"Step out here on the porch with me, Mister Hawk. I'll have to take you—"
"Sheriff, I don't mind tellin' you where I done it. I shot the son-of-a-gun out in the middle of his cornfield! He was tryin' to kill Ned, hisself. I put a stop to that! Then I went straight and told Nellie. I said, 'Nellie, I done it for you.' I said, 'Now the road's all your'n. That damn Ward Lawson and his automobile ain't gonna run you in the ditch no more!'"
The sheriff looked at Papa, at Mister Wes, and then at Doctor Elton. All three shook their heads. The other men, too. Grandpa Thad just kept on shaking his head, and he went over to stand by Mister Hawk.
"What you waitin' on, Sheriff? Let's go. You can lock me up-on one condition: I take my mule with me! If I go to jail, Nellie's goin' to jail. Where I go, my mule goes."
"Papa?"
"Bandershanks, baby, you've talked enough for one day! Don't say no more!"
"Papa, I just wanta know when you're gonna let Black Idd wake up! I ain't gonna tell nobody Stray's in the flour barrel and Ned's in the oil drum!"
"Bandershanks!"
Every man in the store looked at me. Then at Papa. They began to laugh. And their laughing was real—not like Mister Hawk's.
"You ain't mad at me, are you, Papa?"