Sentence:  I poured a charge of powder over the nipple so as not tu miss goin' off if possible. Click! went the match,—up jumped the flock, or tried tu. As they bunched up, Peggy blazed intu 'em, <WSD>settlin'</WSD> how many I didn't know, [...] 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To silence, especially by force; by extension, to kill.