"It may be your death."

"That's what ye want."

"We don't."

"Ye lie, ye wretch!"

"Ann, I will duck you the full sentence if you don't hold your peace."

"You are a wretch!" she screamed.

The sheriff at this moment motioned the crowd to stand back and gave the
signal to his two assistants, who went to the other end of the pole and
seized the rope dangling there.

"You are a white-livered wretch!" the scold again yelled. At this
moment she went soaring off into the air. A piercing shriek came from
her lips as she found herself swinging out over the pond. "I'll scratch
your eyes out!"

"Let her down," commanded the sheriff, and the men holding the rope
allowed it to slip through their hands, and the woman in the chair
darted down toward the water.

"I said it, as I say it yet; she's a hussy! she's a hussy!" shrieked the
woman, whose vocabulary was insufficient for her rage. The chair rapidly
descended until it struck the water with a splash, pushing the waves on
either side and letting the scold down, down into the cold liquid. She