Again and again he made Celie understand that he wanted to know why the Eskimos wanted HER, and each time she answered him with a hopeless little gesture, signifying that she did not know.
He did learn that there were two other white men with Paul Armin.
Only by looking at his watch did he know when the night closed in.

It was seven o'clock when he led Celie to her room and urged her to go to bed.

An hour later, listening at her door, he believed that she was asleep.

He had waited for that, and quietly he prepared for the hazardous undertaking he had set for himself.

He put on his cap and coat and seized the club he had taken from Bram's bed.