ried the eldest of the guards.

"Hold my peace! Verily, I will, not hold my peace about such a hussy as
Dorothe Stevens. That I, a Christian and Puritan, should be ducked for
slandering one so foul as she! I choke at the thought."

"Marry! I wish you were silent."

"Silent, Joshua Chard, silent, indeed! Think ye that the fear of all the
water in James River will awe me to silence?"

"No, by the mass, it will not," answered his companion.

"Lawrence Evans, unholy papist, do not touch me!"

"I am not a papist."

"Come, Ann Linkon, let us have this execution done with," put in Joshua,
dragging the woman along.

The scene was now ridiculous enough to excite the laughter of even the
gravest Puritans. The pond and ducking-stool were in sight, and Ann
Linkon, with a persistence and strength that was marvellous, began to
pull back, and when she had set her heels firmly in the ground it
required the united strength of both guards to move her.

"I won't go! I won't be ducked! I won't! I won't!" she screamed at the
top of her voice.

"Nay, Ann, bright flower of loveliness, you shall have a soft seat."

"Shame on you, Joshua, to drag an old woman like me by the arm."

"Marry! I am not dragging you, dame Linkon. Your heels do stick like a
ploughshare in the ground."

The woman continued in her sharp, shrill voice to upbraid him:

"Ungrateful wretch, is it thus you serve one who fed you in your
infancy, when your mother had deserted you? Unhand me, indented slave,
and go back to your master, wretch--wretch--wretch!" she hissed, as she
went sliding on her heels, her toes horizontal and her knees rigid. Her
feet ploughed up the earth and stones, and the crowd hooted and jeered.

"Come on, Dame Linkon, and take your bath," cried some idle urchins,
waiting at the water in anticipation of rare sport.

The victim continued to scream in her shrill voice:

"It's for that hussy! She bore false witness against me at the court and
had me condemned. I will be avenged for this!"

"Marry! we will be more damp than you," said Joshua, wiping the
perspiration from his forehead with the cuff of his coat.

"Joshua, is this payment for what I have done for you? When you were
sick with fever I sat by your bedside and cared for you; when no one
else would cook your food, it was I who did it, and is it thus you
requite me?"

"Peace, good dame, I have my duty to perform."

"Duty; but such a duty!"

She still braced her heels again