In vain his mind groped to reassemble the bones of the relationships he had sought so desperately, but they would not come to life.

They had been seen as soon as they left the ranch, picked out of the darkness by the weary though watchful eyes of two men posted a few hundred yards away in the windless shelter of the trees.

They greeted the news angrily, as though they had been cheated of purpose.

He remembered Clayton's mocking smile in the saloon when he had asked him what he would do if they brought their cattle to water.

All were carrying guns they had seized up, but they were half-clad or hardly clad at all.

Hell, they were fightin' each other so hard they had no time for anyone else.

That afternoon when they had pulled up in front of the broken-down ranch house, his hopes had been high.

And they had almost everything they needed: land, a house, two whiteface bulls, three horses.

And he had a feeling -- thanks to the girl -- that things would get worse before they got better.

It was, I felt, possible that they were men who, having received no tickets for that day, had remained in the hall, to sleep perhaps, in the corners farthest removed from the counter with its overhead light.

I had felt the draft they were making while mounting the stairs.

He had been worried that with Miller and Rankin added to the escape party they would be short.

It was all right to put a bunch of ranchers onto horses, to call them Night Riders, to set out to attack the largest mining combination the country had ever seen if all they wanted was adventure.

For his first five years in prison, they had shared a cell.

The one thing they had in common was their hatred.

After they had finished eating, Melissa took Sprite the kitten under her arm -- `` so that Auntie Grace can teach it about the whistle '' -- and climbed into the station wagon beside her mother.

But they deliberately avoided the one subject that had them all curious: the failure of the boss's wife and son to join the outfit.

Not that her mother knew what had happened, but they could speculate upon it.

During much of the fifteen-mile ride they had watched a lurid display of lightning in the sky to the east.

If the bluff failed and they ran into trouble, Brannon had told the others, they would withdraw -- and he would come after his son another time.

When the captives arrived in Boston, `` the chaplain ( of their captors ) went to prayers in the open streets, that the people might take notice what they had done in a holy manner, and in the name of the Lord ''.

Moreover, they have done so in rather special circumstances.

And they have done this on a very large scale, with a veritable flood of novels and stories which are either dystopias or narratives of adventure with dystopian elements.

If they do meet and recognize one another, slap backs and embrace, the moment soon is done.

If only this could be done more often -- with such heartening results -- many of the earth's `` big problems '' would shrink to the insignificances they really are.

Frankly, it is being very cleverly done for, in a sense, they have us over a barrel.

The big shock everybody had when they found ol Slater and those others done for.

The altercation in the coffee house had done little to dampen his spirits, but he was still a little wary around Rector for they had not yet discussed the incident.

`` I've never done this before '', they always said, shaking their dresses down over their white shoulders.

`` I've never done this before '', they always said, waiting for the elevator in the hotel corridor.

`` I've never done this before '', they always said, pouring another whiskey.

`` I've never done this before '', they always said, putting on their stockings.

On ships at sea, on railroad trains, in summer hotels with mountain views, they always said, `` I've never done this before ''.

He could no longer build anything, whether a private residence in his Pennsylvania county or a church in Brazil, without it being obvious that he had done it, and while here and there he was taken to task for again developing the same airy technique, they were such fanciful and sometimes even playful buildings that the public felt assured by its sense of recognition after a time, a quality of authentic uniqueness about them, which, once established by an artist as his private vision, is no longer disputable as to its other values.

For example, the interest of past members of the Foundation's Advisory Board remains such that they place their knowledge and judgments at our disposal much as they had done when they were, formally, members of that Board.

Half the manhours you pay for on most jobs are wasted because the job was not planned right, so the right tools were not handy at the right place at the right time, or the right materials were not delivered to the handiest spots or materials were not stacked in the right order for erection, or you bought cheap materials that took too long to fit, or your workmen had to come back twice to finish a job they could have done on one trip.

The newer party campaigned heavily, while the older, more confident party expected the Moroccan merchants and small businessmen to support them as they had done for many years.

Together they had probably done more than any other men to help push Laos toward the 20th century -- constructively.

If this must be done, they should always be corked and kept in a cool place ; ;

While they were away Blanche came into the office every morning, running things as she had always run them for Stanley, going through the week in a dazed stupor, getting things done automatically, out of habit.

They would like to convey the notion something is being done, even though it is something they know to be ineffectual.

It is difficult to say what can be done about them except that we must learn to recognize when it is they, rather than pretexts for them, that are causing the trouble, and do everything possible to nurture the healthy personalities that will prevent the development of such deficiencies.

All of it might have been heroic, but they had done it in the wrong place.