Page:Dorothy's spy; a story of the first "fovrth of Jvly" celebration, New York, 1776.djvu/91

80 into the other room, else you will be badly hurt when the door gives way, as give it must when we get a fair blow at it."

Then it was that Dorothy displayed such firmness and temper as her father might have shown under similar circumstances.

"Sarah and I will stand directly here, and if we are killed or wounded, your crime will be all the greater!"

"What's that?" some one asked, and the spokesman repeated the girl's words.

"It's no concern of ours if she chooses to run her head into danger!" a voice cried. "Let the chit take the consequences, if she is so pert. Come on with the timber!"

Then it was that some man, one who probably had children of his own at home, shouted:

"It were better, ten times over, to wait till Jacob Dean comes back, than to harm a child!"

With this the men began to wrangle among themselves, some in favor of breaking down the barrier at any cost, and others insisting that it would be a dastardly crime to do such a thing, more especially while the owner of the dwelling was absent.

This discussion lasted ten minutes or more, and fortunate for the children it was, since at the end of that time Masters Dean and Lamb, with their wives, arrived.