ELDER DANIELS. Speak more respectful, Blanco--more reverent.
BLANCO [springing up and coming at him] Reverent! Who taught you
your reverent cant? Not your Bible. It says He cometh like a
thief in the night--aye, like a thief--a horse-thief--
ELDER DANIELS [shocked] Oh!
BLANCO [overhearing him] And it's true. Thats how He caught me
and put my neck into the halter. To spite me because I had no use
for Him--because I lived my own life in my own way, and would
have no truck with His "Dont do this," and "You mustnt do that,"
and "Youll go to Hell if you do the other." I gave Him the go-bye
and did without Him all these years. But He caught me out at
last. The laugh is with Him as far as hanging me goes. [He
thrusts his hands into his pockets and lounges moodily away from
Daniels, to the table, where he sits facing the jury box].
ELDER DANIELS. Dont dare to put your theft on Him, man. It was
the Devil tempted you to steal the horse.
BLANCO. Not a bit of it. Neither God nor Devil tempted me to take
the horse: I took it on my own. He had a cleverer trick than that
ready for me. [He takes his hands out of his pockets and clenches
his fists]. Gosh! When I think that I might have been safe and
fifty miles away by now with that horse; and here I am waiting to
be hung up and filled with lead! What came to me? What made me
such a fool? Thats what I want to know. Thats the great secret.
ELDER DANIELS [at the opposite side of the table] Blanco: the
great secret now is, what did you do with the horse?
BLANCO [striking the table with his fist] May my lips be blighted
like my soul if ever I tell that to you or any mortal men! They
may roast me alive or cut me to ribbons; but Strapper Kemp shall
never have the laugh on me over that job.
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