Kit had banged the door shut, put up the bar, got a rifle and made ready for what was to come next; but when she heard our whoop, she put on her wrapper and opened the door. The two men ’at the Friar had crumpled up were those same two Greasers ’at The had told us were the meanest pair he had ever herded with.
We took ’em by the heels an’ straightened ’em out, while Kit indulged in a few little hystericals. The Friar had allus been a great hand to expound upon moral force an’ spiritual force, and such items, and now when the two Greasers refused to come back an’ claim their own bodies, he got a little fidgetty.
“Friar,” I sez, “I give in to you. Your quiet way o’ lettin’ the right work out its own salvation is the surest way I know; and in an emergency like this, it does full as well as violence.”
The Friar wasn’t in no mood for hilarity, though; so after gettin’ their weapons an’ tyin’ ’em up, we soused the Greasers with water, and brought ’em back to give an account o’ themselves, Kit all the time tellin’ us what had happened.
It seems ’at Kit had been hoein’ in her beloved garden that day an’ had been purty tired at night; so after waitin’ for us until she got exasperated, she had eaten her own supper, put ours on the table, an’ turned in. Olaf had put up another cabin the same size as his first. He had put ’em side by side with a porch joinin’ at their eaves. In one cabin was the dinin’ room an’ kitchen, all in one, and in the other was the bedroom an’ settin’ room.
Kit had heard a noise in the settin’ room and had opened the door before she was full awake, thinkin’ it was the dog or cat. The minute she had opened the door they had grabbed her, and she had begun to scream. They shut off her wind a little; but they wasn’t rough with her—quite the contrary. They leered into her eyes, and patted her on the shoulders, and made queer, gurglin’ noises in their dirty brown throats; but they didn’t speak to her, not one word.
Kit was strong, an’ she had fought ’em to a standstill for what she thinks was twenty minutes, at least; but she was beginnin’ to weaken. One of ’em kept his arm about her neck, and whenever she tried to scream, shut off her wind. She had heard the Friar’s hoss nicker when he opened the first pole gate, and this provided her with enough moral courage to sink her teeth into the wrist of the arm about her neck. The feller had give a yell, and struck her; but at the same time, she had opened up a scream of her own which loosened things all over the neighborhood.
The Friar had first put for the settin’ room door; but they had locked this door on the inside, intendin’ to go out the side door. He savvied this so he dove into the porch-way between the two cabins, and made a rattlin’ on this door. They had paused at this; but he had to rattle several times before they took down the front bar. We had been fordin’ the crick about this time.
The Greasers had tried to get out the window once; but Kit had called out what they were up to; so they had turned on her an’ choked and beat her scandalous.
This was Kit’s side, and by the time she had finished tellin’ it, the Greasers had begun to moan an’ toss. The Friar gave a sigh of relief, as soon as they came to enough to begin grittin’ their teeth. I sat ’em up with their backs again’ the side of the cabin, and intimated that we were ready to receive their last words.