LADY LUCK

_BOOKS BY HUGH WILEY_

 JADE, and Other Stories LADY LUCK THE WILDCAT

LADY LUCK

By HUGH WILEY

NEW YORKALFRED · A · KNOPF1921

COPYRIGHT, 1921, BYALFRED A. KNOPF, INC. 

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TO

MY FATHER

 "When you 's travellin' heavy on de misery road An' yo' back is breakin' wid de misery load, Jes' figger dat yo' trouble 's boun' to end, Cause Lady Luck is waitin' fo' you, 'roun de bend. "

 THE WILDCAT

LADY LUCK

CHAPTER I

 Ah wuz a fiel' han' fo' Ah sailed de sea, Wisht Ah wuz a fiel' han' now. Dis konk'rin' hero business don' make no hit wid me-- Wisht Ah wuz a fiel' han' now. 

"Gimme back a nickel! How come coffee ten cents? Gimme back 'at nickelbefo' bofe ob us is on de same side ob de lunch counter. "

"You an' a policeman, you means. Ca'm yo'se'f. If dis wah keeps up, coffee g'wine cost fifteen cents nex' week. "

"How come wah? Wah finished a yeah back. Me an' Cap'n Jack wuz de fustmen in de wah. Wah's done. Ah knows. Gimme back 'at nickel. "

"Mebbe de wah is done, but de Democrats ain't. Git out ob heah wid datgoat, fo' you ruins mah trade. "

The Wildcat picked up Captain Jack's bed-roll from the floor beside thelunch counter in the Memphis station. He accumulated Lily from wherethe travelworn mascot goat was tethered to an adjoining stool. Togetherthey walked from the lunch room in which he had sought refreshmentafter an arduous ride from San Francisco to Memphis. 

"Come on heah, Lily. Ol' Cap'n Jack an' de lady done went home in atakes-a-grab. Boy takes a grab at yo' money, an' if deys any lef', yougives it to a policeman fo' arrestin' him. Us rides a 'spress wagon. "

On the street fronting the station the Wildcat chartered a ricketyexpress wagon hauled by a languid black mule. "Whuf!" the drivergrunted. "Sho' is de ponderestest bed-roll Ah eveh lifted. "

"'At bed-roll's full of iron helmets f'm dead Germans, fo' Cap'n Jackto 'membeh de wah by. De officehs craves to 'membeh de wah. Us 'listedboys craves to fo'git it. "

The driver of the express wagon looked sideways at the Wildcat. "Whendid de goat die?"

"How come?"

"Sit him on de side ob me whah de win' ain't blowin'. Wuz he de Dove obPeace de wah'd go on fo'eveh. Whut's dem culled ribbons doin' on datgoat?"

"De blue ribbon is mah mascot's quality. De red an' white ones ispatriotism. "

"Thought mebbe dey wuz fus' an' secon' prizes fo' smellin'. "

The Wildcat handed the driver of the express wagon a cigar. 

"Smoke dis offsetteh, " he said. Drifting along on a haze of conflictingaromas, the outfit arrived finally at the residence of Captain Jack. "Heah's de fifty cents, " the Wildcat said to the express driver. 

"Cost me dat to git de goat smell renovated off me. Wuth six bits. "

"On yo' way. I'll six bits you! Quit whiffin' wid dat nose, befo' Ibusts yo' loose f'm it. On yo' way! C'm on, Lily. "

The Wildcat spent the rest of the afternoon shuffling furniture aroundinside of Captain Jack's house. At four o'clock Captain Jack's wifearrived, convoying a perspiring three-hundred-pound trophy which shehad been fortunate enough to capture. 

"Yo' is de cook, is yo'?" the Wildcat said to the newly enthroned rulerof the kitchen. 

The ebony Amazon looked at him. "Who is you?"

"I's champion ration battler ob de world. Wait till I gits back. " TheWildcat returned presently with an armful of wood. "You claims you's acook--well, woman, I lights de fiah. Den you sees kin yo'. "

"Kin I what?"

"Fust yo' barbecues 'at ham hangin' theh. When Ah gits th'oo, half ofit will be lef'. Whilst de ham's sizzlin' you th'ows enough cawn breadtogetheh to fill de big pan. When Ah gits th'oo dey'll be half of itlef'. When de ham juice begins to git sunburned you makes some hamgravy. Ah spec' ham gravy's de fondest thing Ah is of. I says 'Howdy, ham gravy!' an' afteh me an' de vittles gits acquainted, mah appetitewon't need grub no mo'n a fish needs shoes. "

"Cut de ham. " The Wildcat carved off five or six thick slices. 

The cook looked at him. "Is you fo'gittin' me?"

"You hungry? De way you looks, yo's et all de grub whut is. "

"Nach'ral to be fat. Look at de elephant. How come you so skinny?"

"Wah mis'ry. All I et fo' two yeahs in France wuz Guv'ment rashuns. Deywuzn'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 smallenough. "

"Wuz yo' in de big drive?"

"I'll say I wuz. Us boys drove more railroad spikes at St. Sulpice dana colonel has cooties. Woman, how come you knows all about de names obde 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 lollingtongue. "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 degallopin' ivory. "

"Ain't de same one. Huntington saw de light an' swerve f'm de sin roadto de straight an' narrow in de Fall Revival five yeahs back--de timeSis Ellers got drowned at de baptisin' an' stayed undeh till she blowedup 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' hedone 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 alpacamournin' dress an' spilt icecream all oveh de otheh at a social. 'At'show 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 hebelongs--all I seed wuz him leavin'. "

In the face of the Wildcat's argument the Amazon's mood changed. "WhenI gets th'oo wid' dat man de jail folks sho' have to pen him up in abarrel 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 widmah wages. "

At the moment the Wildcat did not feel constrained to explain thatHoney Tone's departure from Bordeaux had been one of the Wildcat'scontrivings--one in which Honey Tone had been battened down in the holdof the cargo ship, together with a hundred French Colonial negrotroops. "I rec'lects he lef' Bo'deaux on a boat dey calls de _PrincessClam_, headed fo' N' O'leans. Chances is he's in de N' O'leans jailright now. "

The Wildcat decided that it might be well to encourage Honey Tone'smate to souse the black mood of her mourning in the whitewash ofjealousy. "'Spect he might be married up again--mebbe. 'At boy gits'gaged wheheveh 'at he goes. "

"Is he rampagin' roun' I makes two widows stid of one does I ketch him. Cleah outen heah!"

Honey Tone's vindictive mate craved solitude in which to enjoy themisery of her ambition for revenge. 

The Wildcat cleared out, taking with him a substantial segment of cornbread and two hot slices of ham. "Does Honey Tone live th'oo whut defemale 'ception committee g'wine to git ready fo' him I gives him mahCraw de Gare an' all de woun' stripes whut is. "

In the woodshed back of Captain Jack's house the mascot Lily patientlyawaited her proprietor. 

"Blaa!" she said in greeting when the Wildcat appeared. 

"Whut yo' mean? How come you always craves nutriment?" the Wildcatdemanded. "Heah. " He gave the goat a fragment of corn bread. "Whuf! deol' cawn pone sho' is fillin'. I sleeps me now fo' a little while. DenI goes downtown an' says Howdy to de boys. Lily, lay off dat hat! Eatde ham grease offen it does yo' crave to, but ca'm yo' se'f when yo'gits to de hat part. "

The Wildcat reclined on a pile of hickory stove-wood and went to sleep. Sleeping was his long suit. At ten o'clock that night he woke up. 

"Sho' is late. Front do' de barber shop be locked, but de back do'ain't. " The Wildcat threaded the dark streets which led to WillieWebster's barber shop. The shave-and-haircut part of the Websterestablishment served but to camouflage the darker industries which hadtheir being in a room contiguous to the one where shaves were a nickeland haircuts fifteen cents, including musk. 

At the back door of the barber shop the Wildcat hesitated for a momentin an effort to recall the secret knock which gained admittance in thedays before the war. This element of the ritual finally came to him, and on the rough panels of the door sounded three quick raps followedby two at more deliberate intervals. 

"I gits it 'fused up wid de time I wuz outeh guard to de Lodge obColored Damons. 'At knock wuz fo' an' th'ee. Fish club knock wuz twoan' two. 'Membehs dat. Dat's how de animals come off de Ark, time ob deflood. "

The door opened an inch, and the slot of light from within wasinterrupted by a rolling eyeball which surmounted a pair of questioningliver-coloured lips. "Who dat?"

"Wildcat--Vitus Marsden. " The door opened quickly, and the Wildcatedged into the company of his former associates. 

"Men, howdy!"

"Dogged if it ain't ol' Marsden! Boy, how is yo'? Is yo' back f'm dewah?"

"Heah us is, ain't I?"

Willie Webster, the proprietor of the establishment, came forward. "Don' see no arms an' no laigs missin'. Yo' neveh used yo' haid nohow, 'ceptin' to eat wid. Boy, how is yo'? Hail de Konk'rin' Hero!"

"Tol'able, Willie. " The Konk'rin' Hero looked about him. At a tableagainst the wall, under the rays of a smoking coal oil lamp, a crapgame was in progress. 

The Wildcat's fingers began to itch. He walked over toward the table. In the outline of one of the figures standing beside the table theWildcat identified an acquaintance of his former days. "Seems like Iknows de shape 'at boy's got. " The Wildcat edged up to the table. 

The owner of the familiar silhouette faced the Wildcat. "Wilecat, howis you? Hot dam, boy--is you back?"

Honey Tone Boone, the exile uplifter, was quick to conceal theinconvenient recognition in the extended palm of cordial insincerity. 

The Wildcat's mouth opened and closed in cadence with the wild leapingof his Adam's apple. With difficulty he pacified his organs of speech, and presently the honey of hypocrisy filtered from the tip of histongue. "Honey Tone! Honey Tone de uplifteh! Las' time I seed yo', yo'wuz in Bo'deaux. "

"Las' time you seed me I wuz in trouble. "

"How come?" A mask of surprise covered the Wildcat's face. 

Honey Tone explained the method of his departure from Bordeaux. 

"You kidnapped in de gizzard ob de ol' iron boat! Ain't it s'prisin'!Us boys sho' missed you. "

Honey Tone relapsed into the vernacular. "I'll say 'at's all youmissed. After you made de las' pass wid de gallopin' ivory you sho' lefme clean. All I had on me wuz cooties. How come you heah, Wilecat?"

"Cap'n Jack brung me. I's still workin' fo' Cap'n Jack. Afteh us landedoffen de boat f'm France us rode de train clear across de country. Jes'broke loose f'm de army in time to keep f'm gittin' sent toRussia--place whah dey bury you. What you doin' heah?"

Honey Tone evaded a direct answer. "How's all de rest ob de boys?"

"Ain't seed 'em. Me an' Cap'n Jack came back casual. "

"Whah at's he now?"

"Livin' heah. Memphis is de Cap'n's home town. Us jus' got in heahyes'day. F'm now on I works fo' Cap'n Jack. Ain't much to do, an'Cap'n's lady sho' foun' a good cook. I aims to eat heavy f'm now on toketch up wid whut I missed in de army. Whut is you doin', 'sideslookin' fo' easy money?"

Honey Tone, the ex-uplifter, was silent for a minute, and then hisorganizing instinct welled strong. 

"Me? I's organizin' a Returned Heroes' Parade. Us Konk'rin' Heroes whatwore de army unifawm jines in de gran' ruckus. "

"Sho! Honey Tone, whut yo' mean army unifawm? You was 'fested withletheh straps an' uppity talk when I knowed you fust. Now you talksplain niggah. "

"Sounds more homelike. " Honey Tone did not feel constrained to explainthe finesse which prompted him to abandon the vocabulary which he hadderived from a year's schooling and considerable subsequentspeech-making. 

"Aftah de parade mebbe us organizes de Colored Militarriers of America. I's been ponderin' considerable how come some ob you ain't started datlodge yet? Dues a dollah a month. Parades fo' baptisn's, marryin's, andfunerals. Special buryin' department wheh you gits crematized orsecluded in de ground as you prefers, dependin' whether you pays fo'bits a week extra or not. "

"Sounds half gran'--mebbe folks takes up wid it. Ol' parade sho' soundsnoble. " In common with other overseas veterans, the Wildcat listenedstrong to the appeal made by the jingling hardware of heroism. He hadvisions of himself prancin' along where white folks could look athim--visions which included an O. D. Uniform plentifully festooned withwound stripes, coloured ribbons, service chevrons, and a few decorativemilitary crosses. 

The group about the crap table thinned out. The Wildcat picked up thedice. "Does you crave high life, Honey Tone, read a chapteh f'm declickers. "

"I might ride a couple of r'ars, " the uplifter conceded. 

The Wildcat produced a bulky roll. Several pairs of gleaming eyeballsabout him testified to the exceptional dimensions of his capital. 

To the Wildcat's surprise Honey Tone hauled out a wallet in which lay athick package of twenty-dollar bills. Hope burned strong in theWildcat's chest, and with the flame of hope the Wildcat warmed the dicewithin his hand. 

"Shoots ten dollahs. Fade me, Honey Tone, does you crave action. "

"You's faded. "

"Wham! Ah lets it lay. Shoots twenty dollahs. "

"Roll 'em. " Honey Tone dropped a twenty-dollar bill, which landed asgently as a snowflake on the green surface of the table. "Bam! Five an'a deuce. "

Under the heat of the Wildcat's luck the uplifter's green snowflakemelted into his opponent's roll. 

"Ah lets it lay. Shoots fo'ty. Fo'ty ways. Shower down, Honey Tone. Mahluck builds homes fo' de ignorant poor. I's got de musk smell. Bam!Land, little Dove ob Peace. Land wid yo' bill full ob greens. An' Ireads fo' tray!"

The Wildcat gathered in his winnings. He laid a twenty-dollar bill onthe green table. "Fade me is you frantic. "

Honey Tone covered the bet. 

"Gallopers, pay de rent. Wham! Morning, rainbow. Wah just begun. Doveob Peace got one hot end, like a hornet. Gallopers, see kin yo' upliftde Honey Tone Jack. "

The dice raced on their victorious way. 

Twenty minutes later Honey Tone Boone picked up the cubes. The capitalin his leather pocket book had dwindled to a pair of weak-lookingdollar bills. He reached into his pocket, and his hand came forthclutching a rubber-banded cylinder of currency whose external unit wasa yellow obligation wherein the United States Government promised topay the bearer fifty dollars in gold coin, providing the Democratsoverlooked that much. 

Honey Tone voiced his challenge. 

"Shoots a hund'ed dollahs. De big coin keeps de pikers out. "

The Wildcat batted his eyes, but rallied nobly and covered Honey Tone'sbet with five twenties. "Roll 'em, " he said huskily. 

Honey Tone, rolling 'em, neglected to advertise the fact that when hereached for his new stake he had switched the dice. 

"Seven. Shoots two hund'ed. "

"Talk to 'em, Honey Tone. " One of the uplifter's admirers offeredverbal encouragement. 

"Dey does de talkin'. Shower down, Wildcat. Shoots two hund'ed. "

The Wildcat hesitated. 

"Shower down, " Honey Tone repeated. "You craves action. Git in decollar. Don't stan' theh poisoned on one foot, like de iron lady in depark. "

The Wildcat glanced about him. He saw several pairs of heavy lipscurling in the bow of derision. He counted out a handful of greenbacks. "'At's two hund'ed, " he said heavily. "Roll 'em. " His neck itched. Hesensed the impact of the axe. "How come I crazy?"

The rolling dice halted. The class in addition announced that four andthree made seven. 

"I mows de lettuce. " Honey Tone picked up his winnings. "Shoots ahund'ed. "

The Wildcat audited his capital. "Sixty's all I got. "

"Shoots sixty. "

The Wildcat took a deep breath and held on to it until he read on theclicking cubes the final message of disaster. 

"Whuf! 'At's me. " Honey Tone looked at his victim, and in the glance oftriumph glowed the dull fire of accomplished revenge. 

"Dem bones says who is de Konk'rin' Hero. Dey knows. "

The Wildcat picked up the dice and looked them over carefully. "Dice, wuz clothes a nickel I'se nekked--an' you done it. "

Honey Tone reached for the dice. "How come?" he objected. 

"Dese dice knows so much Ah thought mebbe dey's educated. "

The uplifter was glad enough to ignore the remark in his effort to getthe dice under cover. He switched the subject quickly to one whichwould not include an examination of his paraphernalia of chance. "Icounts on you, Wilecat, to be colonel ob de parade. "

"Me?" The Wildcat sobered under the responsibility. 

"You be de walkin' colonel leadin' de Konk'rin' Heroes. "

"Whah at does you come in?"

"I's de ridin' gin'ral whut leads. "

"Honey Tone, does you ride, I does. You an' me is 'quivalent, only I'smo' in dis Konk'rin' Hero business. All de konk'rin' you eveh done wuzleadin' de sleep squad o' else joyin' roun' in Bo'deaux. No suh! Doesyou ride, I does. "

"De ridin' part's de hardest. I rides so you boys kin see me give signswhah at to march. Does you ride, de nex' boy done crave to. He say, 'Whah at's mah mule?' Fust thing yo' knows, all de Konk'rin' Heroeswould be on mules. Dey wouldn't be no more mules lef' in de world. Figgeh out what 'ud happen to de Horn Band when de mules heard de tootsan' started tromplin' 'em down. Figgeh out could a band ride mules andplay, bofe. Figgeh out some mo' wid yo' haid, 'stid of usin' it to eatwid so much, an' yo' might figgeh out I's right. "

The logic in Honey Tone's objections appealed to the Wildcat. Hisimagination painted a contest between the Horn Department of the brunetbrass band and three or four hundred stampeding mules. "I guess yo'says sense, " he admitted. "Us boys walks. "

For a little while he and Honey Tone discussed the details of theimpending parade. "When us passes de' gran'stan', " the uplifterspecified, "I gives de salute. You be leadin' de platoon. When you gitsopposite de gran'stan' yo' says 'Eyes right. ' 'At's all you does, 'ceptin' to keep marchin'. "

"Who's gwine to be in de gran'stan'?"

"In de gran'stan'? Fust dere'll be de 'ception committee, den allreligious organizations, den all de lodges an' grave clubs, den all dewomen an' chillen whut ain't 'filiated wid nothin' but husban's an'kitchen stoves. "

Throughout the discussion the Wildcat's unmounted disappointment acheduntil it was suddenly quieted by a detail of the forthcoming ceremonieswhich he did not impart to his associate. In the Wildcat's brain wasborn a scheme which promised to balance the books between him and HoneyTone. 

"Yo' wife be sittin' in de gran'stan', I s'pose?"

Honey Tone laid himself open to the serious fall which is the commonsequel of deceit. "I ain't got no wife. "

"Thought yo' tol' me you wuz a married man when Ah knowed you fust. "The Wildcat was indulging in a little exploration. 

"Did I say I wuz married I must've been crazy o' lyin'. "

"You is both, " the Wildcat inwardly reflected. "'At's at, " he said toHoney Tone. "On'y, wid so much 'flooence, it 'pears like you'd furnishyo' own mule. "

"Ain't I made yo' Supreem Gran' Arrangeh? You p'vides de mule. I takescare o' rentin' de' gran'stan' at de ball park an' spreadin' depublicity. Afterwards us has a gran' rally. Mebbe I makes a speech. "

With the details of the program accomplished, the defeated Wildcat leftthe Konk'rin' Hero in the barber shop and made his way toward CaptainJack's home and the woodshed wherein was tethered the mascot goat. 

Halfway up the alley which led to the woodshed the Wildcat spoke aloudin the darkness. "Konk'rin' Hero! Him ridin' de mule an' us boys ridin'ouah feet. Huh! I's de Supreem Gran' Walkin' Arrangeh, is I? Well, tomorrow I starts arrangin'. " His monologue was suddenly interrupted byan explosive braying which burst from the woodshed adjoining the one inwhich rested Lily. The Wildcat surrendered to his racing legs andgalloped a panic jazz to the exit of the alley before his common-sensereacted. "Sho! Me a Konk'rin' Hero!" He chuckled softly to himself. "Ol' mule whut b'longs to Cap'n Jack's neighbour sho' unkonkered me. "

He retraced his steps until he came to the door of Captain Jack'swoodshed. He opened the door and entered. From the darkness his mascotgoat greeted him. 

"Blaa!" said Lily. 

"Ain't yo' asleep yit? Mebbe dat damn ol' mule woke you up. Git tosleep!" The Wildcat removed his shoes and lay down on a rickety bed ina corner of the woodshed. "I'll do the arrangin', Honey Tone, " hemumbled. His lower jaw sagged, and into his open mouth whined a lonemosquito. At the portals of sleep his night was again interrupted bythe mule in the adjoining shed. 

"Dat's de night-brayin'est jug-head Ah eveh seed. Wuss'n a midnightroosteh drunk wid moonlight. " He was about to launch a few burningcurses from a vocabulary which the mule could saggitate, when a newthought was born to him. He lay silent, staring above him into thedarkness. 

"I's de Supreem Gran' Arrangeh!" he suddenly exclaimed. "I's de doubleGrandes' Arrangeh whut is!" A faint bleat sounded from the darkness. "Shut up, Lily! Fo' I gits th'oo arrangin', yo' an' me bofe rides demule does us crave to. "

CHAPTER II

1. 

The following morning the Wildcat gorged himself on a ponderousbreakfast. "Sho' is noble ham. Yo' sho' is de grandes' cook whut is. Wondeh how come ol' Honey Tone neveh 'spressed himse'f about yo'?"

"'At niggah neveh wuz home enough to git 'quainted. "

The Wildcat looked sidewise at the cook. "Last night I meets up wid aboy in de barber shop whut knows Honey Tone pussonal. He says 'attriflin' uplifteh claims to bein' single--claims he neveh had no wife. "

The culinary Amazon picked up a frying pan and brought it down on thetop of the range with a resounding bang. "He claims, does he? Wunst Ahgits mah hooks in 'at nigger's head, all he claims is funeralbenefits!"

The Wildcat suggested that Honey Tone was probably far, far away andestablished as the centre of another family circle. The cook reactednobly. 

He waited until the avoirdupois cyclone had cooled off. Something inthe cook's energetic rage suggested the activities of the Wildcat'sformer landlady, Cuspidora Lee, from whom he had occasionally borrowedtobacco money. He determined to visit his former boarding house andrenew his financial relations. 

"You has my sympathy bofe ways, " he said to the cook. "Yo' is marriedup wid a no-account triflin' yellow uplifteh. Is he wid you, you ismis'able, an' is he A. W. O. L. Yo' is twice 'at much. Wuz I you, whenyou meets up wid him I'd bleed him by han'. But don' you grieve. Nevehmin'. Some day yo' meets up wid him.... Den yo' pays him back. "

2. 

The Wildcat left the kitchen. He carried a bouquet of cabbage leaves toLily, who was tethered at the woodshed door. "Eat heavy, Lily, " hecommanded. "Yo' neveh got no reliable greens like dis when yo' wuz inFrance. " He hazed Lily into the woodshed and departed on his way tovisit Miss Cuspidora Lee. He found the Lee personage perspiring darklyin the clouds of heat that billowed from a red-hot cookstove. 

"Cuspido', I bids yo' mawin', " he said briefly. 

Cuspidora Lee turned upon him. "Fo' de Lawd sake, you scared me! If itain't Vitus Marsden. Prodigal, come heah! Whah at is you been?" TheWildcat was engulfed in an embrace which reminded him of the time hehad been buried under seven tons of fermented hay. 

He came to the surface. "Cuspido', sho' is glad to see you. Whah at'sdem pussonal preserves you 'scribed 'bout in yo' letteh?"

"Sit down till I feeds yo'. Is you as hungry as you always wuz I reckonyou massacrees all de vittles in de house. "

After the Wildcat had eaten within an inch of his life he sat back fromthe table and took a deep breath. "Whuf! Stomach's gittin' so big maharms won' reach pas' it. Does it keep on mebbe Ah's 'bliged to turnroun' an' eat backwa'ds. Sho' is noble rashuns. Noblest rashuns I evehet wuz heah. "

He consumed an hour recounting his adventures in France for the benefitof Cuspidora Lee. At the conclusion of the recital the Wildcat wasinvited to make his abode in the Lee residence. 

"Craves to, Cuspido', but Ah kain't. Ol' Cap'n Jack needs me. Wunst Ileaves ol' Cap'n, dat boy run wild an' Ah finds him out in SanF'mcisco. Ah'll be draggin' 'long now. Sees yo' in de gran'stan' at deball park during de Konk'rin' Heroes' Parade nex' Thursday. "

"You sees me befo' dat. I's givin' a weegee pa'ty We'n'sday night, an'I bids yo' welcome. "

"How come weegee?"

"Ain't you know weegee--little boa'd whut points out is you or ain'tyou an' how come in de pas', present, an' future?"

"Sho! How de boa'd know?"

"Spirits. Man whut sells de boa'ds runs de spirits. "

"Is you tryin' to plague me?"

"You come heah Wensday night an' see is I. "

The Wildcat returned to Captain Jack's residence. "Sho' is gran' to githome, " he reflected. "Parades, weegee pa'ties--fust thing I knows Ah'llbe claimed by de church sociables. Sho' beats France. Stays heah an'works fo' ol' Cap'n Jack, eats me heavy, raises Lily, 'filiates at debarber shop wid de boys. Sho' beats de A. E. F. Wah bizness. "

His daydreaming was interrupted by Captain Jack's commanding voice. 

"Wildcat, come here. "

"Cap'n, yessuh. "

"I'm going away for three months, " Captain Jack abruptly announced. Then he added: "Keep your eye on things. "

"Cap'n, yessuh. Goin' 'way!... When does us staht?"

"Us don't start. For once in my life I hope to go some place and comeback without being hounded by my Wildcat nigger. "

"Cap'n, yessuh. Whut beats me is how yo' aims to git along widout metakin' keer o' you. You neveh wuz no single thriveh. "

"I'll get along without you. Go in and lock up the trunks. "

"Mis' Cap'n Jack gwine wid you?"

"I'll say she is. Whither I goeth there shall she also go. Git thosetrunks fixed up. "

With the departure of the master of the house a cloud of melancholysettled about the Wildcat which was not dispelled until suppertime. 

3. 

On Wednesday night the Wildcat soused himself with bay rum and musk. About his neck, in lieu of a collar, he wrapped the spliced sleeves ofa discarded silk shirt whose cerise dyes had barred it from CaptainJack's wardrobe. On his feet he wore a pair of patent leather violinswhose tight interiors had been plentifully massaged with axle grease. 

He started out with his mascot. "C'm on heah, Lily--you stahts gittin'social wid quality folks. How come dese shoes pinches all de time sho'beats me. By rights I weahs twelves. Man whut sold dese shoes said deywuz fifteens--feels like sho' take bofe to make 'at much. But when deysees dis heah neckerchief dey won't notice de shoes. "

Halfway to the weegee party he removed the shoes and carried them inhis hand to the portals of the Lee establishment. He sat down outsidethe door of the ouija castle and put on his shoes. He tethered Lily atthe step and knocked at the door. A moment later he was being greetedby twenty friends and half as many strangers. 

"Befo' I turns down de lights, " the hostess announced, "I wants you tomeet up wid Colonel Boone, one ob de culled heroes whut made de wahsafe fo' white folks. Colonel Boone, say howdy at Misteh Marsden. "

The Wildcat and the uplifter again stood face to face. "Honey Tone, howcome Cuspido' calls you 'Colonel'?"

"By rights 'at's mah rank. "

"By rights you is rank. " The Wildcat turned to his brunette hostess. "Ah knows dis Boone man. Met up wid him in France. How come heprojectin' roun' heah?"

Cuspidora was quick to sense a rift of jealousy in the social lute. "He's aimin' to claim me fo' a weddin' mate. "

She made haste to switch the deal. 

"Blow out dat light, Sis' Mosby. " She reached for a second coal oillamp and turned it down until the room was hardly light enough todistinguish the black letters on the ouija board which lay on thetable. The uplifter deflected the impending embarrassment which mightdevelop from continued conversation with the Wildcat by functioning asmaster of ceremonies. 

"Rally roun'. Spirits is willin' if de flesh ain't weak. Wilecat, fondle de weegee board an' take a ra'r at seein' whut de future holds. "

"How come?"

"Dis corner says, 'Yes. ' Dat corner says, 'No. ' De little board slidesYes or No, dependin' how de spirits answers whut yo' asks. "

The cross-examination of Mr. Ouija and his talented aggregation ofspirits endured for an hour, during which time a number of interestingfacts concerning various members of the assemblage became publicproperty. 

The Wildcat, returning from an enjoyed battle at the refreshment cornerof Cuspidora Lee's parlor, wedged his way into the group about theouija board and laid a heavy hand thereon. The memory of Cuspidora'sstatement concerning her love affair with Honey Tone rankled withinhim. 

"Spirits, " he said, "I axes yo' is I married?"

Ouija answered, "No. "

"Is Honey Tone Boone married?"

The board became a battlefield. Presently the tight tendons of theuplifter's hand showed grey against his skin, but without avail, because the Wildcat's little finger lay tight against the perimeter ofthe moving planchette. Impelled by the Wildcat's little finger theimplacable spirits hazed Weegee to the "Yes" corner of the board. 

Honey Tone's defeated fingers relaxed. "Dat's de lyin'est board I evehsee. How come yo' gits a lyin' weegee board, Mis' Lee?"

"Spirits neveh lies. " The hostess defended her unseen assistants. 

"Ain't no lyin' lef' to do afteh dese upliftehs gits th'oo, " theWildcat commented. 

A little later, apart from the other guests, the Wildcat askedCuspidora Lee a direct question. "O! Honey Tone been representin' he'ssingle?"

The Wildcat's brunette hostess hesitated. "Tol' me he neveh seed nobodybefo', " she admitted--"tol' me his love-eye neveh seed nobody 'ceptin'me. "

"All 'at boy's love-eye seed is de p'visions in yo' kitchen. Ah knowshim. Acts like de yelleh niggah whut he is--prancin' round uppity inFrance--comes back heah callin' himself 'Colonel, ' 'count he woreoilcloth leggin's an' drunk coonyak whilst us boys wuz fightin' debattle of Bo'deaux. "

Cuspidora Lee listened with eager ears. "I runs him out now, theflea-bit houn', " she finally announced. 

"Ca'm yo'se'f. Don' git to brindlin'. Come out to de ball park tomorr'at de parade an' you sees him leadin' us Culled Heroes. "

Honey Tone Boone meanwhile had charmed a dozen of his male and femaleauditors with Mister Ouija's spiritual assistance. 

At eleven o'clock the coal oil lamps were again lighted and the guestsemployed themselves in the pleasurable business of consuming suchrefreshments as the Wildcat had overlooked. The evening ended with ageneral announcement from the uplifter, in which he invited theassemblage to be present on the following day at the parade of theKonk'rin' Culled Heroes. 

"As de Supreem Gran' Organizeh Ah bids yo' welcome, " he concluded. 

From the darkness outside came a sardonic echo. "Blaa!" Lily the mascothad seen fit to accept the uplifter's invitation. 

When the party broke up, the uplifter showed an inclination to lingerafter the Wildcat made his departure, but presently he realized thefailure of his ambition. 

"Come on heah, Honey Tone, " the Wildcat invited. "I walks a ways widyo'. "

Once along the dark street Honey Tone sought to review the ouijaperformance. "What fo' wuz you shovin' weegee an' makin' de spirits say'yes' when they craved to say 'no'?"

"How come shovin'? Spirits does de shovin'. Ol' weegee tells de truf'. Yo' sho' is married, ain't yo'?"

"I tells you once I ain't. I tells you now I ain't, Don' say no mo'. "

"When you talks 'at way you sho' sounds lak a Cunnel, Honey Tone. "

The Wildcat switched the conversation to the details of the parade. 

"Is all de 'rangements done?"

"'Rangements done, 'ceptin' de mule I rides. "

"Ah'll git de mule. Whah at does I meet you?"

"Parade stahts at noon f'm Willie Webster's barbeh shop. Us marchesth'oo town an' hol's de gran' review at de ball park. "

A little farther down the street the two halted. "Whah at does youlive, Honey Tone?" the Wildcat inquired. 

Honey Tone did not see fit to reveal the location of his presentdomicile. "Down de street a ways, " he said. 

The pair parted. "Don' fo'git mah parade-leadin' mule fo' tomorrow, "Honey Tone admonished, "an' 'blige me by not referrin' no mo' to nowife whut I ain't got. "

"Ah'll 'blige him, " the Wildcat mentally conceded. "Afteh tomorrow Ahdon't need to do no wife-referrin' 'bout Honey Tone. "

The Wildcat went to sleep that night enjoying the details of a planwherein Honey Tone's radiant future was considerably overcast by theclouds of retribution. 

CHAPTER III

1. 

At breakfast on the following morning he repeated his invitation toCaptain Jack's cook. "Ol' Cap'n an' de Lady bofe gone away. No need youstayin' roun' here all de time. Git to de gran'stan' early an' git afront seat. Mebbe you'll meet up wid one ob mah pussonal ladyfren's--Cuspidora Lee, whut I boa'ded wid befo' de wah claimed me. Cuspido' said she g'wine to weah a big pink hat wid yaller feathers. 'At's how you knows her. You sees me an' mah mascot when us swings pas'de gran' stan'. Ah'll be follerin' de Supreem Leader. He be ridin' amule. "

The Wildcat spent the next half hour festooning his mascot goat withraiment appropriate for the grand march. Lily's O. D. Service coat wasbrightened with a red tissue paper sash. The Wildcat sewed a turkeywing fan to the mascot's overseas cap and wired the gaudy combinationsecurely in place between Lily's horns. 

"Hot dam! I says you parades. " For himself he borrowed a few thingswhich lay here and there in the trunk room of Captain Jack's house. Hestowed his own paraphernalia in a gunnysack. Leading Lily, he made hisway to the neighbour's woodshed wherein was stabled the overgrownnight-braying mule. 

"Gimme dis heah mule, boy--an' a saddle, " he said to the brunetguardian of the neighbour's mule. "I needs him temporary. "

"How come?"

"I craves him fo' de Culled Heroes' Parade. Some day I gives you twobits does you lend him half a day. All he does in heah is eat you po'an' wake folks up. "

"Whah at's de two bits?" The exchange was effected, and presently, leading the mule and the festooned mascot, the Wildcat arrived at therendezvous in front of Willie Webster's establishment. He tethered themule to a hitching post and led Lily into the barber shop. 

"How come de goat?" one of the assemblage questioned. 

"See dem stripes? Lily went th'oo more battles dan you has sense. F'mnow on, whah at I is, Lily is. Bible says, 'Whah at de goat, dere is Ahalso goat. ' Stan' up heah, Lily. "

The mascot was vainly endeavouring to eat the feathers from the top ofher own head. 

"Ca'm yo'se'f. Whah at's de Supreem Parade Leadeh?"

Honey Tone Boone stepped out of the adjoining room. "'At you, Wildcat?Whah at's mah steed?"

"Hitched outdoors. Sho' is rarin' to go. Parade-leadinest mule Ah evehsee. "

Honey Tone took a look through the window at his conspicuous mount. "Sure looms up. How come de goat?"

"'At goat's mah pussonal luck. "

Honey Tone looked sideways at the Wildcat. "Does yo' feel like backin'yo' luck wid a jingle, mebbe I 'bliges yo' sudden. Dey's a racetrack inde back room does you crave to gallop yo' luck a couple of heats. "

The Wildcat accepted the challenge. The pair walked quickly into theback room. 

"Shoots a dollah!" He explored himself for silver and revised hischallenge. "Shoots fifty cents. Ain't got but sixty, an' I needs a dimefo' goobers does I lose. "

"Boy, roll 'em. " Honey Tone proffered a pair of anxious dice, but theWildcat paid no attention to the offer. 

"I got mah pussonal weapons, " he said. He fished a pair of dice fromhis left shoe. "Dey speaks de language. Gallopehs, git right. Wham! Ahtol' you! Ah lets it lay. Shoots a dollah. "

Honey Tone faded the bet. "Roll 'em. " The Wildcat touched the tips ofhis fingers to Lily's head. "Goat, stan' by me. " His swinging handreleased a pair of dice whose innocent upturned faces presentlyrevealed a four and a trey. "Seven! Ah lets it lay. Whole hog o' desqueal. "

"Roll 'em!"

"Bam. Six an' five. Ah done climbed de luck tree. Honey Tone, shake meout. Shoots fo' dollahs. Lily, stan' by me!"

"Blaa!" remarked Lily. 

"Boy, roll 'em. " Honey Tone began to itch for possession of the dice. 

"Asleep in de snowdrift. When Lily says 'blaa' Ah lets 'em ride. "

"An' seven! Ah lets it lay. "

"Shoot, you fool, nobody neveh made five passes. "

"Nobody but me. " The Wildcat opened his dusky palm and a natural sevenleaped to the gaze of a waiting world. Honey Tone's eyes bulged withsurprise. 

The Wildcat accumulated his winnings. From the crumpled handful ofbills he selected a dollar bill, which he twisted into a temptinglittle salad bouquet. "Lily, eat this fo' luck. Ah reaps de greens tonutrify mah mascot! Shoots ten dollahs!"

Lily munched delicately on the dollar bill while the Wildcat continuedwith the harvest. The deeper Honey Tone sank into the bogs of chance, the more he resented the introduction of the Wildcat's trained dice. Once, in the run of hard luck, he showed signs of weakening, but theWildcat was quick to rally him with the adroit tongue of flattery. 

"One thing I'll say fo' Honey Tone--win or lose, dat boy rides along. Sho' is a vet'ran sport. "

In the Wildcat's compliment Honey Tone's effort to unload from thewreckbound train of chance found defeat. He rode along, hope springingeternal, until his financial condition approximated zero. 

"Shoots twenty dollars. " The Wildcat's announcement leaped from a pairof belligerent lungs. 

"Ain't got but 'leven fifty. " Honey Tone's voice was husky. 

"Shoots 'leven fifty. " The game was delayed a moment while the Wildcathunted for appropriate minor currency. "Heah's de fifty cents I stahtedwid. Lily, at ease!" The Southern Hemisphere of the mascot subsided. 

"Honey Tone, you sin-'fested uplifteh, feel de axe. Bam! Dey reads fourtrey. Lily, at res'. "

The victorious Wildcat added the last of his winnings to the bulky rollinside his pocket. "'At winds yo' up, big boy. De Supreem leadin' mulerides easier now. Yo' weighs six hund'ed dollahs less. "

A unit on the outer fringe of the pop-eyed audience pressed forward towhere the Wildcat stood. "Same ol' cyclone, " he said in greeting. "Wilecat, you 'membehs me? I ain't seed sich a fust-class cleanin'since us fit de battle of Bo'deaux an' yo' win all de payday us boysgot. "

The Wildcat suddenly recognized the speaker. "Backslid! How come yo'heah? Hot dog! I sho' is glad to see yo'. "

"Ah come home casual, count of stummik mis'ry th'ee weeks afteh yo' lefBo'deaux, " the Backslid Baptist explained. "Sho' is glad to see yo'. "

"You 'membehs Honey Tone?" The Wildcat introduced the uplifter. "HoneyTone leads de parade. Us starts in five minutes. Jine in, Backslid, an'yo' marches 'longside ob me an' Lily. "

"Sho' 'steem to, Wilecat, but I takes mah run dis aftehnoon. "

"How come run?"

"I's back on de ol' job runnin' Pullman out of Chicago. I's due out onde Fliah fo' Chicago at two-fo'ty. Any time yo' craves a ramble on decushions, roun' me up. Ah stakes yo' to a white coat an' yo' is aced inas mah helpeh. Pullman service is crammed wid dead-head helpehs now deGuv'ment's runnin' de lines. An' Boy--once us 'rives at Chicago degran' ruckus begins!"

"Backslid, 'at sho' sounds noble. Some day me an' Lily sho' make a tripwid you. "

The Wildcat and his former associate were interrupted by Honey ToneBoone. "Wilecat, you's de Supreem Arrangeh, ain't you? Roun' up dehumans. Fawm de parade. Us starts. "

The Wildcat threw back his head and addressed the gathering in thebarber shop. "Company, 'tenshun! All de niggahs in de room whut's gwineto jine de gran' parade, fall out de do' an' fall in!" He led the rushfor the exit. Outdoors he repeated the announcement. "Gran' parade ledby Honey Tone Boone. Followin' me an' Lily comes de brass ban'. Dencomes de Sons ob Damon. Sons ob Damon wearin' de yellah belly ban'swalks ahead. Followin' de Sons ob Damon, de Knights wid de Red Pantsfalls in. Parade marches fo' an' fo', ladies outside. Keep off de cartracks. Followin' de Knights wid de Red Pants comes de 'FiliatedToilers. 

"Cornet Club comes nex', 'ceptin' de big bass drum. Fetch dat bass drumoveh heah. Yo' marches by me. "

He turned to a group of human beings whose sole common characteristicwas their colour and the colour of the sashes which were tied aboutthem. "Whut outfit is you boys?"

"Us is de Committee ob Culled Democrats. "

"How come they let you out ob jail? Fall in behin' de lunch wagon. 'At's whah you gin'lly is. "

The drum-bamming giant took his place opposite the Wildcat. The Wildcatturned to the Supreme Organizer of the Culled Militarriers of America. "Git abo'ad 'at steed, Honey Tone, " he said. 

Honey Tone clambered on to the mule with the assistance of a pair ofagile bystanders. The Wildcat closed his eyes and lifted his head highin the air. "Company, 'tenshun!" He turned to the drum-bammer oppositehim. "Le-e-t's go!"

"Bam!" The crash inside the bass drum found a deafening echo in a blareof exploding horns and cornets. Lily shied close beside her master. Honey Tone's mule drooped a languid ear over a bulging eyeball as if toshut out a vision of impending disaster, and then, at the second notefrom the bass drum, the mule leaped into a wild gallop. Before themarchers had covered a hundred feet Honey Tone and his jug-head mounthad passed the fire hall three blocks down the street. 

The parade marched steadily toward the ball park. Ten minutes laterHoney Tone and the mule clattered past the parade. "Ol' mule sho'steers noble, but he kain't stop, " the Wildcat announced to thedrum-bammer opposite him. 

On Honey Tone's third visit the Wildcat called loudly to him. "Head 'atmule roun' nex' time an' back him in de ball park. " The SupremeOrganizer's reply was lost in a clatter of hoofs. 

2. 

At the ball park the parade waited for the intermittent uplifter. AsHoney Tone galloped past the head of the column he did a Brodie andlanded breathless against the big bass drum. "Boom!"

"Whuf!" he said. "Ketch dat mule!" The hero blood pulsed strong in theveins of the Knights with the Red Pants. They rallied to the rescue. The organization deployed, and presently the big night-braying mule wasagain delivered into Honey Tone's reluctant hands. 

"Wait till Ah 'ranges 'at steed. " The Wildcat loosened the saddlegirth. Unseen by Honey Tone, he removed a small horseshoe from betweenthe saddle blanket and the mule's epidermis. "Sho' brings de luck. Someboy got de luck hunch figgered wrong. Git aboa'd, Honey Tone. --Blanketgot wrinkled. He done ca'm down now. Ah knows him. Git aboa'd an' leadde parade into de ball park an' pas' de gran'stan'. "

In the face of the assemblage Honey Tone could not back down. Hemounted the mule. To his surprise the animal walked slowly and with allthe peculiar dignity that a mule can summon. The uplifter looked downat the Wildcat. "Line 'em up fo' de gran' entry, " he said. 

The Wildcat turned and called loudly to the marching column. "Company, 'tenshun! Heads up fo' de gran' entry. " He turned to his companion. "Keep de drum goin'. Ah waits to see de parade git by an' is eve'ythingarranged right. " The Wildcat faded out. When the end of the marchingcolumn passed him he walked quickly to a policeman who was standingnear the portals of the entrance to the ball park. 

"Cap'n, suh, " he said to the policeman, "'at mule leadin' de paradeb'longs to Misteh Joe Carroll, whut's de neighbour ob Cap'n JackStuart, whah at I wucks. Ah ain't sayin' 'at ridin' niggah stole 'atmule, but Ah knows Misteh Carroll neveh lent him. 'At niggah's no good. Ah knows him. "

"What outfit is this parade?" the officer asked. 

"Ain't no outfit. 'At triflin' niggah on de mule claims he's organizin'a new lodge--gits folks wild to jine, and den lif's de 'nitiationmoney. Nex' day mebbe turns up in Vicksburg o' some place else whahsome mo' fool niggahs craves to jine on wid him. He sho' don' b'longhere. Ah knows him!"

A record is a record. An arrestis an arrest, and the capture of a mulethief is a star of magnitude in any one's official crown. The policemanwalked into the ball park and headed across to where a companionofficer was standing in front of the grandstand. At the moment, in thegrandstand Cuspidora Lee and Captain Jack's cook, seated together, werejust beginning to get acquainted. "Seems like I knows dat boy, " thecook remarked. "'At boy on de big mule. "

"I knows him too. " The tenor of pride rang in Cuspidora'spronouncement. "Ah knows him well. He's de Supreem Parade Organizeh. 'At man's rich--on'y las' night at de weegee 'semblage in mah house heshowed me nearly six hunn'ed dollahs. When de social visitin' partstarts afteh de parade I gives yo' a howdy-do, does yo' crave to meetup wid him; but don' git triflin' wid him, woman. 'At's all. He's mahman. "

"How come?"

Cuspidora brindled engagingly. 

"Us aims to git married soon as de local organizin' is finished. "

"Ain't it gran'? Whut yo' say his name is?"

Honey Tone and his trailing parade were plodding along toward CuspidoraLee and Captain Jack's cook. When Honey Tone came closer Cuspidorawaved archly at the Supreme Organizer. 

"Whut yo' say his name is?" The ponderous cook at Cuspidora's siderepeated her question. 

The Lee lips answered absently. "Boone--Huntington Boone. "

The cook swept the back of her hand across her eyes. "Boone! 'At'shim!" She turned to Cuspidora. "You aims to marry him, does you? Well, marry him sudden. Ah aims to kill him. 'At niggah an' me married eachother two yeahs befo' he went to wah!"

The cook bellowed hoarsely once in the Supreme Organizer's direction. "Honey Tone!" A shrill echo came from Cuspidora's lips. The SupremeOrganizer wilted from the deck of his mule. Without looking around, hestarted for the entrance of the ball park, but before he had coveredhalf the distance he was overtaken by a furious tigress. Cuspidora Leehad outdistanced Honey Tone's wife in her pursuit of the Organizer, andto her went first blood. At Cuspidora Lee's hands Honey Tone took thecount just in time to get his chattering teeth full of his enragedwife's crunching heels. "Stan' back, Cuspido'! Ah aims to tromple 'atsnake in de dust!"

Thereafter, for a space of minutes the massacre proceeded withsystematic fury. It ended only when the policeman unlimbered a wickedsap and forcibly dragged the battling brunettes from their crumpledvictim. 

"Git to hell away from that nigger, " the officer yelled at the twowomen. With the assistance of a hearty boost from the policeman, theSupreme Organizer struggled to his feet. 

"Lemme go--lemme go!" he gasped. 

Wham! The two-foot swagger stick in the hand of the police officerfound its target. "Shut up, you mule-stealin' baboon. Come on here! Yougit fifty years in jail if we don't lynch you!"

Honey Tone Boone, the uplifter, trailed along with the policeman. 

The Wildcat, with his mascot goat close beside him in the shadows ofthe entrance to the ball park, witnessed the consummation of his plans. "Ah'll say I's de Supreem Gran' Arrangeh!" he exulted. "Grandes''rangeh whut is! Eve'ything sho' is 'ranged noble. "

He tied a leading-string around the mascot's neck. "Come on heah, Lily. Us fades befo' Honey Tone busts loose f'm de jail. Us rides de Fliah toChicago wid ol'Backslid. He's mah fren'. Le's go!"

CHAPTER IV

"Memphis, let me miss you! Feet, see kin you trod de good-bye jazz!Lily, le's go! Git in step! C'm on heah befo' Ah jerks yo' head loosef'm yo' horns. "

Lily lagged. No guilty conscience impelled the mascot goat. In additionto this, lacking mental momentum, her progress was considerably impededby a parade uniform consisting of an O. D. Army shirt which dangledloosely about her forelegs. 

Half a block down the street Lily's parade raiment slipped. Her hobblestripped her. The galloping Wildcat felt an added drag on the leadingstring. He glanced backward in his flight. 

"Goat, how come you lose the cadence? Doggone you, see kin you skidtill you gits in step. "

Lily bought the next fifty yards with an expenditure of some epidermisand two ounces of goat hair. 

She regained her feet, staggering under a ponderous ambition forrevenge. Forty feet from the Calhoun Street curb she took careful aimat the Wildcat and stepped on the accelerator. The Wildcat coasted intoCalhoun Street with his parade-leading Prince Albert flapping straightout behind him. He skidded over the curb in a pose which cost his armypants half of their seating capacity. 

Inertia claimed him. He rolled his head slowly over his shoulder andgazed in bewilderment upon his prancing Nemesis. 

"Lily, at ease!" The goat ambled up beside him. "At res'!"

The Wildcat grabbed for the mascot's leading string. "You an' medeclares peace. Ah done wrong when Ah drug you, but now see kin youramble. Ah craves to reach de Chicago Fliah whah at de ol' BackslidBaptis' is porter, so us kin leave town without leadin' no mob. "

"Blaa!" Lily answered in forgiveness. 

About the mascot's chest the Wildcat adjusted the O. D. Shirt with itsthree service stripes. He tilted the little overseas cap which Lilywore to a rakish angle between the mascot's horns. 

With Lily clicking along at the Wildcat's heels, the pair entered theportals of the Grand Central Station. 

The Wildcat accosted a Red Cap of his own colour. "Whah at kin I findde Backslid Baptist whut takes care o' de white gen'men on de ChicagoFliah 'at leaves at 2:40?"

"I knows 'at boy dey calls Backslid, but dey ain't no Fliah leavin' at2:40. 'At boy runs Pullman on de Panama Limited, leavin' heah at 10:10tonight. Ol' Backslid neveh shows up till half-past nine to take hiscah out. "

Confronted by seven intervening hours of life in Memphis, which mightinclude the release of Honey Tone Boone, whose temporary confinement inthe jail had just been accomplished, the Wildcat's ambition flopped. His sole desire for the moment was for a high-grade segment ofcamouflage or the sanctuary of a close-fitting black cave. 

"Whah at kin me an' Lily hide out till mah fren' Backslid shows up?"

The Red Cap looked at him. "What you done--outrun a bullet f'm somewhite man's gun, o' mebbe busted jail?"

The Wildcat's skin shrank a size or two at the mention of jail. "Iain't done nuthin'. Fo'git dem jail words. All I got is business inChicago, an' I aims to ride wid de Baptist. "

The Red Cap came to realize that the Wildcat sought to avoid publicity. "I knows a place whah you kin crawl undah a five-dollah bill an' hide. "

"Whah at's de place?"

"Whah at's de five-dollah bill?"

The Wildcat produced the greenback. The Red Cap took it. 

"C'm on heah wid me. " He led the Wildcat and Lily to the rooms whereRed Caps shifted from their civilian raiment to the uniform of theircalling. 

"Nobody but us boys neveh comes heah. Ah'll pass de word to de BackslidBaptis' to hunt you up when he 'rives f'm uptown tonight. "

Until nine o'clock that night the Wildcat and Lily lay under cover. Shortly after nine o'clock the Backslid Baptist arrived at the stationto board his Pullman, which would be cut into the Panama Limited. 

He encountered the Wildcat in the latter's retreat. 

"How come? When Ah seed you dis aftehnoon you an' Lily wuz in deparade-leadin' business, followin' Honey Tone Boone on de mule. "

"Us changed since den, Backslid. Ol' Honey Tone done unconsecratehisself f'm de parade-leadin' mule. "

"Whah at is he now?"

"Safe in jail, whah at Cuspido' Lee an' de otheh wild woman kain'tclaim de remains. Whut time does us leave?"

"How come de 'us'?"

"I craves to furlough mahself loose f'm Memphis fo' a while. Does ol'Honey Tone git free mebbe he uprises agin' me. "

"C'm on.... Us is due out at 10:10. "

Before the Backslid Baptist was into his uniform a boy brought an orderslip to him. He read it and handed it to the Wildcat. 

The Wildcat looked at the paper. 

"You knows Ah kain't read, Backslid. What 'at paper say?"

"Ah switches to a N'O'leans cah--de Mazeppa. Otheh boy's sick. "

"How come he sick?"

"Some boys gits sick so as to miss Ol' Man Trouble. Might have made acleanin' wid de bones. Might crave to meet up wid some fren's inMemphis. Kain't say how come. Us finishes de boy's run. Come on!"

The Backslid Baptist led the way to the platform in the long trainshed. "Don't know kin I deadhead 'at goat. "

"Sho' kin, Baptist. 'At mascot don't take up no room. 'At goat traveledf'm N'Yawk to San F'mcisco in de vegetable bin on a dinin' cah. Lilyain't no rampager. "

When the Panama Limited roared into the train shed Lily cringed againstthe Wildcat's legs. "Stan' up theh! How come you scared at de ol'train?"

Followed by the Wildcat and Lily, the Backslid Baptist sought his car. "Whah at's de Mazeppa?" he asked the first porter whom he encountered. 

"Hello, Backslid. Is you runnin' Mazeppa?"

"Aims to. "

"Menagerie cah. "

"How come?"

"Dogdest cahload ob folks Ah evah see. Wait till mawnin' an' you seesyo' passengers. 'At's de ol' battleship, five cahs back. "

The Wildcat and Lily, in the wake of the Backslid Baptist, presentlyboarded the Mazeppa. 

Once inside the car, the porter sniffed heavily. "Gin trip. Thank deLawd ain't no kids. Don't smell no bananas. Lis'sen. Heah dat boysnore?"

"Snores lak he's chokin' to death. "

"Ain't chokin'. 'At's a fat boy wid de alcohol snorts. "

The Backslid Baptist sniffed again. "Sho' is. "

"Is what?"

"Chorus girl lady, o' mebbe one ob dem movin' picture ladies. "

"Ah'll say you does. "

"Does what?"

"Sees an' heahs wid yo' nose. Did anybody bust you in de beak dey'dknock you deaf an' blind. "

"Wilecat, Ah run Pullman ten yeahs--boy sho' gits deprived ob a lot obignorance in dat time. Sho' gits so he knows de folks on his cah quick. Gits to be a reg'lah mind readeh. "

The Wildcat looked at the Backslid Baptist. "Whut dat fat boy wid dealcohol snorts thinkin' about?"

The mind-reading porter looked at the Wildcat. A slow smile cut a redgash in his face. 

"Same as you--de half bottle whut's left. "

"Ah'll say you's a mind reader. Read an' see does de half bottle need aguardeen. "

"Fo'get dat guardeen business. Tomorrow mawin' he gives it to you doesyou crave it. 'At boy wouldn't look cross-eyed at you in town, but whenyou weahs de unifawm mos' likely does you crave a dram o' his liquor hebe proud to give it to you. When him an' de headache wakes uptomorrow--"

Zing! From above the Wildcat's head an electric bell rang with thesuddenness of a striking rattlesnake. 

"Whut dat?"

"Ca'm yo'sef. Some passengeh ringin' fo' de porteh. Store dat goat inheah befo' de ol' train conductor comes th'oo. "

The Backslid Baptist opened the door of the linen closet. Lily themascot was ushered into the dark cave beneath the shelves. 

"Lily, at res'! See kin you sleep whilst Ah learns de porter business. "The Wildcat began to absorb the free ice-water. 

Zing! The annunciator rang again with an impatient note. 

"Put dis white coat on you whilst I sees who wants whut. " The BackslidBaptist handed the Wildcat a white linen coat. The Wildcat removed hislong parade-leading Prince Albert with the red plush sash and theyellow epaulets and donned the white jacket. 

The Backslid Baptist returned from the far end of the car. "Fat boy inLoweh 7 wid de alcohol snorts craves ice-wateh. Fill a papeh cup an'carry it back to him. "

The Wildcat filled a paper cup with ice-water and started down theaisle of the car. He returned presently. 

"Kain't find whah at is 'at boy. "

"You looks till you sees '7' on de curtains. 'At's whah he is. "

The Wildcat essayed a second attempt with his life-saving ice-water. Hehad proceeded half the length of the car when, above the muffledrattles and creaks of its fabric, there lifted a wild shriekinglaughter. 

The paper cup in the Wildcat's clutching hand was crushed flat. Fromthe cup there gushed a geyser of ice-water straight for the partedcurtains of Lower 7. 

CHAPTER V

The wild laughter from somewhere across the aisle continued, but now itwas punctuated by three voices. 

"F'r Gawd's sake, dearie, be quiet!"

"Spluff! What th' hell--"

"Lady Luck, whah at is you?"

The Wildcat galloped back along the swaying aisle to the protection ofthe Backslid Baptist. 

The high-pitched laughter pursued him. 

"Pull de stoppin' string, Baptis'! Ah craves to git off dis train. "

"Ca'm yo'se'f. Whut ails you?"

"Heah dat laffin'? Heah dat crazy--"

Zing! Zing! ZING!

"Doggone 'at Loweh 7. Did you wateh dat boy?"

The Wildcat looked at the crushed cup in his hand. "Ah'll say so. Missed 'at boy's neck, but de ol' ice-wateh sho' baptized him. "

"See whut he wants again. "

"You betteh see, Baptis'. I's just learnin'. "

"Dearie, be quiet before I wring your neck!" A strident feminine voiceaddressed the author of the laughter. "Shut up! There, there, dearie.... Oh, you feen, leggo! My gawd, he bit me!"

"Purty purty burd. Purty purty burd. "

"You feen!"

"Quawk!"

Down the length of the car, from between the berth curtains there beganto appear an assortment of human heads. 

Above the scene there sounded the flutter of beating wings. 

The Backslid Baptist dived into the centre of the Pullman. 

"What is it, porter?"

"Jes' gittin' into Carbondale. " The porter's calm voice dispelled theterrors of the night. 

"Leggo! Leggo! Doggone you. Backslid! Come heah!"

A furore of acrobatic groaning marked a scene wherein the Wildcat wasdoing the best he could to pry himself loose from something that clungto various parts of his anatomy with a beak and eight sharp claws. 

"Come heah! Light de light. Some varmint's got me. "

The Backslid Baptist retraced his steps. "Ain't no varmint. One ob demparrot birds. "

The Backslid Baptist made a grab for the parrot, and from the bird'sthroat into the night again there lifted the wild laughter. 

The porter opened the door of the linen closet wherein Lily the mascotgoat was quietly eating her third pillow case. He cast the parrot fromhim into the darkness of the linen closet. "Wilecat, tell de lady inLo' 10 Ah'll take keer de parrot till mawin'. "

The parrot landed on Lily's neck. From behind the slammed door came amuffled "Blaa!" followed by the subdued noises of a largenumber-nine-sized ruckus. 

Zing! Zing! ZING!

"I's coming. I's coming. " The Backslid Baptist filled two cups ofice-water and started toward Lower 7 with them. 

"Heah you is.... Yessuh. No suh. Yessuh, Ah'll git you some mo'. "

"Here's a half bottle of that blasted stuff. Take it away where I can'tsmell it. That ice-water sure is good. Were you ever zippo on gin?"

"No suh. Ah'll git you some mo' ice-water. "

The Backslid Baptist, conveying half a bottle of gin, neglected tostate that he had never been able to accumulate enough gin at one timeto get himself zippo. 

He encountered the Wildcat in the smoking room. He handed the Wildcatthe half bottle of gin. "Ah'll say I's a mind reader. "

"See whut de good Lawd done sent!"

"Afteh de storm comes de quiet waters. "

"Comes de gin, you means. Ol' fat boy drink de watehs. Us drinks degin. Gin, how is you?"

The Wildcat soothed himself with three strenuous gulps. "Whuf! Liquor, how de do!"

The Backslid Baptist departed with the third cargo of ice-water for thegentleman in Lower 7. He returned after a little while. Dangling fromhis fingers and carried in his arms were a dozen pairs of shoes. 

He threw the shoes down on the end seat in the smoking room. "Start towork on de shoes, Wilecat. Don' do nothin' to de new shoes--much--an'hit de ol' ones light. De middle-grade shoes gits a good shinin'. Folkswhut weahs middle-grade shoes is ol'-time travellers an' gin'ally comesup strong wid de income tax fo' us boys. "

The bell in the passageway sounded its summons. 

"Doggone! See who dat is. "

The apprenticed Wildcat read the indicator. "Ain't no numbeh. De littlehand turned on de letters. "

"Whut de letters say?"

"Backslid, you knows I kain't read. "

The Backslid Baptist set the nearly empty bottle of gin on thewashstand and walked into the passageway. 

"'Partment B, " he announced upon his return. "Dey's two 'partments, Aand B, and a drawin' room. You knows 'B' when you sees it. Knock at dedo' an' ask whut is it. "

The Wildcat departed on his mission. At the door of Compartment B heencountered a bald-headed gentleman clad in violent pink pajamas. Thegentleman's face was festooned with a long, blond mustache. He thrust acoat, a vest, and a pair of trousers through the door at the Wildcat. 

"Have these pressed, " he ordered. "Here's a brace of shillings for you. Fee the tailor chap. "

"Cap'n, yessuh. "

The Wildcat returned to the smoking room. "Boy in de 'partment roomwhut gobbles lak a turkey says, 'Press de clo'es, boy, an' heah's adollah. ' Dollah, how is you? Sho' is easy money. "

"English boy. Dey's de clo'es-pressin'est folks in de world, 'ceptin'actors. "

"Whah at does I git dese fixed up?"

"No place. Hang de coat up. Sprinkle de pants wid wateh an' lay 'emundeh a pile ob sheets in de linen closet. By mornin' dey's pressed. You charges anotheh dollah. "

"Sho' is easy money. " The Wildcat hung the Britisher's coat and vest inthe smoking room. He walked into the passageway and opened the door ofthe linen closet. A four-legged cyclone burst from the dark depths ofthe linen closet. Riding the cyclone was a bedraggled parrot. Theparrot showed the wear and tear of travel. 

The Wildcat called loudly at the cyclone. 

"Lily, halt! 'Tenshun! Whah at's de mil'tary bearin' you got in France?Come heah!"

The mascot walked to the Wildcat's side. From Lily's cringing back theWildcat lifted the battle-scarred parrot. 

The Wildcat boosted Lily back into the solitude of the linen closet. "Lily, 'tenshun. At ease! At res'!"

The goat executed the commands with the military precision which hadcome from long months of training in the A. E. F. 

"'Tenshun! At ease. One mo' false move an' I th'ows you oveh-boa'd offde train. "

The Wildcat retrieved a piece of string and turned his attention to theparrot. "You green debbil. Lay off 'at goat. Ah ties you on de topshelf. One mo' move an' us has fricasseed green chicken afteh de dinin'cah man gits you. "

"'Tenshun!" mocked the parrot. "At ease!" Lily, prone in the depths ofthe linen closet, obeyed the commands. 

The Wildcat tied the string around the parrot's leg. "Dere, dat holdsyou, an quit mockin' me befo' I knocks yo' beak down yo' throat. "

"At rest!" the parrot gurgled. 

The Wildcat closed the door of the linen closet. The parrot lost notime in biting the string loose from about her leg, after which sherejoined her four-legged companion. 

"'Tenshun!" she squawked. "At res'! Tenshun! At res'!"

Thereafter until dawn, obeying the perfect counterfeit of her master'svoice, Lily the mascot goat came to attention and subsided at rest withthe persistent rhythm of a man on a hand-car. 

CHAPTER VI

The Wildcat returned to his shoe-shining. "When does us boys sleep, Backslid?" "When de chance comes, " the Backslid Baptist returned. "Yousleeps between stations an' 'twixt jobs of work. Gin'ally when de bellrings at night you pay no 'tenshun to it. Folks is finicky. Dey gitsalong just de same does you answer de bell or don't you. Hurry up widde shoes. When you gits 'em done come on up th'ee cahs ahead. Dey'ssome res'less ivory on dat cah, an' mebbe us collects some money whut'slonesome to change managers. "

The Backslid Baptist departed for the third car ahead, where in thesmoking room the galloping ivory was clicking strong on the linoleum. 

The Wildcat finished his work on the shoes of the passengers on theMazeppa. He carried the shoes forward with him until he came upon thecrap game. 

"Heah's de shoes, Backslid, " he said. "Men, howdy. "

"Whut fo' you bring dem shoes all de way up heah?"

"Ah kain't read yo' numbehs whah at to distribute 'em. "

"Lay 'em down. Ah'll take 'em back afteh while. Gimme dem bones. Shootsfive dollahs. " The Backslid Baptist launched himself into an energeticarm-swinging struggle, wherein presently he lost after his third pass. 

"Take a ra'r, Wilecat. See is you still 'fested wid luck like you wuzin de A. E. F. "

The Wildcat was a stranger to everybody present except the BackslidBaptist. 

"Who dat boy?" one of the group of porters asked. 

"Learnin' boy f'm Memphis. Ah knows him. " With this endorsement theWildcat was plunged into the game. 

"Gimme dem bones. Hind laigs at res'. " The Wildcat subsided to thefloor. "Fingehs, lemme see kin you play de pickpocket jazz. Shoots fivedollahs. Wham! Ah reads a feeble five. Five stay alive. Five Ah craves. Lady Luck, boon me. P'odigal five, come home whah de fat calf waits. Bam! Th'ee an' a deuce. Ah lets it lay. Shoots ten dollahs. Shower downten dollahs an' see de train robbeh perform. Shower down, brothers. Bam! Seven! 'At's twins, but mah luck comes triple. Shoots de twenty. Shoots twenty dollahs. Heah de bloodhoun' bay. An' Ah reads ten miles. Chicago bound! Pay day, whah at is you? Lady Luck, don' git feeble. Angil leanin' on a cloud. De cloud busts! Angil, heah you is--readin'de five an' five. Five twins, how is you? Shoots fo'ty dollahs. "

One of the group spoke to the Backslid. "Mebbe 'at boy's learnin' deporter business, but he sho' got old in de bone school a long timeback. "

The Backslid Baptist grunted his reply. 

The Wildcat raked down all of his winnings except a five-dollar bill. "Shoots five dollahs. Shower down. Windy talk don't shake no possumsloose. Come an' git me on de top limb. Shoots five dollahs. Dynamitedice, bust de ol' safe do'. Ah craves action. Shoots ten dollahs. Fiftydollahs. "

"How much you got?" A cinnamon-coloured Croesus in the group spokesoftly into the clamour. 

The Wildcat turned to him. "Shoots a hund'ed does you crave speed. Shoots five hund'ed dollahs. "

The cinnamon-faced porter produced a roll of bills and stripped ahandful of greenbacks therefrom. 

"'At's five hund'ed dollahs. Roll 'em. "

"Gallopers, git right. "

The Wildcat gave the dice a Turkish bath, a manicure, and a carefulmassaging between the perspiring palms of his hands. 

He cast a handful of prepared ivory from him. The dice were festoonedwith equal parts of luck and technical skill, but their precisetrajectory was interrupted by a string of high joints and low centresin the track over which rambled the Panama Limited. 

"An' I reads--ace and deuce. "

The cinnamon-coloured boy picked up the money on the floor. 

"'At'll learn you. "

The Wildcat was silent. The Backslid Baptist, sharing the shadow of hisassociate's sudden cloud of black luck, spoke slowly to him. 

"C'm on heah, Wilecat. Us is nex' do' to bein' busted. "

In the wake of the Backslid Baptist the Wildcat ambled back through theswaying cars to the Mazeppa. He carried on his bowed shoulders a loadof misery big enough to bust a bottle of dynamite gin. 

The Backslid Baptist stretched himself full length on the long leatherseat of the smoking room. 

"Baptist, how come it I don' know. De baby gallopehs wuz spinnin' fo'seven. "

"Rough track an' de rocky road swerved 'em. Git to sleep. Us is due atChampaign at 8:10. Money come, money go. Whuteveh sleep you gits isthat much to de good. "

The Wildcat flopped down on the floor of the smoking room, but sleepwould not come to him. 

At half past seven the Backslid Baptist on the leather seat beganmumbling to himself. A little later he awakened. 

"Wilecat, whut dat noise?"

"Ain't heard no noise. " All the Wildcat had heard was the accents ofhis bank-roll bidding him a last farewell. 

"'At thumpin' noise. " The Backslid Baptist's ears, keenly attuned tothe turmoil of travel, distinguished in the sounds about him someunfamiliar puncture of the normal din. 

"Sounded lak beatin' a board wid a stick. "

"Kain't heah nothin'. "

The Backslid Baptist yawned. "Some ob dem early risers f'm de tallsticks sure to be up by now. When Ah starts makin' up de berths you kinsweep out de cah an' 'cumulate de sheets an' pillow cases. Stick 'em inde canvas bag in de linen closet an' take back de boy's clo'es he ginyou to press. "

The Wildcat traversed the length of the aisle back of a swinging broom. On the return trip he encountered the Backslid Baptist busily engagedin making up Lower 1. 

"Backslid, who dem two boys half way down de cah wid de red hats?"

"You means de boys wid de red fezants? Dem's a couple ob Potent Noblesob de Mysterious Mecca. All de Mysterious Mecca boys in de world ishavin' a gran' ruckus next month on de Pacific Coast. "

"How come dey start so early?"

"Dey falls by de wayside heah an' dere, an' dey starts early so as togit picked up by some worthy Brother wid steady laigs. 'At fat boy widde red fezant is de one whut had de gin hiccoughs. "

"Kain't see did he. "

"Gin'ally dey carries it noble. Dere's de little lady whut owns deparrot bird. "

The owner of the parrot bird was a left-over soubrette who had bust inHavana with a road production of The Sillies of 1492. The little ladyhad completed her spring drinking and was now en route to a big-timemeal-ticket scheduled to start from Chicago. 

She saw the Wildcat. 

"Porter, where is little Polly?"

"Yessum. I secluded 'at green chicken in de linen closet. Does youcrave him now?"

"Yes. I want to have her with me for breakfast--the poor lonesomedarling. "

"Accordin' to de words 'at varmint used last night, he's too tough tomake much of a brekfus'. "

The Wildcat went to the end of the car and opened the linen closetwherein he had cached the parrot. 

With the opening of the door the mystery of the thumping noise which heand the Backslid Baptist had heard was explained. In a low falsetto theparrot was repeating the two military commands which she had learned. 

"'Tenshun! At res'! 'Tenshun! At res'!"

Lily, the mascot goat, was contributing the last fragment of muscularenergy to the business of obeying orders. In response to the parrot'scommands the goat languidly flopped at rest on the floor of the linencloset and came to her feet at attention. 

"Lawd Gawd, Lily! At res' an' stay 'at way!"

Gratitude rang in the answering "Blaa" of Lily the goat. 

The Wildcat reached for the parrot. "You green debbil! Whut you mean, exercisin' mah mascot all night?"

"Quawk!" The parrot made a vicious swing at the Wildcat's reachinghand. 

"Leggo, you debbil!"

The green parrot, fuming in a rage compared to which nitric acid was acream puff, was restored to its Spring-drinking owner. 

"Lady, heah's de green demon. "

"Pretty Polly. What made her little feathers all mussed up?"

The Wildcat returned to his exhausted mascot. 

"'At green chicken's lucky does he git by widout gittin' his health an'stren'th mussed up befo' dis trip ends. At res', Lily, till I bringsyou some nutriment. Doggone ol' bird must have near wore you out. 'At'sde way wid dem mil'tary commands. Res' yo'se'f, Lily, till Ah bringsyo' brekfust. "

"Blaa!" answered Lily, weakly. 

The Wildcat detected a tone of hypocrisy, --something of falsegratitude--in the mascot's reply. He returned from the dining carcarrying two heads of lettuce for the mascot. He placed the lettuceunder the nose of the recumbent goat, but Lily refused to eat. 

"Fust time Ah eveh seed you slow up when de mess call blowed. Howcome?"

An instant later his roving eye discovered the "how come" of Lily'sloss of appetite. In a dark corner of the linen closet he saw a dozenfragments of white cloth. He hauled them out, and the light revealedthe hems of a covey of sheets and a half dozen pillow cases. Then theweb of a home-spun disaster met his eye. From the lower shelf of thelinen closet dangled the shredded legs of the trousers which theoccupant of Compartment B had given him to be pressed. 

"Goat, doggone you, come to 'tenshun! No wondeh you kain't eat lettuce, wid yo' insides crammed wid a ton ob linen an' half a pair ob pants fo'dessert. Me sympathizin' wid you, an' you an' de green chickenbanquetin' all night on 'spensive raiment! 'Ceptin' foh havin' to scrubde flo', I'd barbecue de blood outen yo' veins heah an' now. "

The sudden necessity of hiding the evidence confronted the Wildcat. 

"By rights I ought to ram de rest ob de pants down yo' neck. " TheWildcat picked up the ragged and frazzled trousers. A moment later heopened the door of the car platform and cast the remnants of Lily'sbanquet into the fleeting right-of-way. 

"'Spect some boy find dese an' say, 'Whah at's de man whut de train cutde laigs off of?' 'At's his trouble. Me--Ah's Chicago bound wid acahload ob trouble ob mah own. Main thing to do is to git off de trainwidout lettin' 'at boy in 'partment B know we's landed. "

He discussed the disaster of the trousers with the Backslid Baptist. 

"'At's de on'y way, " the porter conceded. "When us gits in we fo'gits'bout de boy widout de pants. Dey wuz his pants, Wilecat. Havin' nopants is his grief. He kin borrow some overalls f'm de cah cleaners, o'else he kin play he's a Injun an' roam nekked till de police gits him. Does us meet up wid de ol' Pullman 'spector Ah says 'No suh, Ah dunnohow come. ' 'At's 'at. "

"Sho' don't crave words wid no 'spector, " the Wildcat returned. "Disporter business de best job in de world. Ridin' all de time, seem' decountry--eatin' heavy, free ice wateh, gran' raiment, talkin' tofolks--No suh! Main thing Ah craves is to git hired by de Pullman boss. 'Spect Ah makes it all right, Baptis'?"

"You makes it easy. You's done learned de business dis mawnin', ain'tyou? Well, I gits you five recommendin' letters f'm a boy whut writes'em on Prairie Avenue, an' you gits hired. 

"Fust letter says, 'Ah knowed Wilecat goin' on ten yeahs, an' he don'tdrink. ' Nex' letter say, 'Wilecat jined de church when he wuz fouryeahs old an' bin a soldier ob de Lawd eveh since. ' Nex' letter say, 'Boy got to take keer ob his wife, mother an' father, an' six smallchillen. ' Nex' letter say, 'Wilecat sho' beats de worl' fo' readin', writin', an' 'rithmetic. '"

"Backslid, you knows Ah kain't read. "

"'At don't make no difference. Letter says so, don't it? Last lettersays you's honest, industrious, an reli'ble. "

"How come you so friendly wid dat Democrat letter-writin' boy?"

"How come 'Democrat'?"

"F'm whut you says he's champion liar ob de world. Sounds Democrat tome. Don' make no difference, though--just so's I gits de job. "

CHAPTER VII

Zing!

The owner of the red fez and the night-blooming hiccoughs cravedanother pillow and a table. The Wildcat delivered the table and fixedit into place. He returned to the linen closet to retrieve a pillowcase therefrom. When the door opened, Lily the mascot goat, tired ofthe dark confines of her retreat, burst forth and galloped down theaisle of the car. 

The Wildcat abandoned his pillow case industry and spent the next twominutes in rounding up his protégé. 

"You ramblin' wreck, come back heah befo' Ah makes a rug out ob yo'skin. "

He returned Lily to her jail and proceeded to deliver the second pillowto the owner of the alcohol snorts. In common with the rest of theoccupants of the car, that individual voiced his curiosity concerningthe animated mascot. 

"Son, who owns the goat?"

"Cap'n, suh, Ah owns him now, but some slaughter house man gwine to githim 'less he ca'ms down. "

"What'll you take for him?"

The Wildcat suddenly remembered his financial status. Hard money at themoment made a strong appeal. 

"Cap'n, suh, you means you craves to buy 'at goat?"

In the mind of the Potent Noble of the Mysterious Mecca had bloomed aGreat Idea, wherein the galloping Lily would provide entertainment incarload lots for the Convention-bound brethren of the Conclave. 

"Some days Ah'd sell 'at goat fo' a thin dime. Otheh days Ah'd give aboy a hund'ed dollahs for killin' him. "

"What'll you take for him cash down, f. O. B. Lower 7, car Mazeppa?"

The Wildcat studied for a moment, and then long months of associationclinched the tie which Lady Luck had woven between him and the prodigalLily. 

"Cap'n, suh, Ah spec' Ah wouldn't sell 'at goat fo' mo'n a milliondollahs. Me an' Lily fit so many battles togetheh in France and onboa'd de ol' iron boat comin' home 'at Ah kain't see no money bigenough to 'suage mah grief is we divo'ced. Bible says, 'Whither thegoat goes, me too. ' 'Spec Ah kain't sell him. "

The companion Noble across the table from the hiccoughing gentlemanoffered a suggestion. "Round 'em both up for the trip. The Pullmangang'll fix it for us. "

"Good scheme, Jim. The old bean isn't any too clear this morning or I'dthought of that myself. " The owner of the red fezant turned to theWildcat. 

"What's your name, son?"

"Dey named me Marsden, suh--Vitus Marsden--but folks calls me Wilecat. "

"If I can't buy the goat, I guess we'll have to negotiate the custodyof your feline corpus from the Pullman organization for the duration ofthe Big Show. "

"Yessuh. " The Wildcat did not understand the big words, but whenever hedid not understand it was his principle to smile and agree to anythingthat white gentlemen said. 

"Yessuh. Ain't it de truf'?" He returned to the smoking compartment, where the Backslid Baptist was auditing his tips. 

The Backslid Baptist was busy at the moment excavating a busted corkout of the neck of a queer looking square bottle. 

"Baptis', whut you got?"

"Smells lak equalizer. Wait till Ah gits dis cork out, an' us sees. "

"Whut dat sign say on de bottle?"

The Backslid Baptist inspected the label affixed to the flat side ofthe bottle. "Ol' sign reads 'Acrobatic Spirits of Pneumonia. ' Bam!Un-konkered de ol' cork. Smell dat. 'At learns you not to believe insigns. When yo' eyes sees one thing an' yo' nose sees another youbetteh believe yo' nose. " He took a long drag at the bottle and passedit over to the Wildcat. 

"Whuf! Ol' lady in Lower 6 felt poo'ly dis mawnin', but she 'sorbedth'ee drams f'm dis heah bottle, an' so far she's et twelve dollahs'wuth ob grub up ahaid in de dinin' cah. "

The Wildcat swung on to the "Acrobatic Spirits of Pneumonia, " lingeringat the spout for several disappointing seconds after the contents ofthe bottle had gurgled down his neck. 

"Whuf! Ah missed de pneumonia, Backslid, but Ah sho' feels acrobatic. How come de lady lose de bottle?"

"She done got careless when de spirits come. You better th'o 'atglassware away now an' git ready fo' tellin' de boss how you craves aporter's job. "

Half an hour later, leading his mascot goat and closely convoyed by theBackslid Baptist, the Wildcat walked down the platform in the darktrainshed of the station in Chicago. Throughout the long ride downPrairie Avenue to the habitation of the forger from whom therecommending letters were to be obtained the Wildcat's woolly bean spunwith the momentum which he had drained from the bottle abandoned by thecareless lady in Lower 6. 

An hour later, armed with five ironclad letters, he returned along theroute, arriving finally at the portals of the office building on WestAdams Street wherein Pullman porters are created from select brunethumanity. 

Presently, across a wide desk he confronted Authority. A kindlygentleman questioned him, and to the questions he replied with anassortment of impromptu lies whose range and ingenuity busted everyprevious record for careless language. 

Ten minutes later he was a hired man. 

"C'm on heah. 'At's all. " The Backslid Baptist at his elbow sensed thesuccessful conclusion of the interview. 

"You mean Ah's a porter?" the bewildered Wildcat asked when the pairhad gained the street level. 

"Ah'll say you is. "

"An' all de tips I gits is mine to keep?"

"Dey is previdin' you gits outen yo' trance an' takes yo' cah on de4:10. "

"Hot dam, Lily! C'm on heah. Us weahs a blue coat all de time an' don'tdo nuthin' but spend de money whut de white folks showers down. "

"You betteh make arrangements at some livery stable to p'vide board an'room fo' Lily whilst you is A. W. O. L. "

"How come? Whah at I goes de goat goes. "

"Not on de Pullman run. Ah dead-heads you once, an' de goat lak toruined eve'ybody in de cah. No suh! Kain't run no trains an' no mascotat de same time. De rule book leaves out goats, but does you lug Lilywid you, yo' fust run sho' is yo' last. "

The Wildcat faced the moment of a great decision. "Den dey won't be nofust trip. Cm on heah, Lily. Much 'bliged, Baptis'. Me an' Lily looksfo' a job whah at dey ain't no rules again' mascots. "

The Wildcat headed south along Michigan Avenue, and in a little whilehe and Lily were adrift in a sea of humanity. 

The Backslid Baptist grunted his disgust and went about his ownaffairs. 

CHAPTER VIII

At midnight the Wildcat and Lily pitched their lonely camp behind abillboard in South Chicago. 

"Sho' craves mah rations. You done noble wid de grass, Lily, but Ahkain't eat grass. Seems lak you kin nutrify yo'se'f wid whutevehvittles is laying 'round. "

In the dawn the Wildcat realized that his appetite had sprung up like amushroom over night. 

"Wisht us wuz back wid ol' Cap'n Jack in Memphis, whah at de ham-treeblooms th'ee times a day. "

At noon his stomach was the residence of a hunger panic. With hismascot trailing behind him, he headed toward the heart of the city. 

"Doggone 'at crap-shootin' hound. How come he clean me to mah lastnickel, Ah don' know. Lady Luck, whah at is you?"

An instant later, wearing a policeman's uniform and speaking a wildIrish language, Lady Luck descended upon the Wildcat. The MichiganAvenue traffic cop abandoned his post long enough to pounce upon hisprey. 

"What th' hell do yez mean prowlin' round th' Loop in broad daylightwid ivery man on th' force goin' crazy lookin' f'r yez? Come along widme. "

Ten minutes later, with the echoes of the patrol gong still ringing inhis ears, the Wildcat and Lily were hazed through the black portals ofan unfriendly looking police station. They faced the desk sergeant. 

"Boy, is your name Vitus Marsden?"

"Cap'n, yessuh. Folks gin'ally calls me Wilecat. "

The desk sergeant busied himself with the telephone at his elbow. Twominutes later he turned to the Wildcat. 

"Sit on that bench over there, " he said. 

The Wildcat sat down, and a black cloud of surmise floated across hisimmediate horizon. 

"Lily, Ah 'spect us is 'rested mebbe on 'count ob dem pants you etoffen de man in old 'partment B. Mebbe I'se took fo' 'sorbin' demAcrobatic Spirits whut Backslid consecrated to me. Mebbe de lady wid degreen chicken whut you et de feathers off ob done craved revenge. Mebbede ol' Pullman car man aims to make you work out de price of 'atlaundry you et in de linen closet. "

The Wildcat had no difficulty finding a dozen good reasons for hispresent embarrassment. He addressed a police officer near by. 

"Cap'n suh, whut fo' is me an' Lily sequestered heah in de jail?"

Before the policeman could answer, the march of events made reply. Through the swinging doors of the station filed a dozen strange lookingmen. These men wore baggy red trousers, and on each man's head was thered fez which marked him as being a Potent Noble of the MysteriousMecca. 

They descended upon the Wildcat. "Come on here, boy. Bring that goat. You and the mascot are due out on our special train twenty minutes fromnow. Here's your orders from the Pullman Company. You're on thepayroll, and so is the mascot goat. "

"Cap'n, suh, you means me an' Lily is headed west wid de red fezantgen'men?"

"That's it. "

"Hot dam! Lily, 'tenshun! Lady Luck, how come I doubt you?"

CHAPTER IX

The Wildcat expanded in the sunlight of Lady Luck's smile. 

"Lady Luck, how come I doubt you? Police folks, good-bye. Lily, 'tenshun! Come on heah. Us is a Pullman poteh. Ah craves mah rest. Le'sgo. "

Surrounded by an escort of Potent Nobles of the Mysterious Mecca, theWildcat marched from the portals of the Chicago police station, headedfor a west-bound train wherein he aimed to do the best he could in therôle of porter for his carload of nobles. 

At the train gates the party was delayed five minutes to permit theentrance of a motley crew of manacled aliens. 

"How come them boys festooned with so much jinglin' hardware?"

One of the Potent Nobles made reply. 

"Bad actors. "

"Cap'n, suh, who's dat black boy wid de straight hair and his head tiedup in de white rag?"

"Hindoo. "

"Some boy sho' must ob busted his head open, to need tyin' up so bad. "

Following the line of undesirables headed away from the land of thefree, Lily, the Wildcat, and the Potent Nobles filtered through thegates into the train shed. They made their way down a long string ofcoaches, arriving finally at the Mazeppa. 

"Here's the car. "

"Car, howdy. Lily, git aboa'd. "

"Slip out and get me a box of cigars before we leave. "

A Potent Noble shoved a banknote at the Wildcat. 

"Cap'n, yessuh. Would you mind tyin' Lily on de front vegetable ob decar till I gits back?"

Twelve minutes later, carrying in his hand a box of cigars, theWildcat's second entrance was blocked by a ticket chopper who had asquare jaw and a sense of duty. 

"Where's your ticket?"

"Ain't got no ticket. I's de poteh wid de Mysterious Mecca gen'men. Le'me by. "

"Don't try to pull none o' that stuff around me. "

"Man, leave me by!"

Armed with the conviction of authority and clad in a parade-leadingPrince Albert whose brass buttons reassured him, the Wildcat violatedone of the first principles of his life, which was never to oppose awhite man. He slid past the ticket chopper, ducked into the gate, andboarded the train wherein rolled the Mazeppa. He caught a touristPullman three cars apart from the rolling residence of the MysteriousMecca delegation and landed breathless in the open vestibule. 

"Fust thing old Backslid, what learned me de po'teh bizness, said to dowas to close up de vegetable. "

This he proceeded to do. He turned and entered the car. For a secondtime he slid past blue-coated authority, in the form of a United StatesDeputy Marshal who was temporarily chaperoning the departing aliens. 

"Hold on, there: where you headed for?"

"I's de poteh what takes care ob de Noble Fezant boys in de bluepants. "

The deputy marshal temporarily on guard had a fixed official rule ofconduct: never take a chance. The Wildcat's words sounded crazy enoughto entitle him to a membership card in the Traveling Nut Club. 

"Git in that car and sit down before I blow your head off! Where's yourhandcuffs?"

"Cap'n, how come? Handcuffs seems so confidential. "

Here, for some reason unknown to the Wildcat, was the hand of the law. Inside of his parade-leading Prince Albert the Wildcat shivered andshrunk three sizes. His brow wrinkled in perplexity beneath the velvethat, and the bright yellow plumes thereon dropped in sudden melancholy. 

"Lady Luck, whah at is you?"

"Mumblin' to himself and wearing the craziest rig in the car--goodthing I rounded up that bird. "

The deputy marshal added another star to his crown. "Plumb bughouse. "

He cast his eye over the occupants of the car. "Back to Russia. Trysome of your ideas on them Bullshevik birds. "

He again addressed the Wildcat. 

"Cut out that mumblin'. All you got to do is keep still. "

"Cap'n, yessuh. " The Wildcat removed his velvet hat and subsided in aseat beside the Hindoo agitator. 

"How come you got your head all tied up, boy?" he asked the Hindoo. 

The Anarchist didn't see fit to reply. 

At Omaha the guards from the western division relieved their homesickeastern brothers. 

"Twenty-three of them, " announced the man who had captured the Wildcat. "Watch that rag-head Hindoo and that nigger in the fourth seat. He'sgittin' bad, all the time mumblin' to himself about Lady Luck and Lily;he believes he's a porter. "

Over the miles official carelessness rode in the carload of bad actors. Only when the train stopped were the guards vigilant. 

Sagged down in his seat beside the Hindoo, the Wildcat reviewed atolerably measly past. 

"How come?"

There was no accounting for what white men would do to a boy, butsomewhere in the jumble the Wildcat sensed that he had been the victimof a mistake. 

"Mebbe I's headed fo' jail 'count o' runnin' past de man at de gates. "

After a thirty-minute delay at Granger the Wildcat saw a train leavethe yards. On the platform of the observation car, surrounded by half adozen Blue Fezant Nobles of the Mysterious Mecca, he saw Lily speedingaway into an isolated future. 

"Lily, you hoodoo, good-bye. Lady Luck, here I is. "

CHAPTER X

1. 

In the early days of detachable cuffs and ten-cent whisky there hadbeen a difference of opinion manifest in the railroad surveying partyat Granger. 

Part of the gang headed northward to the salmon country; the rest ofthem blazed a trail to the southwest, where the sand fleas live onartichokes. 

Lily and her escort were headed southwest towards San Francisco. Presently the Wildcat's car was cut into a train whose trail lednorthward through Idaho and Oregon. 

Lady Luck meanwhile had a hard time keeping up. Exhausted finally withher efforts, she set the stage a few hundred miles ahead and lay downand went to sleep. While she was sleeping a pair of hard boiled actorsin the drama rummaged around in the woodshed back of a log house nearthe banks of the Columbia river. 

Pete, a skinny character with ears like a loving cup, raked three wheatsacks out of a pile of lumber. 

Into two of these sacks he cut a pair of holes two inches in diameterand about four inches apart. The third sack he left intact. He handedone of the sacks to his partner. 

"Here she is; see if it fits you. "

A fat bad actor by the name of Bill slipped the sack over his head. "Little narrow between the eyes. "

Three hours later these two agents of Lady Luck engaged in a littlehard work in their search for easy money. The product of their energytook shape in the form of a pyramid of old ties piled between the railsof the line over which the Wildcat was approaching in histwelve-wheeled cage. 

Ten minutes before the train was due and while her crossing whistlescould be heard in the dusk five miles up-stream, the two bad actorsscrambled up the south bank of the Columbia. The skinny one poured aquart bottle of coal oil on the pile of ties and lighted it. The fatman lighted a cigarette. 

Both of them drew the wheat sacks over their heads. The fat man carriedthe third wheat sack slung at his waist on a string which went aroundhis shoulder. 

The stillness of evening was broken by the roar of a locomotivewhistle, and an instant later the wheels of the train smoked andscreeched against the chattering brake shoes. In the cab ahead thehandle of the air valve was slammed into the big notch. 

The flagman swung down from the rear end of the train and ambled backalong the track for half the regulation distance. He set his lantern inthe middle of the track and rolled a cigarette. Three lanterns flashedalong the train, where the train countered a locked door. Inside thecar, on a seat to see what was going on. 

Presently they found out and took their places beside the fireman andengineer, hands raised. 

With his wheat sack dangling more heavily on his hip as he progressedthrough the train, the fat bad actor skimmed the Pullman cream on hisway forward to the plated jewelry in the day coach. 

On the vestibule of the Wildcat's car he encountered a locked door. Inside the car, on a seat beside the rag-head Hindoo, the Wildcatcurled himself up as a preface to twelve long chapters of easy sleep. 

"Sho's noble when de train stops; boy can sleep peaceful 'thout gittin'his insides scrambled. "

"Bam!"

The fat bad actor shot the lock off the door of the Wildcat's car. 

"Boy sure can sleep noble. Good mawnin--"

The rest of the sentence was action and not words. On the echo of theshot from the fat bad actor's gun the Wildcat leaped automatically. Heran fast enough to sidestep two more shots that crashed into the nightafter him. The Hindoo passed him in the darkness. 

Down along the track the Wildcat's feet tore up great gobs ofright-of-way. He passed the flagman, going like a brunet typhoon tendays overdue. After the first mile he began putting his feet down alittle slower before he stepped on them. At the second mile his hindlegs were dragging, and then suddenly, instead of the hard groundbeneath his feet, there was nothing but a black void. 

He rolled a few times like a 'possum falling off a limb. He landed onthe hard sand of the river bank. Night had fallen. 

"Lady Luck, here us is. Whah at is we?"

The Wildcat curled up and went to sleep. 

He woke up five minutes later. "Sho' is peaceful. How come I's sothirsty?"

Beside him the river offered him a solution to his thirst problems. Onall fours he crawled to the river edge. He shoved his bow under thewater and nearly sank himself absorbing as much of the Columbia riveras could flow into his wide mouth. 

"Whuff! Sho' is noble water. "

The black rippling water before him was suddenly shot with silver. Thenit became a solid glistening black. A school of smelt, seeking thequiet water of the bank, fought their way upstream. The Wildcat reacheda tentative exploring paw into the stream of fish. 

"Fish, howdy. De table sho' is set. Come out heah. "

With his bare hands he snatched ashore a breakfast four sizes too bigfor his optimistic estimate of his stomach's capacity. 

"Quit floppin'. Ole Wilecat's done caught you. " He felt for the box ofPullman matches in the pocket of his shirt, beneath the folds of theparade-leading Prince Albert. Here was food and a chance to sleep. Withthe Wildcat, all was well. 

He accumulated a pile of firewood from the river bank, and presently agreat fire was blazing. For an hour he gorged himself on smelt. 

"Whuff! Sho's noble fish. Now I sees kin I sleep me. "

The twinkling stars rattled in their orbits in cadence to the Wildcat'ssnores. Sufficient unto the night was the evil thereof. Here, exceptfor a few sand fleas, was peace. The Wildcat snuggled deeper into theintimate environment of the sand about him. His lower jaw dropped, andhis tongue lolled out less than a foot. Three or four mosquitoes landedon him and did a little boring, but the Wildcat slept on. Presently thehalo of fish about him quit flopping. In the dark waters of the river'smargin their myriad brethren fought their way upstream. The Wildcatmumbled in his sleep, "Lady Luck sure done noble. I sleeps mos' all de time. I don' give a dog-gone If de sun don't nevah shine. "

2. 

In the Cascades there had been berries enough for the bears and for theIndians. Now that the salmon run was heralded in the Columbia by thelittle fish scouts, all of the scattered members of the Flathead tribenot otherwise engaged coagulated from their several loafing grounds andheaded for Memloose Island to pay their annual respects to the ghost ofthe King Salmon. 

Included in the tribe were a few solid citizens. Some of these werecollege graduates. John Running Bear, better known to the business menof The Dalles as John Franklin, left his tailored clothes at home andpainted his brown body with yellow ochre. He stained his arms and facewith the tribal marks of his people. He drove in his twelve-cylindercar to a point near the upstream tip of Memloose Island, whereon theFlathead salmon dance was to be held. He parked his car in a thicket ofwillows. 

"Safe enough, " he said to his companion. "If some bundle-stiff or somedrifter from a sheep camp up the line needs the old wagon more than Ido, he's welcome to it. Let's go. "

At dawn Running Bear and his companions encountered a hundred of theirfellows. From the camp the smoke of the cooking fires lifted in thestill air. Running Bear opened a tin of chicken. He sighed. 

"This is the last civilized meal for the next six days. "

He breakfasted slowly, lingering over his coffee, and then halfreluctantly the last trace of civilization's veneer was cast aside. 

"Clee Hy Yah Skookum Kum chuck. Waugh!"

3. 

Half a mile upstream from the Indian camp the Wildcat greeted the dawn. Building a quick fire, he looked about him at the wrinkled little fish, drying in the early morning sunlight. Slithering past him in the waterstill persisted the mad rush of racing myriads. He threw the dead fishback into the stream and raked out a fresher breakfast. 

He poulticed a dozen fish with maple leaves and threw them in theglowing coals of his fire. Ten minutes later he again began thebusiness of gorging himself on free fish. 

"Don't cost me nuthin'. " He clawed the water for another dozenhandfuls. "Free fish, howdy doo. 

 "I eats when I can git it. I sleeps mos' all de time. "

Gorged to the bursting point, the Wildcat rolled over in the warmsunlight. He preferred not to go to sleep again, but in five minutes hewas snoring along at his old sixty-mile gait. He slept all day. 

He was discovered and surrounded at evening by Running Bear and therest of the tribe. 

Running Bear sized up the situation and pulled off a pow-wow with threeor four of his companions. They arrived at a verdict. 

"A little black-face vaudeville might liven things up. These blastedtribal ceremonies need a cabaret attachment to jazz them up. How aboutit, redskins?"

"Let's go. "

The verdict was unanimous. 

Somewhere in the Wildcat's dreams there presently developed a rhythm inwhich the cadence of dancing feet punctuated his slumbers. His eyesopened finally, and within the range of his vision passed a parade ofleaping figures. To his ears came the regular booming beat of adeerskin tom-tom, punctuated by an occasional blood-curdling yell. 

His memory failed him. 

"How come dis voodoo bizness?"

He sat up. He got to his feet and instinctively crouched to a runningposition. 

The ring of dancing warriors about him tightened up. 

"Lady Luck, whah is you?"

Running Bear lifted a flint-tipped spear over his head and emitted ashriek compared to which the Rebel yell was a chirp from the weakenedlungs of the dove of peace. 

In spite of his fish-distended anatomy, the Wildcat shrivelled to boy'ssize. 

Running Bear emitted several mouthfuls of language. 

"Naw suh, not me. " The Wildcat denied everything. "I ain't only a fieldhan'. Lemme by, boy. Whah at's yo' pants? How come you runnin' aroundnekked?"

"Waugh!"

Six Indians seized the Wildcat, and a moment later he was seated in thestern of a twenty-foot skiff, which presently embarked upon the surfaceof the Columbia. Beside the Wildcat sat Running Bear, speaking a fluentmixture of Flathead and Chinook. 

In time with Running Bear's measured periods, the Wildcat rolled hiseyes. Now and then when the Indian's sense of humour got the best ofhim he varied his Chinook jargon with Wild shrieks of laughter. 

"Sounds like dem crazy folks in dat car comin' from Chicago. Seems likede whole worl' done got crowded wid fools. What you laffin' at, boy?"

In a little while the party landed at Memloose Island. Before them, rising sharply against the evening sky, drooping cottonwoods liftedhigh above an undergrowth of willows. The party marched down a littletrail for half the length of the island, and then, at a point where thetrail divided into the sombre interior of the wooded terrain, they leftthe sunlight. 

After a march of a hundred yards they came upon a clearing. About theclearing in the fringing woods were fifty rickety structures lifted onpoles. On each of these, with its grinning skull lying towards theeast, lay a skeleton. 

The Wildcat began to sweat. He counted a dozen skeletons and added afew dozen prayers to his perspiration. In a green alcove opening fromthe wider clearing seven skeletons stood erect in a ring about a flatstone. 

His captors carried the Wildcat to this stone and held him. A littleapart from him Running Bear opened the services with a yell whichechoed like a chorus from the inferno. 

The Wildcat gave up hope. 

"They sho' got me. What dey is I don' know. Lemme go, boys. "

The smoke from a dozen fires lifted in the clearing. Staggering in fromhalf a dozen paths came as many painted warriors, each bearing on hisback a salmon nearly as long as its red-skinned carrier. 

Running Bear abandoned the vernacular for a moment and dropped intoEnglish. 

"The Gods of the waters have sent the salmon. The black man can feastwith his red brothers. "

"Them words sure sounds noble. How come you pester me talkin' voodootalk?"

"After the feast the fires of sacrifice will be lighted. It is writtenthat one of our number shall be burned at the stake. "

To the Wildcat's ears this sounded homelike, but not reassuring. 

"Lemme go! Lemme go!"

He leaped from the rock and plunged through the fringing skeletons. Running Bear and a dozen of his companions loped along after theWildcat. The galloping party covered the length of the island. RunningBear and his companions deployed in open order, to permit the Wildcatto double on his trail; but that panic-stricken individual had fixedhis course, and he sailed true to it. 

He headed for a twenty-foot bank, and his racing legs did not stopuntil the swirling waters of the Columbia had closed heavily over them. 

Running Bear, who had followed as swiftly as his civilized muscleswould permit, gazed anxiously at the swimming Wildcat for a moment, toreassure himself of his victim's safety. 

"Go to it, " he commented. "You'll make the mile in nothing flat withthat panic crawl. " He watched the Wildcat until the current swept himaround the bend downstream. 

"He's safe, " Running Bear commented. "On with the dance. "

He resumed the redskin rôle of a distant yesterday. 

"Waugh!"

4. 

In the gathering dusk the Wildcat swam and floated for a miledownstream in the currents of the Columbia; then under the insistentdrag of a wide-swinging eddy he headed for the leading fences of agreat salmon wheel whose plunging buckets dived into the black currentsand lifted with their gamble of fifty-pound salmon. Now and then aheavier fish would punctuate the monotony of the catch. 

Flopping among their more substantial companions a fleet of leapingsteel heads added splashes of silver to the Chinook background. 

The swimming Wildcat saw above him the descending framework of the fishwheel. He tried vainly to escape from the cage of wire netting fallingfrom the sky upon him, but he was captured like a moth lost in abutterfly net. 

"Lady Luck, good-bye. "

The Wildcat dragged in a deep lungful of air as he went under. Fiveseconds later, preceded by three heavy-set salmon, he slithered down atrough into the storage bin in the hull of the fish wheel. About himwere plunging fish. He looked at the square of evening light whichglimmered through the hatch. 

"Whah at is I?"

A fifty-pound salmon, sliding down the trough, struck fairly againstthe Wildcat's stomach. 

"Fish, how come?"

Another leaping salmon slapped the Wildcat with his tail. 

"Don't kick me wid yo' tail. I'll bust you in de haid. "

The Wildcat struck wildly at the offending salmon. He slipped and fellinto a vast fighting mass of lively fish. He wrestled with fins andtails. 

He called loudly for Captain Jack and for Lady Luck. Once he thoughthis call was answered, but for half an hour the Wildcat led an unstableslippery life. He sought a bed of inert fish, only to awaken five orsix gasping demons who flopped upon him heavily. He reached in vain forthe hatch coaming five feet above him. 

Half erect and with the deck timbers almost in his grasp, time andagain his feet slipped from the back of a wriggling salmon. 

"Dog-gone you, stand still; get pacified. " He hauled off and slammed akick at a salmon which had tripped him. 

"I'll bust you in de belly. "

He landed with his equator submerged by nine nervous fish. He sought toembrace a giant salmon. The Chinook slapped at him with his tail. 

"Don' kick me wid yo' tail. I'll bust you in de nose. "

He swung wildly at the salmon and was completely submerged. He camesnorting to the surface of the mass. 

"Whuff! Fish, git ca'm. Does yo' lay still I does. "

5. 

On deck near the hatch coaming in the early night Mr. OgaloffSkooglund, the proprietor of the fish wheel, massaged his front teethwith Copenhagen snuff and figured his winnings. 

"If de salmon fisk been running like dis tree day more Aye cleans oopsax t'ousand doller. "

An echo from some unseen source seemed to reply. 

Mr. Skooglund called loudly to the echo and then decided that he wascrazy, for the call was repeated from the river bank. 

The proprietor of the fish wheel yelled a greeting into the darkness. 

Down the bank into the circle of light cast by a dim lantern came a fatman and a skinny individual with ears like a loving cup. 

The fat man carried a wheat sack whose heavy contents jingled when hesat it on the deck of the fish wheel. 

The pair were out of breath. The owner of the fish wheel steppedforward to try his English on his nocturnal visitors. 

"Hello, fellers, " he said. 

The fat man answered, "Evenin'. "

The skinny man tightened up on his ears for an instant and swung at Mr. Skooglund with a short club. 

"Good evening, " he said, accenting the blow. The Swede took the countwith a grunt. 

The fat man and the skinny one picked up Mr. Skooglund and carried himto the open hatch. Feet first they dropped him upon the slithering massof salmon five feet below. 

"He might drown. What did you hit him so hard for?"

"No chance. He ain't hurt--he'll sleep two or three hours. I only hithim light. You can't kill these fish fighters hittin' 'em in the head, anyway. Ivory--who's that?"

The fish wheel was being boarded by another visitor. 

"Talk fish. You an' me owns the boat. We ain't seen nobody. " The skinnyman whispered quickly to his companion. "Kick that sack in the hold. "

The wheat sack with its clinking contents was cast into the open hatch. 

The Wildcat made another futile leap at the hatch coaming, just in timeto catch the impact of the wheat sack and its jingling contents. 

"How come?"

Then he twisted away from there and groaned a groan in which rumbledthe anguished accents of horror. In the dim light he saw Mr. Skooglund's face festooned completely by floundering salmon. Fear frozehim. 

"Salmon wid a man's face. I sho' is crazy. "

Then to his ears from the deck of the fish wheel came the divertingtones of a voice which he had heard before. "The fat bad actor!"

"The fat bad actor!"

He listened for a moment to reassure himself, and then the motive ofrevenge was added to the other sources of inspiration which tensed themuscles of his legs. He leaped once more for the hatch coaming. Thistime he grabbed it. Silently he swung himself to the deck of the boat. Panting with his efforts, he lay quiet in the darkness. 

In the dim lantern light he saw three figures. 

The fat bad actor was speaking. "Naw, sir. Sheriff, we ain't seennobody. We just bought this here wheel from the fellow that owned ityesterday. What did you say them train robbers looked like?"

The Wildcat snaked himself forward toward the fat bad actor. On the wayhis hand encountered the blade of an oaken oar. Thereafter for the nexttwenty feet he trailed the oar after him. He came within range andabove the head of the fat bad actor lifted the heavy handle of the oar. 

"Bam!"

On the instant the Sheriff leaped for the shadows. Out of the darknesscame his voice. 

"Don't move! Nobody!"

"Cap'n, I don' crave to move, an' de fat boy kain't, any more dan dedead man in de cellar. "

The Sheriff's voice came out of the night clear as the cold stars. "Cuta piece of that rope and tie this man's hands. "

The Wildcat was a little slow about tying a white man's hands, but heglanced at the blue-nosed equalizer dimly outlined in the Sheriff'ssteady hand and accelerated his gestures. 

"Tie up that other man layin' on the deck. Tie them two men together. "

"Cap'n, yessuh. How 'bout de dead boy layin' in de boat cellar?"

The Sheriff, fearing a ruse, hesitated for only a moment. 

"Drop a rope down there and crawl down where he is. Tie it under hisarms and then come back and haul him up. "

"I's skeered to touch dat boy; feared he come back and follow me. "

The Sheriff swung the gun at the Wildcat. 

"Hurry up, before I spatter a hole through you. "

"Cap'n, yessuh. " The Wildcat made a line fast and threw the end of itinto the hull of the fish wheel. He retrieved Mr. Skooglund from hisenvironment of flopping salmon and tied the line under the arms of theinert man. He scrambled back on deck and hauled the Swede after him. 

"Get a bucket of water and throw it on him. "

Under this ungentle treatment the victim presently opened his eyes. Hereached an unsteady hand to his head and inspected a knob thereon thesize of an egg. 

"Yust ven I hear de little angels iss singing, de earthquake troo dechurch down on me. "

His vision encountered the Sheriff and the Wildcat. 

"Was any salmon saved?"

The Sheriff reassured him. 

"You had a wallop on the head. You're all right now. " He abandoned Mr. Skooglund for a moment and turned to the Wildcat. 

"Where's the dividend?"

"Cap'n, how come?"

"Come through with the clean up. You got enough watches and rings fromthem passengers to sink this craft. "

"Mebbe it's de bag. "

Convoyed by the swinging muzzle of the Sheriff's gun, the Wildcat divedagain into the open hatch and returned presently with the jinglingwheat sack swung about his shoulders. 

The Sheriff inspected the contents. 

"That's it. "

He turned to the Swede. 

"You able to walk?"

It seemed that Mr. Skooglund could navigate on his hind legs. The fatbad actor still lay unconscious on the deck. The Wildcat had done agood job with the oar, and it took six buckets of water to bring thefat man out of his slumbers. The quartette preceded the Sheriff downthe narrow gang plank to the bank. They made their way a mile upstreamand came upon the Sheriff's horse, hitched fast to a cottonwood on theriver bank. The Sheriff fired his revolver three times in the air. Halfan hour later he yelled loudly, and an answering call came from thedistance through the night. 

"That's the rest of the gang. "

The party was joined presently by half a dozen riders. Two hours laterthe Wildcat, heavily ironed, rode beside Mr. Skooglund in the smokingcar of the train headed for The Dalles. Dawn was breaking as theSheriff and his companions marched up the street from the station. 

Presently, in a cell apart from the rest of the world, the Wildcatheard the clanking of the heavy bolts which made the cell door abarrier. 

"Lady Luck, how come?"

6. 

Lady Luck was on the job. At eleven o'clock that morning the fat badactor confessed, and in his confession the Wildcat was cleared. 

A Deputy brought a telegram to the Sheriff. The Sheriff read it. 

"Thousand dollars, hey? Looks to me like that nigger deserves thereward. " The Sheriff was honest. "Fetch him in here. "

The Wildcat was hazed into the Sheriff's presence. 

"The railroad is paying a thousand dollars reward for roundin' up themtwo men. Maybe they'd got loose if you hadn't nailed that one in thehead. I'll give you a letter to the Portland office and you can go downthere and get your money. "

"Cap'n, yessuh. Hot dam! Fish always was lucky with me. "

Mr. Skooglund augmented the reward with a personal offer. 

"Any time you wanting a salmon fisk I give you one free. "

"Cap'n, suh, I sho' is much obliged, but if I neveh see a fish again, dat's twice too soon fo' me. "

CHAPTER XI

The Wildcat felt noble. Against yesterday's clouds tomorrow's skies layblue. The Sheriff's office at The Dalles was a comfortable placewherein to wait for the thousand-dollar reward which Lady Luck hadshowered down on her prodigal protégé. 

Half asleep, the Wildcat mumbled to a buzzing fly. "'At's it. Tryin' tobust yo' brains out on de window glass. 'At's how come you ain't gotnone. Cravin' to git loose all de time. S'pose you git loose? Whah atwould you go? Some ol' spidah'd git you de fust mile. Ca'm yo'se'f. Heah you is in de sunshine an' all warmed up. You jess likefolks--neveh knows when you's lucky. "

The Wildcat's soliloquy was interrupted by a verbal volley from theSheriff. "Here's your letter. Take it down to the railroad office inPortland; they'll pay you the thousand-dollar reward for helpingcapture that pair of train robbers. "

"Cap'n, yessuh. Neveh seed so much money. Sho' come easy. "

"Come easy, go easy. I suppose you'll load yourself up on square-facegin and get rolled the first night you're in town. "

"No, suh, not me! I aims to 'vest mah money in de fried smelt business. Right now I's a Pullman porter. In Poteland mebbe I sees kin I buymyself free. Anyway, I starts me a smelt fish business. River's full obol' smelt fish. I ketches me a wagon load. I builds me a fire in mahfish wagon, an' when de fish is fried I sells 'em two bits a pan to dePoteland niggers. Neveh seed a nigger 'at wouldn't trade two bits fo' abelly full o' fish. "

"Good-bye. Good luck with your smelt fish enterprise. " The Sheriffterminated the interview. 

The Wildcat stowed his thousand-dollar-reward letter in the insidepocket of the parade-leading Prince Albert which had seen temporaryservice as a Pullman porter's uniform. 

He made his way to the railroad station and sat down at a point where asplash of sunlight dived into a pool of heat which radiated from thewall of the depot. For a little while his neck muscles held his headerect, and then, with his drooping eyelids, his head fell forward. 

His meandering tongue offered an irresistible invitation to themumbling fly which had escaped with the Wildcat from the Sheriff'soffice. The fly enjoyed the viscous environment until he succeeded ingetting himself all squashed up in an instinctive gesture back of whichwere the clutching fingers of the Wildcat's swinging hand. 

"Fly, how come you so confidential? 'At's mah pussonal tongue. On yo'way. " The buzzer was batted into oblivion. 

A moment later the roar of an incoming train sounded in the Wildcat'sears. "Fly sho' was handy. Sho' did me a good turn wakin' me up. Mebbedey's got brains just like folks, else how come dey knows when it'strain time?"

He boarded the train and settled down in a seat in the smoking car. 

A Pullman porter from the twelve-wheeled battleship on the aft end ofthe train came forward and encountered the Wildcat. "Mawnin', boy; whahat you bound?"

"Poteland. "

"You a Poteland boy?"

The Wildcat indulged in a little autobiography. "Not me. I 'filiateswid de Pullman company a long time back, conveyin' a westbound carloadof Potent Nobles ob de Mystic Mecca wid blue Fezants. Us got divo'cedsomewhere. Dey an' mah mascot goat gits drug to San F'mcisco. I gitspenned up wid a rag-head Hindoo boy an' some crazy folks in anothehtrain. I jines me in a ruckus wid train robbers. Den I busts loose, an'some Indian boys starts in to barbecue me. I swims myself free an' deol' Sheriff gives me a thousan' dollahs fo' ketchin' 'em. Wish they'dbeen a dozen. "

"Boy, I seed so many liars I got so I b'lieves lies, but yo' sho'strains me. "

The Wildcat fished around in his parade-leading Prince Albert andproduced the evidence. "Read dis letter. See does I strain you. "

The infidel read the letter. He looked at the Wildcat. "Is yo' nameVitus Marsden?"

The Wildcat acknowledged his verbal label. "Folks gin'ally knows me asWilecat, 'count o' me bein' de mil'tary Wilecat ob de Fust ServiceBattalion in France fo' so long. "

The Pullman porter extended his hand. "Sho' glad to meet up wid you, Mistah Marsden. Mah name's Daniels. Dey gin'ally calls me Dwindle. "

"Proud to meet you, Mistah Daniels. Did you come out ob de lion's denor de Navy?"

"Neither one. I'se a Bummin'ham Republican. "

The Wildcat reached for his letter. "Gimme back dat letter. No boy f'mAlabam' is safe wid a money letter. "

"How come?"

"Wust cleanin' I ever got in a' cube ruckus come off a Bummin'ham boy. "

"Money come, money go. What you gonna' do when you gits yo' thousan'dollahs?"

"Fish business. I aims to start me a fried fish wagon in Poteland. Figgah out de profits. Heah's de ol' rivah dusty wid smelt fish. Heah'sde Poteland niggahs cravin' to 'sorb fish mawnin', night, an' noon. Igits me some fryin' pans an' I cooks me up some fresh fish every day. Dey don't cost me nuthin'. I collects two bits a panful. 'At runs intobig money. "

Dwindle Daniels did some fast financial thinking. 

"How does you aim to cook fish an' ketch 'em bofe, wid de Columbiariver six miles f'm Poteland?"

The Wildcat hadn't thought of this detail. He made his associate aproposition. 

"Dwindle, s'pose you 'filiates with me. Us ketches de fust wagon-load;den I fries fish an' collects de money whilst you ketches mo' fish. "

"De fust day 'at's all right. Second day I's treasurer. "

"Suits me. "

For the next twenty miles the two fish financiers dived into thedetails of their commercial venture, and when the train slowed for thebridge leading across the Willamette to Union Station in Portland theirplans were completed. 

At the street gates of Union Station a policeman directed the Wildcatto the railroad offices. He lost the trail and wandered around for halfan hour, but finally, with the assistance of a hundred questions, hemade port. 

An elevator boy directed him to the treasurer's offices, whereinpresently he received a slip of blue paper in the lower right handcorner of which was the treasurer's signature. 

"Cap'n, suh, what's dat?"

"That's a check for a thousand dollars. "

"Dis papah?"

The Wildcat looked sideways at the check. "Whah at does I git de hardjinglin' money?"

"Any bank. Sign your name on the back of that check and any bank willcash it. "

"Cap'n, suh, I ain't nevah learned to write. Kin you all help me widdis papah?"

The clerk signed the Wildcat's name and underneath the signature theWildcat made his mark. 

"Stick here a minute and I'll get the money for you. "

The clerk departed and returned presently with two thick packages often dollar bills. 

"Money, howdy doo! 'At's more cash den I seed since payday inBo'deaux. "

Twenty minutes later the Wildcat languished in the lobby of aramshackle hotel below Burnside Street, where he had a meeting datewith his fish partner. 

Dwindle Daniels at the moment was meshed in the net of officialbusiness. 

To pass the time the Wildcat got fraternal with a languid brunet knownas the Spindlin' Spider. The Spider's loose anatomy was draped with acomplicated checked suit. 

"Pardner, whah at kin a boy git a slug ob gin?"

"Cuba, mebbe. Gin comes high 'round heah, I knowed one drink to cost aboy ninety days. "

"Ninety days, ninety dollars. Sometimes ol' square face gin sho' isworth it. "

"Does yo' crave licker ten dollars' worth, sometimes dey's a white mulehitched in de back room. "

The Wildcat pulled off a diplomatic boner. He displayed his thousanddollar roll and peeled therefrom a ten-dollar bill. 

"Whah at kin I trade dis frog skin fo' a ra'r o' licker?"

Internally the Spindln' Spider suddenly awakened. He showed no outwardsign of the agitation which the sight of the money had inspired, butfor half an hour he played heavy politics, and thereafter, in a companyof half a dozen hard-boiled crap shooters, the Wildcat began to pay forthe indiscreet display of his cash. 

"Leave dis Pullman boy take a r'ar at de clickers. "

"'At's me. Hand me dem bones. C. O. D. --come on, dice! Field han's, rally round. Shoots fifty dollars. Shower down, brothers. Eagle bones, see kin you fly. Bam! I reads seven. I lets it lay. Shoots a hund'eddollars! Fade me crazy, folks, fade me! Bam! I reads six--four. Slowdeath. Resurrection dice, an' I reads four--six. "

The Wildcat hauled down part of his winnings. 

"Shoots a hundred dollahs. Shower down, brothers. Spark in de powdeh!Both barrels. Right an' left. Bam! An' dey reads 'leven. Mowin' money. Us does a cash business. I lets it lay. Shower down yo' money!"

The Spindlin' Spider faced the Wildcat. "Boy, you donates. "

"Don't sass me. Headed home wid feathers in yo' teeth. Telegraph dice, click fo' de coin. Bam!"

The Spider exercised his privilege of grabbing the dice before they hadstopped rolling. As far as the Wildcat's naked eye could see, the samedice were rolled back at him, but as a matter of fact the Wildcat'sdice nestled close against the epidermis of the Spindlin' Spider'sright palm. 

The dice that had been returned were festooned with misfortune. TheWildcat had overlooked a bet. He curried the gallopers to blood heat inhis magenta palm. "Houn' dog headed home wid rabbit hair in yo' teeth!Turkey dice, gobble dat coin. Bam!--How come!"

An ace-deuce bloomed in the garden of chance. 

The Spindlin' Spider faced the Wildcat. "Loses nuthin' but yo' money, boy. Roll 'em. "

The Wildcat clipped his roll for another hundred. "Shoots a hund'ed. Shower down, fiel' han's! Dice hammer, drive de gold spike! Ten-o-see!An' I reads ace-dooce. How come I miss?"

The Spider repeated his comforting reminder: "Loses nuthin' but yo'money, brother. Roll 'em. "

The Wildcat pared another stratum from his dwindling roll. "Shoots ahund'ed dollars. Grass cuttehs, reap dem greens! Fade me an' die poor. Bam! An' I reads--ace-dooce! Doggone, how come I set fire to deChris'mus tree?"

"Ca'm yo'se'f. " The Spindlin' brother dished out a little advice as hepicked up his winnings. "What fo' you talk so much? You must think disis a peace conflooence. Roll 'em. "

Starting in the sunshine of Lady Luck's smile, the Wildcat cleared thehurdles of financial ruin and rambled into the stretch soggy with acloudburst of hard luck. He staked his last pair of ten dollar bills ona throw whose momentum carried him to the cleaners. 

The Spindlin' Spider urged him to lay further contributions on thealtar of chance. 

"I'se done. How come? Neveh seed such a hog for money. I'se cleaned nowan' hung on de line. All I craves is five minutes wid Lady Luck, so Ikin beat dat woman to death. "

Thereafter for half an hour the Wildcat flopped dejected and inert in achair in the lobby of the ramshackle hotel. 

He tried vainly to borrow lunch money from the victorious Spindlin'Spider. "Ain't puttin' out nuthin' today. " The Spider exhibited a heartof flint. 

"Dem train robbehs sho' kain't learn yo' nuthin'. " The Wildcat subsidedin his chair. "Wish't ol' Cap'n Jack was here. Wish't dat doggonemascot goat hadn't lost me. "

The lobby of the hotel was warm, and presently the pain of theWildcat's financial bruises dissolved in the heated air. "Anyhow, Idon't botheh work, work don't botheh me. I lost my money when de bonesread three--

 "I eats when I kin git it, I sleeps mos' all de time. I don' give a doggone If de sun don't neveh shine. "

The Wildcat's head dropped forward, and presently he was doing the besthe could to sleep for ever. 

CHAPTER XII

The Wildcat's siesta was interrupted by a rumbling voice which emanatedfrom a chesty policeman who was engaged in dishing out a little earnestadvice to the proprietor of the hotel. The officer raised his voice forthe benefit of the brunet assemblage. 

"Trouble is trouble. If yez have business on th' street, attind to ut, but save th' loafin' f'r another day. Wid all thim I. W. W. Bugs, thisnigrah parade tonight is apt to flash into a race riot. If it does, th'chief ain't goin' to stan' no foolin'. The guns'll begin barkin' worsethan a Chinee New Year. Don't look for no trouble an' you won't findit. You boys ain't much in favour in this town right now, an' wan falsemove in tonight's parade might make a stampede out of it, wid all th'dark complexions in town three jumps ahead of some red-hot buckshot. "

The Wildcat shrivelled up in his chair. The policeman's warning madehim homesick. He resolved to stick close to the home plate. "Ah don'tcrave no paradin' roun' whah at white folks is. Dese uppity yallerniggahs sho' heads fo' trouble when dey starts speakin' white folks'talk. Wish't ol' Cap'n Jack was here. He'd sho' learn 'em, did deystart sumpin'. Like as not ol' Cap'n Jack tear down a lamp post an'beat de parade ovah de head wid it. Parades is all right fo'crematizin' ceremonies. All right fo' de Ahmy boys. All right fo'funerals an' lodges. Outside o' dat dey's dangerous. Me, Ah sees kin Isleep me some mo'. "

His slumbers were again interrupted by the entrance of the porter whoseacquaintance he had made en route from The Dalles to Portland. 

"Boy, howdy. "

The Wildcat sat up and blinked a pair of heavy lids over his bulgingeyes. "Doggone if it ain't mah ol' fish podneh. Sho's glad to meet upwid you. How is you?"

"Tol'able, 'ceptin' I's rushed. Us got to work dis fish business fast. I don't git me no lay-over. Ol' Pullman boy's done switched me to demidnight run fo' San F'mcisco on de train what leaves at one o'clock inde mawnin'. Dat's why I ain't change' my unifawm. How is you? Did deman give you de money fo' de train robbeh letter?"

The Wildcat's face, which had lightened in greeting his partner in thesmelt fish business, was suddenly overspread with a mask of melancholy. "Easy come, easy go. I's busted. "

"How come you bust now, when dis mawnin' yo' back was broke wid athousand-dollah letter?"

"Met up wid a Spindlin' boy what hit me wid some C. O. D. Dice. Cleanedme. "

"Sho' ha'd luck. You sho' got action. Neveh min', I'se got 'nuff tostart de fish business wid. Dey's a parade tonight, and us cleans upbig, sellin' fish to de parade niggers. "

The pair launched into the working details of their fried fishbusiness. 

"Wilecat, I got me some rubbah boots. Us hires a wagon and rambles overto de C'lumbia River. We loads up on smelt fish an' rambles back. Wefries de fish in de back end ob ol' wagon on a oil stove. "

"Whah at's de oil stove? Whah at's de wagon?"

"Us rents de wagon from a livery stable boy I knows, fo' four bits. Iknows where us kin git a oil stove f'm a boy on Front Street. Temporary, that is. Oil stoves comes high now. "

"Le's go. "

"Wait 'til I gits my rubbah boots. "

The porter reappeared from his room wearing a pair of knee-lengthrubber boots. 

"Sho' is de biggest boots I ever seed, " the Wildcat commented. 

The Wildcat held the door open until his companion had navigated thechannel with the brace of ponderous violins which festooned his feetand trotted along towards the livery stable in cadence with thetromping extremities of Dwindle Daniels. 

"Sho' is de biggest foot caves I ever seed. Was you in de army yo'could come from parade rest to 'tenshun without movin' dem boots. "

At the livery stable Dwindle Daniels financed the rental of a lightwagon and a heavy-set mule. The Wildcat gathered up the reins. "Setdown fo' I starts, " he advised. "Kain't tell about dese jug-heads. "

The pair discovered presently that the mule's maker had omitted thehigh gear from the animal's mechanism, and the six-mile trip wasaccomplished at a four-mile gait. The mule was equally indifferent toleather and language. "'Spec' mebbe he's delicate. Some is. Comin' backI gits me a saplin' an' sees is he. No mule neveh konkered me yit. "

They arrived presently at the bank of the fish-crowded Columbia River, where the business of loading their wagon with smelt occupied them forless than an hour. 

"Neveh seed so many fish. Ol' river sho' is dusty wid fish. Did desefish have laigs a boy couldn' git down de road past 'em. "

With the work of the moment completed, Dwindle Daniels obeyed someinstinct of neatness. He threaded his way out along an overhangingpiece of driftwood to the clear water of the river, wherein he proposedto wash his hands. 

The Wildcat watched him for a while and then broke into criticism. "Howcome yo' so neat? Yo' acts like a barber shop boy, all de time cleanin'up. Next thing you'll be cravin' bear grease fo' yo' hair an' asprinkle o' bay rum. "

"I craves to smell human, " the porter returned. "All right fo' fish tosmell like fish, but I prefers to let 'em win any smell race deystarts. "

In replying to the Wildcat, Dwindle Daniels on his slippery perch halfturned his head, and this carelessness precipitated a disaster whichengulfed him. One of the ponderous boots slipped from the branch ofdriftwood and dragged the wearer's leg into the river. Thereafter forten seconds the porter staged a windmill scene compared to which acyclone in Holland looked like a quiet night on the Dead Sea. Finallythe drag of old man Gravity won all bets. The Wildcat's bulging eyeswitnessed a high dive entirely surrounded by frightened fish and thesoft mud which lay two feet below the water surface. From the crater ofthe mud volcano the writhing form of the neat Dwindle Daniels finallyemerged. His form-fitting environment of mud churned and splashed in ablast of agitated language. Somewhere in the vortex of the intimateooze he had lost all traces of his religious training. He combed greathandfuls of mud from his plastered features and snorted deep draughtsof fresh air. 

He excavated his eyes and then, disdaining the unstable footing offeredby the driftwood, he ploughed his way ashore, up to his arm pits inwater and mud. 

On the bank the Wildcat had launched into his third conniption fit. Hecalmed down sufficiently to choke some language out of his vocalorgans. 

"Yo' sho' looks neat now. Ain't seed such a ruckus since de flood hitMemphis. I knowed dem was hoodoo boots. Bam! Down yo' goes like a ol'hell diver. Mawnin'! Up yo' comes like a ol' mud turtle. Git in dewagon, Mud Turtle. On de way home you dries out. Leave dat mud git drybefo' you tries to brush it off. "

Dwindle Daniels spent an hour on the way home in hatching himself outof a shell of mud. 

"Neveh min', ol' Mud Turtle, " the Wildcat comforted. "Us cleans up bigmoney when us sells dese fish tonight. "

At eight o'clock, under a sputtering arc light on Front Street, theWildcat and Dwindle Daniels were established in the business of sellingfried fish and waiting for the rush of trade that would come when theparade passed them. 

"Stan' close to de oil stove, ol' Mud Turtle. I cracks de shell off o'you befo' de train leaves. Dis sho' is de slow dryenest mud I everseed. Leave them pants on you. Does you take 'em off you neveh gits 'emback. Stan' still. "

The Wildcat broke a few pounds of mud from the porter's uniform. 

"Stan' close to de blaze. When de mud dries you peels easy as ashell-bark hick'ry nut. "

The success of the peeling process was all gummed up at nine o'clock bythe Portland humidity, which won its usual bet. From the heavy skies alight rain began to fall. 

At half past nine, with the booming drums of the parade sounding up thestreet, the shivering form of Dwindle Daniels was again sogged down toits original saturation point. 

"Wilecat, I don' see how kin I make mah run to San F'mcisco. "

"Yo' makes yo' run all right. Yo' dead-heads me, an' I does yo' workwhilst yo' hangs out de front vegetable ob de car. Ol' wind dry yo' outsudden. Git ready fo' de gran' rush. Here's de head ob de parade. "

The Wildcat threw back his head and bawled into the evening air: "Friedfish! Smelt fish! Here you is, two bits a pan!"

He lowered his head to gratify his curiosity concerning the techniqueof beating a bass drum. "Sho' craves 'at boy's job. Some day when Igits rich I buys me a bass drum. 'At drum bammer sho' swings a meanclub. "

"Fried fish! Smelt fishes! Two bits a pan!"

Following the band and leading the parade, heavily laden with a falsedignity which had completely eradicated his spinal curvature, thereappeared the rag-head Hindoo who had escaped with the Wildcat from thecarload of undesirable aliens on the night of the train robbers' fiestabelow The Dalles. 

A little before the head of the parade reached the arc light underwhich the Wildcat and Dwindle Daniels had inaugurated their fishbusiness, the Hindoo turned and raised his arms. 

The parade stopped. 

The rag-head signalled for his companions to come close about him. 

In precise English he broke into a violent harangue wherein the leastradical of the evil doctrines which he preached would have beensufficient to transform the United States into a second Russia. 

Midway of his speech one of the accompanying platoon of police officersstepped up to him. 

"Can that stuff, you Anarchist! Come wid me!"

The officer reached for the Hindoo, and this gesture of the law's handwas a signal which launched a riot into being. 

"Boy, dis looks like a bad ruckus!" The Wildcat spoke quickly toDwindle Daniels. "Wish't ol' Cap'n Jack was here. Chances is, usniggahs gits lynched. "

On the tense instant of conflict a solution to the threatening disasterwas born to the Wildcat. With all the energy of his lungs, he bawledhis peace message into the turmoil of the night. 

"Free fish! Hot fish free! Come an' git it!"

Fifty feet from him the rag-head Hindoo broke loose from the policeofficer. The Wildcat witnessed the escape. The Hindoo raced towardshim, and it was then that mutual recognition was accomplished. TheWildcat leaped into the fugitive's pathway and extended his foot. 

The Hindoo Anarchist pulled a galloping somersault. He revolved twicein the air, and then his face ploughed heavily into the pavement. 

"Hot dam! Neveh seed a boy so agile!"

The police officer exercised the good judgment common to the majesty ofthe law in moments of great mental stress. 

He made a swing at the Wildcat with his stick. 

"Plunk!"

The locust club impacted heavily on the Wildcat's skull. 

The Wildcat blinked his eyes. "How come? Cap'n, suh, I thought yo'craved to ketch dat rag-head boy!"

He pointed at the inert Hindoo lying on the pavement. 

"Didn't aim to hit you. "

"Cap'n, yes, suh. " The Wildcat hoped that the next time the policemanwould aim straight at him. He turned to the crowd and renewed hispacifying propaganda. 

"Free fish! Come an' git it. Here you is, boys!"

The Wildcat's invitation and the smell of the frying smelt won thefield against the doctrines of the defeated agitator. A minute laterthe fish wagon was ringed about with a hundred brunet fish eaters. Theriot had evaporated. Here was the end of the trail. 

Serious thinking gave place to heavy eating. Crazy ideas no longertormented heads whose owners' object in life was to eat more friedsmelt than the men next to them. 

The sergeant commanding the platoon of police sized up the situation. "Looks to me like the end of a perfect day. "

A brother officer addressed the sergeant. "Better take this rag-head inwith us. How about it?"

"Sure. Book him as a vag until we see who he is. Tell Jimmy to hold himon an A and B charge if any of them jail-breaking law sharks try tospring him. "

The Wildcat broke in with a little testimony. 

"Cap'n, suh, I knows dat boy. He bust loose from a travellin' jail onde train comin' from Chicago. The guv'ment men ketched him some place. "

The sergeant of police looked quickly at the officer whose fingers wereclosed about the chain attached to the handcuffs of the Hindoo'swrists. 

"Hear what this boy says? Maybe this rag-head is that agitatin' alienthat got loose from the carload that landed here three days ago. "

"How about holdin' this fellow for a witness?" The officer nodded hishead towards the Wildcat. The Sergeant debated for a moment, duringwhich the Wildcat's freedom wavered in an unstable balance. 

Finally the Sergeant spoke, and with his words the Wildcat's libertywas assured. "We don't need him. We've got enough to hold this rag-headwith--and the bull pen is crowded anyhow. "

The Wildcat got the drift of the crisis which had passed. "Cap'n, suh, I sho' is obliged to you. Me an' ol' Mud Turtle here aims to take ourmidnight run to San F'mcisco. "

The Mud Turtle, who was busy dealing out free fried smelt, paused longenough to crack a few segments of dried mud from his uniform. He hithimself on the chest, and another nickel-plated button in an area ofblue cloth was revealed in the light of the street lamp. 

"Us sho' do, " he confirmed. "Me an' dis Wilecat boy's Pullman men. "

A few minutes later the Wildcat augmented the disappearing supply offree fish with a little sound advice to his patrons. 

"Neveh seed such fool niggers. Was ol' Cap'n Jack here he sho' wouldca'm you down wid a club. You gits yo' haids full ob crazy notions, an'after de ruckus dey hauls you out feet fust. Think like white folksdoes if you craves to, but unless you aims to festoon yo' health an'strength wid a funeral box an' lead a graveyard procession, stop wid dethinkin'. Think like white folks does, but don't act dat way. Nexttime, befo' you 'filiates wid any wild men, say howdy to a mess o'vittles. De river's full o' free fish, an' de jail's full o' crazyfolks like dat rag-head Hindoo boy. Next time anybody tells you you'sde same as white folks, bust him in de nose an' walk away fast. 'At'sall. "

The Wildcat ended his preaching and turned to his associate. 

"Come on heah, ol' Mud Turtle. Le's take dis mule an' wagon back to datliv'ry stable boy befo' us gits 'rested fo' lendin' him permanent. "

CHAPTER XIII

The Wildcat drove to the livery stable. The Mud Turtle, seated besidehim, spent the time en route to the place in scraping the mud from hissouthern hemisphere. 

At the livery stable he removed his ponderous rubber boots and sloshedhis feet with a hose. He paid the rent for the mule and wagon. "Heah'sfo' bits mo'. Take dat oil stove back to dat sto' by de riveh, " hedirected. 

Carrying the boots in his hand, he walked beside the Wildcat toward theramshackle hotel below Burnside Street. 

In the cold night a summary of the day's misfortunes settled heavily onthe marching pair. "Sho' turned out rough, " the Mud Turtle remarked. 

The Wildcat sought a smile in the frown which had gathered on LadyLuck's features. 

"Sho' might been worse. S'posin' you'd been drowned in de riveh. S'posin' dat policeman had took me to jail. S'posin' I'd a had twothousan' dollars 'stid o' one when 'at boy cleaned me. Naw, suh! Us ishalf lucky. Wish't I could meet up wid 'at boy now an' give him a ridewid a pair o' taper bones like de Backslid Baptis' used to make. "

The Mud Turtle looked sideways at the Wildcat. "Boy, you an' me ispodnehs. Confidential, I tells you does you crave taper bones I has mea pair. "

"Is you? Lemme see, Mud Turtle, lemme see!"

The porter fished around in an inside pocket of his soggy uniform andproduced a pair of green dice. 

"Heah dey is. I dassn't use 'em. Ain't learned de thumb twist yit, an'dey sho' means trouble is you ketched workin' 'em. "

"Gimme dem bones, boy. I craves trouble wid dat Spindlin' niggah whatcleaned me. Gimme ten dollahs. Pray to Lady Luck to have dat boywaitin' at de hotel. By rights 'at's my money. Does I meet up wid datboy I sho' cleans him rough!"

The Mud Turtle handed the dice and ten-dollar bill to the Wildcat. "Lady Luck don't have to do nuthin'. That boy nevah is anywhere else'cept at de hotel. Does you start sumpin' finish quick! It's midnightnow, an' 'at San F'mcisco train pulls out at one o'clock. "

The Wildcat paid no heed to his companion's words. He was engaged intwisting the dice in the nervous fingers of his right hand. 

"Dey feels right! Dey sho' feels right! Boy, de thumb twist come to mebefo' I was nine yeahs old. When I was fo'teen mah uncle Gabe learnt meneveh to dooce, trey, or twelve. Wid dese bones an' yo' ten-dollahbill, when I gits th'oo wid 'at nigger he won't have no mo' money thana frog has feathers. "

The pair entered the hotel. 

The Mud Turtle went directly to his room, wherein he began thedifficult business of oozing his number twelve feet into a pair ofnumber ten shoes. 

The Wildcat sought the Spindlin' Spider in whose web he had sacrificedhis thousand dollars earlier in the day. 

He found his man leaning against a pool table in a room adjoining thelobby of the hotel. 

"Howdy, boy. " The honeyed accents of gentle forgiveness dripped fromthe Wildcat's quiet salutation. 

The Spindlin' Spider looked at him. "Howdy. How is you?"

"Me? I's noble--an' bustin' wid a cravin' fo' revenge. " The Wildcatraised his voice. "Shoots ten dollahs!"

Under the flat nose of the Spindlin' Spider he waved the ten-dollarbill which he had borrowed from the Mud Turtle. 

The Spider produced a roll of bills and peeled a ten spot therefrom. "Roll 'em! You an' me both craves action. "

The Wildcat had hooked his fish. 

He twisted the green taper dice in a handful of fingers whose tipsbulged with a fine technique that had distilled from years of study andpractice. 

Here on the green cloth of the pool table was his field of battle. 

Before him lay his entire capital, matched by an equal amount from theSpindlin' Spider's roll. 

"I's a Wildcat for revenge, an' I's on my prowl! Pay-day dice, speakmah name! Bam! Five and a dooce. I lets it lay. Shower down!"

The Spindlin' Spider covered his bet. 

"Gallopers, stay lame on seven. Train robber babies, fo'ty dollars inde sack. I reads six-five! Rally roun', boys. Shoots fo'ty dollars. Fade me, boy. Bugle dice, blow de cash call. Harvest babies, pick yo'cotton! Bam! An' I reads fo' trey!"

The Wildcat stowed away a trio of ten-dollar bills as an insurancepolicy against accident. 

"Shoots fifty dollars!"

The Spindlin' Spider shaved five ten-dollar bills from his roll, "Roll'em, " he said. 

The Wildcat lifted his brace of tapered cubes high above his head. 

"Honey-bee babies, git yo' stinger hot. Shotgun dice, spout yo' lead. Key cubes, unlock de han'cuffs. Bam! Dey reads seven. I lets it lay. Shower down, boy. Fade me. Shoots a hund'ed dollars!"

"You're faded. " The Spider had his feet wet, and now he waded deeperinto the river of revenge. 

The Wildcat rolled the dice against his legs. 

"Squirrel dice, ketch de top limb! Ham cubes, drip yo' gravy! Mulebones, resurrection morn. Breakin' on de B. & O. --Bust an' out. Baptisin' babies, hold his head under. "

The gallopers rattled across the pool table and went to sleep with asix-five staring the Spindlin' Spider in the face. 

"I lets it lay! Shoots two hundred dollars. De gin dice makes de bigboy sick. Fade me, ol' mule-lip. What fo' is yo' mouth draggin'?"

A look of doubt began to travel across the Spindlin' Spider's features, but the moral pressure of the crowd about him forced him into theslaughter house. He counted two hundred dollars from his roll and laidit beside the Wildcat's stake. 

The Wildcat breathed the hot breath of hope upon the twin cubes in hishand. "Lady dice, git lovely. Snake babies, coil 'roun' de coin. Grubcubes, 'semble yo' rations! Army gallopers, as you was! Bam!"

The green clickers subsided near the end cushion of the pool table. Afive spot smiled on the top side of one and a helpful dooce laughedcheerfully at the Wildcat from the other. 

"Hot dam! Weddin' dice done rung de bell. 'At's fo' hund'ed dollars. Shoots fo' hundred! Fade me! You says yo' blood is hot fo' action. Fademe!"

The lower jaw swinging from the Spindlin' Spider's face droopedsomething less than a foot. His expression was suddenly full ofquinine. He craved an exit while the exit business was good, but areputation created by considerable indiscreet language had locked thedoor. 

From his depleted roll he laid down forty ten-dollar bills. 

"'At about cleans me. " He looked at the remains of his stake. "'Atabout cleans me. "

His voice had lost the aggressive quality which had marked his oratoryfive minutes earlier. 

"'At's eight hund'ed dollars. More like I's used to shootin'. " TheWildcat rubbed his fingers' tips quickly across the taper cubes. 

"Eight hund'ed iron men. Lady Luck, stan' by me! Preacheh bones, make'em bow down. Riveh dice, high an' dry. Over de riffle. Whuff! Bam! An'I reads seven. "

"Ump!" The Spindlin' Spider grunted an accompaniment to a wave of greywhich lightened the ebony of his features. 

The Wildcat picked up the mass of banknotes and straightened them out. He turned to the Spider. "Mule Lip, how much is you got left? Shootsyou fo' what you's got. Mebbe you builds up. Neveh can tell. Mah luck'sboun' to break sometime. "

The Spider replied weakly, "I'se got mine. 'At's plenty. "

"What you mean you's got yours? Thought you claimed you was a spo't. You's got money, ain't you? You ain't got yours till you goes broke. Ain't I right, boys?"

The Wildcat made a quick survey of the faces about him. 

From the lips of the Mud Turtle, who had silently joined the group, came a come-on verdict. "You sho' is. "

"Hear dat?" The Wildcat turned again to the Spindlin' Spider. "Heardat? You ain't got yours till you goes broke. How much is you got?Shoots it all. Double or nuthin'. "

The Spider weakly disgorged his roll. He counted out a total of twohundred dollars. 

"Boy--one pass an' I cleans you. Li'l snow flakes, sof'ly fall. Comeon, dice, C. O. D. --Bam! An' de black specs read--seven. Hot dam! Boy, you's done. Lady Luck, heah you is!"

The Wildcat pocketed his roll of bills and covered the money with awide palm wherein lay the taper cubes. He edged through the crowd. Withhis left hand he reached for the Mud Turtle. 

"Come on heah, boy. Dat San F'mcisco train gits nervous doggone soon. "

In the vestibule of the Mud Turtle's car on the San Francisco train theWildcat held out the taper cubes and a handful of winnings. "Ol' MudTurtle, heah's yo' victory dice an' fo' hund'ed dollars. Dat gits you anew unifawm. Git in dere by de steampipes whilst I tells dem passengerfolks where de San F'mcisco train goes to. Hot dam! I knowed dem smeltfish was lucky!"

The Mud Turtle pocketed his dice. "Wilecat, I's lucky too. Fall in deriveh an' comes out wid fo' hund'ed dollahs! You sho' got speed!"

"Call dat speed--wait till us 'cumulates mah mascot goat. Den us heatsup dem C. O. D. Dice, an' Ah shows you what me an' Lady Luck kin dowhen de speed bell rings. You ain't seed no speed yet!"

CHAPTER XIV

Leaving Portland an hour after midnight, the deadhead Wildcat sat inthe smoking room of the Mud Turtle's San Francisco bound Pullman. ThePassengers were in bed. On the window end of the leather seat, shivering himself out of a coating of Columbia river mud which he hadaccumulated that afternoon during the smelt harvest, was the MudTurtle. 

"Boy, dem shivers is workin' overtime. Neveh seed such apartial-shiverin' fool. How come yo' mis'ry gits you by fractions?Shiver all over an' git done wid it. Is you cold inside?"

The Mud Turtle forcibly arrested his chattering teeth. He calmed hisvocal organs and answered the Wildcat, but when he became articulatehis feet assumed the staccato movement. 

The Wildcat looked at him. "Stan' up befo' you loses dat step. Leave melearn 'at new foot work. I nevah seed feet so anxious. Don't waste demsteps. " The Mud Turtle grabbed his knees and shoved his feet firmlyagainst the floor of the car. "Wilecat, what I needs is gin till I gitswarmed up. "

"You an' me bofe. Any boy needs gin. I been needin' it since away back. You sho' looks cold. Was you a' ice man you'd be rich. I'se seed folkscold an' I'se seed 'em shiver, but it sho' looks to me, Mud Turtle, like you'se de champion shimmy king ob de worl'. Ketch dat leg!Doggone, boy, you sho' would be pop'lar durin' de hot spell down whereus comes f'um. You makes me cold lookin' at you. "

The Mud Turtle's jaws started on another chattering ruckus. 

"Dere you goes agin! Now you cain't talk. Whilst you'se dumb I'se amind to use some cuss words on you what ol' Cap'n Jack learned me. Sho'would use 'em, 'ceptin' dey'd burn you to a cinder. Stay here whilst I'vestigates an' sees kin I 'cumulate some stove juice to heat you upwid. "

The Wildcat walked ahead through the train. He sought strong drink fromevery porter he encountered, but his search was unsuccessful until hecame to the dining car. 

"Whah at you think you is? Heavin? Cuba? Ain't nuthin' to drink on discar. " A burly chef answered the Wildcat's inquiry. 

"Dey's a cold boy back dere. Fell in de river an' stood out in de nightrain in Poteland. Can't git near him for' chips o' teeth flyin' throughde air. When he gits to shiverin' good he looks like him an' two twinbrothehs. "

"White boy?" The chef ventured a casual inquiry. 

"Is I said white boy? White boy packs it wid 'em. It's mah ol' MudTurtle podneh what craves de gin. "

"'At's diff'unt. " The chef grunted and got up from the poker game whichwas raging. "Come wid me. " He led the Wildcat into the kitchen of thecar. From one of the cupboards against the partition he lifted a pintbottle full of a light yellow fluid. He poured some of this into asmaller bottle. Out of another bottle containing a brown aromaticliquid he filled the third bottle. He shook the smaller bottle untilthe two liquids in it were mixed. He handed the bottle to the Wildcat. "Give dat boy dis. "

"Sho' will. What's de name o' dis licker?"

"Ain't got no public name. Us boys calls it 'hoof oil. ' It kicks--some. Better tie 'at boy's hind laigs does he take mo'n two drinks. "

"What's de 'mgredients?"

"Dat's a church secret. Don't ask me no questions. 'At's five dollahs. "

"Five dollahs! What you mean church secret?"

"I'se a hooch rabbi, off de run. I leads a Oakland ginagogue. I saidfive dollahs. How you spec' us rabbis gwine to thrive, 'ceptin' bytakin' up de collection now an' den when we issues dis here rabbijuice?"

"How come dat rabbi name?"

The chef looked at him. "You sho' is a' ignorant niggah. Ain't you metup wid no rabbis yet?"

"Cain't say I is. What is dey?"

In the chef's gaze was an expression of contempt. "Boy, when you seesme you sees a rabbi. I works at de rabbi business between trips. Derabbi lodge was o'ganized wid all de culled bartenders. Now days mos'all we rabbis is union bootleggers. Git back dah wid dat hoof oil befo'it blows up. Whereat's de five dollahs?"

The Wildcat handed the chef a five-dollar bill and returned to his car, where the Mud Turtle was doing the best he could to shake his arms off. 

"Hot dam! Heah you is, ol' Mud Turtle. You sho' got a noble rattle inyo' right han'. 'Pears like wid a pair o' gallopin' cubes you mightthrow some killin' sevens. 'Sorb one drink o' dis heah rabbi juice an'resurrect yo'self. "

"One drink! Boy, gimme dat bottle. I handles mah licker!" The Wildcatuncorked the bottle and held it to the Mud Turtle's chattering lips. The Mud Turtle took a whiff of the liquid. Its perfume seemed toinspire a new set of internal calisthenics in the Mud Turtle. After hehad quit writhing the Wildcat again pressed the remedy upon him. "Drinkit, fo' I drips it on you. Go ahead an' drink. I'll hol' yo' nose. " Hesucceeded in pouring the contents of the bottle into the Mud Turtle. 

The Mud Turtle absorbed the hoof oil as far as his equator. Then hereacted with a series of undulations in which was all of the reserveenergy of the surging deep. Then he suddenly became quiet, except forhis rolling eyeballs, from which gleamed an exalted light. 

"Dat sho' tamed you. Is yo' insides hot?"

The Mud Turtle's only reply was a sudden stiffening of his right leg, followed a second later by a similar movement with his left. His rightarm extended violently; then the ham-sized fist on the end of his leftarm went through the plate glass window beside him. He leaped to thecentre of the smoking compartment. For a moment he danced on both feet, and then he began to stage a movement compared to which a cyclone wasonly a boy's-size disturbance. He combined the activity of a whirlingdervish with the technique of an earthquake. 

The Wildcat retreated to the safety of the tapestry curtain which hungin the doorway. There for a little while he conducted an innocentbystander business, which presently ended in disaster. Up to themoment, the Mud Turtle had been silent, but now from his throat came ayelp which drowned the rattle of the train. 

The Wildcat sought to calm him down. "How come? Boy, git tame. You'llwake de white folks in dis car an' dey'll massacre you. Shut up befo'dey gits you. "

The Mud Turtle's only answer was a renewed succession of yells. Suddenly he stopped short where he stood, and for a space of minutes heregarded his companion with a pair of glassy eyes under whose hypnoticspell the Wildcat began to shrivel. 

"Don' look dat way. You's got de graveyard eye. You took too much hoofoil, " he said weakly. "Lemme put 'at blanket 'roun' you. " He took onestep towards the centre of the compartment, and on the instant the MudTurtle leaped at him. 

The Wildcat had been in many a ruckus abroad and at home, but home wasnever like this, and the worst he saw in France was a busy time atChâteau Thierry. This was different trouble and worse. The Wildcatabandoned his tactics of fair fighting. He kicked and struck wildly atthe Mud Turtle without effect. He despaired of conquering the tornadowhich writhed on the floor beside him. Then he succeeded in obtainingthe blanket in which the Mud Turtle had been wrapped. He manoeuveredfor three seconds and threw a hitch around the Mud Turtle's neck andanother one around his leg. An instant later the whirlwind was trussedup and confined with a hard square knot. 

The Mud Turtle's yells gave place to a series of snarling grunts, punctuated now and then with the yowling scream invented some yearsback by the female panther. The Wildcat secured a folded towel from therack above his head, and in a moment the panther was muffled. Thevictor stood panting for a little while, gazing at the conquest whichstill writhed and rolled on the floor. 

The Wildcat reached for the empty bottle and inspected five or sixdrops of liquid which remained in it. "Hoof oil, you sho' is doubledynamite. Rabbi juice, I saves you. Mebbe sometime I meets up wid aarmy whut starts a ruckus wid me. Den I'll 'sorb two drops an' win debattle. "

He replaced the cork in the bottle and stowed it carefully in hispocket. "Does I need to I figger dat wid fo' drops ob dis hoof oil Ikin conquer de worl'. "

He turned again to the Mud Turtle. The Pullman blanket lashed aroundthe Mud Turtle cramped his style to a considerable degree, but for allof his impedimenta he was still active enough to threaten thepeace-on-earth theory. The Wildcat spoke to him, "Boy, I sequesters youtill de debbil leaves you. Mebbe by de time us gits to San F'mciscoyou'll be human again. "

He stepped into the passage way, and at the end of the open section ofthe car he opened the door of the linen closet. He returned to thesmoking room and dragged the Mud Turtle out of the room wherein theruckus had been staged. At the door of the linen closet the Wildcatencountered a difficult problem, in that the least dimension of the MudTurtle in his present pose was greater than the width of the door. 

He grabbed the door framing with both hands and applied his right footto the Mud Turtle's anatomy. "Whuf! Git in dere!" He strained hard athis task, and presently a heroic effort was rewarded by thedisappearance of the Mud Turtle into the dark interior of the linencloset. The Wildcat stooped down and removed the towel from about theMud Turtle's mouth. "Yell yo' head off, ol' debbil. You kain't soun'loud in heah. Folks'll think de ol' engine is whistlin'. "

Before the Wildcat shut the door the Mud Turtle took advantage of hisvocal freedom and emitted a strenuous howl. A middle-aged gentlemanhalf way down the car stuck his head through the berth curtains. Hecalled to the Wildcat. "Is she whistlin' for Ashland?"

"No suh. 'Spec' it was a cow on de track or sumpin'. 'At's all. I wakesyou up neah Ashlan'. " The Wildcat neglected to say which side ofAshland would be selected for the awakening ceremonies. 

He walked to the far end of the car, and on his return journey heaccumulated the shoes of his passengers. 

"I shines me dese heah shoes an' den I sees kin I sleep me some. I betwas ol' Mud Turtle a aig, chances is he'd hatch out in dat linencloset--so hot. "

In the smoking compartment the Wildcat spent an hour shining shoes. Hedistributed them with more or less accuracy, and presently he wasstretched out sound asleep on the long leather seat. 

 "I eats when I kin git it, I sleeps mos' all de time. I don't give a doggone If the sun don't neveh shine. "

CHAPTER XV

The Wildcat slept until the first grey light of dawn announced the day. He got up and stretched himself and drank five or six slugs of free icewater. "Lemme see, " he yawned, "whah at is us. " His mind covered theevents of his immediate past and collided heavily with the battle whichhad been fought in the night. "Wondeh how ol' Mud Turtle is? I bettehgit him fo' de passengers gets up. Wid all dat hoof oil in 'im, 'spec'he'll crave mo' wateh dan a mule. "

He opened the door of the linen closet. In the far corner, proppedagainst the wall, sat the Mud Turtle. The dazed expression on his facewas completely surrounded by brunet skin and surmounted by a pair ofowl-like eyes which blinked at the sudden light. 

The Wildcat whispered at him, "Is you pacified? Dast I leave youloose?"

The Mud Turtle replied with a question, "Was many folks hurt in dewreck?"

"Ain't been no wreck, 'ceptin' you like to wrecked me. Come out heahtill I helps you 'membeh yo' sinful past. "

He hauled the Mud Turtle into the passage way and resurrected him fromthe interior of the blanket cocoon. 

"Come on back heah, " the Wildcat directed. "Stretch yo' laigs an' comeon back heah whilst I 'splains about you. Take 'at ol' coat off an' puton dis white coat. "

The Mud Turtle removed his mud-caked blue coat and donned a crisp whitejacket. For a while he sat quiet on the leather seat of the smokingcar. Finally he turned to the Wildcat. 

"All I 'members is takin' one drink. "

"All I 'members pusson'ly is what you did after you took 'at one drink. Thought you said you could handle yo' licker. I neveh seed such a wildman. Boy, you started single, but when you an' 'at drink gotconfidential you sho' was a' army. Handle yo' licker! Huh! You couldn'handle de bottle, let alone what was in it. How come you lie such a biglie? Start out gentle nex' time. "

"Must a bin some new kin' o' licker. "

"Sho' acted new. Wid one drink like dat in me when I was fightin' inFrance, de ole guv'ment wouldn't need no mo' soldiers. I seed de nightob de big wind what blowed New Awl'uns clean up de Mississippi River. Iknow'd a mule what couldn't live in de mountains 'count o' kickin' 'emover, but las' night when you was goin' good, I says, 'If a mulemarried a cyclone an' had a boy, he'd be you. ' 'Hoof oil, ' dey callsit. 'At niggah what chefs in de dinin' car an rabbis when he lays overin Oaklan' give it to me. "

The Mud Turtle looked at the broken window beside him. "Did I bus' 'atwindow?"

"Bust 'at window--you sho' did. All you did was blow yo' breaf at it. Itell you you was bad. I's seed folks what was plastered wid luck. Youthinks you's plastered wid mud, but it ain't mud; it's real ol' luck. You had all de luck in de worl' gettin' out ob de claws ob that rabbijuice. Dat stuff is tiger blood. You had enough wild time las' night tolast you all de res' ob your life does you live fo' evah. "

"Wilecat, you sounds right. When us gits to Oaklan' I craves to settledown. Mebbe I shows you a business I aims to 'vest in. "

"You don't show me no business, boy. Only business I craves is to findLily and Lady Luck. Lily's ramblin' loose somewhere in San F'mcisco widdem Blue Fezant boys. Does I meet up wid dat goat I'll sho' bust him inde haid fo' leavin' me. Every time me an' Lily gits a divo'ce ol' manHard Luck camps on my trail. Business sounds good, but me, I 'cumulatesLily an' den I takes dem Blue Fezant boys back to Chicago. Mebbe when Icomes back heah nex' time us starts some business. Not now. Naw, suh--not me!"

"Wilecat, some business ain't so bad. All you does is set dere an' takein de money. "

"All you does is set dere, you mean, an' listen' to some triflin'niggah wantin' groceries or mebbe wantin' to eat whilst you suppliesfree grub, does you run a restaurant. Dem boys what buys easy never isgot money. Naw, suh, I don't want no business, Mud Turtle. All I wantis Lady Luck an' mah mascot goat. "

The Mud Turtle continued his business dream without paying muchattention to the Wildcat's arguments. "Dere's de anti-hair-kinkbusiness; all a boy does is buy some things at the drugsto' an' mix 'emup an' sells 'em at fifty cents a bottle. All de niggahs in de worl'craves to buy anti-kink juice. I's seed some remedies what took off descalp an' some what removes de brain, but it don't make nodiff'unce--niggahs keep on buyin', no matteh how deep de remedy digsin. "

"Dat business is ol', " the Wildcat objected. "Dat's too ol' to ketchfolks any mo'. "

"So's kinky hair ol', " answered the Mud Turtle. "Dat business stillketches 'em. While de kinky hair las', so does de anti-kink business. Dat ain't de only business I knows. You an' me had luck wid fish--partbad luck an' part good luck. Here's de ocean an' here's San F'mciscobay crowded wid fish. 'Spose us gits a wagon an' some hooks fo'ketchin' fish an' comes home eve'y day wid a wagon load. "

"Don' say fish to me, boy! All de bad luck I'se had lately come f'mfish. See kin you talk 'bout some good-luck business does yo' crave to. Ah ain't got oveh mah fish luck yit. "

"How 'bout de boot-leggin' business, Wilecat? Dey sho' is big money indat. "

"Nobody to sell to no mo'. Eve'ybody's boot-leggin' now. You steps upto a man on de street an' says 'How 'bout it?' an' he thinks you'stryin' to buy. Eve'ybody's boot-leggin'! See kin you think ob somebusiness what's got some customers, instead ob eve'ybody runnin' debusiness deyself. Naw, suh, I aims not to let no business 'flooence me. I rounds me up Lily an' meets up wid Lady Luck, an' someday I sees ol'Cap'n Jack agin', an' den I quits worryin'. What I craves mos' is toketch Lily an' den git some regulah run where I sleeps mos' all detime. 'Less I fin's mah mascot I aims to quit de whole Pullman businessan' let 'em git on de bes' dey can widout me. "

"Boy, how come you so tame? When we lef' Poteland all you talked aboutwas startin' a sinful life an' bustin' all de speed records on de roadto hell. Now all you craves is to settle down. Has de itch got you?'Pears like you needs quinine. "

"I don' need nuthin' 'ceptin' Lily an' Lady Luck--an' mebbe a slug o'gin. "

"Cain't git no gin now days. "

"Mud Turtle, when us gits to Oaklan' you follow me. I'll bet dat rabbiboy what chefs on dis train knows whah at is some gin. Any man what kinthrow a dose ob hoof oil together on short notice what makes a niggerlook like a cyclone sho' can dig up a drink o' gin. Quick as us gits toOakland I trails 'at boy down. Chances is he starts de rabbi businesssoon as he gits his apron off. I depends on him fo' gin. I's jined upwid de chu'ch when I was sixteen, but now I aims to git backslid backenough to take de road what leads into dis rabbi place. You goes in an'takes off yo' hat, an' as quick as you gits baptized, the ol' preachehsays, 'Boys, what'll it be?' I says, 'Make mine gin. ' Ol' Mud Turtlesay, 'Make mine gin. ' We says 'at 'bout six times, an' away us goeslookin' fo' Lily. At's better'n any business talk you'se talkin'. "

"I'll say so, Wilecat--fo'get de business. Us has money, anyhow. There's that fo' hund'ed dollahs you give me an' whatever you'se gotleft off de Spindlin' Spider boy you cleaned in Poteland. I agrees widyou--fo'get de business. "

With the arrival of the train in Oakland, about four minutes sufficedto clear up the Mud Turtle's official obligations to the company. Immediately thereafter he and the Wildcat set out to overtake thedining car chef, whom they had seen leaving the terminal. The Wildcatedged up beside the rabbi. "Boy, " he said, "how 'bout some licker? Mean' the Mud Turtle here craves to git baptized wid a couple o' slugs o'gin. Is de gin included in de rabbi business?"

The chef looked at the Wildcat. "Us rabbis handles some gin, but itsho' comes high. "

"Boy, us aims to pay high. You ain't talkin' to no busted steamboatniggahs. Us ain't fiel' han's. Me an' my podneh got money; all wecraves is gin. "

The chef's gaze left the Wildcat's face for a moment and seemed totravel to some more distant point. The Wildcat's statement of hisfinances had aroused the rabbi's cupidity. "Come on heah, " he saidbriefly. 

The three made their way up town and presently entered the door of aramshackle structure standing midway of a block lined by similarbuildings. They walked into a darkened room, and the Wildcat saw afresco of gleaming white eyeballs ranged about him. 

"Whah at is us?" he asked the rabbi. 

"Dis heah's de Oaklan' Pleasure Club, sort of a social off-shot f'm dechu'ch. "

"What chu'ch?"

"Chu'ch is called Banded Brothehs ob de Loose Barrel Hoop. I rabbis fo'dem when I's in town. When I'se away dey's got another boy what does derabbi work. "

The chef turned to the assemblage. "Boys, meet up wid de Mud Turtle. I'spec' some o' you all knows him. Dis heah other boy travels under dename ob de Wilecat. "

A voice from a corner of the room bellered into the midst of theassemblage. "What'll it be, boys? Dis is on de Wilecat. "

The Wildcat put on the financial brakes. "How come?"

"Dis heah's de initiation drink. Eve'ybody what joins de BandedBrothehs buys a drink fo' de congregation. "

The Wildcat's eyes had become more accustomed to the darkness. "'Pearslike I gits lifted fo' goin' on fo'ty drinks. "

Presently half a dozen bottles were mingling around with thecongregation, and the Wildcat's words to the Mud Turtle beside him weredrowned in a chorus of gurgling throats. The gulping ceased. Out of anobscure corner of the room came the Auditor's tones. "Eighty-twodollars. Wilecat, pay me befo' de long green gits wilted. "

The Wildcat was no piker, but the bill hit him pretty hard. "I's seensaloons you could buy complete fo' half de money, " he remonstrated. Hewalked over to where a narrow square of light broke through the wall. He fished out a big roll of bills from which he proceeded to countninety dollars. He replaced the money in his pocket. As he did so ayellow electric light flashed in another part of the room and burnedsteadily above a small table upon which was stretched a green cloth. Aman beside the table called to the newcomer. "Wilecat, de pleasure partob de entertainment now starts. Now you gits action. "

"How come action? Action what wid?"

"Action wid de freckled bones what knows 'rithmetic. "

The Wildcat accepted the invitation. Here was a chance to retrieve theprice of the drinks. He walked over to the corner. "Whah at's debones?"

In allowing his opponent to supply the weapons he had committed aserious technical error, but the only other dice in the crowd were thetaper cubes belonging to the Mud Turtle, and the Wildcat knew that theproduction of these dice in that congregation would probably result inhis immediate disintegration under the blades of some hungry socialrazors. 

The boy on the opposite side of the table spoke. "Shoots fiftydollahs!"

"You sho' starts blooded. " The Wildcat peeled fifty dollars from hisroll. "You'se faded. Roll 'em. "

The boy rolled them, and an ace-dooce bloomed under the electric light. 

A grunt of disappointment went up from several interested veterans ofthe Banded Brothers gathered around the table, and the rabbi plungedhis way into the crowd. He used a few words not commonly included in arabbi's vocabulary. "Git out o' de way. Gimme dem dice. How come youmakes dis mistake?" He took the dice from the loser. "Wilecat, Ahshoots fifty dollars!"

The Wildcat divided his winnings and laid fifty dollars on the table. "Rabbi, roll 'em. "

The rabbi breathed a fervent prayer upon the speckled cubes and castthem away from him into the outer darkness. "Freckle tops, git right!Bam! I reads seven. Lets it lay. Shoots a hund'ed!"

"Roll 'em, you'se faded. " The Wildcat trimmed himself for anotherhundred. 

The rabbi made another throw. "Luck dice, ketch dat Wilecat. Whuff! An'dey says five an' a six. Dey sho' is lucky. "

The Wildcat grunted. "Lucky fo' you. "

"Pussonel luck is de luck I likes best, " the rabbi returned. "I lets itlay. You has yo' chance. Shoots two hund'ed. "

The Wildcat skinned his roll for two hundred dollars. "Dese heah frogskins sho' has got de quick dwindles. You'se faded. Roll 'em. "

The rabbi abandoned his ecclesiastical lingo and fell into thevernacular. "Tiger dice, claw me! Turtle dice, off de log! Soap dice, git slick. Clean dat Wilecat. Gun dice, pull de triggah--wham! An' Ireads six-ace. "

The Wildcat's fingers began to itch for the possession of the bones. Heturned to the Mud Turtle, who was close beside him. "Hot dam, boy, dattalk sho' sounds nat'chul! Dat boy growed up someplace else befo' hestarted de rabbi business. "

The rabbi raked in his winnings. He slipped half the roll and laid iton the green cloth. "Shoots two hund'ed. Fade me is you reckless!"

The Wildcat was in too deep to back out. He pared two hundred dollarsfrom his roll and laid it beside the rabbi's stake. "Boy, yo' luck'sgot to bus' sometime, even is you a rabbi. Roll 'em an' see kin youroll to de po' house. "

The rabbi spoke confidentially to the dice for a few moments and thenhis voice lifted above the murmur of the congregation. "Snow babies, let de soot specs read seven. Rooster dice, crow de pay call! Hen dice, hatch de money eggs. Mule dice, kick dat boy into de rivah! Bam! An' Ireads five-dooce. "

This triumph of the rabbi was a signal for a revolt on the part of theWildcat. "I quits. I craves to handle dem bones pussonal. Does you own'em all de time I quits. "

The rabbi handed a pair of dice to the Wildcat. "Roll 'em does youcrave to, " he said. The concession was made only after he had switchedthe dice. The Wildcat got hold of twin dice which were loaded to comeout dooce, trey, or twelve on the first throw. He warmed the dice to afunctioning temperature in the palm of his right hand. In his left heheld the remainder of his roll. He laid the money on the centre of thetable. "Shoots it all. Two hund'ed dollars. Fade me, boy. "

The rabbi counted out two hundred dollars, but before the Wildcat threwthe dice the Mud Turtle beside him spoke up. "I shoots fo' hund'ed onthe Wildcat's luck. Shoot's fo' hund'ed. Fade me, boy. "

The rabbi grunted and dug into his roll for another four hundred. 

The Wildcat turned to the Mud Turtle. "Boy, us is bust does I lose!"

"I been bust befo', Wilecat. So is you. Roll 'em see kin you git doubleor nuthin'. "

The Wildcat said a few words to the dice, and an instant later theyrattled across the green cloth. "Cyclone babies, blow dat rabbi tohell! Whuff! An' I reads--ace-dooce. Doggone, Lady Luck, whah at isyou?"

The Mud Turtle grabbed the Wildcat by the arm. "Come on heah befo' deygits yo' clothes. "

The Wildcat turned away from the table. "Us sho' needs 'at mascot goat. Was hard luck a minny us done ketched a whale. Trouble wid luck, it'salways changin'. Don' stay on de good side long enough fo' a boy to gitsettled down. " He bade farewell to the rabbi. "You sho' was right. I'llsay gin comes high. Fo' hund'ed dollars a drink!"

The rabbi laughed a hollow laugh. "Come on back sometime an' try dethousan' dollah gin when you feels strongeh. "

"Does I find Lily an' Lady Luck I comes back an' shows you somemillion-dollar gin--mebbe. "

"On your way, boy--at's de quinine talkin'!"

CHAPTER XVI

Launched by the rabbi's parting taunt, the Wildcat and the Mud Turtlemade their way out of the ginagogue. On the street the Wildcat set thecourse toward Twelfth Street. His companion pounded along as best hecould for a while and then voiced a protest. "What for is you got sucha hot foot?"

"Come on heah, ol' Mud Turtle. I craves to meet up wid dat Lily goatbefo' any mo' calamity ketches up wid me. "

"Whah you spec' to fin' dat doggone goat?"

"San F'mcisco some place. Ah tol' you once. De Blue Fezant boys went toSan F'mcisco on de train, an' de las' I seed ob Lily she was penned upalong wid 'bout nine ob dem boys. 'At goat's in San F'mcisco. "

"How long you spec' it take you to fin' 'at mascot in San F'mcisco? Youknow how big 'at town is?"

"Boy, I been dere. I been clear from downtown out to de Presidio whahat dey keeps de ahmy boys an' de gin'rals. I seed 'at town befo'. "

The Mud Turtle grunted. "You ain't seed nuthin'. 'At town's ten times'at big. Was Lily fo' years ol' when you started lookin' she'd be eighthund'ed fo' you foun' her, 'less you had luck. "

"Does I fin' her I gits all de luck I needs. Us wins bofe ways, 'causeall de bad luck I could git wouldn't be no worse'n what us has now. I'se plum busted. How is you?"

The Mud Turtle audited the depths of his pocket. "Nuthin' but someravelin' lint an' fo' bits. "

"'At's enough. Don' look so mean, ol' Mud Turtle. Does us see anotherrabbi walkin' down de main street us better take de alley fo' he seesus. Dem rabbi boys is just like a ticket to de po' house. Dem ginagoguegin rabbis is de wust of all. "

At eleven o'clock the pair landed at the ferry building in SanFrancisco. As a precaution against lunch money, they saved the changefrom Mud Turtle's half dollar and walked towards the centre of thetown. 

They landed finally in Union Square. 

The Wildcat flopped down on the grass, and the Mud Turtle joined him. "Mud Turtle, what's dat big house oveh there?" He pointed at the St. Francis Hotel. 

"Boy, thought you told me you was here once befo'. Dat's de St. FranticHotel. "

"How come de boy frantic what dey named de hotel fo'?"

"'Spec' he drunk some hoof oil, o' mebbe met a gin rabbi. Sho' is afine day. "

"All de days I seen in de town was fine days, 'ceptin' some evenin'swhen de fog gits heavy. "

"Ol' fog comes in mighty handy does you owe money. Boy kin lose hisselff'm a bloodhoun' easy in de fog. "

The Wildcat stretched himself out and prepared to go to sleep, butbefore he had accomplished his purpose he was interrupted by hiscompanion. 

"Wilecat, look at dem two boys on de hotel steps. Dey sho' looks likedem Blue Fezant Nobles you was speakin' 'bout. "

The Wildcat rose to his knees and looked across Powell Street. Sureenough, there before his eyes stood two of the Blue Fezant gentlemen. He lost no time in going towards them. "Come on heah, Mud Turtle! Iknowed we'd meet some o' dem Blue Fezant boys. Come on heah!"

A moment later the Wildcat and the Mud Turtle confronted the two Noblesof the Mysterious Mecca. Each of the nobles was festooned with a golfbag. The pair were headed for Lincoln Park. The Wildcat spoke to thelarger of the two gentlemen. "Cap'n, suh, " he said, "I was de po'tah ona special car f'm Chicago what hauled some of you Blue Fezant gen'menout heah. Kin you tell me whah at Lily mah mascot goat is?"

The Blue Fezant gentleman looked at the Wildcat for a moment. "Seems tome I heard about that goat. Some of the boys got him some place. "

The second man interposed some additional information. "You mean thewhite goat? He's out with Jim and Frank on the golf links. "

The first Potent Noble turned toward the Wildcat. "He's out where we'regoing now. Come with us and maybe you'll find him. Is he your goat?'

"Cap'n, suh, you sho' soun' good! Does I meet up wid dat Lily I beats'at goat to death--mebbe. Lily sho' is mah goat. I raised him clean f'mFrance. " He turned to his companion. "Mud Turtle, take 'at bag fo' degen'men. Cap'n, suh, we carry dis stuff. "

The Potent Nobles smiled at each other. "These boys can caddy for us. Do you boys want to caddy for us?"

Without knowing exactly what it was, the Wildcat signed quite acontract. "Cap'n, yessuh. Whatever you wants, us does. How come discaddy business?"

"You carry the bag around while we go golf hunting. "

The Wildcat spoke lowly to the Mud Turtle. "Golf hunting? What's disheah golfs? Neveh seed one pussonally. "

"Boy, don't you know what golfs is? Sumpin' like a dog, only smaller. Born wild. Dey gin'ally gits wilder when dey grows up. "

"How big does dey git?"

"Dog size--some bigger, sometimes. "

"Neveh seed none in Memphis. "

"Dey's tame down dere; out heah dey grows wild. Some parts, de wildgolfs run 'roun' so thick a man hardly kin plough his fiel', 'thoutcarryin' six or eight shotguns on de plow. Dis country was 'fested widgolfs till de Indians got heah. "

"'Fested wid Indians till white folks got heah, too. I guess could deIndians kill a golf us is safe. "

He turned to one of the Potent Nobles. "Cap'n, suh, what does you killdese here golfs wid?"

The Noble was quick to take up the deception. "We beat 'em to deathwith those clubs. If you get a small blue golf, you beat him with aniron club. For the savage red ones you use that club with the piece ofbrass on it. The whisky golf is the worst, though; he sort of sneaks upon you. You use those little clubs for them. They're called putters. They're shorter so you can use 'em in close places. Short and deadly. "

The quartette were presently seated in an automobile which wasretrieved from Powell Street. On the way to the Lincoln Park golfcourse the party detoured through Golden Gate Park. The car drove pastthe enclosure wherein leaped a dozen full grown kangaroos. One of thePotent Nobles pointed to the awkward animals. "There's some golfs nowif you boys never seen any. "

A restless kangaroo made a thirty-foot leap. "Lawd Gawd, Cap'n, doesyou kill dem debbils wid clubs? I craves a cannon an' forty miles'range, or else one o' them airplane flyin' things. "

"All you have to do is to stand right close behind me and you'll besafe. "

The Wildcat's training had taught him to trust the word of a white man. "Cap'n, yes, suh. " As far as he was concerned, the conversation wasended, but in spite of the Potent Noble's reassuring words, a feelingof uneasiness seemed to undermine him. 

At the hunting preserves in Lincoln Park it became evident that luckwas not with the two golf-killing Nobles of the Mysterious Mecca, because about all these two gentlemen did was to continue themonotonous business of knocking a couple of innocent looking whiteballs across the landscape. Every now and then they would come upon agrass lawn with an iron cup in the centre of it, and then each PotentNoble would waste a lot of time urging his ball into the cup with theshort and deadly putter which was normally used for slaughtering whiskygolfs which sneaked up on you. 

After the first mile or two the zest of the chase was dulled by theWildcat's habitual languor. He edged over towards the Mud Turtle. "MudTurtle, 'spec' dese gen'men gwine to give us fo' bits, mebbe, fo'he'pin 'em hunt dese golfs what we ain't seed. Ah feels dismal. Everytime dey shoots 'at ball, s'posin' you an' me shoots ten cents?"

"How come, Wilecat? You knows us cain't monkey wid dis huntin' game. "

"I don't mean monkey wid de huntin', " the Wildcat returned. "Is you gota lead pencil? 'Sposin' us marks de li'l white balls wid de dicefreckles an' reads 'em when dey drops. Fust you take one time, den Itakes anotheh. Us plays some mountain dominoes. Got to do sumpin', elseus goes to sleep. Den like as not some ragin' golf sneak up an' eat yo'innards fo' you has a chance to wake up. Le's try shootin' some sevensat de scenery. "

Action followed the Wildcat's words, and presently the two golf ballsthen in use were marked with a pattern of black dots running from thegentle ace to the belligerent six spot. Thereafter the two PotentNobles had reason to wonder at the sudden industry exhibited by theircaddies, who leaped after each ball almost before the club had touchedit. 

"Bam! Look at that boy go, Jim! I wish we could get caddies like thatin Chicago; the lazy devils never would go after a ball. These fellowsare bears. "

"They're all good, --the best caddies I ever had were niggers in thesouth, --after you get 'em woke up, that is. "

Meanwhile, out at the destination of the golf ball the Wildcat and theMud Turtle were inspecting it where it lay. "Three up. " The pair racedto the point where the other ball had fallen. "She reads fo'. Fo' an'three is seven. Wilecat, doggone you, you wins again. "

"Sho' I wins! Didn' dem Blue Fezant boys say dis heah mascot goat obmine was roustin' roun' out heah? Whaheveh dat goat is, so is LadyLuck. Fo' long I meets up wid Lily, an' den I shows you some winnin'what is. "

The two Potent Nobles holed out at the ninth, and the party crossed theroad under the trees to the tenth tee. "Cap'n, suh, " the Wildcat asked, "what's 'at rock oveh dah, widout no roof an' de rock wall?"

The Potent Noble looked over at the Chinese tomb. "That's where someChinaman is buried, " he said. "That's a Chinese tomb. "

"Tomb! Some dead boy layin' in it?"

"I'll say so--maybe a dozen of 'em. This whole golf pasture is builtover a graveyard. "

The Wildcat stiffened and looked at the Mud Turtle. "Lawd Gawd, MudTurtle! Us cravin' to meet Lady Luck an' walkin' 'roun' in a graveyard!Sho' makes me dwindle up inside! No wondeh dem man-eatin' golfs is soragin' out heah. Wish I could fin' dat doggone Lily Goat. " He turned toone of the Potent Nobles. "Ain't we startin' down town, Cap'n, fo' itgits dark?"

"It'll be two hours yet before it gets dark. We've got time to huntanother golf or two. Shut up while I drive. "

"Cap'n, yessuh. "

At the sixteenth tee the Potent Noble looked down at the heavy fogwhich was rolling in through the Golden Gate. He addressed the ball. Hejumbled around on his feet and took a couple of practice swings. Perfection was in every movement. Then, as he drove, the Wildcatsneezed. There followed a blast of profanity whose equal the Wildcathad not heard since his army days. He edged over towards the MudTurtle. "Neveh seed a boy change so quick. Heah he is, pleasant oneminnit, an' den he hits dat ball an' goes hog wild. Seems like--"

He was interrupted by the Potent Noble, who had calmed down. "Git thehell out in the rough there and find that ball I sliced. "

"Yes, suh. " The Wildcat started out through the fog to find thefreckled white sphere. He threshed around in the trees and underbrushfor a while, and then to his mind came a memory of the horrible wordswhich the Potent Noble had spoken. "This place was a graveyard!" TheWildcat shuddered extensively and abandoned the search for the golfball. 

He looked up, and there before him was a tombstone!

"Lawd Gawd, Lady Luck, whah is you?" Automatically his feet began towork, and they were aided an instant later by his racing legs. He wentaway from there through the fog. The next thing he knew, he had made aforty-foot dive over a sand bank. He rolled for a moment in theshifting sand before he brought up against a stunted cedar. 

"Whah at is I?"

The fog cleared, and the Wildcat saw the sand dunes stretching belowhim. At the edge of the slope were the waves of the Golden Gate. Thenthe fog closed in again, and everything about him faded out of thepicture. Above his head, out of the drifting fog, a flight of sea gullsstarted a little gossip. To the Wildcat's ears came their shriekingremarks. He stopped his wild shuddering and began to moan. 

"'At's dem ghost boys! I know 'em! Lady Luck, take dem boys away. Iain't talkin' wid no ghosts. " He turned and started up the bank. Hebegan throwing sand out from under his feet like a record-bustingrotary snow plough. His legs ran for ten minutes, but his wind wascrippled, and in the shifting sand he covered a space of less thantwenty feet. Exhausted with his effort, he flopped down on the slopingbank. "Dey's got me, " he moaned, "dey's got me! I knowed it. I knoweddem graveyard ghosts would git me, once I gits divo'ced f'um dat mascotgoat. Lady Luck, here I is!" The Wildcat curled up and covered his headwith his arms. 

He lay in repose for less than ten seconds; for suddenly, out of thefog in mid channel, came the booming siren whistle of a liner, headingout of the Golden Gate. "Whoom! Wha-om!"

The Wildcat moaned. "I heahs you, Gabriel, I heahs you! Heah I is, Lawd--heah I is. "

"Whooom! We-ow-oom!"

"It's me. It's ol' Wilecat. What fo' you askin' who? You knows who!Ghosts got me, Gabriel! Here I is! Lady Luck--Good-bye!"

Then from Fort Miley crashed the report of the evening gun that markedretreat, and a moment later the clear notes of a bugle floated out ofthe fog. For a moment life on earth again claimed the Wildcat, andinstinctively he responded to his army training. He got to his feet andstood rigidly at attention. Into the fog to an unseen company he yelleda series of commands. "Come to 'tenshun! Silence in de ranks! Shut upan' stan' up! 'Tenshun! Lily, come to 'tenshun! Cap'n Jack, suh, decompany is fo'med. "

He saluted and made an about-face as perfectly as he could in theshifting sand beneath his feet. 

As he did so he felt his brain rattle. Ten feet above him, tangible asiron, real as gold, festooned with hair and horns, stood Lily themascot goat. 

The Wildcat stood fixed for an instant looking with incredulous eyes atthe mascot. Then he made an excess demand on the motor muscles of hislegs, and in six wild leaps he had gained the goat's side. 

"Lily, is you back? Goat, hot dam! Lady Luck sho' heard me!" TheWildcat grabbed the leading string which dangled from the mascot'sneck. "Come heah--I aims to git me some han'-cuffs an' lock one end'roun yo' neck an' de otheh roun' mah laig. Goat, us sho' is proud tomeet up wid you! Does you leave me once mo' nex' time I knocks yo'hawns down yo' throat. "

Lily evidently approved the arrangement. She looked at the Wildcat, andthen from her skinny throat a faint bleat sounded. 

"Say dat again! You sounds noble!"

"Blaaa, " answered Lily. 

The Wildcat looked around him. His fear of the shrieking ghostly voicesfrom the sky overhead had melted into the fog. No longer did thehowling devils of mid channel disturb him. No longer did he fear theraging golf. With his mascot goat at his side, no evil luck could touchhim. Courage returned, and with it extravagant language. "Lily, nodoggone ghos' better git uppity wid me. I'd bus' a ol' ghos' in de haiddid I ketch one. "

With Lily beside him, he gained the level ground of the fairway. Then, over a wide expanse of golf links, the fog had lifted clear. TheWildcat saw the two Blue Fezant Nobles poking around near the Chinesetomb in search of the ball which had been lost a little while before. 

"Come on heah, Lily. " He dragged the mascot to the Chinese tomb, nearwhich the Mud Turtle was halted. 

"Ain't you foun' 'at little white ball yit, Mud Turtle?"

"Not me, Wilecat. Dat ball landed inside dis heah graveyard tomb. Youdon't git me in dere fo' a million dollahs. What's 'at! You foun' yo'goat!"

"Boy, out o' mah way!" The Wildcat walked toward the Chinese tomb asfast as Lily could cover the ground. "Git out o' mah way. Me an' Lilylooks in dat tomb place. Us ain't scared o' no ol' ghosts no mo'. "

One of the Blue Fezant gentleman called to the Wildcat. "Son, where inhell have you been?"

Something in the Potent Noble's tone made the Wildcat think of CaptainJack and the gone-away days in France. "Cap'n, suh, no place. I wasjes' 'cumulatin' mah mascot goat. "

He entered the roofless Chinese tomb, and there on the stone floor laythe golf ball. "Cap'n, suh, " he yelled, "heah's yo' freckled pill. " Hecalled less loudly to the Mud Turtle. "Otheh ball read three. Dis oneheah's got de fo' spot up. 'At's seven! Mud Turtle, you loses. Come inheah an' look at it. "

The Mud Turtle's dread of the Chinese tomb was still with him. "I'cepts yo' word fo' it, Wilecat. Doggone you. Boy, you wins fo' timesrunnin'. "

"Boy, f'm now on I wins steady. Lady Luck done sent back mah mascotgoat. I cain't lose!"

He turned to his four-legged companion. "Kin us, Lily, whilst you's widme?"

"Blaaa!" answered Lily. "I should say not. "

CHAPTER XVII

1. 

 "Lead me to de woods whah de luck trees grow, Han' me de axe when it's time to chop. Lead me kinda gentle, --git me started slow; When I gits to goin', watch de luck trees drop. "

While the Wildcat was doing his best to forget the cares that nominallyinfested his official day as porter on the Blue Fezant special car, sidetracked in San Francisco, Honey Tone Boone, the brunet uplifteh, languished in the Memphis jail. 

There were two sides to every jail. To the Wildcat, the loser in thelaw's game generally occupied the inside. Honey Tone was different. Theinside of a jail for Honey Tone was often a place of sanctuary fromwhich the occupant might sneer serenely at the disappointed femaleperils who gnashed their teeth outside the bars. 

In San Francisco the days were warm, and Lily the mascot goat hadreturned to her master's side. 

The Wildcat was playing even in the matter of daily rations. Trailingalong in the wake of a pair of the golf-playing Nobles of theMysterious Mecca at the Lincoln Park Golf course provided a cashsurplus which enabled the Wildcat to discard his winter-weight PrinceAlbert and to adorn his person with a retiring suit of clothes threeshades lighter than a sunburned pumpkin and embellished with six-inchchecks. Life wasn't so bad. Ol' railroad sleepin' car was probablydoin' all right. Reasonably sure that tomorrow would lug in new brandsof trouble to pester a boy with, the Wildcat steered his somnolentmentality clear of the shoals of surmise and let tomorrow take care ofitself. 

A boy never could tell about Lady Luck. Every time the Wildcat didsomething that clearly entitled him to free board in some permanentjail, like as not next day he would wake up all festooned with goldwatches. Take a preacher's advice and head down the straight and narrowpath, and the chances were that some deppity sherriff with a shotgun, or else a bear, would be waiting in the path right where the heaviestcanebrakes discouraged detours. 

2. 

 "One man's pizen is anotheh man's meat, -- Mah troubles neveh botheh you. Hog needs wings like a snake needs feet: De question ain't why, but who. "

Honey Tone Boone's downfall had been accomplished in Memphisimmediately subsequent to a Konk'rin' Heroes' parade. There had beensome talk about the ownership of the mule which Honey Tone rode. Theline of march headed straight for Honey Tone's wife and his potentialsoul mate and culminated in a ruckus from which Honey Tone emerged, safe in the talons of a policeman. The two women, comparing notes, hadgummed up the leader's grand entry to a degree which left Honey Tonethankful for the mule-stealing charge that had landed him safe in thejail and out of the clutches of his wife and Cuspidora Lee. He enjoyedsanctuary in jail for two months and then, threatened with anembarrassing and abrupt release, he concentrated on a hurried mentalincubation. Hard pressed, he sought to hatch from the bad egg ofcircumstance some new enterprise which would take him away, sudden andsafe, from where his memorizing wife awaited him. 

His mind roamed wild through the fields of questionable enterprisesopened to him by a combination of easy conscience and the flashy partof a "college" education. On the day of his release he half regrettedhis education. Ignorance cursed the individual with work, but it lefthim free of the higher responsibilities and the more acute penalties oftransgressions, and just then Honey Tone wished devoutly that he was afield hand. He craved a black complexion instead of the halfway colourthat barred him from the unquestioning comradeship of white and blackalike. 

On the night of his release from jail he beat the barrier, and bymorning he was well on his way to St. Louis, resolved to explore thePacific coast for fields wherein his peculiar abilities might enablehim to reap the harvest of cash without which life to him was naught. 

En route West, Honey Tone managed to keep one state ahead of hisreputation. Thus he avoided the iron impedimenta which the laws of theland drape around the ankles and feet that stray from the straight andnarrow trail--around wrists and hands whose idleness affords the devilwelcome opportunity to function as a labour agent. 

Honey Tone's first week in Oakland found him preaching to a smallcongregation. On the following Sunday he announced to his flock thatsubscriptions for a church building fund would be accepted, beginningforthwith. 

"Temp'rary an' perm'nent. " The announcement followed a long prayerduring which the uplifter's face wore the same holy expression as thatwhich adorns the first stages of a sneeze. "Rev'und" Honey Tone Booneopened his eyes and tamed his vocabulary to the vernacular currentamong his hearers. "Temp'rary an' perm'nent. Weekly refun's on alltemp'rary subscriptions, togetheh with int'res' at a hund'ed per cent. You doubles yo' 'vestment, like de boy wid de ten talents. "

The dangling bait was presently engulfed. 

The subscription books were kept open throughout the week. Facilitiesfor subscribing were offered through agencies established in thepastor's quarters, in two barber shops and three pool rooms. 

On the following Sunday, after a service devoted largely to discussionof temporal problems which afflict the flesh here in this vale oftears, Honey Tone paid his subscribers their original contributions andadded an equal sum for interest at a hund'ed per cent. 

The books were flooded with new subscriptions within the next fifteenminutes. The six agencies did a rushing business all during the week. On Friday Honey Tone counted his cash and decided that another weekcould be managed. Then--exit. 

After the next Sunday services, owing to an eight that looked like athree, he was short five hundred dollars in the item of interest. 

Explanations led to retreat, and Honey Tone retreated to a hotel in SanFrancisco. His flight therefrom was interrupted by a delegation from amob which visited him on the following night. He beat the delegationout of the lobby of the hotel because, in the emergency, his feet actedmore quickly than his head. He went away from there leading his flock. 

Mentally he shipped his remains to his next of kin four times in thenext fifty yards. Out of the corner of his eye he caught the gleam of apiece of light-coloured steel swung by a dark-coloured investor whocraved to collect his investment, plus interest, one way or another. 

Honey Tone's racing legs, impelled by an acute ambition, functionedsuccessfully in their owner's single endeavour to lead the flying wedgeof razor-bearing blood hunters by at least two jumps more than aslashin' reach. The fugitive turned into Mission Street; and here inthe long stretch the saddle-coloured financier saw a chance to do somethinking. Galloping was his main business just then, but he carried aside line of quick thoughts. 

With members of his own race Honey Tone asked no greater odds in themoney game than those which served from the theory that mind wassuperior to matter. But in this, too, time was the essence. Just thenhe needed time. Ten minutes were worth a million dollars and lots ofother important things like health and strength and blood. Time wasthat without which the best laid plans died in the egg. 

For the next five blocks, running something less than a mile a minute, the uplifter's brain functioned with the cunning which enables thefragrant fox to overcome the handicap with which nature has equippedhim, when the hounds begin the cross country obesity cure. During thistime a plan had flowered in Honey Tone's brain whereby victory might besnatched from what had looked like a total loss of all the blood thatwould run out of where a razor had nestled. 

In a shadowed area midway between two street lights Honey Tone stopped. He stopped abruptly, like a golf ball hitting the north side ofGibraltar. He bounced back, absorbing his momentum in a twisting motionwhich left him squarely facing the oncoming pack. Now it was, or never!

When they were upon him he 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 abouthim. The peak load of peril was confronted and passed, but still hisspeech ranged over the bait words most potent as verbal sedatives. "Easy money--lissen--gin--seven dice--fancy clothes--chicken an' ginfo' one an' all soopreem members. "

He discarded his college-bred dialect and adopted the vernacular of themajority 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' dep'cessions at night wid blazin' pitch knots an' de chokin' rope whutfolks uses when dey uprises, an' chosin' fo' ouah guide de lives ob deol'-time martyrs, safe an' serene in de circle ob fate cast 'roun' mahfragile form by dis yere rabbit's foot--Ah tells you--lissen!"

The speaker waved his rabbit's foot. He beckoned at the loose fringe ofsceptics which milled on the margin of the group. "Gether together, datye can hear de words ob wisdom. De prophet knowed whut he said when heperdicted dat somebody was comin' to lead his chillun f'm darkness intolight. 'At's me! Somebody. I leads you out ob darkness into de promisedlan' whah flows de milk an' honey. In passin' lemme add dat milk is f'mde ol' language used by de Sanskrits, meanin' gin. Honey f'm de ancientCheck-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 comeyou all redoosted to de state ob slaves? How come bird shot cain'tpester a cinnamon bear? Because yo' brains and yo' brawns is all spreadout, 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 intothe stretch. "Heah's de answeh, graved on de gol' tablets an' dug up inde 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 movementtowards de Canaan land. Fust off, us o'ganizes de Temple o' Luck. Dende fust annex is de Swamick Chu'ch, based on de mystic teachin' ofSwami de Indian Budda. Nex' do' in de Temple de Soopreem Faith Healerthrives 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' future fo' a dollah. In de Temple Annex is de offices ob de'Filiated Culled Union ob de worl'. Dis Union is mitigated into th'eegran' divisions--de Bullshevik, de P'litical, an' de Social. De Socialhas de Ladies' Annex. "

Honey Tone's eyes played steadily across his audience, horizontally, and his voice shot straight at the ears of the assemblage, but hisimagination started up, and now it made its final flight. "Dat's all Itells you, 'ceptin' my own humble efforts will be directed atorganizin' a New World Af'ican Colony in de free country of Barzil. Dat's all. Fo' each an' ev'ry project us needs a Deppity SoopreemLeadeh. Dese will be 'pointed f'm amongst you. Each Deppity SoopreemLeadeh adorns hisself wid de gilt-edge robes ob de 'propriateresponsibility an' collects de cash. Deppity Collector fo' each DeppityLeadeh likewise weahs de robes whut de ritual describes. Ritualc'mmittee gits a percentage ob de receipts. Deppities gits one dollahfo' ev'ry three whut's took in. Any income oveh twenty dollahs a daygoes to de Social an' Festive departments. "

The orator pulled a little book out of his pocket. "Hopin' you electssteady an' reliable frien's fo' de 'sponsible offices, us now opens de'scription books fo' de Temple Fund, payin' int'rest a hund'ed per centev'y week. Pussonally, I donates a hund'ed dollars to staht de ballrollin'--"

Honey Tone knew his crowd. 

"How much, brotheh? Sign yo' name. Cash. C'tificate in green an' yallerwid de gol' seal will be conferred at de Fust Conclave ob de SoopreemLeadehs of Departments an' de Gran' Deppities.... Gimme dat bill; I haschange, brotheh.... "

Late that night, escorted by a committee a little more soopreem thanthe body of the mob, Honey Tone walked back to his hotel room. Everything was organized to a degree which had deprived the mob ofblood hunters of all of their ready cash. 

On his way to the hotel the uplifter pondered the question of conductaffecting his immediate future. "To blow or not to blow"--that was thequestion. He reviewed the hills and valleys of the land of promise overwhich his galloping vocal organs had hauled the hopes of his hearers. He decided that the business of making good would involve considerablework. The work part failed to attract him. He decided to bid thecommittee a long farewell at the hotel, without their knowing it, buthis decision suffered a veto in the persistence with which the threeSoopreem Deppities stuck to their walking treasury department. 

In his room Honey Tone made a final effort to side-step the escort. Heremoved his coat and hung it on a chair. "Now wid de cares whut infestsde day relegated to de bosom ob de past, I lays me down an' sleeps. Brothehs, I hopes you all enjoys de boon ob ol' lady nature's sweetrestorer, an' I sees you tomorr' at--"

"You sees us now. " A heavy-set deppity grunted a verdict. "Gimme 'atquilt, an' I makes down mah pallet on de flo'. "

Without implying anything pussonal, another of the soopreem trio laidhimself down close against the door. 

The uplifter knew a bear trap when he saw it. He pillowed his rangy jawon the comforting outlines of the lumpy treasure in the pocket of hisvest, folded beneath his head. "Talk sure is cheap, " he reflected. "Talk is cheap, but sometimes you can trade big words for big money. "

A violent snore answered him, and again hope mounted to his heart, butpresently he realized that only one of his associates was sleeping. 

With the sleepers changing shifts every hour or so, the long nightpassed. 

By dawn Honey Tone was resolved to give his schemes a run for theirmoney. You never could tell how a scheme might turn out; and thecolonization business sounded pretty good, even to its overstressedinventor. 

CHAPTER XVIII

1. 

The convention of the Nobles of the Mysterious Mecca dwindled into thefinal stage that attends all conventions. Golf was eliminated, andbusiness was the order of the day. The Mud Turtle left him; andthereafter the Wildcat suffered indirectly, being threatened with aresumption of his responsibility as porter on the special car that hadbrought the Chicago contingent west to San Francisco. A sense ofrestraint gradually killed off the wild free business of roaming theLincoln Park golf course at so much per roam, eating heavy on theproceeds, and sleeping twelve hours a day. 

Arrayed in his yaller raiment, he sought the offices of the Pullmancompany and got confidential with the office boy. "I's de po'teh fo' deblue fezant boys--dis heah Mysterious Mecca business. Dey tells me usleaves fo' Chicago real soon. Ah jus' been down at de deepo lookin' fo'de cah. Whah at is dat cah? Me 'an Lily aims to git it swep' out befo'de gen'men comes. "

The office boy took the Wildcat's message to an inner office. Twominutes later the answer came back in the person of a gentleman who wastrying to hold his temper. "You're fired! You started with your car inChicago, left it in Wyoming, and here you are! Git out of here beforeI--"

"Cap'n, yessuh!" The Wildcat knew a gesture when he saw it. Heretreated, dragging his mascot goat a little too fast for Lily'scomfort. 

"Goat, doggone you, whut fo' did you go A. W. O. L. An' git us bofeloose f'm dat railroad job? Heah us is wid only fo' bits, an' all yo'fault. "

Lily admitted the charge in a plaintive bleat which softened the harshlanguage which her master was bellowing at his mascot in the din ofMarket Street. Presently the Wildcat forgot the acute misery of nothaving any hard work staring him in the face. "Us has fo' bits. 'Atsmo' money dan mos' folks has. Lily, us eats. 

 "I don't bother work, work don't bother me. I'se fo' times as happy as a bumble bee. Us eats when us kin git it, sleeps mos' all de time--"

At a lunch counter on Sutter Street much frequented by members of hisrace the Wildcat spread the fifty cents out over rations that made upin mass what they lacked in delicacy. Half way through the meal heslacked up enough to get talkative. The boy next to him at the lunchcounter was confronted with enough food to hold him for a few minutes;and it was at this more fortunate individual that the Wildcat directedhis remarks. "Podneh, whah at kin a boy locate a job of work in disyere town?"

"Whah you f'm?"

"Me an' mah mascot hails f'm Memphis. "

"How come you so fah f'm home?"

"Boy, whah at did you meet up wid so much wantin' to know?"

"Good many jail niggers loose. Thought maybe--"

"Don't think no mo'. Don't think 'nuther word 'bout me an' Lily. I comef'm de ahmy. Two yeahs in France, an' lately I lef' de Pullman railroadpeople whut hires sleepin' cah po'tehs. 'At's all. Ain't no jailconnected wid me. All I craves is a job whut pays money. "

"De wages at de docks unloadin' steamboats is ten dollahs a day. Depen's on how much money you needs. Dey wants stevedores bad. Dey's astrike. "

"Boy, dey has me! I'se a bad stevedo'. Whah at is dis boat-unloadin'bizness?"

The boy revealed the location of the ten-dollar job. "You trails alongafteh you gits to de wateh whah de big boats is. Half a mile f'm deferry buildin' you sees a gang standin' round. Them's strikers. Yougoes through, an' de boss shows you whah to head in. Does you know destevedo' business?"

"I'll say us does. Me an' de res' ob de Fust Service Battalion unloadedall de boats whut landed in France durin' de wah. How come you ain'tworkin' yo'self at de ten-dollah job?"

"I'se a 'vestor. 'Vested some cash in a new o'ganization whut wasinstigated heah lately. Pays big. Two fo' one ev'y week. You gives deol' Soopreem Leadeh fifty dollahs, an' nex' week back he comes wid ahund'ed. You hol's out some an' 'vests de res'. Nex' week you reapsagin. Pays fifty, gits a hund'ed. "

"Whah at is dis Soopreem man?"

"Thought you tol' me you was broke. How come you lie so?"

"Ain't said no lie. "

"You's broke, ain't you? What good does dis Soopreem man do you 'lessyou kin 'vest wid him? Git yo' job, an' when you has beginnin' money Imeets you an' reveals whah at is de gol' mine. "

"Meet you heah nex' Sat'dy night. 'At's pay night, I s'poses. "

"You s'poses right. Ah meets you Sat'day. "

"Sho' will. Podneh, whut name is you favored with? I goes by nameWilecat--by rights I was baptized Vitus Marsden. " The Wildcat held outthe hand of brotherhood. 

"Call me Trombone when you calls confidential, " his companion replied. "By rights I is Pike Canfield, but folks calls me Trombone eveh sinceme an' de name got famous. Mebbe you is heard of me. I plays de sliphorn. "

"Sho' I is--many's de time! So you is Trombone, is you? Sho' proud tomeet up wid you. Sho' 'bliged fo' de knowledge concernin' de ten-dollahjob. Soon as I 'cumulates some payday me an' Lily meets you heah nex'Sat'day night. Den us 'vests wid de Soopreem Leadeh an' mebbe has agran' ruckus wid de profits. "

That night the Wildcat slept free and chilly on a park bench, coveredonly with the blanket of fog which rolled in at midnight. 

Shortly after dawn, with Lily at his heels, he walked to the entranceof the pier against which lay a cargo ship loading for a famine area inEurope. "Whah at is de man whut hires de han's?" he asked. 

Two hours later the foreman of the dock gang was pointed out to him, and in ten minutes, with Lily tied to a barrel of nutritious pickles, the Wildcat took his place in the long line of stevedores that hustledfreight out of the pier shed and into the nets under the cargo booms ofthe ship. "Lily--tonight us eats on credit, an' sleeps inside someplace whah de fog weatheh don't git. "

All the stevedore crew were members of the Wildcat's own race. Beforenoon he had affiliated with enough friends to make the matter ofnoontime lunch a simple business of accepting part of what was offeredhim, while Lily did the best she could on enough assorted nutriment tofeed six mascots. 

Considering the start he had made that morning, the Wildcat realized, with his seventh sandwich, that life isn't so bad if you manage to livethrough it. When he began the afternoon shift his ancient philosophyhad returned, and to the clatter of the activity about him hecontributed his rambling voice. Presently the words of his songrecruited a few converts from the gang about him; and by four o'clock, with the freight moving faster than it had for many a day, the hollowspaces in the long pier were filled with the echoes that lifted from anintermittent chorus which proclaimed that

 "I kin load a steamboat, load it full wid freight; I kin load a steamboat when it's leavin' late. Dat's de reason I'se as happy as a bee, I don't botheh work, an' work don't botheh me. "

Throughout the late hours of the afternoon the eyes of the foreman wereon the Wildcat. "Hustlin' nigger. Make him a straw boss tomorrow ifthis keeps up. "

2. 

Honey Tone realized that rank imposes commensurate obligation beforehis Temple of Luck campaign had lived a week. Too much rank imposed toomuch obligation, and so the Swamic Church and the Faith Healing and thePalm Reading Magi and several other verbal branches of his project werediscarded before the several deppity soopreem leaders got too soopreemto handle. The backbone of his income was at once the Temple Fund; andthis important business demanded and received all of his energy exceptthat demanded by his elaborate pictures of the New World African Colonyin Brazil. 

The Temple Fund, paying all investors a hundred per cent a week, waspopular from the start. On the first dividend day Honey Tone made thegrade without difficulty, and all subscriptions were repaid, togetherwith a bonus of a like amount. Immediately after the ceremony ofrepayment was completed, the backwash of investment began to roll in, and by the evening the promoter counted more than a thousand dollars inhis hip pocket treasury. On the next day a new group of subscribers towhom the news had been retailed milled about the doors of the temporaryTemple for a chance to register and donate their investments. HoneyTone, operating in a rented house, herded the investors into a roomwhere his voice could pulverize the sediment of reluctance whichremained in his hearers' minds, leaving no dregs of doubt that mightcloud the nectar of hope. 

He donned a serious looking coat, long and black, and swept a broadyellow sash across his chest. On his head rested a Manchu mandarin cappurchased in Chinatown and revised with ornament suitable for theinsignia of the Soopreemest. About his waist was the equator part of aSam Brown belt, and from it dangled a Civil War cavalry sabre whosescabbard had suffered two coats of gilt paint, not quite dry. Heretained his ordinary street shoes; life was a battle, and you nevercould tell when the bugles of fate might blow recall. Street shoes camein handy when there was any heavy running to be done. 

In his uniform he addressed the herded investors. "Breth'rin, de booksis closed fo' de present week. All whut paid yistiddy gits dey moneyback, 'long wid de same amout fo' intres' nex', Satidy mawnin'. Demwhut pays de 'scriptions now gits de 'vestment an' de hund'ed per centintres' de Satidy afteh nex'. De books is now open, de gol' sealc'tificates is ready. Fawm in line an' git yo' money ready.... Tendollahs, brotheh. Heah's yo' papeh. Now you is a Deppity SoopreemLeadeh, 'titled to de red sash.... Nex' Satidy us 'lects de tenSoopreem Gov'nors fo' de leadin' districts in de New Worl' AfricanColony at Barzil. Boat leaves wid de 'ficials an' de p'visions nex'month. 'Lection is by de lucky numbehs. Soopreem 'ficials gits a housean' ten thousan' milrice--dat's Barzil dollahs--ev'y month to travelroun' wid an' see is de distric' doin' O. K.... Fifteen dollahs--dat'titles you to de Yaller Sash of Trust. Chances is you sho' will be aSoopreem Gov'nor. Nex' brotheh.... "

On the following Saturday Honey Tone managed to postpone the electionof the Soopreem Governors for the ten districts of the colony and tosidestep the various vague promises that he had sown so lavishlythroughout the preceding two weeks, but in the department of financethere was no evasion, short of flight, and in the white light thatforever beat about him escape for the moment was impossible. He sensedthe growing pyramid of final retribution and began to formulate planswhereby the mantle of responsibility might be transferred to otheraspiring shoulders. 

The cumulative financial problem was a simple matter of geometricalprogression, at the far end of which lay a solution consisting ofseveral quarts of blood. He faced a wire-edged razor, seeking agilt-edged dodge, and so far his brain had failed to formulate the safeway out. 

His attempts at transferring the long end of the load to the struttingdeppities who hung around the Temple of Luck met with less success. "Long as you stays Soopreem enough to wrassle wid de financialdepartment, us leaves you run it. You is soopreem now. Stay dat way. "

Later on Brother Livingstone approached Honey Tone and warned theleader to stay Soopreem or pay the charges on one life-size mistake. "Confidential like, Honey Tone, I tells you stay soopreem o' else tellde grave committee de facts fo' yo' tombstone. "

The person of the Soopreem Leader became the object of watchful care onthe part of three shifts of Deppity Gardeens. Day and night there weretwo or three watchful waiters on the job. 

The fourth pay day was approaching and with it an obligation to pay outmore than four thousand dollars. Receipts were falling off. OnWednesday night Honey Tone's bankroll audited less than three thousanddollars. He tried to split the pot with the Deppity Gardeens in returnfor liberty. In this he failed. 

On Thursday night, as near as he could see, all the gates were closed. He was on a one-way road. 

CHAPTER XIX

1. 

 "All I does is follow mah feet, 'Ceptin' when de boss says, 'Stop an' eat!' Follow mah feet de whole day through; Follow mah feet 'till I burns a shoe, Shovin' a truck load o' po'k an' beans, Loadin' de boat fo' New O'leans. "

Back of his truck on the dock the Wildcat set the pace for his fellows. The man in front of him found the Wildcat forever at his heels. The manfollowing had a hard time keeping up. 

Now and then the Wildcat's feet abandoned the steady trot for a gaitwhich included considerable prancing, embellished with a new series offancy steps, limited only by the inertia of the freight truck withwhich the stepper's ambition was retarded. 

 "On de down-hill drag let yo' hind legs slide; Mawnin', Mistah Debbil, git aboa'd an' ride. Git behin' me, Satan, on de up-hill road, I'se a one-horse sinner wid a two-horse load. "

Late in the afternoon the Wildcat's tactics had converted a group ofadmirers who had discovered in the prosaic business of rustling freighta first-class chance to make a laughing game of it. Meanwhile, theywere moving record tonnage. 

At evening the pier foreman sent for the Wildcat. "Tomorrow morning youtake a gang down to Section Seventeen and start moving flour into the_West King_. There'll be five a day extra in it--that'll buy grub forthe goat. "

"Cap'n, yessuh--you means I'se fo'man?"

"That's what I mean. Keep your niggers rustlin'. "

"Yass suh! Sho' will!" The Wildcat jerked at Lily's string halter. "Goat, say you'se 'bliged to de cap'n. Stan' roun' theh, fo' I showsyou who's de boss wid a club!"

"Blaaa!" returned Lily. 

The pier foreman smiled. "You might round up some more men if you canfind 'em, " he continued. "We can use a lot more. I'll give you twentydollars a man for all you can get. Tell 'em ten a day, with grub andquarters furnished here on the dock. "

"Cap'n, you means I gits twenty dollars fo' ev'y stevedo' nigger whut I'cumulates?"

"That's it. "

"How much is a hund'ed niggers, suh?"

"Two thousand dollars. "

"Cap'n, you gits 'em tomorr'. Us kin rule dat many single handed--me'suadin' an' Lily rammin'. Mebbe two hund'ed. Come on heah, goat! Le'sgo!"

The Wildcat left the pier with visions of a military formation of amillion men, marching steadily toward a place where they were worthtwenty dollars apiece to him. In his dream of being king of all labouragents he failed to include the difficulties with which his pathway wasbeset. The stevedores' strike, gaining strength each day, now includeda floating committee whose duty it was to discourage the enlistment ofnew labour. 

The Wildcat borrowed a dollar and ate supper at the lunch counter wherehe had met Trombone, hoping that he might again encounter thatindividual. Ranged about him were ten or fifteen hearty eaters; and tothis group, at the termination of his own meal, he addressed hisinvitation to participate in the business of loading steamships withoutbound freight. "Ten dollahs a day, boy, comf'table place fo'sleepin', an' all de grub you kin eat. "

His oration fell on barren ground. He left the lunch counter withouthaving gained a single recruit. "C'm on heah, Lily. Dese city niggerssho' is triflin'. Whut us needs is fiel' han's, o' else some heavy'suader like a hoe handle. Us aims to sleep some now. Mebbe tomorr'Lady Luck boons me wid men whut craves a job wid rations an' tendollahs a day. "

For a while the next morning the work of loading the _West King_ withflour lagged a little under the direction of the new foreman. At eleveno'clock, noting the epidemic of reluctance to move out of a slow dragwhich had afflicted his gang, the Wildcat climbed to the top of a tierof flour barrels. He took out his knife and whittled through the hoopsof a barrel. He resumed his place on the pier. "Break down dat topline. Git movin'! Haul out 'at bottom bar'l! Stan' back when deycomes!"

They came. An avalanche of rolling barrels rolled wildly across thedeck of the pier. The top one on which the hoops were cut landed with asmash in the centre of an explosive spray of flour. The atmosphere wassuddenly white dust.... Black complexions presently became grey. 

Perspiring freight jugglers began to laugh at their fellows. In threeminutes the roof of the pier was echoing back the volleys ofhigh-pitched laughter which lifted from below. Until noon, and thenthrough the long afternoon, all that the Wildcat's men did was to laughtheir heads off at the slightest provocation and move more freight thanthe ship's cargo booms could handle. 

 "Ah likes biscuits an' Ah likes bread, Doan' like 'em plastered on mah head, Craves to have 'em spread around on mah inside, 'Sted of havin' dough a-drippin' off mah hide. "

The pier foreman, passing the Wildcat's crew late in the afternoon, paused to look the deal over. "Everything all right?"

"Cap'n, yessuh. Dey's good boys. 'Clined to mope some at fust, but deygot laughin' some way. Since den dey's been movin' 'long. "

Without knowing it, the Wildcat had mixed the essence of all thetheories of efficiency into one barrel of flour. The results of theadministered dose were showing on the tally boards in the freightoffice at the end of the long pier. The transportation superintendentsent for the pier foreman. "Jim, who is handling the flour into the_West King_?"

"Young nigger called Wildcat--right name is Marsden. Got himyesterday. "

"Keep him forever. The _Empire_ docks tomorrow for a mixed cargo forNew Orleans. Sixteen thousand tons. Let this Wildcat boy handle all ofit--as long as he lasts. "

2. 

On Friday morning Honey Tone groaned himself awake, realizing when hiseyes were open that less than thirty-six hours lay between his fragileform and blood-tinted trouble. It seemed to him that his self-appointedguardians clung closer with the passage of the hours, as if theysuspected their soopreem treasury of perfecting a plot which mightinclude his exit. The obligations of the moment were four thousanddollars, and in Honey Tone's bulging pocket but three-fourths of thatamount awaited the pay hour which would come with Saturday night. 

Saturday dawned, and with it the sprout of an idea had shoved throughthe graveyard ground of Honey Tone's dejection. In mournful tones, hardly hoping that success would attend his latest scheme, he announcedit to his guardian deppities. "Brethren, yo' leadeh's efforts has beenrewarded like de oil in de widow's croose. F'm now on us pays back deoriginal 'scription wid a hund'ed per cent intres', an'--hearkin' untodese words--oveh an' above de 'riginal an' de intres', a bonus equal tode 'vestment! Doan ask what de Lawd means when de blessin' showersdown. Git in de rain an' git wet wid cash. Th'ee fo' one--dat's whutpays!"

At evening, before he took his place at the pay table, he repeated theannouncement. The rooms of the Temple were crowded and the flock wassilent, hanging with acute interest on the Soopreemest's words. HoneyTone held up his hand. He bowed right and left, and the glitteringtinsel on the mandarin cap reflected the colour of minted gold from theyellow lights. He held aloft the hilt of the gilded sword that swungfrom his yellow belt. He sheathed his sword and parked his nervous lefthand in the folds of the yellow sash that draped across his chest. "Brethren ob de Temple: Sow an' reap. As you sows, you likewise reaps. De Goddess of Gold, an' de lady's husban' ol' man Midas, has smiledagin upon ou' humble efforts. Tonight Ah makes a momentous announcementbefo' Ah returns wid intres' de 'vestments you made las' week. Up tonow de 'financial repayments has been two fo' one. F'm now on us paystwice dat much!"

He paused to let his words sink in. "Fo' eve'y dollah you 'vests yougits de dollah back, anotheh dollah for intres', an', as a specialbonus, anotheh dollah whut makes de th'ee fo' one. Dis Special'Vestment Depahtment is open now an' will be run wid de lef han' whilstde right, not knowin' whut de lef' han' does, pays out yo' las' week'scash. Fawm in line. Ah pays an' receives at de same table. Who is defust brotheh? Yass indeed! Heah's yo' money--an' you says you craves to'vest it in de th'ee fo' one fund. Praise de Lawd! De los' sheep seesde light. "

Some there were who failed to see the light, but by strenuouspersuasion Honey Tone managed to reclaim enough of his payments topiece out the missing thousand. 

Over and above the success he enjoyed in keeping his epidermis freefrom the parked razors of revenge, he pouched a few hundred dollars'surplus before the hour of payment ceased. With it, including theborrowed and juggled thousand, he had incurred an obligation to repayanother staggering sum on the following Saturday night. 

Thankful for his escape from the crisis of the moment and a little bitshaken by the acute peril which had confronted him, he sat heavily atthe pay table, and sagged down in his soopreem robes. He ran his eyeover the pay list, and for the first time he noticed an unpaidinvestor. "Pike Canfield--$100. 00. "

A knock sounded at the outer door. The outer guard clattered in. "Brotheh Canfield, an' a strange brotheh who desires to be ledstraight. "

"Tell Brotheh Canfield to enteh unto de Soopreem presence, " Honey Tonereturned, according to the ritual. Then, under his breath, "Dam 'atTrombone nigger. How come he so promp' at de las' minute?"

CHAPTER XX

1. 

A little late at the Sutter Street lunch counter by reason of his addedresponsibilities at the dock, the Wildcat had found his friend Tromboneimpatiently awaiting him. 

"Wilecat, does us miss de meetin' Ah loses a hund'ed dollahs. Grab yo'vittles an' eat on de run!"

"Whut time is you due at de Temple?"

"De meetin' done stahted a houah back--'less us gits dah in fifteenminnits de do's closed. "

"Trombone, us has plenty ob time. Ah 'sorbs mah nutriment in fiveminnits--'at leaves ten fo' de trip. Ain't et me nothin' all day, 'ceptin' breakfus' an' some san'wiches at noon time. Sho' been busyloadin' de ol' _Empire_ fo' N'Awl'uns. Dey made me de gang boss--I'segot mo' niggers dan ol' cunnel had in de Fust Service Battalion. Sho'is busy. Niggers craves to mope--ah un-craves 'em like de Lootenantused to--gits 'em all laffin' so ha'd dey forgits de wuk. Fo' long deyain't no mo' w'uk, an' eve'ybody feels noble. Dat's all de talk--heah'smah ham, sizzlin' in de gravy.... Stan' up heah, Lily; eat dese lettucegreens. "

The Wildcat did an hour's eating in three minutes. "Whuf--ol' rationssho' tastes noble. Whah at's yo' soopreem ol' leadeh whut pays out demoney? Ah craves to 'vest some mahse'f. Tonight I has money. Las' weekme an' Lily was bust. Le's go!"

Ten minutes later Trombone and the Wildcat, leading Lily, were at theouter door of the Temple of Luck. There followed the ritual business ofthree knocks and the ceremony of admittance. 

2. 

Honey Tone saw the Wildcat one second before that individual saw theSoopreem paymaster. One second was enough for Honey Tone. In his brainwas born a scheme whereby the heavy mantle of leadership, including theponderous pyramid of financial obligations, might be shifted to theWildcat's shoulders. He got up from his throne at the paytable andplowed his way toward the Wildcat. He held out the hand of fellowship. "Wilecat, how is you? How is de Worshupful Potentate f'm de distantlan'?"

"Honey Tone! Honey Tone Boone! How come you heah?"

Honey Tone took the Wildcat by the arm. "Brothehs, in de humble yallerraiment of a plain nigger de long-looked-fo' Barzil Leadeh has come to'scort you all to de promis' lan'. "

He half dragged the Wildcat to a little room opening off the largerhall, and thereafter for five minutes Honey Tone used some privateeloquence on his old-time acquaintance. The Soopreem Leader took painsto omit the detail covering the four-thousand-dollar obligation thatwent with the job. Finally the Wildcat weakened. "Sho' sounds noble, Honey Tone. Tell me de res'. "

"You is de head boss ob de New Worl' Af'ican Colony, an' weahs derobes, " Honey Tone concluded. "You is Temp'rary Soopreem Leadeh ob deTemple whilst I 'tends to some private business a sho't ways out obtown. When de Barzil Colony is runnin' you gits de job ob SoopreemKing. All you does now is keep yo' mouth shut an' look soopreem. Dissteamboatin' you says you is 'gaged in comes in handy. You tells demembehs at de propeh time dat you is loadin' de boat fo' de BarzilColony. "

Honey Tone left his convert and prepared the way for the transitionwith the assembled audience. 

Half way through his discourse he was interrupted by Trombone Pike, whocraved to get his hundred dollars before the flight of Honey Tone'simagination lifted the soopreem one above paltry things like financialobligations. Honey Tone paid him with three quick movements--a dig forthe roll, an outstretching of a handful of cash, and the grip ofeternal brotherhood. "'At's dat. Dah you is. "

Meanwhile the Wildcat's languid brain had stumbled over an idea as bigas a church. "Ah leads de brethren to de dock--an' gits twenty dollahsfo' every man!" When Honey Tone returned, the Wildcat eagerly succumbedto the rôle imposed on him. "Sho' kin, Honey Tone. Sho' glad to beTemp'rary Soopreem Leadeh. Ah learns dese brethren de steamboatbizness. Sho' glad to show 'em all I knows an' git 'em stahted. "

"Wait heah till I 'suades 'em to let you handle everything. " Honey Toneleft the Wildcat alone for the second time and made a furtherannouncement to the brethren. "De Wo'shipful Temp'rary Soopreem Leadehsuggests, wid de high knowledge he has fo' suggestin', dat if he has detreasury department in his han's de payments on 'vestments willincrease up to fo' to one. Dat alone shows you whut a big man he is. Nex' week he pays you all yo' 'vestments, intres' at a hund'ed percent, a bonus ob de same amount, an' a special dividend equal to onean' all. Ah hereby 'spectfully resigns de robes ob office, an' names a'nishiation c'mmittee ob twelve brothehs to 'dorn de new SoopreemTemp'rary Leadeh wid de raiment of his rank. "

Honey Tone returned to the Wildcat. "You's been 'lected unan'mous. De'nitiation cer'monies is ready. You gits de Gran' Degree right away. Heah's de treasury. Ain't no bills due--yet. Don't owe nuthin'. "

Honey Tone split his roll, being burdened with the rudiments of theprinciple of safety first. He shoved the money at the Wildcat andhurried the candidate to the door before the victim had a chance tocount the cash. 

There followed an impromptu initiation ceremony, interrupted but onceby Lily's bleating, after which the Wildcat realized that he was thehead of something that he knew mighty little about. He looked aroundfor Honey Tone, seeking the moral support that might derive from thepresence of his old friend and enemy. 

Honey Tone had explained himself loose from his guards. Honey Tone wasgone. 

The Wildcat fumbled around with some oversized words, and then the realobject of his speech came to him. "Dese niggers means twenty dollahsapiece--on de dock. " He launched into a wild description of the NewWorld African Colony. He pictured a life of ease in which each chartermember of the colony who believed in heaven would be reluctant to tradeheaven for a stevedore's career. He added the time phrase which was theessence of the whole affair. "You meets me heah tomorr' mawnin' at sixo'clock. Ah leads you to de boat whah you sees how fas' kin' you git defreight aboa'd. So as yo' gits de wages yo' labour is worthy ob, likede Bible says, I 'ranges dat ev'y man gits ten dollahs a day an' grub. "

3. 

Before the light of dawn began to chase the San Francisco fogs up thebay the charter members of the New World African Colony began toassemble at the gates of the Temple. When the Wildcat appeared at sixo'clock he was greeted by more than two hundred worthy brethren, all ofwhom craved to learn the boat-loading business at ten dollars a day. Hemarched his gang to the Embarcadero, yelling orders in a manner thatmade some of the veterans of the A. E. F. Homesick. 

"Silence in de ranks!" The clamour subsided. "When Ah columns you lef', head fo' de big buildin'!" The big building was the entrance to thepier against which, eating charter money faster than the banks couldloan it and hungry for her sixteen thousand tons of mixed freight, laythe _Empire_. 

At half past seven the Wildcat reported to the pier foreman at theoffice in the end of the long building. "Cap'n, suh, heah's more'n twohund'ed twenty-dollah niggers. How much does dat come to, suh?"

The pier foreman ran his eye over the crowd without answering. Hedisappeared into the office, where he spoke quickly to his clerk. "Cutall the labour-grabbers off the payroll. Call 'em in. Here's more menthan I've seen in a year. "

Outside there began the brief business of distributing the new supplyof much-needed labour. This accomplished, the Wildcat came in for hisshare of attention. "We can use another gang like this. Can you get 'emby tomorrow?"

"Cap'n, suh, Ah gits fo' times dis many does you crave 'em. When doesAh git de money?"

Fifteen minutes later the Wildcat received a piece of blue paper. "Cap'n, suh, Ah cain't read whut de papeh says. Kin you read fo' me, please, suh?"

"That's a check for four thousand and eighty dollars--two hundred andfour men at twenty a throw. "

"Lawd gawd, Lady Luck, you sho' showered down dis time!" The Wildcat'sbrain could surround the eighty-dollar part, but the four-thousand endwas something not yet real. He stowed the check in his pocket with thefragment of the treasury roll of the Temple of Luck. 

On Saturday, unable to restrain his anxiety to see what so much moneylooked like, he persuaded the pier foreman to send the clerk to thebank to get the check cashed. The cash was handed to the Wildcat. Hestowed it away in various pockets of the yaller suit. "Ol' money sticksout like a stole chicken. Neveh did see so much money. "

That night, under the stress of prosperity, the Wildcat quit an hourearly. He drifted to the Temple of Luck, intending to sit easy andsmoke a cigar and talk big talk to the evening assembly of brethren. Two or three of Honey Tone's former guardians were busy loafing at theTemple when the Wildcat arrived. After a period of silence, followingthe salutations appropriate for the Soopreem Leader, a deppity led upto the matter of meeting the financial obligations which fell due thatevening. "Ah figgehs, Soopreem, dat dey's somethin' like fo' thousan'dollahs to be paid out tonight. Sho' is a lot o' money. "

The Wildcat was interested. "Fo' thousan'? Whah at is de money comin'f'm?"

Five anxious brethren sat up. It was all right for the Soopreem Leadehto enjoy himself on whatever subject pleased him, as long as there wereno personal dollar signs attached to the subject. 

"You knows whah it comes f'm. You's jokin', Soopreem! Go 'long wid yo'talk. 'Scuse me fo' speakin' so familiah, but de money question sho' isin de fust rank. Specially since you pays fo' to one. De Pas' SoopreemLeadeh strained hisse'f to pay th'ee fo' one. "

In the course of the next five minutes the Wildcat's eyes were openedconcerning the generous ease with which Honey Tone had relinquishedwhat appeared to be a position of prominence second to none for socialand political status. He sought to make his escape, only to discoverthe same restraint which had defeated Honey Tone's plans of flight. 

"Come easy--go easy. " The Wildcat surrendered to the clutch ofcircumstance. He felt the diminishing weight of the four thousanddollars. "Ah kep' it a week--dat's longeh den Ah eveh had such bigmoney befo'! Now Ah has to buy mahse'f free wid it, 'stead ob usin' itfo' rations an' sech. Doggone! Whah at is Lady Luck?"

The hour for the meeting came. The Wildcat adorned himself with hissoopreem robes. He cut a long end from the yaller sash and tied itaround the mascot's stomach. "Heah, goat, doggone you. Git ca'm. Stan'still till Ah adorns yo' wid de soopreem belly band. See kin you makeLady Luck heah you. Dat woman sho' fo'got mah name. "

"Blaaa!" Festooned with the yellow sash, Lily did the best she could tomake Lady Luck respond, but Lady Luck was deaf. 

Lady Luck was A. W. O. L. Thereafter for an hour the Wildcat sat at theSoopreem table, watching his stack of greenbacks melt out before him onfour-to-one obligations incurred by the absent Honey Tone. 

For a while, with every disappearing dollar, the Wildcat mentallyshowered the absent Honey Tone with epithets picked up duringoverstressed moments of an active life. Then to the Temp'rary SoopreemLeader's mind there came a faint resolve to try the ultimate arrow ofhis pack in an effort to reclaim his melting money. "De clickers!"

At the conclusion of his misery he made an announcement covering theprogramme of an attempt to defeat the evil which had run him down. 

He stood up on the chair where he had been sitting. "Brethren, befo' usgits too deep into de evenin' us devotes a social hour to Lady Luck. Count off into squads, dig deep in yo' raiment fo' ammunition an' declickin' weapons, den for'd march--into de battle whah de top sidesmeans vick'ry o' else de grave-diggin' squad! Afteh de squad leadehsdecides who is de bes' man, as yo' Soopreem Leadeh I claims depriv'lege o' meetin' de victors on de clickin' fiel' of battle. Dat'sall. Git faded an' shoot fas'. "

A battle royal. Thereafter for half an hour the air was thick withprayer. Presently most of the four thousand had been prayed into thehands of half a dozen squad leaders. 

Then the Wildcat spoke. "Winners! Lady Luck sho' smiled down on you. Now your Soopreem Leadeh makes 'at woman laff at you. Stan' by me, Lily!"

The mascot goat bleated her message of encouragement. Spectatorsrallied around. Out of his left shoe the Wildcat hauled his personalweapons. On the floor before him he cast the last fragment of hisfour-thousand-dollar roll. In the narrow circle of victors exploded hispoint-blank challenge. 

"Shoots a hund'ed! Shower down. Ah craves action!

 "You neveh kin tell till de gallopers stop Whut de numbehs reads dat lays on top. Comin' out a top side seven or 'leven Is Wilecat talk fo' a payday heaven. Seven's a winner when it shows up fust, But afteh yo' point a seven means bust. Comin' out fust wid a dooce, twelve, o' trey Is jes' like throwin' yo' money away, 'Cept you keeps de dice an' stahts once mo' By layin' yo' money on de gam'lin' flo'. Suppose you releases a fo', six, eight, You tries yo' bes' to duplicate. De same hol's true fo' a five, nine, ten, But a seven's boun' to git you now an' then. As I said befo' does a seven come fust Befo' you makes yo' point, it means you's bust. "

In fifteen minutes six ex-victors had joined the circle of innocentbystanders and were hunting for phrases to explain to themselves justhow it happened. The Wildcat, stowing away the incoming money with hisleft hand, swept his victorious right high above his head. In his moistpalm nestled his pussonal dice. 

"I lets it lay. Shoots it all!"

"Ain't got dat much. " The last man was suffering from reducedcircumstances. 

"How much is you? Shoots de fifty! I'se faded. Gallopers, stan' by me!Stay soopreem. Bam! An' I reads, six-ace. Deppity--you's done!"

The Wildcat, perspiring copiously in his official robes of supremacy, got to his feet. He parked the gallopers in his inside pocket. Hereached for Lily's leading string. "Brethren--me an' Lily stahtedsoopreem when we come heah. Dat's de way we finishes. I bids you--goodnight!"

4. 

With Lily at his heels, the favourite of Lady Luck made his way intothe midnight fog which lay above the city. He walked to Market Street, and at the ferry building he headed down the Embarcadero toward thepier where the _Empire_ was loading. In the deep shadows cast by a postin the long pier he removed his trailing robe. He rolled his insigniaunder his arm. Under the arc lights along the pier the men of the nightshift were rustling the last of the freight to the _Empire's_ side. 

With Lily at his heels, the Wildcat went aboard the ship. The officeron watch recognized him. "What you doin' out so late, boy? Thought yourun the day shift?"

"Cap'n, --yessuh, --I does. Me an' Lily was projectin' roun' some. Usain't got no place to go. "

The Wildcat lingered on this last statement. "No place to go. " Then hesummoned courage enough to voice a request which expressed a longingthat had developed since he had first known the _Empire's_ destination. 

"Cap'n, suh, " he said slowly, "kin me an' Lily ride wid you to NewAwl'uns?--Us craves to git south. "

"I'll say you can. We need about nine good waiters for the trip. "

"Cap'n, suh, dat's me! When us starts I'se de same as nine. "

"You're hired. Sign on tomorrow. "

In his eagerness the Wildcat jerked heavily at Lily's leading string. "Come on heah, goat, le's git down in de ol' boat's cellar whah dekitchen is an' git to work. Say you's 'bliged to de cap'n. "

"Blaaa!" Lily voiced her gratitude. 

On the third deck down, the Wildcat tied Lily to a stanchion. He threwhis official costume on the deck in front of the mascot goat. 

"See kin you eat dis soopreem raiment. Us is done bein' soopreem. Hotdam! New Awl'uns boun'! Den Memphis--dat's home!"

The Wildcat felt the thick packages of bank notes in the inside pocketsof his yaller suit. "Sho' big money. Money--dis time stan' by me. "

 "I kin ride a steamboat--I don' pay no fare, I kin ride a steamboat--anywhere. Dat's de reason I'se as happy as a bee, Me an' Lily's Memphis boun'--Memphis, Ten-o-see. "