They made it to the meadow when Samantha heard Wendell shout followed by the sound of his logs tumbling to the ground. She assumed he'd stumbled and spilled his load, but when she climbed up to the meadow, she saw a pair of older boys looming over him. One was John, the dark-haired boy from church. "You're not supposed to carry the firewood. You're just supposed to stack it," a blond boy about Samantha's age said.
John poked Wendell in the chest. "You're too weak to carry the firewood. That's why the reverend gave the job to us."
"I can too carry it. I carried it all the way up here," Wendell said. He tried to gather up some of the firewood, but the blond boy kicked it away from him.
"What's going on here?" Samantha asked.
"It's none of your business," John said.
"He was helping me take the wood to Miss Brigham so it is my business," Samantha said.
"He's doing our job. The reverend assigned us to haul the firewood, not this weakling," the blond boy said.
"Then where were you two?"
"We had to carry some over to the kitchen. You should have waited until we got back."
"I can't keep Miss Brigham waiting all day. I don't see what difference it makes who carries the stupid firewood as long as it gets there."
"It's our job. Not his."
"Wendell didn't mean any harm. Leave him alone."
"Why don't you go wet yourself and let us handle this," John said and took a menacing step towards her. He stood a head taller than Samantha and weighed twenty pounds more, all of it muscle. Still, she didn't back away.
"Wendell and I are going to deliver this firewood to Miss Brigham," she said. She folded her arms across her chest and planted her feet in the meadow's soft grass.
"No you aren't," John said. "Now get out of here before you get hurt."
Samantha stood her ground. When John swung at her with his left arm, she grabbed his wrist without thinking and flipped him to the ground behind her. Then she turned to the blond boy and said, "Do you want to be next?" The blond boy looked first at his partner and then at her before running down the hill to the safety of the barn.
"Are you all right?" she asked Wendell.
John got to his feet and tried to take Samantha by surprise with a punch aimed at the back of her head. She ducked under the blow and then stuck out her right leg, sending John crashing to the ground next to Wendell. Before John could roll back to his feet, Samantha jumped on his back, pinning him to the ground. She twisted his left arm behind his back and said, "Go on, say it."