She said many merchants had hoped the summer of '92 would start a recovery from a slide in business since the mid-1980's.

"The merchants and their guards cannot hope to hold them off."

Every French merchant hoped that something evil would befall the English, and if the colonies chanced to be the agency for the disaster, fine.

The avenue has a long way to go, but many merchants hope the new diversity will draw more people.

The merchants hoped to find easily accessible mineral wealth or at least a Norwegian-like environment for agricultural production.

Many merchants this year hoped that a late surge would reverse the season's earlier sluggishness.

A sharp-witted merchant hoped to make a fortune be- fore noon.

While merchants are hoping for a last-minute flurry of shoppers, many are now conceding that sales will be even worse than they feared.

In September, merchants had hoped for double-digit growth.

Not a small hurt, but smaller than it could have been, and the good merchants of Gea-Xle hoped we would break the pirates.