BOLLINGER. Come on, fellers--[_The_ MEN _start off._] hold on, here's Joe. [MEN _return._ MRS. VERNON. Joe Vernon! _Enter_ JOE _and_ DAVE. JOE. What's the matter, Jim? ain't nobody hurt? Why, Kate-- JIM. You made a pretty mess of it, ain't you? JOE. What? JIM. [_Pointing to_ KATE.] Tellin' everything. JOE. Well, that ain't all of it. JIM. What ain't? JOE. Why, they put them blamed telegrams up at the convention--I didn't see them till the fust ballot was over, and they'd nominated _me_-- MRS. VERNON. For Jefferson, Joe? JOE. [_In great excitement._] Yes, for the Legislature. _Cheers from_ CROWD. JIM. There, Kate, do you hear that? Now, what's the use cryin'? JOE. And I made a speech-- MRS. VERNON. Git out. JOE. Git out yourself-- MRS. VERNON. Say, your pa's been nominated, and made a speech! JOE. Well, lemme tell you-- JIM. Well, never mind the speech, Joe--you're as good as elected anyhow. JOE. And you done every bit of it--why, I took them blamed telegrams, and I told that convention everything I knew. Everything Kate told me--about your getting off the track 'cause you liked her. Tom, you told me yourself that Jim wasn't makin' no canvass fur the nomination. Do you know why? 'Cause he liked my Kate. Last night he gimme his resignation as sheriff. Do you know why? BOLLINGER. Afore he give him the hoss? JOE. Long before--and Jim Radburn, I believe you knowed then who that feller was, and I told the convention so. He did give Travers the hoss, and then I said, "He give up his pony to this feller 'cause he didn't have the heart to make Kate feel bad"--and I said--"What's Mizzoura--what's Pike County comin' to if we kin persecute a man like that," and, by golly, they jus' stood on their hind legs and hollered fur you! BOLLINGER. I'm a-comin' inside myself if he pulls both guns. [_Comes over the stile._ JIM. Why, Tom. _They shake hands._ JOE. An' they're up there now, like a pack of howlin' idiots, unanimously re-electing you sheriff by acclamation, and "Vivy Vochy," over and over agin. JIM. There, there, Kate--you're goin' to Jefferson soon--an' you kin forgit all about it. KATE. I don't want to go to Jefferson, Jim--I don't want to--forget it. [_Turns, weeps on_ JOE'S _breast._ MRS. VERNON. Now, talk to her, Jim! JIM. Not now--she feels too bad. MRS. VERNON. But she'll get over that--she's comin' to her senses, an' _she knows she likes you_. Talk to her. JIM. Some other time. CURTAIN. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: In Mizzoura, by Augustus Thomas