Sentence:  It so chanced that on the second day after my arrival a pack-train came along, guided by a <WSD>nettlesome</WSD> old man and a strong, black-haired lass of sixteen or thereabouts. The old man . . . had no sooner slipped the packs from the horses than he began to rail at Hans, who stood looking on. "You damned Dutchmen all be Tories, and worse," he cried. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Thorny; difficult to deal with, especially due to being complex or tricky.