“What mean you?” he demanded. “Their lips must be silenced, you say. What mean you?”
“You know.”
“They shall not be harmed while with me!” exclaimed the gondolier. “No man I have ever served has come to harm through me.”
“Oh, Lord, boys! Oh, Lord!” palpitated Zenas Gunn, almost overcome by horror. “Do you hear? Do you understand? They are speaking of murder—of killing us!”
“But Reggio is on the level,” said Dick.
“Great howling coyotes!” exclaimed Buckhart. “It begins to look some as if we were going to get mixed up with this Ten, whoever they are.”
“Tortora,” said the stranger, “you are a great fool! You will be slain, the strangers will disappear, and Teresa—it will be left for me to save her.”
“For you?”
“Yes.”
“Why, you?”