Socky felt his sword and looked up into the face of his aunt.
"Where we goin'?" he asked, with another silent sob.
"Pon my soul, I dunno," Sinth answered, wearily.
"Don't you be 'fraid," he said, waving his sword manfully.
Sinth took her knitting out of the satchel and sat down comfortably on a bed of leaves. Zeb began to growl and run around them in a circle, like the cheerful jester that he was. It seemed as if he were trying to remind them that, after all, the situation was not hopeless. He continued his gyrations until Socky and Sue joined him. Soon the big trees began falling and their thunder and the hoots of the "briermen" echoed far. The children came to their aunt.
"What's that?" they asked, with awe in their faces.
"The trees," Sinth answered, solemnly. "They're a-mowin' of 'em down."
In a moment, thinking of the young man who had heartlessly put her out, she added:
"I guess he'll find he's hurt himself more'n he has us."
"Who?" Socky asked.