."

Musq'oosis did not budge from the position of the squatting idol. His
face likewise was as bland and blank as an image's.

"Oh, in plain English, get!" said Mahooley.

"Go to your teepee," added Bela shortly.

Musq'oosis sat fast.

Mahooley jumped up in a rage. "This is a bit too thick! Get out before
I throw you out!"

Musq'oosis, with the extraordinary impassivity of the red race,
continued to stare before him. Mahooley, with an oath, seized him by
the collar and jerked him to his feet. This was too much for Bela.
Her hard air broke up. Jumping to her feet, she commenced to belabour
Mahooley's back with her fists.

"Let him go! Let him go!" she commanded.

Mahooley dropped the old man and turned around astonished. "What's the
matter with you? You told him yourself to go."

"I don't care," said Bela. "Now I want him stay."

"What do you think I am?" cried Mahooley. "I don't want no third party
present when I call on a girl."

She shrugged indifferently. "It wouldn't do you no good to put him
out. I got not'ing for you. Not to-night."

Mahooley seized her wrist. "My God, if you think you're going to play
fast and loose----"

Bela smiled--scornfully, unafraid, provoking. "W'at you t'ink?" she
said. "I not same lak those girls down by your place. They come w'en
you whistle. I come when I ready. Maybe I never come."

There was a battle between their eyes. "You need a master!" cried
Mahooley.

Her eyes glowed with as strong a fire as his. "You can't get me easy
as them," said Bela.

Mahooley laughed and dropped her wrist. "Oh, you want a bit of
wooing!" he cried. "All right. You're worth it."

Bela changed her tactics again. She smiled at him dazzlingly. "Go now.
Come to-morrow."

He went willingly enough. He did not know it, but he was well on the
way of being tamed.

* * * * *

"Go!" said Bela to Musq'oosis.

"I got talk to you," he said.

"Talk! Talk!" cried Bela irritably. "You bus' my head open wit' your
talk. I had enough talk. Go to bed."

"No, to-night I goin' stay," said Musq'oosis calmly. "I your fat'er's
friend, I your friend. I see you goin' to the bad. I got say somesing,
I guess."

Bela laughed harshly. "Bad! Ol' man talk! What is bad? Everything is
bad!"

"Mahooley is bad to women," said Musq'oosis.

"I know that. He can't hurt me. Because I hate him. I goin' mak' a
fool of him. You see."

"Mahooley never marry you," said the old man.