Even so, these boys and girls found the pend and the gateway into the street and the street itself a pleasant change from the crowded rooms in which they lived. All day they worked in factories, and in the evening they naturally tried to find entertainment.
This evening they were in a good humor, and it was very plain that they were awaiting some interesting event. They looked down the street eagerly as one might look for the approach of the band at the head of a circus parade. Presently they drew near together before the door of a little room on the ground floor of Queen Street. The window-shades were lifted and within were to be seen rows of benches and a little table. They looked in and laughed.
"We'll get her!" said a rough voice. "Just wait till she comes to her prayer-meeting!"
So it was not for a circus parade they were watching!
"She wants to go out to Africa to teach black people!" said another, and there were shrieks of laughter as though this were the strangest desire ever heard of.
"Black people!" repeated the largest boy of all. "I'll black her eye." As he spoke he swung a heavy object at the end of a string. It looked like a piece of lead and was a dangerous weapon.
At this moment a figure appeared at the corner and advanced toward the group.
"She's coming!" shouted a girl. "She's coming!"
There was delighted laughter and a sudden stooping to the earth. There were loose stones on Queen Street and there was also mud, both soft, sticky mud and hard, dried mud.