Vinegar Atts was temporarily insane. The other negroes were as crazy as bats. So, as they knelt upon the grass of the prairie, they began a mighty antiphony of Biblical quotations, Vinegar leading the vociferation with a voice which shall never be excelled in volume until the angel of time shall stand with one foot on the land and the other on the sea and swear that time shall be no longer. “I seed a mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed wid a cloud, an’ a rainbow wus upon his head—” Vinegar roared. “An his face wus as de sun an’ his foots wus pillars of fire!” the crowd answered. “An’ he helt in his hand a little book—” Vinegar screamed. “An he sot his right foot in de sea an’ his left foot on de yearth!” the mob responded. “An’ cried wid a loud voice as when a lion roars!” Vinegar vociferated. “An’ when he had cried seben thunders uttered deir voices!” the people whooped. They seemed to think that all of this was efficacious in expediting the ascent of the airplane, for as long as they kept it up the machine kept climbing. In a moment it disappeared from their sight. “She’s gone!” they howled in a mighty chorus of relief. “Bless Gawd, she’s done went up outen our sight ferever!” IX A BAG OF COTTON The negroes drew the first easy breath they had taken for several minutes. “Praise de Lawd!” Vinegar laughed. “I’s glad I kept my good senses and didn’t git skeart!” “Skeart!” Hitch Diamond mocked derisively. “You wus so skeart you wus squealin’ like a burnt pig!” “I warn’t really a coward,” Vinegar said defensively. “But I wus sort of discreet. An’ I wusn’t by myself in dat—dis whole mob of niggers wus movin’ from side to side in dis here prairie like butter-beans b’ilin’ in a kittle.” “Shore dey wus,” Hitch Diamond answered. “Dey wus skeart an’ I wus skeart an’ eve’ybody wus skeart—escusin’ you.” “Dat ole airship is jes’ like a ole dog widout no teeth—it makes a lot of noise, but ’tain’t no harm,” Vinegar said complacently. Suddenly, from the direction of the setting sun, a long, slanting shadow crossed the prairie like a black knife cutting through their composure and leaving them wide open to the terror which approached.