e raised his arms.

He orated. "Hush! Git calm! Now us kin talk! Money! Cash! Rest easy!"

His voice lifted one notch higher than the undertone which welled about
him. The peak load of peril was confronted and passed, but still his
speech ranged over the bait words most potent as verbal sedatives.
"Easy money--lissen--gin--seven dice--fancy clothes--chicken an' gin
fo' one an' all soopreem members."

He discarded his college-bred dialect and adopted the vernacular of the
majority about him. "Lissen heavy! Git calm. Len' me yo' ears. Men an'
brethren, you knows me. Fo'gettin' de peril o' de tar bar'l an' de
p'cessions at night wid blazin' pitch knots an' de chokin' rope whut
folks uses when dey uprises, an' chosin' fo' ouah guide de lives ob de
ol'-time martyrs, safe an' serene in de circle ob fate cast 'roun' mah
fragile form by dis yere rabbit's foot--Ah tells you--lissen!"

The speaker waved his rabbit's foot. He beckoned at the loose fringe of
sceptics which milled on the margin of the group. "Gether together, dat
ye can hear de words ob wisdom. De prophet knowed whut he said when he
perdicted dat somebody was comin' to lead his chillun f'm darkness into
light. 'At's me! Somebody. I leads you out ob darkness into de promised
lan' whah flows de milk an' honey. In passin' lemme add dat milk is f'm
de ol' language used by de Sanskrits, meanin' gin. Honey f'm de ancient
Check-Slowfat word 'Honito.' Dat's de word fo' chicken--fried chicken,
to be mo' preciser.... Men, you is sons ob Kings f'm Africa. How come
you all redoosted to de state ob slaves? How come bird shot cain't
pester a cinnamon bear? Because yo' brains and yo' brawns is all spread
out, desiccated on triflin' things like cotton crops an' cawn, sweatin'
undeh heavy loads 'stid of rulin' at de seat of guv'ment an' dictatin'
whut's whut."

The orator dragged in another lungful of midnight fog and broke into
the stretch. "Heah's de answeh, graved on de gol' tablets an' dug up in
de midnight moon wid a luck spade. Gran' oaks f'm li'l acorns grow.
Heah in San F'mcisco wid de aid of you all we starts de new movement
towards de Canaan land. Fust off, us o'ganizes de Temple o' Luck. Den
de fust annex is de Swamick Chu'ch, based on de mystic teachin' of
Swami de Indian Budda. Nex' do' in de Temple de Soopreem Faith Healer
thrives an' collects money f'm folks whut only thinks dey's sick.
'Cross de hall is de Chief Palm Readin' Magi, predictin' pas', present,
an' f