"I know. She gave me that story about a man up in the ridges—something Dan told her to say, prob'ly. But now we want the truth!"
"But you know as much as we do. We've told the truth—as much as we know!"
"Now we ain't as big fools as you think, Mrs. Parker—"
"I tell you we've—"
Dan Parker pushed forward. His eyes were slitted and ugly. "Don't tell him anything, Jane. Not another damned word." Dan pushed close to Bates and the latter fell back a step from his eyes. "I want to ask you just one question—are you calling my wife a liar?"
Bates hesitated and turned to Schultz for help. He had not expected quite this show of belligerence. Schultz refused to become involved however. He said, "Now wait a minute, Ceec. I don't know anything about this. Besides it isn't my job. Mayor here's nothing but an honorary office anyhow." Having stated his case, he backed away also as Dan Parker moved forward and pressed Cecil Bates back against the crowd.
Bates said, "Now look here, Dan, I'm duly constituted law around here!"
"You're a damn snooping busybody and nothing more!"
"I got a right to investigate and find out if the law's been violated. You know there's laws against abusing a child—"
Dan Parker's fist cracked against Bates' half-open mouth. A tooth snapped and Bates kited backward. But he did not go down because there were three men behind him who had come for the excitement. They threw him back into the fray, one of them yelling delightedly, "You going to let him do that, to you Ceec? You're the sheriff. Nobody ought to poke the sheriff around."