Sentence:  The comet was burning blue in the distance, like a sickly torch, when I first sighted him, but he begun to grow bigger and bigger as I crept up on him. ... Thinks I, it won't do to run into him, so I <WSD>shunted</WSD> to one side and tore along. By and by I closed up abreast of his tail. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To cause to move (suddenly), as by pushing or shoving; to give a (sudden) start to.