"That's nothing," said the girl. "He nearly broke me all to pieces the day I lost the goat, and he said he'd kill me downright next time. Oh! there's mother!" she added, her tears bursting forth again. "Whatever will she do? and I daren't go back. I know it's with that great stick he'll kill me, and I can't bear to be killed; I can't bear it."
"Don't cry," said Murtagh. "You shan't be killed. We'll protect her; won't we?" he added, turning confidently to the others.
"That we will," said Winnie. "Why, you live on our land, don't you? So we're bound to protect you even if we didn't want to."
"Yez won't be able," replied the girl. "He'd kill every one of you if ye came between us."
"What an awful man!" ejaculated Rosie, in a tone of horror.
"I don't care if he does," said Murtagh; "you'll just see if we can't prevent him touching you."
"Because you don't know," said Winnie, eagerly. "We're bound up in a tribe, and we always settled we'd protect everybody against people who wanted to prevent them being free; and then, you live on our land; that makes you one of the followers of our tribe, and you'll just see if we let him touch you."
"How can yez help it?" said the girl, in spite of herself half convinced.
"Oh!" began Winnie, confidently. She consulted the others with her eyes, but confronted with the practical difficulty, no one was able immediately to propose a plan.
"Ye don't know what he's like," said Theresa, the momentary flash of hope dying out of her white face.