He run onto her som’er’s. Mebbe here in the woods. I doan know whur she come frum—_a young, purty girl_. (_Meaningly._) He’s got her with him—out on the lake. SHERIFF The bastard! BUTCH Be keerful. Don’t shoot _her_, Shuruff. SHERIFF Whur’s they a boat? BUTCH They ain’t but one. He’s in it—him and the girl. SHERIFF We’ll get him frum the bank, then. Joe, you stay here. Watch the cabin—outside. Don’t let these two get outa yer sight. Plank, you come with me. (_The three men go up the steps._ JOE _and_ PLANK _go out_.) ELLY Shuruff, you mustn’t do it—they’s a reason—you mustn’t. I’ll tell you— BUTCH (_quickly_) He’s my brother, Shuruff. I don’t keer. He’s done wrong. Shoot him down. SHERIFF You’re damn right I will. Like a dog! (_He goes out._) ELLY (_agonized_) W’at made you? BUTCH You told me yerself— ELLY No— BUTCH That about yer brother—that put me wise. No one knows he’s been drownded. ELLY Why’d you do it? You could’ve said he got drownded this mornin’. They’d a-b’lieved it. Why’d you say he wuz on the lake? BUTCH I got reasons. ELLY W’at air they? BUTCH (_evilly_) You musta noticed, Elly—a girl wuz here with that boy. They’d come here together— ELLY W’at of it? BUTCH The horse and buggy’s up here a ways. She’s young, she’s purty— They drove here together. She’ll need some one to drive her home—through the woods— ELLY Ugh! You beast! BUTCH (_He goes toward the steps._) Mebbe I am one. Mebbe I am a beast. And this place we’re livin’ in—whut’s it? It’s the woods, Elly. It’s the dark woods. (_He goes up the steps._) ELLY Butch! (_She hurries after him._) _Curtain_ PART TWO THE LAKE SCENE 1 (_A cleared place on the bank of the lake. At the back, beyond a slight mound, the lake begins. Willow trees droop into the water. Gold sunshine touches the lake, plays over an old boat tied under a tree. Voices—excited, boisterous, rough—shatter the quiet. From the left the picnic party enters, singly, in groups of three, in pairs—a dozen or more people. Tall farm boys, red-handed, red-faced, dressed in battered overalls, clumping shoes, ragged shirts; short, round farm girls, in unbecoming calicos and ginghams, with bows in their hair. Some of the boys carry boxes of food._) BOYS AND GIRLS I cain’t carry this no fu’ther. Whur’s the f’ar go? Fu’ther down, I reckon. Over thar’s a good place. She’s a-gettin’ her sewin’ done now, the crazy fool, an’ the Fair six months off! Aw, she cain’t sew a-tall. Guess she aims t’ git married. Married? Huh! Wouldn’t no one have _her_! Would too have me! Lem Sickles ud have me. He’d _have_ you, all right, ’f you’d give him a chanst! BUD BICKEL (_loudly_) Le’s play, le’s stop a minute! BOYS AND GIRLS Hey, Miss Meredith! Shet up yer yellin’! Miss Meredith’ll take yer head off. Whut if I call her Jessie? You better hadn’t! Arclo went ’n’ called her Jessie, ’n’ you orter _seen_ her! She slapped him—! BOYS AND GIRLS (_protesting_)