The Homesteader: A Novel
Page 41
CHAPTER IV
THE GAMBLER'S STORY
The keystone was the oldest and most elite hostelry for Negroes inChicago and the West for many years. It is located near Thirty-first andState Street, in the heart of the black belt of the southside of thecity. It was built previous to the World's Fair and still maintains itsprestige as the most popular hangout for Negroes of the moreostentatious set. And it was here that Jean Baptiste went, following hisdeparture with Glavis.
When Chicago was a "wide open" town, gambling had been carried onupstairs as a business. Porters, waiters, barbers and politicians whoheld the best jobs had always found their way eventually to theKeystone. Likewise did the Negroes in business and the professions andworkers in all the trades, as well as mail carriers, mail clerks, andthe men of the army and actors. In short the Keystone was the meetingplace for men in nearly all the walks of life.
Always the freest city in the world for the black man, Chicago has themost Negroes in the mail service and the civil service; more Negroescarry clubs as policemen; more can be found in all the departments ofthe municipal courts, county commissioners, aldermen, corporationcounsels, game warden assistants, and so on down. Indeed, a Negro feelsfreer and more hopeful in Chicago than anywhere else in the UnitedStates.
So it was such a crowd that Jean Baptiste encountered at the Keystonethat day. There were two real estate men who had once run on the roadwith him and who had since succeeded in business; also there was anotherwho was a county commissioner; and still another one, an army officer.So, upon seeing him they did all cry:
"Baptiste! Well, well, of all things! And how do you happen to be downhere in the spring?"
"Oh, a little business," he returned, and joined with the crowd, boughta drink for them all, and was apparently jolly.
Among the number was a gambler by the name of Speed. He shook thevisitor's hand heartily, and when the visit with the others was over, hewent to a table and, sitting down, beckoned for Baptiste. When the otherresponded, he begged him to be seated, and then said:
"Now, I know what you are down here about--heard about it the day hebrought her home." Baptiste regarded him wonderingly. "Yes, Iunderstand," he said, making himself comfortable as if to tell a longstory. "You are wondering how _I_ come to understand about yourfather-in-law, and if you are not in a hurry, I'll tell you a littlestory."
"Well," said the other, "let's have a drink before you start."
"I don't care," and he beckoned to the bartender.
"Small bottle, a Schlitz," he said, and turned to Baptiste.
"Make it two," said the other, and turned to hear the story the otherhad to tell.
"It happened fifteen years ago," began Speed when their beer had beenserved. "I was a preacher then.--Hold on," he broke off at theexpression on Baptiste's face.
"Yes, of course you can hardly believe it; but I was then a preacher. Iwas the pastor of the church in a little town, and I won't tell the nameof the town; but it's all the same, I was a preacher and pastor of thischurch. I had not been long ordained, and was ambitious to succeed as aminister. The charge had not been long created, and was, of course, notmuch of a place for money. But it so happened that a quarry was openedabout the time I was sent there and it brought some hundred and fiftyNegro families to live in the town, and in almost a twinkling, my chargebecame from among the poorest, to one of the best from a financial pointof view. The men worked steadily and were paid well, and their familiesfound quite a bit of work to do among the wealthy whites of the town.
"There were two young ladies living a few doors from where I preached,girls who made their own living, honestly, nice, clean girls, and I wasmuch impressed with them. I sought, and finally succeeded in gettingthem interested in the church, and later began keeping company with one.Now here is where your folks come in. The Reverend McCarthy--old Mac, Icalled him, was filling the same line he now is, Presiding Elder, andthis church was in his itinerary. I was therefore under hisrecommendation. He had been visiting the church regularly, holding hisquarterly conference every three months, and getting his little bit. Itwas shortly after I had started going with this young lady that McCarthygot awful nice and treated me so good until I became suspicious. Thenone day it came out.
"'By the way, Speed,' he said. 'Who're those girls living near thechurch?' I knew who he was referring to because I had seen him trying tosmile on them the day before which had been a Sunday. But I pretends Idon't know what or who he's talking about.
"'Who?' I inquired as innocent as a lamb.
"'Oh, those two girls living near the church,' and he called theirnames.
"'Why, they are two young ladies who came here not long ago,' I said,and waited.
"'Is _that_ all?' he asked then, and I looked at him. He grinned, andsaid:
"'Aw, come on, Speed! Be a good fellow. Now, _are those girls_straight?' and he specified the one I had begun going with.
"'Why,' said I, 'Reverend McCarthy, I am surprised at you to ask such aquestion, or to offer such an insinuation. Besides,' I went on, 'Why?'
"'Aw, now, Speed,' he laughed easily, his big fat round face shaking.'Be a _good_ sport and put me onto these girls. Now, I'll tell you whatI want you to do,' he said, drawing his chair close to mine. 'I'll makeit my business to get back over here next Sunday night, and I want youto "_fix_" it for me with that one, and--' he winked in a way I did notat the time understand--but I did later--'I'll make it _right_ with you.You understand,' he said, rising, '_I'll make it right with you_.'
"I was never so put out in my life. Here was this man, a minister of theGospel, and a Presiding Elder, who had just deliberately delegated me tomake a _previous_ engagement for him without regard to morals--and withthe girl I loved. I don't think he knew I was paying her court, but themoral was the same.
"I was outdone! But true to his words, the next Sunday night he wasback!
"'Well, Speed,' he said when the services were over. 'What's the rip?Everything O.K.?' He was very anxious, and I'll never forget his face.But, I was afraid of the old rascal, still I hadn't lost my manhood atthat. So I says:
"'Now, Reverend, you place me in a very awkward predicament. To beginwith, I have the highest respect for those young ladies. And, again,even if I did not, I could not be expected to cohort as you suggested.'
"'Aw, Speed,' he cut in. 'You're no good. Pshaw! I just know the olderof those two girls is not straight--am positive of it. And you couldfix things if you would,' and I detected a touch of angrydisappointment in his tone.
"Well, to get out of it, I told the old rascal what I thought of hissuggestion and left him. I never saw him again until near conference,and then not to speak with him. I was confident that I had satisfied thepeople, and that I would be sent back without any argument.
"So imagine when I went to conference and when the charges were beingread off and I heard the Secretary call 'Reverend Speed to Mitchfield!'instead of the town from which I had gone.
"I was just sick, man; so sick until I almost dropped dead on the floor!Oh, the agony it gave me! I finally got outside some way, and stoodleaning against the church. How long I stood thus, I never knew; but thechurch let out by and by, while I still stood there--and let me explain.Mitchfield was a charge that contained exactly a dozen members--theReverend McCarthy came out and I looked up straight into his eyes.... Iknew then why I had been sent to Mitchfield instead of back to thecharge I had been at.
"Well, I went to Mitchfield, and by working around town by the day, inconnection with the charge, I managed to make it. Some months later, Imarried the girl I have spoken of, and we began to keep house inMitchfield.
"It was pretty hard, and sometimes I don't wonder at what laterhappened. But to make a long story short, I was compelled to get work ina near-by town to make a living for me and my wife, and was gone allthe week until Saturday night. At the end of six months, ReverendMcCarthy had taken my wife, and she had left me and was living in St.Louis!"
Baptiste was regarding him strangely.
"Have you heard the rest of it?" the other paused to ask. "Well,Reverend McCarthy became the father of her two sons. One was killed someyears ago, the other lives in St. Louis."
"But what--what became of their mother?" Baptiste inquired curiously.
"Her? What becomes of women who are deceived? If you visited St. Louisand the _district_, you might find her. She was there the last I heardof her."
"And you?"
"Me?" the other repeated in a strangely hollow voice. "You know what _I_am. A gambler, and with an old score to settle with that man if I everget the chance."