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 against the ground, and it required all the strength of her guards to push and pull her along. "Verily, I say such a duty," answered Joshua, on whose grave features there came a smile. "Dame Linkon, if you would limber your joints we could make more speed." "I am in no hurry," she answered. "I believe you; yet if you had not detained us, this affair would have been over." The urchins and older persons began to cry: "Hold back, Dame Linkon; make them earn their fees." "I will scratch your eyes out!" she hissed, as she was forced down to the bank and made to sit in the chair. Joshua wound a strap about her waist and stooped to buckle it, when, with her freed hand, she seized his hair, causing him to yell with pain. "Prythee, hold her hands, lest she make good her threat!" he cried to his companion.