So intent upon the fate of the Lady Gabrielle was she, that she did not hear, above the noise of the dish washing and the quarrelling children, a genuine shriek that did ring out upon the night air. It was not until little Mike pulled her gown with an excited exclamation, that she came back to the world of reality.
"What's that you say?" she said.
Mike repeated his remark:
"Launkelot hitted a man wiv his catter pole."
Mrs. Canary beamed with pride. "Launkelot always was a accurate shot," she said fondly.
At that moment the young marksman appeared at the gate. He was shrieking at the top of his healthy young lungs, and was being hurried along the ground by means of a strong arm which had united itself with his ear. At the other end of the arm was a tall, fierce old man, carrying a muddy top-hat in one hand, and hurrying his victim along with the other. The rest of the hastily summoned Canary flock brought up the rear of the procession.
Mrs. Canary laid the two babies behind the door where they could not be stepped upon in the melee, and faced the enemy boldly.
"What's the matter here?" she inquired fiercely. "Let go that boy. What's he done, I want to know?"
"I will haf' the law on him already!" said the old man. His face was fairly purple with rage and his voice shook so that the words were hardly intelligible.