Page:Cornelia Meigs-The Pirate of Jasper Peak.djvu/68

 and knocking at the door. There followed an altercation, whispered, yet so full of fierceness  and passionate gesture that Hugh, at his window,  could feel the fury of their quarrel even there. It was almost like watching a dance of shadows, so noiseless did they manage to be, although now  and then he caught a low-voiced sentence, couched  in guttural Chippewa, and once, to his surprise,  he heard his own name, spoken very distinctly  by Laughing Mary.

She was not smiling now but speaking volubly, gesticulating, urging and insisting something, to  which Jake slowly and determinedly shook his  head. She kept pointing to the bale of furs still under his arm and seemed to be voicing her desire  with such violence in the face of his continued refusal that finally, in angry impatience, he raised  his arm as though to strike her. She winced and cowered, but still persisted, advancing her dark  wrinkled face almost into his to utter her last  word. Whatever she said seemed to have effect, for Jake’s arm dropped to his side and, muttering angrily, he stooped down to open his pack and