The Homesteader: A Novel

by Oscar Micheaux

  CHAPTER VIII

  ACTION

  Jean Baptiste went directly to an attorney, a Negro attorney withoffices in the loop district, upon his arrival in Chicago, and did notlurk around the depots to keep from being seen this time. He was wellacquainted with the one upon whom he called and they greeted each othercordially when he walked into the office.

  "Well, White," he said. "I think I have a little work for you."

  "That's what I'm here to look after," said the other aimiably.

  "A suit--want to obtain a judgment?"

  "We obtain judgments in this old town every day. The question is--"

  "Are they worth anything?" laughed his prospective client.

  After indulging in a bit of humor the which he was at times given to,his face cleared, his eye-brows contracted and he related the businessupon which he was bent, and questioned the attorney concerning the lawcovering such cases or instances.

  "Yes," said the other, after looking it up in the Illinois Statutes, "itcan be done."

  "Then we will begin at once," said Baptiste decidedly.

  "I'll have the papers drawn up, and have the same ready for servicetomorrow afternoon."

  "Very well," said the other, handing him a check for twenty-fivedollars as a retainer, and straightway left the office.

  He caught the State Street car and went to visit his friends on FederalStreet. They were delighted and surprised to see him looking so well,and so carefree.

  "Why--what has happened to you," said Mildred's mother, looking him overcarefully from head to foot.

  "You infer that I have forgotten my troubles?"

  "Of course," and she laughed.

  "You'll know in a few days," he returned. Soon he bade them good-by andwent over to the Keystone where he encountered Speed.

  * * * * *

  "Well, I have everything ready now," said the attorney when Jean calledat his office the following afternoon.

  "So the next is to get service on my friend," said Baptiste.

  "That's it. Where shall we find him?" inquired the lawyer.

  "I don't know. I suppose you might call up his wife on Vernon Avenue andfind out. Of course, she need not know what our business is with her oldman...."

  "Of course not."

  In a few minutes he was talking to her over the telephone. "The Elder isin the southern part of the State," Baptiste could hear.

  "Yes, madam; but what place.... I see.... He will be there over Sundayyou say?... I understand.... What do I want with him? Why, I have alittle _personal_ matter with him.... Yes ... that is all."

  The attorney turned and advised him where the Elder was, and would bethere until after Sunday, and as that day was Wednesday, Baptistebreathed a sigh of relief.

  "That's the town near where I first knew him. I was born within fourmiles of it."

  "Indeed! Something of a coincidence."

  "Indeed so."

  "I'll get these papers off to the sheriff down there on the eveningtrain. He'll get them tomorrow morning, and should get service on himtomorrow afternoon."

  "Then I'll see you about Saturday."

  "All right," and Jean was gone.

  * * * * *

  The little town near where Jean Baptiste was born, and where he had metthe man who was now his acknowledged enemy, had not changed much.Perched on the banks of the Ohio, it still lingered in a state of dulllethargy; loafers held to the corners, and arguments were the usualdaily routine. When he had left the town, the Odd Fellows' hall, an oldframe building, three stories high, had stood conspicuously on a corner,and had been the rendezvous for loafers for years untold. This had beentorn down and replaced since by a more commanding brick structure, atthe front of which a shed spread over the walk and made welcome shade inthe afternoon. And under it on benches the usual crowd gathered reposingcomfortably thereunder from day to day. Under it the preachers sometimespaused on their return from the postoffice where they received theirmail every afternoon. And it was the afternoon train that brought thepapers for N. Justine McCarthy. The sheriff who happened at thepostoffice at the same time the Elder did, received them, and upon hisreturn to his office in the court house, laid the mail on his desk andwent at once to serve the papers.

  He knew that Odd Fellows' hall was where Negroes might be easily found;at least the information as to the whereabouts of any particular onemight be obtained. So to that spot he went directly.

  It so happened that a large crowd of Negroes were gathered there thisparticular afternoon, and that the Reverend had paused there on his wayfrom the postoffice to listen to the heated argument that was a dailydiversion. At that moment the sheriff came up, listened a moment to theusual harangue, and then inquired aloud for Rev. N.J. McCarthy. When thecrowd saw who he was the argument desisted forthwith, the crowd becamequiet and respectful, moreover expectant.

  "You refer to me?" said the Elder, and wondered what the sheriff couldpossibly want with him.

  "N.J. McCarthy?" the other repeated.

  "That's me," replied the Elder. The crowd looked on with curiousinterest.

  "Some papers," and handed him the same, turned on his heel and went hisway.

  The Reverend went down the street later reading the papers. He had neverhad any experience in legal proceedings, and knew little of such, but heunderstood the papers and was thoroughly angry.

  * * * * *

  "Well," greeted the attorney, "got service right off on your friend."

  "Good!"

  "Yes, got my return, and now we may as well draw up the complaint."

  This they did, but in the meantime, while passing downtown, Glavis hadespied Baptiste. Thinking that he was on another mission of trying topersuade his wife to return, and having been loyal to the Reverend inhis fight on Baptiste, he went at once to advise her of the fact.

  Orlean had secured a position in a ladies' tailoring establishment atfive dollars and fifty cents a week, and there he went. She was out sohe did not get to tell her that her husband was in town. Since theselling of her homestead the entire family had been apprehensive of him.They appreciated by now that he was not the kind to give up without afight, therefore they were on the lookout.

  In some way the Negro papers got hold of enough of it to give the Eldera great deal of free advertising; but since McCarthys did not get thepapers, they knew nothing of it until the next morning which was Sunday.That morning they espied a copy of the paper in their mail box. Theynever knew how it got there, but thinking it was by mistake, Glavis tookit into the house and spread it out.

  Pandemonium reigned when they had read the account, and in the same hourthey received a special from the Elder announcing that he was leavingfor Chicago that night. That would place him in the city the followingmorning, and they were anxious all that day.

  It was the talk of Dark Chicago that day, and for days and weeksfollowing. Moreover, it circulated over all the state where the Elderwas well known, and gave the gossips great food for delight.

  The Elder arrived the next morning, and after being greeted by thefamily, with Glavis, went at once to a white attorney. They laid thecase before him.

  "And so you are sued for ten thousand dollars," said the attorney, "andby your son-in-law?"

  "It seems that way," replied the Elder. "And to me it looks like ajoke."

  "How so?"

  "Did you ever know a Negro preacher that was worth such an amount?"

  The attorney shared the obvious joke with his prospective client andGlavis, and then took on a rather serious expression.

  "And you are not worth ten thousand?"

  "Lord, no!"

  The other bit the cigar he held between his teeth, got up and brought astatute from among his many volumes, glanced through it, and stopped ata page and read it.

  He returned the book to its place and came back and sat down.

  "What do you think of it?" inquired the Elder, still seeming
to take itas a joke.

  "Have you ever considered the outcome in case he should get a judgmentagainst you? He accuses you of having alienated the affections of hiswife, your daughter."

  "Granting that he secured a judgment?"

  "And you could not pay it?"

  "Certainly, I could not."

  "Then he could remand you to jail for six months by paying your keep."

  When the Elder, accompanied by Glavis, returned home, both understoodJean Baptiste a little better than they had ever before....