"Ned, you don't seem to understand!"

"I hates to lie, Mister Jodie, but I gwine t' do it for Stray. This mornin' Mister Wes pa.s.ses by early. Say he be fetchin' the Law! I gets plum worried!"

"If Mister Wes does bring the sheriff, he-"

"I wants you to take me to town, Mister Jodie, quick as you can. I gwine t' tell the Lawmens I killed Mister Ward 'fore I lets them take the boy!"

"No, Ned! No! That wouldn't do! It'd just make matters Worse!"

"Papa, come look here at my sh.e.l.l!"

"Baby, don't bother me right now!"

"See? Stray's got lots of them. He just give me one, and Shoogie one."

"One what?"

I could tell Papa wasn't half listening.

"A done-shot sh.e.l.l, Papa. See? It's pretty yellow. See? And Stray may give me his best one, too!"

Papa wouldn't take time to look. Stray emptied another handful of sh.e.l.ls out of his pocket and spread them on the floor, but before I could decide which one to beg for, Papa called Stray to come over to the other side of the store and talk to him and Ned and Black Idd.

"Come on, Stray. Com'ere. We've gotta straighten out just what happened in that cornfield Sunday evening before the sheriff and Mister Hawk and all of them get here. It'll be too late then."

While Shoogie and I were standing all the sh.e.l.ls up straight along a crack in the floor, Papa kept on telling Stray not to be scared and that everything was going to be all right.

And Black Idd told Stray not to be afraid of Papa. I noticed Papa was talking to Stray the very same way he talked to me any time he wanted me to be good and not bad.

"I don't aim to scold you a-tall, Stray. Just tell me how come you to shoot Ned's gun."

"I ain't teched the trigger, Mister Jodie. Pa Ned draps his gun and hit goes off. I just picks. .h.i.t up off'n the ground."

"The Lawd be praised! Hear that, Mister Jodie? The chile didn't kill him! The boy didn't do hit, Mister Jodie! O Lawd G.o.d, is I glad!"

"I'm glad too, Ned. But I don't know how many folks will believe your gun went off accidentally and killed Ward. I declare, I don't know what to tell you. It would take the wisdom of Solomon to straighten the tangle we're fixing to have here in a few minutes-if I don't think of something quick!"

"Pa Ned, I wants to tell Mister Jodie somethin'. Mister Jodie, I- Mister Jodie, when we was- Uh, I gets me a new sh.e.l.l, Mister Jodie, when I see'd-"

Black Idd leaned over and tapped his cane against Stray's back. "Son, this ain't no time for talkin' sh.e.l.ls to Mister Jodie. He worried. Mister Jodie, I hears 'em comin'!"

"Yeah! It's them!"

Both Shoogie and I ran to the window. "Oh, Papa! Look a-yonder! Look comin'!" Papa didn't come.

"Come see, Papa! It's a big gang of men and horses just a-galloping and kicking up dust! Look how fast they're coming up the hill! Mister Wes is in the buggy with a town man! There's Uncle Dan! And Mister Goode! Just ever'body!"

Papa still didn't come. I didn't have time to turn around to see what he was doing. I knew he could hear me!

"The automobile! Papa, Wiley's making it go! Him and Doctor Elton! Grandpa's on it! Papa, how come all that smoke's boiling outta the back end? Is it gonna burn up?"

Papa wouldn't answer. And he didn't know what he was missing!

The saddle horses and the men and the smoke and Mister Wes's buggy were all getting mixed up together! And Wiley was heading the automobile straight for the porch! And Doctor Elton and Grandpa Thad were both grabbing the wheel! And Old Man Hawk was standing up in his wagon, waving his arms and Nellie's reins and making her run way down toward the branch!

"Papa?" I turned around to see what on earth Papa was doing.

He had grabbed Ned's arm and was pushing him toward the back of the store!

"Hide, Ned! Quick!"

"Where, Mister Jodie? Where?"

"Jerk the top off my oil drum and scrooch down in there. It's empty!"

"Where's I gwine to put Little Stray?"

"Stick him in the flour barrel! Make haste! But don't shut that lid tight! Bandershanks, baby, come 'way from the window.

You sit back down under the candy counter and be playing with them paper dolls! You too, Shoogie! Don't let them puppies get outta that box or make any racket. And, Bandershanks, if you ever in your life kept your mouth shut, do it this time! Don't say a word-not a word-when all the men come in. Don't mention Ned and Stray. Just keep playing and keep quiet!"

Papa dashed back toward the heater. "Black Idd, the men are after Ned! And Mister Bailey's got the sheriff, figuring to have me arrested, I reckon! You gotta help me till I can talk some sense into them!"

"What I do, Mister Jodie?"

"Get farther back there behind the heater and sit on the keg.

Make out like you're dozing off to sleep! It'll look like everything's the same as usual."

Papa leaped over the counter and ran to the far end of the store, where he started moving bottles of snuff from one shelf to another. He began whistling, of all things. Next minute, when Mister Wes shoved open the front door and all the men came crowding in, Papa didn't so much as halfway look around.

"Hey, Jodie!"

"Why hi, Wes! I'll be up there in a minute. I was sorta straightening things up back here in the back, getting this conglomeration of snuff together on one shelf. Well! Looks like we got quite a delegation here! Morning, Sheriff. Morning, Mister Hawk. Hal, Dan, all y'all. Come on in, Doctor Elton. Why, Pa, I didn't see you. Y'all find yourselves some chairs. I got one or two more here in the back. Wiley, son, you bring them up here so everybody can sit down. I'll roll up another nail keg or two."

"We ain't in no sittin' notion!" Mister Hawk told Papa.

"Jodie, it was that darkie Ned that murdered Ward! We gotta get him. Doc says he won't go. Says we gotta be legal. I say we can save the sheriff here some time and trouble."

"Hold on, Mister Hawk. Let's take it slow. We ain't got a lick of proof that Ward was murdered. Besides, I don't figure Ned's been studying shooting anybody."

"Well, what about the squirrel in Ward's pocket?"

"The squirrel? What makes you so certain that squirrel-"

"I figgered it out, Jodie! All y'all say I'm losing my mind, but I still got it! I woulda know'd yesterday things wasn't right, if I'd 've been thinking. But I reckon I plain wasn't thinking. You recollect Ward's two dogs tore that squirrel to pieces?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, Jodie, when we all walked past where them hounds had been a-fightin', I seen drops of blood had dripped on the sand.

We was all talkin', and I didn't pay it no mind till last night when I kinda got my wits together. Then it struck me! That squirrel was fresh killed! Jodie, Ward didn't shoot it Sunday evenin'! That thing would've been froze stiff as a fire poker-its blood too! So, all I had to do was find out who shot a squirrel early Monday mornin' and slipped it in Ward's pocket!"

"But, Mister Hawk, you can't-"