Even the kids are often thuglets: At the age of ten I was threatened by a switchblade-wielding lad who is today the president of a prestigious local bank.

an oversteep slope

Though, quoth I, it was his good fortune, to send from his Schole, vnto the Vniuersitie, one of the best Scholers in deede of all our time, yet wise men do thinke, that that came so to passe, rather, by the great towardnes of the Scholer, than by the great beating of the Master...

But when it is considered, that by a reciprocal understanding, the Pilot fish seem to act as scouts to the shark, warning him of danger, and apprising him of the vicinity of prey; and moreover, in case of his being killed, evincing their anguish by certain agitations, otherwise inexplicable; the whole thing becomes a mystery unfathomable.