Andy reopened his eyes to see Luke Trull, still wearing his disreputable clothing and the muskrat-skin hat, looking down at him. Andy shivered. There was about Luke the same lethal coldness that there is about a rattlesnake just before it strikes. Luke spoke again,
"Ye hit me, Gates."
"Let me loose, you fool!"
Luke grinned mirthlessly, and in the faint light his eyes seemed to glow. He said,
"I wanted ye to know what was goin' to happen. Tha's why I din' do it afore."
"Didn't do what?"
"Put ye in the slough."
"They'll get you for it, Luke."
Luke's grin widened. "Ye know better'n that. Ye know well's I do that more'n one man lies in these deep sand sloughs, my own pappy 'mongst 'em, an' a Gates put him thar. Ye allus mess 'round this swamp, an' what'll folks think when ye jest don't come out?"
"You're putting your head in a noose!"