. But so fur ez I
heared tell, you an' Gumbo Rollins ain't been so thick ez all this up
till now. I's wonderin' whut does you 'spect to git out of the little
transaction fur yo'se'f? 'Ca'se I gives you warnin' right yere an' now
that ef you's hopin' to git a split out of me you mout jes' ez well stop
dreamin' ary sech a delusion an' become undelirious ag'in."

"Stop, Brother Lovin'," broke in Jeff in the tone of one aggrieved at
being unjustly accused. "Has I asted you fur anything? Then wait till I
does so."

"All right," agreed AEsop. "I'll wait till you does so an' w'en you does
so I'll say no, same ez I's already sayin' it to you in advance. Say,
boy, you must have yore reasons fur the int'rust you is displayin' in
dis matter."

"Whutever 'tis 'taint got nothin' to do wid lurin' no money out of yore
possession," said Jeff. His voice changed to one of deep gravity.
"Brother Lovin', look yere at me."

He glanced about him, making doubly sure they were alone. He advanced
one step and came to a halt; he made his figure rigid and gave first the
grand hailing-sign of the Afro-American Society of Supreme Kings of the
Universe, then the private signal of distress which invokes succor and
support, and he wound up by uttering the cabalistic words which bind a
fellow Supreme King in the vows of eternal secrecy on pain of having his
heart cut out of his bosom and burned and the ashes scattered to the
four winds. For his part, AEsop Loving arose and, obeying the ritual,
made the proper responses. In a solemn silence they exchanged the
symbolic grip which is reserved only for occasions of emergency and
stress and which unites brother to brother in bonds stronger than steel.
A moment later AEsop Loving was alone.

It was not Jeff, the intriguer, who had colleagued with Gumbo Rollins
and conspired with Cump Glass, who came in the evening to the Twelfth
Ward tabernacle and sought a seat on a bench well up toward the front
where he could be fairly conspicuous and yet not too conspicuous;
neither was it the persuasive person who had dangled the bait of
private profit before the beguiled eyes of AEsop Loving. Rather was it
the serious, self-searching, introspective Jeff, who earlier that day
had besought counsel and comfort of Aunt Dilsey Turner. He came alone,
walking with head bowed as walks one who is wrapped in his own thoughts.
He arrived betimes; he remained silent and apart, inwardly communing,
one would have said, while t