"I'll just stay here," I said. I wanted a word with the man. Mary looked doubtful for a moment, but at length left.
"Now, Belknap," says I, when she was safely in her room, and me almighty glad to be my own self again, "because you've been a friend of Mary's—that is, because she thought you were—you go free, if you wish. When we leave we'll send you back a man. Take my advice and go with him—don't get it into your fool head I'm working a plant on you this time. You can guess what your carcass will be worth when we take the city. Our men are due here in minutes."
He looked at me and ground his teeth—palsied with rage, shaking all over.
"Better do it," I said.
And then came testimony: far-off firing, and yells.
"Our boys are closing in," I told him. "That's them, now."
The firing grew heavier and then quit. The yells increased.
Another look flashed on his face—fear. For a while I think the bigger man in him determined to stick it out, but fear drew the pot.
The change grew.
"Of course," he said, "if I am to understand that you mean well by me—"