" Then he turned to
face the assailants.
The scene on the roof had attracted a large number of spectators, who
had gathered below and were exchanging surmises and advice on the merits
of a case about which none of them really knew anything. Now a woman's
voice rose from amid this gaping and chattering crowd,--the sharp and
screechy voice of an angry woman. She shouted to those who were on the
roof,--
"Get down from my house! Get down, you scoundrels! If you want to kill
each other do it elsewhere, and not on my home!" With this the woman
climbed on to the roof. She seized the boy nearest to her by the hair
and pulled him fairly to the ground, so that the poor fellow howled
from pain. With the other hand she dealt blows and cuffs, and scratched
and punched indiscriminately among the youngsters, so that a sudden
panic broke out among these would-be heroes. Each sought to get out of
her reach with the greatest alacrity. She at last released her hold on
the first victim and reached out for another; but the last of the young
Corn people was just tumbling down from the roof, and her clutch at his
leg came too late. In an instant the roof was cleared. The young braves
from the Maize clan were ungraciously received below.
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