"Pooh! W'at you care about 'an'some?" jeered Bela. "Girls all the same to you."
This flecked Mahooley on the raw. A deep flush crept into his face. "Ah, a man leads a man's life," he growled. "That ain't to say he don't appreciate something good if it comes his way."
"They say you treat girls pretty bad," said Bela.
"I treat 'em as they deserve," replied Mahooley sullenly. "If a girl don't get any of the good out of me, that's up to her."
It was the first time one of these girls had been able to put him out of countenance.
"Poor girls!" murmured Bela.
He looked at her sharply again. The idea that a native girl might laugh at him, the trader, was a disconcerting one. "Some time when the gang ain't around I'll show you I ain't all bad," he said ardently.
Bela shrugged.
Musq'oosis was in the shack again to-night. He sat on the floor in the corner beyond the fire-place. Neither Bela nor Mahooley paid any attention to him, but he missed nothing of their talk.
By and by the group around the table moved to break up.