Pierre and His People: Tales of the Far North. Complete

“He’s too ha’sh,” said old Alexander Windsor, as he shut the creaking door of the store after a vanishing figure, and turned to the big iron stove with outstretched hands; hands that were cold both summer and winter. He was of lean and frigid make.

“Sergeant Fones is too ha’sh,” he repeated, as he pulled out the damper and cleared away the ashes with the iron poker.

Pretty Pierre blew a quick, straight column of cigarette smoke into the air, tilted his chair back, and said: “I do not know what you mean by ‘ha’sh,’ but he is the devil. Eh, well, there was more than one devil made sometime in the North West.” He laughed softly.

“That gives you a chance in history, Pretty Pierre,” said a voice from behind a pile of woollen goods and buffalo skins in the centre of the floor. The owner of the voice then walked to the window. He scratched some frost from the pane and looked out to where the trooper in dog-skin coat, gauntlets and cap, was mounting his broncho. The old man came and stood near the young man,—the owner of the voice,—and said again: “He’s too ha’sh.”

“Harsh you mean, father,” added the other.

“Yes, harsh you mean, Old Brown Windsor,—quite harsh,” said Pierre.

Alexander Windsor, storekeeper and general dealer, was sometimes called “Old Brown Windsor” and sometimes “Old Aleck,” to distinguish him from his son, who was known as “Young Aleck.”