Lahoma laughed.Read it,Mizzoo,read it aloud--read all of it!she cried gleefully.Wilfred looked at her,bewildered.The crowd stared also,knowing her love for Brick,therefore dazed at the sound of mirthful music.Brick turned his head at last;he looked,also,not reproachfully but with a question in his hard stern eyes.
Mizzoo turned red.Well,yes,I'll read it,he said,defiantly.Sure!I guess as sheriff of Greer County I'll make shift to get through with it alive.
He began to read,slowly,doggedly;Brick,without movement save for that heaving of his bosom,facing him with a mingling on his face of supreme defiance for the reader and superstitious awe for the legal instrument.
That's all,Mizzoo at last announced.You'll have to come with me,Willock.
Hold on!came voices from the crowd.During the reading,they had been watching Lahoma,and her expression promised more than fruitless laughter.Hold on,Mizzoo,Lahoma's got something up her sleeve!
Lahoma spoke clearly,that her voice might carry to the confines of the crowd:Mizzoo,I think you read in that warrant,'county of Greer,state of Texas'?Didn't you?
That's what I done.Here's the words.
But,you see,returned Lahoma,that warrant's no good!
Mizzoo stared at her a moment,then exclaimed violently,By--Propriety forbade the completion of his phrase.
The crowd instantly caught her meaning;a shout rose,shrill,tumultuous,broken with laughter.She had reminded them of the subject which a short time ago had engaged all minds.
It's no good,cried Lahoma triumphantly.She took it from Mizzoo's lax fingers and deliberately tore it from top to bottom.
I guess I'm a-getting old,sure enough,said Bill.This is beyond me.
Wilfred looked at Lahoma questioningly.Brick,stupefied by violence done that sacred instrument of civilization,stood rooted to the spot.