"I don't have any leaves," Julie said. "Why should I have? Why are you acting so strange?"
Marc started forward. As he did so, he caught his toe on a projecting root and stumbled. Lurching forward, he threw out his hand blindly and inadvertently pulled the trigger of the gun. There was a deafening report and a bullet sailed into the air. Julie, clutching at Mario's arm screamed at the top of her lungs.
"He's trying to kill us!" she yelled. "Run, Mario, run!"
Mario hardly needed the invitation; even before it was completed, he had begun to put his feet into motion. Dragging Julie after him, he crashed into the brush, and the two of them disappeared from sight.
"Julie!" Marc said brokenly. He opened his eyes and looked in the direction of their departure. He glanced back at the nudists. "I hope you're satisfied!"
"We're not, mister," the skinny man wailed. "We can't hold onto these leaves forever. What will we do then?"
"I wouldn't be surprised at anything," Marc said nastily, "not from a gang like you."
Like a belated echo in the distance, there was the sound of a loud report from the direction in which Julie and Mario had departed.
"Good Lord!" Marc said, leaping forward. "I forgot!" He started toward the bushes just in time to collide with Toffee who darted suddenly into the open.
"They're after them!" Toffee cried. "They heard your shot and closed in!" There was the sound of two more shots. Marc started forward, but Toffee held him back.