Part 63 (2/2)
At that she bent and flung a handful of snow over me; and I seized her, bent her back, and scrubbed her face till it was pink.
Choked with snow and laughter, we swayed together, breathless, she still defiant and s.n.a.t.c.hing up snow to fling over me.
”_You_ truss _me_ up!” she panted. ”Do you think you are more than a boy to use me as a father or a husband only has the right?”
”You little minx!” said I, when I had spat out a mouthful of snow, ”is not anyone free to trounce a child!----”
At that I slipped, or she tripped me; into a drift I went, and she pounced on me and sat astride with a cry of triumph.
”Now,” says she, ”I shall take your scalp, my fine friend”; and twisted one hand in my hair.
”Hiu-u! Kou-ee!” she cried, ”a scalp taken means war to the end! Do you cry me mercy, John Drogue?”
I struggled, but the snow was soft and I sank the deeper, and could not unseat her.
”I drown in snow,” said I. ”Get up, you jade!”
”Jade!” cries she, and stopped my mouth with snow.
I struggled in vain; under her clinging weight the soft snow engulfed and held me like a very quicksand. I looked up at her and she laughed down at me.
”Do you yield you, John Drogue?”
”It seems I must. But wait!----”
”You threaten!”
”No! Do you mean to drown me, you vixen!”
”You engage not to seek revenge?”
”I do so.”
”Why? Because you love me tenderly?”
”Yes,” said I, half choked. ”Let me up, you plague of Egypt!”
”That is not a loving speech, John Drogue. Do you love me or no?”
”Yes, I do,--you little,----”
”Little what?”
”Object of my heart's desire!” I fairly yelled. ”I am like to smother here!----”
”This is All Fools' Day,” says she, sick with laughter to see me mad and at her mercy. ”Therefore, you must tell me lies, not truths. Tell me a pretty lie,--quickly!--else I scrub your features!”
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