the road now, movin’ the cars out of it where they can an’ dozin’ a path around where they can’t. They’re half-way in from the highway, and likely the whole road’ll be open by midnight. Somebody ran over the last one of Marvin Jimerson’s hawgs, though, just a while ago, and he’s filed suit against the county.”
“How’s things in town?” the sheriff asked.
Otis shook his head. “About the same. Women is picketing the courthouse. The PTA, the Women’s Club, and the League of Women Voters held a combined mass meetin’ in the high school and they’re goin’ to wire the governor to send the National Guard if you don’t get these men out of here by mornin’. A few of the reporters has found their way back to town on foot, and word’s got out about the belly dancers and the carnival and the girls, so there was some talk at the meetin’ of charterin’ a helicopter to bring a delegation out here, but there wasn’t enough money in the treasuries.
“The road blocks is going to try to hold back the car-loads of women as soon as word comes through the road’s clear into here, but they won’t be able to hold ‘em long if there ain’t signs of this breakin’ up by morning.” And if them women get in here I’m sailin’ right out across that bottom on foot and I ain’t goin’ to stop this side of the West Coast.”
The sheriff shuddered. “Well, men, you got any ideas for gettin’ ‘em out of here? If we tell ‘em that, most of ‘em will be afraid to go home. They’ll figure that since they’re goin’ to be in the dawghouse anyway they might as well live her up as long as they can. There ain’t no hope of findin’ that girl so we can convince ‘em it’s all over. She ain’t really down in the bottom—” He stopped then and his eyes got real hard. Then he went on, looking at Uncle Sagamore.
“But maybe if I could make ‘em understand they been homswoggled by this crooked old wart hog here, and gypped into spendin’ their money and getting theirselves in the dawghouse with their wives—”
“You reckon you could make ‘em see it?” Booger asked, showing a little interest for the first time.
“I can sure try,” the sheriff says. “They sure must be beginning to wonder theirselves why a whole army of men ain’t been able to find a girl in a place that size.”
“But, look,” Otis says, with a real nasty smile. “We couldn’t do that. They might lynch him.”
“Oh, of course not,” the sheriff says. “Hell, how could they? There’s four law officers here to protect him, and only about eight thousand of them.”
Seventeen
Uncle Sagamore pursed his lips. “Why, Shurf,” he says. “You wouldn’t do a thing like that.”
“Wouldn’t I?” the sheriff says. “But don’t you worry. It’s our duty as law officers to protect you. And likely there ain’t more’n a few hundred of ‘em got guns in their cars.”
“Hey, wait a minute.” It was Otis. “I was just by the sound truck. It’s broke down.”
The sheriff nodded. “I know. While Rutherford was asleep last night a bunch of wires inside his amplifier pulled themselves loose an’ run off. But I’ll commandeer the one up at the carnival. By God, we’ll break this thing up!”
He turned around and started up towards the crowd. The deputies followed him. Pop and Uncle Sagamore looked at each other. I began to get scared. A lot of these men had been acting like they was drinking, and there was no telling what would happen.
Uncle Sagamore spit out some tobacco juice and rubbed his chin. “Sure is a hard-workin’ man, that shurf. It’s a downright shame, though, he’s got such a habit of goin’ off half-cocked.”
He got up and sauntered along after them. Pop went with him.
There wasn’t anything else for me to do, so I followed them. But I didn’t like the looks of it.
When I got up there Uncle Sagamore was standing at the back of the crowd, but I didn’t see Pop anywhere. When I come up behind the swarm of men I couldn’t even see the stage, so I backed off across the road by the hamburger stand. That wasn’t much better. I was still too low.
“What’s the matter, kid?” Murph asked.
“I was trying to see the stage,” I says. “The sheriff is going to make a speech.”
“Oh-oh,” he says. “Well, here,” He lifted me up on the