Page:Cornelia Meigs-The Pirate of Jasper Peak.djvu/28

 was a relief to him to think that he was with a person who knew at least who he was and why  he had come.

“You are very good,” he began shyly as they came out on the steps; “you should not—” but  the rest of his sentence was never spoken.

The hot sleepy silence was broken suddenly by a shrill steam whistle, followed by another and  another. A strident siren joined them; then came a deep blast from some steamer on the lake;  then a loud clanging of bells added their voices  to the tumult. For full five minutes the deafening noise continued until Hugh’s ears beat with it and his head rang. The street had become alive with people, women with aprons over their  heads, men in overalls, scores of children, as  though each of the little houses had sent forth  a dozen inhabitants. Down at a far corner Hugh saw the two Indians come into view again, the  man with his head up, listening, like a deer, the  woman with a pleading hand laid upon his arm. He brushed her aside roughly, and disappeared beyond the turn, she following meekly after. No