Short Plays · The Showing-Up of Blanco Posnet (8/8) (2/2) (2/4)

| Elder Daniels | That was your spiritual pride, Blanco. You never reflected that when I was drunk I was in a state of innocence. Temptations and bad company and evil thoughts passed by me like the summer wind as you might say: I was too drunk to notice them. When the money was gone, and they fired me out, I was fired out like gold out of the furnace, with my character unspoiled and unspotted; and when I went back to work, the work kept me steady. Can you say as much, Blanco? Did your holidays leave your character unspoiled? Oh, no, no. It was theatres: it was gambling: it was evil company: it was reading in vain romances: it was women, Blanco, women: it was wrong thoughts and gnawing discontent. It ended in your becoming a rambler and a gambler: it is going to end this evening on the gallows tree. Oh, what a lesson against spiritual pride! Oh, what a⁠—Blanco throws his hat at him. | | Blanco | Stow it, Boozy. Sling it. Cut it. Cheese it. Shut up. “Shake not the dying sinner’s hand.” | | Elder Daniels | Aye: there you go, with your scraps of lustful poetry. But you can’t deny what I tell you. Why, do you think I would put my soul in peril by selling drink if I thought it did no good, as them silly temperance reformers make out, flying in the face of the natural tastes implanted in us all for a good purpose? Not if I was to starve for it tomorrow. But I know better. I tell you, Blanco, what keeps America today the purest of the nations is that when she’s not working she’s too drunk to hear the voice of the tempter. | | Blanco | Don’t deceive yourself, Boozy. You sell drink because you make a bigger profit out of it than you can by selling tea. And you gave up drink yourself because when you got that fit at Edwardstown the doctor told you you’d die the next time; and that frightened you off it. | | Elder Daniels | Fervently. Oh thank God selling drink pays me! And thank God He sent me that fit as a warning that my drinking time was past and gone, and that He needed me for another service! | | Blanco | Take care, Boozy. He hasn’t finished with you yet. He always has a trick up His sleeve⁠— | | Elder Daniels | Oh, is that the way to speak of the ruler of the universe⁠—the great and almighty God? | | Blanco | He’s a sly one. He’s a mean one. He lies low for you. He plays cat and mouse with you. He lets you run loose until you think you’re shut of him; and then, when you least expect it, he’s got you. | | Elder Daniels | Speak more respectful, Blanco⁠—more reverent. | | Blanco | Springing up and coming at him. Reverent! Who taught you your reverent cant? Not your Bible. It says He cometh like a thief in the night⁠—aye, like a thief⁠—a horse-thief⁠— | | Elder Daniels | Shocked. Oh! | | Blanco | Overbearing him. And it’s true. That’s how He caught me and put my neck into the halter. To spite me because I had no use for Him⁠—because I lived my own life in my own way, and would have no truck with His “Don’t do this,” and “You mustn’t do that,” and “You’ll go to Hell if you do the other.” I gave Him the go-bye and did without Him all these years. But He caught me out at last. The laugh is with Him as far as hanging me goes. *He thrusts his hands into his pockets and lounges moodily away from Daniels, to the table, where he sits facing the jury box. | | Elder Daniels | Don’t dare to put your theft on Him, man. It was the Devil tempted you to steal the horse. | | Blanco | Not a bit of it. Neither God nor Devil tempted me to take the horse: I took it on my own. He had a cleverer trick than that ready for me. He takes his hands out of his pockets and clenches his fists. Gosh! When I think that I might have been safe and fifty miles away by now with that horse; and here I am waiting to be hung up and filled with lead! What came to me? What made me such a fool? That’s what I want to know. That’s the great secret. | | Elder Daniels | At the opposite side of the table. Blanco: the great secret now is, what did you do with the horse? | | Blanco | Striking the table with his fist. May my lips be blighted like my soul if ever I tell that to you or any mortal man! They may roast me alive or cut me to ribbons; but Strapper Kemp shall never have the laugh on me over that job. Let them hang me. Let them shoot. So long as they are shooting a man and not a sniveling skunk and softy, I can stand up to them and take all they can give me⁠—game. | | Elder Daniels | Don’t be headstrong, Blanco. What’s the use? Slyly. They might let up on you if you put Strapper in the way of getting his brother’s horse back. | | Blanco | Not they. Hanging’s too big a treat for them to give up a fair chance. I’ve done it myself. I’ve yelled with the dirtiest of them when a man no worse than myself was swung up. I’ve emptied my revolver into him, and persuaded myself that he deserved it and that I was doing justice with strong stern men. Well, my turn’s come now. Let the men I yelled at and shot at look up out of Hell and see the boys yelling and shooting at me as I swing up. | | Elder Daniels | Well, even if you want to be hanged, is that any reason why Strapper shouldn’t have his horse? I tell you I’m responsible to him for it. Bending over the table and coaxing him. Act like a brother, Blanco: tell me what you done with it. | | Blanco | Shortly, getting up and leaving the table. Never you mind what I done with it. I was done out of it. Let that be enough for you. | | Elder Daniels | Following him. Then why don’t you put us on to the man that done you out of it? | | Blanco | Because he’d be too clever for you, just as he was too clever for me. | | Elder Daniels | Make your mind easy about that, Blanco. He won’t be too clever for the boys and Sheriff Kemp if you put them on his trail. | | Blanco | Yes, he will. It wasn’t a man. | | Elder Daniels | Then what was it? | | Blanco | Pointing upward. Him. | | Elder Daniels | Oh what a way to utter His holy name! | | Blanco | He done me out of it. He meant to pay off old scores by bringing me here. He means to win the deal and you can’t stop Him. Well, He’s made a fool of me; but He can’t frighten me. I’m not going to beg off. I’ll fight off if I get a chance. I’ll lie off if they can’t get a witness against me. But back down I never will, not if all the hosts of heaven come to snivel at me in white surplices and offer me my life in exchange for an umble and a contrite heart. | | Elder Daniels | You’re not in your right mind, Blanco. I’ll tell em you’re mad. I believe they’ll let you off on that. He makes for the door. | | Blanco | Seizing him, with horror in his eyes. Don’t go: don’t leave me alone: do you hear? | | Elder Daniels | Has your conscience brought you to this that you’re afraid to be left alone in broad daylight, like a child in the dark. | | Blanco | I’m afraid of Him and His tricks. When I have you to raise the devil in me⁠—when I have people to show off before and keep me game, I’m all right; but I’ve lost my nerve for being alone since this morning. It’s when you’re alone that He takes His advantage. He might turn my head again. He might send people to me⁠—not real people perhaps. Shivering. By God, I don’t believe that woman and the child were real. I don’t. I never noticed them till they were at my elbow. | | Elder Daniels | What woman and what child? What are you talking about? Have you been drinking too hard? | | Blanco | Never you mind. You’ve got to stay with me: thats all; or else send someone else⁠—someone rottener than yourself to keep the devil in me. Strapper Kemp will do. Or a few of those scratching devils of women. | | | Strapper Kemp comes back. | | Elder Daniels | To Strapper. He’s gone off his head. | | Strapper | Foxing, more likely. Going past Daniels and talking to Blanco nose to nose. It’s no good: we hang madmen here; and a good job too! | | Blanco | I feel safe with you, Strapper. You’re one of the rottenest. | | Strapper | You know you’re done, and that you may as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb. So talk away. I’ve got my witness; and I’ll trouble you not to make a move towards her when she comes in to identify you. | | Blanco | Retreating in terror. A woman? She ain’t real: neither is the child. | | Elder Daniels | He’s raving about a woman and a child. I tell you he’s gone off his chump. | | Strapper | Calling to those without. Show the lady in there. | | | Feemy Evans comes in. She is a young woman of twenty-three or twenty-four, with impudent manners, battered good looks, and dirty-fine dress. | | Elder Daniels | Morning, Feemy. | | Feemy | Morning, Elder. She passes on and slips her arm familiarly through Strapper’s. | | Strapper | Ever see him before, Feemy? | | Feemy | That’s the little lot that was on your horse this morning, Strapper. Not a doubt of it. | | Blanco | Implacably contemptuous. Go home and wash yourself, you slut. | | Feemy | Reddening, and disengaging her arm from Strapper’s. I’m clean enough to hang you, anyway. Going over to him threateningly. You’re no true American man, to insult a woman like that. | | Blanco | A woman! Oh Lord! You saw me on a horse, did you? | | Feemy | Yes, I did. | | Blanco | Got up early on purpose to do it, didn’t you? | | Feemy | No I didn’t: I stayed up late on a spree. | | Blanco | I was on a horse, was I? | | Feemy | Yes you were; and if you deny it you’re a liar. | | Blanco | To Strapper. She saw a man on a horse when she was too drunk to tell which was the man and which was the horse⁠— | | Feemy | Breaking in. You lie. I wasn’t drunk⁠—at least not as drunk as that. | | Blanco | Ignoring the interruption.⁠—and you found a man without a horse. Is a man on a horse the same as a man on foot? Yah! Take your witness away. Who’s going to believe her? Shove her into the dustbin. You’ve got to find that horse before you get a rope round my neck. He turns away from her contemptuously, and sits at the table with his back to the jury box. | | Feemy | Following him. I’ll hang you, you dirty horse-thief; or not a man in this camp will ever get a word or a look from me again. You’re just trash: that’s what you are. White trash. | | Blanco | And what are you, darling? What are you? You’re a worse danger to a town like this than ten horse-thieves. | | Feemy | Mr. Kemp: will you stand by and hear me insulted in that low way? To Blanco, spitefully. I’ll see you swung up and I’ll see you cut down: I’ll see you high and I’ll see you low, as dangerous as I am. He laughs. Oh you needn’t try to brazen it out. You’ll look white enough before the boys are done with you. | | Blanco | You do me good. Feemy. Stay by me to the end, won’t you? Hold my hand to the last; and I’ll die game. He puts out his hand: she strikes savagely at it; but he withdraws it in time and laughs at her discomfiture. | | Feemy | You⁠— | | Elder Daniels | Never mind him, Feemy: he’s not right in his head today. She receives the assurance with contemptuous credulity, and sits down on the step of the Sheriff’s dais. | | | Sheriff Kemp comes in: a stout man, with large flat ears, and a neck thicker than his head. | | Elder Daniels | Morning, Sheriff. | | The Sheriff | Morning, Elder. Passing on. Morning, Strapper. Passing on. Morning, Miss Evans. Stopping between Strapper and Blanco. Is this the prisoner? | | Blanco | Rising. That’s so. Morning, Sheriff. | | The Sheriff | Morning. You know, I suppose, that if you’ve stole a horse and the jury find against you, you won’t have any time to settle your affairs. Consequently, if you feel guilty, you’d better settle em now. | | Blanco | Affairs be damned! I’ve got none. | | The Sheriff | Well, are you in a proper state of mind? Has the Elder talked to you? | | Blanco | He has. And I say it’s against the law. It’s torture: that’s what it is. | | Elder Daniels | He’s not accountable. He’s out of his mind, Sheriff. He’s not fit to go into the presence of his Maker. | | The Sheriff | You are a merciful man, Elder; but you won’t take the boys with you there. To Blanco. If it comes to hanging you, you’d better for your own sake be hanged in a proper state of mind than in an improper one. But it won’t make any difference to us: make no mistake about that. | | Blanco | Lord keep me wicked till I die! Now I’ve said my little prayer. I’m ready. Not that I’m guilty, mind you; but this is a rotten town, dead certain to do the wrong thing. | | The Sheriff | You won’t be asked to live long in it, I guess. To Strapper. Got the witness all right, Strapper? | | Strapper | Yes, got everything. | | Blanco | Except the horse. | | The Sheriff | What’s that? Ain’t you got the horse? | | Strapper | No. He traded it before we overtook him, I guess. But Feemy saw him on it. | | Feemy | She did. | | Strapper | Shall I call in the boys? | | Blanco | Just a moment, Sheriff. A good appearance is everything in a low-class place like this. He takes out a pocket comb and mirror, and retires towards the dais to arrange his hair. | | Elder Daniels | Oh, think of your immortal soul, man, not of your foolish face. | | Blanco | I can’t change my soul, Elder: it changes me⁠—sometimes. Feemy: I’m too pale. Let me rub my cheek against yours, darling. | | Feemy | You lie: my color’s my own, such as it is. And a pretty color you’ll be when you’re hung white and shot red. | | Blanco | Ain’t she spiteful, Sheriff? | | The Sheriff | Time’s wasted on you. To Strapper. Go and see if the boys are ready. Some of them were short of cartridges, and went down to the store to buy them. They may as well have their fun; and it’ll be shorter for him. | | Strapper | Young Jack has brought a boxful up. They’re all ready. | | The Sheriff | Going to the dais and addressing Blanco. Your place is at the bar there. Take it. Blanco bows ironically and goes to the bar. Miss Evans: you’d best sit at the table. She does so, at the corner nearest the bar. The Elder takes the opposite corner. The Sheriff takes his chair. All ready, Strapper. | | Strapper | At the door. All in to begin. | | | The crowd comes in and fills the court. Babsy, Jessie, and Emma come to the Sheriff’s right; Hannah and Lottie to his left. | | The Sheriff | Silence there. The jury will take their places as usual. They do so. | | Blanco | I challenge this jury, Sheriff. | | The Foreman | Do you, by Gosh? | | The Sheriff | On what ground? | | Blanco | On the general ground that it’s a rotten jury. Laughter. | | The Sheriff | That’s not a lawful ground of challenge. | | The Foreman | It’s a lawful ground for me to shoot yonder skunk at sight, first time I meet him, if he survives this trial. | | Blanco | I challenge the Foreman because he’s prejudiced. | | The Foreman | I say you lie. We mean to hang you, Blanco Posnet; but you will be hanged fair. | | The Jury | Hear, hear! | | Strapper | To the Sheriff*. George: this is rot. How can you get an unprejudiced jury if the prisoner starts by telling them they’re all rotten? If there’s any prejudice against him he has himself to thank for it. | | The Boys | That’s so. Of course he has. Insulting the court! Challenge be jiggered! Gag him. | | Nestor | A juryman with a long white beard, drunk, the oldest man present. Besides, Sheriff, I go so far as to say that the man that is not prejudiced against a horse-thief is not fit to sit on a jury in this town. | | The Boys | Right. Bully for you, Nestor! That’s the straight truth. Of course he ain’t. Hear, hear! | | The Sheriff | That is no doubt true, old man. Still, you must get as unprejudiced as you can. The critter has a right to his chance, such as he is. So now go right ahead. If the prisoner don’t like this jury, he should have stole a horse in another town; for this is all the jury he’ll get here. | | The Foreman | That’s so, Blanco Posnet. |