As he mused, Peter"s soul made one of those sharp liberating movements that occasionally visit a human being. The danger of Tump Pack"s jealousy, the loss of his prestige, the necessity of learning the specific answers to the examination questions, all dropped away from him as trivial and inconsequent. He turned from the window, put away his books and question-slips, picked up his hat, and moved out briskly through his mother"s room toward the door.
The old woman in the kitchen must have heard him, for she called to him through the part.i.tion, and a moment later her bulky form filled the kitchen entrance. She wiped her hands on her ap.r.o.n and looked at him accusingly.
"Wha you gwine, son?"
"For a walk."
The old negress tilted her head aslant and looked fixedly at him.
"You"s gwine to dat Cissie Dildine"s, Peter."
Peter looked at his mother, surprised and rather disconcerted that she had guessed his intentions from his mere footsteps. The young man changed his plans for his walk, and began a diplomatic denial:
"No, I"m going to walk by myself. I"m tired; I"m played out."
"Tired?" repeated his mother, doubtfully. "You ain"t done nothin" but set an" turn th"ugh books an" write on a lil piece o" paper."
Peter was vaguely amused in his weariness, but thought that he concealed his mirth from his mother.
"That gets tiresome after a while."
She grunted her skepticism. As Peter moved for the door she warned him:
"Peter, you knows ef Tump Pack sees you, he"s gwine to shoot you sho!"
"Oh, no he won"t; that"s Tump"s talk."
"Talk! talk! Whut"s matter wid you, Peter? Dat n.i.g.g.e.r done git crowned fuh killin" fo" men!" She stood staring at him with white eyes. Then she urged, "Now, look heah, Peter, come along an" eat yo" supper."
"No, I really need a walk. I won"t walk through n.i.g.g.e.rtown. I"ll walk out in the woods."
"I jes made some salmon coquettes fuh you whut"ll spile ef you don" eat "em now."
"I didn"t know you were making croquettes," said Peter, with polite interest.
"Well, I is. I gotta can o" salmon fum Miss Mollie Brownell she"d opened an" couldn"t quite use. I doctered "em up wid a lil vinegar an" sody, an" dey is "bout as pink as dey ever wuz."
A certain uneasiness and annoyance came over Peter at this persistent use of unwholesome foods.
"Look here, Mother, you"re not using old canned goods that have been left over?"
The old negress stood looking at him in silence, but lost her coaxing expression.
"I"ve told and told you about using any tainted or impure foods that the white people can"t eat."
"Well, whut ef you is?"
"If it"s too bad for them, it"s too bad for you!"
Caroline made a careless gesture.
"Good Lawd, boy! I don" "speck to eat whut"s good fuh me! All I says is, "Grub, keep me alive. Ef you do dat, you done a good day"s wuck.""
Peter was disgusted and shocked at his mother"s flippancy. Modern colleges are atheistic, but they do exalt three G.o.ds,--food, cleanliness, and exercise. Now here was Peter"s mother blaspheming one of his trinity.
"I wish you "d let me know when you want anything Mother. I"ll get it fresh for you." His words were filial enough, but his tone carried his irritation.
The old negress turned back to the kitchen.
"Huh, boy! you been fotch up on lef"-overs," she said, and disappeared through the door.
Peter walked to the gate, let himself out, and started off on his const.i.tutional. His tiff with his mother renewed all his nervousness and sense of failure. His litany of mistakes renewed their dolor in his mind.
An autumn wind was blowing, and long plumes of dust whisked up out of the curving street and swept over the ill-kept yards, past the cabins, and toward the sere fields and chromatic woods. The wind beat at the brown man; the dust whispered against his clothes, made him squint his eyes to a crack and tickled his nostrils at each breath.
When Peter had gone two or three hundred yards, he became aware that somebody was walking immediately behind him. Tump Pack popped into his mind. He looked over his shoulder and then turned. Through the veils of flying dust he made out some one, and a moment later identified not Tump Pack, but the gangling form of Jim Pink Staggs, clad in a dark-blue sack-coat and white flannel trousers with pin stripes. It was the sort of costume affected by interlocutors of minstrel shows; it had a minstrel trigness about it.
As a matter of fact, Jim Pink was a sort of semi-professional minstrel.
Ordinarily, he ran a pressing-shop in the n.i.g.g.e.rtown crescent, but occasionally he impressed all the dramatic talent of n.i.g.g.e.rtown and really did take the road with a minstrel company. These barn-storming expeditions reached down into Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas.
Sometimes they proved a great success, and the darkies rode back several hundred dollars ahead. Sometimes they tramped back.
Jim Pink hailed Peter with a wave of his hand and a grotesque displacement of his mouth to one side of his face, which he had found effective in his minstrel buffoonery.
"Whut you raisin" so much dus" about?" he called out of the corner of his mouth, while looking at Peter out of one half-closed eye.
Peter shook his head and smiled.
"Thought it mout be Mister Hooker deliverin" dat lan" you bought." Jim Pink flung his long, flexible face into an imitation of convulsed laughter, then next moment dropped it into an intense gravity and declared, ""Dus" thou art, to dus" returnest."" The quotation seemed fruitless and silly enough, but Jim Pink tucked his head to one side as if listening intently to himself, then repeated sepulchrally, ""Dus"
thou art, to dus" returnest." By the way, Peter," he broke off cheerily, "you ain"t happen to see Tump Pack, is you?"
"No," said Peter, unamused.
"Is he borrowed a gun fum you?" inquired the minstrel, solemnly.
"No-o." Peter looked questioningly at the clown through half-closed eyes.
"Huh, now dat"s funny." Jim Pink frowned, and pulled down his loose mouth and seemed to study. He drew out a pearl-handled knife, closed his hand over it, blew on his fist, then opened the other hand, and exhibited the knife lying in its palm, with the blade open. He seemed surprised at the change and began cleaning his finger-nails. Jim Pink was the magician at his shows.
Peter waited patiently for Jim Pink to impart his information, "Well, what"s the idea?" he asked at last.
"Don" know. "Pears lak dat knife won"t stay in any one han"." He looked at it, curiously.
"I mean about Tump," said Peter, impatiently.
"O-o-oh, yeah; you mean "bout Tump. Well, I thought Tump mus" uv borrowed a gun fum you. He lef" Hobbett"s corner wid a great big forty- fo", inquirin" wha you is." Just then he glanced up, looked penetratingly through the dust-cloud, and added, "Why, I b"lieve da" "s Tump now."
With a certain tightening of the nerves, Peter followed his glance, but made out nothing through the fogging dust. When he looked around at Jim Pink again, the buffoon"s face was a caricature of immense mirth. He shook it sober, abruptly, minstrel fashion.