I wouldn’t have the nerve—to try to throw it onto him. Mebbe it ud work all right, mebbe it could be done. They’s ways of makin’ fools outa the law.... Oh, I know, I’ve done it many’s the time ... an’ we could git suspicion on this boy someway. And he’d hang too—innocent and all! But I cain’t do it, I wouldn’t think of doin’ it.... BUTCH (_harshly_) Well, why wouldn’t you? ELLY (_frightened_) Butch! Fergit I said it, fergit I ever thought of sich a thing. BUTCH (_grimly_) I’m glad you thought of it. ELLY W’at’d you mean? BUTCH I mean—it’s an idee.... I wouldn’t a-thought of it. I c’n see, I c’n see a way—you’re a smart womern, Elly.... Wait a minute, lemme think.... ELLY No! You cain’t do it. W’at’re you thinkin’ of? BUTCH Why not? D’you want me to hang? ELLY No. BUTCH Shet up, then! The officers’ll come here. Whut’ll I tell ’em ... whut’ll I say—they’ll come in the door—this boy—he’ll be out on the lake by that time.... ELLY Butch! Butch! BUTCH Shet up! ELLY You cain’t plan to do this! I won’t let you git that boy killed. He’s too young, he’s too sweet-lookin’.... BUTCH Ha! Ain’t I young? Ain’t I sweet-lookin’? You’ve said so. ’D you mean it? ELLY I come here—and lived with you. BUTCH So’d Lilly. So’d Marge. ’N whut’d they do? Lilly on her death bed a-damnin’ me—I c’n hear her yit. Marge—she tried to give me up to the law. I fixed her. Hell! They both come here, ’n lived with me. That don’t prove nuthin’. You got to prove it some other way. You got to help me.... ELLY I’ve helped you—bendin’ over yer f’ar, cookin’ yer victuals, washin’ yer clothes, makin’ the beds you’ve slep’ in. I’ve helped you ... livin’ in this damp cellar like a mole with no sunshine a-comin’ in and no moonlight ever. I’ve tended you when you uz sick, I’ve lied fer you, I’ve buried myself away frum all the decent folks I ever knowed—here in these dark woods fer three year. Why’d I do it? Why _did_ I? It’s proof you want, is it? Then look at me, Butch Adams! _I’m_ proof! Look at me! I uz young when I come here with you three year ago. I uz young—like that little girl that uz here jist now. I wuzn’t as purty as her, but I uz young like her. Look at me now! BUTCH You’re talkin’. You’re puttin’ words together. Whut good are they to me? They won’t save my neck frum hangin’. You got to help me. If you got to talk, tell me whut to do. The Shuruff’ll be comin’ here. Whut’ll I say to him? They ain’t nuthin’ to say to him, unless you help me. I got a plan— ELLY Not that boy! BUTCH You got to help me. They don’t keer who they hang in this country. One man’s as good as another fer hangin’. _They_ don’t keer. But _I_ do! I keer fer hangin’. It’s got to be some one else. ELLY Not that boy! BUTCH That _boy_! It’s got to be him! It’s got to be him killed Jim Dory— ELLY They’ll never b’lieve he done it. BUTCH They’ll believe it— ELLY Jim Dory must’a’ told ’em ’fore he died who done it— BUTCH