on, of the disinclination of the South to have Negro officers in
the army. Gus Martin took Earl's failure to secure promotion more to
heart than did Earl himself. Gus was a follower but not a member of the
church of which Ensal was pastor, and he had come to pour forth his
sentiments to Ensal anent the failure of his friend Earl to be rewarded.
Ordinarily the well-known tractability of the Negro seemed uppermost in
him, but this evening all of his Indian hot blood seemed to come to the
fore. His voice was husky with passion and his black eyes flashed
defiance. He questioned the existence of God, and, begging pardon,
asserted that the Gospel was the Negro's greatest curse in that it
unmanned the race. As for the United States government, he said, "The
flag aint any more to me than any other dirty rag. I fit fur it. My
blood run out o' three holes on the groun' to keep it floatin', and
whut will it do fur me? Now jes' tell me whut?"

Ensal endeavored to show that the spirit of the national government was
very correct and that the lesser governments within the government
caused the weakness. He held that in the course of time the national
government would mould the inner circles of government to its way of
thinking.

"Excuse me, Elder; but that kind o' talk makes me sick. You are a good
Christian man, I really think; but like most cullud people you are too
jam full o' patience an' hope. I'll be blessed if I don't b'lieve Job
was a cullud man. I ganny, I got Indian blood in me and if they pester
this kid they are goin' to hear sump'in' drap."

It was to this conversation that Ensal's mother had listened with
disturbed feelings. She believed firmly in God and her only remedies for
all the ills of earth were prayer and time. Therefore it ruffled her
beyond measure to have a new spirit appearing in the race.

"Ensal, there isn't any good in that Gus Martin," said she, in earnest,
tremulous tones, nodding her head in the direction of the departing Gus.
"I may be dead, my son, but you will see that the devil will be to pay
this side of hearing the last of him," she continued.

Ensal did not look in his mother's direction, but stole one of her thin
worn hands and placed it between his own. He felt that his mother's
prediction with regard to Gus Martin was only too likely to be
fulfilled.

At this juncture two young women appeared at the gate and entered. They
were Foresta Crump and the young woman whom we saw taken to Fores