Read the excerpt from Heart of a Samurai and then answer the question. The strangers leaped out of their boats and pulled them up on the small beach. By signs, they made it clear the castaways should climb aboard. The fishermen exchanged frightened glances and whispered to one another, “What about Denzo and Jusuke?” Gesturing, Manjiro communicated to the strangers about the two men in the cave. Denzo and Jusuke were retrieved, both of them so weak they had to be carried to the boats. Everyone found a place and the sailors shoved off. The two boats rowed away from the island toward an unknown future. The sun flickered on the restless waves just as it always did. The wind blew just as steadily as it always had. Yet everything had changed. They had been rescued from the island, only to be taken captive by barbarians. Manjiro stared at the strangers when he thought they weren’t looking. Sometimes he caught them staring at him when they thought he wasn’t looking. What do the details in this excerpt help readers to infer about the barbarians?

They are just as mean and monstrous as the fishermen expect them to be.

They are suspicious creatures who seem to be from a place other than Earth.

They have a plan to humiliate the fishermen and are waiting for the right time.

They are just as curious about the fishermen as the fishermen are about them.