Throughout the story “The Interlopers,” Saki develops the central idea of friendship and revenge. He does that by showing the transformation from the desire of revenge of two long enemies to a friendship when they are caught together in a difficult situation. Both of them get caught beneath branches in a land that has been in dispute for generations in their families. The feeling between them transform from wishing the other was dead to wanting to leave the past behind and restart as friends.
The first hint of their transformation is when Ulrich offers Georg his flask of wine. "Could you reach this flask if I threw it over to you?" asked Ulrich suddenly; "there is good wine in it, and one may as well be as comfortable as one can. Let us drink, even if to-night one of us dies."
Even when Georg refuses it, an idea begins to form in Ulrich's brain, out of the empathy of being in the same situation and suffering the same pain. "An idea was slowly forming and growing in his brain, an idea that gained strength every time that he looked across at the man who was fighting so grimly against pain and exhaustion. In the pain and languor that Ulrich himself was feeling the old fierce hatred seemed to be dying down."
Ulrich then decides to make his men help Georg before him if they show up first."If my men are the first to come you shall be the first to be helped, as though you were my guest. [...] Neighbour, if you will help me to bury the old quarrel I - I will ask you to be my friend."
