Chapter 37 Summary

Before 5:00 a.m., Ozzie and Nesbit awaken Jake to tell him that "Mickey Mouse" has called. The Klan plans to kill Jake today, the day they are burying Stump Sisson. He hurriedly showers and dresses. At 5:30, they rush him to his office and lock the door. At 8:00 National Guardsmen escort Jake to the courthouse. Meanwhile a Klansman is sipping whiskey and aiming a rifle from a forgotten silo less than three blocks away. He shoots into the squadron of soldiers, and one of them shrieks in pain. He is hit in the throat. Jake and Ozzie escape into the courthouse as the gunman jumps into the waiting pickup that will take him and the driver to Stump's funeral.

When the shooting seems over, the colonel sends a jeep up the hill in the direction from which Ozzie thinks the shots came. As Ellen...