_Headed Home_
For a fact, that meal which he eats is more like a celebration than a
regulation meal, but considering of everything, I reckon that's no more
than what is to be expected.
He's half way through with his second helpings of the lamb chops when he
looks up at me where I'm standing back of his chair and he says to me
with one of them old-time little-boy twinkles in his eye, like he used
to have:
"Jeff," he says, "you certainly can paint a fanciful picture when you
set yourself to it. When I think of the blood-thirsty characteristics
which you bestowed upon those devout and peace-loving ancestors of mine
I have to stop eating and laugh again."
"You must a-been lis'senin' 'en," I says.
"I overheard part of the tale from behind the portieres," he says. "Oh,
but it was great stuff, and highly convincing! Even in that crucial
moment I could appreciate your deft touches."
"You ain't knowin' the ha'f of it yit, suh," I says. "Wait till you
hears tell 'bout them fictionary kinsfolks I's conferred 'pon you in
'nother quarter an' how I endowed the whole passil of 'em wid the
chronic failin' of bein' onreliable in the haid. I 'spects you'll want
to use 'at pistol shore-'nuff in earnest 'en."
"Not me," he says; "not me. I'll give three ringing cheers for your
superior inventive qualities. If I had your power of imagination I'd
charge admission," he says.
"I'm glad you feels 'at way, suh," I says, "but I shore does aim to walk
wide of the deceasted members of the Pulliam fambly w'en I crosses over
to the fur side of the deep River of Jordan," I says. "I ain't cravin'
to git in no jam wid any ole residenter angels till I's used to bein'
one myse'f. I wonder," I says, "whut Mr. H. C. Raynor'd think ef he
knowed 'at yore Uncle Zachary wuz a Persistin' Elder of the Southe'n
Meth'dis' Church fur goin' on twenty yeahs?"
"Never mind what he thinks now or hereafter," he says. "It's what my
late partner did that counts. Anyhow, you didn't deceive him when you
told him Uncle Zach's nickname."
"'At did fit in nice," I says; "me rememb'rin', jest in the nick of
time, 'at they called the ole gen'elman Hell Roarin' Zach by reason of
his exhortin' powers w'en 'scribin' them brimstones an' them hot fires
bein' so potent 'at the sinners could smell 'em an' shiver. Well, suh,
tha's all part of my system: Stir a slight seasonin' of truthfulness
into the mixture frum time to time an' it meks the batter stand up
stiffer. An' also don't never waste a good lie widout you has to--save
'em till you needs 'em. Tha's my motto, suh."
"And I subscribe to it," he says, and he chuckles some more. In fact
he's chuckling right straight along till he gets up from the table. Then
he rears back in a chair and sets a cigar going. He makes me take a
cigar, too, which it is the first time I has ever smoked in a white
gentleman's presence whilst serving him. But this is a special occasion
and more like a jollification than anything else. So I starts puffing on
her when my Young Cap'n insists upon it; and then, at his command, I
just lit in and told him all what had happened at Miss DeWitt's flat
that morning and about a lot of other things--things I'd overheard and
things I'd suspicioned--which it had not seemed fitten to tell 'em to
him before this, but now both time and place appears suitable.
Talking about one thing leads to talking about another, as it will, and
presently I finds myself confiding to him the expective undertakings of
the firm of Poindexter & Petty, which that is all news out of a clear
sky to him, seeing as I'd kept this to myself as a private matter in the
early stages. He says he'd sort of figured, though, I had something up
my sleeves, by reason of my having seemed so interested in the
moving-picture business and all. And though he don't say so, I judges he
figures out, too, that here lately I maybe has refrained from speaking
to him about my own affairs when he was so pesticated about his
own--which also, more or less, is the truth of it.
But now he's deeply interested and 'lows he wants to hear more. He
states that while he's sorry on his own account that I is not going back
home with him when he goes, which that will be just as soon as he can
clean up things here and sell off the lease on the apartment and so
forth, still, he says, he's glad for my sake that I'm going to stay on
since I've got bright prospects ahead of me for to break into the
business life of the Great City. Him saying this so kindly inspires me
to go on and tell him all about our plans and purposes. I says that the
outlook is that me and 'Lisses Petty will be ready to open up pretty
soon, seeing as I has had word just two days before from Mr. Simons that
he's almost ready to cut loose with his announcements in the papers. I'm
going on further along this line when all of a sudden he busts in to ask
me what about the old judge coming home in the spring-time from
foreign-off parts and not finding me there to meet him?
Well, sirs, that do fetch me up short with a jar! Because, if it must be
confessed, I've got to admit I has been so carried away with my own pet
schemes that the thought of my obligations to Judge Priest is done
entirely escaped out of my foolish mind. I hates to draw back from them
new ambitions of mine and yet, seems like, I can't hardly bear the
notion of breaking my bounden promises to my old boss-man after the way
we'd been associated together under the same roof for going on it's
sixteen years. What with the one thing pulling me this here way and the
other thing pulling me that there way, all of a sudden I now gets a kind
of a choked-up feeling in my breast. I don't know whether it's the
wrench at my heart or the strain on my wishbone. But it's there! So I
ups and puts the proposition before the Young Cap'n and I asks what he
thinks I should do?
He studies a minute and then he says to me, he says:
"Jeff," he says, "I'll tell you how I feel about it and if, in view of
the lack of judgment I've shown recently in certain other matters, you
still regard my advice as being worth anything, you're welcome to it.
You believe you've got a chance to make good up here, don't you? Well,
then, I believe it's your duty to yourself, regardless of almost every
other consideration, to take advantage of that chance. And I'm positive
Judge Priest will feel the same way about it when he learns the
situation. I believe he'll gladly release you from any obligations you
may owe him. In fact, knowing him so well, I'll bank on it. With your
consent I'll write him tonight, a long letter, setting forth the exact
conditions. How does that strike you."
I tells him I is agreeable to that. But I says to him, I says:
"Mr. Dallas, one thing more, please, suh? In yore letter tell the Jedge
'at w'en he gits back, ef he finds the home-place ain't runnin' to suit
him widout me on hand to he'p look after his comfort, w'y all he's got
do is jest lemme know an' I'll ketch the next train fur home. Ef the
bus'ness yere can't run herse'f aw'ile wid 'Lisses Petty alone on the
job by hisse'f, then let the whole she-bang go busted--tha's all.
"Lis'sen, Mr. Dallas," I says, "I got yit 'nother idee in my haid--I
craves to demerstrate one thing! They's some w'ite folkses w'ich claims
the run of black folks nowadays ain't got no proper sense of gratitudes
nor faithfulness, neither. They claims 'at the new-issue cullid ain't
lak the ole-timers of the race wuz--'at they furgits favors an' bre'ks
pledges an' sometimes turns an' bites the hand w'ich has fed an' fondled
'em. Mebbe they is right--I ain't 'sputin' they ain't, in some cases.
But I is sayin' they is one shiny black nigger jest rearin' to prove the
contrarywise so fur ez he pussonally is concern', w'ich I'm," I says,
"him!
"An' in fu'ther proof whar'of," I says, "I begs you to mek me a solemn
promise, yere an' now. I asts you, please, suh, to keep yo eye on the
ole boss-man an' ef he sh'd show the onfailin' signs of feeblin'-up an'
bre'kin' down--w'ich is only to be 'spected, seein' ez he is gittin'
'long so in yeahs--I don't want you to wait 'twell he notifies me
hisse'f 'at he's needin' me. 'Cause the chances is he wouldn't do it,
noways, effen he feared it mout mean a sacrifice on my part fur me to
come to him. I wants you to send me the word on yore own 'sponsibility
an' I'll git to his side jest ez fast ez them steam-cyars kin tote me."
He says he is glad I feels thus-and-so about it and he gladly passes his
word to do like I asked him, if the situation arises. With this here
point settled he guides me back to tell him yet more about the prospects
of Poindexter & Petty. Which I ain't needing much prompting there,
seeing as the said projects lays close to my heart and my mind. I tells
him we has reached the point where we is about to close the deal for the
office. In fact, I says, I has been calculating some on running up-town
to see 'Lisses about that very detail this same afternoon providing he
don't need me round the apartment to do something or other for him.
Whereupon he up and says an astonishing thing:
"I'll go along with you if you don't mind," he says. "I want to have a
look at this associate of yours and get his views. I'd like to do more
than that if it can be arranged; I'd like to lend my aid in helping to
put this enterprise on its feet--to feel that, in one way or another, I
had a friendly hand in it. I'm your eternal debtor, you know, Jeff."
"Go 'way frum yere, Mr. Dallas," I says, "an' quit yore foolin'. Whut
bus'ness has you got gittin' yo'se'f mixed in wid a pack of
nigger-rubbage? Whut would the rest of the high-toned folks down home
say ef they heared of any sech goings-on 'pon yore part? Tell me 'at,
suh?"
"Never mind what they'd think or what they'd say," he says; "that's my
look-out. Tell me the truth now, Jeff,--have you two boys got all the
money you need to start you up and to keep you going until your agency
begins to pay?"
At that I has to admit to him that the prior expenses has been right
smart heavier than what us two had figured on at the start-off.
"That's what I rather suspected," he says. "Now then, I've got out of my
own complications in much better shape than I'd ever dreamed I could. I
still have a sizeable stake left. In fact I figure I've got just about a
thousand dollars to spare. If you don't feel like taking a thousand
dollars from me as a gift, or in part payment for your services to me
during the past twenty-odd hours, why not take it as a loan without
interest until you get on your feet, or until you've had ample
opportunity to try this new venture out thoroughly--No, by Jove, I've
got a better plan than that! I want to stick that thousand in as an
investment along with you two boys. If I never get it back, or any part
of it, count it money well-spent. I've made a number of other
investments in my bright young life that didn't pay either, and I'll be
drawing regular dividends on this one, even though they may not be in
terms of dollars and cents. Come on--let's go see this friend, Petty, of
yours. You can't keep me out of the deal on anything short of an
injunction."
What is you going to do with a hard-headed white man when he gets his
neck bowed that-a-way? You is going to do just what we done, that's
what you going do! So that's how come Poindexter & Petty is now got for
their silent partner a member of one of the oldest families in West
Kentucky and pure quality from the feet up.
I has come mighty close to forgetting one other thing which happens
before we leaves the place to go on up to Harlem. I is helping him on
with his coat when he says:
"Wait a minute! I want to write out some telegrams first. I want to send
one to my lawyer, Mr. Jere Fairleigh, stating that the Prodigal will
shortly be on his way back, and one to my cousin to have the home-place
opened up for me--and one other. I've gotten rather behind with my
correspondence lately; I'll do some letter-writing tonight. But I'll
wire on ahead first. You call a messenger-boy, Jeff."
I trusts I is not no spy but I just can't keep from peeping over his
shoulder whilst he's writing out that there third telegram--which it is
pretty near long enough to be a letter itself--and I is rejoiced in my
soul to note that it's being sent to the one I hoped 'twas--and that's
Miss Henrietta Farrell.