pounds,' and he held up five fingers.

They evidently saw by the cut of our jib that we weren't Germans.
'I'll be hanged if he gets a penny,' I said angrily, and the conversation languished.
The situation was getting serious, so I spoke a word to Peter.

The soldiers had their rifles loose in their hands, and before they could lift them we had the pair covered with our pistols.
'If you move,' I said, 'you are dead.' They understood that all right and stood stock still, while the shepherd stopped his raving and took to muttering like a gramophone when the record is finished.
'Drop your guns,' I said sharply.

'Quick, or we shoot.' The tone, if not the words, conveyed my meaning.

Still staring at us, they let the rifles slide to the ground.