“Oh, well, of course, you can't talk, if the cat's got your tongue.”
The steady eyes leaped angrily, but there was still no answer, and he bent to take the fish off his hook, put on a fresh minnow, turned his back and tossed it into the pool.
He looked up again. She surely was a pretty little thing--and more, now that she was angry.
“I should say not,” he said teasingly. “What did you say your name was?”
The fisherman laughed. He was just becoming accustomed to the mountain etiquette that commands a stranger to divulge himself first.
“An' mine's--Jill.” She laughed now, and it was his time for surprise--where could she have heard of Jack and Jill?
He pulled, missed the strike, and wound in. The minnow was all right, so he tossed it back again.
“Yes 'tis,” he said, shaking his head affirmatively.
“J-u-n-e! eh--oh--J-u-n-e!” That was a queer name for the mountains, and the fisherman wondered if he had heard aright--June.
The little girl gave a shrill answering cry, but she did not move.
“No, 'tain't--hit's my step-mammy. I'm a goin' to ketch hell now.” Her innocent eyes turned sullen and her baby mouth tightened.
“Good Lord!” said the fisherman, startled, and then he stopped--the words were as innocent on her lips as a benediction.
“Have you got a father?” Like a flash, her whole face changed.
“Hyeh he is!” drawled a voice from the bushes, and it had a tone that made the fisherman whirl suddenly. A giant mountaineer stood on the bank above him, with a Winchester in the hollow of his arm.
“How are you?” The giant's heavy eyes lifted quickly, but he spoke to the girl.
“You go on home--what you doin' hyeh gassin' with furriners!”
The girl shrank to the bushes, but she cried sharply back:
“Don't you hurt him now, Dad. He ain't even got a pistol. He ain't no--”
“Shet up!” The little creature vanished and the mountaineer turned to the fisherman, who had just put on a fresh minnow and tossed it into the river.
“Purty well, thank you,” he said shortly. “How are you?”
“Fine!” was the nonchalant answer. For a moment there was silence and a puzzled frown gathered on the mountaineer's face.
“That's a bright little girl of yours--What did she mean by telling you not to hurt me?”
“You haven't been long in these mountains, have ye?”
