The Sheriff [to Blanco] Dont you be uneasy.  You will get justice here.  It may be rough justice; but it is justice.

Blanco.  What is justice?

The Sheriff.  Hanging horse-thieves is justice; so now you know.  Now then:  weve wasted enough time.  Hustle with your witness there, will you?

Blanco [indignantly bringing down his fist on the bar] Swear the jury.  A rotten Sheriff you are not to know that the jury’s got to be sworn.

The foreman [galled] Be swore for you!  Not likely.  What do you say, old son?

Nestor [deliberately and solemnly] I say:  Guilty!!!

The boys [tumultuously rushing at Blanco] Thats it.  Guilty, guilty.  Take him out and hang him.  He’s found guilty.  Fetch a rope.  Up with him. [They are about to drag him from the bar].

The Sheriff [rising, pistol in hand] Hands off that man.  Hands off him, I say, Squinty, or I drop you, and would if you were my own son. [Dead silence], I’m Sheriff here; and it’s for me to say when he may lawfully be hanged. [They release him].

Blanco.  As the actor says in the play, “a Daniel come to judgment.”  Rotten actor he was, too.

The Sheriff.  Elder Daniel is come to judgment all right, my lad.  Elder:  the floor is yours. [The Elder rises].  Give your evidence.  The truth and the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God.

Elder Daniels.  Sheriff:  let me off this.  I didn’t ought to swear away this man’s life.  He and I are, in a manner of speaking, brothers.

The Sheriff.  It does you credit, Elder:  every man here will acknowledge it.  But religion is one thing:  law is another.  In religion we’re all brothers.  In law we cut our brother off when he steals horses.

The foreman.  Besides, you neednt hang him, you know.  Theres plenty of willing hands to take that job off your conscience.  So rip ahead, old son.

Strapper.  Youre accountable to me for the horse until you clear yourself, Elder:  remember that.

Blanco.  Out with it, you fool.

Elder Daniels.  You might own up, Blanco, as far as my evidence goes.  Everybody knows I borrowed one of the Sheriff’s horses from Strapper because my own’s gone lame.  Everybody knows you arrived in the town yesterday and put up in my house.  Everybody knows that in the morning the horse was gone and you were gone.

Blanco [in a forensic manner] Sheriff:  the Elder, though known to you and to all here as no brother of mine and the rottenest liar in this town, is speaking the truth for the first time in his life as far as what he says about me is concerned.  As to the horse, I say nothing; except that it was the rottenest horse you ever tried to sell.

The Sheriff.  How do you know it was a rotten horse if you didn’t steal it?