British Columbia -- Fiction; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Revenge -- Fiction; Sawmills -- Fiction
"Not for two dolla," said Jenny, hiding her mouth with the back of
her hand, with her nails out claw fashion.
"Three then," said Hyas Puss-Puss. He was as strong as the very
devil, said Jenny's mind inside, three times, four times, ever so
many times stronger than Pete.
"Oh, no, not for three, nor four, nor five," said Jenny, laughing.
He got it for nothing. But he got no more. Indian Mary came outside
and called--
"Jenny!"
George sat down on a log and filled his pipe while Jenny went back.
She ran fast so that her colour and her tousled appearance might be
accounted for. George Quin saw it.
"The deceitful little devil, but I kissed her!"
He got no more chances. When he had hold of her with that immense
strength of his she was as weak as water, as was only natural, but
she wanted to be good (Mary and the missionary had told her it was
right to be good, and Mary said that Ned was going to marry her some
day, so she was all right) and she was really fond of Pete.
However, when Quin was going down to the Coast again he got a moment
with her.
"If you want to come down my way, I'll always give a first-class job
to Pete, my dear. Don't forget. He's a good man in a Mill. I saw
him over at the Inlet before he married you. I wish I'd seen you
before that, you little devil. Ah, tenas, nika tikegh mika! Oh, I
want you, little one!"
When she and Pete pulled out from Cultus Muckamuck's six months
afterwards, they naturally went on a Howling Jamboree in Kamloops,
and it ended in their being halo dolla, or rather, with no more than
Jenny had secreted for a rainy day. She was a little greedy about
money, it must be owned. Some wanted Pete to go up to the Landing at
Eagle Pass as the Railroad was getting there from East and West,
though he wasn't a railroad man by nature, but a lumber man. The
railroader is always one and so is the lumber man. Jenny suggested
the Coast and New Westminster.
In the meanwhile Pete had beaten her several times and many had told
her she was very pretty. She wasn't quite the little girl she had
been at Cultus Muckamuck's ranche. She missed Mary, and her morals
did, too. She remembered all about George Quin's, "I'll give you two
dollars for a kiss!" For a kiss only, mind. She could take care of
herself, she said. But they went to the Coast by way of the only
way, Savona and the Cañon. At Savona, Jenny's eyes got a pass to
Yale out of Mr. Vanderdunk, who had beautiful blue eyes and was a
very good chap, take him all round. Jenny lied to him like sixty and
said her mother was dying at Yale. Her mother was as dead as
Washington long years before. She died, poor thing, because Jenny's
father became respectable and renounced her and married a white woman
in Virginia. He was a shining light in a church at that very time,
and was quite sincere.
"Give the pair a pass down," said Vanderdunk, "of course they're
lying but----"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account