She told her story in a bluff dogmatic
way. She was bailed up by the miscreants and scared out of her seven
senses. They demanded her money or her life, and she believed that it was
their intention to leave her 'welterin' in her gore'; and having said as
much she squared round upon the lawyer, arms akimbo and head thrown back,
inviting him to come on to his inevitable destruction.
'Come, come, madam,' said the barrister, 'you must not tell us you
imagined for a moment you were ever in any serious danger from these
terrible fellows.'
'Mustn't! mustn't!' cried Mrs. Cox. 'An', indeed, why not, sir? Who're
you to tell me I musn't?'
Mrs. Cox stopped deliberately and carefully rolled up both sleeves of her
dress. Then, unhampered and in customary trim, she smote the cedar in
front of her and cried:
'Mustn't, indeed!
'No offence, ma'am,' said the small lawyer in a conciliatory tone; 'no
offence in the world. Please explain what you did when attacked by the
prisoners.'
'What' d I do? First I said a prayer for me soul.'
'And then?'
'And then I grabbed one o' the young imps, an'
I--,
Here Mrs. Cox's actions implied that she had a struggling bushranger in
her grip. She drew him over her knee, and then, for the education and
edification of the court, went through the task of enthusiastically
spanking a purely imaginary small boy.
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