Sometimes they would stop short, Willems speaking emphatically, Abdulla listening with rigid attention, then, when the other had ceased, bending his head slightly as if consenting to some demand, or admitting some statement.

Now and then Babalatchi caught a word here and there, a fragment of a sentence, a loud exclamation.
Impelled by curiosity he crept to the very edge of the black shadow under the tree.

They were nearing him, and he heard Willems say-- "You will pay that money as soon as I come on board.

That I must have." He could not catch Abdulla's reply.

When they went past again, Willems was saying-- "My life is in your hand anyway.