They share what food and water they can gather from occasional sorties to the edge of town.

Crane, despite his activity, remained behind making occasional sorties off the road to look behind some tree or peer into a thicket.

Other than occasional late-evening sorties to the convenience store, he had hardly stepped outdoors in a month.

"I felt such a need to renew myself," he said, speaking in English, with occasional sorties into French and Italian.

He had even made occasional sorties into Regwos and southern Nekweros, despite the stories men told of the horrors lurking in the mountains beyond the outer edges of the frontier.

Rats scurried noisily inside the heap, making an occasional sortie into the middle of the stone floor and darting back.

They carried out regular assaults against the fortress while the defenders also made occasional sorties, but none of them were able to sway the battle in favour of either side.

For the next ten years, Galuppi remained in Venice, with occasional sorties elsewhere for commissions and premieres, producing a series of secular and religious works.

His forces suffered severe losses during the fighting which involved heavy shelling and occasional sorties.

There have been occasional sorties by the BNP in local by-elections, but none has been a particularly significant performance.