So into the kitchen and back up the stairs, and Red Wull always
following.

"I'll no despair yet o' teachin' ye the fifth commandment, though I
kill masel' in doin' it!" cried the little man, seizing the strap from
the boy's numb grasp.

When it was over, M'Adam turned, breathless, away. At the
threshold of the room he stopped and looked round: a little,
dim-lit, devilish figure, framed in the door; while from the
blackness behind, Red Wull's eyes gleamed yellow.

Glancing back, the little man caught such an expression on David's
face that for once he was fairly afraid. He banged the door and
hobbled actively down the stairs.

Chapter VII. THE WHITE WINTER

M'ADAM--in his sober moments at least-- never touched David
again; instead, he devoted himself to the more congenial exercise
of the whiplash of his tongue. And he was wise; for David, who
was already nigh a head the taller of the two, and comely and
strong in proportion, could, if he would, have taken his father in
the hollow of his hand and crumpled him like a dry leaf.
Moreover, with his tongue, at least, the little man enjoyed the
noble pleasure of making the boy wince. And so the war was
carried on none the less vindictively.

Meanwhile another summer was passing away, and every day