ELDER DANIELS. Dont 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
youll 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 it 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.
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