t
she was one of its plumpest bolsters; and Jeff, although admittedly of
no religious persuasion, had grown up in the shadow of a differing
creed. The winning over of the black ram of another fold would be a
greater victory than the reclamation of any wandering sheep who had been
reared as a true believer.

"Well, boy," she went on, in this new mood, "let us hope an' pray dat in
yore case dey's yit hope. De ways of de Almighty is pas' findin' out.
Fur do not de Scriptures say dey's room fur both man an' beast?--de maid
servant an' de man servant, de ox an' de ass, dey all may enter in? So
dey mout be a skimsy, bare chanct fur sech even ez you is. One thing
shore--ef dey's ary grain of contritefulness in yore soul, trust de Sin
Killer to fetch it fo'th to de light of day. He's de ole fambly doctor
w'en it come to dat kind of sickness. You go to dat tabernickle to-night
an' you keep on goin' an' le's see whut come to pass.... Jeffy, dey's a
little mossil of cold peach cobbler lef over f'um dinner yistiddy
settin' up yonder amongst de shelfs of my cu'board!"

"Nome, thank you," said Jeff. "The emotions w'ich is in me seems lak
they ain't left me no room fur nothin' else. Seems lak I can't git my
mind on vittles yit. But I shore aims to be at the tabernickle to-night,
Aunt Dilsey--I means, Sist' Dilsey. You jes' watch me. Tha's all I asts
of you now--jes' watch me!"

Head down and shoulders hunched, in the manner of one harkening to inner
voices, Jeff betook himself around the corner of the back porch. Once
out of her sight, though, he flung from him his mien of absorption. The
overture had been rendered; there remained much to be done before the
curtain rose. The languorous shade invited one to tarry and rest, but
Jeff breasted the sunshine, going hither and yon upon his errands. Back
of a cabin on Plunket's Hill he had private conference with one Gumbo
Rollins, by profession a carnival concessionaire and purveyor of
amusements in a small way. No cash actually changed hands, but on Jeff's
part there was a promise of moneys to be paid in the event of certain
as-yet-problematical contingencies.

Next he sought for and, at the Bleeding Heart restaurant, found a limber
individual named Tecumseh Sherman Glass, called Cump for short. This
Tecumseh Sherman Glass was a person of two trades and one outstanding
trait. By day a short-order cook, by night he played in 'Gustus
Hillman's Colored String Band. It is to be marked down