"They shan't touch one of them with their dirty hands! I will do it myself. Oh, Mona, it's a shame of them! They deserve a good thrashing. If I were a man I would give it to them!"
Mona put her hand on Jill's shoulder.
"Gently, dear! I am sorry about it, but they did not understand. If you don't want them here they can return to their work!"
"I never wish to see them again," was the vehement retort. "I—I—feel like Elijah. I should like to call down fire from heaven to burn them up!"
Jill's passion was great. Mona wisely said nothing till the workmen had disappeared, then she remarked—
"When you have put your pile of stones straight, Jill, you can run and find Sam for me. I will tell him to make a little fence round this, and then you will have no more trespassers."
She walked away, for she judged rightly that work would soon subdue Jill's excitement. The idea of the fence delighted the children, and they set to work with a will.
"Nobody dared to touch Jacob's stones, I know," said Jill; who could not quite get over the act of sacrilege, as she considered it.
"Well," observed Jack, "the Bible mightn't tell about it, you see. He had no fence."
"I know it was always there," persisted Jill, "because Miss Falkner told me that Jacob went back there after, and made a proper altar."