"Come on, girls! It sha'n't be said that Billy beat me!"
The old woman stared after the girls, uncomprehendingly for a moment, and then, with a scowl on her face, turned back to the hut again.
"Run on! Run on!" she muttered. "But I'll get ye yet! I'll get ye!"
She turned, and seeing the backs of the girls toward her, shook a gnarled and wrinkled fist at them.
"I'll get ye yet!" she repeated.
As she entered the hut a man's face was thrust down through an opening in the ceiling—a hole that had been covered by a hatch-board.
"Wouldn't they come?" he asked.
"Naw! They turned from me as if I was dirt."
"The snips! Well, maybe we'll get another chance."
"Another chance?" repeated the crone.