Racking

“ Rachel stood so amazed at hearing that a pig would take a bath if given the opportunity, that she unconsciously dropped the hammer. Unfortunately it struck on a pet bunion and made Rachel sit down on the ground and hold her injured joint while she rocked to and fro with the pain.
Then she got up and snarled angrily, while she shook a fist at the innocent porkers: “Dat settles it! Yoh fix your own pen, you squeelin’ critters!” and away she went to the house. ”

“ When he had gathered himself up, Larkin made several warm applications of his thick boot to the inexpressible part of the darky's person, and, roaring with pain, that personage made off at a gait faster than that of his runaway horse.
During the affray the occupants of the ground gathered around the belligerents; but as soon as it was over, they went quietly back to 'old-sledge' 'seven-up,' 'pitch-and-toss,' 'chuck-a-luck,' and the 'turkey match.'
As we walked toward the shanty, the trader said: 'Thet feller's a fool. What a chance he's throwin' away! ”

“ Left! Keep your heads up there! Close up on the right!' That will be your work for the next week or two, while I dodge about here, and make Windischgratz believe we're burning to fight."
"Where am I to go?"
"Pesth, with the rank of major. Tedious work you'll find it, and no glory either; but you'll do more good there than marching and counter-marching with me. Now, as to these lads. Which is it to be--a showy uniform or downright hard grinding?"
"Take them on your staff," suggested Rakoczy. "They'll get both then."
"Haven't room for more than one."
"Let that be Stephen," I exclaimed promptly. ”

“ Still I could hear that ominous rattle as it shook its tail while moving along. Though its bite is generally fatal, it is easily avoided on shore, and seldom or never, I have heard, springs on a human being, or bites unless trodden on, or suddenly met with and attacked. In vain I looked for it. It kept moving about under the boughs, as I could tell by the sound of its rattle. Now it stopped, then went on again, now stopped again, and I dreaded every instant to see it spring out from its leafy covert toward us. I kept my gun ready to fire on it should I see it coming. ”

“ The crack of the heavy carter’s whip differs from that of the coachman’s lighter one. There is the single crack, the double or back and fore crack, and the multiple crack, this last being like the dancing noise produced by those alarming crackers placed by mischievous urchins on a Queen’s Birthday night under the garments of terrified young women. There is the encouraging crack, supposed to cheer the horse on his way ”

“ The swiftest of the merchant sailors laid hands on the pikes and whirled to cover their shipmates, until all hands could be armed. Then the gun came roaring down at them but they ducked behind the mast or stepped watchfully aside. Men condemned to death are not apt to lose their wits in the face of one more peril.
These pikes were ashen shafts with long steel points and the merchant seamen had been trained to use them. And the brawn of these lads made the pike a match for a pirate's cutlass. Ned Rackham bounded forward to swing at the broad, deep-chested boatswain. ”

“ On damp nights when the wind hauled to the southeast, men stood still in their tracks, and said, simply, "There's the Old Roke," as if it was the Old Man of the Sea himself. The sound was a living personality in their ears.—Women whom the sea had widowed shivered and rattled irons when the Old Roke came close to their windows; but the men listened, as if they had been called—each by his own name.
"What's the ringle jingle of feet by the side of that?" Rackby said, his mystified face turned toward the water. "I'm a man for slow tunes, Peter. ”

“ But the lark is the most untrustworthy creature under heaven. However much it might freeze at night, the frost was forgotten at the first sunbeam; and the lark soared, singing, high over the heath, until it bethought itself that it was hungry.
Then it sank slowly down in wide circles, singing, and beating time to its song with the flickering of its wings. But a little way from the earth it folded its wings and dropped like a stone down into the heather. ”

“ Rack is a further corruption; and rack-punch is perhaps not quite obsolete.
1603.—"We taking the But-ends of Pikes and Halberts and Faggot-sticks, drave them into a Racke-house."—E. Scot, in Purchas, i. 184. Purchas also has Vraca and other forms; and at i. 648 there is mention of a strong kind of spirit called Rack-apee (Malay āpī = 'fire') . See FOOL'S RACK.
1616.—"Some small quantitie of Wine, but not common, is made among them; they call it Raack, distilled from Sugar and a spicie Rinde of a Tree called Iagra [Jaggery] ."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1470. ”

“ I don't carry rakes! But why do you want one?"
"To scratch my back," grunted the pig. "You know we porkers always like to have our backs scratched, and I thought, if you had a rake, you could do it for me. ”

“ We say outside the entrance, for if the trap be placed at a point where the animal is obliged to assume a crouching posture, it will be sprung by the creature's belly, and you will find your trap empty save for a fringe of hair. Even if the dens show no signs of recent occupation, a few traps can hardly be misplaced, for the raccoon, like every other animal, frequently goes on foraging trips long distances from his actual home, taking up temporary quarters in places like those above described. ”

“ RAKE, the projection of the upper parts of a ship at the height of the stem, and stern, beyond the extremities of the keel. Thus if a plummet be hung from the top of a ship’s stern, so as to be level with the continuation of the keel, the distance between the after end of the keel and the plummet will be the length of the rake abaft, or the rake of the stern.
RAKING a ship, the act of cannonading a ship on the stern, or head, so as that the balls shall scour the whole length of her decks; which is one of the most dangerous incidents that can happen in a naval action. ”

“ Rack, rak, n. (prov.) the neck and spine of a fore-quarter of veal or mutton: the neck of mutton or pork.
Rack, rak, n. the gait of a horse between a trot and a gallop.—n. Rack′er, a horse that moves in this gait. [Perh. rack, to drift, or rock.]
Rack, rak, n. same as Arrack.—Rack punch, a punch made with arrack.
Rack, rak, n. a young rabbit. [Orig. unknown.]
Rackabones, rak′a-bōnz, n. (Amer.) a very lean person or animal. ”

“ A very good idea of the structure of the rattle may be formed by slipping a number of thimbles loosely into each other.
`The rattlesnake lies coiled with its head flat, and the tip of its tail elevated; when alarmed or irritated it gives a quivering movement to the tail which causes the joints of the rattle to shake against each other with a peculiar sound, not easily described; all animals, even horses newly brought from Europe, tremble at this noise, and try to escape.'
`What is the best thing to be done for the bite of a serpent?' inquired Fritz. ”

“ All in a lordly garden ground
Is weeding hemp a maid,
A Lark addresses her and asks,
Why sad, and why afraid?
‘O how can I then joyful be,
Thou pretty little lark?
My lover they have ta’en from me,
And shut in dungeon dark. ”

“ W. L. Dubois, Urbana, Ohio.—You might lighten your racket by scraping it with glass or sand-paper, or by hollowing out the handle. Don't soak it. You will find it more satisfactory in the end to buy another, or to trade your own off for a lighter one. ”

“ Blessed be horse rakes! Once, half a dozen men with half a dozen rakes would have gone whisking up and down, thrusting out and pulling in the long-handled rakes with slow and laborious progress. But no more of that. See friend Turner, mounted on the wheeled horse rake, riding about as if for pleasure. It is easy times when men ride and horses rake.
[Pg 145] Meanwhile, the clouds come bowling noiselessly through the air, and spit here and there a drop preliminary. Well, if one thing suffers, another gains! See how the leaves are washed; the grass drinks, even drinks ”

“ The horses will probably be caught by our rope and will come to ground, their riders being thrown headlong. That is your moment of attack; spring upon them and rope them securely.
"Should a horse escape the stretched rope, his rider must be brought to ground by your cudgels. Beware that no man escapes, or our plan will fail. Above all, remember there must be no bloodshed unless self-defence require it. Leave the rest to me; now, do you all understand?"
"Aye, aye, sir," answered the rustics in a joyful shout.
"Then get to your posts, all of you; our foes may be here at any moment," said Ralph. ”

“ With a yell the enemy gave way before us; a score of Englishmen had followed Drake, and were now hacking at them. To add to their confusion our men had driven off the boarders on the other side, and now streamed down to the rescue with loud cries of "Drake!"
A moment of fierce hand-to-hand struggle, as we fought to and fro upon the bloody deck; many slipped and fell in the pools of blood, and they fought among themselves and hacked at the legs of the men as they trampled over them. Some who went down were trodden to death; others struggled to their feet and fought on. ”

“ Suddenly a shape rushed out of the hedge into the light of the lamps, and a man laid a violent hand upon the horse's reins. The horse reared, and Rachel cried out,—
"What are you doing? Let go!"
But the man held the struggling horse, at once coercing and taming it, with an expert hand. A voice!—that sent a sudden horror through Rachel,—
"Sit where you are—hold tight!—don't be a fool!—he'll quiet down."
She sat paralysed; and, still holding the reins, though the trembling horse was now quiet, a man advanced into the light of the left-hand lamp. ”

“ The cold, white flakes swirled around his legs, and fell on his stiff, wooden arms, chilling him all the way into his glue, by which he was held together.
"If the snow gets into my cracks, it will melt, and be just like rain," thought Racky as he swayed along. "Then I shall fall apart! Or I shall get the rheumatism, and creak worse, than when fat Grandma sits on me! ”

“ He shot up into the air, and heard a sharp, disconcerting rattle as the taut line raced from the reel. The drag upon his beak and the [Pg 198] light check upon his wings were inexplicable to him, and appalling. Drake, teal, hunger and wrath were all alike forgotten, and he beat upwards with a rush that made the reel fairly screech its indignant protest. For a moment the fisherman, bewildered, tried to play him like a salmon. Then the leader parted from the line. The fisherman reeled in the limp coils, and the worried hawk flew off with the flies. ”

“ The teeth of the hand-rake are of wood or iron. For the horse-drawn rake, a bar with long curved steel teeth is mounted on wheels (see Hay and Haymaking) . The word “rake” has been used since the 17th century in the sense of a man of a dissolute or dissipated character. This is a shortened form of the earlier “rake-hell,” apparently in common use in the 16th century. In military and naval use “to rake” means to enfilade, to fire so that the shot may pass lengthwise along a ship, a line of soldiers, entrenchments, &c. ”

“ So he stumbled on, with leaden legs and bursting sides, till—as if Fate had not yet dealt him her last worst buffet—on turning a corner in the road he almost ran under the wheels of a dog-cart, in which, as it pulled up, was apparent the portly form of Farmer Larkin, the arch-enemy whose ducks he had been shying stones at that very morning! ”

“ I stuck a bottle of ale under each arm and went across, some hundred yards (for we didn't want the noisy barbecue too closely associated with our house) to the shack.
It was dark inside. Though I knew my way about as well as a rat knows a buttertub, I had my hands full and did stumble a bit just as I was saying, “Here, old Raikes, crawl out from—” and having stumbled, I swore a little.
A woman's voice, scornfully, bitterly—“Drunken beast!”
Holding a candle above my head I peered at the two dark, cloaked figures: the Englishman, Davenant, and his daughter, so-called. ”

“ Ten pounds apiece if we overtake him!’
‘Lay down to it now, boys!’ said Hazell, and the heavy Customs boat shot out in pursuit.
‘This is going to be a lark,’ Racksole remarked.
‘Depends on what you call a lark,’ said Hazell; ‘it’s not much of a lark tearing down midstream like this in a fog. You never know when you mayn’t be in kingdom come with all these barges knocking around. ”

“ Every trapper knows how difficult it is to set a large trap alone in the woods, especially in cold weather, when the fingers are stiff, and the difficulty is greatly increased when one has to work in a boat. One of these clamps applied to each spring will, by a few turns of the thumb-screws, bend the springs to their places, so that the pan may be adjusted without difficulty. ”

“ I can astrogate, and when I have to, I can man the engines on top of that. But I can't fight her as well.
"I came here, put the Armageddon into a one-day orbit and came down in a lifeboat. I want to go back and find out what those slime-eaters did to us, and give them a taste of the same. I want twenty men."
There was a silence.
Rack said, in the same even, low voice, "Will you fight for the human race?" ”