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

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

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;