The girl at first cowered and shivered under the blows, and then
sank as if lifeless on the floor. But the moment she was left to
herself she darted forward and once more cut her father down. The
robbers then flew upon the prostrate man and cut and stabbed him
until they supposed he was dead. Toward his family they meditated
a more terrible and devilish cruelty. After sacking the house and
taking all the plunder they could carry, they relieved the horror-
stricken wife and crying, shrieking children of their presence.
Their further action, however, soon inspired Phebe with a new and
more awful fear, for she found that they had fastened the doors on
the outside and were building a fire against one of them.
For a moment an overpowering despair at the prospect of their fate
almost paralyzed her. She believed her father was dead. The boy
who had aided her at first was now dazed and helpless from terror.
If aught could be done in this supreme moment of peril she saw
that it must be done by her hands. The smoke from the kindling
fire without was already curling in through the crevices around
the door.
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