"Maybe so you com'," he said, and without waiting for us to answer, strode alone toward the fire.
I shoved Moira inside the blockhouse, and Peter and I started after him. I made to draw a pistol, but Peter caught my arm.
"Neen," he said. "We do this wit' our fists andt our voice, Bob—or we don't do it at all."
Such were Coupeau's tactics—but he relied mostly upon his fists. He waded into the dancers, smiting right and left, and Peter and I came behind him. Several men reached for their cutlasses, but these we got to before they had time to draw steel. In the middle of the row Murray's voice flashed out from the shadows like a sword, and our opponents cowered away.
"'Sdeath," he drawled. "Will you fellows think to take advantage of me because I turn my back upon you for an hour or two?"
He came forward into the circle of light.
"I warned you no longer ago than last night," he went on icily. "It should have been sufficient. Coupeau!"
"Oui, m'sieu."
"Who began the trouble this time?"
The gunner fastened his awful visage upon the whitening faces of the group of trouble-makers.