Some busters caught their horses for the first time over the head, and snubbed or choked them until they fell gasping.

He raised his right arm and clamped a facelock on his opponent.

But there was also about him an indescribable air which no mechanic could have acquired in the practice of his handicraft however dishonestly exercised: … the air of moral nihilism common to keepers of gambling hells and disorderly houses ….

...rash harebrain treating matters that require age and gravity;