What th' DEVIL did y' RUN f' ?" "Wot did I run f'?
What did YOU run f' ?" "Bah!" and Dad boldly led the way back.
"Now look here (turning fiercely upon Joe), don't you come catching hold of me again, or if y' DO I'll knock y'r d--d head off!...Clear home altogether, and get under the bed if y're as frightened as THAT." Joe slunk behind.
But when Dad DID approach Jack, which was n't until he had talked a great deal to him across a big log, the latter did n't show any desire to take life, but allowed himself to be escorted home and locked in the barn quietly enough.
Dad kept Jack confined in the barn several days, and if anyone approached the door or the cracks he would ask: "Is me father there yet ?" "Your father's dead and buried long ago, man," Dad used to tell him.
"Yes," he would say, "but he's alive again.

The missus keeps him in there"-- indicating the house.
And sometimes when Dad was not about Joe would put his mouth to a crack and say: "Here's y'r FATHER, Jack!" Then, like a caged beast, the man would howl and tramp up and down, his eyes starting out of his head, while Joe would bolt inside and tell Mother that "Jack's getting out,", and nearly send her to her grave.
But one day Jack DID get out, and, while Mother and Sal were ironing came to the door with the axe on his shoulder.
They dropped the irons and shrank into a corner and cowered piteously--too scared even to cry out.
He took no notice of them, but, moving stealthily on tip-toes, approached the bedroom door and peeped in.

He paused just a moment to grip the axe with both hands.

Then with a howl and a bound he entered the room and shattered the looking-glass into fragments.
He bent down and looked closely at the pieces.
"He's dead now," he said calmly, and walked out.

Then he went to work at the post-holes again, just as though nothing had happened.
Fifteen years have passed since then, and the man is still at Shingle Hut.