| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Finished by H. Rider Haggard: was for the Transvaal, I was for Zululand. So you see we agreed
that if another flash came before we counted a hundred, we would
go to Zululand, and if it didn't, to Pretoria. A very good way
of settling, wasn't it?"
"Excellent!" I replied, "quite excellent for those who could
think of such a thing."
As a matter of fact I don't know which of them thought of it
because I never inquired. But I did remember afterwards how
Anscombe had tossed with a lucky penny when it was a question
whether we should or should not run for the wagon during our
difficulty by the Oliphant's River; also when I asked him the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: the offenders, and whetting his own indignation against them,
the sun was fast sinking to the west. They rode on till they
came in view of a bridge, which they saw a party approaching
from the opposite side, and the knight presently discovered
that the party consisted of the lady Matilda and friar Michael,
young Gamwell, cousin Robin, and about half-a-dozen foresters.
The knight pointed out the earl to the sheriff, who exclaimed,
"Here, then, we have him an easy prey;" and they rode on manfully
towards the bridge, on which the other party made halt.
"Who be these," said the friar, "that come riding so fast this way?
Now, as God shall judge me, it is that false knight Sir Ralph Montfaucon,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Human Drift by Jack London: lower. In a moment requiring quick action, I invariably mistook
the two lines. Pulling on what I thought was the wheel-line, in
order to straighten the team, I would see the leaders swing
abruptly around into a jack-pole. Now for sensations of sheer
impotence, nothing can compare with a jack-pole, when the
horrified driver beholds his leaders prancing gaily up the road
and his wheelers jogging steadily down the road, all at the same
time and all harnessed together and to the same rig.
I no longer jack-pole, and I don't mind admitting how I got out of
the habit. It was my eyes that enslaved my fingers into ill
practices. So I shut my eyes and let the fingers go it alone.
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