stormy petrel

But Leon Smith, the captain, was determined to have him here, his stormy petrel capable of all sorts of heroics in the past, a good luck charm now, and a loud one.

They are always on the wing, like stormy petrels, flying swift and low, just skimming the waters, yet darting like arrows, as if seeking for something which they could not find on land or sea.

Did he regard her as a sort of stormy petrel, heralding bad weather and bad fortune?

Indeed, it may even be said that his little, shrunk and wizened figure was a kind of stormy petrel: his very presence was a certain signal that danger and adventure were at hand.

Now it so happened that among those who were discontented for one reason or another there was that stormy petrel, General Daendels.