I'll get a witness all right enough. I know the road he
took; and I'll ask at every house within sight of it for a mile
out. Come boys.
[Strapper goes out with the others, leaving Blanco and Elder
Daniels together. Blanco rises and strolls over to the Elder,
surveying him with extreme disparagement.]
BLANCO. Well, brother? Well, Boozy Posnet, alias Elder Daniels?
Well, thief? Well, drunkard?
ELDER DANIELS. It's no good, Blanco. Theyll never believe we're
brothers.
BLANCO. Never fear. Do you suppose I want to claim you? Do you
suppose I'm proud of you? Youre a rotten brother, Boozy Posnet.
All you ever did when I owned you was to borrow money from me to
get drunk with. Now you lend money and sell drink to other
people. I was ashamed of you before; and I'm worse ashamed of you
now, I wont have you for a brother. Heaven gave you to me; but I
return the blessing without thanks. So be easy: I shant blab. [He
turns his back on him and sits down].
ELDER DANIELS. I tell you they wouldn't believe you; so what does
it matter to me whether you blab or not? Talk sense, Blanco:
theres no time for your foolery now; for youll be a dead man an
hour after the Sheriff comes back. What possessed you to steal
that horse?
BLANCO. I didnt steal it. I distrained on it for what you owed
me. I thought it was yours. I was a fool to think that you owned
anything but other people's property. You laid your hands on
everything father and mother had when they died.
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