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Jacob leapt to his feet and spoke with passion “There you go,” he said “Niggers looking for jobs that belong to us! That old coon’s had a perfectly good job all this ti for one of the richest men in the county Noants ood man with a family to feed”

In place of the polite h the crowd I understood so new about these men They weren’t filled just with hate; they were filled with at least asto take everything away from them—their jobs, their women, their homes, all their hopes and dreams

Then I realized Jacob was talking about uest a thing or two,” he was saying “He needs to knoe aren’t just a bunch of ignorant bigots Ito the proper education of Ben Corbett”

I looked around and couldn’t believe what I saw Half a dozen ht at me Then they were upon me, and they had me trapped for sure

Chapter 78

FEELING SICK TO , I rode in the back of an open faron with Jacob, Byram Chaney, and Doc Conover I was the one with hands bound behind his back

Cicadasrhyth south out of town into the swamp, an all-too-familiar journey by now

I was alry When I spoke to Jacob, I could barely keep fro

“How could you do this? The one ht I could trust!”

“Stay calm, my friend”

“I’m not your friend,” I said

“Ben, you can’t help it if you got some mistaken ideas about us,” he said “You’ll find out, we’re nobody to be scared of We’re fair-minded fellows, like you I just ask you to keep an open mind”

“By going to the swamp to watch you lynch another black man?”

“I said, stay calm”

After a ti I could have sworn this was the place where soed ether