Blanco.  Dont 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 youd 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 hasnt 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 youre 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 [overhearing him] And it’s true.  Thats 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 “Dont do this,” and “You mustnt do that,” and “Youll 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.  Dont 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?  Thats what I want to know.  Thats 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 men!  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.