Then the young man who had carried the injured gentleman away arrived, running up, summoned by the cries, and with one stroke of the stick he held in his hand, he made the old man drop the stone.
'In another moment he would have beaten out your brains,' said he, panting.
'I reckon he would,' observed Joyce.
The old man howled with pain, dancing about holding his arm where struck.
'Who are you? What are you doing here?' asked the gentleman.
'Never you heed he,' said Joyce. 'Hers old vaither.'
'Help me away from this horrible place,' entreated the lady: 'I have fallen among savages in a dreadful wilderness. Am I in England, in Europe—or is this the wilds of Northern Canada?'
'She is lame,' said the young man to Joyce. 'Assist me in conveying her to the house yonder.'
Joyce put herself submissively on one side.
'How is my father?' asked the young lady.