Is there nothing I can say to move your hearts?Has my story of that pearl and onyx pin been lost on you?Couldn't you understand,after all?Are you western men,and yet unable to feel the worth of a western man like Brick?...How he clothed me and sheltered me when the man who should have supported the child left in his care neglected her....How he taught me and was always tender and gentle--never a cross word--a man like THAT....And you think he could kill!I don't know whether Bill was told his hiding-place or not.But ifI knew it,do you think I'd tell?And if Bill betrayed him,--but Bill wouldn't do it.Thank God,I've been raised with real MEN,men that know how to stand by each other and be true to the death.You want Bill to turn traitor.I say,what kind of men are YOU?
She turned to Wilfred,blinded by hot tears.Oh,say something to them!she gasped,clinging to his arm.
Go on,murmured Wilfred.I couldn't reach em,and you made a point,that time.Go on--don't give 'em a chance to think.
But I can't--I've said all I had to say--
Don't stop,dear,for God's sake--the case is desperate!You'll have to do it--for Bill.
And that isn't all,Lahoma called in a broken pathetic voice,as she turned her pale face upon the curious crowd.That isn't all.You know Brick and Bill have been all I had--all in this world...You know they couldn't have been sweeter to me if they'd been the nearest of kin--they were more like women than men,somehow,when they spoke to me and sat with me in the dugout--and I guess I know a little about a mother's love because I've always had Brick and Bill.But one day somebody else came to the cove and--and this somebody else,well--he--this somebody else wants to marry me--today.This was the end of our journey,she went on blindly,and--and it is our wedding-day.I thought there must be SOME way to get Brick to the wedding,but you see how it is.And--and we'll have to marry without him.But Bill's here--in that jail--because he wouldn't betray his friend.And I couldn't marry without either Brick or Bill,could I?
She took her quivering hand from Wilfred's sturdy arm,and moving to the top of the steps,held out her trembling arms appealingly:
MEN!--Give me Bill!
The crowd was with her,now.No doubt of that.All fierceness gone,tears here and there,broad grins to hide deep emotion,open admiration,touched with tenderness,in the eyes that took in her shy flower-like beauty.
You shall have Bill!shouted the spokesman of the crowd.And other voices cried,Give her Bill!Give her Bill!
Bring him out!continued the spokesman in stentorian tones.We'll not ask him a question.Fellows,clear a path for 'em.
A broad lane was formed through the throng of smiling men whom the sudden,unexpected light of love had softened magically.
While Mizzoo hastened to Bill's cell,some one exclaimed,Invite us,too.Make it a town wedding!
And another started the shout,Hurrah for Lahoma!
Lahoma,who had taken refuge behind Wilfred's protection,wept and laughed in a rosy glow of triumphant joy.
Mizzoo presently reappeared,leaving the door wide open.He walked to the stairs,the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deep-cut with appreciation of the situation.Fellows,he called,he says you carried him in there,and dinged if you won't have to carry him out,for not a step will he take!
At this unexpected development,a burst of laughter swelled into a roar.After that mighty merriment,Bill was as safe as a babe.Twenty volunteers pressed forward to carry the wedding-guest from his cell.And when the old man slowly but proudly followed Wilfred and Lahoma to the hotel where certain preparations were to be made --particularly as touching Bill's personal appearance--the town of Mangum began gathering at the newly-erected church whither they had been invited.
When the four friends--for Mizzoo joined them--drove up to the church door in the only carriage available,Bill descended stiffly,his eyes gleaming fiercely from under snowy locks,as if daring any one to ask him a question about Brick.But nobody did.
