The first of the assassins-Martis was reasonably sure that this was what they were-laughed and swatted at Lyran with the flat of his blade in a careless, backhanded stroke, aiming negligently for his head.

he said, and with a careless stroke of his assegai severed the thong at her neck.

As in decapitating the whale, the operator's instrument is brought close to the spot where an entrance is subsequently forced into the spermaceti magazine; he has, therefore, to be uncommonly heedful, lest a careless, untimely stroke should invade the sanctuary and wastingly let out its invaluable contents.

It's how they look sketched-the eyes just circles, the small pink ears just squiggles made with a felt-tip pen, the mouths a pair of quick, almost careless strokes of pale pink watercolor.

MIKE ATHERTON's hope of retaining his England Test place took a blow today, when he was out to a careless stroke in front of Graham Gooch.

He attacked the big beveled glass first, slapping enamel over it in quick careless strokes.

She had that precise beauty of the very small, her flawless features like those of a girl in a Ferix brush painting: a few careless, perfect strokes executed in some exact ratio of loveliness.

And in either case, a single careless stroke with a drumstick will split the cymbal.