“Somebody's coming down, Bennie Ben. Hear 'em? Cavarly saw me. Thinks he'll take us together. If they don't say anything, we don't say anything. That's our point.”
He slid down the sand about thirty feet, and lay in the sun, with his hat over his face. I did not know anything better to do than to seem asleep, and probably had my mouth shut tight and hands stiff, so that anyone could see through me if he chose to take the trouble.
The footsteps came round the corner and stopped beside me, then moved down the sand. In a moment I opened my eyes a crack. Cavarly was sitting on the sand near Calhoun, Gerry and Still standing behind him. Calhoun had just pushed his hat from his face.
“Warm here,” he said.
“I'm thinking,” said Cavarly, “we'll take that boat and go up to Richmond. But you an' Ben Cree there, I was thinkin' you're some dif'ent.”
“Why,” said Calhoun, looking surprised, “don't you want us to go with you?”
“Oh, yes, yes! Not that at all. Glad to have you. But it might happen you'd have some idea—Course I don' know. But you ain't really bound——”
“Why,” continued Calhoun, “if you're thinking of sending Ben to his people, you'd better take him with you as far as you go. Maybe you could see him through to Baltimore.”
“Hey! that's so,” said Cavarly cheerfully. “An' wha's your point?”
“Mine! Well, you see my position. What would you advise, as a friend?”