"Give me that gun!" And snatching it from Sam's unwilling hand, he levelled it at the cage.
"BING!" he roared.
Simultaneously there was the sound of another report; but this was an actual one and may best be symbolized by the statement that it was a whack.

The recipient was Herman, and, outrageously surprised and pained, he turned to find himself face to face with a heavily built coloured woman who had recently ascended the stairs and approached the preoccupied hunters from the rear.

In her hand was a lath, and, even as Herman turned, it was again wielded, this time upon Verman.
"MAMMY!" "Yes; you bettuh holler, 'Mammy!"' she panted.

"My goo'ness, if yo' pappy don' lam you to-night! Ain' you got no mo' sense 'an to let white boys 'suede you play you Affikin heathums?
Whah you britches ?" "Yonnuh Verman's," quavered Herman.
"Whah y'own ?" Choking, Herman answered bravely: "'At ole cat tuck an' th'owed 'em down cistern!" Exasperated almost beyond endurance, she lifted the lath again.

But unfortunately, in order to obtain a better field of action, she moved backward a little, coming in contact with the bars of the cage, a circumstance that she overlooked.