Shiner

“ Mind, if you see cause, you deal with him, or else,——" (with an awful oath) "you answer to the others."
"If he's got to go, he'll go," replied the other, doggedly. "Don't you fear me; Moody the cannibal ain't a man to flinch."
"What, is that tale true then?" asked Hawker, looking at his companion with a new sort of interest.
"Why, in course it is," replied Moody; "I thought no one doubted that. That Van Diemen's Land bush would starve a bandicoot, and Shiner and I walked two days before we knocked the boy on the head; the lad was getting beat, and couldn't a' gone much further. ”

“ Area 6
The order of abundance of the species at Area 6, in terms of the estimated population per 500 square feet, was as follows: red shiner (64.0) , fat-headed minnow (41.5) , blunt-nosed minnow (16.0) , stoneroller (13.8) , green sunfish (8.8) , long-eared sunfish (1.9) . Insufficient data make inclusion of other species unreliable.
Calculations of percentage-composition give the following results: red shiner (20.1%) , long-eared sunfish (14.6%) , green sunfish (12.2%) , fat-headed minnow (12.1%) , blunt-nosed minnow (11.7%) , stoneroller (5.8%) . ”

“ Nevertheless, some species were shown to be definitely mobile and others exhibited pronounced sedentary tendencies. The results of experiments on movement are presented in Table 16. Marked fish (dyed and fin-clipped) were taken as long as seven days after being marked. Only those species in which more than ten individuals were marked are included. [Pg 417]
Blunt-nosed minnow, red shiner, and channel catfish (yearlings and older) are more mobile than other species. ”

“ Now the King and Shirin were looking on, and the Queen said, "O King, didst thou note the meanness of the man, in that he must needs stoop down to pick up the one dirham, and could not bring himself to leave it for any of the King's servants?" When the King heard these words, he was exceeding wroth with the fisherman and said, "Thou art right, O Shirin!" So he called the man back and said to him, "Thou low-minded carle! Thou art no man! How couldst thou put the bag with all this money off thy back and bend thee groundwards to pick up the one dirham and grudge to leave it where it fell?" ”

“ I said to Shin Shira, who had been listening attentively. "I'll dismiss the man now, shall I, and we'll talk over what's best to be done?"
Shin Shira nodded, so I told the Slave I had no further use for him at the moment, and he vanished.
I stood looking at my little friend in great bewilderment.
[Pg 105] "It is a great power to possess," I said, regarding the lamp with awe and amazement. "I hope I shan't do anything foolish with it."
"Don't be silly," said Shin Shira crossly. "I only wish I had your chance. Why, you can do anything with a power like that. ”

“ There was to be a sequel, perhaps some hazardous ascent, some expedition at all events which Garratt Skinner had not thought fit to name.
"They took guides, I suppose," he said.
"One guide, monsieur, and a porter. Monsieur need not fear. For Monsieur
Skinner is of an excellence prodigious."
"My father!" exclaimed Sylvia, in surprise. "I never knew."
"What guide?" asked Chayne.
"Pierre Delouvain"; and so once again Chayne's fears were allayed. He turned to Sylvia.
"A good name, sweetheart. I never climbed with him, but I know him by report. A prudent man, as prudent as he is skilful. ”

“ Hi!" I heard voices shouting, and looking up to the cliffs I saw some people waving frantically. "Come up quickly, or you'll be cut off," they shouted.
And I hurried along the sands, only just in time, for I had been so interested in Shin Shira's story that I had not noticed how the tide had been creeping up. I shall have a good look at that jewel in Shin Shira's turban next time I see him—and as for "the Bellows," I hardly know which explanation to accept, Shin Shira's or that of the guide. ”

“ I replied, for I knew my Arabian Nights by heart.
"Very well, then," said Shin Shira. "All you've got to do is to get the Slave of the Lamp to bring us the Roc, which I happen to know is still alive; we can then fasten ourselves to his claws, and he will fly back to his home with us, and there, as you know, the ground is strewn with precious stones." ”

“ In 1822, the Comte de Serizy employed Schinner to decorate the chateau of Presles; Joseph Bridau, who was trying his hand, completed the master's work, and even, in a passing fit of levity, appropriated his name. [A Start in Life.] Schinner was mentioned in the autobiographical novel of Albert Savarus, "L'Ambitieux par Amour." [Albert Savarus.] He was the friend of Xavier Rabourdin. [The Government Clerks.] He drew vignettes for the works of Canalis. [Modeste Mignon.] To him we owe the remarkable ceilings of Adam Laginski's house situated on the rue de la Pepiniere. [The Imaginary Mistress.] ”

“ I then swallowed my stone, and immediately became almost as tiny as my small cousin, having, for my part, wished to be reduced to the height of an inch and a half, thinking that some sort of distinction ought to be preserved in our relative sizes.
"There!" exclaimed Lionel in a vexed voice, when I had joined him. "It's no use after all! How on earth are we going to get on board?"
"Ah!" cried Shin Shira, laughing good-humouredly and now looking, to us, like a good-natured giant, towering as he did high above our heads. ”

“ Walter Skinner, indignantly.
"Why, thou art either unsound of wit or a knave," was the calm response. "Only fool or knave doeth dirty work for another, even though that other be the king. And now, if thou wilt escape, I will help thee to it."
"I have had great toils," said Walter Skinner, with a manner which would have been ponderous in a man twice his size. "I have met a hedgehog. I have lost two horses. I have been planted in the mire like a rush. I have now come hither on a wind-broken and spring-halt horse, for which I did pay a price to a thief. ”

“ I rubbed the lamp and summoned the Slave, who appeared promptly as before.
"I'm sorry to ask such a difficult thing, but can you catch the Roc for me and bring it here?" said I, somewhat apologetically.
[Pg 108] "It shall be here, Master, in twenty minutes," replied the Slave imperturbably, vanishing again at a wave from my hand.
"I don't know, I'm sure, what I want diamonds for, when I have such a willing servant," I grumbled, still rather unwilling to venture upon what I regarded as an uncanny undertaking.
"He can't provide you with money," said Shin Shira. ”

“ It was Garratt Skinner's business, as that of any other rogue, to play with simple artifices upon the faults and vanities of men. He had, therefore, cultivated a habit of observation; he had become naturally attentive to trifles which others might overlook; and he was aware that he needed to go very warily in the delicate business on which he was now engaged. He was fighting Sylvia for the possession of Walter Hine—that he had recognized—and Chayne for the possession of Sylvia. ”

“ Signy wandered on for several days, resting in the evenings in some sheltered nook, and ever going towards the north. It was now mid-summer, the days were long—in fact, there was scarcely any night; and on the fourth evening, just as the sun, like a huge red ball, was setting in a bed of crimson and gold, only to rise again, Signy saw some rocks in front of her, in one of which was a huge cave. Listening carefully for a few minutes and hearing no sound, Signy entered very softly, and there she saw two beds: one was covered with a beautiful blue silk quilt, embroidered with gold ”

“ As neither gold nor threats could move the beautiful Gerd to listen to his master’s suit, Skirner tried his last resource; and, calling upon all the powers of earth and air and water, he pronounced a terrible curse upon the maiden for her coldness to the unhappy Freyr. “May the sun never shine without bringing pestilence upon your land, and may each day add some trouble to those which already burden you. May sickness throw its blight upon you, and loathsome diseases render your beauty hideous. ”

“ Shin Shira sprang to the opening.
"I'll attract him in another direction, and while he is after me you all escape over the [Pg 125] fence," he cried hurriedly, and snatching a red silk handkerchief from Lionel's pocket, he rushed out into the open.
The bull paused, and though I frantically shouted to Shin Shira to come back, the brave little fellow flourished the red handkerchief to attract the creature's attention. With a bellow of anger the infuriated animal, holding his head down, tore after the Dwarf, who ran with surprising swiftness in the opposite direction to the marquee. ”

“ A snapping of twigs alarmed Siena and he whirled upon the defensive, but too late to save himself. A band of Indians pounced upon him and bore him to the ground. One wrestling heave Siena made, then he was overpowered and bound. Looking upward, he knew his captors, though he had never seen them before; they were the lifelong foes of his people, the fighting Crees.
A sturdy chief, bronze of face and sinister of eye, looked grimly down upon his captive. “Baroma makes Siena a slave.”
Siena and his tribe were dragged far southward to the land of the Crees. ”

“ I argued.
"He evidently doesn't know where they are, and it's as well to keep him ignorant on the subject, in case the lamp passed out of your power, in which case he might use his knowledge in favour of his next master. And, besides, the Roc couldn't carry him there."
"He wouldn't have to," said I. "The Slave evidently has the power of being able to transport himself to any place at will."
"But we don't know where to direct him to," said Shin Shira impatiently. ”

“ Angry, and yet curious to see who stood without the castle, Gerd threw open the great hall doors; and at the sight of her the two fierce dogs stopped howling and lay quiet at her feet. Then Skirner came boldly to the maiden’s side and begged her to listen to his story. As the laws of hospitality prevailed even in Jötunheim, the beautiful Gerd bade him enter; and when they were seated by a great fire in the hall, Skirner told the maiden how Freyr had seen her from Odin’s seat and had loved her with a passion that would surely kill the once-joyous god unless she consented to become his wife. ”

“ Fortunately Lionel's boast was not a vain one, and he reached the shore before I did, laughing and wringing the water out of his clothes.
"Well, it's good to be on dry land once more at any rate," he said, as I waded ashore, "isn't it?"
"Yes," I agreed, looking about to see if I [Pg 78] could discover any traces of Shin Shira in the dusk.
"There he is!" at last cried Lionel, "but his head has vanished, and there are only his legs and arms waving about. They won't be much use to us, and—by Jove! yes! Look, here comes that wretched old duck after us. ”

“ That is different."
"Neither are the Shinros alive, they only seem so. They do not know what they have lost—it is much as if they had died.
"But come, I must show you where we can get a ship to take us away from this and into your world. I have a life to live, I want to live it! You—have a message to deliver to your people, or they will become the Shinros of the whole race of Schrees. I do not like to think what can happen to your world!" ”

“ I inquired carefully, for I remembered from previous experience that Shin Shira's magical powers had an unfortunate habit of going wrong at times.
"Without the least doubt," replied he; "in fact, from the time that you are reduced to the size which you desire to be, you very gradually increase, till your original size is reached."
"Then there's no danger?" I hazarded.
"None whatever," was the reassuring reply.
"Then do, do please let us be 'reduced,'" pleaded Lionel eagerly.
"Very well, then," said I. "And do you propose that we should go for a trip in the model yacht?" ”

“ Unless Sumer and Shinar are the same words, outside the Old Testament there is only one Shinar known to ancient geography. That was in Mesopotamia. The Greek geographers called it Singara (now Sinjar) , an oasis in the midst of deserts, and formed by an isolated mountain tract abounding in springs. It is already mentioned in the annals of the Egyptian conqueror Thothmes III. In his thirty-third year (B.C. 1470) , the king of Sangar sent him tribute consisting of lapis-lazuli "of Babylon," and of various objects carved out of it. ”

“ A dead fish floats, doesn’t it? Well, in any good fishing water, such as the Adirondack lakes, where I fished with my father one summer, there are millions of fish—big and little—scores of millions, even hundreds of millions, if you count shiners and the other minnows, that of a clear day lie in banks from the bottom of the water to its surface. ”

“ Before the ice locked the ponds Siena killed a hundred moose and reindeer. Meat and fat and oil and robes changed the world for the Crow tribe.
Fires burned brightly all the long winter; the braves awoke from their stupor and chanted no more; the women sang of the Siena who had come, and prayed for summer wind and moonlight to bring his bride.
Spring went by, summer grew into blazing autumn, and Siena’s fame and the wonder of the shooting stick spread through the length and breadth of the land. ”

“ Shin Shira, who had seen our accident, was shouting and gesticulating at the edge of the Pond, but the wind was blowing in his direction and carried the sound of his voice away from us, so that we couldn't hear a single word of what he was saying.
"I suppose eventually we shall drift ashore," I said hopefully.
"Yes, but not for hours and hours perhaps," said Lionel dolefully, "because the wind may [Pg 75] change, you know, and besides it's getting dusk."
"It certainly isn't a very pleasant look-out," I agreed. "I can't see what we are to do, unless—I say! ”