Time and again the now useless stub of its giant sting struck
futilely against my body, but the blows alone were almost as effective as the kick of a horse; so that when I say
futilely, I refer only to the natural function of the disabled member--eventually the thing would have hammered me to a pulp.
There before him stood the terrified girl vainly trying to fire another bullet into the animal's body; but she did not understand the mechanism of the firearm, and the hammer fell
futilely upon an empty cartridge.
So strong was the play-instinct in him, as well as was his constitution strong, that he continually outplayed Scraps to abject weariness, so that he could only lie on the deck and pant and laugh through air-draughty lips and dab
futilely in the air with weak forepaws at Michael's continued ferocious-acted onslaughts.
We stood there, grouped about the body of the dead Grabritin, looking
futilely down the river to where it made an abrupt curve to the west, a quarter of a mile below us, and was lost to sight, as though we expected to see the truant returning to us with our precious launch--the thing that meant life or death to us in this unfriendly, savage world.
In silence, in love, and in reverence he buried, in the little rose garden that had been Jane Clayton's pride and love, the poor, charred form and beside it the great black warriors who had given their lives so
futilely in their mistress' protection.
The girl raised her riding whip and struck repeatedly but
futilely against the iron headgear of her assailant while he swung his horse up the road, and, dragging her palfrey after him, galloped rapidly out of sight.
She could tell no more than I why she had ceased to love me; she was scarcely less anxious than I that I should make her love me again, and, as I have said, she waited with a wonderful tolerance while I strove
futilely to discover in what I was lacking and to remedy it.
Rokoff fought furiously but
futilely against the growling, rending fate that had overtaken him.
Then Sing pulled the trigger again and again, but the cylinder would not revolve and the hammer fell
futilely upon the empty cartridge.
He panted and sobbed, wasting his effort by too much effort, losing sanity and control and
futilely trying to compensate for the loss by excess of physical endeavor.
She gripped herself and her iron with a visible effort, and dabbed
futilely at the frail, frilled garment on the board under her hand.
Latterly he had seen only Life, felt only the great passionate pulse of existence, unwarped, uncontorted, untrammelled by those creeds which
futilely attempt to check what wisdom would be content to regulate.