“So many people I know,” whimpered the Nakoda. “How I can remember one woman among them all.”
“You do not need to remember. You already know of whom I speak.”
“She was a tall woman with thin cheeks, yes?” he inquired with attempted guile.
The minister answered by tightening his grip upon the man’s collar, and pushing his knuckles hard upon the neck. Okido shrunk fearfully from the large hand of the white man. He felt sure it would hurt hard. After a moment:
“She was fat—yes, surely fat!”
“That will do.”
He slipped down to the minister’s feet and beat his head, seeking to shake off that hand at his neck.
“Listen,” said Richard Verley, “I will give you five minutes in which to answer. At the end of that time——”
“Excellency will not beat a poor man. Ah, surely not!”
“Excellency will kick the life out of you.”