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obsequiously behind him, each holding a piece of food, and they laughed
aloud and shouted to see the old woman so angry. And with a shriek the
child was caught and the old woman set to work slapping and the child
screaming, and it was very good after-dinner fun for them. Little Si ran
on a little way and stopped at last between fear and curiosity.
And suddenly came the mother of the child, with hair streaming, panting,
and with a stone in her hand, and the old woman turned about like a wild
cat. She was the equal of any woman, was the chief of the fire-minders,
in spite of her years; but before she could do anything Siss shouted to
her and the clamour rose loud. Other shock heads came into sight. It
seemed the whole tribe was at home and feasting. But the old woman dared
not go on wreaking herself on the child Siss befriended.
Everyone made noises and called names--even little Si. Abruptly the old
woman let go of the child she had caught and made a swift run at Si for
Si had no friends; and Si, realising her danger when it was almost upon
her, made off headlong, with a faint cry of terror, not heeding whither
she ran, straight to the lair of the lion. She swerved aside into the
reeds presently, realising now whither she went.
But the old woman was a wonderful old woman, as active as she was
spiteful, and she caught Si by the streaming hair within thirty yards of
Eudena. All the tribe now was running down the knoll and shouting and
laughing ready to see the fun.
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