Short Plays

serve to the best of my small ability. So I must ask you to be good enough to clear out. Allow me. He takes the sack of husks and puts it out of the way against the panels of the jury box. The Women Murmuring. That’s always the way. Just as we’d settled down to work. What harm are we doing? Well, it is tiresome. Let them finish the job themselves. Oh dear, oh dear! We can’t have a minute to ourselves. Shoving us out like that! Hannah Whose horse was it, Mr. Daniels? Elder Daniels Returning to move the other sack. I am sorry to say that it was the Sheriff’s horse⁠—the one he loaned to young Strapper. Strapper loaned it to me; and the thief stole it, thinking it was mine. If it had been mine, I’d have forgiven him cheerfully. I’m sure I hoped he would get away; for he had two hours start of the Vigilance Committee. But they caught him. He disposes of the other sack also. Jessie It can’t have been much of a horse if they caught him with two hours start. Elder Daniels Coming back to the centre of the group. The strange thing is that he wasn’t on the horse when they took him. He was walking; and of course he denies that he ever had the horse. The Sheriff’s brother wanted to tie him up and lash him till he confessed what he’d done with it; but I couldn’t allow that: it’s not the law. Babsy Law! What right has a horse-thief to any law? Law is thrown away on a brute like that. Elder Daniels Don’t say that, Babsy. No man should be made to confess by cruelty until religion has been tried and failed. Please God I’ll get the whereabouts of the horse from him if you’ll be so good as to clear out from this. Disturbance outside. They are bringing him in. Now ladies! please, please. They rise reluctantly. Hannah, Jessie, and Lottie retreat to the Sheriff’s bench, shepherded by Daniels; but the other women crowd forward behind Babsy and Emma to see the prisoner. Blanco Posnet is brought in by Strapper Kemp, the Sheriff’s brother, and a cross-eyed man called Squinty. Others follow. Blanco is evidently a blackguard. It would be necessary to clean him to make a close guess at his age; but he is under forty, and an upturned, red moustache, and the arrangement of his hair in a crest on his brow, proclaim the dandy in spite of his intense disreputableness. He carries his head high, and has a fairly resolute mouth, though the fire of incipient delirium tremens is in his eye. His arms are bound with a rope with a long end, which Squinty holds. They release him when he enters; and he stretches himself and lounges across the courthouse in front of the women. Strapper and the men remain between him and the door. Babsy Spitting at him as he passes her. Horse-thief! horse-thief! Others You will hang for it; do you hear? And serve you right. Serve you right. That will teach you. I wouldn’t wait to try you. Lynch him straight off, the varmint. Yes, yes. Tell the boys. Lynch him. Blanco Mocking. “Angels ever bright and fair⁠—” Babsy You call me an angel, and I’ll smack your dirty face for you. Blanco “Take, oh take me to your care.” Emma There won’t be any angels where you’re going to. Others Aha! Devils, more likely. And too good company for a horse-thief. All Horse-thief! Horse-thief! Horse-thief! Blanco Do women make the law here, or men? Drive these heifers out. The Women Oh! They rush at him, vituperating, screaming passionately, tearing at him. Lottie puts her fingers in her ears and runs out. Hannah follows, shaking her head. Blanco is thrown down. Oh, did you hear what he called us? You foul-mouthed brute! You liar! How dare you put such a name to a decent woman? Let me get at him. You coward! Oh, he struck me: did you see that? Lynch him! Pete, will you stand by and hear me called names by a skunk like that? Burn him: burn him! That’s what I’d do with him. Aye, burn him! The Men Pulling the women away from Blanco, and getting them out partly by violence and partly by coaxing. Here! come out of this. Let him alone. Clear the courthouse. Come on now. Out with you. Now, Sally: out you go. Let go my hair, or I’ll twist your arm out. Ah, would you? Now, then: get along. You know you must go. What’s the use of scratching like that? Now, ladies, ladies, ladies. How would you like it if you were going to be hanged? At last the women are pushed out, leaving Elder Daniels, the Sheriff’s brother Strapper Kemp, and a few others with Blanco. Strapper is a lad just turning into a man: strong, selfish, sulky, and determined. Blanco

Sitting up and tidying himself.

Oh woman, in our hours of ease,
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please⁠—

Is my face scratched? I can feel their damned claws all over me still. Am I bleeding? He sits on the nearest bench.

Elder Daniels Nothing to hurt. They’ve drawn a drop or two under your left eye. Strapper Lucky for you to have an eye left in your head. Blanco

Wiping the blood off.

When pain and anguish wring the brow,
A ministering angel thou.

Go out to them, Strapper Kemp; and tell them about your big brother’s little horse that some wicked man stole. Go and cry in your mammy’s lap.

Strapper Furious. You jounce me any more about that horse, Blanco Posnet; and I’ll⁠—I’ll⁠— Blanco You’ll scratch my face, won’t you? Yah! Your brother’s the Sheriff, ain’t he? Strapper Yes, he is. He hangs horse-thieves. Blanco With calm conviction. He’s a rotten Sheriff. Oh, a rotten Sheriff. If