She regained her feet, staggering under a ponderous ambition for
revenge. Forty feet from the Calhoun Street curb she took careful aim
at the Wildcat and stepped on the accelerator. The Wildcat coasted into
Calhoun Street with his parade-leading Prince Albert flapping straight
out behind him. He skidded over the curb in a pose which cost his army
pants half of their seating capacity.
Inertia claimed him. He rolled his head slowly over his shoulder and
gazed 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' me
declares peace. Ah done wrong when Ah drug you, but now see kin you
ramble. Ah craves to reach de Chicago Fliah whah at de ol' Backslid
Baptis' 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 its
three service stripes. He tilted the little overseas cap which Lily
wore to a rakish angle between the mascot's horns.
With Lily clicking along at the Wildcat's heels, the pair entered the
portals of the Grand Central Station.
The Wildcat accosted a Red Cap of his own colour. "Whah at kin I find
de Backslid Baptist whut takes care o' de white gen'men on de Chicago
Fliah 'at leaves at 2:40?"
"I knows 'at boy dey calls Backslid, but dey ain't no Fliah leavin' at
2:40. 'At boy runs Pullman on de Panama Limited, leavin' heah at 10:10
tonight. Ol' Backslid neveh shows up till half-past nine to take his
cah out."
Confronted by seven intervening hours of life in Memphis, which might
include the release of Honey Tone Boone, whose temporary confinement in
the jail had just been accomplished, the Wildcat's ambition flopped.
His sole desire for the moment was for a high-grade segment of
camouflage 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 some
white man's gun, o' mebbe busted jail?"
The Wildcat's skin shrank a size or two at the mention of jail. "I
ain't done nuthin'. Fo'git dem jail words. All I got is business in
Chicago, 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 where
Red Caps shifted from their civilian raiment to the uniform of their
calling.
"Nobody but us boys neveh comes heah. Ah'll pass de word to de Backslid
Baptis' to hunt you up when he 'rives f'm uptown tonight."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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