"It doesn't matter what he does," I spat at her. "He can't make me tell you anything. As a matter of fact, I haven't anything definite, none of us has. But if we had, we wouldn't tell. I'll die before I help your gang."
That sounds like stage heroics, but I was in an exalted mood. I could feel Toutou's grip on my neck, and I imagined I didn't have long to live in any case.
"It's only a question of time," she went on. "You don't realize that you and your friends are alone in this. You have a great organization against you. You have as much chance as the fly after he touched the flypaper. All we have to do is to watch you, and at the worst we can take the treasure away from you when you find it."
"Then why are you so anxious now?" I rasped with a fair mimicry of Toutou's feline rage.
"'There's many a slip'—" she quoted. "We don't believe in leaving anything unnecessarily to chance. You know, you are in a hopeless position, my friend. Why not talk sensibly? We can easily get rid of you and your friends, if we care to."
"You'll find it harder, the longer you delay," I flashed at her. "You are educating us."
She laughed as merrily as a convent schoolgirl.
"So I see." She leaned closer coaxingly. "Now, just between the two of us—we're Americans, aren't we?—what did you find behind the chimney? After all, it was Toutou who really saw the point first."
"That's true," I agreed, "but we would have seen it."
"Oh, you would! Then what did you find? Come, let's get this over with! We'll make an accommodation. Think—"