LLOYD (_puzzled_) Whut is it? BETTY Lloyd, le’s go away frum here— LLOYD Whur’d you want to go to? BETTY Out of here, out of these woods! (_Pleading for him to understand._) Oh, you think I ain’t right. I cain’t expect you to know how I feel. They’s sump’n—I don’t know what it is— Please! It’s like the woods wuz waitin’— LLOYD Like a animal. BETTY To git us. To git us! I’m afeard. They’s things growin’ here—an’ fightin’. They’s things crawlin’ on the ground, under the ground—in the trees—everwhur! I’m afeard! LLOYD _I’m_ afeard! BETTY Lloyd! LLOYD I’m afeard, too! Le’s go— BETTY Whur’ll we go to? LLOYD Out on the lake. BETTY They’s no boat. LLOYD Futher down—they’s a cabin, I know, and a boat—mebbe. Come on—le’s go to it. (_They start._ LLOYD _stops, shaking off his fear_.) Aw, listen. Whut’s the matter with us? Runnin’ like rabbits. They ain’t nuthin’ to be skeered of. We’re jist cold, that’s all. That’s it. Drivin’ so long ’fore it got light has jist got us chilled to the bone. BETTY I ain’t cold. LLOYD Y’air. Cold as ice. Ye’re tremblin’. BETTY I’m afeard! LLOYD We’ll go the cabin, then. It’s safe thar. BETTY And git the boat and go out on the lake? LLOYD We’ll git warm first. BETTY No! No! Le’s not go to the cabin. Le’s go on the lake. LLOYD Why, Betty! I never seen you like this! BETTY I never been like this. Come on, to the Lake— LLOYD (_patiently_) Now, Betty, to the cabin first. Why, you’re _cold_! They’ll be a fa’r a-burnin’ thar. I doan know who’s a-livin’ thar, but we’ll go up and knock, and ask t’ git warm. They’ll be up. Country folks git up early. And they’ll have a fa’r—a nice roarin’ warm fa’r in the fa’rplace fer us to git warm at. Won’t you like that? BETTY Mebbe— LLOYD It’s the funniest kind o’ cabin you ever see. It’s a log cabin. I been in it a long time ago with Paw. It’s a nice log cabin. An’ they’ll have a fa’r. BETTY (_reluctantly_) Well, I’ll go—if you think— LLOYD Frum the outside it looks jist like any log cabin. But when you open the door, and look in—whut do you see? Steps! Three steps a-goin’ down to the dirt floor. It’s part under the ground— BETTY Oh! Like it growed up out o’ the ground—? LLOYD Yes, jist like that! Like it growed out o’ the ground! BETTY (_with conviction_) It growed out o’ the ground. It growed out o’ the same ground the big woods growed out of! (_She shudders._) LLOYD Yeow. BETTY Le’s don’t go thar! LLOYD Jist long enough to git warm. BETTY No, not that long! LLOYD And to ask ’em fer the boat—if they got a boat. BETTY (_desperately_) Couldn’t we jist take the boat—’thout asking? LLOYD Betty! Course we couldn’t! BETTY I don’t see why, I don’t see! LLOYD (_laughs_) We ain’t thieves. BETTY _I’d_ be one. LLOYD No, you wouldn’t. Come on. BETTY To the Lake? LLOYD To the cabin first. BETTY Lake! LLOYD (_firmly_) No, Betty, cabin! (_They go out, right._) _Curtain_ THE WOODS SCENE 2