Then came the deep, heavy voice of the giant: “Be quiet!” it said. “Be quiet! No, you won’t have to go back. We’ll take you. This time we’ll lock you up so tight you’ll stay where you’re put, and you’ll come when you’re bid. That’s what you’ll do!”
“S-somebody tell me quick!” screamed the old witch. “Quick! Did May Fielding marry Tackleton? Did she? Did she?” and Mary Frances heard her screaming, “Did she? Did she?” until her voice died away.
How Mary Frances longed to tell her no, but she did not dare!
“She deserves her punishment,” the Queen whispered, and since she knew that that was true, Mary Frances did not speak.
After the story was over, she received her copy from the Ready Writer and slipped it into her story satchel with the rest of the stories. Then she wandered down by the seashore alone. Near the shore there was a boy with a feather in his cap sitting on a rock. She knew him in a minute.
“Where did the giant take the old witch, do you think, Peter Pan?” she asked.
“To the Devil’s Den,” said Peter. “I saw them go.”
“To the Devil’s Den!” cried Mary Frances. “How dreadful!”
“It’s not such a bad place,” said Peter. “It is just a deep cave. It is lighted from a large opening in the top. Its name is the worst thing about it; but the old witch cannot get out of it if they lock her in.”
“Oh, she got away from the giant’s basket, then?”