"I'm goin' to keep this kid fast.
This is my business." "I don't know as it's all your business," snapped Hank.

"I'm mixed up in it too, seems to me." "Well, I caught the kid, and I'm goin' to have my say about what I do with him," Bill retorted.

"I ain't goin' to let him make trouble for us, not if I knows what I'm about." Hank made no reply, but puffed silently at his pipe.
Jamie was wide awake again.

This man Bill meant some evil, and the little lad wondered vaguely what it could be that was to be done to himself, and what his fate was to be.

He was vastly uncomfortable, too, with his hands tied behind his back, though he was glad enough to be permitted to lie down.