves. To untie a knot is to see through and through a subject, to see all around it, to see the various relations of its parts and, consequently, to understand it. This is solving a problem; it is dissolving it; that is, the problem becomes a ...
— Rural Life and the Rural School • Joseph Kennedy
... Borks in her favour, letting it come to the Duke's ears through his grand chamberlain, Matzke Bork, that if Sidonia were treated with gentleness, and thereby brought to make confession, assuredly there was great hope that for this grace and indulgence she would untie the magic knots of the girdle wherewith she had bewitched the whole princely race, and laid the spell of barrenness upon them. But if extreme measures were resorted to, never would she ...
— Sidonia The Sorceress V2 • William Mienhold
... to be. The personal relations, which subsist between God and the soul that clasps Him for its own, demand an immortal life for their adequate expression, and make it impossible that Death's skeleton fingers should have power to untie such a bond. Anything is conceivable, rather than that the soul which can say 'God is mine' should perish. And that continued existence demands, too, a state of being which shall correspond to itself, in which its powers shall ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers • Alexander Maclaren
... Rupert reads it to me. I should call him a good reader, too. Anyway, he can untie one of them deep, boomin' voices, and with that long, serious face of his helpin' out the general effect—well, it's kind of impressive. He spiels off two or three ...
— The House of Torchy • Sewell Ford
... that will give you eighty feet of good strong rope. Then you will pass the rope about one of the bars that remain intact; the rope will thus be doubled; then you let yourself down again, and when you are here, you have only to untie one of the knots and the rope is at your service. ...
— The Honor of the Name • Emile Gaboriau
... turn upon the as though I were an enemy. But I will not relent! I must be free to act as seems best to myself. The Joyeuse Entree is in my way. 'Tis a gordian knot which must be unloosed before Belgium can be truly mine; I have no time to untie it—it must be cut ...
— Joseph II. and His Court • L. Muhlbach
... thing you can do," Captain Holland said, "though it is so dark that you would not be able to see, if you did. When you get to the bottom, untie the rope, pull it gently down, and call out to me whether the lowest piece of stick touches the ground. If it does not, I will pull it up again and fasten on some more. I have got a dozen spare ones ...
— The Tiger of Mysore - A Story of the War with Tippoo Saib • G. A. Henty
... before-mentioned treaty, providing against such contingencies. In the meantime, these, and other differences and discontents between the English and Dutch, daily continued and increased, till at length this knot, which all the tedious controversies at Amboina and Jacatra were unable to untie, was cut asunder by the sword, in the ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume IX. • Robert Kerr
... fingers—very white fingers they were too, and a very pretty girl—and, with untiring assiduity, the teacher renewed his lesson. We ventured a prophecy that they would soon be engaged in the twisting of a knot that would not be quite so easy to untie as the sailor's slip that made them ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol 58, No. 357, July 1845 • Various
... shrewdly. "Wal, tak' you. You're scare', ain't you? But you sooner die so long she don't know it. Plenty oder feller jus' lak' dat." He walked to the nearest skiff, removed his coat, and began to untie his boots. ...
— The Winds of Chance • Rex Beach
... as the last inch is very slow work, but when the weaving is near the head piece draw out the rods, lift it from the notches, pass it down to the foot piece so that the part which was at the head is now at the foot, untie the knots so that the work will lie close to the foot piece and knot the warp strings as before at the head piece. This can be done as ...
— Hand-Loom Weaving - A Manual for School and Home • Mattie Phipps Todd
... vegetables, sir"—Archelaus shifted a canvas bag from his shoulders to the ground and began to untie the string which bound ...
— Major Vigoureux • A. T. Quiller-Couch
... I'm net right. But I can't keep him standing at the door. Do untie this apron, Emily; I'm so nervous, I can't get at the knot. See, now, if he hasn't come for the ...
— A Life's Morning • George Gissing
... lovers make, Witness the chaste desires that never brake Into unruly heats; witness that breast Which in thy bosom anchor'd his whole rest— 'Tis no default in us: I dare acquite Thy maiden faith, thy purpose fair and white As thy pure self. Cross planets did envy Us to each other, and Heaven did untie Faster than vows could bind. Oh, that the stars, When lovers meet, should ...
— Book of English Verse • Bulchevy
... "Dep, untie the prisoner! Boys, circle round the bar! Trin, put a man at that door! And Sonora, put a couple of men at those windows!" And so swift were the men in carrying out his instructions, that even as he spoke, everyone ...
— The Girl of the Golden West • David Belasco
... intrusted to Yuditch. Every evening as he went to bed Ivan Andreevitch used to bid him open the coffer in his presence, used to tap in turn each of the tightly filled bags with a stick, and every Saturday he would untie the bags with Yuditch, and carefully count over the money. Vassily heard of all these doings, and burned with eagerness to overhaul the sacred coffer. In the course of five or six days he had softened Yuditch, that is, he had worked on the old man till, as ...
— The Jew And Other Stories • Ivan Turgenev
... benumbed my faculties, and I rode back with the Moors with apparent unconcern. But a change took place much sooner than I had any reason to expect. In passing through some thick bushes one of the Moors ordered me to untie my bundle and show them the contents. Having examined the different articles, they found nothing worth taking except my cloak, which they considered as a very valuable acquisition, and one of them pulling it from me, wrapped it about himself, and, with one of ...
— Travels in the Interior of Africa - Volume 1 • Mungo Park
... air of triumph. "He dare not even banish her for my sake, lest the secret of her concealment at Beaumanoir become known. We can safely risk his displeasure, even should he suspect that I have cut the knot he knew not how to untie." ...
— The Golden Dog - Le Chien d'Or • William Kirby
... 'Tell him to untie this rope at once. There is some villain about the house who may do you the greatest injury; you are mad to take from me the power of ...
— A Dozen Ways Of Love • Lily Dougall
... up by the door, with his bonnet under his arm—a little man with puckered face, the puckers radiating from or centering in the mouth, which he seemed to untie like a money-hag, and pull open by means of a smile, before he began to speak. The chief shook hands with him, and asked how ...
— What's Mine's Mine • George MacDonald
... two men and let them take these prisoners back to the village, and guard them carefully till we return. They may as well keep the handcuffs on the boy's ankles, and untie the girl's; but let one of them keep a tight hold of her arm, and be sure that she ...
— One of the 28th • G. A. Henty
... dreams be sweet, Start up, and ply your heavenward feet. Is not God's oath upon your head, Ne'er to sink back on slothful bed, Never again your loans untie, Nor let your torches waste and die, Till, when the shadows thickest fall, Ye hear ...
— The Christian Year • Rev. John Keble
... be it. My foremost care must be that nothing harms The temple's holy rule.—Untie their arms. That which is hallowed may no more be bound. You, to the shrine within! Let all be found As the law bids, and as we ...
— The Iphigenia in Tauris • Euripides
... man, "I bid you farewell. Keep your temper; these sober arts should have taught you this kind of self-command. You will soon be free. As for your arms, I dare not untie them now, but I will send the guard to you. Now, holloa, guard without there!" and ...
— International Weekly Miscellany, Vol. 1, No. 2, July 8, 1850 • Various
... nohow—either it's too loosely tied, or else one end's too short. I am fussing over this nonsense, and suddenly into my head comes the most astonishingly simple thought, that it's far simpler and quicker to tie it in a knot—for after all, it's all the same, NO ONE IS GOING TO UNTIE IT. And immediately I felt death with all my being. Until that time I had seen the captain's eyes, grown glassy, had felt his cold forehead, and still somehow had not sensed death to the full, but I thought of the knot—and I was all transpierced, and the simple and sad realization ...
— Yama (The Pit) • Alexandra Kuprin
... "I mean untie the tow-line. We'll be smashed if you don't! I can't leave this tiller. Don't try to stand up; hold on to the boom and creep forward. Steady now, ...
— The Best American Humorous Short Stories • Various
... past phases of his life which he knew to be both unworthy in themselves and disloyal (if persisted in) to the woman whom he hoped to make his wife. By a determined effort of will, he cut one knot which he could not untie, but, his thoughts being still centred upon himself, he considered his own rights and needs almost entirely in the matter, and did not trouble himself much about the rights or needs of the other person concerned. He had broken ...
— Name and Fame - A Novel • Adeline Sergeant
... sat down in the parlor, smiling at the sweet little child, and let her untie her bonnet with her small fat fingers. It took quite a long time, for Annie could not get the right ribbon to pull; but her grandmamma never said "hurry," but let the little one do ...
— Little Mittens for The Little Darlings - Being the Second Book of the Series • Frances Elizabeth Barrow
... you at?" cried the Major, with fury equalled by nothing except his fright. "Erema, untie ...
— Erema - My Father's Sin • R. D. Blackmore
... third time, the dragon lost his temper, and went down into the stable and took a whip and gave the horse a good beating. This offended the horse and made him angry, and when the young man stretched out his hand to untie his head, he made no further fuss, but suffered himself to be led quietly away. Once clear of the stable the young man sprang on his back and galloped off, calling over his shoulder, 'Hi! dragon! dragon! if anyone asks you ...
— The Pink Fairy Book • Various
... JOHN untie their bags and take out gold and silver. They twist it up in a handkerchief which they give to ...
— Six Plays • Florence Henrietta Darwin
... Husbands running off from wives, and wives from husbands, to pass the required seven years abroad. By Jove! You see, too, there's another thing, my boy. Marriage is a sacrament, and you've not only got to untie the civil knot, but the clerical one, my boy. No, no; there's no help for it. You gave your word, old chap, 'till death do us part,' and ...
— The American Baron • James De Mille
... sheep's kidney which you have lightly dusted with flour, pepper, and salt. Tie the lettuce round very firmly and set it in a pan of boiling water that covers up only three quarters of the vegetable. Boil for eighteen minutes. Take out the lettuce, untie it, drain it, and serve at once. Kidneys are good when they are placed inside large Spanish onions and gently stewed, in which case a dab of ...
— The Belgian Cookbook • various various
... conversation naturally turned Philip's thoughts to the relic, and he went into his mother's room to take possession of it. He opened the curtains—the corpse was laid out—he put forth his hand to untie the black ribbon. It was not there. "Gone!" exclaimed Philip. "They hardly would have removed it—never would. It must be that villain Poots—wretch! but I will have it, even if he has swallowed it, though I ...
— The Phantom Ship • Frederick Marryat
... may be to the philanthropist, of getting clear of one of the evils of slavery, yet a full examination of local circumstances, must convince us that this would be, to cut, rather than untie the Gordian knot. ...
— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 6, 1921 • Various
... Harmachis!—Harmachis, fly—but I fly not! To this end only I have lingered on the earth. Now I untie the knot of life and let my spirit free! Fare thee well, Prince, the pilgrimage is done! Harmachis, from a babe have I loved thee, and love thee yet!—but no more in this world may I share thy griefs—I am spent. Osiris, take thou my Spirit!" and her trembling ...
— Cleopatra • H. Rider Haggard
... wait . . . what was the thing to do for Mark? What would untie those knots of fright and shock? For Paul it would have been talk of the bicycle he was to have for his birthday; for Elly a fairy-story or a piece of candy! For Mark ...
— The Brimming Cup • Dorothy Canfield Fisher
... everything, except the eyes of mademoiselle," the abbe muttered to himself as he went back to his place near the window. De Vasselot took up the packet of papers and began to untie the tape awkwardly with his one able hand. He was so slow that Mademoiselle Brun leant forward and assisted him. Denise bit her lip and pushed a chair towards him with her foot. He sat down and unfolded a map coloured and drawn in queer angles. This he laid upon the table, and, by a ...
— The Isle of Unrest • Henry Seton Merriman
... for an hour and a half in enough water to cover it completely. Previously put into the water one quarter of an onion larded with clover, one leaf of laurel, celery, carrot and parsley. Salt the water generously and don't put the veal in until it is boiling. When the veal is cooked, untie, dry it and keep it for two or three days in the following sauce in quantity sufficient to ...
— The Italian Cook Book - The Art of Eating Well • Maria Gentile
... harder business to untie the knots than to tie them, but at length it was done, and the unwinding process began. Alas! Farmer Green's nap was over, and with a hasty start he was roused to the full use of his faculties. When he discovered his condition he swore a round oath, and turned upon Teddy in great ...
— Teddy's Button • Amy Le Feuvre
... la Duchesse," he said, coolly taking the cigar out of his mouth; "I have a headache. Besides, I will untie you. But listen attentively to what I have the honour to say ...
— The Thirteen • Honore de Balzac
... truth," she exclaimed—"we want to be tied up with some of the words out of your book, parson; so that no one can untie us, and so as we'll be true mates to one another for ever and ever. For Will and me we loves one another, and I could-yes, I could be good ef I was Will's true wife. But there are them—there are them as wants to part us, and to ruin me, and to ruin him; and they'll ...
— A Girl of the People • L. T. Meade
... He proceeded to untie the rope and coil it up. Rodney took the blanket and put it on the bed, covering it with the spread, so as to conceal the holes which had been worn by the rope. He wound up the ball of cord, and dropped it into the bag with the rest ...
— The Moneychangers • Upton Sinclair
... leathern aprons, and plunged themselves, head foremost, into the water, where they opposed the tide with their sinewy arms till they were tired. They advised me, with much natural civility, to untie my hair, and that then, like them, I might plunge into the ...
— Travels in England in 1782 • Charles P. Moritz
... and squares, and wondering whether, were they transposed this way and that way, the effect would not be better. And then I know that most of those windows are so arranged that they can't be opened, to let in the fresh air, and that gives me a stifled feeling, and I involuntarily untie my bonnet strings, and draw a long breath, to see if my breathing apparatus is ...
— Little Ferns For Fanny's Little Friends • Fanny Fern
... you touch him, you touch me. Now, hurry up, climb down from your perch. I shall have enough trouble now, getting the general to forgive all the blunders you have made to-night, without your adding insult to injury. Tell your men to untie us, and throw the ropes back into the tent. It will soon be daylight. Hustle, and let ...
— In the Midst of Alarms • Robert Barr
... bare velvet of his gown, and his proficiency at tennis, where when he can once play a set, he is a freshman no more. His study has commonly handsome shelves, his books neat silk strings, which he shews to his father's man, and is loth to untie[44] or take down for fear of misplacing. Upon foul days for recreation he retires thither, and looks over the pretty book his tutor reads to him, which is commonly some short history, or a piece of Euphormio; ...
— Character Writings of the 17th Century • Various
... without anything being previously weeded out of them which the law would consider libellous. This strong opinion of his renders the question exceedingly difficult and embarrassing, for it was become very clear that nothing but the intervention of the House of Lords could untie so ravelled a knot. All the Tories are in a state of mingled rage and despair at the impetuosity with which Peel has plunged into this matter, and at the irretrievable manner in which he has identified himself with Lord John Russell upon it. Stanley and Graham have always voted ...
— The Greville Memoirs (Second Part) - A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1852 - (Volume 1 of 3) • Charles C. F. Greville
... "I quite understand. You will pardon my resuming, won't you?" And walking back to the open safe, he drew forth a small bundle of papers from a drawer. Then he threw himself into a leather arm-chair, and proceeded to untie the tape and examine the documents one by one, as though in eager ...
— The House of Whispers • William Le Queux
... moment, and that with even a few hundred additional soldiers the outer works might still be manned and the city saved. The officers English, Dutch, and French, listened respectfully to his remarks, but, without any suggestions on their own part, called on him as their Alexander to untie the Gordian knot. Alexander solved it, not with the sword, but with a trick which he hoped might prove sharper than a sword. He announced his intention of proposing at once to treat, and to protract ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley
... the proceedings against the Austrian woman, and, in talking on that subject, became so much excited that he broke his plate in the violence of his gesticulation. Barere exclaimed that the guillotine had cut a diplomatic knot which it might have been difficult to untie. In the intervals between the Beaune and the Champagne, between the ragout of thrushes and the partridge with truffles, he fervently preached his new political creed. "The vessel of the revolution," he said, "can float into port only on waves of blood. ...
— The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 2 (of 4) - Contributions To The Edinburgh Review • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... case shows knotty and tangled skein, * Fate downs from Heaven and straightens every ply: In patience keep thy soul till clear thy lot * For He who ties the knot can eke untie." ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 6 • Richard F. Burton
... the man now," said the little boy. "But it isn't our Splash. We wouldn't dast go out the front of the tent, Sue. But I could untie the flap ...
— Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Shetland Pony • Laura Lee Hope
... said the girl, sitting down and proceeding to untie a white napkin; 'a pretty manricli, so sweet, so nice; when I went home to my people I told my grandbebee how kind you had been to the poor person's child, and when my grandbebee saw the kekaubi, she said, "Hir mi devlis, it won't do for the poor people to be ungrateful; by my God, I will bake ...
— Lavengro - The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest • George Borrow
... dark. You are as unhappy as is the grown-up who has begun his day without shaving or reading the New York Sun. But as soon as you have proved yourself you may, with a dear conscience, look the world in the face and untie the knot ...
— Somewhere in France • Richard Harding Davis
... Mrs Baggett, because of them strawberries being tied down which, if you untie them, as I always intended, will have the sperrits put on them as well now as ever. And as for your going mad, Mrs Baggett, I hope it won't ...
— An Old Man's Love • Anthony Trollope
... east doors standing open for me, so I could sit in the sun, hang my feet against the warm boards, and see every inch of our meadow where the meet was to be. I was really too warm there, and had to take off the scarf, untie my hood, and unbutton ...
— Laddie • Gene Stratton Porter
... after half an hour, experienced that excruciating pain across the instep of the obstructed circulation? And do you remember that after a few minutes of such pain you simply could not walk another step and had to untie the shoe-lace and ease the pressure? Very well. Then try to imagine your whole body so laced, only much more tightly, and that the squeeze, instead of being merely on the instep of one foot, is on your entire trunk, compressing to the seeming ...
— The Jacket (The Star-Rover) • Jack London
... observed, 'The orifice is not large enough.' However, the blood ran pretty freely. Mrs. Washington, not knowing whether bleeding was proper or not in the general's situation, begged that much might not be taken from him, lest it should be injurious, and desired me to stop it; but, when I was about to untie the string, the general put his hand to prevent it, and, as he could not speak, he said,' More, more.' Mrs. Washington being still very uneasy, lest too much blood should be taken, it was stopped after taking about half ...
— Washington and the American Republic, Vol. 3. • Benson J. Lossing
... animal I've ever come across. When I left I promised I'd try to help him someday, although I couldn't see how. The rope around his neck is about the biggest, toughest rope you can imagine, with so many knots it would take days to untie them all. ...
— My Father's Dragon • Ruth Stiles Gannett
... suppose, for I scarcely feel it. It is singular, but it comes with as little surprise as if I had a remedy ready; yet God knows I am at sea in the dark, and the vessel leaky, I think, into the bargain. I cannot conceive that I have tied a knot with my tongue which my teeth cannot untie. We shall see. I have suffered terribly, that is the truth, rather in body than mind, and I often wish I could lie down and sleep without waking. But I will fight it out if I can."[58] The medical men with one accord tried to make him give up his novel-writing. But he smiled and put them by. He ...
— Sir Walter Scott - (English Men of Letters Series) • Richard H. Hutton
... you'll be a good girl, I'll untie your hands," he said, glancing up into her face. He freed her hands, and Lorraine immediately slapped him in the face and reached for his gun. But Al was too quick for her. He stepped back, picked up Snake's ...
— Sawtooth Ranch • B. M. Bower
... Lady Lucy, coldly, as though she had rather not have been asked the question; and at the same time, leaning heavily back in her chair, she began feebly to untie the lace strings of her bonnet. Bobbie was shocked by her appearance. She had aged rapidly since he had last seen her, and, in particular, a gray shadow had overspread the pink-and-white complexion which had so long ...
— The Testing of Diana Mallory • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... same old story. I hate to kick you when you're down, but I will say this, your wife doesn't look like one mourning without hope when you're away, and with this Northrup chap on the spot, needing entertainment while he works his game, I'm thinking you better stay right where you are! You can, maybe, untie the knot, old chap. Give her and this Northrup all the chance they want, and if you leave 'em alone, I guess the ...
— At the Crossroads • Harriet T. Comstock
... were in, they went out on deck and began to untie the houseboat. While they were doing so they heard the sounds of two ...
— The Rover Boys on the River - The Search for the Missing Houseboat • Arthur Winfield
... "moonshine" still, and the wild little thing in the bushes smiled cunningly—there was no still up that creek—and as he had left his horse below and his gun, she waited for him to come back, which he did, by and by, dripping and soaked to his knees. Then she saw him untie the queer "gun" on his saddle, pull it out of a case and—her eyes got big with wonder—take it to pieces and make it into a long limber rod. In a moment he had cast a minnow into the pool and waded ...
— The Trail of the Lonesome Pine • John Fox, Jr.
... captain angrily. Then he shouted down, "It would be too risky. Here, I'll have the rope slackened, and you can untie it and make it fast round May's chest. I'll have him hauled up, and send the rope down again for you.—Slacken ...
— The Kopje Garrison - A Story of the Boer War • George Manville Fenn
... this cunning scheme at once, so the first thing she did was to untie the cord from Cap'n Bill's big toe and retie it to the leg of the lounge. Then she unfastened her friend's hands and leaned over to give his leathery face a smacking kiss. Cap'n Bill sat up and rubbed his eyes. He looked around the room and rubbed his eyes again, seeing no one who could have kissed ...
— Sky Island - Being the further exciting adventures of Trot and Cap'n - Bill after their visit to the sea fairies • L. Frank Baum
... said, going toward the door; "a very hard knot. But we will untie it, Miss Wardour, and then you will understand all these things. Now tell me, where is your ...
— The Diamond Coterie • Lawrence L. Lynch
... other celestial agency, as certain modern scientific philosophers have assumed, we have only removed the mystery farther away from us. If we assume that it came by spontaneous generation, as Haeckel and others assume, then we are only cutting a knot which we cannot untie. The god of spontaneous generation is as miraculous as any other god. We cannot break the causal sequence without a miracle. If something came from nothing, then there is not only the end of the problem, but also the end ...
— The Breath of Life • John Burroughs
... make so much of a little matter like that," he said. "It was a mistake. I didn't mean you to stay all night. Congreve promised to go back and untie you. Didn't he ...
— The Tin Box - and What it Contained • Horatio Alger
... up the lanthorn. Come, heave in the sack—We were d—mn'd fools, for taking such a hen-hearted fellow among us. Lift the sack an end. Why don't you lend a hand, and keep it steady, while I untie it? Do you think a dead man can stand on his legs? D—mn my body, the fool ...
— The Adventures of Hugh Trevor • Thomas Holcroft
... superiority of intellect or cultivation; and a conference of prelates from all parts of Christendom, or even from all departments of the English Church, would not present an edifying spectacle. Parliament may no longer meddle with opinions unless it be to untie the chains which it forged three centuries ago. But better than councils, better than sermons, better than Parliament, is that free discussion through a free press which is the best instrument for the ...
— Short Studies on Great Subjects • James Anthony Froude
... this hour,—(and what a day! What an hour just passing! the luxury of riant grass and blowing breeze, with all the shows of sun and sky and perfect temperature, never before so filling me, body and soul),—to go home, untie the bundle, reel out diary-scraps and memoranda, just as they are, large or small, one after another, into print-pages,[1] and let the melange's lackings and wants of connection take care of themselves. It will illustrate one phase of humanity ...
— Complete Prose Works - Specimen Days and Collect, November Boughs and Goodbye My Fancy • Walt Whitman
... in their glory and their might, and in the inviolable amity in which they were knit together, a host of comrades, a knot of heroic valour and affection which no strength or cunning, and no power, seen or unseen, could ever relax or untie. ...
— The Coming of Cuculain • Standish O'Grady
... encounter with a stranger; for certain it is that, years after, she did remember both the circumstances of the adventure and the features of Maltravers. She wore one of those large straw-hats which look so pretty upon children, and the warmth of the day made her untie the strings which confined it. A gentle breeze arose, as by a turn in the road the country became more open, and suddenly wafted the hat from its proper post, almost to the hoofs of Ernest's horse. The child ...
— Ernest Maltravers, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... Quent?" said Ross. "I want to have some fun." He turned to Manning. "Untie Corbett and get on the other side of the deck. Have yourselves a nice long talk before you take your ...
— Treachery in Outer Space • Carey Rockwell and Louis Glanzman
... the silence of the dawn hour. And softly steal out to the garden Under the Favrile goblet of the dawning. And a wind moves out of the south-land, Like a film of silver, And thrills with a far borne message The flowers of the garden. Poppies untie their scarlet hoods and wave them To the south wind as he passes. But the zinnias and calendulas, In a mood of calm reserve, nod faintly As the south wind whispers the secret Of ...
— Toward the Gulf • Edgar Lee Masters
... said Grandmother brusquely. "She was a sentimental, fanciful creature. She might have married well but she preferred to waste her life pining over the memory of a man who was not worthy to untie the shoelace of ...
— Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1902 to 1903 • Lucy Maud Montgomery
... better go and untie him," suggested Benoix. "Thanks for the lift, Mr. Farwell. It saved me a long walk. My old horse was too done to take out this evening. Are you ...
— Kildares of Storm • Eleanor Mercein Kelly
... are rejected which involve the assumption of sudden and violent catastrophes and revolutions of the whole earth, and its inhabitants—theories which are restrained by no reference to existing analogies, and in which a desire is manifested to cut, rather than patiently to untie, the Gordian knot. ...
— The Harvard Classics Volume 38 - Scientific Papers (Physiology, Medicine, Surgery, Geology) • Various
... let all Nations meet Like Men, not monsters, when disputes arise. When crossed opinions tangle into snarls, Let Courts untie them, and not armies cut. When State discussions breed dissensions, let Union and Arbitration supersede The hell-created implements of War. Disarm the world! and bid destructive thought Slip like a serpent from the mortal mind Down through the marshes of oblivion. Soon A race of gods shall ...
— Poems of Progress • Ella Wheeler Wilcox
... know," the Viceroy said shortly, working the gag out of his mouth. "Don't stand there like a fool. Untie me." Gratitude was not ...
— Slaves of Mercury • Nat Schachner
... tearing and tugging at one of the overflow tents. Like a madman and with a strength born of desperation he dragged the pole down and, wrenching the stakes out of the ground by main force, never stopping to untie the ropes, he hauled the whole dishevelled mass free of the paraphernalia which had been beneath it, down to the lake. Duffel bags rolled out from under it, the uprooted stakes which came along with it caught among trees and were torn ...
— Tom Slade at Temple Camp • Percy K. Fitzhugh
... preferred talking to pretty ones. On this occasion, however, he resolved to make himself agreeable, and in ten minutes' time he had so far succeeded in gaining Mary's friendship, that she allowed him to untie the blue bonnet, which he carefully removed, and then when she did not know it, he scanned her features attentively as if trying to discover all the beauty there ...
— The English Orphans • Mary Jane Holmes
... figure of speech, since the war bonnets, having of late years been usually ornamented with brass bells, could not be worn in a secret attack, on account of the noise they would make. Before painting themselves, therefore, they untie their war bonnets, and spread them out on the ground, as if they were about to be worn, and then when they have finished painting themselves, tie them up again. When it begins to get dark, they start on the run for the enemy's ...
— Blackfoot Lodge Tales • George Bird Grinnell
... quite possible, quite likely, quite in accordance with what I have seen, that this unfortunate gentleman died of heart failure brought about by even such an ordinary exertion as his stooping forward to untie his shoe-lace, but—I also think it likely that his death resulted from poison, subtly and cunningly administered, probably not very long before his death took place. And if ...
— The Rayner-Slade Amalgamation • J. S. Fletcher
... The drunken coward climbed into his buggy, muttering imprecations on the head of the obdurate hostess of the tavern as he did so. But he had no stomach for further resistance. Mr. Conors and Mr. O'Hagan had been interested spectators, and now came forward to untie their own horses, laughing loudly at the discomfiture of ...
— Nancy McVeigh of the Monk Road • R. Henry Mainer
... "Untie Kali!" Chamis suddenly exclaimed to Gebhr, "and we will escape on the horses; the lion will first overtake him, and kill ...
— In Desert and Wilderness • Henryk Sienkiewicz
... untie the string of one of the heavy bags, when a bright glare overspread the space before him. The pile of dry seaweed, which had been used to cover a sail-boat in the winter, was all in a light blaze. The steward tried to quench the flames with his feet, but ...
— Freaks of Fortune - or, Half Round the World • Oliver Optic
... in love with his sister, and, after a furious conflict in his own mind, finally succumbs to his guilty passion. He is rescued from {133} the consequences of his weakness by the discovery that Panthea is not, in fact, his sister. But this is to cut the knot and not to untie it. It leaves the denouement to chance, and not to those moral forces through which Shakspere always wrought his conclusions. Arbaces has failed, and the piece of luck which keeps his failure innocent is rejected by every ...
— Brief History of English and American Literature • Henry A. Beers
... consigned the two guests to share the same bedroom and dressing-room. The number of gentlemen visitors had necessitated close packing, and Cilly, she said, had come to sleep in her room. Another hope had failed! But at the moment when the door was shut, Phoebe could only sink into a chair, untie her bonnet, and fan herself. Such oppressive good-nature was more fatiguing than a ten miles' walk, or than the toughest lesson ...
— Hopes and Fears - scenes from the life of a spinster • Charlotte M. Yonge
... surely to obey your first command, namely, for the visit to you on Friday evening next, and I fully trust that I wrote you that I would.... And now I will untie the papers of 'Amita,' and see if I dare read them on Friday, or must find ...
— Authors and Friends • Annie Fields
... been modelled on one of Mr. Punch's cinema burlesques. There are the familiar scenes of a plot to hang the girl's lover, swiftly alternating with scenes of her progress on horseback through the primeval forest, and concluding with her arrival just in time to shoot the villain and untie the noose that encircles ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Volume 152, Feb. 7, 1917 • Various
... didn't visit, I should like to have somebody tell me where it is. You may think it made my hair stand out some, to find myself flyin' about like a streak of chain lightnin', and to see the trees and rocks flyin' like mad the other way. I tried to untie the line, but it was drawn into a knot so hard, that the old Nick himself couldn't move it. I looked for my knife to cut it, but it had, somehow, got overboard in our flight, besides flyin' about at the rate of sixty mile an hour, kept a fellow ...
— Wild Northern Scenes - Sporting Adventures with the Rifle and the Rod • S. H. Hammond
... Mexican was burning the grass, calling on saints and others to come and help him turn the antelope loose. When the rope had burned its way through his gloved hands, he looked at them in astonishment, saying, "That was one bravo buck. How come thees rope untie?" But there was none to explain, and an antelope was dragging thirty-five feet of rope in a frantic ...
— Cattle Brands - A Collection of Western Camp-fire Stories • Andy Adams
... misdirected him—and both tumbled on to the floor. Mitchelbourne, however, tumbled on top. He was again upon his feet while Major Chantrell was explaining matters to Captain Bassett; he was flying down the avenue of trees before the explanation was finished. He did not stop to untie his horse; he ran, conscious that there was only one place of safety for him—the interior of Mrs. Ufford's house. He ran along the road till he felt that his heart was cracking within him, expecting every moment that a hand would ...
— Ensign Knightley and Other Stories • A. E. W. Mason
... not too presumptuous in him to beg the right to exist,—why, it is a spectacle piteous to gods and hateful to men! Yet think of the many knots of monitory truisms in which activity is likely to be caught and entangled at the outset,—knots which a brave purpose will not waste time to untie, but instantly cuts. First, there is the nonsense of students killing themselves by over-study,—some few instances of which, not traceable to over-eating, have shielded the short-comings of a million idlers. ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 7, May, 1858 • Various
... fate and taking what comes to them; Celestine's ambition, far from lessening, only increased through difficulties, and led her, when she found she could not conquer them, to sweep them aside. To her mind this complicated tangle of the affairs of life was a Gordian knot impossible to untie and which genius ought to cut. Far from accepting the pettiness of middle-class existence, she was angry at the delay which kept the great things of life from her grasp,—blaming fate as deceptive. Celestine sincerely believed herself a ...
— Bureaucracy • Honore de Balzac |
