He immediately picked up a big stone in order to pound out the nail and
take the wheel off from the axle.

"I shall say just how it all happened, that we quarreled, and upset the
wagon," said Sami calmly.

Then Steffi's wrath rose to its height.

"You traitor, you spy and mischief-maker!" he screamed. "You are nothing
but a ragamuffin. We will force you."

"You cannot," said Sami, "and you are no good either! If you were
God-fearing, you would not want to lie so."

"Well, well," they all screamed together, and shaking their fists in the
most threatening way. "You needn't say that. We are just exactly as
God-fearing as you, and even much more so!"

Suddenly a new thought came to Stoeffi. He ran off with all his might, and
Michael and Uli rushed after him. Sami saw that they were hurrying to the
house; he followed slowly after. The farmer's wife had come back to the
house by a shorter way, and the farmer was just returning home too from
the field, when the three boys came rushing along. The whole family was
standing in great excitement at the door and all were talking loudly
together and making threatening gestures, when Sami came along. He was
met by the farmer, shaking his fist, and his wife threw such harsh words
at him that he stood quite dumfounded.

"That was the last straw," she said, "that after all the kindness he had
received he should tell them they were not God-fearing people."