Page:Cornelia Meigs-The Pirate of Jasper Peak.djvu/235

. It was difficult going up the steep incline on the other side, but in his eagerness and curiosity he managed to climb quickly.

There was no sign of life about Jake's cabin, only the white flag—it looked like a torn shirt—was still fluttering from its rough pole beside the  chimney. There were footprints about the door, those same heavy, shuffling steps that he had  seen before their own cabin. He knocked loudly and stood waiting, thinking of the last time he  had stood upon that doorstep. There was a pause and such silence that he could hear his  heart hammering excitedly against his ribs. Then a sound of slow, dragging feet came from within, there was a fumbling at the lock, the door  opened and a broad awkward figure appeared on  the threshold. Somehow, in spite of his surprise, he felt that he had half expected to see that  swarthy face and wide, strange, mirthless smile. It was Laughing Mary.