The Inspector believes the ax stroke was blocked by an I impulse of the witness's eyes or brains before it reached the state of memory.

I got better at it, and over a period of time I killed and killed and killed, getting less and less bloody, swifter and swifter, surer with my ax stroke until, finally, I could kill efficiently and without emotion or thought.

When I started back toward the table Master Li was preparing to remove the top of the corpse's head with a saw, and Yen Shih was measuring fibula and tibia for ax strokes.

"Nearer my God to thee," hummed Gimlet, cutting the last stay with a quick ax stroke.

His opponent- helmeted and armored even as he was- feigned an ax stroke at his knees.

His bullets cut the wires as neatly as an ax stroke.

The last ax strokes were made.

So while no particular one is a disaster for us, every time one goes it's another ax stroke.

A few careful ax strokes cleared the way with ease.