As was her custom, she boiled tea for them, then foretold their fate based on the position of the leaves left in their cups. They only shouted and laughed. Then they all went out and got on their horses. I could still hear them laughing as they rode up the road. Cedar Swamp School house.
Scholars generally agree that all that the antagonists had to do was wait for an opportunity.
They were certain that the Black Donnellys would go on a rampage after Michael was stabbed to death, but surprisingly they hadn't probably because the killer remained unidentified and had apparently fled for parts unknown, leaving the angry and insulted clan without a definite target. Ryder claims that one of the families with whom the Donnellys had remained on friendly terms were his ancestors, the Ryder family of neighboring burgh Granton. According to Ryder, the inner committee, in an effort to cause bad blood, burned Patrick Ryder's barn and blamed the deed on the Donnellys. But, before a lynch mob could manifest, the plot failed. The charge was to be formally written up the next day, on February 4.