"If you must know, I am taking these two heathens to visit the reverend. Please let us pass unmolested by these infernal creatures of yours," Miss Brigham said.
"I'll take them. You go back inside and play house."
Samantha's muscles stiffened as she readied to fight her way out should it come to that. Before she could try to say something, Miss Brigham responded for them. "I am perfectly capable of taking them on my own. I don't know what I did to deserve such abuse heaped upon me like this. I've made a dreadful mistake coming here. I expected to come here and take care of sweet, innocent babies and all I've found are foul-tempered little girls and a bully with a pack of mangy dogs." Miss Brigham crossed her arms and rooted herself where she stood. "Mr. Pryde, I will take these girls and what's more I will make sure Reverend Crane knows what an odious person you truly are. You can kill me if you like, but I'm sure the reverend would be terribly disappointed to need a new caretaker after only one day."
Pryde responded by cupping Miss Brigham's jaw in one hand and beginning to squeeze. "Speak to me like that again, girl, and there won't be enough of you left to feed my dogs. Get out of my sight."
Miss Brigham said nothing, hurrying away down the path towards the reverend's house. She rubbed her jaw and took a few test bites of air. Samantha hoped Pryde had done enough damage that they wouldn't have to hear any more of Miss Brigham's prattling. "That vile man!" Miss Brigham shouted, dashing Samantha's hopes. "The audacity of him calling me 'girl' and making light of my acne. Really, I don't know why Reverend Crane can't find better help. An ape has more courtesy."
As Miss Brigham continued to rant about Pryde, Samantha grabbed a sturdy branch hanging down and tore it free. She took a couple practice swings with the club, judging it heavy enough to serve as a primitive weapon. For a final test, she used it on the back of Miss Brigham's head, just hard enough to stun the teenager in the middle of a sentence. Miss Brigham wobbled for a moment and then collapsed to the ground.
"Why did you do that?" Prudence asked.
"We can't have her following us around," Samantha said. With the pair of pants and gag they'd used earlier, Samantha bound Miss Brigham to a nearby log and stuffed the gag back into her mouth. "We'll come back for her later."
Prudence looked skeptical about this, but didn't say anything. They continued down the path towards the reverend's house. "What do we look for when we get there?" Prudence asked.