' And she waved her
withered arm after the robber many times. 'Seventy-two years I've
lived in this bush, girl an' woman, an' he's the finest one that ever
come into it; barrin' my other son the Slugger that the p'lice bagged
when he was drunk. But not apeach would he, even when they put the
rope around his neck. He's the sort of a man for you to pattern by,
my young one,' the old woman said, turning to Roland and addressing
him for the first time.
'Why, old dame, ought I be anxious to have myself hanged in the end,
as I understand this Slugger was?'
'Bah! you haven't courage enough to earn your hanging. I do not know
what the captain wants to bring such coves as you here for,' she
said, darting a malignant glance at our hero. 'I would be ashamed to
eat other people's bread and accept their shelter, without trying to
make myself useful.'
Roland was in one of his irritating moods so he said:
'I perceive that you are a very wicked old lady; and I am quite sure
that if the officers could only lay hands upon you, they would give
the birds something to peck at. Do you know what they do with bad old
ladies like you? Why, they hang them up to trees that stand alone
upon a bleak common; that the boys may pelt and the crows may feed.
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