Then the half-breed turned away. Seeing the chalk upon the floor he stooped and picked it up.
"Let's have the formalities. It is but just—"
Bill suddenly interrupted. He was angry at the interference of Baptiste.
"Hold on!"
Baptiste swung round. The white man got no further. The Breed broke in upon him with animal ferocity.
"Who says hold on? Peace, white man, peace! This is for us. Dare to stop us, an'—"
Jacky sprang between her lover and the ferocious half-breed.
"Bill, leave well alone," she said. And she held up a warning finger.
She knew these men, of a race to which she, in part, belonged. As well baulk a tiger of its prey. She knew that if Bill interfered his life would pay the forfeit. The sanguinary lust of these human devils once aroused, they cared little how it be satisfied.
Bill turned away with a shrug, and he was startled to see that he had been noiselessly surrounded by the rest of the half-breeds. Had Jacky's command needed support, it would have found it in this ominous movement.