Brodie let her slip down and turned away from her. His mood was not so soon for a woman.
"See she keeps her mouth shut," he said threateningly. "If she ain't got sense enough for that she ain't got sense to go on living."
Benny stooped and feasted his eyes on her. Then, straightening up, he turned to Jarrold with nodding approval.
"She skins anything I ever saw," he admitted.
In some strange way it seemed to Gloria that both Benny and Brodie had consigned her to Jarrold as though they admitted his prior claim; as though, among these three, she was looked upon as the property of one. She struggled to her feet.
"Don't let her go," said Brodie. "That's all I got to say about her right now."
She made an uncertain step toward the mouth of the cave. Jarrold moved at her side. She went faster. He put his hand on her.
"Didn't you hear what he said?" he asked.
She tried to break away and run. He held her One clear thought and only one formed in her mind. As she had never longed for anything in her life, she yearned for Mark King.
"Mark!" she screamed, "Mark King! Save me."