"And she never had tried to climb
a canyon side for a yard, either, but she came up and over after
me, like a cat. And up there on a small ledge Oka Sayye came
down directly above us. I couldn't be mistaken. I saw him
plainly. I know him by sight as well as I do any of you. We
heard the stones coming down before him, and we knew someone was
going to be on us who was desperate enough to kill. When he
touched our level and turned to follow the ledge we were on, I
pushed him over."
Katy shook off Linda's protecting arm and straightened suddenly.
"Why, ye domned little fool, ye!" she screamed. "Ye never told a
lie before in all your days! Judge Whiting, I had the axe round
me neck by the climbin' strap, and I got it in me fingers when we
heard the crature comin', and against his chist I set it, and I
gave him a shove that sint him over. Like a cat he was
a-clingin' and climbin', and when I saw him comin' up on us with
that awful face of his, I jist swung the axe like I do when I'm
rejoocin' a pace of eucalyptus to fireplace size, and whack! I
took the branch supportin' him, and a dome' good axe I spoiled
din' it."
Katy folded her arms, lifted her chin higher than it ever had
been before, and glared defiance at the Judge.
"Now go on," she said, "and decide what ye'll do to me for it."
The Judge reached over and took both Katherine O'Donovan's hands
in a firm grip.
"You brave woman!" he said. "If it lay in my power, I would give
you the Carnegie Medal.
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