The generous nature of Ruth was roused, and catching
Martha from the arms of Whittal Ring, she endeavored, by a desperate
effort, in which feeling rather than any reasonable motive predominated,
to envelop both the children in her robe.
"I am with ye!" whispered the agitated woman, "hush ye, hush ye, babes!
thy mother is nigh."
The stranger was very differently employed. The instant the crash of glass
was heard, he rushed to the rear; and he had already grappled with the
savage so often named, and who acted as guide to a dozen fierce and
yelling followers.
"To the block!" shouted the steady soldier, while with a powerful arm he
held his enemy in the throat of the narrow passage, stopping the approach
of those in the rear by the body of his foe. "For the love of life and
children, woman, to the block!"
The summons rang frightfully in the ears of Ruth, but in that moment of
extreme jeopardy her presence of mind was lost. The cry was repeated, and
not till then did the bewildered mother catch her daughter from the
floor. With eyes still bent on the fierce struggle in her rear, she
clasped the child to her heart and fled, calling on Whittal Ring to
follow.
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