at. Look at de elephant. How come you so skinny?"

"Wah mis'ry. All I et fo' two yeahs in France wuz Guv'ment rashuns. Dey
wuzn't fillin'. I et myse'f down to boy-size pants de fust yeah. Secon'
yeah dey lets me run wild 'cause dey couldn't find no unifawm small
enough."

"Wuz yo' in de big drive?"

"I'll say I wuz. Us boys drove more railroad spikes at St. Sulpice dan
a colonel has cooties. Woman, how come you knows all about de names ob
de wah?"

"I had a husban' uplifteh in de wah whut wrote me letters. Mebbe yo'
met up wid him, name bein' Huntington Boone."

The Wildcat's jaw sagged open as far as the roots of his lolling
tongue. "Honey Tone! De uplifteh? He's yo' man?"

"You knows him?'

"Ah knows him some--goin' on a thousan' francs he lifted off me wid de
gallopin' ivory."

"Ain't de same one. Huntington saw de light an' swerve f'm de sin road
to de straight an' narrow in de Fall Revival five yeahs back--de time
Sis Ellers got drowned at de baptisin' an' stayed undeh till she blowed
up at Vicksbu'g. Mah man went oveh as a uplifteh."

"'At's de boy. He swerved back at de sinful life. De on'y upliftin' he
done wuz wid us boys' money an' coonyak."

The Wildcat was thoughtful for a moment.

"Whah at is he now?" he suddenly asked.

"I ain't seed him since he went away. Wore out mah black alpaca
mournin' dress an' spilt icecream all oveh de otheh at a social. 'At's
how come Ah's in calico."

"I ain't seed him neveh since--"

"Since when?"

"Since he sailed fo' N' O'leans on de iron boat."

"He done come back! Praise de Lawd!"

"Call de police, you means. Did he git back he's in de jail whah at he
belongs--all I seed wuz him leavin'."

In the face of the Wildcat's argument the Amazon's mood changed. "When
I gets th'oo wid' dat man de jail folks sho' have to pen him up in a
barrel to hol' de leavin's. He's 'bout as pop'lar wid me as smallpox.
All he eveh done wuz bear down hahd on de money when I come home wid
mah wages."

At the moment the Wildcat did not feel constrained to explain that
Honey Tone's departure from Bordeaux had been one of the Wildcat's
contrivings--one in which Honey Tone had been battened down in the hold
of the cargo ship, together with a hundred French Colonial negro
troops. "I rec'lects he lef' Bo'deaux on a boat dey calls de _Princess
Clam_, headed fo' N' O'leans. Chances is he's in de N' O'leans jail
right now."

The Wildcat decided that it might be well to encourage H