The smaller fellow had laid fast hold of his
antagonist by the collar, and would not let go, despite the blows
which, to extricate himself and in retaliation of the puny buffets of
his youthful detainer, he "showered thick as wintry rain."
The woman, seeing the posture of affairs, shouted to the combatants
to desist, but to no purpose, rage and absorption in their wrathful
occupation having deafened both to all external sounds. Seized with
pity for the younger lad, who was getting so mercilessly the worst of
it, the woman, hastily throwing a shawl over her shoulders, sprang
into the street and rushed between the juvenile belligerents.
Dexterously extricating the hand of the little fellow from the collar
of his antagonist, she hurried the former [89] into her gateway,
shouting out to him at the same time to fasten the door on the
inside. This the little fellow did, and no doubt gladly, as this
surcease from actual conflict, short though it was, must have
afforded space for the natural instinct of self-preservation to
reassert itself. Hereupon the elder of the two lads, like a tiger
robbed of his prey, sprang furiously to the gate, and began to use
frantic efforts to force an entrance.
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