How Does Scout Stop The Mob

manages
to nearly singlehandedly turn back the
carloads of men who have come to lynch Tom Robinson.
Scout is unaware of the
lynch mob's true intentions, instead thinking that"would have a
fine
surprise" by the children's sudden appearance, but Scout soon sees that the men
are
not Atticus's friends who had visited him earlier in their front yard.
Atticus's

... face killed my joy. A
flash of plain fear was going out of his
eyes...
()

The mob is bent
on
murder, and Atticus's life is also in jeopardy since he has no plans to
allow them to take his
client from his jail cell. Atticus now fears for the
children's safety as well, but the clueless
Scout is busy trying to be
sociable, remembering some suggestions Atticus has previously
imparted upon
her. She takes a step backward when she kicks one of the men in the groin--"I

intended to kick his shin, but aimed too high"--but she quickly makes amends when she
seeks
out a friendly face in the unfriendly crowd. She finds one in Mr.
Cunningham, with whom she
attempts some small talk, remembering
that

     Atticus
had said it was the
polite thing to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about

what you were interested in.  (Chapter 15) 

Scout's innocent talk about Mr. Cunningham's
entailments and his son, Walter Jr., soon
embarrasses not only the leader of
the mob but the other men as well: "... some had their
mouths half-open," and
"Their attention amounted to fascination." Scout is now
sweating but she also
sees that Cunningham's "face was equally impassive." When he
"squatted down
and took me by both shoulders," it is to assure the "little
lady" that he
will say "hey" to his son for her, not to harm her. As Atticus
recounts the
next morning,

"... it took an

eight-year-old child to bring 'em to their senses... 
()