"Anything else?"
"Yes, sir. They didn't seem to like the way you and Joe Woods acted about their stories of trading niggers, and they said—"
"Ha!" That Arnold rose suddenly, I knew by the creaking of his bunk.
"And they said, sir—" Willie's voice fell as if he were afraid to go on.
"Yes?"
"And they said—"
"Yes, yes! Come, speak out."
"And they said—" again Willie hesitated, then he continued with a rush, but in a mere whisper—"that they was going to get rid of you two."
For a long time there was silence, then Arnold asked in the same low voice, "Have they laid their plans?"
"They was talking of one thing and another, sir, but in such a way that I couldn't hear."