d, he's dead!

_She disappears. Rhoda follows, drawing Michaelis, dazed and half
resisting, with her. The room remains vacant for a short time, the
stage held by distant singing. Beeler enters from the kitchen.
There is a knock at the outer door, which he opens. Littlefield,
Culpepper, and Uncle Abe enter._

LITTLEFIELD.

Your man hasn't vamoosed, has he? Uncle Abe here says he saw the Indian
boy slipping by in the fog.

BEELER.

_Turns to the negro inquiringly._

Alone?

UNCLE ABE.

_Mumbles half to himself._

'Lone. 'Spec' he was alone. Didn't even have his own flesh and bones
wif 'im!

BEELER.

What's that?

UNCLE ABE.

_Holds up his right hand, which he eyes with superstitious
interest._

Put dis hyar han' right frough him!--Shore's you're bo'n. Right plum'
frough 'im whar he lives.

CULPEPPER.

Mediaeval! Absolutely mediaeval!

LITTLEFIELD.

Not a bit of it. It's up to date, and a little more, too.

CULPEPPER.

I'm astonished that you take this situation flippantly.

LITTLEFIELD.

Not for a minute. My bread and butter are at stake.

_Wickedly._

Yours too, you know.

_Mrs. Beeler enters, alone, from the hall. She is in a state of
vague alarm. Her husband hastens to help her._

MRS. BEELER.

What is it? What is the matter? I thought I heard--

_She breaks off, as a murmur of voices rises outside. There is a
sound of stumbling and crowding on the outer steps, and violent
knocking. The outer door is forced open, and a crowd of excited
people is about to pour into the room. Beeler, the Doctor, and the
Preacher are able to force the crowd back only after several have
made an entrance._

BEELER.

Keep back! You can't come in here.

_As he pushes them roughly back, excited voices speak together._

VOICES IN THE CROWD.

Where is he?--They say he's gone away. We seen his boy makin' for the
woods.--Oh, it's not true! Make him come out.

BEELER.

Curse you, keep back, I say!

_Rhoda has entered from the hall, and Martha from the kitchen. The
two women support Mrs. Beeler, who remains standing, the fear
deepening in her face._

A VOICE.

_On the outskirts of the crowd._

Where's he gone to?

BEELER.

He's here. In the next room. Keep back! Here he comes now.

_Michaelis appears in the hall door. There is a low murmur of
excitement, expectation, and awe among the pe