“Oh, no, you don’t!” said Mrs. Cubberling, her stocky frame blocking the doorway.
“She has to go back!” Falco tipped back his head and laughed. “Did you hear that, Edith? She’s half drowned and shivering with cold, but she has to go back to the fountain!”
Judy was still guarding the valve when the woman sprang forward with the ferocity of a tiger and pushed her away from it.
“This will teach you not to go poking around where you’re not wanted,” she snarled as she struck Judy sharply across the cheek.
“This will teach you not to go poking around where you’re not wanted!”
The blow was so unexpected that it knocked Judy off her feet and sent her spinning into a corner where she lay helpless.
“That’ll hold you for a while,” the gang leader told her. “Come on, Edith! We have to take care of her brother if the water hasn’t already done it.”
