He left the window when he saw them coming, and drew back into the remotest corner of the cell; but although he returned them no answer, they had a fancy that some one was inside, for they presently set ladders against it, and began to tear away the bars at the casement; not only that, indeed, but with pickaxes to
hew down the very stones in the wall.
They pull down the piles and palisades; they
hew down the barriers with axes.
This is straight forward determination to
hew down this huge tree of destruction and enemy of peaceful co-existence.
Del Rio's experience embodies the problems women face in pursuing a career in science or technology: she
hew down two part-time jobs and took care of her brother and sister while enrolled fulltime in college.
The latest intention is to
hew down a very old yew tree, which his ancestors probably knew, to widen an existing lane.