Roaring profanities, Mamma leapt out of the motor-car and scrambled up the side of the canal. She bound up the wooden staircase leading to the troll's booth and began thumping on the door. "I'll teach you—! Who do you think—I'll show you a thing or two—! Come out, you coward! You pirate! You hideous idling ogre! Come out and face justice!" She rattled and shook the little booth.
Quaking with fury, Mamma put two hands on the crank next to the booth. "Then I'll open the water gate myself, and you'll get no payment at all, you miserable brute!" She grunted and heaved and gripped the enormous crank with all her mighty strength. Her face changed several more colors, but it refused to budge. It was sturdier than she'd thought.
A loud steam whistle rang through the air. Mamma and Verona looked up to see a huge barge pulling in, dwarfing their little motor-car and trapping it against the gate.