At other times it was a decided advantage, and his friends and companions held such interchangeable opinions on the point that they could not readily have expressed them if called on to do so at a moment’s notice.
— from The Rover of the Andes: A Tale of Adventure on South America by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne

We are willing to believe that when attacked by robbers, he engaged them in conversation and that, seated on the grass, he convinced them they were in a bad business.
— from Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 10 Little Journeys To The Homes Of Great Teachers by Elbert Hubbard

Some of the men seem to have no fear in handling the carpet snake, and one adept hunter, when I expressed surprise at his allowing a creature at least ten feet long to writhe round him, explained that it could do him no harm as he had hold of its neck and the tip of its tail.
— from Papuan Pictures by H. M. Dauncey

Osborn rubbed his eyes; the interpreter called vigorously on a Romish saint, and the Malay spat energetically, as if some unclean animal had crossed his path.
— from Curiosities of Superstition, and Sketches of Some Unrevealed Religions by W. H. Davenport (William Henry Davenport) Adams

A rather handsome ebony table, intricately carved and inlaid with mother-o’-pearl and ivory, stood before a cushioned dîwan which occupied that side of the room in which was the square window.
— from Tales of Secret Egypt by Sax Rohmer

"I must beg your pardon," she said suddenly, in a low, quick voice, but without raising her eyes, "that I committed the blunder of asking you sans façon to pay me a visit which may give you some trouble."
— from Problematic Characters: A Novel by Friedrich Spielhagen

Having thus fortified themselves by the union of the inhabitants, the assembly met on purpose to take bolder and more decisive steps: and being apprehensive that the Governor would dissolve them, so soon as their proceedings reached his ears, they instantly came to the following resolutions: "First, That the several laws pretended to be repealed are still in force within the province, and could nor be repealed and made void and null but by the General Assembly of this province, and that all public officers and others do pay due regard to the same accordingly.
— from An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia, Volume 1 by Alexander Hewatt

Having, reduced her enemy to impotence, Claudia returned to the Rectory, and slept the sleep of the just.
— from The Red Bicycle by Fergus Hume