"Oh, shut up about oakum," growled the other; "it isn't a joke."
"It is not a joke," said the colonel, "and if it is, it is one of those jokes that make people laugh the most. And do you know the kind of joke that makes people laugh the most, Pinto? It is when somebody gets hurt; and we are the people who are going to get hurt."
"Do you think she'll tell the police?"
"It is extremely likely," said the colonel; "in fact, it is extremely unlikely that she won't tell the police. I am rather glad I'm out of it."
Pinto leaped up.
"You're out of it!" he shouted. "You're in it up to the neck!"
The colonel shook his head.
"I'm absolutely out of it, Pinto," he said, flicking the ash of his cigar into the fireplace. "I cannot be identified with this unhappy affair by so much as a finger-print."
The Portuguese scowled down at him.
"So that's the game, is it? You're going to double-cross us? You're going to be out of it and we're going to be in it."