you to be nice to them, because
if they like you there's nothing they won't do for you. If they don't,
there's nothing they WILL do. You might as well get used to them--"

Out by the gate rose a clamor which swept nearer and nearer until the
noise broke at the corner of the house like a great wave, in a tumult of
red blanket, flying black hair, the squalling of a female voice, and
the harsh laughter of the man who carried the disturbance, kicking and
clawing, in his arms. Fighting his way to the milk-house, he dragged the
squaw along beside the porch, followed by the Indians and all the Hart
boys, a yelling, jeering audience.

"You tell her shont-isham! Ah-h--you can't break loose, you old
she-wildcat. Quit your biting, will you? By all the big and little
spirits of your tribe, you'll wish--"

Panting, laughing, swearing also in breathless exclamations, he forced
her to the top of the steps, backed recklessly down them, and came to
a stop in the corner by the door. Evadna had taken refuge there; and he
pressed her hard against the rough wall without in the least realizing
that anything was behind him save unsentient stone.

"Now, you sing your little song, and be quick about it!" he commanded
his captive sternly. "You tell Mother Hart you lied. I hear she's been
telling you I'm drunk, Mother Hart--didn't you, you old beldam? You say
you heap sorry you all time tellum lie. You say: 'Good Injun, him all
time heap bueno.' Say: 'Good Injun no drunk, no heap shoot, no heap
yell--all time bueno.' Quick, or I'll land you headforemost in that
pond, you infernal old hag!"

"Good Injun hee-eeap kay bueno! Heap debbil all time." Hagar might be
short of breath, but her spirit was unconquered, and her under lip bore
witness to her stubbornness.

Phoebe caught him by the arm then, thinking he meant to make good his
threat--and it would not have been unlike Grant Imsen to do so.

"Now, Grant, you let her go," she coaxed. "I know you aren't drunk--of
course, I knew it all the time. I told Hagar so. What do you care what
she says about you? You don't want to fight an old woman, Grant--a man
can't fight a woman--"

"You tell her you heap big liar!" Grant did not even look at Phoebe,
but his purpose seemed to waver in spite of himself. "You all time kay
bueno. You all time lie." He gripped her more firmly, and turned his
head slightly toward Phoebe. "You'd be tired of it yourself if she threw
it into you like she does into me, Mo