"I'm a law-abiding citizen, sheriff."
And the sheriff replied:
"He's your pris'ner."
"Then suppose I let him go, on his promise to stick to his father for the rest of his life!"
"He's your pris'ner," repeated the sheriff.
"Suppose, then, I were to insist upon your taking him into custody."
"Why, then," said the sheriff, speaking like a man in the depths of meditation, "I would let him go myself, and—and I'd have to shoot you to save my reputation as a faithful officer."
The preacher made a peculiar face. The prisoner exclaimed:
"Hurry, you brutes!"
The preacher said, at last: