And, forgive the boast, Sir Knight, thou shalt this day see the naked breast of a Saxon as boldly presented to the battle as ever ye beheld the
steel corslet of a Norman.''
First you wrap a layer or two of blanket around your body, for a sort of cushion and to keep off the cold iron; then you put on your sleeves and shirt of chain mail -- these are made of small
steel links woven together, and they form a fabric so flexible that if you toss your shirt onto the floor, it slumps into a pile like a peck of wet fish-net; it is very heavy and is nearly the uncomfortablest material in the world for a night shirt, yet plenty used it for that -- tax collectors, and reformers, and one-horse kings with a defective title, and those sorts of people; then you put on your shoes -- flat-boats roofed over with interleaving bands of
steel -- and screw your clumsy spurs into the heels.
nevertheless, upon stubb setting the anchor-watch after his supper was concluded; and when, accordingly, Queequeg and a forecastle seaman came on deck, no small excitement was created among the sharks; for immediately suspending the cutting stages over the side, and lowering three lanterns, so that they cast long gleams of light over the turbid sea, these two mariners, darting their long whaling-spades, kept up an incessant murdering of the sharks, by striking the keen
steel deep into their skulls, seemingly their only vital part.
Bide the rest of you here, and Will Stutely shall be your chief while I am gone." Then straightway Robin Hood donned a fine
steel coat of chain mail, over which he put on a light jacket of Lincoln green.
It was a man's face she saw, a face of
steel, tense and immobile; a mouth of
steel, the lips like the jaws of a trap; eyes of
steel, dilated, intent, and the light in them and the glitter were the light and glitter of
steel.
A spear's length in front of them sat the spare and long-limbed figure of Black Simon, the Norwich fighting man, his fierce, deep-lined face framed in
steel, and the silk guidon marked with the five scarlet roses slanting over his right shoulder.
'
Steel,
steel,
steel!' he replied fiercely, imitating with his hand the thrust of a sword.
Steel and wood included, the entire spear is some ten or twelve feet in length; the staff is much slighter than that of the harpoon, and also of a lighter material--pine.
He found it intact: the
steel bands were flawless; the whole trunk was compact.
Afterward he removed the cover of this dial also, and with keen tool cut the
steel finger from the under side of the pointer.
Where Jurgis worked there was a machine which cut and stamped a certain piece of
steel about two square inches in size; the pieces came tumbling out upon a tray, and all that human hands had to do was to pile them in regular rows, and change the trays at intervals.
For a house Lacking a host is but an empty thing And void of honour; a cup without its wine, A scabbard without
steel to keep it straight, A flowerless garden widowed of the sun.