Big lake
Date: 2023-05-16T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: American drama -- 20th century; Tragedies (Drama)

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Big lake

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Title: Big lake

A tragedy in two parts

Author: Lynn Riggs

Release date: May 16, 2023 [eBook #70780]

Language: English

Original publication: United States: Samuel French, 1927

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70780

Credits: Bob Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIG LAKE ***

BIG LAKE

A Tragedy in
Two Parts

PLAYS BY

LYNN RIGGS

Knives from Syria. Comedy in 1 act. In One-Act Plays for Stage and Study, 3rd Series. Samuel French.

Big Lake. Tragedy in 2 Parts. Samuel French.

Sump’n Like Wings. Not published.

A Lantern To See By. Not published.

HELEN COBURN AS “BETTY”

BIG LAKE
A Tragedy in Two Parts

As produced by the American
Laboratory Theater, New York City

By
LYNN RIGGS

FOREWORD BY
BARRETT H. CLARK

SAMUEL FRENCH

Incorporated 1898

T. R. Edwards, Managing Director

NEW YORK CITY :: ::MCMXXVII

SAMUEL FRENCH, Ltd. :::: :: London

All Rights Reserved

Copyright, 1927, by Lynn Riggs
Copyright, 1927, by Samuel French

This play is fully protected by copyright. All acting rights, both professional and amateur, are reserved in the United States, the British Empire, including the Dominion of Canada, and all countries of the Copyright Union, by the owner. Application for the right of performing this play or of reading it in public should be made to Samuel French, 25 West 45th Street, New York City.

PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY
QUINN & BODEN COMPANY, INC.
RAHWAY, N. J.

PROGRAM OF THE FIRST PRODUCTION, APRIL 8, 1927

The American Laboratory Theater (New York)
presents

BIG LAKE

By Lynn Riggs

Staged by George Auerbach

Betty | Helen Coburn
Lloyd | Frank Burk
Elly | Stella Adler
Butch | Grover Burgess
Sheriff | Louis V. Quince
Plank | John S. Clarke, Jr.
Joe | Francis Fergusson
Miss Meredith | Frances Williams
Bud Bickel | Sam Hartman
The Davis Boy | Harold Hecht

Country School Boys and Girls

Messrs. Kradoska, Hayes, Parsons, Fielding,
Williams, Curtis.

Misses Schmidt, Seymour, Titsworth, Johnson,
Squire, Smith.

Part 1—The Woods
Scene 1—The Woods
Scene 2—The Cabin

Intermission

Part 2—The Lake
Scene 1—A Cleared Place
Scene 2—The Lake

The action takes place in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, in the
year 1906

Settings designed by Lewis Barrington
Costumes designed by Gertrude Brows
Sets and costumes executed by the Laboratory Theater Workshop
Property Man Morton Brown

The Director and Actors are deeply grateful to Mme. Maria Ouspenskaya for the invaluable assistance she gave in the preparation of this production.

FOREWORD

This play came to us late in the season of 1926-1927. Produced by George Auerbach at the American Laboratory Theater in New York, it attracted some attention during April and May, and survived without serious damage the ordeal of criticism by several of the front-line reviewers. With two or three exceptions, however, the notices showed little understanding of what Mr. Riggs was trying to do.

That is one reason why I am presuming to add these few words to the dramatist’s text. Big Lake is that rarest of things, a poetic drama that is at once poetry and drama. To one of his later plays Mr. Riggs has given the title Sump’n Like Wings, and I can think of no words that so accurately describe what I felt when, over a year ago, I read the manuscript of Big Lake. There is a winged lightness in the words that the poet puts into the mouths of his young people, an ecstasy born of the sheer joy of being alive. How poor a thing is the mere “observation” of a clever playwright beside the deeper, more incisive and highly intuitive scenes in Big Lake!

In calling Mr. Riggs a poet (I refer here not to his formal verse-making, but to his plays) I am not forgetting that poetry in the theater is a different thing from the poetry you read in a book: Mr. Riggs’ plays are stage pieces; the poetry in them is never a matter of mere words, but an integral part of the speeches uttered and the gestures made by the characters, directing each scene and permeating the whole. It lies first in the writer’s conception of a harmonic entity, and floods it from beginning to end.

Mr. Riggs’ three full-length plays are the work of a young man who is still close enough to his youth to remember and understand those fleeting moments of exaltation and depression that constitute the glory and the tragedy of adolescence. In Big Lake, more especially than in A Lantern To See By and Sump’n Like Wings, Mr. Riggs has been able on occasion to look at the world about him through the eyes of a child: can you not feel in the second scene of the first act something of the wonder and terror of the more wildly romantic stories of the Brothers Grimm?

If this Foreword were a study, I should go on to point out how Lynn Riggs has taken the folk-material and the idiom of his native district and skillfully made of them a rich medium of expression, and explain how, with only the slightest technical manipulation, he has reproduced the subtle rhythms of everyday speech. Then I should also have to take him to task for an occasional awkwardness in the management of his plots. But my purpose here is not to criticize: it is to point out to you a new American dramatist, whose work is permeated by an odd and strangely haunting beauty.

Barrett H. Clark.

August, 1927.

PART ONE

CHARACTERS

Betty
Lloyd
“Butch” Adams
Elly
Sheriff
Joe | }deputies
Plank
Miss Meredith
Bud Bickel
The Davis Boy
Country-School Boys and Girls

BIG LAKE

THE WOODS

Scene 1

(The woods adjoining the Big Lake, near Verdigree Switch, Indian Territory, 1906. It is Spring. Vines creep on the trees just putting out their green. The ground is soft with dead leaves, among which grow the earliest flowers. A fallen log lies in a tangle of last year’s briars. It is the grayness of morning. Color is beginning to show in the East, where the lake lies, and as the light grows the lake shines through the leaves. Lloyd and Betty come from the left, softly over the matted earth. They are very young. Lloyd is tall, dark; he has black hair; his face is sensitive; he wears rough shoes, dark trousers, and a pale blue shirt. Betty’s hair is yellow. She has let it down. It frames her white, delicate face. Her dress is a coarse dark slip.)

Lloyd

It’s been s’ gray.

Betty

It’s gettin’ lighter.

Lloyd

It’s been s’ gray. But now it’s gettin’ lighter and lighter—even to clear back here in the woods.

Betty (softly)

I c’n feel the dawn.

Lloyd

I c’n feel the dawn. I c’n see the dawn! Look! Through the trees! Whur the lake’s at! The Big Lake’s a-shinin’ like a tub full o’ soap-suds! I’m glad we come. Ain’t you, Betty?

Betty

I’m glad we come early.

Lloyd

I’m glad we come. (They stand a moment breathless at the beauty before them.) Le’s set down. (They sit at left.) The horse is tied up. Grub’s safe in the buggy. Miss Meredith ’n’ the rest of ’em won’t be here fer a long time yit.

Betty

They’ll be here, though.

Lloyd

Yeow, but it’ll be a long time. Won’t Miss Meredith be supprised to find us here ahead of everbody? It was my idee. She’ll think we’re purty smart.

Betty

How many’s comin’?

Lloyd

The whole class, I guess—’cept the Davis boy. It’ll be a nice day to picnic, won’t it? (He rises and goes away from her and looks out toward the Lake. Softly, then more and more ecstatic, like a prayer—) I alwys liked the Big Lake. I’ve come here many’s the time with Paw, when we’d went out to git some cattle. Miles and miles through the bilin’ heat, tongue clawin’ at yer mouth—a-eatin’ dust, mebbe we’d go. Dust bilin’ up and blindin’ you—a-gettin’ in yer mouth and eyes till you thought you couldn’t stand it. An’ then the dark woods here—briars a-clawin’ at yer legs and hands, rattlers a-hidin’ under the leaves mebbe, logs t’ make yer horses jump, and branches ye’d have t’ dodge. Then the lake—flowin’ wide out—plum over almost out o’ sight—a-settin’ thar in the sun like sump’n you never hoped t’ see! I’d alwys want t’ git off my horse and go down to the edge of it—and tech it—and look at it—a long time. But Paw ud alwys say, “Set thar a-gawkin’, you kid. We got to git back to the sawmill ’fore 2 o’clock,” or he’d say, “’Tother end o’ the Lake is dried up purty good, son. We could cross over thar ’stid o’ goin’ round by the section line.” (After a moment.) I ain’t never seen it like this, though. It’s purtier’n I ever seen it. And we c’n look at it ’s long’s we want to. And we c’n go out on it—in a boat—if they is a boat—

Betty (timidly)

Why don’t you come over here and set down by me?

Lloyd

Why don’t you come over here and look at the lake?

Betty

I c’n see it good—from here.

Lloyd

Come on over the big log, and you c’n see it better.

Betty

No. I like it here better.

Lloyd (puzzled)

You’re funny. Set over thar then. I like you thar jist as well. You look purty good no matter whur you’re a-settin’. You set purty good. I like you settin’ thar with the vine leaves and the tree leaves behind you. You’ve got purtier and purtier, Betty.

Betty

Have I? You’re sweet to say it.

Lloyd

Why wouldn’t I say it?

Betty

No reason not to. I like to hear it.

Lloyd

Words git in the way some. I cain’t think t’ say much.

Betty

They’s no need t’ say much—

Lloyd

They is need to. Seems t’ me yore comin’ to Verdigree wuz like you’d come from some place besides down the river. It made me think of the Bible—sump’n about the angel that come down to roll away the stone—

Betty

You wuzn’t dead.

Lloyd

I uz asleep, I wuz. I uz young-asleep. I uz boy-asleep. I’m awake now. I’m a man. I’ve come to life.

Betty

You’d think I uz an angel—sproutin’ wings!

Lloyd

You’re better’n an angel—

Betty

I ain’t!

Lloyd

You air, too, to me. Better’n an angel! I’ll put this flower in yer hair—

Betty

No.

Lloyd

’S like a star.

Betty

No, no. Whur’d you git it at?

Lloyd (puzzled)

Why, here.

Betty (strangely)

Under the leaves. It growed up through the dead leaves. I don’t like it—

Lloyd

Why, Betty!

Betty

I cain’t stand them kind of flowers.

Lloyd

’S jist a flower. Growin’ in the woods.

Betty

In the dark woods. Lloyd—

Lloyd (puzzled)

Whut is it?

Betty

Lloyd, le’s go away frum here—

Lloyd

Whur’d you want to go to?

Betty

Out of here, out of these woods! (Pleading for him to understand.) Oh, you think I ain’t right. I cain’t expect you to know how I feel. They’s sump’n—I don’t know what it is— Please! It’s like the woods wuz waitin’—

Lloyd

Like a animal.

Betty

To git us. To git us! I’m afeard. They’s things growin’ here—an’ fightin’. They’s things crawlin’ on the ground, under the ground—in the trees—everwhur! I’m afeard!

Lloyd

I’m afeard!

Betty

Lloyd!

Lloyd

I’m afeard, too! Le’s go—

Betty

Whur’ll we go to?

Lloyd

Out on the lake.

Betty

They’s no boat.

Lloyd

Futher down—they’s a cabin, I know, and a boat—mebbe. Come on—le’s go to it. (They start. Lloyd stops, shaking off his fear.) Aw, listen. Whut’s the matter with us? Runnin’ like rabbits. They ain’t nuthin’ to be skeered of. We’re jist cold, that’s all. That’s it. Drivin’ so long ’fore it got light has jist got us chilled to the bone.

Betty

I ain’t cold.

Lloyd

Y’air. Cold as ice. Ye’re tremblin’.

Betty

I’m afeard!

Lloyd

We’ll go the cabin, then. It’s safe thar.

Betty

And git the boat and go out on the lake?

Lloyd

We’ll git warm first.

Betty

No! No! Le’s not go to the cabin. Le’s go on the lake.

Lloyd

Why, Betty! I never seen you like this!

Betty

I never been like this. Come on, to the Lake—

Lloyd (patiently)

Now, Betty, to the cabin first. Why, you’re cold! They’ll be a fa’r a-burnin’ thar. I doan know who’s a-livin’ thar, but we’ll go up and knock, and ask t’ git warm. They’ll be up. Country folks git up early. And they’ll have a fa’r—a nice roarin’ warm fa’r in the fa’rplace fer us to git warm at. Won’t you like that?

Betty

Mebbe—

Lloyd

It’s the funniest kind o’ cabin you ever see. It’s a log cabin. I been in it a long time ago with Paw. It’s a nice log cabin. An’ they’ll have a fa’r.

Betty (reluctantly)

Well, I’ll go—if you think—

Lloyd

Frum the outside it looks jist like any log cabin. But when you open the door, and look in—whut do you see? Steps! Three steps a-goin’ down to the dirt floor. It’s part under the ground—

Betty

Oh! Like it growed up out o’ the ground—?

Lloyd

Yes, jist like that! Like it growed out o’ the ground!

Betty (with conviction)

It growed out o’ the ground. It growed out o’ the same ground the big woods growed out of! (She shudders.)

Lloyd

Yeow.

Betty

Le’s don’t go thar!

Lloyd

Jist long enough to git warm.

Betty

No, not that long!

Lloyd

And to ask ’em fer the boat—if they got a boat.

Betty (desperately)

Couldn’t we jist take the boat—’thout asking?

Lloyd

Betty! Course we couldn’t!

Betty

I don’t see why, I don’t see!

Lloyd (laughs)

We ain’t thieves.

Betty

I’d be one.

Lloyd

No, you wouldn’t. Come on.

Betty

To the Lake?

Lloyd

To the cabin first.

Betty

Lake!

Lloyd (firmly)

No, Betty, cabin! (They go out, right.)

Curtain

THE WOODS

Scene 2

(Interior of the cabin. At the back three steps descend from the planked door to the dirt floor of the cabin. Windows, curtained, are on either side of the door. They are so high up that only a tall man can see out. A wide fireplace made of stone rises from the floor at the right end of the room. In the left corner of the cabin, a wide double-deck bunk juts out. Crazy quilts cover both beds. A few chairs, a rough table (set for breakfast at right of steps) and utensils for cooking at the fireplace—complete the furnishings. A fire burns in the fireplace; coffee bubbles on a little iron stand on the hearth. It is dark and gloomy; no direct sunlight has ever reached this secret place.

Elly, a tall, dark woman of thirty-five, stands tensely by the corner of the bunk. Her face, even in her excitement, is brooding and restrained. Her thick black hair, parted in the middle, is done up in a knob at the back of her head. She is wearing a faded, predominantly purple, plaid dress—full-sleeved, full-skirted, pulled in at the waist. After a moment she goes swiftly to the fireplace, pokes the fire, then goes across to the window nearest the bunk, and with extraordinary agility and grace steps upon a chair under the window and looks out. She gets down, goes slowly toward the fireplace. In the center of the room she halts, wheels about and faces the door. It opens. A man comes in quickly, and closes the door as if shutting something out. He turns, facing her from the top of the steps. He is of medium height, brutal, crafty. His clothes are nondescript and unclean. His hair slants into his eyes.)

Elly

Butch! Thank God! I didn’t see ya— (She makes a step toward him.)

Butch (quickly)

Shet up!

Elly

Butch, w’at is it?

Butch (in a hoarse whisper)

Shet up, I tell you! Squawkin’ like a hen. You wanta git me killed? (In a low voice.) They follered me.

Elly

Tell me—w’at is it—?

Butch

I’ll show ’em! They won’t git me. I’ve got away frum better men ’n they are. They won’t git me alive—the lousy bums! I’d like to see ’em! They follered me. I been at the Switch. An’ when I started back I seen three men a-follerin’. They’ll come here. (He stops thoughtfully.) They ain’t got nuthin’ on me. They cain’t prove nuthin’— (In a hard, matter-of-fact voice.) They don’t know it’s me done it. They only got somebody’s word. They don’t know it, and they cain’t prove it. No one saw me—

Elly (with foreboding)

Butch, I knowed this ud come. I knowed it. You’ll git sent up. And it ain’t right. You ain’t done nuthin’ wrong. It’s jist a law. W’at the hell’s a law? W’at’s it good fer? Why’n’t it agin the law everwhur else to sell whiskey? Them men whur they have their corner saloons all polished up—a-makin’ it criminal to sell a man a drink—w’at’s right about it? (With scorn.) Oh, yes! I know. Pertectin’ the Indians! They don’t want the Indians to git all lit up like they do all the time—ever day, ever night, regular. (With disgust.) Hell! Indians! I ain’t saw two Indians since I come to Indian Territory. Now they’ll git you. I’ve knowed it. They’ll stick you fer sellin’ the stuff to the poor fools that’s too skeered, and too weak, and too damn big a cowards to go up to Kansas City or Joplin and bring in their own whiskey, like a man. They’ll send you to jail—the only man that’s got guts enough to do it. You’ll git ten year or more. W’at’ll I git? I’ll git off—that’s w’at I’ll git. I’ll git left here to rot!

Butch

Shet up! (He goes up the steps and listens intently. Then he comes down.) Let up on yer jail stuff. You’ll have me skeered. And I got to keep my senses. Listen t’ me. I been follered before. The last bunch o’ guys laid in wait close to the Holler whur the whiskey’s at. Did that stop me frum gettin’ the whiskey and gettin’ out with it? Did that stop me frum sellin’ it regler to Joe Hurd’s Curio Store at Claremont? I been follered lots o’ times and you know it. I been follered lots o’ times ’count o’ selling whiskey. It ain’t nuthin’ new to me. But this time I’m follered and it ain’t on the ’count o’ whiskey! They’s sump’n else....

Elly

Butch! You got to tell me! W’at is it, w’at’ve you done?

Butch

Easy, easy!

Elly

You wuz skeered! I never see you like that before. You’ve done sump’n. Tell me w’at it is. W’at’ve you done?

Butch

Lay off, take it easy....

Elly

Butch....

Butch

Christ’s sake! You’re a mad womern! Keep yer shirt on! Mebbe I ain’t done nuthin’. Mebbe I jist been foolin’ myself. Mebbe—for all I know, they ain’t nuthin’ to git excited about.

Elly (suddenly)

Butch! You got blood on yer coat! (She stands a moment, terrified.) You’re hurt! Why’n’t you tell me? Quick, lemme fix it—I didn’t know.

Butch

I ain’t hurt.

Elly

You’re bleedin’.

Butch

It ain’t my blood. (Elly draws back, her hand at her face, confused.) I killed a man.

Elly (sickened)

Oh! (With terrible conviction.) You’ll hang fer it, Butch Adams! Why’d you go and do it? Who wuz it?

Butch (begins in a hard voice, but becomes more and more excited.)

Jim Dory. He told on me fer sellin’ whiskey. He told the federal officers at Tulsy. I killed him. Stuck a knife in him and turned it around. That’s why I went out at midnight ... to lay fer him. I knowed he’d go to the play-party over t’ Binghams. I laid fer him in the big woods close to the sawmill here. He’d go that a-way home, I figgered. About three o’clock this mornin’ he come along in a buggy with one horse to it. I jumped out and grabbed the bridle. He lep’ out on me with a knife. I got a-hold of it. I stuck it through his ribs and turned it around. Then I got skeered. They might think I done it ... findin’ him so close t’ here. It wouldn’t do to find him so close. I picked him up and dumped him in the buggy and give the horse a crack with a stick. He started off in a run down the road. But not afore I’d saw Jim kinda raise up one of his hands to his face! He wuzn’t dead. I hadn’t made shore! He wuzn’t dead, and he’d tell on me! He’d tell some one ’fore he died, and I’d hang fer it! I thought mebbe I could ketch up and finish the job. But the horse run like mad, crashin’ through the bushes but keepin’ purty close to the road. I run and run after him—almost to the Switch. Then I seen some one come out of the store whur a light was burnin’, and grab the horse’s bridle. I seen him take Jim up and carry him in and shet the door. I run away then. I didn’t know if he wuz dead or not. If he wuzn’t, he’d tell on me! I wuz crazy—not knowin’ if he wuz dead or not. I come on to the woods. I couldn’t stand it not knowin’: I started back. When I got to the edge of the woods I seen three men comin’ up the road. I knowed one of ’em! It wuz the Shuruff. They musta wired to Claremont fer him. Jim ’d told on me! Elly! Whut’ll I do? They’ll git me! (Elly goes over to the fireplace, in her absorbed way, without speaking, and pours some water in a pan.) Elly! They’ll be here any minute! Fer God’s sake, say sump’n!

Elly

Yer breakfast’s ready.

Butch

Elly!...

Elly

Take off yer coat. (He does, like one in a daze.) Throw it under the bunk. (He does so.) Wash yer hands. (He moves toward the pan slowly and begins to wash his hands. She has gone to the table with the coffee pot and poured some coffee. He finishes washing and dries his hands on a towel.) Set down. (He moves toward the table.)

Butch

But, Elly....

Elly (imperiously)

Set down! And eat yer breakfast,—Mister Murderer! (He sits. Elly leans over the table.) Eat a plenty. Drink—here’s coffee. Salt pork, gravy, potaters—eat ’em! Enjoy yerself!

Butch (half rising)

Whut’re you meanin’! I hadn’t oughta done it? Whut’d you want me to do ... let him git away with it, let that dirty little coward sneak off to Tulsy and sick the officers onto me like bloodhounds ’n do nuthin’ about it? That ain’t my way! If some one does me dirt he gets his, you c’n count on it! I ain’t no Christian: I’m a man!

Elly (with infinite scorn)

You—

Butch

I’m a man. Let up!

Elly (goes away from him. Bitterly....)

You’re lower’n I thought you wuz. I never thought t’ be livin’ with a murderer. (He comes toward her.) Oh, I ain’t so good. I know. You don’t have t’ tell me. But I never thought t’ come t’ this. I thought I knowed w’at I uz gettin’ into when I went away with you. I knowed you uz a bootlegger. I didn’t keer. It’s clean. It’s right. But killin’ ... I stop at killin’! Why’d you go and do it? Why did you? Now they’ll come and take you. They’ll take you away from me!

Butch

Christ’s sake, shet up! They’d a-took me away fer bootleggin’.

Elly

No, they wouldn’ta! They couldn’t ’a’ proved it. But now they’ll take you. They’ll hang you fer murder. (She clings to him.) No, I won’t let ’em! They cain’t take you! I love you—I cain’t help it. ’N I won’t let ’em take you away frum me! I won’t let em! I’ll find a way! I will! They ain’t proved you done it ... you said no one seen you....

Butch

They got Jim’s word, I tell you....

Elly (calmer)

He’s dead. He cain’t talk now.

Butch

Sh—! I heerd sump’n! (Excitedly—drawing his pistol.) They won’t git me!...

Elly

Gimme that gun!

Butch

... Not’s long’s I’m alive!

Elly

Butch! Give it t’ me! I’m all right now. I ain’t never advised you wrong. I’ll git you outa this! Listen t’ me: you ain’t been outa the house, y’hear—not since yistiddy. Eat yer breakfast! (She goes to the window, steps on the chair, and looks out.) It’s only a man an’ womern....

Butch

It’s a blind!

Elly

No, no! (Coming down.) It’s jist a boy and girl—a couple o’ kids.

Butch

Keep ’em out!

Elly

No! We’ll let ’em in! It’s Providence!

Butch

It’s a blind, I tell you....

Elly

It’s luck! It’s our luck. Mebbe we c’n use ’em....

Butch

How?

Elly

Some way. I doan know yit. Gimme the gun. (He hands it to her, reluctantly.) Keep yer head. These two’ll come in. They’ll keep you frum hangin’, Butch Adams! (She goes swiftly to the bunks, and hides the pistol under the quilts. Butch goes back to the table and sits. There is a moment of intense silence. Then a knock.) Come in!

(Lloyd and Betty come in. They look very slight, very delicate, in this somber place.)

Lloyd (awkwardly)

How’d do?

Elly

Howdy.

Lloyd

You got a fa’r we could git warm at?

Elly

Over thar.

Lloyd

If it ud bother you— If we’d be in yer way.

Elly

It won’t bother me. Nuthin’ gits in my way. You’re welcome. Come in, an’ git warm if you want to. (They come down the steps slowly. Elly turns to the window.) I’ll git you a cheer.

(Lloyd and Betty turn, and are about to go to the fireplace when Butch rises from the table where he has been sitting. They see him for the first time and stop in alarm.)

Elly (quickly)

Butch, bring a cheer up. (He picks up a chair and sets it in front of the fireplace. Lloyd and Betty watch him anxiously. He goes across to the bunks and sits down. Elly crosses over with another chair.) Here’s another cheer. Set down. (They go over slowly and sit.) The fa’r’s goin’ strong. Mebbe you’d like a cup of hot coffee?

Lloyd

Would you, Betty? (She shakes her head.) No, ma’am. Thank you.

Elly

I guess you’ve had yer breakfast.

Lloyd

No’m, we ain’t yit. We’re gonna have it ’s soon’s Miss Meredith comes.

Elly

Who’s Miss Meredith?

Lloyd

Our teacher.

Elly

Oh! Over t’ the Switch.

Lloyd

Yes’m. It’s a picnic breakfast here in the woods—fer the whole class.

Elly

Oh! (After a moment.) You’ve come awful early.

Lloyd

Nobody’s come yit—but us. We come early.

Elly

How’d you happen to do that?

Lloyd (hesitating)

Why, we—we jist thought we’d come early. We drove over from the Switch. Horse and buggy’s up here a ways—not fur.

Elly

Oh! (She looks from one to the other. Then to Betty.) Air you gittin’ warm, Miss?

Betty (gratefully)

Yes’m. I wuz cold.

Lloyd

She wuz tremblin’.

Elly

You’d oughta wear more clothes when you go out s’ early.

Betty

Yes’m.

Elly

Yer Maw ud oughta told you.

Betty

Maw’s dead.

Elly

Yer Paw ud oughta told you, then.

Betty

He’s asleep. (The three smile at this. Lloyd and Betty begin to feel more at ease.) This is the first time I been out s’ early. I didn’t know it wuz cold. Now I know. ’Fore it gits sun-up it’s li’ble to be. Even after sun-up it’s apt to be cold here in the woods, ain’t it?

Butch (suddenly)

Elly! Ain’t you got a coat you could let her borry?

Elly (surprised)

Why, yes, I got a coat. (To Betty.) I’ll lend you one.

Betty

No’m, you mustn’t. I’m obliged to you, but I doan need it.

Elly

You shore?

Betty

Yes’m.

(Butch’s interruption causes a constrained silence. Elly goes away toward the bunks thoughtfully. Betty, uneasy, looks at Lloyd. Then Butch rises, crosses the room, takes the poker and stirs the fire. He goes back to the little table and sits down. Lloyd rises, makes a step toward Elly.)

Mebbe we better go now—

Butch (loudly)

Set down! (He begins eating his breakfast.)

Elly (quickly)

He ain’t had his breakfast. Don’t mind him.

Lloyd

We better go.

Elly

He don’t mean nuthin’.

Lloyd (uneasy)

Well, we’ll stay a minute or two. (He goes back and sits down.)

Elly (as if nothing had happened)

Must be fun to come a-picnickin’ in the woods.

Lloyd

I doan know. I ain’t never been.

Elly

I ain’t been since I uz yore age. Why ain’t you been?

Lloyd

I’ve always worked, helped my Dad drive cattle—till now. I’m in school.

Elly

And ain’t never been to school before?

Lloyd

No, ma’am.

Elly

And ain’t never went on picnics?

Lloyd

Not till now.

Elly

I used to go all the time when I uz yore age. In Kansas City. Woods wuzn’t fur away. Used to go—a whole crowd of us—ever Sunday. Set on the ground ... real ground, ’stid o’ pavement ... with grass a-growin’ out of it. First I’d ever saw. We thought it wuz fine. You’ve missed a lot.

Lloyd

Yes’m. I guess so. But I’ve had fun. I been out with Paw a lot—drivin’ cattle. He buys ’em up differnt places—Verdigree, Foyil, Sageeyah, even ’s fur away’s Pryor Crick. Nen we saddle up our horses’n go out ’n drive ’em in to ship to the market at St. Louis.

Elly

W’at’s fun about drivin’ cattle? Sounds like work t’ me.

Lloyd

Well, it’s work. And it’s fun, too.

Elly

In winter, looks like you’d freeze yer ears off....

Lloyd

We don’t drive ’em much in winter.

Elly

Well, in the summer then, ’n the spring: I doan see w’at’s fun about the scorchin’ heat ’n the dust ’n the hot wind. I’d wanta be in out of it. I’d wanta be under a roof whur the sun didn’t hit me....

Lloyd

Sun’s bad. Dust’s bad, too. Wind ain’t so good. But they’s sump’n else....

Elly

Yeow? W’at is it?

Lloyd (going across to her)

I doan know ... it’s kinda crazy....

Elly

I had a crazy brother.

Lloyd (smiling)

Well, it ain’t as bad as that.

Elly

My brother wuzn’t bad. Jist wuzn’t right. He used to run out in the woods here like he uz wild. He lived here with us. He done queer things.

Lloyd

This is queer too. You’ll laugh. You see, when Paw and me goes out t’ drive cattle, some time or other we pass by the Big Lake.

Elly (strangely)

The Lake?

Lloyd

Yes’m. Sometimes it’s early ... when we first start out frum the Switch. Sometimes it’s the middle of the day—when we’ve got back frum Grand River. Sometimes it’s night. But we alwys pass by it—some time or other.

Elly

I doan see w’at’s fun about it. I been livin’ here three year. I c’n see the Lake any time. They’s no fun to that.

Lloyd

I cain’t explain it very well. It’s nice—nice t’ see it. ’N no matter whur you’re at, whut time o’ day it is, it’s nice to know the Lake’s thar. ’N it’s nice to know ’at some time mebbe you’ll git a chance to go out on it. I ain’t never been. I alwys want to. (Smiling.) Kinda crazy, ain’t it?

Elly (thoughtfully)

Yes.

Lloyd

I told you it wuz.

Elly (slowly)

You’re not the only one.

Lloyd

The only one whut?

Elly

Crazy. They’s others. I’ve saw ’em. Do you ever read the newspapers?

Lloyd

Why, no’m—I—

Elly

Cain’t read?

Lloyd

Well, not much. But I’m gonna learn better.

Elly

How long you lived at the Switch?

Lloyd

Alwys lived thar.

Elly

Then you musta heerd of people gettin’ drownded in the Lake?

Lloyd

Yes’m.

Elly

Crazy. Why’d they go on it?

Lloyd

’Tain’t the Lake’s fault. It’s their’n.

Elly

Yeow. Fer goin’ out on it.

Lloyd

No. Fer keerlessness. Some of ’em fall in. Some of ’em turn the boat over. Sometimes the boat leaks....

Elly

Yeow. But if they didn’t try to go out on the Lake, the boat wouldn’t leak, the boat wouldn’t turn over, ’n they wouldn’t fall in. It’s their fault fer goin’!

Lloyd

But people will go out on it. People want to. It ain’t wrong.

Elly

No. ’Tain’t wrong. ’N people will do it. That’s the trouble: they will do it. ’N do you know who it is does it? D’you know who it is that’s alwys gettin’ drownded in the Lake? People like you—young people—like yerselves—picnickin’! My brother—he got drownded out thar—a month back. We never did find him.

(Butch has risen to put a log on the fire. Betty shrinks away from him as he goes near her.)

Butch

Warm now?

Betty

Yes, sir. (Lloyd goes over quickly, anxiously.) We better go, Lloyd. I’m warm. I’m plenty warm.

Lloyd

Well, we’ll go then. (To Butch.) Thank you, Mister— Thank you fer the fa’r. (He turns toward Elly.) I wuz goin’ t’ ask you if we could borry yer boat. I doan know now if I want to....

Betty (quickly, nervously ... to Elly)

You got a boat, ain’t you?

Elly

Yes.

Betty

Let us borry it ... awhile? Please! Let us borry it!

Lloyd (to Betty)

You still wanta go on the lake?

Betty

Yes. I do. (To Elly.) Please. Cain’t we take it fer a while?

Elly

I doan know—I ain’t so shore....

Butch (suddenly)

Borry it! Borry it all you want to! Here’s the key. (Lloyd takes it.) Bring it back when you git ready. Oars is over thar by the door.

Lloyd

Thank you. (To Elly.) Thanks fer the f’ar. (Lloyd and Betty go toward the steps. He picks up the oars. They go up the steps. Lloyd turns to Elly.) The oars seem to be good. The boat—don’t leak, does it?

Elly

No, it don’t leak.

Lloyd (smiling)

Well. I’m keerful. Betty’s keerful. We’ll make out all right, I guess!

(They go out. Elly looks sharply at Butch. He turns back to the table and sits down. She follows him over.)

Elly (sharply)

Why’d you do it?

Butch

Do whut?

Elly

Give ’em the key. Give ’em the oars.

Butch

Why, to git rid of ’em. I didn’t want ’em here. It uz you wanted ’em.

Elly

You’re lyin’. Why’d you do it?

Butch

I told you.

Elly

That wuzn’t it. You got some reason.

Butch

You had a reason fer lettin’ ’em come in, too. You said you did, anyway. Well, what wuz it?

Elly

I thought we could use ’em....

Butch

Use ’em! How could we use ’em?

Elly

I guess we cain’t....

Butch (scornfully)

No, ’course not! You never had no idee of it. You wuz jist talkin’....

Elly

I did have an idee. I thought—when I seen ’em outside ... they might be a way of throwin’ the blame onto that boy, someway....

Butch (rising—excited)

Elly! You thought of blamin’ him with....

Elly

Yes. ’Fore I seen him, I did. After he come in, I knowed we couldn’t.

Butch

Why not?

Elly

I wouldn’t have the nerve—to try to throw it onto him. Mebbe it ud work all right, mebbe it could be done. They’s ways of makin’ fools outa the law.... Oh, I know, I’ve done it many’s the time ... an’ we could git suspicion on this boy someway. And he’d hang too—innocent and all! But I cain’t do it, I wouldn’t think of doin’ it....

Butch (harshly)

Well, why wouldn’t you?

Elly (frightened)

Butch! Fergit I said it, fergit I ever thought of sich a thing.

Butch (grimly)

I’m glad you thought of it.

Elly

W’at’d you mean?

Butch

I mean—it’s an idee.... I wouldn’t a-thought of it. I c’n see, I c’n see a way—you’re a smart womern, Elly.... Wait a minute, lemme think....

Elly

No! You cain’t do it. W’at’re you thinkin’ of?

Butch

Why not? D’you want me to hang?

Elly

No.

Butch

Shet up, then! The officers’ll come here. Whut’ll I tell ’em ... whut’ll I say—they’ll come in the door—this boy—he’ll be out on the lake by that time....

Elly

Butch! Butch!

Butch

Shet up!

Elly

You cain’t plan to do this! I won’t let you git that boy killed. He’s too young, he’s too sweet-lookin’....

Butch

Ha! Ain’t I young? Ain’t I sweet-lookin’? You’ve said so. ’D you mean it?

Elly

I come here—and lived with you.

Butch

So’d Lilly. So’d Marge. ’N whut’d they do? Lilly on her death bed a-damnin’ me—I c’n hear her yit. Marge—she tried to give me up to the law. I fixed her. Hell! They both come here, ’n lived with me. That don’t prove nuthin’. You got to prove it some other way. You got to help me....

Elly

I’ve helped you—bendin’ over yer f’ar, cookin’ yer victuals, washin’ yer clothes, makin’ the beds you’ve slep’ in. I’ve helped you ... livin’ in this damp cellar like a mole with no sunshine a-comin’ in and no moonlight ever. I’ve tended you when you uz sick, I’ve lied fer you, I’ve buried myself away frum all the decent folks I ever knowed—here in these dark woods fer three year. Why’d I do it? Why did I? It’s proof you want, is it? Then look at me, Butch Adams! I’m proof! Look at me! I uz young when I come here with you three year ago. I uz young—like that little girl that uz here jist now. I wuzn’t as purty as her, but I uz young like her. Look at me now!

Butch

You’re talkin’. You’re puttin’ words together. Whut good are they to me? They won’t save my neck frum hangin’. You got to help me. If you got to talk, tell me whut to do. The Shuruff’ll be comin’ here. Whut’ll I say to him? They ain’t nuthin’ to say to him, unless you help me. I got a plan—

Elly

Not that boy!

Butch

You got to help me. They don’t keer who they hang in this country. One man’s as good as another fer hangin’. They don’t keer. But I do! I keer fer hangin’. It’s got to be some one else.

Elly

Not that boy!

Butch

That boy! It’s got to be him! It’s got to be him killed Jim Dory—

Elly

They’ll never b’lieve he done it.

Butch

They’ll believe it—

Elly

Jim Dory must’a’ told ’em ’fore he died who done it—

Butch

That don’t prove it. My word’s as good as his. Jim might’a’ made a mistake; in the dark woods he couldn’t see so well ... not even if it ud been daylight. Mebbe—some one else done it—

Elly

Not that boy!

Butch

That boy, I tell you!

Elly

No, Butch, no!

Butch

Shet up!

Elly

I cain’t let you. You doan know w’at you’re doin....

Butch

Doin’? I’m savin’ my neck, that’s whut I’m doin’!

Elly

You’re losin’ it. If you git that boy hung, you’re hangin’ yerself!

Butch

You’d tell on me! Damn you, I’d oughta kill you!

Elly

Kill me then! Coward! Don’t you know if I done w’at’s right, I’d tell on you now? I’d give you up to the law fer the brute you are, an’ let you hang as you’d oughta hang! Why don’t I? (Bitterly.) Yes, why don’t I? ’Cause I’m a fool, that’s why! I’m like all the women in the world that’s ever lived: I ain’t good, I ain’t decent, I ain’t even honest except to one man! I hate you!

Butch

Oh, you do, eh? Well, whut is it you mean, then? If I get that boy hung, how’ll that be hangin’ myself?

Elly

Wuzn’t you ever young?

Butch

Whut’s that got to do with it?

Elly (pleading)

Wuzn’t you ever jist startin’ life? Wuzn’t you ever innocent and good, and wantin’ to go out into the world and expectin’ it to be kind to you?...

Butch

No!

STELLA ADLER AS “ELLY”

Elly (softly)

Then you won’t understand. This boy is that a-way. You cain’t kill a thing like that. If you killed him, you’d be killin’ w’at uz good in you once ... if they uz ever anything....

Butch

You’re preachin’. Let up! Whut’d you think this is? It’s got to be the way I say, Elly. If I wanna save my neck, I got to throw the blame on some one else....

Elly (triumphantly)

Not that boy! I’ll tell you another reason why! If you’d a-looked at him, you’d know the reason yerself! Anybody, even the Shuruff a-lookin’ at him would know that that boy couldn’t do nuthin’ wrong, he couldn’t kill a man....

Butch

Elly!

Elly

He couldn’t even hurt any one’s feelin’s! And besides,—his story’s as good as yourn. They’d know w’at he said wuz the truth! You got to try some other plan, Butch. You got to try to get away. You got to sneak out in the woods an’ hide a day or two. I’ll take you grub t’ eat some way. Then when things blows over more we’ll light out fer Texas till they fergit all about us. You could hide close to the old sawmill some’er’s. They’d never think o’ lookin’ there fer you—so near—so near whur Jim—Hurry up, now! (She crosses and gets his gun.) You ain’t got much time. Take yer gun. Don’t use it unless you have to—promise me! I want you to be safe. (She offers him the gun.)

Butch (thoughtfully)

No. Put the gun back....

Elly

Butch!

Butch

You tuck it away frum me once....

Elly (frightened)

You’re not gonna give yerself up? Butch, no! You’ll be hung!

Butch

You said they’d never b’lieve that boy done it, eh?

Elly

Yes. They won’t. They’ll know he couldn’t.

Butch

An’ they’ll b’lieve him, eh? His story’ll be better’n mine, eh?

Elly

They’ll know it’s the truth.

Butch

I b’lieve you.

Elly

Then why don’t you go—before the Shuruff comes?...

Butch

I ain’t goin’!

Elly

You ain’t givin’ yerself up? Butch, you mustn’t! It’s wrong of me to say it. You’ve broke the laws, you’ve sold whiskey, you’ve killed a man—you’d oughta suffer fer it. But you mustn’t! You got to go—quick—they’s time! I’ll leave you grub ever’ day by the foot-log that’s been washed up by the Crick. I’ll keep a lookout. When it’s safe—

Butch

I ain’t goin’. I ain’t gonna give myself up, neither. I got a plan. (Fiercely.) An’ if you try to bungle it, if you try t’ put yer nose in, or even open yer mouth, I’ll kill you, d’ you hear! You know I will, too!

Elly

W’at’re you gonna do?

Butch

Put that gun back. Put it back, I say!

(She crosses reluctantly, and is putting the gun back in the bunk. The door is kicked open, viciously. Three men with pistols in their hands eye them from the high threshold. It is the Sheriff and his deputies.)

Sheriff (nervously)

Two of ’em. Keep yer eye on the womern, Plank. (To Butch.) Put ’em up! (The men come down into the room. The Sheriff is a florid-faced man, with a long mustache.) Search him, Joe. (Joe comes over, makes a quick search of Butch, and finds nothing.) No gun, eh? Make shore, Joe. We doan wanna take no chances.

Joe

They ain’t none, Shuruff.

Sheriff

All right. Keep yer gun on him. (To Butch.) Guess you know whut we want you fer, Adams. Yer name’s Adams, ain’t it?

Joe

Butch Adams, Shuruff.

Sheriff

You’ve killed a man.

Butch

I doan know whut you’re talkin’ about. Come bustin’ into my house this a-way. Whut right’ve you got?

Sheriff

Dry up.

Butch

You got a warrant?

Sheriff

Warrant, hell!

Butch

You got no right here. I oughta shoot you down.

Sheriff (laughs shortly)

Shoot! Whut’ll you shoot with? Strikes me as funny you got no shootin’ iron on you an’ you jist murderin’ a man in cold blood—

Butch

I never! I doan know whut you’re talkin’ about—

Sheriff

We won’t argy with you.

Butch

Show me yer warrant.

Sheriff

They ain’t no warrant.

Butch

I’ll have the law on you.

Sheriff

I’m the law! Le’s go. ’S funny about you havin’ no gun—I doan understand it—

Plank (suddenly—to Elly)

Stand whur you air. Git away from that bunk. Lemme see whut you’re a-doin’— (He turns back the cover and finds the pistol.) So that’s whut you’re up to, eh?

Sheriff

Whut is it, Plank?

Plank

She uz reachin’ fer a gun. I thought they uz sump’n funny when we come in. She seemed t’ be a-bendin’ over like she uz huntin’ sump’n—

Sheriff (taking the pistol)

So that’s it? (To Butch.) Didn’t have time t’ git hold of it, did you? ’S lucky we kicked the door open—

Elly

He didn’t do it.

Butch

I ain’t been outa the house—

Elly

Don’t you take him! He ain’t done nuthin’!

Butch

I ain’t done nuthin’. (Significantly.) If Jim Dory said my name—

Sheriff

Jim Dory, eh? Who said anything about Jim Dory? I guess you’ve told on yerself!

Butch

I never!

Sheriff

You’ve fixed yerself now! Look around, Joe. I’ll watch him. They oughta be evidence, too.

(Joe begins his search of the room, over by the bunks. He crosses to the fireplace.)

Joe

Don’t see nuthin’.

Butch

You won’t find nuthin’—

Joe

Here’s a pan! Bloody water, Shuruff!

Sheriff

Le’s see it—

Joe (bringing it over)

He washed his hands.

Sheriff

You got ’em bloody, did you—puttin’ Jim back in the buggy? Oh, he told. He had time to git out a word or two afore he died. Well, we got evidence. We got you now whur we want you—

Butch (slowly)

Shuruff—I’ll tell you—

Sheriff

It’s time you told me.

Butch

I’ll tell you who done it. My brother—he done it.

Elly

Butch!

Butch

He’s crazy. He runs wild here in the woods. He ain’t right—

Sheriff (sarcastically)

Whut’s this?

Butch

He lives with us—my brother— You must’a’ heerd of him.

Plank

I’ve heerd of a crazy boy here in the woods, Shuruff. But that don’t prove nuthin’. You hear funny stories about these woods here—

Butch

Ask Elly!

Sheriff

’S this crazy boy live here with you?

Elly (after a moment)

Yes.

Sheriff

’N’ sleeps here?

Elly

Yes. Sleeps thar. (She points to the top bunk.)

Sheriff (to Butch)

He’s yer brother, eh?

Butch

Yes. Name’s Adams—too, like mine. I’ll tell you. I cain’t pertect him. I tried. He went out las’ night. I didn’t know why. He goes out—roams in the woods—all the time. Lately, he’s got to mumblin’ sump’n—like this: “Woods is too full—woods is too full. People.” I’ve heerd him, ask Elly.

Elly

Oh, he did—he said that—“People. Too many people. They’s room in the lake—they’s room thar—they’s room in the lake. It’s big. It’s deep.” Oh— (Buries her face in her hands.)

Butch

She liked him. He uz my brother. Las’ night he went out. He come in this mornin’ early. It uz him—it uz him killed Jim Dory. He told me. Met him in the woods—stuck a knife in him. He washed his hands—they uz blood on ’em. He throwed his coat under the bunk—they uz blood on it. He went out again.

Sheriff (excitedly)

Whur is he? Whur’d he go to?

Butch

Don’t ask me—

Sheriff

Tell me—quick, whur is he?

Elly (in anguish)

In the lake—that’s whur he’s at.

Sheriff

In the lake?

Elly

Drownded.

Butch

No—no! No, he ain’t, Shuruff. He’s on the lake.

Elly (agonized)

Butch!

Butch

In a boat.

Sheriff

We’ll git him. He won’t git away!

Butch

You won’t git him—not alive, you won’t. You’ll have t’ be keerful if you even go near him—he’s got a gun!

Sheriff

We’ll git him!

Butch

He’s crazy. He’ll shoot.

Sheriff

We’ll shoot first!

Elly

Shuruff! No, no! Don’t do it. Don’t listen t’ him.

Butch

Be keerful, Shuruff—

Sheriff

I ain’t skeered of him—

Butch

They’s a girl with him—

Sheriff

A girl—?

Butch

He run onto her som’er’s. Mebbe here in the woods. I doan know whur she come frum—a young, purty girl. (Meaningly.) He’s got her with him—out on the lake.

Sheriff

The bastard!

Butch

Be keerful. Don’t shoot her, Shuruff.

Sheriff

Whur’s they a boat?

Butch

They ain’t but one. He’s in it—him and the girl.

Sheriff

We’ll get him frum the bank, then. Joe, you stay here. Watch the cabin—outside. Don’t let these two get outa yer sight. Plank, you come with me.

(The three men go up the steps. Joe and Plank go out.)

Elly

Shuruff, you mustn’t do it—they’s a reason—you mustn’t. I’ll tell you—

Butch (quickly)

He’s my brother, Shuruff. I don’t keer. He’s done wrong. Shoot him down.

Sheriff

You’re damn right I will. Like a dog! (He goes out.)

Elly (agonized)

W’at made you?

Butch

You told me yerself—

Elly

No—

Butch

That about yer brother—that put me wise. No one knows he’s been drownded.

Elly

Why’d you do it? You could’ve said he got drownded this mornin’. They’d a-b’lieved it. Why’d you say he wuz on the lake?

Butch

I got reasons.

Elly

W’at air they?

Butch (evilly)

You musta noticed, Elly—a girl wuz here with that boy. They’d come here together—

Elly

W’at of it?

Butch

The horse and buggy’s up here a ways. She’s young, she’s purty— They drove here together. She’ll need some one to drive her home—through the woods—

Elly

Ugh! You beast!

Butch

(He goes toward the steps.) Mebbe I am one. Mebbe I am a beast. And this place we’re livin’ in—whut’s it? It’s the woods, Elly. It’s the dark woods. (He goes up the steps.)

Elly

Butch! (She hurries after him.)

Curtain

PART TWO

THE LAKE

Scene 1

(A cleared place on the bank of the lake. At the back, beyond a slight mound, the lake begins. Willow trees droop into the water. Gold sunshine touches the lake, plays over an old boat tied under a tree. Voices—excited, boisterous, rough—shatter the quiet. From the left the picnic party enters, singly, in groups of three, in pairs—a dozen or more people. Tall farm boys, red-handed, red-faced, dressed in battered overalls, clumping shoes, ragged shirts; short, round farm girls, in unbecoming calicos and ginghams, with bows in their hair. Some of the boys carry boxes of food.)

Boys and Girls

I cain’t carry this no fu’ther.

Whur’s the f’ar go?

Fu’ther down, I reckon.

Over thar’s a good place.

She’s a-gettin’ her sewin’ done now, the crazy fool, an’ the Fair six months off!

Aw, she cain’t sew a-tall.

Guess she aims t’ git married.

Married? Huh! Wouldn’t no one have her!

Would too have me! Lem Sickles ud have me.

He’d have you, all right, ’f you’d give him a chanst!

Bud Bickel (loudly)

Le’s play, le’s stop a minute!

Boys and Girls

Hey, Miss Meredith!

Shet up yer yellin’! Miss Meredith’ll take yer head off.

Whut if I call her Jessie?

You better hadn’t! Arclo went ’n’ called her Jessie, ’n’ you orter seen her! She slapped him—!

Boys and Girls (protesting)

I’m hungry!

Aw, c’m’on ’n’ do whut Bud says!

Miss Meredith won’t let us, I bet.

Fraidy cat! Shootin’ on it, Clem, quit steppin’ on my feet, you crazy!

Le’s play! Keep yer feet in yer pocket!

Bud

Le’s play “Little Brown Jug.”

Boys and Girls

I’m hungry!

Well, who keers if you air? Be hungry! So’re we.

Who’s gonna cook the meat? Who’s got the meat? Whur is the meat anyhow? It’s bacon, ain’t it?

Shore, it’s bacon. (Singing.) “Sow belly bacon ’n’ bean soup!”

Le’s play “Happy is the Miller Boy.” I’ll be it.

Bud

Aw, le’s play “Ole Joe Clark.” C’m’on! Irey! Git her! Git Hildie fer a pardner. Well, you’re it, then. Irey’s it! Everbody got a pardner?

Boys and Girls

Wait a minute!

Go ahead. You start it, Bud. “Ole Joe Clark”—

(They begin to play, singing the song as they “do si do,” promenade, etc.)

“Ole Joe Clark’s dead an’ gone,

I hope he’s doin’ well.

He made me wear the ball and chain

Till my ankles swelled.

“Rock, rock, ole Joe Clark,
Rock, rock, I’m gone,
Rock, rock, ole Joe Clark,
Good-by, Lucy Lawn.

“I wouldn’t marry a yellow gal,
Tell you the reason why—
Cross-eyed tears run down her back
When she starts to cry.

“Rock, rock, ole Joe Clark” (etc.)

Bud (alone—loudly)

“I wouldn’t marry a yellow gal,
Tell you the reason why—
Her neck’s so long an’ stringy,
I’m ’fraid she’d never die.”

Boys and Girls (joining in the chorus)

“Rock, rock, ole Joe Clark” (etc.)

(Miss Meredith enters at left. She is sharp and prim. Some of the boys shout to her, while the chorus goes on:) C’m’on, Miss Meredith, ’n’ play.

Miss Meredith

No, I won’t play.

A Boy

It’s fun.

Miss Meredith

It’s time to eat. Hurry and finish.

Bud (alone—loudly)

“I wouldn’t marry a yellow gal,
Tell you the reason why—
She’d blow her nose in yellow corn-bread
An’ call it punkin’ pie!”

Boys and Girls

“Rock, rock, ole Joe Clark—”

Miss Meredith (sharply)

Quit it! Quit it! (The chorus stops.) That’s no way to act! Those verses are not very nice, Bud Bickel.

Bud

Aw, whut’s the matter with ’em?

Miss Meredith

Never mind, you’re not to sing them. They’re bad taste.

Bud

Ha! Bad taste? Verses don’t taste, Miss Meredith. They ain’t no taste to ’em, ma’am. ’N’ if they is, they all taste alike!

Miss Meredith

Not another word out of you, Bud Bickel! It’s time to be cooking the breakfast, anyway. You can play afterwards.

Bud

Aw, let us play one more!

Boys and Girls

One more ’fore we go—

He didn’t mean nuthin’.

It’s still early. Betty and Lloyd ain’t here yit.

Betty and Lloyd ain’t come.

It’s time t’ eat, anytime.

Gosh, she tole him—

Please, Miss Meredith—?

Miss Meredith

Oh, very well. You may play “Drop the Handkerchief.”

A Boy

Aw, that ain’t a play-party game.

Miss Meredith

This is not a play-party.

Bud

Le’s play “Straight Across the Hall.” That’s a game. It ain’t got no verses. C’m’on. Miss Meredith, you be my pardner. C’m’on!

Miss Meredith

I don’t play.

Bud

I’ll teach you how. ’S easy’s fallin’ off a log.

Miss Meredith

No.

Bud

Please, jist onct! Then we’ll go, ’n’ make a f’ar, and git breakfast!

Miss Meredith

Just once, then.

Bud (leading her over)

Miss Meredith’s gonna play.

Boys and Girls

Gee!

Hey, it’s a good game!

You won’t mind it s’ much, ma’am.

’F anybody steps on you jist kick ’em, Miss Meredith! That’s the way a lady do. (They form a circle, and begin to sing and play.)

“Straight across the hall to the opposite lady,

Swing her by the right hand,
Swing yer pardner by the left,
An’ promenade the girl behind you.

“Oh, that girl, that purty little girl,
The girl I left behind me,
I weeped an’ cried t’ the day I died
Fer the girl I left behind me.”

Miss Meredith (suddenly)

Stop it!

Bud

Whut’s the matter?

Miss Meredith

Stop it, Bud Bickel! (She crosses over right, angrily.) We won’t play any more.

Bud (following her over)

Whut is it, whut’ve I done?

Miss Meredith

You’re swinging the Waist Swing, Bud Bickel!

Bud

Well, o’ course!

Miss Meredith

It’s wrong. It’s wicked. I’m ashamed of you. I’m surprised at you.

Bud

Why, ma’am, I do that all the time. I swing all the girls the Waist Swing.

Miss Meredith

The idea! Don’t you know it’s wrong?

Bud

No’m.

Miss Meredith

It is. Don’t you ever do it again, you hear me? And don’t you girls ever let me catch you letting a boy swing you by the waist instead of by the arms. Come on, now! We won’t wait any longer.

A Boy

But Lloyd and Betty ain’t here yit—

Miss Meredith

We’ll not wait, I say! Hurry up now! (She goes out.)

Boys and Girls

She’s on her high horse!

Aw, it’s too early yit to eat. Sun’s jist riz—

Hey, she tole it to you, Bud!

Ain’t you a nice sight—a-swingin’ the girls—

Bud

Shet up!

A Boy

You he-devil you, Bud Bickel! You waist-swingin’ son of a gun! Come on ’n’ swing some meat over the f’ar ’n’ see how you like that! (They all go out, laughing.)

(After a moment, Lloyd and Betty enter from the left. Betty goes hurriedly toward the boat and is about to get in. Lloyd stops.)

Lloyd

Betty— (She turns.) Betty, they jist went. I guess they’re ready t’ eat, now—

Betty (shaken)

I don’t keer—

Lloyd

Aw, you mustn’t be excited about nuthin’—

Betty

I ain’t excited.

Lloyd

Yes, you air, too. I c’n tell the way you act. You see—they wuzn’t nuthin’—

Betty

No—

Lloyd

Nuthin’ a-tall. They uz nice folks. (Trying to reassure her.) Funny place t’ be a-livin’ in though—buried under the ground, like. Looks like it ud be damp s’ close to the lake. But they uz nice folks. Nice womern. The man uz all right. Kind of a lumberin’ kinda man—’thout no talk—but kindhearted. Didden he loan us the boat?

Betty

Yes—

Lloyd

Didden he give us the oars? Shore he did! Well?—

Betty

Le’s go on the lake now, Lloyd—

Lloyd

Shore! We’ll go, all right. I said we’d go. (He goes toward her. She gets in the boat. A burst of song and laughter comes from the picnickers some distance away. He raises his head.) Betty, listen! They’re gettin’ breakfast ready, I guess.

Betty

I don’t want none.

Lloyd

All right, I ain’t s’ hungry. But I’m jist wonderin’—wh’er we hadn’t oughter let ’em know we’ve come. I told Bud Bickel we uz comin’ early by ourselves. They might wonder about us—or wait fer us.

Betty

They won’t wait. They’re startin’ a f’ar.

Lloyd

Smoke’s a-rizin’ good. It’s a-comin’ off the ground an’ rizin’ up like a cloud. We oughter be thar. Miss Meredith might worry about us.

Betty

She wouldn’t worry about us. She wouldn’t worry about no one. Please, Lloyd, le’s go out on the lake—a little while, jist fer a little—

Lloyd (anxiously)

Whut is it?

Betty

Nuthin’—

Lloyd

Tell me—

Betty (with sudden passion)

Oh, them! That cabin! Them people! That man! I’m afeard of him, he’s a part of these woods here! He’s part of this. I don’t like it. It’s busy, busy a-doin’ sump’n I can’t understand! They ain’t nuthin’ clear t’ me. Why’d he look at me that a-way? Why’d he want me t’ borry a coat t’ keep warm? Why’d he stir up the f’ar—fer me? Why did he?

Lloyd

Why, Betty, he uz only bein’ nice t’ you. He liked you. People like you—you’re sweet, you’re purty—

Betty

No. It ain’t that! It’s sump’n else. I don’t understand it. I’m afeard. I’m too young. It’s wrong t’ be young—

Lloyd

Betty! Why, here—

Betty

His eyes a-burnin’— His teeth—like a animal’s—

Lloyd

Betty!

Betty

He’s a part o’ these woods here! He b’longs here. I don’t. I don’t b’long here. You don’t. We’re too young. They’s sump’n goin’ on—sump’n mean—sump’n awful—It ain’t fer us t’ be part of. We got to git away—

Lloyd

We’ll go on the lake.

Betty

Oh, yes, we’ll go on the lake! (Thoughtfully.) Nen whur’ll we go to?

Lloyd

Acrost the lake—or down to the other end. We c’n git a snack t’ eat at Binghams. We’ll do that ’n’ then row home. We won’t come back here t’ the woods if you don’t want to—

Betty

We couldn’t jist stay—in the middle of the lake—awhile?

Lloyd

Course we could—fer a while. But you’d be hungry. You’d be cold out thar too after a while. The wind blows—

Betty (fearfully)

All around the lake, everwhur, they’s woods. The lake goes out—’n’ it’s clear thar and bright—but it teches the woods everwhur at the edges. Oh! They ain’t no place t’ go to! The lake—it teches the woods—it’s a part of the woods! (She sinks down.)

Lloyd (kneeling)

No! No, it ain’t, Betty. You’re jist upset. It’ll be nice out thar. It’ll be clear an’ bright. Mebbe it’ll be warm. We’ll stay as long’s you want to. You mustn’t be this a-way, don’t you see, Betty? Oh, I know—you’re jist upset, you’ve saw things you don’t understand. You’ve been skeered. It’s all right now. You mustn’t think everything’s mixed up like this—like these woods. Out there—look at it—look at the lake! (Breathlessly.) Sun techin’ it. Little waves startin’ in the wind, breakin’ here on the bank in ripples. Trees—willers leanin’ down like they uz prayin’ at the edges. I wish I could be a lake. I wish I could be that big, that deep! I wish I could be ketchin’ the sun like it—an’ sparklin’ an’ singin’—an’ never afeard o’ nuthin’—jist a-settin’ thar quiet in the sunshine—a-lookin’ up at the sky, a-lookin’ up at the sun—

Betty (looking up at him)

You make it nice—

Lloyd

No, ’tain’t me—

Betty

You make it nicer’n it is—

Lloyd

No. It looks that a-way t’ me.

Betty

It’s that a-way t’ me, too—

Lloyd (relieved)

Betty—

Betty

When you say it. You make things nicer’n they air—

Lloyd

No, I make ’em the way they air.

Betty

An’ the lake?—

Lloyd

It’s a deep pool—

Betty

It’s quiet.

Lloyd

It moves when the wind moves. It holds the sun. It’s a cup with gold in it—

Betty

And dawn—

Lloyd

An’ sunset, and shadders, and starlight, an’ the moon burnin’ red. Come on, why’d we stay on the bank? We’ll go out— (He climbs into the boat.)

Betty

Yes.

Lloyd

On the lake!

Betty

I hear sump’n—

Lloyd

’S footsteps. Somebody runnin’—

Betty

They’re comin’ this way!

Lloyd

Through the woods—

Betty

Lloyd!

Lloyd

Sh!

Betty

Le’s go, quick.

Lloyd

Be still! They won’t see us!

(A boy rushes in headlong from the woods at the left. He is almost out of sight, right, when he catches sight of the two in the boat. He stops. His face is coarse; a grin, like an idiot’s, spreads over his face. It is the Davis boy.)

Davis

Hi!

Lloyd

Hi.

Davis

Didden see ya. Betty an’ Lloyd, ain’t it? Whut you doin’?

Lloyd

Nuthin’.

Davis

Well. Whur’s Miss Meredith at?

Lloyd

Down the lake. Thought you wuzn’t comin’. Thought you had t’ work.

Davis

I did—but I sneaked off. Played hookey frum work—like frum school. Joke’s on my ole man. He’s keepin’ the shop, he’s shoein’ ole Jake Wilkerson’s mare— Whut you doin’ here—you two?

Lloyd

Nuthin’.

Davis

Settin’ in a boat—by yerselves, ain’t ya? Ha! Havin’ a good time all by yerselves, ain’t ya? Sweet on each other, ain’t ya? Oh, by Joe! Wait’ll I tell Miss Meredith!

Lloyd

Shet up yer mouth, Oscar Davis!

Davis

Miss Meredith knows yer here, don’t she?

Lloyd

We ain’t saw her this mornin’.

Davis

You ain’t? Oh, wait’ll I tell her! Settin’ in a boat—hidin’ in a boat! I wouldn’t a-saw you if you’d a-kep’ yer head down. O gorry!

Lloyd (gets out of the boat, angrily)

Whut’re you a-sayin’, you?

Davis

Oh, the sweet little babies—a-settin’ in the boat—jist a-settin’ an’ a-settin’ till the night do come. Oh, by Joe!

(He runs out, right, laughing. Lloyd looks at Betty, disturbed, then walks over left. Betty gets out of the boat slowly and goes toward him.)

Betty

Lloyd— We better go—

Lloyd

Mebbe—

Betty

He makes me feel— Oh!—

Lloyd

Don’t mind him.

Betty

I do mind him. We better go. (Painfully.) Lloyd, whut is it? Whut’d he mean?

Lloyd

Oh, don’t mind him—

Betty

Tell me—

Lloyd

Things. He’s dirty, he’s low—

Betty

Oh!—

Lloyd

We’ll go whur the others are at. It’s all right. Don’t you mind. Miss Meredith’ll know it’s all right. She’ll know. Come on. We better go.

(They start, right. Miss Meredith enters hastily, out of breath, venomous. She stops in their path.)

Miss Meredith

Oh—so you’re here?

Lloyd (slowly)

Yes’m.

Miss Meredith

A pretty sight! A pretty couple, I must say!

Lloyd

Whut’d you mean?

Miss Meredith

The nerve—asking me what I mean! Where have you been all morning—you two?

Lloyd

No whur. We come here—that’s all.

Miss Meredith

Come here! What time did you leave the Switch?

Lloyd

I don’t know. It uz early.

Miss Meredith

What time?

Lloyd

I don’t know.

Miss Meredith

You don’t know? Before sun-up?

Lloyd

Yes, ma’am.

Miss Meredith

Before daylight, wasn’t it?

Lloyd

Yes.

Miss Meredith

You left in the dark?

Lloyd

Yes, it uz still dark.

Miss Meredith

I thought so!

Lloyd

Whut difference’d it make? I tole Bud Bickel to tell you—

Miss Meredith

Oh, he told me! He told me you were coming early—by yourselves—you and Betty. Why’d you do it?

Lloyd

Why, we wanted to.

Miss Meredith

Wanted to! That’s no reason. Why’d you want to?

Lloyd

Why, we wanted t’ be here ’fore it got light t’ see the lake. T’ see it git lighter ’n’ lighter till the gray mist uz all gone—an’ the sun had rose—

Miss Meredith

Oh, you did? So you had to get up early in the morning—before daylight—and drive here through the dark woods—by yourselves—alone—you two? You had to sneak off where there was no one to spy on you, and no light to make you ashamed of yourselves, didn’t you? Oh, don’t interrupt me! I know why you did it! I’m surprised at you, Betty. I wouldn’t have thought it of you! I shall report you both to the School Board. I’m ashamed! I’m ashamed for you! I can hardly look any one in the face. I don’t know how you can. Oh, it’s this that makes teaching so hard! After all my labor, and all my rules to keep you from going wrong like this—you sneak off to the woods—the first chance you get—like a couple of animals. I’m ashamed of you! Come on, now! The fire’s started. Come on and eat your breakfast! (She goes out.)

Betty (turns away, stricken)

Oh! Her, too!

Lloyd

Her—an’ everbody! Damn her! Damn everbody! O Christ!

Betty

It’s all mean—it’s all wicked, wicked! Whut’ll we do now?

Lloyd (in agony)

Nuthin’—

Betty

We got to do sump’n!

Lloyd

We’ll go on the lake, then.

Betty

They’s no place else t’ go—

Lloyd

It’s the only place t’ go. We’d oughta went thar before. Come on, Betty, git in. (They get in the boat. Lloyd shoves it away from the bank.) We c’n go acrost ’n’ git grub—we c’n go home—

Betty

Home! I don’t want t’ see home again! I hate it! I hate these woods! They’s no place fer us—nowhur—

Lloyd

They’s room on the lake—

Betty

Oh, yes! They’s room thar! They’s room on the Lake!

Lloyd

It’s big! It’s deep!

(They row out of sight, left. A burst of song and laughter comes from the picnickers down the lake. Then there is the sharp crackle of twigs, and the noise of running. Plank and the Sheriff run in from the right.)

Plank (pointing off left, excitedly)

Thar he is, Shuruff!

Sheriff

(Draws his pistol as they run off left.)

Curtain

THE LAKE

Scene 2

(A cleared place sloping down to the left, where the lake comes in in a little bay. The branches of old trees meet overhead. The lake glitters in the bright sunlight.

Plank and the Sheriff, with the pistol still in his hand, stand and shout off left.)

Sheriff

Come in, you! Put that boat in to shore!

Lloyd’s Voice

I won’t— I won’t—

Sheriff

I’m givin’ you one more chance!

Lloyd’s Voice

I won’t never do it! You cain’t make me, you cain’t—

Sheriff

I’ll give you till I count three!

Lloyd’s Voice

Count ten! Count a hunderd! I won’t come!

Sheriff (deliberately)

One! Two! Three! Comin’?

Lloyd’s Voice

Never!

Sheriff (raises his gun slowly and fires)

Take that, then! (Betty screams.)

Plank

You got him, Shuruff! He’s sunk down in the boat like he’s dead! Hey! Look at it! Look! The girl! She’s standin’ up in the boat! Good God, she’s jumpin’ in the lake! She’ll drownd!

(Butch and Elly, followed by Joe, run in from the right.)

Elly (in horror)

Shuruff! Shuruff! You’ve killed him! You’ve killed him! (She looks off, left.) Oh, the girl—she’s drownin’! Quick, save her—you got to—go an’ save her, she’s drownin’! (Butch throws off his coat.)

Butch (muttering)

Christ! (He dashes off, left.)

Elly (with a moan)

Oh, w’at’ve you done, w’at’ve you done! (With bitter scorn.) You don’t know! You think you’ve upheld the law, you think you’ve done yer duty! Well, you ain’t! You’ve killed an innocent boy that wouldn’t hurt a fly—that’s w’at you’ve done! (She looks left.) Oh, hurry! hurry! She’s goin’ down! Hurry an’ git her!

Sheriff

Go help him, Plank. Go help him. Joe, go drag in the boat. Hurry up! (Plank and Joe hurry out.)

Elly

Mebbe she ain’t drownded. Mebbe she ain’t—the pore thing— (She sinks down wearily. To the Sheriff.) Why’d you stand thar? Why don’t you do sump’n? (With infinite scorn, infinite weariness.) Look at him. He’s the law. He’s done his duty. He’s got his man. He’ll git a reward.

Sheriff

Shet up!

Elly

You cain’t shet me up. I’m a fool not to a-told you before. I’m a fool too—like yerself—like Butch—like the whole damn world! I been a fool. But I won’t be now. I’ll tell you now—now it’s too late—I’ll tell you sump’n ’at’ll make yer ears burn, ’at’ll make you sick inside like sump’n eatin’ on yer heart! Listen t’ me—you! You’re bright, you’re smart, you’re a keen-smellin’ dog of the law, you’re the law! You pertect the weak, you hang the criminals. You shoot down, you murder innocent people—that’s w’at you do! (With a sob.) It uz Butch, it uz Butch killed Jim Dory....

Sheriff

Whut’s this!

Elly

Butch, I tell you! This boy ain’t his brother. He never saw him before. He’s jist a boy, jist a young boy—picknickin’—in the woods—

Sheriff

Good God! Is this the truth you’re tellin’ me?

Elly

It’s the truth—

Sheriff

Godamighty!

(Butch comes in dripping, carrying Betty. He puts her down gently.)

Butch

Drownded—

(Plank and Joe come in carrying Lloyd. They put him down.)

Plank

You got him, Shuruff—

Joe

He’s dead.

(The Sheriff staggers a little, his hand before his eyes. Elly comes down, bends tearfully over the bodies. Then she stands erect, wheels and faces the Sheriff.)

Elly

Ask him!

Sheriff

Oh—

Elly

Ask him, Shuruff! Ask him who killed Jim Dory! ’N’ if he lies!—

Sheriff (to Butch)

She says you done it.

Butch

She told on me?

Sheriff

She says you done it.

Butch

(He looks at Elly. She does not flinch. He looks back at the Sheriff. Speaks slowly.) I killed him.

Sheriff

Christamighty! You killed Jim Dory? You killed this boy too, then! You done it! ’Twuzn’t me!

Butch (as if dazed)

I killed her, too. She drownded herself. I tried t’ save her.

Sheriff (horrified)

How could you do it! Two men—an’ this pore innocent little girl! God! Why’d you do it? Whut made you?

Butch

I don’t know. You’re the law. You tell me! Tell me why I done it!

(The picnic party rushes in from the right. They stop. They are silent, awed.)

Miss Meredith

What’s the matter? I heard shots! (She catches sight of the bodies.) Oh! What is it? Lloyd and Betty! Good heavens!

Sheriff

Dead, Miss.

Miss Meredith

Oh, my poor little children! My poor little ones! (To Butch, gratefully, noticing his wet clothes.) Oh, you tried to save them! God will reward you! (Butch turns away.) Poor little Betty— Lloyd was good to her. Oh, why’d they go on the lake! Why’d they do it? I told them not to. (She turns away, sobbing.)

Elly (slowly)

It’s alwys the way. People will go on the lake. Young people. Cain’t keep ’em off. ’N’ they’s alwys accidents. Sometimes it’s the lake, sometimes it’s the woods—boats leak, guns go off, people air keerless, they’s wild animals—sump’n happens, sump’n alwys happens. It cain’t be helped.—

Curtain

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Table of Contents

- BIG LAKE
- FOREWORD
- PART ONE
- CHARACTERS

- THE WOODS

- Scene 1

- Scene 2

- PART TWO

- THE LAKE

- Scene 1

- Scene 2

- THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE