"Your Honor." "Gentlemen of the jury." "All of us in this country, the South, have been taught from birth a few things which we hold above all else." "Now one of the first of these things is that only a life could pay for the life it takes." "Now I know there's not a man on this jury or a man in Mississippi that in his heart can find my client, Bookwright, guilty for defending his daughter against a rascal like Buck Thorpe." "And that's what I'm talking about." "Not about the dead man, character, or the morality of the act he was engaged in." "Not about self defense or whether or not the defendant was justified to the point of taking a life." "But about all of us who are not dead." "Human beings, who at the bottom, just wanna do right." "Human beings, with all the complexities of human passion, instincts, beliefs." "Thank you, gentlemen." "Thank You, Your Honor." "Court recessed until jury returns!" "Don't you agree, he had the pistol in his hand when they found him?" "Buck Thorpe deserves what he got." "I tell you, I wouldn't of waited as long as Bookwright did." "He was not only no good, but dangerous." "Right, right." "And if it hadn't been Bookwright, someone, sooner or later, would have to kill him." "Yes." "Then what do you want?" "What do you want?" "I can't help it." "I ain't gonna vote Bookwright free." "And so Jackson Fentry, cotton farmer, hung my jury" "Who was he?" "I thought he'd farmed one place all his life, but I discovered that 20 years ago, he left for a job." "His neighbors told me." "You see, that was my first case and I had to find out why I'd lost it." "Good luck to you, Fentry." "If any of us had known then what I know now," "Jackson Fentry never would've been on that jury." "# My heart is sad #" "# My soul is weary #" "# While sailing o'er #" "# Life's rugged plain #" "# The clouds are dark #" "# The day is dreary #" "# Angel rock me to sleep #" "# Angel rock me to sleep #" "# In the cradle of love #" "# In the cradle of love #" "# Bear me over the deep #" "# Bear me over the deep #" "# To the heavens above #" "# To the heavens above #" "# When the shadows shall fall #" "# When the shadows shall fall #" "# And the savior shall call #" "# And the savior shall call #" "# Angel rock me to sleep #" "# Angel rock me to sleep #" "# In the cradle of love #" "# In the cradle of love #" "Hello." "Can I help you?" "I'm looking for Mr. Chester Russell." "Well, he's not here right now." "I'm his son, Isham." "Are you the man my father hired as caretaker?" "Yes, sir." "Come on then." "Last man we had left a month ago." "Got too lonely for him." "He was drunk half the time anyway." "This is the sawmill." "Men don't come out here till spring." "Pa says you can stay on in the boiler room." "He'll leave the mule out here so you can get to the store and back." "Next year, if you still like it out here, we'll talk about building you a house." "There's a stove there you can cook on." "There's a well out there for water." "We'll get you some dishes." "If you need anything else, you come to the house and ask for me or Pa." "Yes, sir." "Hey, merry Christmas, Fentry." "Merry Christmas, Isham." "Pa wanted to know if you'd be going home for Christmas." "I am, I'm leaving as soon as I can make it there." "How far is your farm?" "Thirty miles." "How you gonna get there?" "I'll walk it, I'll be home before supper time." " You want some." " Thank you." "When'll you be back?" "Day after Christmas." "Don't you ever get lonesome by yourself out here this way?" "No." "You ever go huntin'?" "I hunt some." "Maybe when you come back we can go huntin' together some time?" "All right." "Agh..." "Lady?" "Oh, lady." "Lady?" "Where am I at?" "You're at Chester Russell sawmill, over in Frenchman's Bend." "I'm Jackson Fentry." "I'm the watchman out here in the winter time when the mill's shut down." "I heard you when I come out the door of the boiler room." "You sounded to me like you was in pain." "How long you been here?" "I don't know." "I remember walking down the hill back yonder" "I know I was feelin' dizzy." "I said to myself, "I hope I ain't gonna faint."" "But I guess I did." "What day is it?" "It's the morning before Christmas." "Then I haven't been here too long." "It wasn't light yet when I started out this way." "I think I better be gettin' out of there." "Let me help you." "I'm sorry." "I guess I'll have to rest a while longer." "I haven't quite gotten my strength back yet." "Well, let me help you in here so you can rest by my fire." "It's so raw and cold out here." "Thank you." "It has been a cold winter, hasn't it?" "Yes." "There was ice this morning early when I left the house." "I seen it out in the ditches as I passed." "Yes." "I said to myself, "Jack Frost has been here."" "He sure has." "Can you make it?" "Yes, sir, I can make it." "You can sit here, misses." "Thank you." "It is nice and warm in here." "I love a good fire on the stove." "I could get it warmer." "I'm letting it die out 'cause I'm about to leave for my papa's farm for Christmas." "Well, don't go to no trouble for me." "I can stay for more than a minute?" "Just to get my strength back and to get some of the coldness out of my bones." "Can I get you anything to eat?" "No, thank you." "You'd think I'd be hungry, wouldn't you?" "Carrying a baby and all, but I don't have no appetite." "You live here all by yourself?" "Yes." "Mr. Chester Russell's gonna build me a house next spring to live in, but he told me to stay on out here for the time being." "Warm and dry, that does it for me." "Have you been here long?" "No." "I was raised 30 miles from here on a cotton farm." "I work with my daddy." "My mom's dead." "My daddy's on the farm, all alone now." "You from around here?" "Sort of." "Off and on, that is." "My husband never cared much for this county and he's always trying to find work away from here, but we always had to come back." "You're on your way home now?" "No, no, sir." "Was you going to the store at Frenchman's Bend?" "If you was, you sit right here." "I'll go get whatever it was you wanted." "Oh, no, no, sir, I wasn't going to no store." "You goin' in to Jefferson?" "No." "No, sir, I wasn't goin' no place." "I was just goin'." "Just goin'." "Is your husband dead?" "No, sir." "He just disappeared about three months ago when he first heard about the baby comin'." "Don't you have any people?" "Got Papa." "Three brothers." "Can't you go home to them?" "No, sir, they asked me to leave and never come back after I married my husband." "I don't intend ever to go back again." "My papa, he's got his pride." "I got mine, too." "I don't care a whole lot for the winter time, do you?" "No, Ma'am." "I always get sick every winter time it seems like to me." "A woman came over to where I was staying." "She said, "You look poorly, you ought to get a doctor."" "I said, "There ain't nothin' wrong with me that sunshine couldn't fix," I said." "You want me to put some more wood on the fire?" "No, it's just fine." "I love sunshine." "When I started out this mornin', I said, "I'm goin', if my strength holds up, till I come to where it's warm, when the sun is shinin'."" "The strength didn't hold out very long." "Listen to that wind." "I love to hear it when I'm inside and warm." "That wind was cold though." "Walkin' right into it the way I had to." "Lord, what's the matter with me?" "Would you look at me tremble." "The thought of that wind and I begin to shake and tremble." "Why don't you rest over here on the bed?" "Now, you can't rest good like that." "Oh no -- no, I can't stay." "Just for a minute." "Well, all right then." "Just for a minute." "This does feel good, Mr." "Fentry, Jackson Fentry, and you're Mrs." "Eubanks, Sarah Eubanks." "I was at fault that I married a Eubanks." "If I have a girl I'm gonna name her Vesta, after my mama and if I have a boy, I wanted him named" "Well, I don't know now." "I was gonna name him after my husband, but I don't know now." "Listen to that wind whipping' around outside again." "Sounds right friendly, don't it?" "On the inside and warm this way." "You're listenin' to it?" "When I was a little girl, at ten, my mama died." "They say I got everything mixed up that year 'cause I grieved so." "I'd wake all winter long." "When the wind would blow around the house," "I'd think it was my mama callin'." "And I'd answer and call back to her." "I'd ask her where she was hidin'." "I never grieved no more after that." "When I got over that, I vowed nothing' would break my heart ever again." "And it didn't for the longest kind of time." "Ooo." "Oh, hello, Fentry." "Hello." "I thought you were going to your farm for Christmas." " I changed my mind." " Well, where are you goin'?" "No place." "How much is that hard candy?" "Well, it depends on how much you want to buy?" "How much will four cents get me?" "I'd say this would do it." "Give me four cents worth." "Thank you." "Merry Christmas." "Mister?" "Yes?" "How long I been asleep?" "About ten hours." "Ten hours?" "Yes." "Why didn't you wake me?" "I figured the sleep would be good for you." "My heavens." "It's still cold out yonder?" "Yes, it is." "Why don't you stay on here the rest of the night?" "Well" "I could make me a pallet on the floor, here, by the fire." "Well, thank you." "I wouldn't want to put you out any." "You wouldn't be puttin' me out." "I went to the store, I bought you this." "I thought you might like it." "I sure do, thank you." "It's hard candy." "Well, I declare." "Merry Christmas." "Thank you." "And a merry Christmas to you, too." "If I fixed you something to eat now, would you eat it?" "No, I'm still not hungry." "I just have a taste of my Christmas" "What are you cryin' for, lady?" "I don't know." "I'm just tired and nervous, I guess." "I've been cryin' a lot lately, it don't mean nothin'." "I quit as soon as I stop." "But see, I never used to cry before." "When I was a girl, everybody used to accuse me of being hard hearted because nothing could get me to cry." "My papa told me I had to leave home after I married my husband." "I didn't shed a tear, I just said, "That's how it has to be, that's how it has to be."" "But lately, that's all changed." "Somebody'd come up to me and they'd say, "Good morning,"" "or "Good evening," and I'll cry." "They'll ask me what time it is and I'll cry." "Did you ever hear of anything like that?" "I didn't used to talk this way either." "I used to be able to go a whole day without saying a word." "Now I can't stand if it's silent or quiet." "Oh, this is so good." "Will you have some?" "No, thank you." "It's gonna be a clear night?" "Yes." "Stars?" "Yes." "Why don't you stay on out here till after your baby is born?" "I have enough to eat for the both." "Warm and dry here." "Oh, Mr. Fentry, I don't think" "You don't have to answer me now." "You just think it over." "Yes, sir." "Mr. Fentry?" "Good morning." "Morning." "How are you feelin'?" "Better, thank you." " It's still Christmas, ain't it?" " Yes, ma'am." "Well, I hope I hadn't slept clear through Christmas." "It's a pretty day for Christmas." "I'm feelin' stronger." "Now, let me finish doin' that." "No, ma'am, you rest on today." "You can do it tomorrow." "Ain't you hungry?" "No." "Not too hungry." "I bet you will be, though, once you're rested." "It's rained every blessed day for a month." "When I was a girl," "I had my own tub to catch rainwater." "I liked to wash my hair with rainwater." "It made it soft." "Can you swim?" " No." " I can't either." "Good thing we don't live on the Delta." "We'd have to get on top of this house and float away, in case it flooded." "Well, I don't think I care to travel by water." "I think I'd always want to be where I can feel the ground under my feet." "Jesus walked on water, they say." "Do you believe that?" "I knew a preacher once, he swore it was true, and he said he's gonna do it, too." "A whole crowd of folks went down to watch him." "And he sank to the bottom." "They say God's going to destroy the world next time by fire, so I guess we don't have to worry about this rain bein' the end of the world." "I used to not sleep some nights just worrying about what I'd do when the world would come to an end, and what it would be like." "I don't worry about that no more." "You're not gettin' cold, are you?" "Oh, no." "It's much warmer today." "It'll be spring before we know it." "I'll have had my baby by then." "I wonder where I'll be after it's spring." "I wonder if it's gonna be a boy or a girl." "Marry me, Sarah." "Well, I can't marry you, Mr. Fentry." "I've got a husband." "It's against the law to marry into..." "You're gonna stay on here?" "I hope to." "Mr. Russell said he's gonna build me a house." "When you're strong," "I'll show you the place I've got picked out." "Is it far from here?" "No." "I'd like to go and see it." "Oh." "What a pretty place for a house." "Did you ever build a house before?" "No." "Well, how are you gonna build this one?" "Mr. Russell and his boy'll help me." "There's a house in Jefferson we used to pass goin' into town every Saturday." "I used to like to think I'd like to live in a house like that, someday." "What kind of house was it?" "Oh, it was a fine house." "It was painted white." "It had a gallery all along the front and the side." "There were oak trees in the yard." "It always looked so peaceful when we passed by." "I never saw nobody goin' in or out." "I asked my papa, "What kind of people live in there?"" ""No better than you," he said, and he hit me." "I never knew why he hit me." "It would be nice when you have your house if you had some of them trees in your yard." "Papa didn't have any trees in our yard." "There's no trees, no flowers, there's no grass." "There's nothin'." "I love grass, and flowers, and trees!" "I love honey suckle and forget-me-not, and roses, all kinds of roses." "One day we can ride into Jefferson and see that house." "Maybe." "I hate to see the sun go behind the clouds." "Better be gettin' back." "I was on my way to the store, and Mr. Kent Russell asked me to do a favor for him while I was that way." "The fellow I had to see wasn't home, so I had to wait for him." "That's how come I took so long." "You'd better get on back in the house, it's cold out today." "Are you warmer in here?" "Yes, sir." "I don't think this winter's ever gonna end, do you?" "Yes, ma'am, it'll end one day." "I hope I didn't cause you to worry." "Oh, I'll find a way to worry, I guess." "There's nothin' you can do about that." "I didn't know why you were gone so long." ""How far is that store?" I said." "I thought, "He's just tired of me bein' out here." "Maybe I'm too much trouble-- I'm down one day and I'm up the next." "But that's not like Mr. Fentry," I said." "Then I thought, "Well, what if my time comes and he ain't here yet?"" "I began to wonder what I'd do if I had to have a baby out here all by myself." "You left me plenty of stove wood," "I saw that right away." "I didn't really think that you'd gone off, it's just that it got so quiet here, and I..." "Marry me, Sarah." "I can't marry you, I told you that." "I've got a husband somewhere." "He's deserted you." "I can't help that." "We're married in sight of the law." "Hey, Fentry." "I'm sorry, Fentry, I didn't know you had company." "Who's that?" "She's my wife." "Since when-- you didn't have no wife when I was out here Christmas Eve" "She's my wife." "You want us to leave?" "What do I want you to leave for?" "I don't care what you do out here." "You can have 20 wives out here for all I care." "I didn't come out here to spy on you," "I just came to get you to go huntin'." "Some other time." "All right." "Pa wanted me to ask you to pick out the site where you want your house." "You and me can get started on it this spring." "I know where I want it to be." "Why don't you show me while I'm out here, and if we have a warm day any time soon," "I can get Papa to come out and look it over." "All right." "# Mama, buy me a Chiny doll #" "# Mama, buy me a Chiny doll #" "# Mama, buy me a Chiny doll #" "# Do, Mama, do #" "# What would it take to buy it with #" "# What would it take to buy it with #" "# What would it take to buy it with #" "# Do, Mama, do #" "# We could take my Daddy's feather bed #" "# Take my Daddy's feather bed #" "# Take my Daddy's feather bed #" "# Do, Mama, do #" "Oh!" "Fentry!" "Fentry!" "Fentry!" "Fentry!" "It's time." " You'd better get Mrs. Hulie." " I will." "Will you do a favor for me, Isham?" "Will you ride over to Mrs. Hulie, the mid-wife, and tell her to come out here right away?" "I'd be glad to." "I got lsham to go for me." "Who's he?" "The fellow that came up just now." "His pa owns the saw mill." "Was he surprised to see me here?" "I reckon." "Did he ask who I was?" "Yes." "What did you tell him?" "I said you was my wife." "Are you cold again?" "Yes." "All of a sudden." "Is there some wood in the fire?" "Yes, there is." "You want me to put some more in?" "If you don't mind." "It's red-hot now." "It'll have the room like an oven before too long." "Did you show him where you wanted your house?" "Yeah." "Did he think it was a nice place?" "Yes." "I'm afraid." "What of?" "I'm afraid I'm gonna die." "From childbirth-- you won't die from that." "You'll get up from here feelin' just fine." "Now, lots of women done that." "I'm not afraid of childbirth." "Of what then?" "I don't know." "I'm tired and I'm worn out." "My spirits are low." "Now, you'll feel better afterwards, you'll see." "Carrying the baby has worn you out." "Fentry." "Oh, Fentry." "Fentry, I ain't had much in this life, and that's truth-- work, and hunger, and pain." "I'm afraid." "I'm afraid I'm gonna die." "I don't wanna die." "Now, you're not gonna die." "Do you hear me-- you're not gonna die." "I won't let you, now I promise you." "Are you warmer now?" "Yes." "Thank you." "Now you try and get some sleep until Mrs. Hulie gets here." "All right." "Don't leave me." "I won't." "I ain't gonna never leave you, unless you ask me to." "Never, never, never." "Whoa, whoa, whoa." "Mrs. Hulie?" "Mrs. Hulie?" "Mrs. Hulie?" "Mrs. Hulie, there's a woman over at the saw mill about to have a baby, can you come with me?" "I'll be right there." "That be lsham's buggy." "Whoa, whoa." "Tell them to hurry." "I will." "Sarah, Mrs. Hulie's here." "Howdy, Missus." "How is she?" "She's gonna be all right." "Fentry-- Fentry?" "You need me for anything else, now?" "No, thank you." "Well, I'll be goin' on then." "Mrs. Hulie!" "Mrs. Hulie!" "Mrs. Hulie!" "Mrs. Hulie!" "Mrs. Hulie!" "The baby's come." "It's a fine boy." "Thank you." "I made this for him to sleep in." "Fentry?" "Yes?" "Fentry?" "Yes?" "Um..." "I'm worried about the mama." "She ain't doin' too well." "I ain't gon' lie to ya." "She ain't doin' good at all." "She says she's afraid she's gonna die." "She'll never get up off that bed in there." "I hate to tell you this, but I don't think she will either." "What is it-- was it having' the baby?" "No, she was sick long before she had the baby." "She's just played out, it seems to me." "Yes, ma'am." "I'll take care of her." "I'll make her rest." "And I'll nurse her." "Ain't it small?" "Yes, it is." "Hello, son." "Welcome." " Can I get you something to eat?" " No." "Now, you gotta eat-- you gotta keep your strength up." "I'm not hungry." "Can I hold the baby?" "Sure." "Fentry?" "Yes." "If anything happens to me will you promise to take care of the baby?" "Ain't nothin' gonna happen to you." "If it does." "Then you can rest easy." "I'll always take care of him." "The same as if it was yours?" "The same as if it was mine." "Thank you." "Fentry?" "Yes." "If you still want to marry me I'm willin' now." "My husband might be dead, for all I know." "And even if he's not, he's gone so far away," "I'll never find him again." "So I thought, "Why can't Fentry and I get married right now?" "If he still wants to marry me."" "I want to marry you." "Can you get anybody to marry us right away?" "Yes." "Preacher Whitehead, he lives about seven miles from here." "Would you go get him now?" "Yes, I will." "How far does he live?" "About seven miles." "Thank you." "Will ya hurry?" "You know, I've placed you." "Weren't you a Thorpe?" "Didn't you live with your papa and three brothers on a farm back yonder?" "Don't you think they should be sent for at a time like this?" "I don't want them to know anything about me." "I've split some of these flour sacs in two for ya." "When Mr. Fentry comes back I'll show him how that can be used for diapers." "Thank ya." "Have you picked a name for your baby?" "No." "I thought I'd let my husband name him." "Your husband?" "Mr. Fentry." "We're gonna be married." "He's gone now to get the preacher." "That's nice." "Here, let me take the baby." "You try and get some sleep." "Thank you." "Sarah." "I have the preacher here." "All right." "Howdy, preacher." "Hello, Mrs. Hulie." "Hello, miss." "Hello, preacher." "Preacher." "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together in the sight of God." "Jackson Fentry, do you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife?" "Yes, sir." "Miss, uh..." "Sarah Eubanks." "Sarah Eubanks, do you take this man to be your lawful wedded husband?" "I do." "Then I pronounce you man and wife." "How's the fire, Fentry?" "Are you cold?" "I'm so cold." "I don't dare put no more wood in it." "It's red hot now." "While you were gone I had a terrible dream that I was freezing to death." "In my dream I kept saying," ""I'm drowning in the cold drowning in the snow."" "I was calling for you to save me." "And I didn't save you?" "I don't know." "I woke up when I was calling ya and there you were standing right by me." "When I brought the preacher here" "I passed by the place where our house is gonna be." "I don't reckon I can build as fine as one you've seen in Jefferson, but ours is gonna have three rooms and a little porch for us to sit on." "It has some pretty trees all around it like you want." "Hackberry tree and a Chinaberry, and there'd be some flowers in the yard if you want them." "Will you get me the baby?" "Yes, ma'am." "Are you all right?" "Yes." "Just get my baby, please." "Sarah, I have the baby here for you." "Sarah?" "Mrs. Hulie." "Preacher Whitehead." "She's dead, Fentry." "No, she's not gonna die, she's gonna be all right 'cause I'm gonna save her." "You can't save her, she's dead." "I don't know why we met when we did." "Or why I found you when you was all wore out." "I couldn't save you no matter how bad" "I wanted to." "I don't why you want me to raise this baby instead of your people." "I don't what they done to you to make you turn so on them." "But I don't care, I promised ya I'd raise him." "And I will like he was my own." "Your momma's dead, son, but I'm gonna take care of you and see to you." "I'll be your momma and your poppa." "You will never want or do without as long as I have a breath of life in my bones." "I'm gonna take the baby and go back to my farm today." "Have you ever taken care of a baby before?" "No." "Of course, you know you're gonna have to find a way to feed it." "Cow's expensive in the winter even if you had the money to buy one." "I think you oughta get a goat to feed your baby." "Yes, ma'am." "I got one I'll sell ya cheap." "I sure do thank you." "You know anything about goats?" "No, ma'am." "Well, a goat ain't like a cow." "You gotta milk it every two hours." "Yes." "And that's nights, too." "Yes." "When do you want the funeral?" "Right away." ""I am the resurrection and the life." "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." "And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." "Believest thou this, amen."" "Hello, Poppa" "Hello, Fentry." "I'm home." "I see ya are." "I'm home for good." "Is that so?" "Yes, sir." "This is lsham Russell." "His daddy owned the saw mill I worked in." "Howdy, Mr. Fentry." "Howdy" "I was lookin' for you Christmas day, Fentry." "Yes, sir, I know I couldn't get here Christmas day." "Who that belong to?" "Me, it's my baby." "Poppa" "I got married." "Where's your wife?" "She died." "What you name it?" "Well, I thought I'd name it after the two generals you served under." "Jackson and Longstreet if it's all right with you." "It's fine with me." "C'mon over here to me, Jackson and Longstreet Fentry." "If you don't need me for nothin' else so I guess I'll be gettin' on back home." "I sure do thank you." "It's all right." "Good luck." "Good luck to you." "And Fentry raised that boy." "He did everything for Jackson and Longstreet himself." "Sometimes his neighbor's said he seemed to begrudge the earth itself for what that boy had to eat to stay alive." "Come on, I wanna learn ya how." "Come on." "The water is cold." "It ain't cold, come on." "Come on." "I think it's cold." "It's wet, don't fall!" "It's wet!" "Oh, that ain't gonna hold ya." "See if I can catch a fish, huh?" "What kind you want me to catch?" "A catfish, a little one." "We can cook him." "Watch me now." "I got one." "It's a great big--ah!" "Jackson and Longstreet, come out of them graves there." "No, no, no, no, no!" "I told you to stay out of them graves." "What's in a grave?" "It's where you bury people." "What People?" "My momma and her momma." "Come on." "Where's my momma?" "Some place else." "I bet I can spit further than you can." "Look up yonder, boy." "Look up there." "Know what this is flying around?" "Mm-mm." "That's a chicken hawk." " You know what they do?" " Mm-mm." "They catch and kill your chickens if you got any." "Some day when you big enough I'm gonna get you a gun and we're gonna shoot chicken hawks together." "Okay." "You run along and play, boy, while your daddy finishes his work." "You stay here in the yard." "Yah!" "Whoa." "Whoa." "Howdy, Fentry." "Howdy" "You remember me?" "Yes, I do." "How you been?" "Pretty fair, how you been?" "All right." "Is that your boy?" "Yes, sir." "Hi, boy." "Say hello to Mr. Isham, son." "Hello." "This here's your wife's brother." "Bud, Les, and Billy Thorpe." "Howdy" "What can I do for you?" "We come for the boy." "What boy?" "That boy." "You can't have him, he's my boy." "We're gonna have him." "He's my boy." "Well, he's our sister's boy." "Daddy give him to us." "He our kin, he belong to us." "No!" "You run, boy, run to be with your grandpap." "No!" "Stop!" "Run, boy!" "Run, boy!" "Billy, grab that boy!" "Don't let that boy get away!" "Daddy!" "Jackson and Longstreet!" "Jackson and Longstreet!" "Jackson and Longstreet!" "Fentry, Fentry, stop it!" "Now, there ain't nothin' you can do." "For now they got the law on their side." "Daddy!" "Daddy!" "I want daddy." "No, no!" "I wanna stay." "They can take the boy, Fentry." "It's the law." "Her husband, he's still alive and he gave the boy to them." "I didn't want to bring them here, Fentry, but the sheriff said if I didn't he'd find you." "I know, I've been expectin' it." "I reckon that's why it took me so by surprise." "I'm all right now." "We're sorry for it." "But he's our kin." "We want him home." "Here." "Here's some money for your trouble." "They're gone." "The sheriff, he came with them to the saw mill, Fentry." "He had a paper." "Look, Fentry, there's two sides to the law." "We'll go into town, seek Colonel Douglas." "My pa knows him." "Look, Fentry, I'll go will ya." "I'll ask him to take care of it for you." "Fentry!" "My search was almost over when I find out they took the boy, left the county with him, and raised him as a Thorpe." "And it seemed to me, as if I'd never known before, that this world isn't run like it ought to be run." "Fentry didn't hear anymore of the boy and as far as I could learn he never mentioned his name again." "Fentry's father died and he worked the place alone." "And then one day a young man named Buck Thorpe appeared in Frenchman's Bend." "When Thorpe tried to run away with H.T. Bookwright's daughter" "Bookwright warned him that he would protect her." "And he solved that problem in the best of his abilities and beliefs asking the help of no man, and then abode by his decision." "Buck Thorpe had been in a lot of trouble." "There was talk of his killing' a man himself in Memphis." "We know he was a brawler." "He was a drinker and a cattle thief." "Buck Thorpe deserved what he got." "I would've shot him if it had been my kid." "I tell ya, I wouldn't have waited as long as Bookwright did." "He was not only no good, but dangerous." "Yes, sir." "Then what do you want?" "What do you want?" "I can't help it." "I ain't gonna vote Bookwright free." "I declare a mistrial." "Of course Fentry wasn't gonna vote Bookwright free because somewhere in Buck Thorpe the adult, the man that Bookwright slew, there still remained at least a memory of that little boy, that Jackson and Longstreet." "I could have never have guessed" "Fentry's capacity for love." "I suppose I had figured that comin' from where he came from that even the comprehension of love had been lost out of him back down the generations where the first Fentry had to take his final choice between the pursuit of love" "and the pursuit of keepin' on breathing'." "The lowly and the invincible of the Earth to endure and endure and then endure tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow."