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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c97b8b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #65566 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65566) diff --git a/old/65566-0.txt b/old/65566-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index f41662a..0000000 --- a/old/65566-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4717 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Porgy, by Edwin DuBose Heyward - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Porgy - -Author: Edwin DuBose Heyward - -Illustrator: Theodore Nadejen - -Release Date: June 8, 2021 [eBook #65566] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Mary Glenn Krause, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was - produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital - Library.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PORGY *** - - - - - PORGY - - DU BOSE HEYWARD - - - _Books by the Same Author_ - - CAROLINA CHANSONS (WITH HERVEY ALLEN) - SKYLINES AND HORIZONS - - - - - PORGY - - DU BOSE HEYWARD - - [Illustration] - - _Decorated by_ - THEODORE NADEJEN - - NEW YORK - GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY - - - _Copyright, 1925, - By George H. Doran Company_ - - PORGY - --B-- - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - - FOR - DOROTHY HEYWARD - - - - - _Porgy, Maria, and Bess,_ - _Robbins, and Peter, and Crown;_ - _Life was a three-stringed harp_ - _Brought from the woods to town._ - - _Marvelous tunes you rang_ - _From passion, and death, and birth,_ - _You who had laughed and wept_ - _On the warm, brown lap of the earth._ - - _Now in your untried hands_ - _An instrument, terrible, new,_ - _Is thrust by a master who frowns,_ - _Demanding strange songs of you._ - - _God of the White and Black,_ - _Grant us great hearts on the way_ - _That we may understand_ - _Until you have learned to play._ - - - - -I - -[Illustration] - - - - -PORGY - - - - -PART I - - -Porgy lived in the Golden Age. Not the Golden Age of a remote and -legendary past; nor yet the chimerical era treasured by every man past -middle life, that never existed except in the heart of youth; but an age -when men, not yet old, were boys in an ancient, beautiful city that time -had forgotten before it destroyed. - -In this city there persisted the Golden Age of many things, and not the -least among them was that of beggary. In those days the profession was -one with a tradition. A man begged, presumably, because he was hungry, -much as a man of more energetic temperament became a stevedore from the -same cause. His plea for help produced the simple reactions of a -generous impulse, a movement of the hand, and the gift of a coin, -instead of the elaborate and terrifying processes of organized -philanthropy. His antecedents and his mental age were his own affair, -and, in the majority of cases, he was as happily oblivious of one as of -the other. - -Had it all been otherwise, had Porgy come a generation, or even a score -of years, later, there would have been a repetition of the old tragedy -of genius without opportunity. For, as the artist is born with the -vision of beauty, and the tradesman with an eye for barter, so was Porgy -equipped by a beneficent providence for a career of mendicancy. Instead -of the sturdy legs that would have predestined him for the life of a -stevedore on one of the great cotton wharves, he had, when he entered -the world, totally inadequate nether extremities, quick to catch the -eye, and touch the ready sympathy of the passer-by. Either by birth, or -through the application of a philosophy of life, he had acquired a -personality that could not be ignored, one which at the same time -interested and subtly disturbed. There was that about him which -differentiated him from the hordes of fellow practitioners who competed -with him for the notice of the tender-hearted. Where others bid eagerly -for attention, and burst into voluble thanks and blessings, Porgy sat -silent, rapt. There was something Eastern and mystic about the intense -introspection of his look. He never smiled, and he acknowledged gifts -only by a slow lifting of the eyes that had odd shadows in them. He was -black with the almost purple blackness of unadulterated Congo blood. His -hands were very large and muscular, and, even when flexed idly in his -lap, seemed shockingly formidable in contrast with his frail body. -Unless one were unusually preoccupied at the moment of dropping a coin -in his cup, he carried away in return a very definite, yet somewhat -disquieting, impression: a sense of infinite patience, and beneath it -the vibration of unrealized, but terrific, energy. - -No one knew Porgy’s age. No one remembered when he first made his -appearance among the ranks of the local beggars. A woman who had married -twenty years before remembered him because he had been seated on the -church steps, and had given her a turn when she went in. - -Once a child saw Porgy, and said suddenly, “What is he waiting for?” -That expressed him better than anything else. He was waiting, waiting -with the concentrating intensity of a burning-glass. - -As consistent in the practice of his profession as any of the business -and professional men who were his most valued customers, Porgy was to -be found any morning, by the first arrival in the financial district, -against the wall of the old apothecary shop that stands at the corner of -King Charles Street and The Meeting House Road. Long custom, reinforced -by an eye for the beautiful, had endeared that spot to him. He would sit -there in the cool of the early hours and look across the narrow -thoroughfare into the green freshness of Jasper Square, where the -children flew their kites, and played hide-and-seek among the shrubs. -Then, when the morning advanced, and the sun poured its semi-tropical -heat between the twin rows of brick, to lie impounded there, like a -stagnant pool of flame, he would experience a pleasant atavistic calm, -and would doze lightly under the terrific heat, as only a full-blooded -negro can. Toward afternoon a slender blue shadow would commence to grow -about him that would broaden with great rapidity, cool the baking flags, -and turn the tide of customers home before his empty cup. - -But Porgy best loved the late afternoons, when the street was quiet -again, and the sunlight, deep with color, shot level over the low roof -of the apothecary shop to paint the cream stucco on the opposite -dwelling a ruddy gold and turn the old rain-washed tiles on the roof to -burnished copper. Then the slender, white-clad lady who lived in the -house would throw open the deep French windows of the second story -drawing-room, and sitting at the piano, where Porgy could see her dimly, -she would play on through the dusk until old Peter drove by with his -wagon to carry him home. - - -§ - -Porgy had but one vice. With his day reduced to the dead level of the -commonplace, he was by night an inveterate gambler. Each evening his -collections were carefully divided into a minimum for room and food, and -the remainder for the evening’s game. Seen in the light of the smoking -kerosene lamp, with the circle of excited faces about him, he was no -longer the beggar in the dust. His stagnant blood leaped to sudden life. -He was the peer of the great, hulking fellows who swung cotton bales and -stank intolerably from labor in the fertilizer mills. He even knew that -he had won their grudging respect, for he had a way of coaxing and -wheedling the little ivory cubes that forced them to respond. The loud -“Oh, my Baby,” and explosive “Come seben,” of his fellow-gamesters -seldom brought silver when he experienced that light, keen feeling and -thought of the new, soft-spoken words to say. In those hours he lost his -look of living in the future. While the ivories flew, he existed in an -intense and burning present. - -One Saturday night in late April, with the first premonitory breath of -summer in the air, Porgy sat in the gaming circle that had gathered -before his door in Catfish Row, and murmured softly to his gods of -chance. All day he had been conscious of a vague unrest. There had been -no breeze from the bay, and from his seat outside the apothecary shop -the sky showed opaque blue-grey and bore heavily upon the town. Towards -evening, a thunder-head had lifted over the western horizon and growled -ominously; but it had passed, leaving the air hot, vitiated, and moist. -The negroes had come in for the night feeling irritable, and, instead of -the usual Saturday night of song and talk, the rooms were for the most -part dark and silent, and the court deserted. - -The game started late, and there were few players. Opposite Porgy, -sitting upon his haunches, and casting his dice in moody silence, was a -negro called Crown. He was a stevedore, had the body of a gladiator, and -a bad name. His cotton-hook, hanging from his belt by a thong, gleamed -in the lamp-light, and rang a clear note on the flags when he leant -forward to throw. Crown had been drinking with Robbins, who sat next to -him, and the air was rank with the effluvium of vile corn whisky. -Robbins was voluble, and as usual, when in liquor, talked incessantly of -his wife and children, of whom he was inordinately proud. He was a good -provider, and, except for his Saturday night drink and game, of steady -habits. - -“Dat lady ob mine is a born white-folks nigger,” he boasted. “She fambly -belong tuh Gob’ner Rutledge. Ain’t yer see Miss Rutledge sheself come -tuh visit she when she sick? An’ dem chillen ob mine, dem is raise wid -_ways_.” - -“Yo’ bes sabe yo’ talk for dem damn dice. Dice ain’t gots no patience -wid ’oman!” cut in a young negro of the group. - -“Da’s de trut’,” called another. “Dey is all two after de same nigger -money. Dat mek um can’t git ’long.” - -“Shet yo’ damn mout’ an’ t’row!” growled Crown. - -Robbins, taken aback, rolled the dice hastily. Scarcely had they settled -before Crown scooped them fiercely into his great hand, and, swearing -foully at them, sent them tumbling out across the faintly illuminated -circle, to lose them on the first cast. Then Porgy took them up -tenderly, and held them for a moment cupped in his muscular, -slim-fingered hand. - -“Oh, little stars, roll me some light!” he sang softly; made a pass, and -won. “Roll me a sun an’ moon!” he urged; and again the cubes did his -bidding. - -“Porgy witch dem dice,” Crown snarled, as he drained his flask and sent -it shattering against the pavement. - -Under the beetling walls of the tenement the game went swiftly forward. -In a remote room several voices were singing drowsily, as though -burdened by the oppression of the day. In another part of the building -some one was picking a guitar monotonously, chord after chord, until the -dark throbbed like an old wound. But the players were oblivious of all -except the splash of orange light that fell upon the flags, and the -living little cubes that flashed or dawdled upon it, according to the -mood of the hand that propelled them. Peter, the old wagoner, sat -quietly smoking in Porgy’s doorway, and looked on with the indulgent -smile of tolerant age. Once when Crown lost heavily, and turned snarling -upon Robbins with, “T’row dem damn dice fair, nigger,” he cautioned -mildly, “Frien’ an’ licker an’ dice ain’t meant tuh ’sociate. Yo’ mens -bes’ go slow.” - -Then, in a flash, it happened. - -Robbins rolled again, called the dice, and retrieved them before Crown’s -slow wits got the count, then swept the heap of coins into his pocket. - -With a low snarl, straight from his crouching position, Crown hurled his -tremendous weight forward, shattering the lamp, and bowling Robbins over -against the wall. Then they were up and facing each other. The oil from -the broken lamp settled between two flags and blazed up ruddily. Crown -was crouched for a second spring, with lips drawn from gleaming teeth. -The light fell strong upon thrusting jaw, and threw the sloping brow -into shadow. One hand touched the ground lightly, balancing the massive -torso. The other arm held the cotton-hook forward, ready, like a -prehensile claw. In comparison Robbins was pitifully slender and -inadequate. There was a single desperate moment of indecision; then he -took his only chance. Like a thrown spear, he hurled his lithe body -forward under the terrifying hook, and clinched. Down, down, down the -centuries they slid. Clothes could not hold them. Miraculously the -tawny, ridged bodies tore through the thin coverings. Bronze ropes and -bars slid and wove over great shoulders. Bright, ruddy planes leaped out -on backs in the fire flare, then were gulped by sliding shadows. A -heady, bestial stench absorbed all other odors. A fringe of shadowy -watchers crept from cavernous doorways, sensed it, and commenced to wail -eerily. Backward and forward, in a space no larger than a small room, -the heaving, inseparable mass rocked and swayed. Breath labored like -steam. At times the fused single body would thrust out a rigid arm, or -the light would point out, for one hideous second, a tortured, mad face. -Again the mass would rise as though propelled a short distance from the -earth, topple, and crash down upon the pavement with a jarring impact. - -Such terrific expenditure of human energy could not last. The end came -quickly, and with startling suddenness. Crown broke his adversary’s -weakening hold, and held him the length of one mighty arm. The other -swung the cotton-hook downward. Then he dropped his victim, and -swaggered drunkenly toward the street. Even to the most inexperienced -the result would have been obvious. Robbins was dead: horribly dead. - -A scream rose to a crescendo of unendurable agony, and a woman broke -through the circle of spectators and cast herself upon the body. The -fire flickered to a faint, blue flame, unearthly, terrifying. - -Porgy shivered violently, whimpered in the gloom; then drew himself -across his threshold and closed the door. - - -§ - -Catfish Row, in which Porgy lived, was not a row at all, but a great -brick structure that lifted its three stories about the three sides of a -court. The fourth side was partly closed by a high wall, surmounted by -jagged edges of broken glass set firmly in old lime plaster, and pierced -in its center by a wide entrance-way. Over the entrance there still -remained a massive grill of Italian wrought iron, and a battered capital -of marble surmounted each of the lofty gate-posts. The court itself was -paved with large flag-stones, which even beneath the accumulated grime -of a century, glimmered with faint and varying pastel shades in direct -sunlight. The south wall, which was always in shadow, was lichened from -pavement to rotting gutter; and opposite, the northern face, unbroken -except by rows of small-paned windows, showed every color through its -flaking stucco, and, in summer, a steady blaze of scarlet from rows of -geraniums that bloomed in old vegetable tins upon every window-sill. - -Within the high-ceilinged rooms, with their battered colonial mantels -and broken decorations of Adam designs in plaster, governors had come -and gone, and ambassadors of kings had schemed and danced. Now before -the gaping entrance lay only a narrow, cobbled street, and beyond, a -tumbled wharf used by negro fishermen. Only the bay remained unchanged. -Beyond the litter of the wharf, it stretched to the horizon, taking its -mood from the changing skies; always different--invariably the same. - -Directly within the entrance of the Row, and having upon the street a -single bleary window, wherein were displayed plates of fried fish, was -the “cook-shop” which catered to the residents of the tenement. - -Porgy’s room was opposite the shop and enjoyed the great advantage of -having a front window that commanded the street and harbor, and an inner -door where he could sit and enter into the life of the court. To him, -the front window signified adventure, the door--home. - - -§ - -It was Porgy’s custom, when the day’s work was done and he had exchanged -a part of his collections for his evening meal of fish and bread, to -sit at his front window and watch the world pass by. The great cotton -wharves lay up the river, beyond the Row; and when the cotton season was -on, he loved to sit in the dusk and see the drays go by. They would -sweep into view with a loud thunder of wheels on the cobbles; and from -his low seat they loomed huge and mysterious in the gathering dark. -Sometimes there would be twenty of them in a row, with great -swiftly-stepping mules, crouched figures of drivers, and bales piled -toweringly above them. Always Porgy experienced a vague and not -unpleasant fear when the drays swung past. There was power, vast, -awe-inspiring; it could so easily crush him were he in its path. But -here, safe within his window, he could watch it with perfect safety. At -times when the train was unusually long, the sustained, rhythmic thunder -and the sweep of form after form past his window produced an odd -pleasurable detachment in his mind, and pictures of strange things and -places would brighten and fade. But the night following the killing, the -window was closed, and through the open door behind him beat the rhythm -of a dirge from Robbins’ room. - -“What de matter, chillen?” came the strophe. And the antistrophe -swelled to the answer: - -“Pain gots de body, an’ I can’t stan’ still.” - -Porgy sat upon his floor counting the day’s collection: one dollar and -twenty cents. It had been a good day. Perhaps the sorrow that had -brooded over his spirit had quickened the sympathy of the passers-by. - -“What de matter, Sister?” - -“Jedus gots our brudder, an’ I can’t stan’ still.” - -Ever since Porgy had come home the air had swung to the rhythm of the -chant. He divided his pile into equal portions, and commenced to pocket -one. The burden swayed out again. - -“Pain gots de body, an’ I can’t stan’ still.” - -He hesitated a moment, poured all the coins together again, selected a -twenty-five-cent piece which he put into his pocket, and, taking the -remainder in his hand, went out and drew himself across the short -distance to the room of mourning. - -The body lay upon a bed in the corner of the room, sheeted to the eyes, -and upon its breast rested a large blue saucer. Standing in a circle -about the bed, or seated upon the floor, backs to the wall, were a score -of negroes, some singing, and others swaying, patting the floor with -their large feet. For not a single moment since the body had been laid -out had the rhythm slackened. With each hour it gathered weight until it -seemed to swing the massive structure. - -Porgy had heard that Robbins had left no burial insurance, the customary -Saturday night festivities having consumed the slender margin between -daily wage and immediate need. Now, at sight of the saucer, he knew that -rumor had not erred. It had been an old custom among penniless negroes -to prepare the corpse thus, then to sing dirges until neighborhood -sympathy provided the wherewithal for proper interment. Recent years had -introduced the insurance agent and the “buryin’ lodge,” and the old -custom had fallen into disuse. It had even become a grievous reproach to -have a member of the family a “saucer-buried nigger.” - -At the foot of the bed, bowed by the double weight of sorrow and -disgrace, the widow sat swaying to the rhythm like a beach palm in the -ebb and flow of a bleak sea wind. - -The sight of her grief, the close room, the awful presence beneath the -sheet, and the unceasing pulse of sound that beat against his ears, all -contributed to stir a strange desire into being within Porgy. Suddenly -he threw his head back and wailed long and quaveringly. In rushed a -vast feeling of relief. He wailed again, emptied his handful of small -coins into the saucer, and sank to the floor at the head of the bed. -Presently he commenced to croon with the others, and a sense of -exaltation flooded his being, compelling him from the despair of the -dirge to a more triumphant measure. - -“Oh, I gots a little brudder in de new grabe-yahd. What outshine de -sun,” he sang. - -Without missing the beat, the chorus shifted: “An’ I’ll meet um in the -primus lan’.” - -Then came a rude interruption. A short yellow negro bustled into the -room. His voice was low, oily, and penetrating. He was dressed entirely -in black, and had an air of great importance. The song fell away to -scarcely more than a throbbing silence. The man crossed the room to -where the widow sat huddled at the foot of the bed, and touched her on -the shoulder. She raised a face like a burned out ember. - -“How de saucer stan’ now, my sister?” he whispered, at the same time -casting an appraising glance toward the subject of his inquiry. - -“Dere ain’t but fifteen dollar,” she replied in a flat, despairing -voice. - -“An’ he gots tuh git buried termorrer,” called an awed voice, “or de -boahd ob healt’ will take um, an’ give um tuh de students.” - -The widow’s scream shrilled wildly. She rose to her knees and clutched -the man’s hand between both of hers. “Oh, fuh Gawd’s sake bury um in de -grabe-yahd. I goin’ tuh work Monday, and I swear tuh Gawd I goin’ tuh -pay yuh ebery cent.” - -For a second even the rhythm ceased, leaving an aching suspense in the -air. Watchers waited tensely. Wide eyes, riveted on the man’s face, -pleaded silently. Presently his professional manner slipped from him. -“All right, Sister,” he said simply. “Wid de box, an’ one ca’age it will -cost me more dan twenty-five. But I’ll see yuh t’rough. Yuh can all be -ready at eight tumorruh. It’s a long trip tuh de cemetery.” - -The woman relaxed silently across the foot of the bed, her head between -her out-flung arms. Then from the narrow confines of the room, the song -beat up and out triumphantly: - -“Oh, I gots a little brudder in de new grabe-yahd. What outshine de -sun!” - -The rhythm swelled, and voices in the court and upper rooms took it up, -until the deeply-rooted old walls seemed to rock and surge with the -sweep of it. - - -§ - -In the cool of the early morning, the procession took its departure for -the cemetery that lay beyond the city limits to the north. First went -the dilapidated hearse, with its rigid wooden plumes, and faded black -velvet draperies that nodded and swayed inside the plate glass panels. -Then followed the solitary carriage, in which could be seen massed black -accentuated by several pairs of white cotton gloves held to lowered -eyes. Behind the carriage came the mourners in a motley procession of -wagons and buggies that had been borrowed for the occasion. - -Porgy drove with Peter, and four women, seated on straight chairs in the -wagon behind them, completed their company. From time to time a -long-drawn wail would rise from one of the conveyances, to be taken up -and passed back from wagon to wagon like a dismal echo. - -Moving from the negro district into the wide thoroughfare of Meeting -House Road, with its high buildings and its white faces that massed and -scattered on the pavements, the cortége appeared almost grotesque, with -the odd fusion of comedy and tragedy so inextricably a part of negro -life in its deep moments. - -The fat German who kept the shop on the corner of King Charles Street -and Summer Road, called his clerk from the depths of the building, and -their stomachs shook with laughter. But the little, dark Russian Jew in -the next shop, who dealt in abominably smelling clothing, gave them a -reproving look, and disappeared indoors. - -The cemetery lay several miles beyond the city limits. The lot was bare -of trees, but among the graves many bright flowering weeds masked the -ugliness of the troubled earth. To the eastward a wide marsh stretched -away to a far, bright line of sea. Westward, ploughed fields swept out -to a distant forest of yellow pine. From the sea to the far tree tops, -the sky swung a dizzy arch of thin blue, high in the center of which -several buzzards hung motionless, watching. - -In the vast emptiness of the morning the little procession crawled out -to the edge of the broken wooden fence that marked the enclosure, and -stopped. - -By the time the last wagon had arrived, the cheap pine casket was -resting upon battens over the grave, and the preacher, robed in white, -was preparing to commence the service. - -The mourners gathered close about the grave. - -“Death, ain’t yuh gots no shame?” called a clear, high, soprano voice; -and immediately the mortal embodiment of infinite sorrow broke and -swayed about the grave in the funeral chant. Three times the line swung -its curve of song, shrill, keen, agonizing; then it fell away to a -heart-wrenching minor on the burden: - - “Take dis man an’ gone--gone. - Death, ain’t yuh gots no shame?” - -When the singing ceased, the burial service commenced, the preacher -extemporizing fluently. Taking his rhythm from the hymn, he poured his -words along its interminable reiteration until the cumulative effect -rocked the entire company. - -The final moment of the ritual arrived. The lid was removed from the -casket, and the mourners were formed into line to pass and look upon the -face of the dead. A very old, bent negress went first. She stooped, then -suddenly, with a shriek of anguish, cast herself beside the coffin. - -“Tell Peter tuh hold de do’ open fuh me. I’s comin’ soon!” she cried. - -“Yes, Gawd, goin’ soon,” responded a voice in the crowd. Others pressed -about the grave, and the air was stabbed by scream on scream. Grief -spent itself freely, terrifyingly. - -Slowly the clashing sounds merged into the regular measure of a -spiritual. Beautiful and poignant it rose, swelling out above the sounds -of falling earth as the grave was filled: - - “What yuh goin’ ter do when yuh - come out de wilderness, - Come out de wilderness, - Come out de wilderness; - What yuh goin’ ter do when yuh - come out de wilderness - Leanin’ on my Lord. - - “Leanin’ on my Lord, - Leanin’ on my Lord, - Leanin’ on my Lord - Who died on Calvary.” - -The music faded away in vague, uncertain minors. The mood of the crowd -changed almost tangibly. There was an air of restless apprehension. -Nervous glances were directed toward the entrance. Peter, always -sagacious, unless taken unawares, had conferred in advance with Porgy -about this moment. When he had helped him from the wagon, he had -stationed him just inside the fence, where he could be lifted quickly -into the road. - -“De las’ man in de grabe-yahd goin’ tuh be de nex’ one tuh git buried,” -he had reminded his friend. - -Now, as the final shovelful of earth was thrown upon the grave, he came -running to Porgy, and lifted him quickly into the road. Behind them -broke a sudden earth-shaking burst of sound, as of the stampeding of -many cattle, and past them the mourners swept, stumbling, fighting for -room; some assisting weaker friends, others fighting savagely to be free -of the enclosure. In the center of the crowd, plunging forward with -robes flying, was the preacher. In an incredibly short time the lot was -cleared. Then, from a screening bush near the grave, arose the old -negress who had been the first to wail out her grief. She had lain there -forgotten, overcome by the storm of her emotion. She tottered feebly -into the road. - -“Nebber you min’, Sister,” the preacher assured her comfortingly. “Gawd -always lub de righteous.” - -Dazed, and much pleased at the attention that she was receiving, while -still happily unmindful of its cause, the old woman smiled a vague -smile, and was hoisted into the wagon. - -During the funeral the sun had disappeared behind clouds that had blown -in swiftly from the sea, and now a scurry of large drops swept over the -vehicles, and trailed away across the desolate graves. - -“Dat’s all right now fer Robbins,” commented Porgy. “Gawd done sen’ he -rain already fuh wash he feet-steps offen dis eart’.” - -“Oh, yes, Brudder!” contributed a woman’s voice; and, “Amen, my Jedus!” -added another. - - -§ - -In the early afternoon of the day of the funeral, Porgy sat in his -doorway communing with Peter. The old man was silent for awhile, his -grizzled head bowed, and an expression of brooding tenderness upon his -lined face. - -“Robbins war a good man,” he reflected at length, “an’ dat nigger, -Crown, war a killer, an’ fuhebber gettin’ intuh trouble. Yet, dere lie -Robbins, wid he wife an’ fadderless chillen; an’ Crown done gone he -ways tuh do de same t’ing ober again somewheres else.” - -“Gone fuh true. I reckon he done lose now on Kittiwar Islan’, in dem -palmettuh t’icket; an’ de rope ain’t nebber make fuh ketch um an’ hang -um.” Porgy stopped suddenly, and motioned with his head toward someone -who had just entered the court. The new arrival was a white man of -stocky build, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, and a goatee. He was swinging -a heavy cane, and he crossed the court directly and paused before the -two. For a moment he stood looking down at them with brows drawn -fiercely together. Then he drew back his coat, exhibiting a police -badge, and a heavy revolver in a breast holster. - -“You killed Robbins,” he shot out suddenly at Peter. “And I’m going to -hang you for it. Come along now!” and he reached out and laid a firm -hand upon the old man’s shoulder. - -Peter shook violently, and his eyes rolled in his head. He made an -ineffectual effort to speak, tried again, and finally said, “’Fore Gawd, -Boss, I ain’t nebber done it.” - -Like a flash, the pistol was out of its holster, and pointing between -his eyes. “Who did it, then?” snapped the man. - -“Crown, Boss. I done see him do um,” Peter cried in utter panic. - -The man laughed shortly. “I thought so,” he said. Then he turned to -Porgy. - -“You saw it too, eh?” - -There was panic in Porgy’s face, and in his lap his hands had clinched -upon each other. But his eyes were fixed upon the paving. He drew a deep -breath, and waited. - -A flare of anger swept the face above him. “Come. Out with it. I don’t -want to have to put the law on you.” - -Porgy’s only answer was a slight tremor that shook the hands in his lap. -The detective’s face darkened, and sweat showed under his hat-brim. -Suddenly his temper bolted. - -“Look at me, you damned nigger!” he shouted. - -Slowly the sitting figure before him relaxed, almost it seemed, muscle -by muscle. At last the hands fell apart, and lay flexed and idle. -Finally Porgy raised eyes that had become hard and impenetrable as onyx. -They met the angry glare that beat down upon them without flinching. -After a long moment, he spoke slowly, and with great quietness. - -“I ain’t know nuttin’ ’bout um. I been inside, asleep on my bed, wid de -do’ closed.” - -“You’re a damn liar,” the man snapped. - -He shrilled a whistle, and two policemen entered. - -“He saw the killing,” the detective said, indicating Peter. “Take him -along, and lock him up as a material witness.” - -“How about the cripple?” asked one of the officers. - -“He could not have helped seeing it,” the man said sourly. “That’s his -room right there. But I can’t make him come through. But it don’t -matter. One’s enough to hang Crown, if we ever get him. Come, get the -old man in the wagon.” - -The policeman lifted the shaking old negro to his feet. “Come along, -Uncle. It ain’t going to be as bad for you as Crown, anyway,” encouraged -one of them. Then the little party passed out of the entrance, leaving -Porgy alone. - -From the street sounded the shrill gong of the patrol wagon, followed by -the beat of swiftly receding hoofs upon the cobbles. - - -§ - -Ten days had passed since the detective had taken Peter away. For a week -the wagon had waited under the tottering shed, and the dejected old -horse had subsisted upon a varied diet brought to him by the friends of -his absent master. Then a man had come and taken the outfit away. In -answer to the protests of the negroes, he had exhibited a contract, -dated three years previous, by which Peter was to pay two dollars a week -for an indefinite period, on an exorbitant purchase price. Failure to -pay any installment would cause the property to revert to the seller. It -all looked thoroughly legal. And so the dilapidated old rig rattled over -the cobbles and departed. - -Then the man from the installment furniture house came. He was a -vile-mouthed, bearded Teuton, and swore so fiercely that no one dared to -protest when he loaded Peter’s furniture on his truck and drove away. - -Now there remained in a corner of Porgy’s room, where he had taken them -into custody, only a battered leather trunk, a chromo of “The Great -Emancipator,” and a bundle of old clothes; mute reminders of their -kindly and gentle old owner. - - - - -II - -[Illustration] - - - - -PART II - - -The languor of a Southern May was in the air. It was a season dear to -the heart of a negro. Work on the wharves was slowing down, and the men -were putting in only two or three days a week. There were always some of -them lying about the court, basking in the sun, laughing, and telling -stories while they waited for their women to come from the “white -folks’” kitchens, with their full dinner pails. - -Near the entrance, the stevedores usually lounged, their great size -differentiating them from most of the other men. They had bright -bandanas about their thick necks, and under their blue cotton shirts -moved broad, flat backs that could heft a five hundred pound cotton -bale. Earning more money than the others, and possessing vast physical -strength in a world of brute force, they lorded it swaggeringly about -the court; taking the women that they wanted, and dressing them -gorgeously in the clashing crimsons and purples that they loved. - -Grief over the loss of Robbins had stormed itself out at the funeral. -Peter’s ill fortune still occasioned general comment, but slight -concern to the individual. There was an air of gaiety about. The scarlet -of the geraniums was commencing to flicker in a run of windy flame on -each window sill; and from the bay came the smell of salt air blown -across young marsh-grass. - -At the wharf, across the narrow street, the fishermen were discharging -strings of gleaming whiting and porgy. Vegetable sloops, blowing up from -the Sea Islands, with patched and tawny sails, broke the flat cobalt of -the inner harbor with the cross-wash of their creamy wakes. - -Through the back door of the cook-shop Maria, the huge proprietress, -could be seen cutting shark-steaks from a four-foot hammerhead that one -of the fishermen had given her. All in all, it was a season for the good -things of life, to be had now for scarcely more than the asking. - -Only Porgy sat lonely and disconsolate in his doorway and watched the -sunlight creep up the eastern wall until it faded to a faint red at the -top, then the blue dusk grew under the wharf, and swirled through the -street and court. He had not been able to get to his stand since Peter’s -departure; and the small store of coins, which he kept under a loose -brick in his hearth, was nearing exhaustion. Also, he missed his old -friend keenly and could not enter into the light-hearted life about him. - -Presently two women entered. Porgy saw that they were Robbins’ widow, -and her sister, who now shared her room. He had been awaiting their -coming eagerly, as they had left in the early afternoon to carry -bed-clothing and food to the jail for Peter. - -“How yuh fin’ um, Sister?” he hailed. - -The younger woman paused, standing in the shadow, and the widow lowered -herself to a seat beside Porgy. She had put her grief aside, and gone -resolutely about her task of earning a living for the three children. - -“I can’t puzzle dis t’ing out,” she said after a while. “De old man -ain’t done nuttin’, an’ dey done gots um lock up like a chicken t’ief. -Dey say dey gots tuh keep um till dat nigger Crown get ketch; an, Gawd -knows when dat debble ob a t’ing goin’ tuh happen.” - -“It sho pay nigger tuh go blin’ in dis world,” contributed the young -woman. “Porgy ain’t gots much leg, but he sho got sense.” - -After a moment of reflection, Porgy replied: “Sense do berry well; but -he can’t lift no weight.” - -A big stevedore was crossing the court, his body moving easily with the -panther-like flow of enormous muscular power under absolute control. - -The beggar’s eyes became wistful. - -“Sense gots power tuh take a t’ing atter yuh gits dere,” he said. “But -he nebber puts bittle in a belly what can’t leabe he restin’ place. What -I goin’ do now sence Peter gone, an’ I can’t git on de street?” - -“Pray, Brudder, pray,” said the widow devoutly. “Ain’t yuh see Gawd done -soffen de haht of dat yalluh buryin’ ondehtakuh attuh I done pray tuh -him fuh a whole day an’ night? Gawd gots leg fuh de cripple.” - -“Bless de Lord!” ejaculated the young woman. - -“An’ he gots comfort fuh de widder.” - -“Oh, my Jedus!” crooned Porgy, beginning to sway. - -“An’ food fuh de fadderless.” - -“Yes, Lord!” - -“An’ he goin’ raise dis poor nigger out de dus’.” - -“Allelujah!” - -“An’ set um in de seat ob de righteous.” - -“Amen, my Sister!” - -For a little while the three figures, showing now only as denser shadows -in a world of shade, swayed slowly from side to side. Then, without -saying a word, Porgy drew himself across his threshold, and closed the -door very softly. - - -§ - -It was not yet day when Porgy awakened suddenly. His eyes were wide, and -his face was working with unwonted emotion. In the faint light that -penetrated his bleared window from a street lamp, he made his way to the -hearth, and removed the brick from his secret depository. With feverish -haste he counted his little store, placing the coins in a row before -him. Then with the utmost care he recounted them, placing them in little -piles, one for the coppers, one for the nickels, and one for the dimes. -When he had fully satisfied himself as to the extent of his wealth, his -tension relaxed, and, tying the money in a rag which he tore from his -bed-clothing, he closed his hand firmly upon it, crawled back into bed, -and immediately fell asleep. - - -§ - -Two days later, Porgy drove his chariot out through the wide entrance -into a land of romance and adventure. He was seated with the utmost -gravity in an inverted packing-case that proclaimed with unconscious -irony the virtues of a well-known toilet soap. Beneath the box two solid -lop-sided wheels turned heavily. Before him, between a pair of -improvised shafts, a patriarchal goat tugged with the dogged persistence -of age which has been placed upon its mettle, and flaunted an -intolerable stench in the face of the complaisant and virtuous soap box. - -As oblivious of the mirth-provoking quality of his appearance, as he was -of a smell to which custom had inured him, Porgy turned his equipage -daringly into a new thoroughfare, and drove through a street where high, -bright buildings stood between wide gardens, and where many ladies -passed and re-passed on the sidewalks, or in glittering carriages. - -But the magic that had come to pass, even in the triumph of that first -morning, stirred vague doubts and misgivings within him. He noticed that -while he occasioned slight comment in the negro quarter, no sooner had -he entered the white zone, than people commenced to pass him with -averted faces, and expressions that struggled between pity and laughter. -When he finally reached his old stand before the apothecary shop, these -misgivings crystallized into a definite fear. - -Several of his clients happened to be passing the shop together. One of -them was clerk to an apothecary further down the street. He seized his -nose with one hand, while he pointed at Porgy with the other. Then all -seized their noses, shaking with laughter, and waited to see what would -happen. - -Porgy looked his outfit over carefully. Certainly it was working with -the utmost satisfaction. Somewhat mystified, he tied the ancient animal -to a post and, with great gravity, swung himself out of his wagon, -across the pavement, and to his old stand. - -The boys who had laughed stood nearby, and were joined by others, until -soon there was quite a group. - -Presently here issued from the shop the loud voice of the proprietor: -“Oh, Mary, come quick, and bring the broom. Something has died again.” -Then followed the sound of boxes being overturned, while dust from a -prodigious sweeping bellied in clouds from the door. Then the -apothecary, very red in the face, came out for air, and found the goat. -The burst of laughter that greeted him increased his irritation. -Brandishing the broom, and in no uncertain language, he drove Porgy from -his door. - -But the bystanders had so enjoyed the joke at the apothecary’s expense, -and were feeling in such high good humor, that when Porgy had an -opportunity to appraise his collections, he found that they amounted to -more than he frequently got from a whole day of patient waiting. - - -§ - -It is impossible to conceive of a more radical change than that brought -about in Porgy’s life by his new emancipation. From his old -circumstances which had conspired to anchor him always to one spot, he -was now in the grip of new forces that as inevitably resulted in -constant change of scene. Soon he became quite a metropolitan, and might -have been seen in any part of the city, either sitting in his wagon at -the curb, or, if the residents of the locality seemed lenient in their -attitude toward goats, disembarking, and trying his luck in the strip of -shade along the wall. - -In those days, everyone tolerated Porgy--for a while. He had become “a -character.” The other beggars gnashed their teeth, but were powerless. - -On certain days he would turn to the south when he left the court, and -soon would emerge into a land of such beauty that he never lost the -illusion that it was unreal. No one seemed to work in that country, -except the happy, well-clothed negroes who frequently came to back gates -when he passed, and gave him tender morsels from the white folks’ -kitchens. The great, gleaming houses looked out at him with kindly eyes -that peered between solid walls of climbing roses. Ladies on the deep -piazzas would frequently send a servant running out to give him a coin -and speed him on his way. - -Before the houses and the rose-trellises stretched a broad drive, and -beyond its dazzling belt of crushed shell the harbor lay between its -tawny islands, like a sapphire upon a sailor’s weathered hand. Sometimes -Porgy would steal an hour from the daily rounds, pause there, and watch -a great, blunt-nosed steamer heave slowly out of the unknown, to come to -rest with a sigh of spent steam, and a dusty thundering of released -anchor chains. - -“Gawd sho gots a long arm,” he would murmur; or, “Porgy, yo’ sho is a -little somethin’ aftuh all.” - -Then there would be other days when he would repair to the narrow retail -street, with its unbelievable windows, and drawing near to the curb, -between the tall carriages of the shoppers would fall heir to the -pennies which they got with their change, and which were of no value to -such as they. - -Always kind hands dropped coins in his cup, and sped him on. They were -great days for Porgy. And great were the nights when he would tell of -his adventures to the envious circle that gathered in the dusk of the -court. - -But Porgy was by nature a dreamer, and there were times even in those -days, when his mind returned with wistful longing to the old -uninterrupted hours when he used to sit, lost in meditation, under the -unmarked drift of time. Some day, he would tell himself, there would -come one with a compassion so great that he would give both Porgy and -the goat place by his doorstep. Then life would be perfect indeed. - - -§ - -June, and the cotton season was over. The last tramp steamer had faded -into the horizon. Great sheds that linked land and sea lay empty and -dark, and through their cavernous depths echoed the thud and suck of -waves against the bulkheads. The last of the stevedores had departed, -some to the plantations, others to the phosphate mines, and still others -to the river barges. - -The long, hot days, so conducive to indolence, brought a new phase of -life to Catfish Row. The loud talk and noisy comings and goings -diminished. Men came in earlier in the evenings, and spent more time -with their women. - -Porgy sat alone in his doorway. In a room overhead a man and his wife -were engaged in a friendly quarrel that ended in laughter. From an open -window nearby came the sound of drowsy child voices. In the crowded dark -about him, Life, with cruel preoccupation, was engrossed with its -eternal business. - -A large, matronly woman who lived near him, passed, carrying a pail of -water. She stopped, set down her burden, and dropped a hand on Porgy’s -shoulder. - -“What de matter wid dis man, he ain’t gots nuttin’ tuh say?” she asked -him kindly. - -Porgy’s face contracted with emotion. He caught her hand and hurled it -from him. “Lemme be,” he rasped, in a tight, husky voice. “Yuh done gots -yuh own man. Ain’t yuh?” - -“Oh, Lawd!” she laughed, as she turned away. “Yuh ain’t t’ink I wantin’ -_yuh_, is yuh? Do listen tuh de man.” - - -§ - -Through the early night a woman had lain in the dust against the outer -wall of Maria’s cook-shop. She was extremely drunk and unpleasant to -look upon. Exactly when she had dropped, or been dropped there, no one -knew. Porgy had not seen her when he had driven in at sunset. But he had -heard some talk of her among those who had entered later. One of the men -had come in laughing. - -“I seen Crown’s Bess outside,” he said. “Must be she come aroun’ tuh -look fur um.” - -“She sho goin’ tuh hab one long res’, ef she goin’ wait dere fur um. Dat -nigger gone f’om hyuh fas’ and far!” another had averred. - -It was ten o’clock: and Maria was closing her shop. The great negress -was in the act of fastening the window, when the tall, gaunt form of the -woman lurched through the door into the faint illumination of the -smoking lamp. The visitor measured the distance to the nearest bench -with wandering and vacant eyes, plunged for it, and collapsed, with head -and arms thrown across a table. - -Maria was exasperated, but equal to the emergency. Catching the woman -around the middle, she swung her easily to the door, dropped her into -outer darkness, and returned to the window. - -A crash caused her to turn suddenly. There was the woman again, sprawled -across the table as before. - -“I swear tuh Gawd!” exclaimed the provoked negress. “Ef yuh ain’t de -persistentes’ nigger I ebber seen.” She went over, lifted the woman’s -head, and looked into eyes in the far depths of which a human soul was -flickering feebly. - -“Somethin’ tuh eat,” the woman whispered. “Lemme hab somethin’ tuh eat, -an’ I’ll go.” - -Growling like an approaching equinoctial gale, Maria brought bread and -fish; and emptying the dregs of the coffeepot into a cup, placed it -before her. - -“Now, eat an’ trabble, Sister,” she advised laconically. - -The woman raised her head. An ugly scar marked her left cheek, and the -acid of utter degradation had etched hard lines about her mouth; but -eyes into which human consciousness was returning looked fearlessly into -the determined face of the big negress. For a moment she ate wolfishly; -then asked suddenly: - -“Who lib in dat room ’cross de way?” - -“Porgy,” she was informed, “but such as yuh ain’t gots no use fuh he. -He a cripple, an’ a beggar.” - -“He de man wid goat?” - -“Yes, he gots goat.” - -The woman’s eyes narrowed to dark, unfathomable slits. - -“I hyuh say he gits good money fum de w’ite folks,” she said slowly. - -In silence the meal was finished. Then the woman steadied herself a -moment with hands against a table, and, without a word to Maria, walked -quickly, with an almost haughty carriage, from the room. - -She crossed the narrow drive with a decisive tread, opened the door of -Porgy’s room, entered, and closed the door behind her. - - -§ - -It was late afternoon. Serena Robbins entered the court, paused at -Porgy’s door, and gave a sharp rap on the weathered panel. The door was -opened by a woman. The visitor looked through her, and spoke directly to -Porgy, who sat within. - -“I gots good news,” she announced. “I done tuh see my w’ite folks ’bout -Peter; an’ dey say dey gots a frien’ who is a lawyer, an’ he kin git um -out. I tell um tuh sen’ um tuh see you ’bout um, ’cause yuh gots so -much sense when yuh talks tuh w’ite folks.” - -Having delivered her message, Serena turned a broad back upon the woman -who stood silently in the doorway, and with the bearing of an arbiter of -social destinies, strode to her corner of the court. - -Across the drive, Maria, vast and moist, hung over her stove in a far -corner of her cook-shop. Several negroes sat at the little tables, -eating their early suppers, laughing and chaffing. - -“Yuh sho got good-lookin’ white gals in dis town,” drawled a slender -young octoroon. He was attired in sky-blue, peg-top trousers, yellow -spats, and in the center of a scarlet bow-tie gleamed an immense paste -horseshoe. - -“Do listen tuh Sportin’ Life!” said a black, loutish buck admiringly. -“Ef he ain’t lookin’ at de rollin’ bones, he always gots he eye on de -women.” - -Maria’s heavy tread shook the room as she crossed and stood, with arms -akimbo, scowling down at her iridescent guest. The man looked up, -lowered his eyes quickly, and shifted uneasily in his chair. - -“Nigger!” she finally shot at him, and the impact almost jarred him from -his chair. “I jus’ tryin’ ter figger out wedder I bettuh kill yuh -decent now, wid yuh frien’s about yuh; or leabe you fuh de w’ite -gentlemens tuh hang attuh a while.” - -“Come now, old lady, don’t talk like dese old-fashioned lamp-oil niggers -what have had no adwantage. Why, up in New York, where I been waitin’ in -a hotel--” - -But he got no further. - -“Noo Yo’k,” she shouted. “Don’t yuh try any Noo Yo’kin’ aroun’ dis town. -Ef I had my way, I’d go down tuh dat Noo Yo’k boat, an’ take ebbery -Gawd’s nigger what come up de gang plank wid er Joseph coat on he back -an’ a glass headlight on he buzzom and drap um tuh de catfish befo’ he -foot hit decent groun’! Yas; my belly fair ache wid dis Noo Yo’k talk. -De fus t’ing dat dem nigger fuhgit is dat dem is nigger. Den dem comes -tuh dese decent country mens, and fills um full ob talk wut put money in -de funeral ondehtakuh pocket.” Breathless, she closed her arraignment by -bringing a fist the size of a ham down upon the table with such force -that her victim leapt from his chair and extended an ingratiating hand -toward her. - -“Dat’ all right, Auntie. Le’s you an’ me be frien’.” - -“Frien’ wid yuh?” and her tone dripped scorn. “One ob dese days I might -lie down wid er rattlesnake, and when dat time come, yuh kin come right -along an’ git intuh de bed. But till den, keep yuh shiny carcase in Noo -Yo’k till de debbil ready tuh take chaage ob um!” - -Suddenly the anger left her eyes, and her face became grave. She leaned -over, and spoke very quietly into his face. - -“Fuh Gawd’s sake, don’t talk dat kind ob talk tuh dese hyuh boys. Dis -county ain’t nebber yit see a black man git lynch. Dese nigger knows -folks, an’ dey knows nigger. Fer Gawd’ sake keep yuh mout’ off w’ite -lady. Yuh gots plenty ob yuh own color fuh talk ’bout. Stick tuh dem, -an’ yuh ain’t git inter no trouble.” - -During Maria’s attack upon her guest, the court had been full of the -many-colored sounds that accompanied its evening life. Now, gradually -the noise shrunk, seeming to withdraw into itself. All knew what it -meant. A white man had entered. The protective curtain of silence which -the negro draws about his life when the Caucasian intrudes hung almost -tangibly in the air. No one appeared to notice the visitor. Each was -busily preoccupied with his task. Yet the newcomer made no move that was -not noted by fifty pairs of inscrutable eyes. - -The man wore a soft hat drawn well down over his face. He was slender -and tall, and walked with his body carried slightly forward, like one -who is used to meeting and overcoming difficulties. - -A young woman passed him. He reached out and touched her on the arm. She -stopped, and turned immediately toward him, her eyes lowered, her manner -submissive, but utterly negative. - -“I am looking for a man by the name of Porgy,” he said in a clear -pleasant voice. “Can you direct me to his room?” - -“Porgy?” she repeated slowly, as though trying to remember. Then she -called aloud: “Anybody hyuh know a man by de name ob Porgy?” - -Several of the silent bystanders looked up. “Porgy?” they repeated, one -after another, with shakes of the head. - -The white man laughed reassuringly, as though quite used to the -proceeding. “Come,” he urged, “I am his friend, Mr. Alan Archdale; I -know that he lives here, and I want to help him.” - -From behind her tubs, Serena advanced, knocking the ashes from her clay -pipe as she came. When she was quite close, she stopped, and peered up -into the face above her. Then she turned upon the girl. - -“Go ’long an’ call Porgy,” she commanded. “Can’t yuh tell _folks_ when -yuh see um?” - -A light broke over the young woman’s face. - -“Oh, yuh means _Porgy_?” she cried, as though she had just heard the -name for the first time; “I ain’t understan’ wut name yuh say, Boss,” -and echoes arose from different parts of the court. “Oh, yes, de -gentleman mean _Porgy_. How come we ain’t understan’.” Then the tension -in the air broke, and life resumed its interrupted flow. - -The young woman stepped to Porgy’s door, and called. Presently the door -opened, and a woman helped the beggar out to his seat upon the sill, -then seated herself behind him in the deep gloom of the room. - -Archdale crossed the short distance, and seated himself on the sill -beside the negro. - -“Tell me about your friend who got locked up on account of the Robbins -murder,” he asked, without preamble. - -In the dim light, Porgy leaned forward and looked long into the keen, -kindly face of his questioner. - -Archdale gave a surprised exclamation: “Why, you’re the old man who used -to beg in front of the apothecary shop on King Charles Street!” he said. -Then, after a moment of scrutiny: “But you are not old, after all, are -you?” and he studied the face intently. There was a touch of grey in the -wool above the ears, and strong character lines flared downward from the -nose to corners of a mouth that was, at once, full-lipped and sensuous, -yet set in a resolute line most unusual in a negro. With the first -indications of age upon it, the face seemed still alive with a youth -that had been neither spent nor wasted. - -“But, tell me about your friend,” said the visitor, breaking a silence -that was commencing to become tense. - -Porgy’s face still wore its mask. “How come yuh tuh care, Boss?” he -queried. - -“Why, I am the Rutledge’s lawyer; and I look after their colored folks -for them. I think they must have owned half the slaves in the county. A -woman here, Serena Robbins, is the daughter of their old coachman, or -something; and she asked them to help her friend out.” - -“Peter ain’t gots no money, yuh know, Boss. An’ I jes begs from do’ to -do’.” There was still a shade of suspicion in Porgy’s voice. - -Archdale laughed reassuringly. “It will not take any money. At least, -not much; and I am sure that Mrs. Rutledge will take care of that. So -you can go right ahead and tell me all about it.” - -Fully satisfied at last, Porgy told the tale of the killing and the -subsequent arrest of Peter. - -When he had finished the recital, Archdale sat silent for a while. “The -dirty hounds!” he said under his breath. Finally he turned wearily to -Porgy, and explained slowly: - -“Of course we can go to law about this; but it will take no end of time. -There is an easier way. He must have someone, who is acceptable to the -magistrate, to go his bond. Do you know a man by the name of Huysenberg, -who keeps a corner-shop down by the West-end wharf?” - -Porgy, listening intently, nodded. - -Archdale handed him a bill. “Take this ten dollars to him, and tell him -that you want him to go Peter’s bond. He hasn’t any money of his own, -and his shop is in his wife’s name; but he has an arrangement with the -magistrate that makes him entirely satisfactory.” - -He handed Porgy a card with an address pencilled under a printed name. -“You will find me here,” he said. “If Peter is not out in two days after -you hand over the ten, let me know.” Then, with a brisk, but friendly -“Good night,” he left the court. - - -§ - -There was great rejoicing in Catfish Row. Peter had returned. The ten -dollar bill which Archdale had given Porgy had worked the miracle. -Except for the fact that the old negro’s shoulders drooped, and his grip -on actualities seemed weakened by his confinement, there was no evidence -to show that he had been absent. He had gone to the horse-dealer, and -had found his ancient beast still awaiting a purchaser. Another contract -had been signed which had started him off again on the eternal weekly -payment. The German had driven back with the furniture, which Peter had -docilely purchased for the second time. Again “The Great Emancipator” -had been hung in his accustomed place above the mantel. Now, each -morning, the old wagon rattled out over the cobbles, with the usual -number of small, ecstatic, black bodies pendant from its dilapidated -superstructure. - -“De buckra sho pots nigger figgered out tuh a cent!” said Peter -philosophically, and even with a note of admiration in his voice. “Dem -knows how much money wagon make in er week; an’ de horse man, de -furniture man, an’ de lan’lo’d mek dey ’rangement’ accordin’. But I done -lib long ’nough now tuh beat ’em all, ’cause money ain’t no use tuh a -man attuh he done pass he prime, nohow.” - -When the old man had settled firmly back into his nook, and had an -opportunity to look about him, he noticed a change in Porgy. - -“I tell yuh dat nigger happy,” he said to Serena, one evening while they -were smoking their pipes together on her washing bench. - -“Go ’long wid yuh!” she retorted. “Dat ’oman ain’t de kin’ tuh mek man -happy. It tek a killer like Crown tuh hol’ she down.” - -“Dat may be so,” agreed the old man sagely. “But Porgy don’ know dat -yit. An’ ’side, ef a man is de kin’ wut needs er ’oman, he goin’ be -happy regahdless. Him dress she up in he own eye till she look lak de -Queen of Sheba tuh um. Porgy t’ink right now dat he gots a she-gawd in -he room.” - -“He sho’ gots de kin’ wut goin’ gib um hell,” Serena commented -cynically. “Dat ’oman ain’t fit tuh ’sociate wid. Much as I like Porgy, -I wouldn’t swap t’ree wo’d wid she.” - -“Dat’s all so, Sister,” conceded Peter. “But yuh keep yo’ eye on Porgy. -He usen tuh hate all dese chillen. Ain’t he? Now watch um. Ebery day -w’en he come home he gots candy-ball fuh de crowd. An’ wut mo’, -yistuhday I hyuh he an’ she singin’ tuhgedduh in dey room.” - -Serena motioned to him to be quiet. Porgy’s woman crossed the court to -draw a bucket of water from the common tap near Serena’s corner. She was -neatly dressed, and passed them as though they did not exist. Filling -her pail, she swung it easily to her head, and, steadying it lightly -with one hand, returned close to them with an air of cool scorn that -produced entirely different effects upon her two observers. Serena -watched her departure in silence. - -“Dat de t’ing!” said Peter, a note of admiration in his voice. “She sho -ain’t axin’ no visit offen none of she neighbor.” And he emitted an -indiscreet chuckle, which was too much for his friend. - -“Yuh po’, ole, wall-eyed, sof’-headed gran’daddy! Ain’t yuh ’shame’ tuh -set dey befo’ me, an’ talk sweet-mout’ ’bout dat murderin’ Crown’s Bess? -Ef I wuz yo’ age, an’ er man, I’d sabe my sof’ wo’d fer de Gawd-farin’ -ladies.” - -“Ef yuh wuz my age, an’ a man--” commenced Peter. He hesitated, and -looked long at her with his dim, kindly eyes; then he shook his head. -“No; it ain’t no use. Yuh wouldn’t onderstan’. Dat somet’ing shemale -sense ain’t goin’ tuh help yuh none wid.” And, still shaking his head, -he knocked out his pipe, and departed in the direction of the stable, -where he was presently greeted by a soft, comprehending whinny. - -Bess entered Porgy’s room and swung her pail of water to its place -beside the new wood stove that had superseded the old, open hearth, and -busied herself with preparations for supper. - -Porgy was seated in a low chair near the door. He was smoking -contentedly, and the odd tension that had characterized him, even in his -moments of silent thought, had given place to a laxed attitude of body -and an expression of well-being. - -An infinitesimal negro passed with a whistle and a double shuffle. - -“Look hyuh, sonny!” called Porgy. - -The boy paused, hesitated, and advanced slowly. Porgy held out a large -round ball, striped red and white. “How ’bout er sweet?” he said a -little self-consciously. The boy took the candy, and shuffled uneasily -from foot to foot. - -“Dat’s right,” said Porgy, with a burst of sudden, warm laughter, that -somehow startled the child. “Now yuh come again an’ see Porgy an’ -Bess.” - - - - -III - -[Illustration] - - - - -PART III - - -Porgy drove slowly down King Charles Street, and appraised the prospects -for hitching and settling awhile in the narrow strip of shade against -the walls of the buildings. The day was sweltering, and both cripple and -goat were drooping beneath the steady pressure of the sun. - -A man passed, walking briskly. Porgy at once recognized the long, easy -stride, and the soft felt hat drawn rather low over the eyes. He reached -out and gave a slight twist to the tail of his somnambulant animal, -which resulted in a shambling trot that brought the vehicle abreast of -the pedestrian. But at that moment the gentleman stopped, produced a -key, and opening the door of an office, passed in without looking -around. - -Porgy eyed the office and its environs with evident satisfaction. The -building stood very near the old apothecary shop; and between it and its -neighbor to the east was an entrance way several feet in width, which -breathed forth an inviting coolness from its deep shade. No one was -passing at the moment. Porgy turned the head of his beast toward the -entrance, gave a sudden twist to the tail, and drove audaciously across -the pavement, and into the retreat. Then he hitched his wagon a few feet -from the street, and seated himself, cup in hand, at the pavement’s -inner edge. - -“Yuh bes’ git along out of Mr. Alan’ do’way wid dat goat befo’ he fin’ -yuh. Ain’t yuh onduhstan’ gentlemen ain’t likes tuh smell goat?” - -Porgy looked up and met the threatening gaze of Simon Frasier. - -Frasier was a practising attorney-at-law. He was well past fifty years -of age, and his greying wool looked very white in comparison with his -uncompromisingly black skin. He had voted the democratic ticket in the -dark period of reconstruction, when such action on his part took no -little courage, and accordingly enjoyed the almost unlimited toleration -of the aristocracy. Without possessing the official sanction of the -State for the practice of his profession, he was, by common consent -among the lawyers, permitted to represent his own people in the police -and magistrates’ courts and to turn his hand to other small legal -matters into which it was thought inadvisable to enquire too deeply. - -Porgy regarded his accuser stonily. - -“Ob course gentlemen ain’t likes tuh smell goat,” he replied. - -The door opened, and Archdale looked out. From where Porgy sat he could -have touched him with his hand; yet the cripple’s gaze never wavered -from the face of the negro, and his expression remained unchanged. -Forestalling an interruption, he hastened on, in a voice that had become -mildly incredulous, as he continued, “But it can’t be dat attuh knowing -buckra long as yuh been know um, yuh ain’t onduhstan’ um any better dan -tuh t’ink dey would dribe away po’ cripple in de heat.” - -Archdale made a movement that actually crossed Porgy’s line of vision; -but the beggar’s face gave no sign of recognition. His voice rose to a -pitch of indignation: - -“Yuh might be a lawyuh, an’ all dat; but I ain’t goin’ tuh hab yuh stan’ -dey an’ tell me dat Mistuh Archdale gots dem po’ w’ite-trash ways. Ob -course he don’t likes de smell ob goat; but he gots er haht in he breas’ -fuh de po’ cripple nigger.” - -A wry smile tugged at the corner of Archdale’s mouth. - -“All right, Porgy,” he said, “I got it all; but, gentleman or no -gentleman, I can’t have a goat on my doorstep. I would not have one -client left in a week.” - -At the sound of Archdale’s voice, Porgy looked around. His entire body -seemed to express amazement. - -“Why, hyuh’s de Boss now!” he cried. Then he turned triumphantly to the -negro, and added, “Wut I done tells yuh ’bout de real quality; ain’t yuh -done see he say I kin stay?” - -Archdale became desperate. “I did not say you could,” he cried, with the -manner of one who puts his foot in the crack of a closing door. “You can -wait there today, as I will be in court all morning; but tomorrow you -must find somewhere else.” - -“By tuhmorruh I goin’ hab dis goat wash till yuh can’t tell um from one -of dem rosebush in de pahk!” Porgy assured him with an ingenuous smile. -“Yuh is goin’ to be mighty lubbin’ of dis goat attuh a while, Boss.” - -“No; goats don’t wash, Porgy. Away you go after today.” But the power of -absolute conviction was not in Archdale’s voice. His foot was still in -the crack; but he knew that the door was closing. - -“All right, Frasier; I’ll see you now about your divorce business,” he -said to the other negro, and showed him into the office. - -Presently through an open window behind Porgy came the sound of -Archdale’s voice: - -“All right, Frasier. Out with it. The gentleman who has come down to -improve moral conditions among the negroes thinks you are a menace. He -is going to have you indicted for granting divorces illegally.” - -In a voice very different from the one in which he had arraigned Porgy, -Frasier began: - -“I fin’ so much nigger onsattify wid dere marriage, an’ I hyuh tell ob a -t’ing dey calls divorce.” - -“Yes?” encouraged his questioner. - -“So fuh a long time now I been separate dem wid a divorce wut I mek up -fuh de pu’pose. An’ he go fine, Boss. I done mek too much nigger happy.” - -“Have you one of the papers with you?” - -Silence; and then Archdale’s voice again. - -“‘I, Simon Frasier, hereby divorce Rachel Smalls and Columbus Devo for -the charge of one dollar; signed, Simon Frasier.’ Well, that is simple -enough. Where did you get this seal?” - -“I done buy um from de junk-shop Jew, Boss.” - -“Don’t you know there is no such thing as divorce in this State?” - -“I hyuh tell dere ain’t no such t’ing fuh de w’ite folks; but de nigger -need um so bad, I ain’t see no reason why I can’t mek up one wut sati’fy -de nigger? He seem tuh work berry well, too, till dat sof’ mout’ -gentleman come ’roun’ an’ onsettle all my client.” - -A groan floated through the window to Porgy’s ears, causing him to -indulge in a slow, malicious smile. Then in a pained voice the negro -lawyer proceeded: “He been keepin’ me alibe, Boss. An’ wut mo’, he keep -de nigger straight. Dis gentleman say dat dey gots tuh lib tuhgedduh -anyhow till dey done dead. Dat’s de law, he say. But nigger ain’t mek -dataway. I done get um all properly moralize, and dis same gentleman -tell um dat my paper ain’t no mo’ dan a license tuh ’dulterate. So now -dey just leabe each odduh anyhow, and I ain’t gets no dollar. An’ now he -say he goin’ jail me, wut mo’!” - -There was a moment of silence, then Porgy heard Archdale’s voice calling -a number; then: “Hello! Is that the Solicitor’s office? Mr. Dennis, -please.” - -“Oh--this is Archdale, Dennis. Yes, another negro. This time it is -Frasier, you know, the divorce decree case. Yes, I have him here in my -office. Look here; you have a terrifically heavy docket this term. -There is no use taking the State’s money and your valuable time on this -case.” - -There followed a pause; then Archdale said hastily, “Oh, no; I am not -trying anything; but he is perfectly innocent of any deliberate -wrongdoing. Yes, of course; it would be serious if he were responsible; -but you know no one takes old Frasier seriously. A no-bill from the -grand jury would save no end of time and trouble. - -“Yes; I will guarantee that he will stop.” - -Porgy listened intently; and after a moment he heard Archdale say, -“Thank you,” and turn his chair toward his client. Then he heard him -address the negro. - -“We are not going to lock you up this time, Simon. But you will have to -stop divorcing your people. I have given my word. If you do it again, -snap! to jail we both go. Do you understand?” - -A relieved gasp greeted the announcement, followed by “Gawd bless yuh, -Boss!” and a moment later Frasier stood blinking in the white glare of -the street. - -Porgy looked up, and in an exact imitation of Frasier’s professional -manner, said testily, “Mobe on, please; mobe on. I gots a berry perlite -goat hyuh wut objec’ tuh de smell ob de jail-bird.” - -A chuckle sounded from Archdale’s office. - -Immediately the light of victory, carefully veiled, but bright, shone in -Porgy’s eyes. He reached behind him and tweaked the goat by the ear. The -dejected animal mistook the signal, and started forward. - -“No, no, bubber,” whispered Porgy. “Ain’t yuh hear de Boss laugh? When -nigger mek de buckra laugh, den he know he done won. Dis wey we goin’ -spen’ we libe. You watch.” - - -§ - -The change in Porgy, which Peter had been the first to notice, was now -apparent to all who knew him. The defensive barrier of reserve that he -had built about his life was down. The long hours when he used to sit -fixed and tense, with the look of introspection upon his face, were -gone. Even the most skeptical of the women were beginning to admit that -Bess was making him a good mate. Not that they mingled freely with the -other residents of the court. On the contrary, they seemed strangely -sufficient unto themselves in the midst of the intensely gregarious life -that was going on about them. Porgy’s earnings were adequate to their -modest needs, and Bess was always up and out with the first of the -women, and among them all there was none who could bargain more shrewdly -with the fishermen and hucksters who sold their wares on the wharf. - -Like Porgy, Bess had undergone a subtle change that became more evident -from day to day. Her gaunt figure had rounded out, bringing back a look -of youthful comeliness, and her face was losing its hunted expression. -The air of pride that had always shown in her bearing, which had -amounted almost to disdain, that had so infuriated the virtuous during -her evil days, was heightened, and, in her bettered condition forced a -resentful respect from her feminine traducers. - -One morning while she was doing her marketing on the wharf, one of the -river men who had known her in the past, hailed her too familiarly. He -was at that moment stepping from the top round of a ladder on to the -wharf. - -“How ’bout ternight?” he asked with a leer. - -She was holding a string of whiting in her left hand, and was hanging -upon the final penny of a bargain with the fishman. She half turned, and -delivered a resounding slap with her right hand. The man staggered -backward, hung for a moment, then vanished. There was a tremendous -splash from the shallow water. - -“Twenty cent fuh dis string, an’ not one cent mo’,” Bess continued -coolly to the fishman. - -He accepted the price. Bess gave him eighteen cents, and a hard look. He -counted the money, glanced at the hand that now hung innocently against -her apron, then laughed. - -“Just as yuh say, Sister. I ain’t quarrelin’ none wid _yuh dis_ -mornin’.” - -Bess gave him one of the faint, cryptic smiles that always made men -friends and women enemies for her, and departed for Catfish Row, as if -nothing had happened to break the dull routine of the morning’s chores. - - -§ - -Saturday night, and the court had flung off its workaday clothes and -mood. In the corner by Serena’s washbench a small intimate circle had -gathered about a smoking kerosene lamp. Several women sat on the bench -with drowsy little negroes in their laps. A man near the light leaned -over a guitar, with a vague wistfulness in his face, and plucked -successive chords with a swift, running vibrance of sound. Then a deep -baritone hummed for a second and raised an air: - - “Ain’t it hahd tuh be a nigger; - Ain’t it hahd tuh be a nigger; - Ain’t it hahd tuh be a nigger; - ’Cause yuh can’t git yo’ rights w’en yuh do. - - “I was sleepin’ on a pile ob lumber, - Jus’ as happy as uh man kin be, - W’en a w’ite man come wake me from my slumber, - An’ he say, ‘Yuh gots tuh work now, ’cause yuh free!’” - - Then they were all in on the chorus: - - “Ain’t it hahd tuh be a nigger,” - -and the gloom hummed with the low, close harmonies. - -In another corner the crap circle had gathered. Porgy’s delight in the -game had not waned with his increasing interests, and he sat fondling -the small white cubes, and whispering to them in his old confidential -manner. - -“Little w’ite babies,” he crooned, “come sing fuh dis nigger.” - -He cast--and won. - -Gathering the little heap of pennies and nickels, he passed them behind -him to Bess, who squatted in the shadows. She took the money in silence, -counted it, dropped it into her apron pocket, and continued to watch the -game intently, smiling her cryptic smile when Porgy won, but saying -scarcely anything at all. - -The negro known as Sportin’ Life had come in just as the game was -commencing, and had sat in. That he was not altogether above suspicion -was evidenced by the fact that the little circle of men refused to allow -him to use his own dice, and told him so frankly. He scowled at them, -dropped the dice back into his pocket, and started to leave. Then he -seemed to think better of it, and joined the circle. - -As the game proceeded it became evident that Porgy’s luck was with him; -he was the most consistent winner, and Sportin’ Life was bearing most of -the burden. But the mulatto was too good a gambler to evince any -discomfiture. He talked steadily, laughed much, and missed no -opportunity to drop a sly word of suspicion when Porgy drew in a pot. -There was nothing that could be taken up and resented, but Porgy was -mystified, and Bess’ face was dark with anger more than once. He had a -way of leaning over just as Porgy cast, and placing his face almost on -the flags so that he could see under the dice when they struck. Then he -would look up, laugh meaningly into Porgy’s face, and sometimes clap his -hands as though the cripple had managed something very cleverly. - -When the game finally broke up it was clear that he had poisoned the -minds of the company, and the good nights lacked their usual warmth. - -Bess reached into her apron pocket, and drew out the evening’s winnings. -The coins made quite a little weight in her hand. A late fragment of -moon swung over the wall and poured its diminished light into her open -palm. She commenced to count the money, Porgy left her, and drew himself -into his room. She proceeded to count, absorbed in her task. - - -§ - -“Porgy lucky,” said a low voice beside her. “Mus’ be yer gots two dollar -dere fer um.” Sportin’ Life lifted his elegant trousers, so that the -knees would not bag, and squatted on the flags at her side. He removed -his stiff straw hat, with its bright band, and spun it between his -hands. The moonlight was full upon his face, with its sinister, sensuous -smile. - -She looked at him squarely a moment, then said in a cold, level voice: - -“I can’t ’member ebber meetin’ a nigger dat I like less dan I does you.” - -“Thank yer kindly,” he replied, not in the least degree daunted. “But -jus’ de same, I wants ter be frien’ wid yer. Me and you ain’t usen ter -dese small-town slow ways. We ain’t been above seein’ night-life what is -night-life, an’ I jus’ wants ter talk to you now and den; dat’s all.” - -“I gots no time fuh talk,” she told him. “An’ wut mo’, I t’rough wid de -kin’ ob nights you is t’inking ’bout.” - -“No mo’ red-eye; none ’tall?” he queried. “Nebber gits t’irsty, eh?” - -“Yes, Gawd knows, I does git t’irsty now and den,” she said impulsively; -then added sharply, “But I done t’rough now, I tells yer; I done -t’rough.” - -She arose to go. “Yo’ kin’ mek me sick,” she told him; “an’ I ain’t -wants tuh hab no mo’ talk wid yuh.” - -He got spryly to his feet, and stood beside her. “Oh, come on, le’s let -bygone be bygone, an’ be frien’.” Then his voice became low and -ingratiating: “Come; gimme yer han’, Sister,” he said. - -Acquiescent, but mystified, she held out her open palm. - -He poured a little pile of white powder into it. There it lay in the -moonlight, very clean and white on her dark skin. “Happy dus’!” she -said, and her voice was like a gasp. “Take dat t’ing away, nigger. I -t’rough wid um, I tells yuh.” But she did not turn her hand over and let -it fall upon the ground. - -“Jus’ a little touch fer ole time sake,” he whispered. “’Tain’t ’nough -ter hurt er fly. An’ it ain’t goin’ ter cos’ yer one cent.” - -She stood a moment longer, and her hand trembled, spilling a few grains -between her fingers. Then suddenly she clapped her palm over her mouth. -When she took it away it was quite empty. - -Sportin’ Life heaved a sigh of relief, turned and leant against the -wall--and waited. - -In the corner by Serena’s bench the party was breaking up. Only a few -women were left, and instead of the blur of general talk, remarks leapt -clear. They were discussing the crap game that had just closed. - -“Dey is somet’ing berry queer ’bout de way de money always go tuh de -same place,” a voice was saying. - -The moonlight ebbed from the corner where Bess and Sportin’ Life stood. -Five minutes had passed since she had made her sudden decisive gesture. -She stood oddly rigid, with her hands clenched at her sides. - -Abruptly she spun around. “Yuh gots mo’ ob dat?” Her voice was low and -taut. - -“Sho’ I has!” came the answer, with a confident laugh. “But it don’t -come cheap. Gimme dat money yer got dere.” - -Silently she held out her hand, and poured the coins into his palm. - -He gave her a small folded paper. - -“I got more ob dat when yer needs it,” he said, as he turned away. - -But she did not hear him. She snatched the paper, opened it, and threw -the contents into her mouth. - -The court was sinking to sleep. One by one the lighted windows went -blank. The women at the washbench got to their feet. One yawned noisily, -and another knocked her clay pipe out on the flags in a shower of -sparks. Then a voice came clearly--the one that had complained before -about the crap game. - -“I ain’t sayin’ ef it conjer, er jus’ plain loaded dice. All I gots tuh -say is dat dam nigger, Porgy, steal my Sam’ wages off him now t’ree -week runnin’.” - -Out of the shadows and across the moonlit square a figure flashed, -gesturing wildly. - -The women leapt back. The one who had done the talking screamed once, -the shrill note echoing around the walls. The advancing figure closed -convulsive hands upon her shoulders and snatched her body forward. Wide, -red-lit eyes glared into her face. A voice half sobbed, half screamed, -“Yuh say dat ’bout Porgy? Yuh say Porgy is t’ief?” - -The victim was young and strong. She tore the hands from her shoulders -and raised her arms before her face. One of the other women reached out -to seize the intruder, but was met with a glare so insanely malignant -that she retreated screaming. - -Above them windows were leaping to light. Dark bodies strained from -sills. Feet sounded, running down clapping dilapidated stairways. A -shrill, long, terrifying shriek cut across the growing noise, and the -women clinched and fell. Bystanders rushed to intervene, and became -involved. Always in the centre of the storm a maddened woman whirled -like a dervish and called horribly upon her God, striking and clawing -wildly. - -The babel became terrific. The entire population of the court -contributed to the general confusion. In the rooms above, children -wailed out a nameless terror. - -Suddenly over the tumult sounded the gong of the patrol wagon, and -through the gateway half-a-dozen policemen advanced with pistols out, -and clubs ready. - -The uproar stopped suddenly at its peak. Shadows dropped back and were -gulped by deeper shadow. Feet made no sound in retreating. Solid bodies -became fluid, sliding. Yawning doorways drew them in. Miraculously the -court was converted into a vacant, walled square, in which stood six -erect figures, looking a little theatrical and foolish with their -revolvers and clubs, and a woman who shook menacing hands at nothing at -all and swore huskily at phantoms. - -“No trouble finding the cause of the disturbance,” said an authoritative -voice. “Get her, men. Better use bracelets. Can’t tell about dope -cases.” - -The squad closed quickly. For a moment a grotesque shadow tumbled and -shifted in the centre of the court; then a voice said, “Steady now.” The -mass broke into individual figures, and, under the ebbing moonlight, -moved toward the entrance with a manacled woman in their midst. - -Porgy had opened his door at the first outcry and sat on the sill trying -to get the import of the disturbance. Now, as the group passed close to -him, he looked up. The woman had ceased her outcry, and was looking -about with vague, unseeing eyes. As they walked past his doorway, so -close that he could have touched the nearest officer with his hand, she -looked down, and her gaze focussed upon the sitting figure. Her body -stiffened, and her head lifted with the old, incongruous gesture of -disdain. - -“Bess!” called Porgy once very loudly; and again, in a voice that -sagged, “Bess!” - -One of the policemen paused and looked down upon the speaker. But the -woman turned deliberately away, and he hastened to rejoin the party. -Then the wagon clanged down the darkened street. - - -§ - -Under the gas light that supplemented a far, dusty window in the -Recorder’s Court, stood Bess. She swayed, and her face twitched -occasionally; but her glance was level, and her head erect. - -Behind a high desk sat a man well past middle age. His florid complexion -caused his long grey mustache to appear very white. His eyes were far -apart and suggested a kindness that was born of indolence, rather than -of wide compassion. His hands were slender and beautifully made, and he -sat with elbows on desk, and finger-tips touching. When he spoke it was -in a drawl that suggested weariness. - -“What is the charge, Officer?” he asked. - -“Bein’ under the influence of dope, an’ creatin’ a disturbance in -Catfish Row, yer Honor,” replied the policeman who stood by the -prisoner. - -“Anybody hurt?” - -“Not as we was able to see, yer Honor.” - -The judge turned to the prisoner. - -“Have you ever been here before?” - -“No, suh,” came the reply in a low, clear tone. - -“The officer of the day thinks she has, yer Honor,” put in the -policeman, “but he can’t swear to it. She looks like a hundred others, -he says, scar and all; an’ they change names so fast you get nothing -from the records.” - -The judge regarded the prisoner with amiability. The thermometer on the -wall beside him registered ninety. It was asking too much of good-nature -to require it to subvert itself in such heat. - -“I suppose we will have to give you the benefit of the doubt,” he said. -Then he turned to the officer. - -“After all, it’s the man who sold her the poison we want. I was kept -here three hours yesterday by dope cases. I want it put a stop to.” - -He contracted his brows in a weak attempt at sternness, and directed a -steady gaze at Bess. - -“Who sold you that dope?” - -She met his eyes squarely. - -“I don’t t’ink I know um again,” she said in a low, even tone. “I buy -from um in de dark, las’ night, an’ he gone off right away.” - -“It’s no use, Your Honor,” put in the policeman. “They won’t give each -other away.” - -The judge fixed the culprit with a long scrutiny. Then he asked: - -“Have you any money to pay a fine?” - -“No, suh. Yuh’ll jus’ hab tuh gib’ me my time.” - -A man entered the room. - -“I beg your pardon, Your Honor,” he said, “but there is a cripple -outside in a goat-cart who says he is prepared to pay the woman’s fine.” - -“Eh; what’s that?” exclaimed the judge. “Is it that black scoundrel, -Porgy, the beggar?” - -“That’s him, Yer Honor,” replied the man, with a grin. - -“Why, the highwayman takes a dime from me every time I venture on King -Charles Street. And here he has the audacity to come and offer to pay a -fine.” - -“Don’t tek he money, Boss.” - -The prisoner said the words steadily, then caught her lower lip with her -strong, white teeth. - -“Address the Court as ‘Your Honor,’ not ‘Boss,’” ordered the judge. - -“Yo’ Honuh,” amended the culprit. - -For a long moment the Recorder sat, his brow contracted. Then he drew a -large, cool, linen handkerchief from his pocket and mopped his face. - -“Go out and take ten dollars from the beggar,” he told the policeman. -“It’s a small fine for the offence.” Then turning to the woman, he said: - -“I am going to lock you up for ten days; but any time you give the name -of that dope peddler to the jailor you can leave. Do you understand?” - -Bess had nothing to say in reply, and after a moment the policeman took -her by the arm. - -“This way to the wagon,” he directed, and led her from the court room. - -The street was a blaze of early morning sun, and the woman covered her -eyes with her hand. The wagon stood, step to curb, and the officer -hurried her across the narrow pavement and into the conveyance. - -The bell clanged, and the heavy horse flung its weight against the -collar. - -Something impelled Bess to remove her hand and to look down. - -Below the high side of the patrol, looking rather like a harbor tug -beside an ocean liner, stood the goat-cart. For a moment she looked into -Porgy’s face. It told her nothing, except that he seemed suddenly to -have grown older, and that the real Porgy, who had looked out at her -from the eyes for a little while, had gone back into his secret places -and closed the door. - -The wagon lunged forward. - -Then Porgy spoke. - -“How long?” he called. - -The incessant clamor of the gong commenced, and the hoofs beat their -noisy tattoo upon the stones. - -Bess raised both hands with fingers extended. - -The wagon rounded a corner and disappeared. - - -§ - -The jail in which Bess was incarcerated was no better, and no worse, -than many others of its period, and the score of negro women with whom -she found herself could not be said to suffer acutely under their -imprisonment. When life reaches a certain level of misery, it envelops -itself in a protective anesthesia which deadens the senses to extremes; -and having no tasks to perform, the prisoners awaited the expiration of -their brief sentences with sodden patience, or hastened the passage of -time with song. - -By day they were at liberty to exercise in the jail yard, a square of -about half an acre surrounded by a high brick wall, containing not so -much as a single blade of grass. Like a great basin, the yard caught and -held the heat which poured from the August sun until it seemed to -overflow the rim, and quiver, as though the immense vessel had been -jarred from without. But the soaring walls gave always a narrow strip of -shade to which the prisoners clung, moving around the sides as the day -advanced, with the accuracy of the hand of a sundial. - -Before nightfall the prisoners were herded into the steaming interior of -the building, and Bess and the other women were locked in a steel cage, -which resembled a large dog-pound and stood in the centre of a high, -square room, with a passageway around it. A peculiarly offensive -moisture clung to the ceiling, and streamed in little rivulets down the -walls. An almost unbreatheable stench clogged the atmosphere. - -The jailers were not vindictive. They were not even unkind. Some of them -evidenced a mild affection for their charges, and would pause to -exchange greetings with them on their rounds. But it would have meant -effort to better the living conditions, and effort on the part of a -white warden in August was not to be considered. They locked them up, -gave them a sufficiency of hominy and white pork to sustain life, -allowed them to see their visitors, talk, and sing to their heart’s -content. If they were suffering from tuberculosis, or one of a hundred -nameless and communicable diseases, when they entered, it was none of -the County’s affair. And if they left showing that ash-pallor so -unmistakable in a negro, it was as lamentable as it was unavoidable. But -when all was said and done, what must one expect if one added to the -handicap of a dark skin the indiscretion of swallowing cocaine and -indulging in a crap game? - -Bess received but one visitor during her imprisonment. When the callers -were admitted, on the day following her arrival, Maria loomed in the -centre of the small, timid group. She went directly to Bess where she -sat by the wall, with her eyes closed against the glare. The big negress -wore an expression of solicitude, and her voice was low and surprisingly -gentle as she said: - -“Porgy ask me tuh bring yer dis blanket fuh lie on, an’ dese fish an’ -bread. How yuh is feelin’ now?” Then she bent over and placed a bundle -in the prisoner’s lap. - -Bess opened her eyes in surprise. - -“I ain’t been expectin’ no fabors off none ob you folks,” she replied. -“How come yuh tuh care ef I lib er die, attuh dat row I mek?” - -Maria lowered herself to a seat beside her. - -“I lubs dat nigger, Porgy, lak he been my chile,” she told her. “An’ wut -mo’, I t’ink I know what done happen tuh yuh.” - -“Wut yuh know?” - -“I been in my do’ dat night; an’ I seen dat skunk, Sportin’ Life, sell -yuh dat stuff. Ef I had er known den wut it wuz, I’d a been hyuh long -side ob yuh now fuh murder.” - -After a moment, she asked: “Wut mek yuh don’t tell de jailluh who done -um, an’ come on home?” - -Bess remained silent for a moment; then she raised her head and looked -into the eyes of the older woman. - -“I’s a ’oman grown. Ef I tek dope, dat muh own business. Ef I ebber gits -muh han’ on dat nigger, I goin’ fix um so he own mammy ain’t know um! -But I ain’t goin’ gib um ’way tuh de w’ite folks.” - -The hard lines about her mouth softened, and, in scarcely more than a -whisper, she added: - -“I gots tuh be decent ’bout somet’ing, ’less I couldn’t go back an’ look -in Porgy face.” - -Maria got heavily to her feet. The other visitors were leaving, and she -longed to be free of the high, brick walls. She dropped a hand on Bess’s -shoulder. - -“Yuh do right, Sister. But ef dat yalluh nigger come tuh Catfish Row -agin--leabe him fuh me--dat’s all!” Then the big negress joined the -departing group, and passed out through the small steel doorway that -pierced the massive gate. - -Bess sat for a long while without moving. The sun lifted over the high -wall, and drove its white-hot tide into her lap, and upon her folded -hands. - -“Wut mek yuh ain’t mobe intuh de shade?” a neighbor asked curiously. - -Bess looked up and smiled. - -“I jes’ settin’ hyuh t’inkin’ ’bout muh frien’,” she said. “Yuh done -hear um call me ‘Sister,’ ain’t yuh? Berry well den. Dat mean me and she -is frien’.” - - -§ - -Bess lay upon the bed in Porgy’s room and stared at the ceiling with -hard, bright eyes. From time to time she would pluck at the sheet that -covered her and utter hurried, indistinct sentences that bore not the -slightest relation to existing circumstances. A week had passed since -her release, and its seven interminable days had been spent in this -fashion. - -Porgy was out upon the day’s rounds. Occasionally the door to the -sick-room would open, and an awed, black face peer in. The mystery of -delirium frightened and perplexed the negroes, and limited the -manifestations of kindness and sympathy that they usually bestowed upon -unfortunate friends. Even Maria was not proof against this dread, and -the irrelevant observations that greeted her when she went in with the -daily lunch sent her hurrying wide-eyed from the room. - -Porgy returned early in the evening. His face was deeply marked, but the -lines were those of anxiety, and his characteristic firmness of mouth -and jaw was gone. He closed the door on the curious glances of his -neighbors, and lifted himself to a seat upon the bed. - -“How Bess now?” he asked softly. - -She shifted her gaze from the ceiling to his face. - -“Eighteen miles tuh Kittiwar!” she muttered. “Rattlesnake’, palmettuh -bush, an’ such.” - -Her eyes were suddenly fearful, and she closed her hand tightly upon -his. - -Porgy cast a hurried glance over his shoulder. Then, reassured, stroked -her brow, and comforted her in his deep, gentle voice. - -“Yuh hyuh wid Porgy now; an’ nuttin’ can’t hurt yuh. Soon de cool wedder -comin’ an’ chill off dese febers. Ain’t yuh ’member how dat cool win’ -come tuh town wid de smell ob pine tree: an’ how de star is all polish -up lak w’ite folks’ silber? Den ebbery body git well. Ain’t yuh know? -Yuh jus’ keep still, an’ watch wut Porgy say.” - -She was silent after that, and closed her eyes. Presently, to his -relief, he saw that she was sleeping. This was the moment for which he -had been waiting. He went out, closing the door very gently, and joined -a group of sympathisers in the court. - -“Wut we goin’ do now?” he asked. “A week gone, an’ she ain’t none -better.” - -Peter knocked out his clay pipe on a flagstone, with three staccato -little raps, thus gaining the attention of the circle. - -“Ef yuh wants tuh listen tuh me,” he remarked weightily, “I adwise yer -tuh sen’ she tuh de w’ite folk’ hospital.” - -His words were received with a surprise amounting to incredulity. - -“Fuh Gawd sake, Daddy Peter!” an awed voice said at last. “Ain’t yuh -knows dey lets nigger die dey, so dey kin gib um tuh de student?” - -But the old negro stood his ground. - -“De student ain’t gits um ’til he done dead. Ain’t dat so? Den he can’t -hurt um none. Ain’t dat so, too? An’ I gots dis tuh say. One ob my w’ite -folks is er nuss tuh de hospital; and dat lady is er pure angel wid de -sick nigger. Ef I sick tuhmorruh I goin’ tuh she; an’ wut she say is -good wid me. I wants dis carcase tek care ob w’ile he is alibe. W’en he -done dead, I ain’t keer.” - -“Yuh ain’t keer whedder yuh is cut up an’ scatter, ’stead of bein’ bury -in Gawd own grabe-yahd?” someone asked the iconoclast. - -Under this direct attack, the old man weakened. - -“Well, mebbe I ain’t sayin’ I jus’ as lief,” he compromised. “But I -t’ink Gawd onduhstan’ de succumstance, an’ mek allowance.” - -Serena Robbins broke the silence which followed. - -“How come yuh ain’t ax me fuh pray ober um?” she enquired in a slightly -offended voice. “Mus’ be yuh is done fergit how Gawd done answer we las’ -prayeh, and sen’ dat goat tuh sabe yu’ life, when starbation done stan’ -dey an’ look yuh in de eye.” - -Porgy brightened at that, and turned eagerly from the dark horror of -Peter’s suggestion. - -“Dat so, my Sister,” he commenced; but her eyes were already closed, and -her body was swaying from side to side, as she sat cross-legged on the -flags. Presently she began to intone: - -“Oh, Jedus, who done trouble de wateh in de sea ob Gallerie--” - -“Amen!” came the chorus, led by Porgy. - -“An’ likewise who done cas’ de Debbil out ob de afflicted, time an’ time -agin--” - -“Oh, Jedus!” - -“Wut mek yuh ain’t lay yo’ han’ on dis sister’ head?” - -“Oh, my fadder!” - -“An’ sen’ de Debbil out ob she, down er steep place intuh de sea, lak -yuh use’ tuh do, time an’ time agin?’ - -“Time an’ time agin!” - -“Ain’t dis po’ cripple done lif’ up out de dus’ by we prayeh?” - -“Da’s de trut’, Jedus.” - -“Eben so, lif’ up he woman, an’ mek she well, time an’ time agin!” - -“Time an’ time ag’in! Allelujah!” - -After the prayer the group scattered, each going silently away in the -late dusk, until there remained only Porgy, who sat with bowed head, and -Maria, massive and inscrutable, beside him. - -When the last retreating footstep died away, the great negress bent her -turbaned head over until it almost touched Porgy’s face. - -“Listen tuh me,” she whispered. “Yuh wants dat ’oman cure up; ain’t -yuh?” - -“Yuh knows I does.” And, already suffering from the reaction from -religious enthusiasm, his voice was flat and hopeless. - -“Berry well den. De ribber boat leabe fum de wharf at sebben o’clock, -tuhmorruh mo’nin’. Yuh knows dat deck-han’ by de name Mingo?” - -Porgy nodded assent, his eyes intent upon her face. - -“Well; git on de wharf early, an’ gib um two dollar. Tell um w’en de -boat done git tuh Ediwander Islan’ at eight tuhmorruh night, tuh go -right tuh Lody cabin, an’ tell she tuh mek a conjer tuh cas’ de debbil -out Bess.” - -“Yuh tink dat cure she?” asked Porgy, with a glimmer of new hope in his -eyes. - -“I ain’t tink. I knows,” came in tones of absolute conviction. “Now, -min’; an’ do wut I say.” - -The big negress shuffled away to her room, leaving Porgy alone in the -gloom. - -The bent, solitary figure raised its eyes to the square of sky, with its -bewildering profusion of stars, that fitted like a lid over the high rim -of the court. There were no sounds except a weary land breeze that -fingered the lichens on the south wall, and a whisper from the bay, as -the tide lifted its row of shells and pebbles a notch further up the -littered beach. - -Now that all human companionship had been withdrawn, the watcher felt -strangely alone, and smaller than the farthest star or most diminutive -shell. Like a caged squirrel, his tired mind spun the rounds of his -three alternatives: First, the white man’s science, gaunt, clean, and -mysterious, with the complete and awful magistracy which it assumed over -the luckless bodies that fell into its possession. He knew that it -returned some healed in body. He knew that others had passed into its -portals, and had been obliterated utterly. Then his second alternative: -the white man’s God, vague and abstract as the wind that moved among the -lichens, with his Jesus, who could stir him suddenly to his most -beautiful songs and make his heart expand until, for a moment, it -embraced all mankind with compassionate love, but who passed, as the -wind passes, leaving him cold and disillusioned. One of these he must -choose, or else turn his face back to the old blurred trail that -receded, down, down, down to the beginning of things: to the symbols one -might hold, tangible and terrifying; to the presciences that shuddered -like dawn at the back of the brain and told one what to do without the -process of thought. - -As though bent beneath a great physical weight, Porgy sat without -moving, until the pattern on his glittering ceiling had changed and -shifted. Then he lifted his face slowly, drew his sleeve across his -moist forehead, and entered his room. - - -§ - -Just before sunrise Porgy left his room and hitched up his goat. In the -upper air over Catfish Row a single buzzard hung poised. Slowly it -careened to a current of air, and its belly and under-wings lit to a -ruddy glory from the sun, which was still below the horizon. Porgy saw -it and winced. But as he went about his task there was no indecision in -his face. He harnessed the goat with steady hands, drove out of the -court and to the pier-head. - -He experienced no difficulty in finding his man. Mingo accepted the -mission and the handful of pennies and nickels; and Porgy, having closed -the bargain, returned at once to the court. - -Maria was opening her shop as he entered, and paused with a shutter in -her hands. She could scarcely believe her eyes. The beggar’s face was -bright, and he was humming a tune. - -“Wut de news?” she asked. “Bess done git well?” - -“Not jus’ yit,” he replied. “But I done had me a dream las’ night; an’ -de dream say tuh sen’ tuh de conjer ’oman; an’ Bess goin’ break she -feber tuhnight.” - -“Da’s right, my Brudder,” Maria responded heartily. “Dat ’oman good as -well now. You watch!” - -All day, sitting by Archdale’s office, Porgy hummed his tune, and -counted off the hours of the steamboat’s voyage. Now she would be -passing Kittiwar, and, in only a few hours more, she would be coming to -rest for the night at Ediwander. - -The counting off continued after he went to bed, and he was strangely -undisturbed by Bess’s mutterings. Now the boat had arrived, he finally -told himself. Maria had said that the cabin was near the landing. Surely -it would not take the woman long to brew the spell. His excitement -increased to a mood of exaltation. He lay with his hand upon Bess’s -forehead, waiting. - -Far away St. Christopher struck the hour. The mellow bells threw the -quarter hours out like a handful of small gold coins to ring down upon -the drowsy streets. Then, very deliberately, they dropped ten round, -heavy notes into the silence. - -This should be the moment. Porgy pressed his hand harder, and sweat -broke out upon his brow. For a moment it seemed to him that life hung -suspended. - -“Porgy,” said a weak, flat voice beside him. “Porgy, dat you dey, ain’t -it? Why you ain’t talk tuh me?” - -The cripple’s answer was a sudden high laugh that broke to a sob. - -“T’ank Gawd!” he said; and again, “T’ank Gawd!” - - -§ - -On the evening following the day upon which Bess had taken her turn for -the better, Maria was alone in her shop. The supper hour was over, and -her patrons had departed. She was busy at her stove, and did not turn -immediately when someone entered. When she finally looked over her -shoulder, her customer had buried his face in his hands, and she failed -to recognize him. Of one fact there could be little doubt: the man was -drunk, for the close, little room was already heavy with the exhalations -of vile corn whiskey. - -She crossed the room, and touched the man on the shoulder. He lowered -his hands and attempted to focus his eyes on her face. - -“Oh, it’s you, Mingo?” she said, and even then she did not grasp the -significance of his presence in the city at that time. - -“Gimme some supper,” he growled; and, with an uncertain movement, drew -some change from his pocket and spilled it in a small pile on the table. - -Maria looked at the money. There was about half a dollar in all, but -there were only two nickels, and the remainder was in pennies. It looked -suspiciously like the currency in which Porgy paid his debts. Then, as -she stood looking down at the little heap of copper, the full import of -the man’s presence dawned upon her. - -“Wut yuh doin’ here now?” she demanded of him in a tense whisper; “when -de ribber boat ain’t due back fuh annoder day?” - -The question stirred her customer’s consciousness to a faint gleam of -life; but it did not vitalize it sufficiently for adroit prevarication. - -“I miss de boat dis trip,” he managed to articulate. “I take er drink -wid er frien’, and when I git tuh de wharf, de boat done gone.” - -Two powerful hands gripped his shoulders and flung him back against the -wall. He opened his eyes wide and looked into a face of such cold -ferocity that his loose lips emitted a sudden “Oh, Jedus!” and he became -immediately sober, and very much afraid. - -Then Maria poured into his ears words that had the heat and dead weight -of molten lead. - -“Now I goin’ lock yuh up in dat closet till de ribber boat is back at de -wharf,” she concluded. “Den I goin’ let yuh loose. But I all de time -goin’ be where I kin git my hand on yuh again. Ef yuh ebber tells Porgy, -or any libbin’ soul, dat yuh ain’t deliber dat message tuh Lody, I -goin’ tuh hab nigger blood on my soul w’en I stan’ at de jedgement. Now -yuh gots dat straight in yuh head?” - -Mingo nodded assent. He was beyond the power to speak. - -The big negress jerked him suddenly to his feet, propelled him across -the room and into the stygian recesses of the closet. Then she slammed -the door, turned the immense iron key in the lock, and dropped it in her -pocket. - -“Well, dat’s dat!” she remarked, as she wiped a moist, mystified face -upon a corner of her apron. “Mus’ hab been Jedus done um atter all.” -Then, as though to dismiss the matter, she added: “No, I be damn ef he -did. He ain’t gots it in um.” - - - - -IV - -[Illustration] - - - - -PART IV - - -It was the day set for the grand parade and picnic of “The Sons and -Daughters of Repent Ye Saith the Lord,” and, with the first light of -morning, Catfish Row had burst into a fever of preparation. Across the -narrow street, the wharf, from which the party was to leave, bustled and -seethed with life. A wagon rattled out to the pier-head and discharged -an entire load of watermelons. Under the vigilant eyes of a committee a -dozen volunteers lifted the precious freight from the vehicle, and piled -it ready for the steamer. - -From behind the next pier, with a frenzied threshing of its immense -stern paddle, came the excursion boat. Tall open exhaust funnels flanked -the walking-beam, and coughed great salmon-colored plumes of steam into -the faint young sunlight. A fierce torrent of wood-smoke gushed from the -funnel and went tumbling away across the harbor. Painters were hurled, -missed, coiled, and hurled again. Then, amid a babblement of advice and -encouragement, the craft was finally moored in readiness for the Lodge. - -The first horizontal rays of the sun were painting the wall a warm -claret, when Porgy opened his door, to find Peter already dressed for -the parade, and perched upon the back of his gaily blanketed horse. He -wore a sky-blue coat, white pants which were thrust into high black -leggings, and a visored cap, from beneath which he scowled fiercely down -upon the turmoil around the feet of his mount. Across his breast, from -right shoulder to left hip, was a broad scarlet sash, upon which was -emblazoned, “Repent Ye Saith the Lord!” and from his left breast -fluttered a white ribbon bearing the word “MARSHAL.” From time to time, -he would issue orders in hoarse, menacing gutturals, which no one -heeded; and twice, in the space of half an hour, he rode out to the -pier-head, counted the watermelons, and returned to report the number to -an important official who had arrived in a carriage to supervise the -arrangements. - -Momently the confusion increased, until at eight o’clock it culminated -in a general exodus toward the rendezvous for the parade. - -The drowsy old city had scarcely commenced its day when, down through -King Charles Street, the procession took its way. Superbly -unselfconscious of the effect that it produced, it crashed through the -slow, restrained rhythm of the city’s life like a wild, barbaric chord. -All of the stately mansions along the way were servantless that day, and -the aristocratic matrons broke the ultimate canon of the social code and -peered through front windows at the procession as it swept flamboyantly -across the town. - -First came an infinitesimal negro boy, scarlet-coated, and aglitter with -brass buttons. Upon his head was balanced an enormous shako; and while -he marched with left hand on hip and shoulders back, his right hand -twirled a heavy gold-headed baton. Then the band, two score boys attired -in several variations of the band master’s costume, strode by. Bare, -splay feet padded upon the cobbles; heads were thrown back, with lips to -instruments that glittered in the sunshine, launching daring and -independent excursions into the realm of sound. Yet these improvisations -returned always to the eternal boom, boom, boom of an underlying rhythm, -and met with others in the sudden weaving and ravelling of amazing -chords. An ecstasy of wild young bodies beat living into the blasts that -shook the windows of the solemn houses. Broad, dusty, blue-black feet -shuffled and danced on the many-colored cobbles and the grass between -them. The sun lifted suddenly over the housetops and flashed like a -torrent of warm, white wine between the staid buildings, to break on -flashing teeth and laughing eyes. - -After the band came the men members of the lodge, stepping it out to the -urge of the marshals who rode beside them, reinforcing the marching -rhythm with a series of staccato grunts, shot with crisp, military -precision from under their visored caps. Breast cross-slashed with the -emblems of their lodge, they passed. - -Then came the carriages, and suddenly the narrow street hummed and -bloomed like a tropic garden. Six to a carriage sat the sisters. The -effect produced by the colors was strangely like that wrought in the -music; scarlet, purple, orange, flamingo, emerald; wild, clashing, -unbelievable discords; yet, in their steady flow before the eye, -possessing a strange, dominant rhythm that reconciled them to each other -and made them unalterably right. The senses reached blindly out for a -reason. There was none. They intoxicated, they maddened, and finally -they passed, seeming to pull every ray of color from the dun buildings, -leaving the sunlight sane, flat, dead. - -For its one brief moment out of the year the pageant had lasted. Out of -its fetters of civilization this people had risen, suddenly, amazingly. -Exotic as the Congo, and still able to abandon themselves utterly to the -wild joy of fantastic play, they had taken the reticent, old Anglo-Saxon -town and stamped their mood swiftly and indelibly into its heart. Then -they passed, leaving behind them a wistful envy among those who had -watched them go,--those whom the ages had rendered old and wise. - - -§ - -When the exodus from the Row was completed, Bess helped Porgy out to the -boat and established him in an angle of the main-deck cabin, where he -could see and enjoy the excursion to the full. Below them on the wharf, -Maria, who had the direction of the refreshment committee in hand, moved -about among the baskets and boxes, looking rather like a water-front -conflagration, in a voluminous costume of scarlet and orange. Bess left -Porgy and descended the ladder. - -“I gots a ready hand wid bundle,” she announced diffidently. - -The immense negress paused, and looked her up and down. - -“Well, well, it looks like yer tryin’ ter be decent,” she commented. - -Instantly the woman chilled, “Yuh kin go tuh Hell!” she said -deliberately. “I ain’t axin’ fuh no sermon. I want a job. Does yuh want -a han’ wid dem package, or not?” - -For a moment their eyes met. Then they laughed suddenly, loudly -together, with complete understanding. - -“All right, den,” the older woman said. “Ef yuh is dat independent, yuh -kin tek dem basket on board.” - -After that they worked together, until the procession arrived, without -the interchange of further remarks. - - -§ - -Down the quiet bay, like a great, frenzied beetle, the stern-wheeler -kicked its way. On the main deck the band played without cessation. In a -ring before it, a number of negroes danced, for the most part shuffling -singly. The sun hurled the full power of an August noon upon the -oil-smooth water, and the polished surface cast it upward with added -force under the awnings. The decks sagged with color, and repeated -explosions of laughter rode the heat waves back to the drowsing, lovely -old city long after the boat had turned the first bend in the narrow -river and passed from view on its way to the negro picnic grounds on -Kittiwar Island. - -Thrashing its way between far-sweeping marshes and wooded sea islands, -the boat would burst suddenly into lagoon after lagoon, that lay strewn -along the coast, that blazed in the noon like great fire-opals held in -silver mesh. - -Finally a shout went up. Kittiwar lay before them, thrusting a slender -wharf from its thickly wooded extremity into the slack tide. - -The debarkation over, Maria took possession of a clearing that stood in -a dense forest of palmettoes and fronted on the beach, and marshalled -her committee to prepare the lunch. From the adjacent beach came the -steady, cool thunder of the sea and the unremitting hum of sand, as -tireless winds scooped it from the dunes and sent it in low, flat-blown -layers across the hard floor of the beach. - -The picnickers heard it, and answered with a shout. Soon the streaming -whiteness of the inner surf was dotted with small, glistening black -bodies; the larger figures, with skirts hoisted high, were wading in the -shallows. - -Porgy sat with a large myrtle bush in one hand, with which he brushed -flies from several sleeping infants. The sun lay heavy and comforting -upon him. One of the children stirred and whimpered. He hummed a low, -bumbling song to it. There was a new contentment in his face. After a -while he commenced to nod. - - -§ - -“I go an’ git some palmettuh leaf fuh tablecloth,” Bess told Maria; and, -without waiting for an answer, she took a knife from a basket, and -entered the dense tangle of palm and vine that walled the clearing. - -Almost immediately she was in another world. The sounds behind her -became faint, and died. A rattler moved its thick body sluggishly out of -her way. A flock of wood ibis sprang suddenly up, broke through the -thick roof of palm leaves, and streamed away over the treetops toward -the marsh with their legs at the trail. - -She cut a wide fan-shaped leaf from the nearest palmetto. Behind her -some one breathed--a deep interminable breath. - -The woman’s body stiffened slowly. Her eyes half closed and were -suddenly dark and knowing. Some deep ebb or flow of blood touched her -face, causing it to darken heavily, leaving the scar livid. Without -turning, she said slowly: - -“Crown!” - -“Yas, yuh know berry well, dis Crown.” - -The deep sound shook her. She turned like one dazed, and looked him up -and down. - -His body was naked to the waist, and the blue cotton pants that he had -worn on the night of the killing had frayed away to his knees. He bent -slightly forward. The great muscles of his torso flickered and ran like -the flank of a horse. His small wicked eyes burned, and he moistened his -heavy lips. - -Earth had cared for him well. The marshes had provided eggs of wild -fowl, and many young birds. The creek had given him fish, crabs and -oysters in abundance, and the forest had fed him with its many berries, -and succulent palmetto cabbage. - -“I seen yuh land,” he said, “an’ I been waitin’ fuh yuh. I mos’ dead ob -lonesome on dis damn island, wid not one Gawd’s person to swap a word -wid. Yuh gots any happy-dus’ wid yuh?” - -“No,” she said; then with an effort, “Crown, I gots somethin’ tuh tell -yuh. I done gib up dope; and beside dat, I sort ob change my way.” - -His jaw shot forward, and the huge shoulder muscles bulged and set. His -two great hands went around her throat and closed like the slow fusing -of steel on steel. She stopped speaking. He drew her to him until his -face touched hers. Under his hands her arteries pounded, sending fierce -spurts of flame through her limbs, beating redly behind her eyeballs. -His hands slackened. Her face changed, her lips opened, but she said -nothing. Crown broke into low, shaken laughter, and threw her from him. - -“Now come wid me,” he ordered. - -Into the depths of the jungle they plunged; the woman walking in front -with a trance-like fixity of gaze. They followed one of the narrow -hard-packed trails that had been beaten by the wild hogs and goats that -roamed the island. - -On each side of them, the forest stood like a wall, its tough low trees -and thick-bodied palmettoes laced and bound together with wire-strong -vines. Overhead the foliage met, making the trail a tunnel as -inescapable as though it had been built of masonry. - -The man walked with a swinging, effortless stride, but his breath -sounded in long, audible inhalations, as though he labored physically. - -When they had journeyed for half an hour they crossed a small cypress -swamp. The cypress-knees jutted grotesquely from the yellow water, and -trailing Spanish moss extended drab stalactites that brushed their faces -as they threaded the low, muddy trail. - -Finally Bess emerged into a small clearing, in the centre of which stood -a low hut with sides of plaited twigs and roof of palmetto leaves laid -on top of each other in regular rows like shingles. - -Crown was close behind her. At the low door of the hut she paused and -turned toward him. He laughed suddenly and hotly at what he saw in her -face. - -“I know yuh ain’t change,” he said. “Wid yuh an’ me it always goin’ tuh -be de same. See?” - -He snatched her body toward him with such force that her breath was -forced from her in a sharp gasp. Then she inhaled deeply, threw back her -head, and sent a wild laugh out against the walls of the clearing. - -Crown swung her about and threw her face forward into the hut. - - -§ - -The sun was so low that its level rays shot through the tunnels of the -forest and bronzed its ceiling of woven leaves when Bess returned to -the clearing. She paused for a moment. Behind her, screened by the -underbrush, stood Crown. - -“Now ’member wut I tells yuh,” he said. “Yuh kin stay wid de cripple -’til de cotton come. Den I comin’. Davy will hide we on de ribber boat -fur as Sawannah. Den soon de cotton will be comin’ in fas’, an’ libbin -will be easy. Yuh gits dat?” - -For a moment she looked into the narrow, menacing eyes, then nodded. - -“Go ’long den, an’ tote fair, les yuh wants tuh meet yo’ Gawd.” - -She stepped into the open. Already most of the party were on the boat. -She crossed the narrow beach to the wharf. - -Maria stood by the gangplank and looked at her with suspicious eyes. -“Wuh yuh been all day?” she demanded. - -“I git los’ in de woods, an’ I can’t git my bearin’s ’til sundown. But -dat ain’t nobody’ business ’cep’ me an’ Porgy, ef yuh wants tuh know.” - -She found Porgy on the lower deck near the stern, and seated herself by -him in silence. He was looking into the sunset, and gave no evidence of -having noticed her arrival. - -Through the illimitable, mysterious night, the steamer took its way. -Presently it swung out of one of the narrow channels and wallowed like -an antediluvian monster into the stillness of a wide lagoon. Out of the -darkness, low, broad waves moved in upon it, trailing stars along their -swarthy backs to shatter into silver dust against the uncouth bows. - -To Porgy and Bess, still sitting silent in the stern, came only the -echoes of drowsy conversations, sounds of sleeping, and the rhythmic -splash and drip of the single great wheel behind them. The boat forged -out into the centre of the lagoon, and the shore line melted out behind -it. Where it had shown a moment before, could now be seen only the -steady climb of constellations out of the water’s rim, and the soft, -humid lamps of low, near stars. The night pressed in about the two quiet -figures. - -Porgy had said no word since their departure. His body had assumed its -old, tense attitude. His face wore again its listening look. Now, he -said slowly: - -“Yuh nebber lie tuh me, Bess.” - -“No,” came an even, colorless voice, “I nebber lie tuh yuh. Yuh gots tuh -gib me dat.” - -Another interval, then: - -“War it Crown?” - -A sharp, indrawn breath beside him, and a whisper: - -“How yuh know?” - -“Gawd gib cripple many t’ings he ain’t gib strong men.” Then again, -patiently, “War it Crown?” - -“Yes, it war.” - -“Wut he say?” - -“He comin’ fuh me when de cotton come tuh town.” - -“Yuh goin’?” - -“I tell um--yes.” - -After a while the woman reached out a hand and closed it lightly about -the man’s arm. Under the sleeve she felt the muscles go rigid. What -power! She tried to circle it with her hand. It was almost as big as -Crown’s. It was strange that she had not noticed that before. She opened -her mouth to speak, but no sound came. Presently she sighed, and -withdrew her hand. - -Through the immense emptiness of sea and sky the boat forged slowly -toward the distant city’s lights. - - -§ - -“I gots er feelin’ yistuhday,” announced Maria to Serena Robbins, as she -took a batch of wet clothing from the latter’s tub, gave it one twist -with her enormous hands, and set it aside to go upon the line. - -“Wut yuh gots er feelin’ ’bout?” - -“I gots er feelin’ w’en Porgy ’oman come out de wood on de picnic, she -done been wid Crown.” - -At the mention of the murderer’s name Serena stepped back, and her usual -expression of sanctimonious complacency slowly changed. Her lower lip -shot forward, and her face darkened. - -“Yuh t’ink dat nigger on Kittiwar?” she asked. - -“I allus figgered he bin dey in dem deep palmetters,” Maria replied. -“But w’en I look in Bess’s eye las’ night, I sho ob two ting: one, dat -he is dey, an’ two, dat she been wid um.” - -“Yuh b’lieb she still ran wid dat nigger?” - -“Dem sort ob mens ain’t need tuh worry ’bout habin’ ’omen,” Maria told -her. “Dey kin lay de lash on um, an’ kick um in de street; den dey kin -whistle w’en dey ready, an’ dere dey is ag’in lickin’ dey han’.” - -“She goin’ stay wid Porgy, ef she know wut good fuh she.” - -“She know all right, an’ she lub Porgy. But ef dat nigger come attuh -she, dey ain’t goin’ tuh be noboddy roun’ hyuh but Porgy an’ de goat.” - -A sudden dark flame blazed in Serena’s face, sweeping the acquired -complacency before it, and changing it utterly. She leant forward, and -spoke heavily: - -“Dat nigger bes’ t’ank he Gawd dat I gots My Jedus now fuh hol’ back my -han’!” - -“Yuh ain’t means dat yuh is goin’ tuh gib um up tuh de w’ite folks ef he -come back to town, ’stead ob settle wid um yu’self?’ Maria asked -incredulously. - -“I ain’t know wut fuh do,” the other replied, the hatred in her face -giving way to a look of perplexity. “Ef dat nigger come tuh town he sho -tuh git kill’ sooner er later. Den de w’ite folks goin’ lock me up. Dey -gots it on de writin’s now dat I been Robbins’ wife; an’ dey goin’ -figger I like as not kill um. I knows two people git lock up dat way, -an’ dey ain’t do one Gawd t’ing.” - -“Nigger sho’ gots fuh keep he eye open in dis worl’,” the big negress -observed. “But we can’t turn no nigger ober tuh de police.” - -A man paused before the entrance of the court, and looked in. To the two -women he was only a silhouette standing under the arch against a -dazzling expanse of bay; but the foppish outlines of the indolent, -slender figure were unmistakable. - -A smile of pleased anticipation grew about Maria’s wide mouth. She -dried her hands upon her apron. - -“Jus’ like I been tellin’ yuh!” she remarked to Serena. “T’ank Gawd, -Jedus ain’t gots me yit wuh he gots you; an’ I still mens enough tuh -straighten out a crooked nigger. See dat yalluh snake wrigglin’ in de -do’way? He de one wut sell Bess dat happy-dus’.” - -Drying her hands and bared forearms with ominous thoroughness, she -crossed to her shop. The room was empty when she entered. She went at -once to the stove which stood in its corner, with its legs set upon four -bricks. She bent forward, placed a shoulder against one of its corners, -gave a heave, and drew out a brick. Then she straightened up, spat first -on one hand, then on the other, and, carrying the brick in her immense -right, lightly, and with a certain awful fondness, stepped out of her -door. - -Sportin’ Life was now within the entrance, and presented an unsuspecting -profile to the cook-shop. - -With frightful deliberation, Maria swung her long arm back; then, like -the stroke of a rattler, it shot forward. The brick caught the mulatto -full on the side of the head. He crumpled among his gaudy habiliments -like a stricken bird. - -After a space of time the victim blinked feebly, then opened his eyes -upon Maria’s face. She was mopping his head with a wet rag, and his -first glance discovered an expression of gentleness on her heavy -features. Reassured, he opened his eyes wide. But the gentleness was -gone. He felt himself gripped by the shoulders, and suddenly snatched -upward to be placed upon unsteady legs. Then he was propelled rapidly -toward the gate. - -At the pavement’s edge Maria swung her victim around until his wandering -and reluctant gaze met hers. - -“De las’ time yuh wuz aroun’ hyuh, I ain’t hab nuttin’ on yuh but my -eyes. Now I knows yuh--yuh damn, dirty, dope-peddler, wreckin’ de homes -ob dese happy niggers!” - -Her arms shot forward and back like locomotive pistons. The man’s head -snapped to an acute angle, and righted itself with difficulty. - -“Now, w’en I done flingin’ yuh out dis gate,” she proceeded, “it’s de -las’ time yuh is goin’ tuh leabe it erlibe. Eberybody say I is er berry -t’orough nigger, an’ ef yuh ebber comes roun’ hyuh agin, drunk or sobuh, -I ain’t goin’ to be t’rough wid yuh carcase ontil I t’row yuh bones out -tuh de buzza’d one by one.” - -Abruptly she reversed the luckless man and placed a foot in the small of -his back. Then with a heave that seemed to bring into play every muscle -of her huge bulk, she catapulted him once and for all out of Catfish Row -and the lives of its inhabitants. - - - - -V - -[Illustration] - - - - -PART V - - -“Fish runnin’ well outside de bar, dese days,” remarked Jake one evening -to several of his seagoing companions. - -A large, bronze-colored negro paused in his task of rigging a line, and -cast an eye to sea through the driveway. - -“An’ we mens bes’ make de mores ob it,” he observed. “Dem Septumbuh -storm due soon, an’ fish ain’t likes eas’ win’ an’ muddy watuh.” - -Jake laughed reassuringly. - -“Go ’long wid yuh. Ain’t yuh done know we hab one stiff gale las’ -summer, an’ he nebber come two yeah han’ runnin’.” - -His wife came toward him with a baby in her arms, and, giving him the -child to hold, took up the mess of fish which he was cleaning in a -leisurely fashion. - -“Ef yuh ain’t mans enough tuh clean fish no fastuh dan dat, yuh bes’ -min’ de baby, an’ gib um tuh a ’oman fuh clean!” she said scornfully, as -she bore away the pan. - -The group laughed at that, Jake’s somewhat shamefaced merriment rising -above the others. He rocked the contented little negro in his strong -arms, and followed the retreating figure of the mother with admiring -eyes. - -“All right, mens,” he said, returning to the matter in hand. “I’m all -fuh ridin’ luck fer as he will tote me. Turn out at fo’ tuhmorruh -mornin’, and we’ll push de ‘Seagull’ clean tuh de blackfish banks befo’ -we wets de anchor. I gots er feelin’ in my bones dat we goin’ be gunnels -undeh wid de pure fish when we comes in tuhmorruh night.” - -The news of Jake’s prediction spread through the negro quarter. Other -crews got their boats hastily in commission and were ready to join the -“Mosquito Fleet” when it put to sea. - -On the following morning, when the sun rose out of the Atlantic, the -thirty or forty small vessels were mere specks teetering upon the -water’s rim against the red disc that forged swiftly up beyond them. - -Afternoon found the wharf crowded with women and children, who laughed -and joked each other as to the respective merits of their men and the -luck of the boats in which they went to sea. - -Clara, Jake’s wife, sought the head of the dock long before sundown, and -sat upon the bulkhead with her baby asleep in her lap. Occasionally she -would exchange a greeting with an acquaintance; but for the most part -she gazed toward the harbor mouth and said no word to any one. - -“She always like dat,” a neighbor informed a little group. “A conjer -’oman once tell she Jake goin’ git drownded; an’ she ain’t hab no -happiness since, ’cept when he feet is hittin’ de dirt.” - -Presently a murmur arose among the watchers. Out at the harbor mouth, -against the thin greenish-blue of the horizon, appeared the “Mosquito -Fleet.” Driven by a steady breeze, the boats swept toward the city with -astonishing rapidity. - -Warm sunlight flooded out of the west, touched the old city with -transient glory, then cascaded over the tossing surface of the bay to -paint the taut, cupped sails salmon pink, as the fleet drove forward -directly into the eye of the sun. - -Almost before the crowd realized it, the boats were jibing and coming -about at their feet, each jockeying for a favorable berth. - -Under the skillful and daring hand of Jake, the “Seagull” took a chance, -missed a stern by a hairbreadth, jibed suddenly with a snap and boom, -and ran in, directly under the old rock steps of the wharf. - -A cheer went up from the crowd. Never had there been such a catch. The -boat seemed floored with silver which rose almost to the thwarts, -forcing the crew to sit on gunnels, or aft with the steersman. - -Indeed the catch was so heavy that as boat after boat docked, it became -evident that the market was glutted, and the fishermen vied with each -other in giving away their surplus cargo, so that they would not have to -throw it overboard. - - -§ - -By the following morning the weather had become unsettled. The wind was -still coming out of the west; but a low, solid wall of cloud had -replaced the promising sunset of the evening before, and from time to -time the wind would wrench off a section of the black mass, and volley -it with great speed across the sky, to accumulate in unstable pyramids -against the sunrise. - -But the success of the day before had so fired the enthusiasm of the -fishermen that they were not easily to be deterred from following their -luck, and the first grey premonition of the day found the wharf seething -with preparation. - -Clara, with the baby in her arms, accompanied Jake to the pier-head. She -knew the futility of remonstrance; but her eyes were fearful when the -heavy, black clouds swept overhead. Once, when a wave slapped a pile, -and threw a handful of spray in her face, she moaned and looked up at -the big negro by her side. But Jake was full of the business in hand, -and besides, he was growing a little impatient at his wife’s incessant -plea that he sell his share of the “Seagull” and settle on land. Now he -turned from her, and shouted: - -“All right, mens!” - -He bestowed a short, powerful embrace upon his wife, with his eyes -looking over her shoulder into the Atlantic’s veiled face, turned from -her with a quick, nervous movement, and dropped from the wharf into his -boat. - -Standing in the bow, he moistened his finger in his mouth, and held it -up to the wind. - -“You mens bes’ git all de fish yuh’ kin tuhday,” he admonished. “Win’ be -in de eas’ by tuhmorruh. It gots dat wet tas’ ter um now.” - -One by one the boats shoved off, and lay in the stream while they -adjusted their spritsails and rigged their full jibs abeam, like -spinnakers, for the free run to sea. The vessels were similar in design, -the larger ones attaining a length of thirty-five feet. They were very -narrow, and low in the waist, with high, keen bows, and pointed sterns. -The hulls were round-bottomed, and had beautiful running lines, the -fishermen, who were also the designers and builders, taking great pride -in the speed and style of their respective craft. The boats were all -open from stem to stern and were equipped with thole-pins for rowing, an -expedient to which the men resorted only in dire emergency. - -Custom had reduced adventure to commonplace; yet it was inconceivable -that men could put out, in the face of unsettled weather, for a point -beyond sight of land, and exhibit no uneasiness or fear. Yet bursts of -loud, loose laughter, and snatches of song, blew back to the wharf long -after the boats were in mid-stream. - -The wind continued to come in sudden flaws, and, once the little craft -had gotten clear of the wharves, the fleet made swift but erratic -progress. There were moments when they would seem to mark time upon the -choppy waters of the bay; then suddenly a flaw would bear down on them, -whipping the water as it came, and, filling the sails, would fairly lift -the slender bows as it drove them forward. - -By the time that the leisurely old city was sitting down to its -breakfast, the fleet had disappeared into the horizon, and the sun had -climbed over its obstructions to flood the harbor with reassuring light. - -The mercurial spirits of the negroes rose with the genial warmth. -Forebodings were forgotten. Even Clara sang a lighter air as she rocked -the baby upon her lap. - -But the sun had just lifted over the eastern wall, and the heat of noon -was beginning to vibrate in the court, when suddenly the air of security -was shattered. From the center of town sounded the deep, ominous clang -of a bell. - -At its first stroke life in Catfish Row was paralyzed. Women stopped -their tasks, and, not realizing what they did, clasped each others’ -hands tightly, and stood motionless, with strained, listening faces. - -Twenty times the great hammer fell, sending the deep, full notes out -across the city that was holding its breath and counting them as they -came. - -“Twenty!” said Clara, when it had ceased to shake the air. - -She ran to the entrance and looked to the north. Almost at the end of -vision, between two buildings, could be seen the flagstaff that -surmounted the custom-house. It was bare when she looked--just a thin, -bare line against the intense blue, but even as she stood there, a -flicker of color soared up its length; then fixed and flattened, showing -a red square with a black center. - -“My Gawd!” she called over her shoulder. “It’s de trut’. Dat’s de -hurricane signal on top de custom-house.” - -Bess came from her room, and stood close to the terrified woman. - -“Dat can’t be so,” she said comfortingly. “Ain’t yuh ’member de las’ -hurricane, how it tek two day tuh blow up. Now de sun out bright, an’ de -cloud all gone.” - -But Clara gave no sign of having heard her. - -“Come on in!” urged Bess. “Ef yuh don’t start tuh git yuh dinner, yuh -won’t hab nuttin’ ready fuh de mens w’en dey gits in.” - -After a moment the idea penetrated, and the half-dazed woman turned -toward Bess, her eyes pleading. - -“You come wid me, an’ talk a lot. I ain’t likes tuh be all alone now.” - -“Sho’ I will,” replied the other comfortingly. “I min’ de baby fuh yuh, -an’ yuh kin be gittin’ de dinner.” - -Clara’s face quivered; but she turned from the sight of the far red flag -and opened her door for Bess to pass in. - -After the two women had remained together for half an hour, Bess left -the room for a moment to fetch some sewing. The sun was gone, and the -sky presented a smooth, leaden surface. She closed the door quickly so -that Clara might not see the abrupt change, and went out of the entrance -for a look to sea. - -Like the sky, the bay had undergone a complete metamorphosis. The water -was black, and strangely lifeless. Thin, intensely white crests rode the -low, pointed waves; and between the opposing planes of sky and sea a -thin westerly wind roamed about like a trapped thing and whined in a -complaining treble key. A singularly clear half-light pervaded the -world, and in it she could see the harbor mouth distinctly, as it lay -ten miles away between the north and south jetties that stretched on the -horizon like arms with the finger-tips nearly touching. - -Her eyes sought the narrow opening. Guiltless of the smallest speck, it -let upon utter void. - -“It’d take ’em t’ree hour tuh mek harbor from de banks wid good win’,” -said a woman who was also watching. “But dere ain’t no powuh in dis -breeze, an’ it a head one at dat.” - -“Dey kin row it in dat time,” encouraged Bess. “‘An’ de storm ain’t hyuh -yit.” - -But the woman hugged her forebodings, and stood there shivering in the -close, warm air. - - -§ - -Except for the faint moan of the wind, the town and harbor lay in a -silence that was like held breath. - -Many negroes came to the wharf, passed out to the pier-head, and sat -quietly watching the entrance to the bay. - -At one o’clock the tension snapped. As though it had been awaiting St. -Christopher’s chimes to announce “Zero Hour,” the wind swung into the -east, and its voice dropped an octave, and changed its quality. Instead -of the complaining whine, a grave, sustained note came in from the -Atlantic, with an undertone of alarming variations, that sounded oddly -out of place as it traversed the inert waters of the bay. - -The tide was at the last of the ebb, and racing out of the many rivers -and creeks toward the sea. All morning the west wind had driven it -smoothly before it. But now, the stiffening eastern gale threw its -weight against the water, and the conflict immediately filled the bay -with large waves that leapt up to angry points, then dropped back -sullenly upon themselves. - -“Choppy water,” observed a very old negro who squinted through -half-closed eyes. “Dem boat nebbuh mek headway in dat sea.” - -But he was not encouraged to continue by the silent, anxious group. - -Slowly the threatening undertone of the wind grew louder. Then, as -though a curtain had been lowered across the harbor mouth, everything -beyond was blotted by a milky screen. - -“Oh, my Jedus!” a voice shrilled. “Here he come, now! Le’s we go!” - -Many of the watchers broke for the cover of buildings across the street. -Some of those whose men were in the fleet crowded into the small -wharf-house. Several voices started to pray at once, and were -immediately drowned in the rising clamor of the wind. - -With the mathematical precision that it had exhibited in starting, the -gale now moved its obliterating curtain through the jetties, and thrust -it forward in a straight line across the outer bay. - -There was something utterly terrifying about the studied manner in which -the hurricane proceeded about its business. It clicked off its moves -like an automaton. It was Destiny working nakedly for the eyes of men -to see. The watchers knew that for at least twenty-four hours it would -stay, moving its tides and winds here and there with that invincible -precision, crushing the life from those whom its preconceived plan had -seemed to mark for death. - -With that instant emotional release that is the great solace of the -negro, the tightly packed wharf-house burst into a babblement of weeping -and prayer. - -The curtain advanced to the inner bay and narrowed the world to the -city, with its buildings cowering white and fearful, and the remaining -semi-circle of the harbor. - -And now from the opaque surface of the screen came a persistent roar -that was neither of wind or water, but the articulate cry of the storm -itself. The curtain shot forward again and became a wall, grey and -impenetrable, that sunk its foundations into the tortured sea and bore -the leaden sky upon its soaring top. - -The noise became deafening. The narrow strip of water that was left -before the wharves seemed to shrink away. The buildings huddled closer -and waited. - -Then it crossed the strip, and smote the city. - -From the roofs came the sound as though ton after ton of ore had been -dumped from some great eminence. There was a dead weight to the shocks -that could not conceivably be delivered by so unsubstantial a substance -as air, yet which was the wind itself, lifting abruptly to enormous -heights, then hurling its full force downward. - -These shocks followed the demoniac plan, occurring at exact intervals, -and were succeeded by prying fingers, as fluid as ether, as hard as -steel, that felt for cracks in roofs and windows. - -One could no longer say with certainty, “This which I breathe is air, -and this upon which I stand is earth.” The storm had possessed itself of -the city and made it its own. Tangibles and intangibles alike were -whirled in a mad, inextricable nebula. - -The waves that moved upon the bay could be dimly discerned for a little -distance. They were turgid, yellow, and naked; for the moment they -lifted a crest, the wind snatched it and dispersed it, with the rain, -into the warm semi-fluid atmosphere with which it delivered its attack -upon the panic-stricken city. - -Notch by notch the velocity increased. The concussions upon the roofs -became louder, and the prying fingers commenced to gain a purchase, -worrying small holes into large ones. Here and there the wind would get -beneath the tin, roll it up suddenly, whirl it from a building like a -sheet of paper, and send it thundering and crashing down a deserted -street. - -Again it would gain entrance to a room through a broken window, and, -exerting its explosive force to the full, would blow all of the other -windows outward, and commence work upon the walls from within. - -It was impossible to walk upon the street. At the first shock of the -storm, the little group of negroes who had sought shelter in the -wharf-house fled to the Row. Even then, the force of the attack had been -so great that only by bending double and clinging together were they -able to resist the onslaughts and traverse the narrow street. - -Porgy and Bess sat in their room. The slats had been taken from the bed -and nailed across the window, and the mattress, bundled into a corner, -had been pre-empted by the goat. Bess sat wrapped in her own thoughts, -apparently unmoved by the demoniac din without. Porgy’s look was one of -wonder, not unmixed with fear, as he peered into the outer world between -two of the slats. The goat, blessed with an utter lack of imagination, -revelled in the comfort and intimacy of his new environment, expressing -his contentment in suffocating waves, after the manner of his kind. A -kerosene lamp without a chimney, smoking straight up into the unnatural -stillness of the room, cast a faint, yellow light about it, but only -accentuated the heavy gloom of the corners. - -From where Porgy sat, he could catch glimpses of what lay beyond the -window. There would come occasional moments when the floor of the storm -would be lifted by a burrowing wind, and he would see the high, naked -breakers racing under the sullen pall of spume and rain. - -Once he saw a derelict go by. The vessel was a small river sloop, with -its rigging blown clean out. A man was clinging to the tiller. One wave, -larger than its fellows, submerged the little boat, and when it wallowed -to the surface again, the man was gone, and the tiller was kicking -wildly. - -“Oh, my Jedus, hab a little pity!” the watcher moaned under his breath. - -Later, a roof went by. - -Porgy heard it coming, even above the sound of the attack upon the Row, -and it filled him with awe and dread. He turned and looked at Bess, and -was reassured to see that she met his gaze fearlessly. Down the street -the roar advanced, growing nearer and louder momentarily. Surely it -would be the final instrument of destruction. He held his breath, and -waited. Then it thundered past his narrow sphere of vision. Rolled -loosely, it loomed to the second story windows, and flapped and tore at -the buildings as it swept over the cobbles. - -When a voice could be heard again, Porgy turned to his companion. - -“You an’ me, Bess,” he said with conviction “We _sho’_ is a little -somet’ing attuh all.” - -After that, they sat long without exchanging a word. Then Porgy looked -out of the window and noticed that the quality of the atmosphere was -becoming denser. The spume lifted for a moment, and he could scarcely -see the tormented bay. - -“I t’ink it mus’ be mos’ night,” he observed. “Dey ain’t much light now -on de outside ob dis storm.” - -He looked again before the curtain descended, and what he saw caused his -heart to miss a beat. - -He knew that the tide should be again at the ebb, for the flood had -commenced just after the storm broke. But as he looked, the water, which -was already higher than a normal flood, lifted over the far edge of the -street, and three tremendous waves broke in rapid succession, sending -the deep layers of water across the narrow way to splash against the -wall of the building. - -This reversal of nature’s law struck terror into the dark places of -Porgy’s soul. He beckoned to Bess, his fascinated eyes upon the -advancing waves. - -She bent down and peered into the gloom. - -“Oh, yes,” she remarked in a flat tone. “It been dis way in de las’ -great storm. De win’ hol’ de watuh in de jetty mout’ so he can’t go out. -Den he pile up annoder tide on him.” - -Suddenly an enormous breaker loomed over the backs of its shattered and -retreating fellows. The two watchers could not see its crest, for it -towered into, and was absorbed by, the low-hanging atmosphere. Yellow, -smooth, and with a perpendicular, slightly concave front, it flashed -across the street, and smote the solid wall of the Row. They heard it -roar like a mill-race through the drive, and flatten, hissing in the -court. Then they turned, and saw their own door give slightly to the -pressure, and a dark flood spurt beneath it, and debouch upon the floor. - -Bess took immediate command of the situation. She threw an arm about -Porgy, and hurried him to the door. She withdrew the bolt, and the -flimsy panels shot inward. The court was almost totally dark. One after -another now the waves were hurtling through the drive and impounding in -the walled square. - -The night was full of moving figures, and cries of fear; while, out of -the upper dark, the wind struck savagely downward. - -With a powerful swing, Bess got Porgy to a stairway that providentially -opened near their room, and, leaving him to make his way up alone, she -rushed back, and was soon at his heels with an armful of belongings. - -They sought refuge in what had been the great ball-room of the mansion, -a square, high-ceilinged room on the second story, which was occupied by -a large and prosperous family. There were many refugees there before -them. In the faint light cast by several lanterns, the indestructible -beauty of the apartment was evident, while the defacing effects of a -century were absorbed in shadow. The noble open fireplace, the tall, -slender mantel, with its Grecian frieze and intricate scrollwork, the -high panelled walls were all there. And then, huddled in little groups -on the floor, or seated against the walls, with eyes wide in the -lantern-shine, the black, fear-stricken faces. - -Like the ultimate disintegration of a civilization--there it was; and -upon it, as though to make quick work of the last, tragic chapter, the -scourging wrath of the Gods--white, and black. - - -§ - -The night that settled down upon Catfish Row was one of nameless horror -to the inhabitants, most of whom were huddled on the second floor in -order to avoid the sea from beneath, and deafening assaults upon the -roof above their heads. - -With the obliteration of vision, sound assumed an exaggerated -significance, and the voice of the gale, which had seemed by day only a -great roar, broke up in the dark into its various parts. Human voices -seemed to cry in it; and there were moments when it sniffed and moaned -at the windows. - -Once, during a silence in the room, a whinny was distinctly heard. - -“Dat my ole horse!” wailed Peter. “He done dead in he stall now, an’ dat -he woice goin’ by. Oh, my Gawd!” - -They all wailed out at that; and Porgy, remembering his goat, whimpered -and turned his face to the wall. - -Then someone started to sing: - - “I gots uh home in de rock, don’t yuh see?” - -With a feeling of infinite relief, Porgy turned to his Jesus. It was not -a charm that he sought now for the assuaging of some physical ill, but a -benign power, vaster perhaps even than the hurricane. He lifted his rich -baritone above the others: - - “Oh, between de eart’ an’ sky, - I kin see my Sabior die. - I gots uh home in de rock, - Don’t yuh see!” - -Then they were all in it, heart and soul. Those who had fallen into a -fitful sleep, awoke, rubbed their eyes, and sang. - -Hour after hour dragged heavily past. Outside, the storm worked its will -upon the defenceless city. But in the great ball-room of Catfish Row, -forty souls sat wrapped in an invulnerable garment. They swayed and -patted, and poured their griefs and fears into a rhythm that never -missed a beat, which swept the hours behind it into oblivion, and that -finally sang up the faint grey light that penetrated the storm, and told -them that it was again day. - - -§ - -At about an hour after daybreak the first lull came. Like the other -moves of the hurricane, it arrived without warning. One moment the -tumult was at its height. The next, there was utter suspension. -Abruptly, like an indrawn breath, the wind sucked back upon itself, -leaving an aching vacuum in its place. Then from the inundated -water-front arose the sound of the receding flood. - -The ebb-tide was again overdue, and with the second tide piled upon it, -the whole immeasurable weight of the wind was required to maintain its -height. Now, with the pressure removed, it turned and raced beneath the -low-lying mist toward the sea, carrying its pitiful loot upon its back. - -To the huddled figures in the great room of the Row came the welcome -sound, as the court emptied itself into the street. The negroes crowded -to the windows, and peered between the barricades at the world without. - -The water receded with incredible speed. Submerged wreckage lifted above -the surface. The street became the bed of a cataract that foamed and -boiled on its rush to the sea. Presently the wharf emerged, and at its -end even a substantial remnant of the house could be descried. How it -had survived that long was one of the inexplicable mysteries of the -storm. - -Suddenly Peter, who was at one of the windows, gave a cry, and the other -negroes crowded about him to peer out. - -The sea was still running high, and as a large wave lifted above the -level of the others, it thrust into view the hull of a half-submerged -boat. Before the watchers could see, the wave dropped its burden into a -trough, but the old man showed them where to look, and presently a big -roller caught it up, and swung it, bow on, for all to see. There was a -flash of scarlet gunnel, and, beneath it, a bright blue bird with open -wings. - -“De ‘Seagull’!” cried a dozen voices together. “My Gawd! dat Jake’ -boat!” - -All night Clara had sat in a corner of the room with the baby in her -arms, saying no word to anyone. She was so still that she seemed to be -asleep, with her head upon her breast. But once, when Bess had gone and -looked into her face, she had seen her eyes, wide and bright with pain. - -Now the unfortunate woman heard the voices, and sprang to the window -just in time to see the craft swoop into a hollow at the head of the -pier. - -She did not scream out. For a moment she did not even speak. Then she -spun around on Bess with the dawn of a wild hope in her dark face. - -“Tek care ob dis baby ’til I gits back,” she said, as she thrust the -child almost savagely into Bess’s arms. Then she rushed from the room. - -The watchers at the window saw her cross the street, splashing wildly -through the kneedeep water. Then she ran the length of the wharf, and -disappeared behind the sheltering wall of the house. - -It was so sudden, and tired wits move slowly. Several minutes had passed -before it occurred to anyone to go with her. Finally Peter turned from -the window. - -“Dat ’oman ain’t ought tuh be out dey by sheself,” he said. “Who goin’ -out dey wid me, now?” - -One of the men volunteered, and they started for the door. - -A sound like the detonation of a cannon shook the building to its -foundations. The gale had returned, smashing straight downward from some -incredible height to which it had lifted during the lull. - -The men turned and looked at one another. - -Shock followed shock in rapid succession. Those who stood by the windows -felt them give inward, and instinctively threw their weight against the -frames. The explosions merged into a steady roar of sound that -surpassed anything that had yet occurred. The room became so dark that -they could no longer see one another. The barricaded windows were -vaguely discernible in bars of muddy grey and black. Deeply rooted walls -swung from the blows, and then settled slowly back on the recoil. - -A confused sound of praying filled the room. And above it shrilled the -terror of the women. - -For an appreciable space of time the spasm lasted. Then, slowly, as -though by the gradual withdrawing of a lever, the vehemence of the -attack abated. The muddy grey bars at the windows became lighter, and -some of the more courageous of the negroes peered out. - -The wharf could be seen dimly extending under the low floor of spume and -mist. The breakers were higher than at any previous time, but instead of -smashing in upon the shore, they raced straight up the river and -paralleled the city. As each one swung by it went clean over the wharf, -obliterating it for the duration of its passage. - -Suddenly from the direction of the lower harbor a tremendous mass -appeared, showing first only a vast distorted stain against the grey -fabric of the mist. Then a gigantic wave took it, and drove it into -fuller view. - -“Great Gawd A’mighty!” some one whispered. “It’s dat big lumbuh schooner -bruck loose in de harbor.” - -The wave hunched its mighty shoulders under the vessel and swung it -up--up, for an interminable moment. The soaring bowsprit lifted until it -was lost in mist. Tons of water gushed from the steep incline of the -deck, and poured over the smooth, black wall of the side, as it reared -half out of the sea. Then the wave swept aft, and the bow descended in a -swift, deadly plunge. - -A crashing of timbers followed that could be heard clearly above the -roaring of the storm. The hull had fallen directly across the middle of -the wharf. There was one cataclysmic moment when the whole view seemed -to disintegrate. The huge timbers of the wharf up-ended, and were washed -out like straws. The schooner rolled half over, and her three masts -crashed down with their rigging. The shock burst the lashings of the -vessel’s deck load, and as the hull heeled, an avalanche of heavy -timbers took the water. The ruin was utter. - -Heavy and obliterating, the mist closed down again. - -Bess turned from the window holding the sleeping infant in her arms, -raised her eyes and looked full at Porgy. - -With an expression of awe in his face, the cripple reached out a timid -hand and touched the baby’s cheek. - - -§ - -The windows of the great ball-room were open to the sky, and beyond -them, a busy breeze was blowing across its washed and polished expanse, -gathering cloud-remnants into little heaps, and sweeping them in -tumbling haste out over the threshold of the sea. - -Most of the refugees had returned to their rooms, where sounds of busy -salvaging could be heard. Porgy’s voice arose jubilantly announcing that -the goat had been discovered, marooned upon the cook-stove; and that -Peter’s old horse had belied his whinny, and was none the worse for a -thorough wetting. - -Serena Robbins paused before Bess, who was gathering her things -preparatory to leaving the room, placed her hands upon her hips, and -looked down upon her. - -“Now, wut we all goin’ do wid dis po’ mudderless chile?” she said, -addressing the room at large. - -The other occupants of the room gathered behind Serena, but there was -something about Bess’s look that held them quiet. They stood there -waiting and saying nothing. - -Slowly Bess straightened up, her face lowered and pressed against that -of the sleeping child. Then she raised her eyes and met the gaze of the -complacent older woman. - -What Serena saw there was not so much the old defiance that she had -expected, as it was an inflexible determination, and, behind it, a -new-born element in the woman that rendered the scarred visage -incandescent. She stepped back, and lowered her eyes. - -Bess strained the child to her breast with an elemental intensity of -possession, and spoke in a low, deep voice that vested her words with -sombre meaning. - -“Is Clara come back a’ready, since she dead, an’ say somet’ing ’bout -‘_we_’ tuh yuh ’bout dis chile?” - -She put the question to the group, her eyes taking in the circle of -faces as she spoke. - -There was no response; and at the suggestion of a possible return of the -dead, the circle drew together instinctively. - -“Berry well den,” said Bess solemnly. “Ontell she do, I goin’ stan’ on -she las’ libbin’ word an’ keep dis chile fuh she ’til she do come back.” - -Serena was hopelessly beaten, and she knew it. - -“Oh, berry well,” she capitulated. “All I been goin’ tuh do wuz jus’ tuh -puhwide um wid er propuh Christian raisin’. But ef she done gib um tuh -yuh, dere ain’t nuttin mo’ I kin do, I guess.” - - - - -VI - -[Illustration] - - - - -PART VI - - -October blew down from the north, bracing, and frosty-clear. It sent a -breeze racing like mad over the bay and bouncing into the court to toss -the clotheslines like lanyards of signal flags. The torpid city and -wide, slumbrous marshes were stung to sudden life and laughed up at the -far, crisp blue of the sky. - -Out in the harbor mouth, a faint wisp of smoke grew and blackened, and -presently beneath it the rusty hull of a tramp lifted from the Atlantic, -and thrust its blunt nose into the waters of the bay. - -Summer had gone. Soon the cotton would be coming through. - -It was nine o’clock, and still Porgy lingered in the court. His blood -leapt swiftly in his veins, and he experienced that sweet upsurge of -life that the North knows with the bursting of spring, but that comes -most keenly to the sultry lands with the strong breath of autumn. Yet, -when he looked up at the sky, a vague prescience of disaster darkened -his spirit. He sat beside Bess in the doorway, with his eyes upon the -child in her lap. After a while he took the baby into his arms, and then -the foreboding suddenly became pain. - -He looked up and met the gaze of the woman. It was there in her eyes -also, plain for him to see. - -Out in the silence of the street a sound commenced to grow. Only a -faint, far murmur at first, it gathered weight until it became a steady -rumble, with a staccato clip, clip, clip running through it. - -There were a few women and children about, and they ran to the entrance -to see. But Porgy and Bess sat and looked fixedly at the bay, where it -lay beyond the gate. - -Then the drays came, and the bay was blotted out by the procession. - -The great mules, fat and strong from their summer in pasture, moved -swiftly with a sharp click of shoes, and the drivers cracked their whips -and laughed down at the crowd. The low platforms of the vehicles seemed -almost to brush the ground; and, upon them, clear to the top of the -entrance arch, the bales towered, with the fibre showing in dazzling -white patches where the bagging was torn. Twenty or more in the train -they passed. - -Scarcely had the rumble receded in the distance, than a burst of heavy -laughter sounded in the street, and two tall figures strode through the -entrance and into the group of women and children. There was a bright -flash from bandanas, and one of the men swung a child to his shoulder. -Loud greetings followed, and another burst of laughter, heavy, -deep-chested and glad. - -From an upper window a woman’s voice called, “Come on, Sister; le’s we -go down. De stevedore is comin’ back.” - -Porgy turned toward Bess, and moistened his lips with his tongue. Then -he spoke in a low husky voice: - -“Us ain’t talk much sence de picnic, Bess, you an’ me. But I gots tuh -talk now. I gots tuh know how you an’ me stan’.” - -Bess regarded him dumbly. For a moment the look which Serena had seen -when she had tried to take the baby brushed her face, then it passed, -leaving it hopeless. - -Porgy leaned forward. “Yuh is wantin’ tuh go wid Crown w’en he come?” - -Then she answered: “W’en I tek dat dope, I know den dat I ain’t yo’ -kin’. An’ w’en Crown put he han’ on me dat day, I run tuh he like water. -Some day dope comin’ agin. An’ some day Crown goin’ put he han’ on my -t’roat. It goin’ be like dyin’ den. But I gots tuh talk de trut’ tuh -yuh. W’en dem time come, I goin’ tuh go.” - -“Ef dey warn’t no Crown?” Porgy whispered. Then before she could answer, -he hurried on: “Ef dey wuz only jes’ de baby an’ Porgy, wut den?” - -The odd incandescence flared in her face, touching it with something -eternal and beautiful beyond the power of human flesh to convey. She -took the child from Porgy with a hungry, enfolding gesture. Then her -composure broke. - -“Oh, fuh Gawd sake, Porgy, don’t let dat man come an’ handle me! Ef yuh -is willin’ tuh keep me, den lemme stay. Ef he jus’ don’t put dem hot -han’ on me, I kin be good, I kin ’member, I kin be happy.” - -She broke off abruptly, and hid her face against that of the child. - -Porgy patted her arm. “Yuh ain’t needs tuh be ’fraid,” he assured her. -“Ain’t yuh gots yo’ man? Ain’t yuh gots Porgy? Wut kin’ of a nigger yuh -t’inks yuh gots anyway, fuh let annuduh nigger carry he ’oman? No, suh! -yuh gots yo’ man now; yuh gots Porgy.” - - -§ - -From behind a sea island the full October moon lifted its chill disc and -strewed the bay with cold, white fire. The lights were out in Catfish -Row, except for a shaft of firelight that fell across the dark from -Serena’s room, and a faint flicker in the cook-shop, where Maria was -getting her fire laid in readiness for the early breakfast. - -A cry sounded in the court, which was quickly muffled; then followed -low, insolent laughter. - -Maria was at her door instantly. Across the court, a man could be seen -for one moment, seated on Serena’s wash-bench; then behind him the door -closed with a bang, shutting off the shaft of firelight. - -Maria crossed the court, and when she had reached the man’s side he -looked up. The moonlight fell upon his face. It was Crown. - -“What yuh doin’ hyuh?” she asked him. - -“Jus’ droppin’ in on a few ole frien’.” - -“Come tuh de shop,” she commanded. “I gots tuh hab talk wid yuh.” - -He arose obediently, and followed her. - -Maria turned up the lamp and faced about as Crown entered the room. He -had to bend his head to pass under the lintel, and his shoulders brushed -the sides of the opening. - -The big negress stood for a long moment looking at him. Her gaze took in -the straight legs with their springing thighs straining the fabric of -the cotton pants, the slender waist, and the almost unbelievable -outward flare of the chest to the high, straight span of the shoulders. - -A look of deep sadness grew in her somber face. - -“Wid uh body like dat!” she said at last, “why yuh is goin’ aroun’ -huntin’ fuh deat’?” - -Crown laughed uneasily, stepped into the room, and sat at a table. He -placed his elbows upon it, hunched his shoulders forward with a writhing -of muscle beneath the shirt, then dropped his chin in his hands, and -regarded the woman. - -“I know dese hyuh niggers,” he replied. “Dey is a decent lot. Dey -wouldn’t gib no nigger away tuh de w’ite folks.” - -“Dat de Gawd’ trut’. Only dey is odder way ob settlin’ up er debt.” - -“Serena?” he asked, with a sidelong look, and a laugh. “Dat sister gots -de fear ob Gawd in she heart. I ain’t ’fraid none ob she.” - -After a moment of silence he asked abruptly: - -“Bess still libbin’ wid de cripple?” - -“Yes; an’ she a happy, decent ’oman. Yuh bes’ leabe she alone.” - -“Fer Gawd’ sake! Wut yuh tink I come tuh dis damn town fuh? I ain’t jus’ -huntin’ fuh deat’! I atter my ’oman.” - -Maria placed her hands on the table opposite the man and bent over to -look into his face. - -“’Oman is all berry much de same,” she said in a low, persuasive voice. -“Dey comes an’ dey goes. One sattify a man quick as annuduh. Dey is lots -ob bettuh lookin’ gal dan Bess. She fix fuh life now wid dat boy. I ax -yuh go an’ lef she. Gib she uh chance.” - -“It tek long time tuh learn one ’oman,” he said slowly. “Me an’ Bess -done fight dat all out dese fibe year gone.” - -“Yuh ain’t goin’ leabe she den?” There was an unusual note of pleading -in the heavy voice. - -“Not till Hell freeze.” - -After a moment he arose and turned to her. - -“I gots tuh go out now. I ain’t sho’ wedder I goin’ away tuhnight or -wait fuh tuhmorruh night. I goin’ look aroun’ an’ see how de lan’ lay; -but I’ll be seein’ yuh agin befo’ I goes.” - -Maria regarded him for a long moment; the look of sadness in her face -deepened to a heavy melancholy; but she said nothing. - -Crown started for the street with his long, swaggering stride. The big -woman watched him until he turned to the north at the entrance and -passed from view. Then she locked the door and, with a deep sigh, -walked to her own room. - - -§ - -Porgy opened his eyes suddenly. The window, which had been luminous when -he went to sleep, was now darkened. He watched it intently. Slowly he -realized that parts of the little square still showed the moonlit waters -of the bay, and that only the centre was blocked out by an intervening -mass. Then the mass moved, and Porgy saw that it was the torso and -shoulders of a man. The window was three feet in width, yet the -shoulders seemed to brush both sides of it as the form bent forward. The -sash was down, and presently there came a sound as though hands were -testing it to see whether it could be forced up. - -Porgy was lying on his back. He reached his left hand over the covers -and let the fingers touch ever so lightly the sleeping faces of first -the baby, then the woman. His right hand slid beneath his pillow, and -his strong, slender fingers closed about the handle of a knife. - -At the window the slight, testing noise continued. - - -§ - -It was certainly after midnight when Maria looked from her doorway; for -the moon was tottering on the western wall, and while she stood looking, -slowly it dropped over and vanished. - -The vague forebodings that she had felt when she talked to Crown earlier -in the evening had kept sleep from her; with each passing hour her fears -increased, and with them a sense of imminence that finally forced her to -get up, slip on a wrapper, and prepare to make the rounds of the court. - -But on opening her door, she was at once reassured. The square stood -before her like a vast cistern brimmed with misty dark and roofed with a -lid of sky. A cur grovelled forward on its belly from a near-by nook, -and licked one of her bare feet with its moist, warm tongue. - -Above her, in the huge honeycomb of the building, someone was snoring in -a slow, steady rhythm. - -The big negress drew a deep sigh of relief and turned back toward her -room. - -A sound of cracking wood snapped the silence. Then, like a flurry of -small bells, came a shiver of broken glass on the stones. - -Maria spun around, and tried to locate the sound; but no noise followed. -Silence flowed back over the court and settled palpably into its -recesses. The faint, not unpleasant rhythm of the snoring came -insistently forward. - -Suddenly Maria turned, her face quick with apprehension. She drew her -wrapper closely about her, and crossed to Porgy’s door. With only half -of the distance traversed, she heard a sound from the room. It was more -of a muffled thump than anything else, and with it, something very like -a gasp. - -When her hand closed over the knob all was silent again, except that she -could hear a long, slightly shuddering breath. - -Then came a sound that caused her flesh to prickle with primal terror. -It was so unexpected, there in the chill, silent night. It was Porgy’s -laugh, but different. Out of the stillness it swelled suddenly, deep, -aboriginal, lustful. Then it stopped short. - -Maria heard the baby cry out; then Bess’s voice, sleepy and mystified. -“Fuh Gawd’ sake, Porgy, what yuh laughin’ ’bout?” - -“Dat all right, honey,” came the answer. “Don’t yuh be worryin’. Yuh -gots Porgy now, an’ he look atter he ’oman. Ain’t I done tells yuh: Yuh -gots er _man_ now.” - -Maria turned the knob, entered the room, and closed the door quickly -behind her. - -Night trailed westward across the city. In the east, out beyond the -ocean’s rim, essential light trembled upward and seemed to absorb rather -than quench the morning stars. Out of the sliding planes of mist that -hung like spent breath above the city, shapes began to emerge and assume -their proper values. - -Far in the upper air over Catfish Row a speck appeared. It took a long, -descending spiral, and became two, then three. Around a wide circle the -specks swung, as though hung by wires from a lofty pivot. The light -brightened perceptibly. The specks dropped to a lower level, increased -in size, and miraculously became a dozen. Then some of them dropped in -from the circumference of the circle, cutting lines across like the -spokes of a wheel, and from time to time flapping indolent wings. Dark -and menacing when they flew to the westward, they would turn easily -toward the east, and the sun, still below the horizon, would gild their -bodies with ruddy gold, as they sailed, breast on, toward it. - -Down, down they dropped, reaching low, and yet lower levels, until at -last they seemed to brush the water-front buildings with their sombre -wings. Then gradually they narrowed to a small circle that patrolled -the air directly over a shape that lay awash in the rising tide, across -the street from Catfish Row. - -Suddenly from the swinging circle a single bird planed down and lit with -an awkward, hopping step directly before the object. For a moment he -regarded it with bleak, predatory eyes; then flew back to his fellows. A -moment later the whole flock swooped down, and the shape was hidden by -flapping wings and black awkward bodies that hopped about and fought -inward to the centre of the group. - -A negro who had been sleeping under an overturned bateau awoke and -rubbed his eyes; then he sprang up and, seizing an oar, beat the birds -away with savage blows. - -He bent over the object for a moment, then turned and raced for the -street with eyes showing white. - -“Fuh Gawd’ sake, folks,” he cried, “come hyuh quick! Hyuh Crown, an’ he -done dead.” - - -§ - -A group of three white men stood over the body. One was the -plain-clothes man with the goatee and stick who had investigated the -Robbins’ murder. Behind him stood a uniformed policeman. The third, a -stout, leisurely individual, was stooping over the body, in the act of -making an examination. - -“What do you make of it, Coroner?” asked the plain-clothes man. - -“Knife between fifth and sixth ribs; must have gone straight through the -heart.” - -“Well, he had it comin’ to him,” the detective observed. “They tell me -he is the nigger, Crown, who killed Robbins last April. That gives us -the widow to work on fer a starter, by the way; and Hennessy tells me -that he used to run with that dope case we had up last August. She’s -livin’ in the Row, too. Let’s go over and have a look.” - -The Coroner cast an apprehensive glance at the forbidding structure -across the way. - -“Can’t be so sure,” he cautioned. “Corpse might have been washed up. -Tide’s on the flood.” - -“Well, I’m goin’ to have a look at those two women, anyway,” the -plain-clothes man announced. “That place is alive with crooks. I’d like -to get something on it that would justify closing it up as a public -nuisance, and throwing the whole lot of ’em out in the street. One -murder and a happy-dust riot already this summer; and here we are -again.” - -Then turning to the policeman, he gave his orders. - -“Get the wagon and take the body in. Then you had better come right -back. We might have some arrests. The Coroner and I’ll investigate while -you’re gone.” - -He turned away toward the Row, assuming that he would be followed. - -“All right, Cap; what do you say?” he called. - -The Coroner shook his ponderous figure down into his clothes, turned -with evident reluctance, and joined him. - -“All right,” he agreed. “But all I need is a couple of witnesses to -identify the body at the inquest.” - -Across the street a small negro boy detached himself from the base of -one of the gateposts and darted through the entrance. - -A moment later the white men strode into an absolutely empty square. -Their heels made a sharp sound on the flags, and the walls threw a clear -echo down upon them. - -A cur that had been left napping in the sun woke with a start, looked -about in a bewildered fashion, gave a frightened yelp, and bolted -through a doorway. - -It was all clearly not to the taste of the Coroner, and he cast an -uneasy glance about him. - -“Where do we go?” he asked. - -“That’s the widow’s room over there, if she hasn’t moved. We’ll give it -a look first,” said the detective. - -The door was off the latch, and, without knocking, he kicked it open and -walked in. - -The room was small, but immaculately clean. Beneath a patched white -quilt could be seen the form of a woman. Two other women were sitting in -utter silence beside the bed. - -The form under the covers moaned. - -“Drop that,” the detective commanded. “And answer some questions.” - -The moaning stopped. - -“Where were you yesterday and last night?” - -The reply came slowly, as though speaking were great pain. - -“I been sick in dis bed now t’ree day an’ night.” - -“We been settin’ wid she, nursin’ she, all dat time,” one of the women -said. - -And the other supplemented, “Dat de Gawd’ trut’.” - -“You would swear to that?” asked the Coroner. - -Three voices answered in chorus: - -“Yes, Boss, we swear tuh dat.” - -“There you are,” said the Coroner to the plain-clothes man, “an -air-tight alibi.” - -The detective regarded him for a moment with supreme contempt. Then he -stepped forward and jerked the sheet from Serena’s face, which lay upon -the pillow as immobile as a model done in brown clay. - -“You know damn well that you were out yesterday!” he snapped. “I have a -good mind to get the wagon and carry you in.” - -Silence followed. - -“What do you say to that?” he demanded. - -But Serena had nothing to say, and neither had her handmaidens. - -Then he turned a menacing frown upon them, as they sat motionless with -lowered eyes. - -“Well!” - -They jumped slightly, and their eyes showed white around the iris. -Suddenly they began to speak, almost in unison. - -“We swear tuh Gawd, we done been hyuh wid she t’ree day.” - -“Oh, Hell!” said the exasperated detective. “What’s the use? You might -as well argue with a parrot-cage.” - -“That woman is just as ill at this moment as you are,” he said to his -unenthusiastic associate when they were again in the sunlight. “Her -little burlesque show proves that, if nothing else. But there is her -case all prepared. I don’t believe she killed Crown; she doesn’t look -like that kind. She is either just playing safe, or she has something -entirely different on her chest. But there’s her story; and you’ll never -break in without witnesses of your own; and you’ll never get ’em.” - -The Coroner was not a highly sensitized individual; but as he moved -across the empty court, he found it difficult to control his nerves -under the scrutiny which he felt leveled upon him from behind a hundred -shuttered windows. Twice he caught himself looking covertly over his -shoulders; and, as he went, he bore hopefully away toward the entrance. - -But the detective was intent upon his task, and presently called him -back. - -“This is the cripple’s room,” he said. “He ain’t much of a witness. I -tried to break him in the Robbins case; but he wouldn’t talk. I want to -have a look at the woman, though.” - -He kicked the door open suddenly. Porgy and Bess were seated by the -stove, eating breakfast from tin pans. On the bed in the corner the baby -lay. - -Porgy paused, with his spoon halfway to his mouth, and looked up. Bess -kept her eyes on the pan, and continued to eat. - -The Coroner stopped in the doorway, and made a businesslike show of -writing in a notebook. - -“What’s your name?” he asked Porgy. - -The cripple studied him for a long moment, taking in the ample -proportions of the figure and the heavy, but not unsympathetic, face. -Then he smiled one of his fleeting, ingenuous smiles. - -“Jus’ Porgy,” he said. “Yuh knows me, Boss. Yuh is done gib me plenty ob -penny on King Charles Street.” - -“Of course, you’re the goat-man. I didn’t know you without your wagon,” -he said amiably. Then, becoming businesslike, he asked: - -“This nigger, Crown. You knew him by sight. Didn’t you?” - -Porgy debated with himself for a moment, looked again into the Coroner’s -face, was reassured by what he saw there, and replied: - -“Yes, Boss: I ’member um w’en he usen tuh come hyuh, long ago.” - -“You could identify him, I suppose?” - -Porgy looked blank. - -“You’d know him if you saw him again?” - -“Yes, Boss; I know um.” - -The Coroner made a note in his book, closed it with an air of finality, -and put it in his pocket. - -During the brief interview, the detective had been making an examination -of the room. The floor had been recently scrubbed, and was still damp in -the corners. He gave the clean, pine boards a close scrutiny, then -paused before the window. The bottom of the lower sash had been broken, -and several of the small, square panes were missing. - -“So this is where you killed Crown, eh?” he announced. - -The words fell into the silence and were absorbed by it, causing them to -seem theatrical and unconvincing. Neither Porgy nor Bess spoke. Their -faces were blank and noncommittal. - -After a full moment, the woman said: - -“I ain’t onduhstan’, Boss. Nobody hyuh ain’t kill Crown. My husban’ he -fall t’rough dat winduh yisterday when he leg gib ’way. He er cripple.” - -“Any one see him do it?” enquired the Coroner from the door. - -“Oh, yes, Boss,” replied Bess, turning to him. “T’ree or four ob de mens -was in de street; dey will tell yuh all ’bout um.” - -“Yes, of course; more witnesses,” sneered the detective. Then turning to -the Coroner, he asked with a trace of sarcasm in his tone: - -“That satisfies you fully, I suppose?” - -The Coroner’s nerves were becoming edgy. - -“For God’s sake,” he retorted, “do you expect me to believe that a -cripple could kill a two-hundred pound buck, then tote him a hundred -yards? Well, I’ve got what I need now anyway. As far as I’m concerned, -I’m through.” - -They were passing the door of Maria’s shop when the detective caught -sight of something within that held his gaze. - -“You can do as you please,” he told his unwilling companion. “But I’m -going to have a look in here. I have never been able to get anything on -this woman; but she is a bad influence in the neighborhood. I’d trust -her just as far as I could throw her.” - -The Coroner heaved a sigh of resignation, and they stepped back, and -entered the shop. - -Upon the flooring, directly before the door, and not far from it, was a -pool of blood. Standing over the pool was a table, and upon it lay the -carcass of a shark. Maria sat on a bench behind the table. As the men -entered she swung an immense cleaver downward. A cross-section of the -shark detached itself and fell away on a pile of similar slices. A thin -stream of blood dribbled from the table, augmenting the pool upon the -floor. - -Maria did not raise her eyes from her task. Again the cleaver swung up, -and whistled downward. - -From the street sounded the clatter of the returning patrol. - -“I’ll wait for you in the wagon,” said the Coroner hastily, and stepped -back into the sunlight. - -But he was not long alone. The uninterrupted swing of the dripping -cleaver was depressing, and the enthusiasm of his associate waned. - -The bell clanged. Hoofs struck sparks from the cobbles, and the strong -but uncertain arm of the law was withdrawn, to attend to other and more -congenial business. - - -§ - -The sound from the retreating wagon dwindled and ceased. - -For a moment Catfish Row held its breath; then its windows and doors -flew open, and poured its life out into the incomparable autumn weather. -The crisis had passed. There had been no arrests. - -Serena stepped forth, her arms filled with the morning’s wash. - -“‘Ain’t it hahd tuh be er nigger!’” someone sang in a loud, clear voice. -And everybody laughed. - -Down the street, like an approaching freight train, came the drays, -jarring the building and rattling the windows, as the heavy tires rang -against the cobbles. - -Bess and Porgy came out with the others, and seated themselves against -the wall in the gracious sunlight. Of the life, yet apart from it, -sufficient unto each other, they did not join in the loud talk and -badinage that was going on about them. Like people who had come on a -long, dark journey, they were content to sit, and breathe deeply of the -sun. The baby was sleeping in Bess’s arms, and from time to time she -would sing a stave to it in a soft, husky voice. - -Into the court strode a group of stevedores. Their strong white teeth -flashed in the sunshine, and their big, panther-like bodies moved easily -among the women and children that crowded about them. - -“Wey all de gals?” called one in a loud, resonant voice. “Mus’ be dey -ain’t know dat dis is pay-day.” - -Two women who were sitting near Porgy and Bess rose and went forward, -with their arms twined about each other’s waists. In a few minutes they -were out of the crowd again, each looking up with admiring eyes into -the face of one of the men. - -“Mens an’ ’omans ain’t de same,” said Porgy. “One mont’ ago dem gals -been libbin’ wid dey own mens. Den de storm tek um. Now dey is fuhgit um -a’ready, an’ gibbin’ dey lub tuh de nex’.” - -“No; dey is diff’rent fuh true,” replied Bess. “An’ yuh won’t nebber -onduhstan’. All two dem gal gots baby fuh keep alibe.” She heaved a deep -sigh; and then added, “Dey is jus’ ’oman, an’ nigger at dat. Dey is -doin’ de bes’ dey kin--dat all.” - -She was looking down at the baby while she spoke, and when she raised -her eyes and looked at Porgy, he saw that they were full of tears. - -“But you, Bess; you is diff’rent f’om dat?” he said, with a gently -interrogating note in his voice. - -“Dat ’cause Gawd ain’t mek but one Porgy!” she told him. “Any ’oman gots -tuh be decent wid you. But I gots fuh tell yuh de trut’, widout Porgy I -is jus’ like de res’.” - -A shadow drifted across their laps, and they lifted their faces to the -sky. - -A solitary buzzard had left the circle that had hung high in the air all -morning, and was swinging back and forth over the Row, almost brushing -the parapet of the roof as it passed. While Porgy and Bess looked, it -suddenly raised the points of its wings, reached tentative legs -downward, spread its feet wide, and lit on the edge of the roof directly -over their room. - -“My Gawd!” exclaimed Maria, who was standing near. “Crown done sen’ he -buzzud back fuh bring trouble. Knock um off, Porgy. Fer Gawd’ sake, -knock um off befo’ he settle!” - -The cripple reached out and picked up a brick-bat. The happiness had -left his face, and his eyes were filled with fear. With a swing of his -long, powerful arm, he sent the missile on its errand. - -It struck the parapet directly beneath the bird. - -With a spasmodic flap of wings, the black body lifted itself a few feet -from the building, then settled suddenly back. For a moment it hopped -awkwardly about, as though the roof were red hot beneath its feet, then -folded its wings, drew its nude head in upon its breast, and surveyed -the court with its aloof, malevolent eyes. - -“T’row agin,” Maria called, handing Porgy another brick-bat. But he -seemed not to hear. His face quivered, and he hid it in his hands. - -“Sonny,” the big negress called to a small boy who was standing near, -looking at the bird with his mouth open. “Git out on de roof wid uh -stick, an’ run dat bird away.” - -But Porgy plucked at her skirt, and she looked down. - -“Let um be,” he said in a hopeless voice. “It too late now. Ain’t yuh -see he done settle, an’ he pick my room fuh light ober? It ain’t no use -now. Yuh knows dat. It ain’t no use.” - - -§ - -The next morning Porgy sat in his accustomed place by Archdale’s door. -Autumn had touched the oaks in the park across the way, and they brushed -the hard, bright sky with a slow circling motion, and tossed handfuls of -yellow leaves down upon the pedestrians who stepped briskly along. - -King Charles Street was full of hurrying men on their way to the cotton -offices and the big wholesale warehouses that fronted on the wharves. -Like the artery of a hale old man who has lain long asleep, but who -wakens suddenly and springs into a race, the broad thoroughfare seemed -to pound and sing with life. - -The town was in a generous mood. Again and again the bottom of Porgy’s -cup gave forth its sharp, grateful click as a coin struck it and -settled. But the cripple had not even his slow glance of thanks for his -benefactors on that flashing autumn morning. Always he kept veiled, -apprehensive eyes directed either up or down the street, or lifted -frightened glances to the sky, as though fearing what he might see -there. - -At noon a white man stopped before him. But he did not drop a coin and -pass on. - -After a moment, Porgy brought his gaze back, and looked up. - -The white man reached forward, and handed him a paper. - -“Dat fuh me?” asked Porgy, in a voice that shook. - -“You needn’t mind takin’ it,” the man assured him with a laugh. “It’s -just a summons as witness to the Coroner’s inquest. You knew that -nigger, Crown, didn’t you?” - -He evidently took Porgy’s silence for assent, for he went on. - -“Well, all you got to do is to view the body in the presence of the -Coroner, tell him who it is, and he’ll take down all you say.” - -Porgy essayed speech, failed, tried again, and finally whispered: - -“I gots tuh go an’ look on Crown’ face wid all dem w’ite folks lookin’ -at me. Dat it?” - -His voice was so piteous that the constable reassured him: - -“Oh, cheer up; it’s not so bad. I reckon you’ve seen a dead nigger -before this. It will all be over in a few minutes.” - -“Dey ain’t goin’ be no nigger in dat room ’cept me?” Porgy asked. - -“Just you and Crown, if you still call him one.” - -After a moment Porgy asked: - -“I couldn’t jus’ bring a ’oman wid me? I couldn’t eben carry my--my -’oman?” - -“No,” said the white man_ positively. “Now I’ve got to be gettin’ along, -I reckon. Just come over to the Court House in half an hour, and I’ll -meet you and take you in. Only be sure to come. If you don’t show up -it’s jail for you, you know.” - -For a moment after the man had gone, Porgy sat immovable, with his eyes -on the pavement. Then a sudden change swept over him. He cast one glance -up and down the hard, clean street, walled by its uncompromising, -many-eyed buildings. Then in a panic he clambered into his cart, gave a -cruel twist to the tail of his astonished goat, and commenced a -spasmodic, shambling race up Meeting House Road in the direction in -which he knew that, miles away, the forests lay. - - -§ - -To many, the scene which ensued on the upper Meeting House Road stands -out as an exquisitely humorous episode, to be told and retold with -touching up of high lights and artistic embellishments. To these, in the -eyes of whom the negro is wholly humorous, per se, there was not the -omission of a single conventional and readily recognizable stage -property. - -For, after all, what could have been funnier than an entirely serious -race between a negro in a dilapidated goat-cart, and the municipality’s -shining new patrol wagon, fully officered and clanging its bell for the -crowds to hear as it came. - -The finish took place in the vicinity of the railway yards and -factories, and the street was filled with workmen who smoked against the -walls, or ate their lunch, sitting at the pavement’s edge--grand-stand -seats, as they were quite accurately described in the telling. - -The street cars ran seldom that far out; and Porgy had the thoroughfare -almost entirely to himself. His face wore a demented look, and was -working pitifully. In his panic, he wrung the tail of his unfortunate -beast without mercy. The lunchers along the pavement saw him coming, and -called to friends further along; so that as he came, he was greeted with -shouts of laughter and witty sallies from the crowd. - -Then the wagon appeared, a mere speck in the distance, but sending the -sound of its bell before it as an advertisement of its presence. It grew -rapidly until it reached the cheering crowds. Then it seemed that even -the sedate officers of the law were not above a sly humor of their own, -for the vehicle slackened its pace perceptibly and prolonged the final -moment of capture. - -The big buildings had been left behind, and there lay before Porgy only -the scattered, cheap bungalows of the labor quarters; and beyond, as -elusive and desirable as the white man’s heaven, glimmered the far line -of the woods, misty and beautiful in the pink autumn haze. - -The patrol forged ahead and came to a clanging stop. The officers leapt -out and, amid shouts of laughter from the crowd, lifted wagon, goat and -man into the vehicle. The driver jerked the horse back into its -breechings, swung the wagon with a dramatic snap that was not wasted -upon his gallery, and sent it clanging and rocking back in the -direction from which it had come. - -Porgy fell forward, with his arms thrown out upon the back of the goat, -and buried his face between them in the shaggy, evil-smelling hair. - -The workmen upon the sidewalks cheered and shouted with mirth. Surely it -had been a great day. They would not soon have another laugh to match -it. - - -§ - -When the wagon reached the down-town district, the inquest was over. It -had been a simple matter to secure another witness for the -identification of the body. The jury had made short work of their task, -and had found that Crown had come to his death as the result of a chest -wound at the hands of person or persons unknown. - -Porgy was taken at once to the station house, where the charge of -“Contempt of Court” was formally entered against him on the blotter, and -he was locked up to await trial early the following morning. - -Under the wheezing gas jet, the Recorder looked Porgy over with his -weary glance, brought the tips of his slender fingers together; gave him -“five days,” in his tired drawl, and raised his eyes to the next negro -on the morning’s list. - -They hoisted the outfit, goat and all, into the patrol for the trip to -the jail, thus again brightening a day for a group of light-hearted -Nordics upon the pavement. - -A large, red-faced policeman took his seat at the rear of the wagon. - -“You sure beat all!” he confided to Porgy, with a puzzled frown. -“Runnin’ away like the devil was after you, from bein’ a witness; an’ -now goin’ to jail with a face like Sunday mornin’.” - - -§ - -In the fresh beauty of an early October morning, Porgy returned home. -There were few of his friends about, as work was now plentiful, and most -of those who could earn a day’s wage were up and out. He drove through -the entrance, pulled his goat up short, and looked about him. - -Serena was seated on her bench with a baby in her arms. - -Porgy gave her a long look, and a question commenced to dawn in his -eyes. The child turned in her arms, and his suspicions were confirmed. -It was his baby--his and Bess’s. - -Then Serena looked up and saw him. She arose in great confusion, clasped -the infant to her ample bosom, and, without a word of greeting, stepped -through her doorway. Then, as though struck by an afterthought, she -turned, thrust her head back through the opening, and called loudly: - -“Oh, Maria! hyuh Porgy come home.” - -Then she disappeared and the door slammed shut. - -Mystified and filled with alarm, Porgy turned his vehicle toward the -cook-shop and arrived at the door just as Maria stepped over the -threshold. - -She seated herself on the sill and brought her face level with his. Then -she looked into his eyes. - -What Porgy saw there caused him to call out sharply: - -“Where’s Bess? Tell me, quick, where’s Bess?” - -The big negress did not answer, and after a moment her ponderous face -commenced to shake. - -Porgy beat the side of his wagon with his fist. - -“Where, where--” he began, in a voice that was suddenly shrill. - -But Maria placed a steadying hand over his frantic one and held it -still. - -“Dem dutty dogs got she one day w’en I gone out,” she said in a low, -shaken voice. “She been missin’ yuh an’ berry low in she min’ ’cause she -can’t fin’ out how long yuh is lock up fuh. Dat damn houn’ she knock off -de wharf las’ summer fin’ she like dat an’ git she tuh tek er swalluh ob -licker. Den half a dozen of de mens gang she, an’ mek she drunk.” - -“But wuh she now?” Porgy cried. “I ain’t keer ef she wuz drunk. I want -she now.” - -Maria tried to speak, but her voice refused to do her bidding. She -covered her face with her hands, and her throat worked convulsively. - -Porgy clutched her wrist. “Tell me,” he commanded. “Tell me, now.” - -“De mens all carry she away on de ribber boat,” she sobbed. “Dey leabe -word fuh me dat dey goin’ tek she all de way tuh Sawannah, an’ keep she -dey. Den Serena, she tek de chile, an’ say she is goin’ gib um er -Christian raisin’.” - -Deep sobs stopped Maria’s voice. For a while she sat there, her face -buried in her hands. But Porgy had nothing to say. When she finally -raised her head and looked at him, she was surprised at what she saw. - -The keen autumn sun flooded boldly through the entrance and bathed the -drooping form of the goat, the ridiculous wagon, and the bent figure of -the man in hard, satirical radiance. In its revealing light, Maria saw -that Porgy was an old man. The early tension that had characterized him, -the mellow mood that he had known for one eventful summer, both had -gone; and in their place she saw a face sagged wearily, and the eyes of -age lit only by a faint reminiscent glow from suns and moons that had -looked into them, and had already dropped down the west. - -She looked until she could bear the sight no longer; then she stumbled -into her shop and closed the door, leaving Porgy and the goat alone in -an irony of morning sunlight. - - -THE END - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PORGY *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Porgy</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Edwin DuBose Heyward</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Theodore Nadejen</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: June 8, 2021 [eBook #65566]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Mary Glenn Krause, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PORGY ***</div> -<hr class="full" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_1" id="page_1">{1}</a></span> </p> - -<p class="csns"><big><span class="un"> -PORGY -</span></big><br /> -DU BOSE HEYWARD</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/cover.jpg"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" height="500" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_2" id="page_2">{2}</a></span> </p> - -<p class="cb"><i><span class="un">Books by the Same Author</span></i></p> - -<p class="cb"> -CAROLINA CHANSONS (WITH HERVEY ALLEN)<br /> -SKYLINES AND HORIZONS<br /></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_3" id="page_3">{3}</a></span></p> - -<h1> -<img src="images/porgy.png" -width="350" -alt="=PORGY=" /><br /> -<img src="images/dubose.png" -width="350" -alt="DUBOSE HEYWARD" /> -</h1> - -<p class="cb"> -<img src="images/colophon.png" -width="125" -alt="[Image unavailable.]" /> -<br /> -<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"> -<i>Decorated by</i><br /> -THEODORE NADEJEN<br /> -<br /><br /> -NEW YORK<br /> -GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_4" id="page_4">{4}</a></span><br /> -<br /> -<i>Copyright, 1925,<br /> -By George H. Doran Company</i><br /> -<br /><small> -PORGY<br /> -—B—<br /> -PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA<br /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_5" id="page_5">{5}</a></span><br /> -<br /></small> -<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"> -FOR<br /> -DOROTHY HEYWARD<br /></span> -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_6" id="page_6">{6}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_7" id="page_7">{7}</a></span> </p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"> -<i>Porgy, Maria, and Bess,</i><br /> -<i>Robbins, and Peter, and Crown;</i><br /> -<i>Life was a three-stringed harp</i><br /> -<i>Brought from the woods to town.</i><br /> -<br /> -<i>Marvelous tunes you rang</i><br /> -<i>From passion, and death, and birth,</i><br /> -<i>You who had laughed and wept</i><br /> -<i>On the warm, brown lap of the earth.</i><br /> -<br /> -<i>Now in your untried hands</i><br /> -<i>An instrument, terrible, new,</i><br /> -<i>Is thrust by a master who frowns,</i><br /> -<i>Demanding strange songs of you.</i><br /> -<br /> -<i>God of the White and Black,</i><br /> -<i>Grant us great hearts on the way</i><br /> -<i>That we may understand</i><br /> -<i>Until you have learned to play.</i><br /> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_8" id="page_8">{8}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_9" id="page_9">{9}</a></span> </p> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" -style="margin:1em auto; -max-width: 10em;border:3px double gray;"> -<tr class="c"><td> -<a href="#PART_I">PART I, </a> -<a href="#PART_II">PART II, </a> -<a href="#PART_III">PART III, </a> -<a href="#PART_IV">PART IV, </a> -<a href="#PART_V">PART V, </a> -<a href="#PART_VI">PART VI.</a> -</td></tr> -</table> - -<h3><a name="I" id="I"></a><a name="PART_I" id="PART_I"></a>I</h3> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 479px;"> -<a href="images/i_009.png"> -<img src="images/i_009.png" width="479" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_10" id="page_10">{10}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_11" id="page_11">{11}</a></span> </p> - -<h1>PORGY</h1> - -<h2>PART I</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">P</span>ORGY lived in the Golden Age. Not the Golden Age of a remote and -legendary past; nor yet the chimerical era treasured by every man past -middle life, that never existed except in the heart of youth; but an age -when men, not yet old, were boys in an ancient, beautiful city that time -had forgotten before it destroyed.</p> - -<p>In this city there persisted the Golden Age of many things, and not the -least among them was that of beggary. In those days the profession was -one with a tradition. A man begged, presumably, because he was hungry, -much as a man of more energetic temperament became a stevedore from the -same cause. His plea for help produced the simple reactions of a -generous impulse, a movement of the hand, and the gift of a coin, -instead of the elaborate and terrifying<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_12" id="page_12">{12}</a></span> processes of organized -philanthropy. His antecedents and his mental age were his own affair, -and, in the majority of cases, he was as happily oblivious of one as of -the other.</p> - -<p>Had it all been otherwise, had Porgy come a generation, or even a score -of years, later, there would have been a repetition of the old tragedy -of genius without opportunity. For, as the artist is born with the -vision of beauty, and the tradesman with an eye for barter, so was Porgy -equipped by a beneficent providence for a career of mendicancy. Instead -of the sturdy legs that would have predestined him for the life of a -stevedore on one of the great cotton wharves, he had, when he entered -the world, totally inadequate nether extremities, quick to catch the -eye, and touch the ready sympathy of the passer-by. Either by birth, or -through the application of a philosophy of life, he had acquired a -personality that could not be ignored, one which at the same time -interested and subtly disturbed. There was that about him which -differentiated him from the hordes of fellow practitioners who competed -with him for the notice of the tender-hearted. Where others bid eagerly -for attention, and burst into voluble thanks and blessings, Porgy sat -silent, rapt. There was something<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_13" id="page_13">{13}</a></span> Eastern and mystic about the intense -introspection of his look. He never smiled, and he acknowledged gifts -only by a slow lifting of the eyes that had odd shadows in them. He was -black with the almost purple blackness of unadulterated Congo blood. His -hands were very large and muscular, and, even when flexed idly in his -lap, seemed shockingly formidable in contrast with his frail body. -Unless one were unusually preoccupied at the moment of dropping a coin -in his cup, he carried away in return a very definite, yet somewhat -disquieting, impression: a sense of infinite patience, and beneath it -the vibration of unrealized, but terrific, energy.</p> - -<p>No one knew Porgy’s age. No one remembered when he first made his -appearance among the ranks of the local beggars. A woman who had married -twenty years before remembered him because he had been seated on the -church steps, and had given her a turn when she went in.</p> - -<p>Once a child saw Porgy, and said suddenly, “What is he waiting for?” -That expressed him better than anything else. He was waiting, waiting -with the concentrating intensity of a burning-glass.</p> - -<p>As consistent in the practice of his profession as any of the business -and professional<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_14" id="page_14">{14}</a></span> men who were his most valued customers, Porgy was to -be found any morning, by the first arrival in the financial district, -against the wall of the old apothecary shop that stands at the corner of -King Charles Street and The Meeting House Road. Long custom, reinforced -by an eye for the beautiful, had endeared that spot to him. He would sit -there in the cool of the early hours and look across the narrow -thoroughfare into the green freshness of Jasper Square, where the -children flew their kites, and played hide-and-seek among the shrubs. -Then, when the morning advanced, and the sun poured its semi-tropical -heat between the twin rows of brick, to lie impounded there, like a -stagnant pool of flame, he would experience a pleasant atavistic calm, -and would doze lightly under the terrific heat, as only a full-blooded -negro can. Toward afternoon a slender blue shadow would commence to grow -about him that would broaden with great rapidity, cool the baking flags, -and turn the tide of customers home before his empty cup.</p> - -<p>But Porgy best loved the late afternoons, when the street was quiet -again, and the sunlight, deep with color, shot level over the low roof -of the apothecary shop to paint the cream stucco on the opposite -dwelling a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_15" id="page_15">{15}</a></span> ruddy gold and turn the old rain-washed tiles on the roof to -burnished copper. Then the slender, white-clad lady who lived in the -house would throw open the deep French windows of the second story -drawing-room, and sitting at the piano, where Porgy could see her dimly, -she would play on through the dusk until old Peter drove by with his -wagon to carry him home.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>Porgy had but one vice. With his day reduced to the dead level of the -commonplace, he was by night an inveterate gambler. Each evening his -collections were carefully divided into a minimum for room and food, and -the remainder for the evening’s game. Seen in the light of the smoking -kerosene lamp, with the circle of excited faces about him, he was no -longer the beggar in the dust. His stagnant blood leaped to sudden life. -He was the peer of the great, hulking fellows who swung cotton bales and -stank intolerably from labor in the fertilizer mills. He even knew that -he had won their grudging respect, for he had a way of coaxing and -wheedling the little ivory cubes that forced them to respond. The loud -“Oh, my Baby,” and explosive “Come seben,” of his fellow-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_16" id="page_16">{16}</a></span>gamesters -seldom brought silver when he experienced that light, keen feeling and -thought of the new, soft-spoken words to say. In those hours he lost his -look of living in the future. While the ivories flew, he existed in an -intense and burning present.</p> - -<p>One Saturday night in late April, with the first premonitory breath of -summer in the air, Porgy sat in the gaming circle that had gathered -before his door in Catfish Row, and murmured softly to his gods of -chance. All day he had been conscious of a vague unrest. There had been -no breeze from the bay, and from his seat outside the apothecary shop -the sky showed opaque blue-grey and bore heavily upon the town. Towards -evening, a thunder-head had lifted over the western horizon and growled -ominously; but it had passed, leaving the air hot, vitiated, and moist. -The negroes had come in for the night feeling irritable, and, instead of -the usual Saturday night of song and talk, the rooms were for the most -part dark and silent, and the court deserted.</p> - -<p>The game started late, and there were few players. Opposite Porgy, -sitting upon his haunches, and casting his dice in moody silence, was a -negro called Crown. He was a stevedore, had the body of a gladiator, and -a bad name. His cotton-hook, hanging from<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_17" id="page_17">{17}</a></span> his belt by a thong, gleamed -in the lamp-light, and rang a clear note on the flags when he leant -forward to throw. Crown had been drinking with Robbins, who sat next to -him, and the air was rank with the effluvium of vile corn whisky. -Robbins was voluble, and as usual, when in liquor, talked incessantly of -his wife and children, of whom he was inordinately proud. He was a good -provider, and, except for his Saturday night drink and game, of steady -habits.</p> - -<p>“Dat lady ob mine is a born white-folks nigger,” he boasted. “She fambly -belong tuh Gob’ner Rutledge. Ain’t yer see Miss Rutledge sheself come -tuh visit she when she sick? An’ dem chillen ob mine, dem is raise wid -<i>ways</i>.”</p> - -<p>“Yo’ bes sabe yo’ talk for dem damn dice. Dice ain’t gots no patience -wid ’oman!” cut in a young negro of the group.</p> - -<p>“Da’s de trut’,” called another. “Dey is all two after de same nigger -money. Dat mek um can’t git ’long.”</p> - -<p>“Shet yo’ damn mout’ an’ t’row!” growled Crown.</p> - -<p>Robbins, taken aback, rolled the dice hastily. Scarcely had they settled -before Crown scooped them fiercely into his great hand, and, swearing -foully at them, sent them tumbling out across the faintly illumi<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_18" id="page_18">{18}</a></span>nated -circle, to lose them on the first cast. Then Porgy took them up -tenderly, and held them for a moment cupped in his muscular, -slim-fingered hand.</p> - -<p>“Oh, little stars, roll me some light!” he sang softly; made a pass, and -won. “Roll me a sun an’ moon!” he urged; and again the cubes did his -bidding.</p> - -<p>“Porgy witch dem dice,” Crown snarled, as he drained his flask and sent -it shattering against the pavement.</p> - -<p>Under the beetling walls of the tenement the game went swiftly forward. -In a remote room several voices were singing drowsily, as though -burdened by the oppression of the day. In another part of the building -some one was picking a guitar monotonously, chord after chord, until the -dark throbbed like an old wound. But the players were oblivious of all -except the splash of orange light that fell upon the flags, and the -living little cubes that flashed or dawdled upon it, according to the -mood of the hand that propelled them. Peter, the old wagoner, sat -quietly smoking in Porgy’s doorway, and looked on with the indulgent -smile of tolerant age. Once when Crown lost heavily, and turned snarling -upon Robbins with, “T’row dem damn dice fair, nigger,” he cautioned -mildly, “Frien’ an<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_19" id="page_19">{19}</a></span>’ licker an’ dice ain’t meant tuh ’sociate. Yo’ mens -bes’ go slow.”</p> - -<p>Then, in a flash, it happened.</p> - -<p>Robbins rolled again, called the dice, and retrieved them before Crown’s -slow wits got the count, then swept the heap of coins into his pocket.</p> - -<p>With a low snarl, straight from his crouching position, Crown hurled his -tremendous weight forward, shattering the lamp, and bowling Robbins over -against the wall. Then they were up and facing each other. The oil from -the broken lamp settled between two flags and blazed up ruddily. Crown -was crouched for a second spring, with lips drawn from gleaming teeth. -The light fell strong upon thrusting jaw, and threw the sloping brow -into shadow. One hand touched the ground lightly, balancing the massive -torso. The other arm held the cotton-hook forward, ready, like a -prehensile claw. In comparison Robbins was pitifully slender and -inadequate. There was a single desperate moment of indecision; then he -took his only chance. Like a thrown spear, he hurled his lithe body -forward under the terrifying hook, and clinched. Down, down, down the -centuries they slid. Clothes could not hold them. Miraculously the -tawny, ridged bodies tore through the thin<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_20" id="page_20">{20}</a></span> coverings. Bronze ropes and -bars slid and wove over great shoulders. Bright, ruddy planes leaped out -on backs in the fire flare, then were gulped by sliding shadows. A -heady, bestial stench absorbed all other odors. A fringe of shadowy -watchers crept from cavernous doorways, sensed it, and commenced to wail -eerily. Backward and forward, in a space no larger than a small room, -the heaving, inseparable mass rocked and swayed. Breath labored like -steam. At times the fused single body would thrust out a rigid arm, or -the light would point out, for one hideous second, a tortured, mad face. -Again the mass would rise as though propelled a short distance from the -earth, topple, and crash down upon the pavement with a jarring impact.</p> - -<p>Such terrific expenditure of human energy could not last. The end came -quickly, and with startling suddenness. Crown broke his adversary’s -weakening hold, and held him the length of one mighty arm. The other -swung the cotton-hook downward. Then he dropped his victim, and -swaggered drunkenly toward the street. Even to the most inexperienced -the result would have been obvious. Robbins was dead: horribly dead.</p> - -<p>A scream rose to a crescendo of unendurable agony, and a woman broke -through the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_21" id="page_21">{21}</a></span> circle of spectators and cast herself upon the body. The -fire flickered to a faint, blue flame, unearthly, terrifying.</p> - -<p>Porgy shivered violently, whimpered in the gloom; then drew himself -across his threshold and closed the door.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>Catfish Row, in which Porgy lived, was not a row at all, but a great -brick structure that lifted its three stories about the three sides of a -court. The fourth side was partly closed by a high wall, surmounted by -jagged edges of broken glass set firmly in old lime plaster, and pierced -in its center by a wide entrance-way. Over the entrance there still -remained a massive grill of Italian wrought iron, and a battered capital -of marble surmounted each of the lofty gate-posts. The court itself was -paved with large flag-stones, which even beneath the accumulated grime -of a century, glimmered with faint and varying pastel shades in direct -sunlight. The south wall, which was always in shadow, was lichened from -pavement to rotting gutter; and opposite, the northern face, unbroken -except by rows of small-paned windows, showed every color through its -flaking stucco, and, in summer, a steady blaze of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_22" id="page_22">{22}</a></span> scarlet from rows of -geraniums that bloomed in old vegetable tins upon every window-sill.</p> - -<p>Within the high-ceilinged rooms, with their battered colonial mantels -and broken decorations of Adam designs in plaster, governors had come -and gone, and ambassadors of kings had schemed and danced. Now before -the gaping entrance lay only a narrow, cobbled street, and beyond, a -tumbled wharf used by negro fishermen. Only the bay remained unchanged. -Beyond the litter of the wharf, it stretched to the horizon, taking its -mood from the changing skies; always different—invariably the same.</p> - -<p>Directly within the entrance of the Row, and having upon the street a -single bleary window, wherein were displayed plates of fried fish, was -the “cook-shop” which catered to the residents of the tenement.</p> - -<p>Porgy’s room was opposite the shop and enjoyed the great advantage of -having a front window that commanded the street and harbor, and an inner -door where he could sit and enter into the life of the court. To him, -the front window signified adventure, the door—home.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>It was Porgy’s custom, when the day’s work was done and he had exchanged -a part<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_23" id="page_23">{23}</a></span> of his collections for his evening meal of fish and bread, to -sit at his front window and watch the world pass by. The great cotton -wharves lay up the river, beyond the Row; and when the cotton season was -on, he loved to sit in the dusk and see the drays go by. They would -sweep into view with a loud thunder of wheels on the cobbles; and from -his low seat they loomed huge and mysterious in the gathering dark. -Sometimes there would be twenty of them in a row, with great -swiftly-stepping mules, crouched figures of drivers, and bales piled -toweringly above them. Always Porgy experienced a vague and not -unpleasant fear when the drays swung past. There was power, vast, -awe-inspiring; it could so easily crush him were he in its path. But -here, safe within his window, he could watch it with perfect safety. At -times when the train was unusually long, the sustained, rhythmic thunder -and the sweep of form after form past his window produced an odd -pleasurable detachment in his mind, and pictures of strange things and -places would brighten and fade. But the night following the killing, the -window was closed, and through the open door behind him beat the rhythm -of a dirge from Robbins’ room.</p> - -<p>“What de matter, chillen?” came the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_24" id="page_24">{24}</a></span> strophe. And the antistrophe -swelled to the answer:</p> - -<p>“Pain gots de body, an’ I can’t stan’ still.”</p> - -<p>Porgy sat upon his floor counting the day’s collection: one dollar and -twenty cents. It had been a good day. Perhaps the sorrow that had -brooded over his spirit had quickened the sympathy of the passers-by.</p> - -<p>“What de matter, Sister?”</p> - -<p>“Jedus gots our brudder, an’ I can’t stan’ still.”</p> - -<p>Ever since Porgy had come home the air had swung to the rhythm of the -chant. He divided his pile into equal portions, and commenced to pocket -one. The burden swayed out again.</p> - -<p>“Pain gots de body, an’ I can’t stan’ still.”</p> - -<p>He hesitated a moment, poured all the coins together again, selected a -twenty-five-cent piece which he put into his pocket, and, taking the -remainder in his hand, went out and drew himself across the short -distance to the room of mourning.</p> - -<p>The body lay upon a bed in the corner of the room, sheeted to the eyes, -and upon its breast rested a large blue saucer. Standing in a circle -about the bed, or seated upon the floor, backs to the wall, were a score -of negroes, some singing, and others swaying,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_25" id="page_25">{25}</a></span> patting the floor with -their large feet. For not a single moment since the body had been laid -out had the rhythm slackened. With each hour it gathered weight until it -seemed to swing the massive structure.</p> - -<p>Porgy had heard that Robbins had left no burial insurance, the customary -Saturday night festivities having consumed the slender margin between -daily wage and immediate need. Now, at sight of the saucer, he knew that -rumor had not erred. It had been an old custom among penniless negroes -to prepare the corpse thus, then to sing dirges until neighborhood -sympathy provided the wherewithal for proper interment. Recent years had -introduced the insurance agent and the “buryin’ lodge,” and the old -custom had fallen into disuse. It had even become a grievous reproach to -have a member of the family a “saucer-buried nigger.”</p> - -<p>At the foot of the bed, bowed by the double weight of sorrow and -disgrace, the widow sat swaying to the rhythm like a beach palm in the -ebb and flow of a bleak sea wind.</p> - -<p>The sight of her grief, the close room, the awful presence beneath the -sheet, and the unceasing pulse of sound that beat against his ears, all -contributed to stir a strange desire into being within Porgy. Suddenly -he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_26" id="page_26">{26}</a></span> threw his head back and wailed long and quaveringly. In rushed a -vast feeling of relief. He wailed again, emptied his handful of small -coins into the saucer, and sank to the floor at the head of the bed. -Presently he commenced to croon with the others, and a sense of -exaltation flooded his being, compelling him from the despair of the -dirge to a more triumphant measure.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I gots a little brudder in de new grabe-yahd. What outshine de -sun,” he sang.</p> - -<p>Without missing the beat, the chorus shifted: “An’ I’ll meet um in the -primus lan’.”</p> - -<p>Then came a rude interruption. A short yellow negro bustled into the -room. His voice was low, oily, and penetrating. He was dressed entirely -in black, and had an air of great importance. The song fell away to -scarcely more than a throbbing silence. The man crossed the room to -where the widow sat huddled at the foot of the bed, and touched her on -the shoulder. She raised a face like a burned out ember.</p> - -<p>“How de saucer stan’ now, my sister?” he whispered, at the same time -casting an appraising glance toward the subject of his inquiry.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_27" id="page_27">{27}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Dere ain’t but fifteen dollar,” she replied in a flat, despairing -voice.</p> - -<p>“An’ he gots tuh git buried termorrer,” called an awed voice, “or de -boahd ob healt’ will take um, an’ give um tuh de students.”</p> - -<p>The widow’s scream shrilled wildly. She rose to her knees and clutched -the man’s hand between both of hers. “Oh, fuh Gawd’s sake bury um in de -grabe-yahd. I goin’ tuh work Monday, and I swear tuh Gawd I goin’ tuh -pay yuh ebery cent.”</p> - -<p>For a second even the rhythm ceased, leaving an aching suspense in the -air. Watchers waited tensely. Wide eyes, riveted on the man’s face, -pleaded silently. Presently his professional manner slipped from him. -“All right, Sister,” he said simply. “Wid de box, an’ one ca’age it will -cost me more dan twenty-five. But I’ll see yuh t’rough. Yuh can all be -ready at eight tumorruh. It’s a long trip tuh de cemetery.”</p> - -<p>The woman relaxed silently across the foot of the bed, her head between -her out-flung arms. Then from the narrow confines of the room, the song -beat up and out triumphantly:</p> - -<p>“Oh, I gots a little brudder in de new grabe-yahd. What outshine de -sun!”</p> - -<p>The rhythm swelled, and voices in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_28" id="page_28">{28}</a></span> court and upper rooms took it up, -until the deeply-rooted old walls seemed to rock and surge with the -sweep of it.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>In the cool of the early morning, the procession took its departure for -the cemetery that lay beyond the city limits to the north. First went -the dilapidated hearse, with its rigid wooden plumes, and faded black -velvet draperies that nodded and swayed inside the plate glass panels. -Then followed the solitary carriage, in which could be seen massed black -accentuated by several pairs of white cotton gloves held to lowered -eyes. Behind the carriage came the mourners in a motley procession of -wagons and buggies that had been borrowed for the occasion.</p> - -<p>Porgy drove with Peter, and four women, seated on straight chairs in the -wagon behind them, completed their company. From time to time a -long-drawn wail would rise from one of the conveyances, to be taken up -and passed back from wagon to wagon like a dismal echo.</p> - -<p>Moving from the negro district into the wide thoroughfare of Meeting -House Road, with its high buildings and its white faces that massed and -scattered on the pavements,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_29" id="page_29">{29}</a></span> the cortége appeared almost grotesque, with -the odd fusion of comedy and tragedy so inextricably a part of negro -life in its deep moments.</p> - -<p>The fat German who kept the shop on the corner of King Charles Street -and Summer Road, called his clerk from the depths of the building, and -their stomachs shook with laughter. But the little, dark Russian Jew in -the next shop, who dealt in abominably smelling clothing, gave them a -reproving look, and disappeared indoors.</p> - -<p>The cemetery lay several miles beyond the city limits. The lot was bare -of trees, but among the graves many bright flowering weeds masked the -ugliness of the troubled earth. To the eastward a wide marsh stretched -away to a far, bright line of sea. Westward, ploughed fields swept out -to a distant forest of yellow pine. From the sea to the far tree tops, -the sky swung a dizzy arch of thin blue, high in the center of which -several buzzards hung motionless, watching.</p> - -<p>In the vast emptiness of the morning the little procession crawled out -to the edge of the broken wooden fence that marked the enclosure, and -stopped.</p> - -<p>By the time the last wagon had arrived, the cheap pine casket was -resting upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_30" id="page_30">{30}</a></span> battens over the grave, and the preacher, robed in white, -was preparing to commence the service.</p> - -<p>The mourners gathered close about the grave.</p> - -<p>“Death, ain’t yuh gots no shame?” called a clear, high, soprano voice; -and immediately the mortal embodiment of infinite sorrow broke and -swayed about the grave in the funeral chant. Three times the line swung -its curve of song, shrill, keen, agonizing; then it fell away to a -heart-wrenching minor on the burden:</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"> -“Take dis man an’ gone—gone.<br /> - Death, ain’t yuh gots no shame?”<br /> -</div></div> - -<p>When the singing ceased, the burial service commenced, the preacher -extemporizing fluently. Taking his rhythm from the hymn, he poured his -words along its interminable reiteration until the cumulative effect -rocked the entire company.</p> - -<p>The final moment of the ritual arrived. The lid was removed from the -casket, and the mourners were formed into line to pass and look upon the -face of the dead. A very old, bent negress went first. She stooped, then -suddenly, with a shriek of anguish, cast herself beside the coffin.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_31" id="page_31">{31}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Tell Peter tuh hold de do’ open fuh me. I’s comin’ soon!” she cried.</p> - -<p>“Yes, Gawd, goin’ soon,” responded a voice in the crowd. Others pressed -about the grave, and the air was stabbed by scream on scream. Grief -spent itself freely, terrifyingly.</p> - -<p>Slowly the clashing sounds merged into the regular measure of a -spiritual. Beautiful and poignant it rose, swelling out above the sounds -of falling earth as the grave was filled:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“What yuh goin’ ter do when yuh<br /></span> -<span class="i3">come out de wilderness,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Come out de wilderness,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Come out de wilderness;<br /></span> -<span class="i1">What yuh goin’ ter do when yuh<br /></span> -<span class="i3">come out de wilderness<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Leanin’ on my Lord.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Leanin’ on my Lord,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Leanin’ on my Lord,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Leanin’ on my Lord<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Who died on Calvary.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>The music faded away in vague, uncertain minors. The mood of the crowd -changed almost tangibly. There was an air of restless apprehension. -Nervous glances<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_32" id="page_32">{32}</a></span> were directed toward the entrance. Peter, always -sagacious, unless taken unawares, had conferred in advance with Porgy -about this moment. When he had helped him from the wagon, he had -stationed him just inside the fence, where he could be lifted quickly -into the road.</p> - -<p>“De las’ man in de grabe-yahd goin’ tuh be de nex’ one tuh git buried,” -he had reminded his friend.</p> - -<p>Now, as the final shovelful of earth was thrown upon the grave, he came -running to Porgy, and lifted him quickly into the road. Behind them -broke a sudden earth-shaking burst of sound, as of the stampeding of -many cattle, and past them the mourners swept, stumbling, fighting for -room; some assisting weaker friends, others fighting savagely to be free -of the enclosure. In the center of the crowd, plunging forward with -robes flying, was the preacher. In an incredibly short time the lot was -cleared. Then, from a screening bush near the grave, arose the old -negress who had been the first to wail out her grief. She had lain there -forgotten, overcome by the storm of her emotion. She tottered feebly -into the road.</p> - -<p>“Nebber you min’, Sister,” the preacher assured her comfortingly. “Gawd -always lub de righteous.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_33" id="page_33">{33}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>Dazed, and much pleased at the attention that she was receiving, while -still happily unmindful of its cause, the old woman smiled a vague -smile, and was hoisted into the wagon.</p> - -<p>During the funeral the sun had disappeared behind clouds that had blown -in swiftly from the sea, and now a scurry of large drops swept over the -vehicles, and trailed away across the desolate graves.</p> - -<p>“Dat’s all right now fer Robbins,” commented Porgy. “Gawd done sen’ he -rain already fuh wash he feet-steps offen dis eart’.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, Brudder!” contributed a woman’s voice; and, “Amen, my Jedus!” -added another.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>In the early afternoon of the day of the funeral, Porgy sat in his -doorway communing with Peter. The old man was silent for awhile, his -grizzled head bowed, and an expression of brooding tenderness upon his -lined face.</p> - -<p>“Robbins war a good man,” he reflected at length, “an’ dat nigger, -Crown, war a killer, an’ fuhebber gettin’ intuh trouble. Yet, dere lie -Robbins, wid he wife an<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_34" id="page_34">{34}</a></span>’ fadderless chillen; an’ Crown done gone he -ways tuh do de same t’ing ober again somewheres else.”</p> - -<p>“Gone fuh true. I reckon he done lose now on Kittiwar Islan’, in dem -palmettuh t’icket; an’ de rope ain’t nebber make fuh ketch um an’ hang -um.” Porgy stopped suddenly, and motioned with his head toward someone -who had just entered the court. The new arrival was a white man of -stocky build, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, and a goatee. He was swinging -a heavy cane, and he crossed the court directly and paused before the -two. For a moment he stood looking down at them with brows drawn -fiercely together. Then he drew back his coat, exhibiting a police -badge, and a heavy revolver in a breast holster.</p> - -<p>“You killed Robbins,” he shot out suddenly at Peter. “And I’m going to -hang you for it. Come along now!” and he reached out and laid a firm -hand upon the old man’s shoulder.</p> - -<p>Peter shook violently, and his eyes rolled in his head. He made an -ineffectual effort to speak, tried again, and finally said, “<span class="lftspc">’</span>Fore Gawd, -Boss, I ain’t nebber done it.”</p> - -<p>Like a flash, the pistol was out of its holster, and pointing between -his eyes. “Who did it, then?” snapped the man.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_35" id="page_35">{35}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Crown, Boss. I done see him do um,” Peter cried in utter panic.</p> - -<p>The man laughed shortly. “I thought so,” he said. Then he turned to -Porgy.</p> - -<p>“You saw it too, eh?”</p> - -<p>There was panic in Porgy’s face, and in his lap his hands had clinched -upon each other. But his eyes were fixed upon the paving. He drew a deep -breath, and waited.</p> - -<p>A flare of anger swept the face above him. “Come. Out with it. I don’t -want to have to put the law on you.”</p> - -<p>Porgy’s only answer was a slight tremor that shook the hands in his lap. -The detective’s face darkened, and sweat showed under his hat-brim. -Suddenly his temper bolted.</p> - -<p>“Look at me, you damned nigger!” he shouted.</p> - -<p>Slowly the sitting figure before him relaxed, almost it seemed, muscle -by muscle. At last the hands fell apart, and lay flexed and idle. -Finally Porgy raised eyes that had become hard and impenetrable as onyx. -They met the angry glare that beat down upon them without flinching. -After a long moment, he spoke slowly, and with great quietness.</p> - -<p>“I ain’t know nuttin’ ’bout um. I been<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_36" id="page_36">{36}</a></span> inside, asleep on my bed, wid de -do’ closed.”</p> - -<p>“You’re a damn liar,” the man snapped.</p> - -<p>He shrilled a whistle, and two policemen entered.</p> - -<p>“He saw the killing,” the detective said, indicating Peter. “Take him -along, and lock him up as a material witness.”</p> - -<p>“How about the cripple?” asked one of the officers.</p> - -<p>“He could not have helped seeing it,” the man said sourly. “That’s his -room right there. But I can’t make him come through. But it don’t -matter. One’s enough to hang Crown, if we ever get him. Come, get the -old man in the wagon.”</p> - -<p>The policeman lifted the shaking old negro to his feet. “Come along, -Uncle. It ain’t going to be as bad for you as Crown, anyway,” encouraged -one of them. Then the little party passed out of the entrance, leaving -Porgy alone.</p> - -<p>From the street sounded the shrill gong of the patrol wagon, followed by -the beat of swiftly receding hoofs upon the cobbles.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>Ten days had passed since the detective had taken Peter away. For a week -the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_37" id="page_37">{37}</a></span> wagon had waited under the tottering shed, and the dejected old -horse had subsisted upon a varied diet brought to him by the friends of -his absent master. Then a man had come and taken the outfit away. In -answer to the protests of the negroes, he had exhibited a contract, -dated three years previous, by which Peter was to pay two dollars a week -for an indefinite period, on an exorbitant purchase price. Failure to -pay any installment would cause the property to revert to the seller. It -all looked thoroughly legal. And so the dilapidated old rig rattled over -the cobbles and departed.</p> - -<p>Then the man from the installment furniture house came. He was a -vile-mouthed, bearded Teuton, and swore so fiercely that no one dared to -protest when he loaded Peter’s furniture on his truck and drove away.</p> - -<p>Now there remained in a corner of Porgy’s room, where he had taken them -into custody, only a battered leather trunk, a chromo of “The Great -Emancipator,” and a bundle of old clothes; mute reminders of their -kindly and gentle old owner.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_38" id="page_38">{38}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_39" id="page_39">{39}</a></span> </p> - -<h3><a name="II" id="II"></a><a name="PART_II" id="PART_II"></a>II</h3> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 397px;"> -<a href="images/i_039.png"> -<img src="images/i_039.png" width="397" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_40" id="page_40">{40}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_41" id="page_41">{41}</a></span> </p> - -<h2>PART II</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HE languor of a Southern May was in the air. It was a season dear to -the heart of a negro. Work on the wharves was slowing down, and the men -were putting in only two or three days a week. There were always some of -them lying about the court, basking in the sun, laughing, and telling -stories while they waited for their women to come from the “white -folks’<span class="lftspc">”</span> kitchens, with their full dinner pails.</p> - -<p>Near the entrance, the stevedores usually lounged, their great size -differentiating them from most of the other men. They had bright -bandanas about their thick necks, and under their blue cotton shirts -moved broad, flat backs that could heft a five hundred pound cotton -bale. Earning more money than the others, and possessing vast physical -strength in a world of brute force, they lorded it swaggeringly about -the court; taking the women that they wanted, and dressing them -gorgeously in the clashing crimsons and purples that they loved.</p> - -<p>Grief over the loss of Robbins had stormed itself out at the funeral. -Peter’s ill<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_42" id="page_42">{42}</a></span> fortune still occasioned general comment, but slight -concern to the individual. There was an air of gaiety about. The scarlet -of the geraniums was commencing to flicker in a run of windy flame on -each window sill; and from the bay came the smell of salt air blown -across young marsh-grass.</p> - -<p>At the wharf, across the narrow street, the fishermen were discharging -strings of gleaming whiting and porgy. Vegetable sloops, blowing up from -the Sea Islands, with patched and tawny sails, broke the flat cobalt of -the inner harbor with the cross-wash of their creamy wakes.</p> - -<p>Through the back door of the cook-shop Maria, the huge proprietress, -could be seen cutting shark-steaks from a four-foot hammerhead that one -of the fishermen had given her. All in all, it was a season for the good -things of life, to be had now for scarcely more than the asking.</p> - -<p>Only Porgy sat lonely and disconsolate in his doorway and watched the -sunlight creep up the eastern wall until it faded to a faint red at the -top, then the blue dusk grew under the wharf, and swirled through the -street and court. He had not been able to get to his stand since Peter’s -departure; and the small store of coins, which he kept under a loose -brick in his hearth, was nearing ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_43" id="page_43">{43}</a></span>haustion. Also, he missed his old -friend keenly and could not enter into the light-hearted life about him.</p> - -<p>Presently two women entered. Porgy saw that they were Robbins’ widow, -and her sister, who now shared her room. He had been awaiting their -coming eagerly, as they had left in the early afternoon to carry -bed-clothing and food to the jail for Peter.</p> - -<p>“How yuh fin’ um, Sister?” he hailed.</p> - -<p>The younger woman paused, standing in the shadow, and the widow lowered -herself to a seat beside Porgy. She had put her grief aside, and gone -resolutely about her task of earning a living for the three children.</p> - -<p>“I can’t puzzle dis t’ing out,” she said after a while. “De old man -ain’t done nuttin’, an’ dey done gots um lock up like a chicken t’ief. -Dey say dey gots tuh keep um till dat nigger Crown get ketch; an, Gawd -knows when dat debble ob a t’ing goin’ tuh happen.”</p> - -<p>“It sho pay nigger tuh go blin’ in dis world,” contributed the young -woman. “Porgy ain’t gots much leg, but he sho got sense.”</p> - -<p>After a moment of reflection, Porgy replied: “Sense do berry well; but -he can’t lift no weight.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_44" id="page_44">{44}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>A big stevedore was crossing the court, his body moving easily with the -panther-like flow of enormous muscular power under absolute control.</p> - -<p>The beggar’s eyes became wistful.</p> - -<p>“Sense gots power tuh take a t’ing atter yuh gits dere,” he said. “But -he nebber puts bittle in a belly what can’t leabe he restin’ place. What -I goin’ do now sence Peter gone, an’ I can’t git on de street?”</p> - -<p>“Pray, Brudder, pray,” said the widow devoutly. “Ain’t yuh see Gawd done -soffen de haht of dat yalluh buryin’ ondehtakuh attuh I done pray tuh -him fuh a whole day an’ night? Gawd gots leg fuh de cripple.”</p> - -<p>“Bless de Lord!” ejaculated the young woman.</p> - -<p>“An’ he gots comfort fuh de widder.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, my Jedus!” crooned Porgy, beginning to sway.</p> - -<p>“An’ food fuh de fadderless.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Lord!”</p> - -<p>“An’ he goin’ raise dis poor nigger out de dus’.”</p> - -<p>“Allelujah!”</p> - -<p>“An’ set um in de seat ob de righteous.”</p> - -<p>“Amen, my Sister!”</p> - -<p>For a little while the three figures, showing now only as denser shadows -in a world of shade, swayed slowly from side to side.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_45" id="page_45">{45}</a></span> Then, without -saying a word, Porgy drew himself across his threshold, and closed the -door very softly.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>It was not yet day when Porgy awakened suddenly. His eyes were wide, and -his face was working with unwonted emotion. In the faint light that -penetrated his bleared window from a street lamp, he made his way to the -hearth, and removed the brick from his secret depository. With feverish -haste he counted his little store, placing the coins in a row before -him. Then with the utmost care he recounted them, placing them in little -piles, one for the coppers, one for the nickels, and one for the dimes. -When he had fully satisfied himself as to the extent of his wealth, his -tension relaxed, and, tying the money in a rag which he tore from his -bed-clothing, he closed his hand firmly upon it, crawled back into bed, -and immediately fell asleep.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>Two days later, Porgy drove his chariot out through the wide entrance -into a land of romance and adventure. He was seated<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_46" id="page_46">{46}</a></span> with the utmost -gravity in an inverted packing-case that proclaimed with unconscious -irony the virtues of a well-known toilet soap. Beneath the box two solid -lop-sided wheels turned heavily. Before him, between a pair of -improvised shafts, a patriarchal goat tugged with the dogged persistence -of age which has been placed upon its mettle, and flaunted an -intolerable stench in the face of the complaisant and virtuous soap box.</p> - -<p>As oblivious of the mirth-provoking quality of his appearance, as he was -of a smell to which custom had inured him, Porgy turned his equipage -daringly into a new thoroughfare, and drove through a street where high, -bright buildings stood between wide gardens, and where many ladies -passed and re-passed on the sidewalks, or in glittering carriages.</p> - -<p>But the magic that had come to pass, even in the triumph of that first -morning, stirred vague doubts and misgivings within him. He noticed that -while he occasioned slight comment in the negro quarter, no sooner had -he entered the white zone, than people commenced to pass him with -averted faces, and expressions that struggled between pity and laughter. -When he finally reached his old stand before the apothecary shop, these -misgivings crystallized into a definite fear.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_47" id="page_47">{47}</a></span></p> - -<p>Several of his clients happened to be passing the shop together. One of -them was clerk to an apothecary further down the street. He seized his -nose with one hand, while he pointed at Porgy with the other. Then all -seized their noses, shaking with laughter, and waited to see what would -happen.</p> - -<p>Porgy looked his outfit over carefully. Certainly it was working with -the utmost satisfaction. Somewhat mystified, he tied the ancient animal -to a post and, with great gravity, swung himself out of his wagon, -across the pavement, and to his old stand.</p> - -<p>The boys who had laughed stood nearby, and were joined by others, until -soon there was quite a group.</p> - -<p>Presently here issued from the shop the loud voice of the proprietor: -“Oh, Mary, come quick, and bring the broom. Something has died again.” -Then followed the sound of boxes being overturned, while dust from a -prodigious sweeping bellied in clouds from the door. Then the -apothecary, very red in the face, came out for air, and found the goat. -The burst of laughter that greeted him increased his irritation. -Brandishing the broom, and in no uncertain language, he drove Porgy from -his door.</p> - -<p>But the bystanders had so enjoyed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_48" id="page_48">{48}</a></span> joke at the apothecary’s expense, -and were feeling in such high good humor, that when Porgy had an -opportunity to appraise his collections, he found that they amounted to -more than he frequently got from a whole day of patient waiting.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>It is impossible to conceive of a more radical change than that brought -about in Porgy’s life by his new emancipation. From his old -circumstances which had conspired to anchor him always to one spot, he -was now in the grip of new forces that as inevitably resulted in -constant change of scene. Soon he became quite a metropolitan, and might -have been seen in any part of the city, either sitting in his wagon at -the curb, or, if the residents of the locality seemed lenient in their -attitude toward goats, disembarking, and trying his luck in the strip of -shade along the wall.</p> - -<p>In those days, everyone tolerated Porgy—for a while. He had become “a -character.” The other beggars gnashed their teeth, but were powerless.</p> - -<p>On certain days he would turn to the south when he left the court, and -soon would emerge into a land of such beauty that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_49" id="page_49">{49}</a></span> never lost the -illusion that it was unreal. No one seemed to work in that country, -except the happy, well-clothed negroes who frequently came to back gates -when he passed, and gave him tender morsels from the white folks’ -kitchens. The great, gleaming houses looked out at him with kindly eyes -that peered between solid walls of climbing roses. Ladies on the deep -piazzas would frequently send a servant running out to give him a coin -and speed him on his way.</p> - -<p>Before the houses and the rose-trellises stretched a broad drive, and -beyond its dazzling belt of crushed shell the harbor lay between its -tawny islands, like a sapphire upon a sailor’s weathered hand. Sometimes -Porgy would steal an hour from the daily rounds, pause there, and watch -a great, blunt-nosed steamer heave slowly out of the unknown, to come to -rest with a sigh of spent steam, and a dusty thundering of released -anchor chains.</p> - -<p>“Gawd sho gots a long arm,” he would murmur; or, “Porgy, yo’ sho is a -little somethin’ aftuh all.”</p> - -<p>Then there would be other days when he would repair to the narrow retail -street, with its unbelievable windows, and drawing near to the curb, -between the tall carriages of the shoppers would fall heir to the -pen<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_50" id="page_50">{50}</a></span>nies which they got with their change, and which were of no value to -such as they.</p> - -<p>Always kind hands dropped coins in his cup, and sped him on. They were -great days for Porgy. And great were the nights when he would tell of -his adventures to the envious circle that gathered in the dusk of the -court.</p> - -<p>But Porgy was by nature a dreamer, and there were times even in those -days, when his mind returned with wistful longing to the old -uninterrupted hours when he used to sit, lost in meditation, under the -unmarked drift of time. Some day, he would tell himself, there would -come one with a compassion so great that he would give both Porgy and -the goat place by his doorstep. Then life would be perfect indeed.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>June, and the cotton season was over. The last tramp steamer had faded -into the horizon. Great sheds that linked land and sea lay empty and -dark, and through their cavernous depths echoed the thud and suck of -waves against the bulkheads. The last of the stevedores had departed, -some to the plantations, others to the phosphate mines, and still others -to the river barges.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_51" id="page_51">{51}</a></span></p> - -<p>The long, hot days, so conducive to indolence, brought a new phase of -life to Catfish Row. The loud talk and noisy comings and goings -diminished. Men came in earlier in the evenings, and spent more time -with their women.</p> - -<p>Porgy sat alone in his doorway. In a room overhead a man and his wife -were engaged in a friendly quarrel that ended in laughter. From an open -window nearby came the sound of drowsy child voices. In the crowded dark -about him, Life, with cruel preoccupation, was engrossed with its -eternal business.</p> - -<p>A large, matronly woman who lived near him, passed, carrying a pail of -water. She stopped, set down her burden, and dropped a hand on Porgy’s -shoulder.</p> - -<p>“What de matter wid dis man, he ain’t gots nuttin’ tuh say?” she asked -him kindly.</p> - -<p>Porgy’s face contracted with emotion. He caught her hand and hurled it -from him. “Lemme be,” he rasped, in a tight, husky voice. “Yuh done gots -yuh own man. Ain’t yuh?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Lawd!” she laughed, as she turned away. “Yuh ain’t t’ink I wantin’ -<i>yuh</i>, is yuh? Do listen tuh de man.”</p> - -<p>§<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_52" id="page_52">{52}</a></span></p> - -<p>Through the early night a woman had lain in the dust against the outer -wall of Maria’s cook-shop. She was extremely drunk and unpleasant to -look upon. Exactly when she had dropped, or been dropped there, no one -knew. Porgy had not seen her when he had driven in at sunset. But he had -heard some talk of her among those who had entered later. One of the men -had come in laughing.</p> - -<p>“I seen Crown’s Bess outside,” he said. “Must be she come aroun’ tuh -look fur um.”</p> - -<p>“She sho goin’ tuh hab one long res’, ef she goin’ wait dere fur um. Dat -nigger gone f’om hyuh fas’ and far!” another had averred.</p> - -<p>It was ten o’clock: and Maria was closing her shop. The great negress -was in the act of fastening the window, when the tall, gaunt form of the -woman lurched through the door into the faint illumination of the -smoking lamp. The visitor measured the distance to the nearest bench -with wandering and vacant eyes, plunged for it, and collapsed, with head -and arms thrown across a table.</p> - -<p>Maria was exasperated, but equal to the emergency. Catching the woman -around the middle, she swung her easily to the door,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_53" id="page_53">{53}</a></span> dropped her into -outer darkness, and returned to the window.</p> - -<p>A crash caused her to turn suddenly. There was the woman again, sprawled -across the table as before.</p> - -<p>“I swear tuh Gawd!” exclaimed the provoked negress. “Ef yuh ain’t de -persistentes’ nigger I ebber seen.” She went over, lifted the woman’s -head, and looked into eyes in the far depths of which a human soul was -flickering feebly.</p> - -<p>“Somethin’ tuh eat,” the woman whispered. “Lemme hab somethin’ tuh eat, -an’ I’ll go.”</p> - -<p>Growling like an approaching equinoctial gale, Maria brought bread and -fish; and emptying the dregs of the coffeepot into a cup, placed it -before her.</p> - -<p>“Now, eat an’ trabble, Sister,” she advised laconically.</p> - -<p>The woman raised her head. An ugly scar marked her left cheek, and the -acid of utter degradation had etched hard lines about her mouth; but -eyes into which human consciousness was returning looked fearlessly into -the determined face of the big negress. For a moment she ate wolfishly; -then asked suddenly:</p> - -<p>“Who lib in dat room ’cross de way?”</p> - -<p>“Porgy,” she was informed, “but such as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_54" id="page_54">{54}</a></span> yuh ain’t gots no use fuh he. -He a cripple, an’ a beggar.”</p> - -<p>“He de man wid goat?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, he gots goat.”</p> - -<p>The woman’s eyes narrowed to dark, unfathomable slits.</p> - -<p>“I hyuh say he gits good money fum de w’ite folks,” she said slowly.</p> - -<p>In silence the meal was finished. Then the woman steadied herself a -moment with hands against a table, and, without a word to Maria, walked -quickly, with an almost haughty carriage, from the room.</p> - -<p>She crossed the narrow drive with a decisive tread, opened the door of -Porgy’s room, entered, and closed the door behind her.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>It was late afternoon. Serena Robbins entered the court, paused at -Porgy’s door, and gave a sharp rap on the weathered panel. The door was -opened by a woman. The visitor looked through her, and spoke directly to -Porgy, who sat within.</p> - -<p>“I gots good news,” she announced. “I done tuh see my w’ite folks ’bout -Peter; an’ dey say dey gots a frien’ who is a lawyer, an’ he kin git um -out. I tell um<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_55" id="page_55">{55}</a></span> tuh sen’ um tuh see you ’bout um, ’cause yuh gots so -much sense when yuh talks tuh w’ite folks.”</p> - -<p>Having delivered her message, Serena turned a broad back upon the woman -who stood silently in the doorway, and with the bearing of an arbiter of -social destinies, strode to her corner of the court.</p> - -<p>Across the drive, Maria, vast and moist, hung over her stove in a far -corner of her cook-shop. Several negroes sat at the little tables, -eating their early suppers, laughing and chaffing.</p> - -<p>“Yuh sho got good-lookin’ white gals in dis town,” drawled a slender -young octoroon. He was attired in sky-blue, peg-top trousers, yellow -spats, and in the center of a scarlet bow-tie gleamed an immense paste -horseshoe.</p> - -<p>“Do listen tuh Sportin’ Life!” said a black, loutish buck admiringly. -“Ef he ain’t lookin’ at de rollin’ bones, he always gots he eye on de -women.”</p> - -<p>Maria’s heavy tread shook the room as she crossed and stood, with arms -akimbo, scowling down at her iridescent guest. The man looked up, -lowered his eyes quickly, and shifted uneasily in his chair.</p> - -<p>“Nigger!” she finally shot at him, and the impact almost jarred him from -his chair.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_56" id="page_56">{56}</a></span> “I jus’ tryin’ ter figger out wedder I bettuh kill yuh -decent now, wid yuh frien’s about yuh; or leabe you fuh de w’ite -gentlemens tuh hang attuh a while.”</p> - -<p>“Come now, old lady, don’t talk like dese old-fashioned lamp-oil niggers -what have had no adwantage. Why, up in New York, where I been waitin’ in -a hotel—”</p> - -<p>But he got no further.</p> - -<p>“Noo Yo’k,” she shouted. “Don’t yuh try any Noo Yo’kin’ aroun’ dis town. -Ef I had my way, I’d go down tuh dat Noo Yo’k boat, an’ take ebbery -Gawd’s nigger what come up de gang plank wid er Joseph coat on he back -an’ a glass headlight on he buzzom and drap um tuh de catfish befo’ he -foot hit decent groun’! Yas; my belly fair ache wid dis Noo Yo’k talk. -De fus t’ing dat dem nigger fuhgit is dat dem is nigger. Den dem comes -tuh dese decent country mens, and fills um full ob talk wut put money in -de funeral ondehtakuh pocket.” Breathless, she closed her arraignment by -bringing a fist the size of a ham down upon the table with such force -that her victim leapt from his chair and extended an ingratiating hand -toward her.</p> - -<p>“Dat’ all right, Auntie. Le’s you an’ me be frien’.”</p> - -<p>“Frien’ wid yuh?” and her tone dripped<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_57" id="page_57">{57}</a></span> scorn. “One ob dese days I might -lie down wid er rattlesnake, and when dat time come, yuh kin come right -along an’ git intuh de bed. But till den, keep yuh shiny carcase in Noo -Yo’k till de debbil ready tuh take chaage ob um!”</p> - -<p>Suddenly the anger left her eyes, and her face became grave. She leaned -over, and spoke very quietly into his face.</p> - -<p>“Fuh Gawd’s sake, don’t talk dat kind ob talk tuh dese hyuh boys. Dis -county ain’t nebber yit see a black man git lynch. Dese nigger knows -folks, an’ dey knows nigger. Fer Gawd’ sake keep yuh mout’ off w’ite -lady. Yuh gots plenty ob yuh own color fuh talk ’bout. Stick tuh dem, -an’ yuh ain’t git inter no trouble.”</p> - -<p>During Maria’s attack upon her guest, the court had been full of the -many-colored sounds that accompanied its evening life. Now, gradually -the noise shrunk, seeming to withdraw into itself. All knew what it -meant. A white man had entered. The protective curtain of silence which -the negro draws about his life when the Caucasian intrudes hung almost -tangibly in the air. No one appeared to notice the visitor. Each was -busily preoccupied with his task. Yet the newcomer made no move that was -not noted by fifty pairs of inscrutable eyes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_58" id="page_58">{58}</a></span></p> - -<p>The man wore a soft hat drawn well down over his face. He was slender -and tall, and walked with his body carried slightly forward, like one -who is used to meeting and overcoming difficulties.</p> - -<p>A young woman passed him. He reached out and touched her on the arm. She -stopped, and turned immediately toward him, her eyes lowered, her manner -submissive, but utterly negative.</p> - -<p>“I am looking for a man by the name of Porgy,” he said in a clear -pleasant voice. “Can you direct me to his room?”</p> - -<p>“Porgy?” she repeated slowly, as though trying to remember. Then she -called aloud: “Anybody hyuh know a man by de name ob Porgy?”</p> - -<p>Several of the silent bystanders looked up. “Porgy?” they repeated, one -after another, with shakes of the head.</p> - -<p>The white man laughed reassuringly, as though quite used to the -proceeding. “Come,” he urged, “I am his friend, Mr. Alan Archdale; I -know that he lives here, and I want to help him.”</p> - -<p>From behind her tubs, Serena advanced, knocking the ashes from her clay -pipe as she came. When she was quite close, she stopped, and peered up -into the face above her. Then she turned upon the girl.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_59" id="page_59">{59}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Go ’long an’ call Porgy,” she commanded. “Can’t yuh tell <i>folks</i> when -yuh see um?”</p> - -<p>A light broke over the young woman’s face.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yuh means <i>Porgy</i>?” she cried, as though she had just heard the -name for the first time; “I ain’t understan’ wut name yuh say, Boss,” -and echoes arose from different parts of the court. “Oh, yes, de -gentleman mean <i>Porgy</i>. How come we ain’t understan’.” Then the tension -in the air broke, and life resumed its interrupted flow.</p> - -<p>The young woman stepped to Porgy’s door, and called. Presently the door -opened, and a woman helped the beggar out to his seat upon the sill, -then seated herself behind him in the deep gloom of the room.</p> - -<p>Archdale crossed the short distance, and seated himself on the sill -beside the negro.</p> - -<p>“Tell me about your friend who got locked up on account of the Robbins -murder,” he asked, without preamble.</p> - -<p>In the dim light, Porgy leaned forward and looked long into the keen, -kindly face of his questioner.</p> - -<p>Archdale gave a surprised exclamation: “Why, you’re the old man who used -to beg in front of the apothecary shop on King Charles Street!” he said. -Then, after a mo<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_60" id="page_60">{60}</a></span>ment of scrutiny: “But you are not old, after all, are -you?” and he studied the face intently. There was a touch of grey in the -wool above the ears, and strong character lines flared downward from the -nose to corners of a mouth that was, at once, full-lipped and sensuous, -yet set in a resolute line most unusual in a negro. With the first -indications of age upon it, the face seemed still alive with a youth -that had been neither spent nor wasted.</p> - -<p>“But, tell me about your friend,” said the visitor, breaking a silence -that was commencing to become tense.</p> - -<p>Porgy’s face still wore its mask. “How come yuh tuh care, Boss?” he -queried.</p> - -<p>“Why, I am the Rutledge’s lawyer; and I look after their colored folks -for them. I think they must have owned half the slaves in the county. A -woman here, Serena Robbins, is the daughter of their old coachman, or -something; and she asked them to help her friend out.”</p> - -<p>“Peter ain’t gots no money, yuh know, Boss. An’ I jes begs from do’ to -do’.” There was still a shade of suspicion in Porgy’s voice.</p> - -<p>Archdale laughed reassuringly. “It will not take any money. At least, -not much; and I am sure that Mrs. Rutledge will take<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_61" id="page_61">{61}</a></span> care of that. So -you can go right ahead and tell me all about it.”</p> - -<p>Fully satisfied at last, Porgy told the tale of the killing and the -subsequent arrest of Peter.</p> - -<p>When he had finished the recital, Archdale sat silent for a while. “The -dirty hounds!” he said under his breath. Finally he turned wearily to -Porgy, and explained slowly:</p> - -<p>“Of course we can go to law about this; but it will take no end of time. -There is an easier way. He must have someone, who is acceptable to the -magistrate, to go his bond. Do you know a man by the name of Huysenberg, -who keeps a corner-shop down by the West-end wharf?”</p> - -<p>Porgy, listening intently, nodded.</p> - -<p>Archdale handed him a bill. “Take this ten dollars to him, and tell him -that you want him to go Peter’s bond. He hasn’t any money of his own, -and his shop is in his wife’s name; but he has an arrangement with the -magistrate that makes him entirely satisfactory.”</p> - -<p>He handed Porgy a card with an address pencilled under a printed name. -“You will find me here,” he said. “If Peter is not out in two days after -you hand over the ten, let me know.” Then, with a brisk,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_62" id="page_62">{62}</a></span> but friendly -“Good night,” he left the court.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>There was great rejoicing in Catfish Row. Peter had returned. The ten -dollar bill which Archdale had given Porgy had worked the miracle. -Except for the fact that the old negro’s shoulders drooped, and his grip -on actualities seemed weakened by his confinement, there was no evidence -to show that he had been absent. He had gone to the horse-dealer, and -had found his ancient beast still awaiting a purchaser. Another contract -had been signed which had started him off again on the eternal weekly -payment. The German had driven back with the furniture, which Peter had -docilely purchased for the second time. Again “The Great Emancipator” -had been hung in his accustomed place above the mantel. Now, each -morning, the old wagon rattled out over the cobbles, with the usual -number of small, ecstatic, black bodies pendant from its dilapidated -superstructure.</p> - -<p>“De buckra sho pots nigger figgered out tuh a cent!” said Peter -philosophically, and even with a note of admiration in his voice. “Dem -knows how much money wagon make<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_63" id="page_63">{63}</a></span> in er week; an’ de horse man, de -furniture man, an’ de lan’lo’d mek dey ’rangement’ accordin’. But I done -lib long ’nough now tuh beat ’em all, ’cause money ain’t no use tuh a -man attuh he done pass he prime, nohow.”</p> - -<p>When the old man had settled firmly back into his nook, and had an -opportunity to look about him, he noticed a change in Porgy.</p> - -<p>“I tell yuh dat nigger happy,” he said to Serena, one evening while they -were smoking their pipes together on her washing bench.</p> - -<p>“Go ’long wid yuh!” she retorted. “Dat ’oman ain’t de kin’ tuh mek man -happy. It tek a killer like Crown tuh hol’ she down.”</p> - -<p>“Dat may be so,” agreed the old man sagely. “But Porgy don’ know dat -yit. An’ ’side, ef a man is de kin’ wut needs er ’oman, he goin’ be -happy regahdless. Him dress she up in he own eye till she look lak de -Queen of Sheba tuh um. Porgy t’ink right now dat he gots a she-gawd in -he room.”</p> - -<p>“He sho’ gots de kin’ wut goin’ gib um hell,” Serena commented -cynically. “Dat ’oman ain’t fit tuh ’sociate wid. Much as I like Porgy, -I wouldn’t swap t’ree wo’d wid she.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_64" id="page_64">{64}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Dat’s all so, Sister,” conceded Peter. “But yuh keep yo’ eye on Porgy. -He usen tuh hate all dese chillen. Ain’t he? Now watch um. Ebery day -w’en he come home he gots candy-ball fuh de crowd. An’ wut mo’, -yistuhday I hyuh he an’ she singin’ tuhgedduh in dey room.”</p> - -<p>Serena motioned to him to be quiet. Porgy’s woman crossed the court to -draw a bucket of water from the common tap near Serena’s corner. She was -neatly dressed, and passed them as though they did not exist. Filling -her pail, she swung it easily to her head, and, steadying it lightly -with one hand, returned close to them with an air of cool scorn that -produced entirely different effects upon her two observers. Serena -watched her departure in silence.</p> - -<p>“Dat de t’ing!” said Peter, a note of admiration in his voice. “She sho -ain’t axin’ no visit offen none of she neighbor.” And he emitted an -indiscreet chuckle, which was too much for his friend.</p> - -<p>“Yuh po’, ole, wall-eyed, sof’-headed gran’daddy! Ain’t yuh ’shame’ tuh -set dey befo’ me, an’ talk sweet-mout’ ’bout dat murderin’ Crown’s Bess? -Ef I wuz yo’ age, an’ er man, I’d sabe my sof’ wo’d fer de Gawd-farin’ -ladies.”</p> - -<p>“Ef yuh wuz my age, an’ a man—” com<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_65" id="page_65">{65}</a></span>menced Peter. He hesitated, and -looked long at her with his dim, kindly eyes; then he shook his head. -“No; it ain’t no use. Yuh wouldn’t onderstan’. Dat somet’ing shemale -sense ain’t goin’ tuh help yuh none wid.” And, still shaking his head, -he knocked out his pipe, and departed in the direction of the stable, -where he was presently greeted by a soft, comprehending whinny.</p> - -<p>Bess entered Porgy’s room and swung her pail of water to its place -beside the new wood stove that had superseded the old, open hearth, and -busied herself with preparations for supper.</p> - -<p>Porgy was seated in a low chair near the door. He was smoking -contentedly, and the odd tension that had characterized him, even in his -moments of silent thought, had given place to a laxed attitude of body -and an expression of well-being.</p> - -<p>An infinitesimal negro passed with a whistle and a double shuffle.</p> - -<p>“Look hyuh, sonny!” called Porgy.</p> - -<p>The boy paused, hesitated, and advanced slowly. Porgy held out a large -round ball, striped red and white. “How ’bout er sweet?” he said a -little self-consciously. The boy took the candy, and shuffled uneasily -from foot to foot.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_66" id="page_66">{66}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Dat’s right,” said Porgy, with a burst of sudden, warm laughter, that -somehow startled the child. “Now yuh come again an’ see Porgy an’ -Bess.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_67" id="page_67">{67}</a></span>”</p> - -<h3><a name="III" id="III"></a><a name="PART_III" id="PART_III"></a>III</h3> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/i_067.png"> -<img src="images/i_067.png" width="600" height="501" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_68" id="page_68">{68}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_69" id="page_69">{69}</a></span> </p> - -<h2>PART III</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">P</span>ORGY drove slowly down King Charles Street, and appraised the prospects -for hitching and settling awhile in the narrow strip of shade against -the walls of the buildings. The day was sweltering, and both cripple and -goat were drooping beneath the steady pressure of the sun.</p> - -<p>A man passed, walking briskly. Porgy at once recognized the long, easy -stride, and the soft felt hat drawn rather low over the eyes. He reached -out and gave a slight twist to the tail of his somnambulant animal, -which resulted in a shambling trot that brought the vehicle abreast of -the pedestrian. But at that moment the gentleman stopped, produced a -key, and opening the door of an office, passed in without looking -around.</p> - -<p>Porgy eyed the office and its environs with evident satisfaction. The -building stood very near the old apothecary shop; and between it and its -neighbor to the east was an entrance way several feet in width, which -breathed forth an inviting coolness from its deep shade. No one was -passing at the moment. Porgy turned the head of his beast<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_70" id="page_70">{70}</a></span> toward the -entrance, gave a sudden twist to the tail, and drove audaciously across -the pavement, and into the retreat. Then he hitched his wagon a few feet -from the street, and seated himself, cup in hand, at the pavement’s -inner edge.</p> - -<p>“Yuh bes’ git along out of Mr. Alan’ do’way wid dat goat befo’ he fin’ -yuh. Ain’t yuh onduhstan’ gentlemen ain’t likes tuh smell goat?”</p> - -<p>Porgy looked up and met the threatening gaze of Simon Frasier.</p> - -<p>Frasier was a practising attorney-at-law. He was well past fifty years -of age, and his greying wool looked very white in comparison with his -uncompromisingly black skin. He had voted the democratic ticket in the -dark period of reconstruction, when such action on his part took no -little courage, and accordingly enjoyed the almost unlimited toleration -of the aristocracy. Without possessing the official sanction of the -State for the practice of his profession, he was, by common consent -among the lawyers, permitted to represent his own people in the police -and magistrates’ courts and to turn his hand to other small legal -matters into which it was thought inadvisable to enquire too deeply.</p> - -<p>Porgy regarded his accuser stonily.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_71" id="page_71">{71}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Ob course gentlemen ain’t likes tuh smell goat,” he replied.</p> - -<p>The door opened, and Archdale looked out. From where Porgy sat he could -have touched him with his hand; yet the cripple’s gaze never wavered -from the face of the negro, and his expression remained unchanged. -Forestalling an interruption, he hastened on, in a voice that had become -mildly incredulous, as he continued, “But it can’t be dat attuh knowing -buckra long as yuh been know um, yuh ain’t onduhstan’ um any better dan -tuh t’ink dey would dribe away po’ cripple in de heat.”</p> - -<p>Archdale made a movement that actually crossed Porgy’s line of vision; -but the beggar’s face gave no sign of recognition. His voice rose to a -pitch of indignation:</p> - -<p>“Yuh might be a lawyuh, an’ all dat; but I ain’t goin’ tuh hab yuh stan’ -dey an’ tell me dat Mistuh Archdale gots dem po’ w’ite-trash ways. Ob -course he don’t likes de smell ob goat; but he gots er haht in he breas’ -fuh de po’ cripple nigger.”</p> - -<p>A wry smile tugged at the corner of Archdale’s mouth.</p> - -<p>“All right, Porgy,” he said, “I got it all; but, gentleman or no -gentleman, I can’t have a goat on my doorstep. I would not have one -client left in a week.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_72" id="page_72">{72}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>At the sound of Archdale’s voice, Porgy looked around. His entire body -seemed to express amazement.</p> - -<p>“Why, hyuh’s de Boss now!” he cried. Then he turned triumphantly to the -negro, and added, “Wut I done tells yuh ’bout de real quality; ain’t yuh -done see he say I kin stay?”</p> - -<p>Archdale became desperate. “I did not say you could,” he cried, with the -manner of one who puts his foot in the crack of a closing door. “You can -wait there today, as I will be in court all morning; but tomorrow you -must find somewhere else.”</p> - -<p>“By tuhmorruh I goin’ hab dis goat wash till yuh can’t tell um from one -of dem rosebush in de pahk!” Porgy assured him with an ingenuous smile. -“Yuh is goin’ to be mighty lubbin’ of dis goat attuh a while, Boss.”</p> - -<p>“No; goats don’t wash, Porgy. Away you go after today.” But the power of -absolute conviction was not in Archdale’s voice. His foot was still in -the crack; but he knew that the door was closing.</p> - -<p>“All right, Frasier; I’ll see you now about your divorce business,” he -said to the other negro, and showed him into the office.</p> - -<p>Presently through an open window be<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_73" id="page_73">{73}</a></span>hind Porgy came the sound of -Archdale’s voice:</p> - -<p>“All right, Frasier. Out with it. The gentleman who has come down to -improve moral conditions among the negroes thinks you are a menace. He -is going to have you indicted for granting divorces illegally.”</p> - -<p>In a voice very different from the one in which he had arraigned Porgy, -Frasier began:</p> - -<p>“I fin’ so much nigger onsattify wid dere marriage, an’ I hyuh tell ob a -t’ing dey calls divorce.”</p> - -<p>“Yes?” encouraged his questioner.</p> - -<p>“So fuh a long time now I been separate dem wid a divorce wut I mek up -fuh de pu’pose. An’ he go fine, Boss. I done mek too much nigger happy.”</p> - -<p>“Have you one of the papers with you?”</p> - -<p>Silence; and then Archdale’s voice again.</p> - -<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>I, Simon Frasier, hereby divorce Rachel Smalls and Columbus Devo for -the charge of one dollar; signed, Simon Frasier.’ Well, that is simple -enough. Where did you get this seal?”</p> - -<p>“I done buy um from de junk-shop Jew, Boss.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you know there is no such thing as divorce in this State?<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_74" id="page_74">{74}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“I hyuh tell dere ain’t no such t’ing fuh de w’ite folks; but de nigger -need um so bad, I ain’t see no reason why I can’t mek up one wut sati’fy -de nigger? He seem tuh work berry well, too, till dat sof’ mout’ -gentleman come ’roun’ an’ onsettle all my client.”</p> - -<p>A groan floated through the window to Porgy’s ears, causing him to -indulge in a slow, malicious smile. Then in a pained voice the negro -lawyer proceeded: “He been keepin’ me alibe, Boss. An’ wut mo’, he keep -de nigger straight. Dis gentleman say dat dey gots tuh lib tuhgedduh -anyhow till dey done dead. Dat’s de law, he say. But nigger ain’t mek -dataway. I done get um all properly moralize, and dis same gentleman -tell um dat my paper ain’t no mo’ dan a license tuh ’dulterate. So now -dey just leabe each odduh anyhow, and I ain’t gets no dollar. An’ now he -say he goin’ jail me, wut mo’!”</p> - -<p>There was a moment of silence, then Porgy heard Archdale’s voice calling -a number; then: “Hello! Is that the Solicitor’s office? Mr. Dennis, -please.”</p> - -<p>“Oh—this is Archdale, Dennis. Yes, another negro. This time it is -Frasier, you know, the divorce decree case. Yes, I have him here in my -office. Look here; you have<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_75" id="page_75">{75}</a></span> a terrifically heavy docket this term. -There is no use taking the State’s money and your valuable time on this -case.”</p> - -<p>There followed a pause; then Archdale said hastily, “Oh, no; I am not -trying anything; but he is perfectly innocent of any deliberate -wrongdoing. Yes, of course; it would be serious if he were responsible; -but you know no one takes old Frasier seriously. A no-bill from the -grand jury would save no end of time and trouble.</p> - -<p>“Yes; I will guarantee that he will stop.”</p> - -<p>Porgy listened intently; and after a moment he heard Archdale say, -“Thank you,” and turn his chair toward his client. Then he heard him -address the negro.</p> - -<p>“We are not going to lock you up this time, Simon. But you will have to -stop divorcing your people. I have given my word. If you do it again, -snap! to jail we both go. Do you understand?”</p> - -<p>A relieved gasp greeted the announcement, followed by “Gawd bless yuh, -Boss!” and a moment later Frasier stood blinking in the white glare of -the street.</p> - -<p>Porgy looked up, and in an exact imitation of Frasier’s professional -manner, said testily, “Mobe on, please; mobe on. I gots a berry perlite -goat hyuh wut objec’ tuh de smell ob de jail-bird.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_76" id="page_76">{76}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>A chuckle sounded from Archdale’s office.</p> - -<p>Immediately the light of victory, carefully veiled, but bright, shone in -Porgy’s eyes. He reached behind him and tweaked the goat by the ear. The -dejected animal mistook the signal, and started forward.</p> - -<p>“No, no, bubber,” whispered Porgy. “Ain’t yuh hear de Boss laugh? When -nigger mek de buckra laugh, den he know he done won. Dis wey we goin’ -spen’ we libe. You watch.”</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>The change in Porgy, which Peter had been the first to notice, was now -apparent to all who knew him. The defensive barrier of reserve that he -had built about his life was down. The long hours when he used to sit -fixed and tense, with the look of introspection upon his face, were -gone. Even the most skeptical of the women were beginning to admit that -Bess was making him a good mate. Not that they mingled freely with the -other residents of the court. On the contrary, they seemed strangely -sufficient unto themselves in the midst of the intensely gregarious life -that was going on about them. Porgy’s earnings were adequate to their -modest needs, and Bess was always up and out<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_77" id="page_77">{77}</a></span> with the first of the -women, and among them all there was none who could bargain more shrewdly -with the fishermen and hucksters who sold their wares on the wharf.</p> - -<p>Like Porgy, Bess had undergone a subtle change that became more evident -from day to day. Her gaunt figure had rounded out, bringing back a look -of youthful comeliness, and her face was losing its hunted expression. -The air of pride that had always shown in her bearing, which had -amounted almost to disdain, that had so infuriated the virtuous during -her evil days, was heightened, and, in her bettered condition forced a -resentful respect from her feminine traducers.</p> - -<p>One morning while she was doing her marketing on the wharf, one of the -river men who had known her in the past, hailed her too familiarly. He -was at that moment stepping from the top round of a ladder on to the -wharf.</p> - -<p>“How ’bout ternight?” he asked with a leer.</p> - -<p>She was holding a string of whiting in her left hand, and was hanging -upon the final penny of a bargain with the fishman. She half turned, and -delivered a resounding slap with her right hand. The man staggered -backward, hung for a moment, then van<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_78" id="page_78">{78}</a></span>ished. There was a tremendous -splash from the shallow water.</p> - -<p>“Twenty cent fuh dis string, an’ not one cent mo’,” Bess continued -coolly to the fishman.</p> - -<p>He accepted the price. Bess gave him eighteen cents, and a hard look. He -counted the money, glanced at the hand that now hung innocently against -her apron, then laughed.</p> - -<p>“Just as yuh say, Sister. I ain’t quarrelin’ none wid <i>yuh dis</i> -mornin’.”</p> - -<p>Bess gave him one of the faint, cryptic smiles that always made men -friends and women enemies for her, and departed for Catfish Row, as if -nothing had happened to break the dull routine of the morning’s chores.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>Saturday night, and the court had flung off its workaday clothes and -mood. In the corner by Serena’s washbench a small intimate circle had -gathered about a smoking kerosene lamp. Several women sat on the bench -with drowsy little negroes in their laps. A man near the light leaned -over a guitar, with a vague wistfulness in his face, and plucked -successive chords with a swift,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_79" id="page_79">{79}</a></span> running vibrance of sound. Then a deep -baritone hummed for a second and raised an air:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Ain’t it hahd tuh be a nigger;<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Ain’t it hahd tuh be a nigger;<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Ain’t it hahd tuh be a nigger;<br /></span> -<span class="i1">’Cause yuh can’t git yo’ rights w’en yuh do.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“I was sleepin’ on a pile ob lumber,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Jus’ as happy as uh man kin be,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">W’en a w’ite man come wake me from my slumber,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">An’ he say, ‘Yuh gots tuh work now, ’cause yuh free!’<span class="lftspc">”</span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">Then they were all in on the chorus:<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i3">“Ain’t it hahd tuh be a nigger,”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="nind">and the gloom hummed with the low, close harmonies.</p> - -<p>In another corner the crap circle had gathered. Porgy’s delight in the -game had not waned with his increasing interests, and he sat fondling -the small white cubes, and whispering to them in his old confidential -manner.</p> - -<p>“Little w’ite babies,” he crooned, “come sing fuh dis nigger.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_80" id="page_80">{80}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>He cast—and won.</p> - -<p>Gathering the little heap of pennies and nickels, he passed them behind -him to Bess, who squatted in the shadows. She took the money in silence, -counted it, dropped it into her apron pocket, and continued to watch the -game intently, smiling her cryptic smile when Porgy won, but saying -scarcely anything at all.</p> - -<p>The negro known as Sportin’ Life had come in just as the game was -commencing, and had sat in. That he was not altogether above suspicion -was evidenced by the fact that the little circle of men refused to allow -him to use his own dice, and told him so frankly. He scowled at them, -dropped the dice back into his pocket, and started to leave. Then he -seemed to think better of it, and joined the circle.</p> - -<p>As the game proceeded it became evident that Porgy’s luck was with him; -he was the most consistent winner, and Sportin’ Life was bearing most of -the burden. But the mulatto was too good a gambler to evince any -discomfiture. He talked steadily, laughed much, and missed no -opportunity to drop a sly word of suspicion when Porgy drew in a pot. -There was nothing that could be taken up and resented, but Porgy was -mystified, and Bess’ face was dark with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_81" id="page_81">{81}</a></span> anger more than once. He had a -way of leaning over just as Porgy cast, and placing his face almost on -the flags so that he could see under the dice when they struck. Then he -would look up, laugh meaningly into Porgy’s face, and sometimes clap his -hands as though the cripple had managed something very cleverly.</p> - -<p>When the game finally broke up it was clear that he had poisoned the -minds of the company, and the good nights lacked their usual warmth.</p> - -<p>Bess reached into her apron pocket, and drew out the evening’s winnings. -The coins made quite a little weight in her hand. A late fragment of -moon swung over the wall and poured its diminished light into her open -palm. She commenced to count the money, Porgy left her, and drew himself -into his room. She proceeded to count, absorbed in her task.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>“Porgy lucky,” said a low voice beside her. “Mus’ be yer gots two dollar -dere fer um.” Sportin’ Life lifted his elegant trousers, so that the -knees would not bag, and squatted on the flags at her side. He removed -his stiff straw hat, with its bright<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_82" id="page_82">{82}</a></span> band, and spun it between his -hands. The moonlight was full upon his face, with its sinister, sensuous -smile.</p> - -<p>She looked at him squarely a moment, then said in a cold, level voice:</p> - -<p>“I can’t ’member ebber meetin’ a nigger dat I like less dan I does you.”</p> - -<p>“Thank yer kindly,” he replied, not in the least degree daunted. “But -jus’ de same, I wants ter be frien’ wid yer. Me and you ain’t usen ter -dese small-town slow ways. We ain’t been above seein’ night-life what is -night-life, an’ I jus’ wants ter talk to you now and den; dat’s all.”</p> - -<p>“I gots no time fuh talk,” she told him. “An’ wut mo’, I t’rough wid de -kin’ ob nights you is t’inking ’bout.”</p> - -<p>“No mo’ red-eye; none ’tall?” he queried. “Nebber gits t’irsty, eh?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Gawd knows, I does git t’irsty now and den,” she said impulsively; -then added sharply, “But I done t’rough now, I tells yer; I done -t’rough.”</p> - -<p>She arose to go. “Yo’ kin’ mek me sick,” she told him; “an’ I ain’t -wants tuh hab no mo’ talk wid yuh.”</p> - -<p>He got spryly to his feet, and stood beside her. “Oh, come on, le’s let -bygone be bygone, an’ be frien’.” Then his voice became<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_83" id="page_83">{83}</a></span> low and -ingratiating: “Come; gimme yer han’, Sister,” he said.</p> - -<p>Acquiescent, but mystified, she held out her open palm.</p> - -<p>He poured a little pile of white powder into it. There it lay in the -moonlight, very clean and white on her dark skin. “Happy dus’!” she -said, and her voice was like a gasp. “Take dat t’ing away, nigger. I -t’rough wid um, I tells yuh.” But she did not turn her hand over and let -it fall upon the ground.</p> - -<p>“Jus’ a little touch fer ole time sake,” he whispered. “<span class="lftspc">’</span>Tain’t ’nough -ter hurt er fly. An’ it ain’t goin’ ter cos’ yer one cent.”</p> - -<p>She stood a moment longer, and her hand trembled, spilling a few grains -between her fingers. Then suddenly she clapped her palm over her mouth. -When she took it away it was quite empty.</p> - -<p>Sportin’ Life heaved a sigh of relief, turned and leant against the -wall—and waited.</p> - -<p>In the corner by Serena’s bench the party was breaking up. Only a few -women were left, and instead of the blur of general talk, remarks leapt -clear. They were discussing the crap game that had just closed.</p> - -<p>“Dey is somet’ing berry queer ’bout de<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_84" id="page_84">{84}</a></span> way de money always go tuh de -same place,” a voice was saying.</p> - -<p>The moonlight ebbed from the corner where Bess and Sportin’ Life stood. -Five minutes had passed since she had made her sudden decisive gesture. -She stood oddly rigid, with her hands clenched at her sides.</p> - -<p>Abruptly she spun around. “Yuh gots mo’ ob dat?” Her voice was low and -taut.</p> - -<p>“Sho’ I has!” came the answer, with a confident laugh. “But it don’t -come cheap. Gimme dat money yer got dere.”</p> - -<p>Silently she held out her hand, and poured the coins into his palm.</p> - -<p>He gave her a small folded paper.</p> - -<p>“I got more ob dat when yer needs it,” he said, as he turned away.</p> - -<p>But she did not hear him. She snatched the paper, opened it, and threw -the contents into her mouth.</p> - -<p>The court was sinking to sleep. One by one the lighted windows went -blank. The women at the washbench got to their feet. One yawned noisily, -and another knocked her clay pipe out on the flags in a shower of -sparks. Then a voice came clearly—the one that had complained before -about the crap game.</p> - -<p>“I ain’t sayin’ ef it conjer, er jus’ plain loaded dice. All I gots tuh -say is dat dam<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_85" id="page_85">{85}</a></span> nigger, Porgy, steal my Sam’ wages off him now t’ree -week runnin’.”</p> - -<p>Out of the shadows and across the moonlit square a figure flashed, -gesturing wildly.</p> - -<p>The women leapt back. The one who had done the talking screamed once, -the shrill note echoing around the walls. The advancing figure closed -convulsive hands upon her shoulders and snatched her body forward. Wide, -red-lit eyes glared into her face. A voice half sobbed, half screamed, -“Yuh say dat ’bout Porgy? Yuh say Porgy is t’ief?”</p> - -<p>The victim was young and strong. She tore the hands from her shoulders -and raised her arms before her face. One of the other women reached out -to seize the intruder, but was met with a glare so insanely malignant -that she retreated screaming.</p> - -<p>Above them windows were leaping to light. Dark bodies strained from -sills. Feet sounded, running down clapping dilapidated stairways. A -shrill, long, terrifying shriek cut across the growing noise, and the -women clinched and fell. Bystanders rushed to intervene, and became -involved. Always in the centre of the storm a maddened woman whirled -like a dervish and called horribly upon her God, striking and clawing -wildly.</p> - -<p>The babel became terrific. The entire<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_86" id="page_86">{86}</a></span> population of the court -contributed to the general confusion. In the rooms above, children -wailed out a nameless terror.</p> - -<p>Suddenly over the tumult sounded the gong of the patrol wagon, and -through the gateway half-a-dozen policemen advanced with pistols out, -and clubs ready.</p> - -<p>The uproar stopped suddenly at its peak. Shadows dropped back and were -gulped by deeper shadow. Feet made no sound in retreating. Solid bodies -became fluid, sliding. Yawning doorways drew them in. Miraculously the -court was converted into a vacant, walled square, in which stood six -erect figures, looking a little theatrical and foolish with their -revolvers and clubs, and a woman who shook menacing hands at nothing at -all and swore huskily at phantoms.</p> - -<p>“No trouble finding the cause of the disturbance,” said an authoritative -voice. “Get her, men. Better use bracelets. Can’t tell about dope -cases.”</p> - -<p>The squad closed quickly. For a moment a grotesque shadow tumbled and -shifted in the centre of the court; then a voice said, “Steady now.” The -mass broke into individual figures, and, under the ebbing moonlight, -moved toward the entrance with a manacled woman in their midst.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_87" id="page_87">{87}</a></span></p> - -<p>Porgy had opened his door at the first outcry and sat on the sill trying -to get the import of the disturbance. Now, as the group passed close to -him, he looked up. The woman had ceased her outcry, and was looking -about with vague, unseeing eyes. As they walked past his doorway, so -close that he could have touched the nearest officer with his hand, she -looked down, and her gaze focussed upon the sitting figure. Her body -stiffened, and her head lifted with the old, incongruous gesture of -disdain.</p> - -<p>“Bess!” called Porgy once very loudly; and again, in a voice that -sagged, “Bess!”</p> - -<p>One of the policemen paused and looked down upon the speaker. But the -woman turned deliberately away, and he hastened to rejoin the party. -Then the wagon clanged down the darkened street.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>Under the gas light that supplemented a far, dusty window in the -Recorder’s Court, stood Bess. She swayed, and her face twitched -occasionally; but her glance was level, and her head erect.</p> - -<p>Behind a high desk sat a man well past middle age. His florid complexion -caused<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_88" id="page_88">{88}</a></span> his long grey mustache to appear very white. His eyes were far -apart and suggested a kindness that was born of indolence, rather than -of wide compassion. His hands were slender and beautifully made, and he -sat with elbows on desk, and finger-tips touching. When he spoke it was -in a drawl that suggested weariness.</p> - -<p>“What is the charge, Officer?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Bein’ under the influence of dope, an’ creatin’ a disturbance in -Catfish Row, yer Honor,” replied the policeman who stood by the -prisoner.</p> - -<p>“Anybody hurt?”</p> - -<p>“Not as we was able to see, yer Honor.”</p> - -<p>The judge turned to the prisoner.</p> - -<p>“Have you ever been here before?”</p> - -<p>“No, suh,” came the reply in a low, clear tone.</p> - -<p>“The officer of the day thinks she has, yer Honor,” put in the -policeman, “but he can’t swear to it. She looks like a hundred others, -he says, scar and all; an’ they change names so fast you get nothing -from the records.”</p> - -<p>The judge regarded the prisoner with amiability. The thermometer on the -wall beside him registered ninety. It was asking too much of good-nature -to require it to subvert itself in such heat.</p> - -<p>“I suppose we will have to give you the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_89" id="page_89">{89}</a></span> benefit of the doubt,” he said. -Then he turned to the officer.</p> - -<p>“After all, it’s the man who sold her the poison we want. I was kept -here three hours yesterday by dope cases. I want it put a stop to.”</p> - -<p>He contracted his brows in a weak attempt at sternness, and directed a -steady gaze at Bess.</p> - -<p>“Who sold you that dope?”</p> - -<p>She met his eyes squarely.</p> - -<p>“I don’t t’ink I know um again,” she said in a low, even tone. “I buy -from um in de dark, las’ night, an’ he gone off right away.”</p> - -<p>“It’s no use, Your Honor,” put in the policeman. “They won’t give each -other away.”</p> - -<p>The judge fixed the culprit with a long scrutiny. Then he asked:</p> - -<p>“Have you any money to pay a fine?”</p> - -<p>“No, suh. Yuh’ll jus’ hab tuh gib’ me my time.”</p> - -<p>A man entered the room.</p> - -<p>“I beg your pardon, Your Honor,” he said, “but there is a cripple -outside in a goat-cart who says he is prepared to pay the woman’s fine.”</p> - -<p>“Eh; what’s that?” exclaimed the judge. “Is it that black scoundrel, -Porgy, the beggar?<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_90" id="page_90">{90}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“That’s him, Yer Honor,” replied the man, with a grin.</p> - -<p>“Why, the highwayman takes a dime from me every time I venture on King -Charles Street. And here he has the audacity to come and offer to pay a -fine.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t tek he money, Boss.”</p> - -<p>The prisoner said the words steadily, then caught her lower lip with her -strong, white teeth.</p> - -<p>“Address the Court as ‘Your Honor,’ not ‘Boss,’<span class="lftspc">”</span> ordered the judge.</p> - -<p>“Yo’ Honuh,” amended the culprit.</p> - -<p>For a long moment the Recorder sat, his brow contracted. Then he drew a -large, cool, linen handkerchief from his pocket and mopped his face.</p> - -<p>“Go out and take ten dollars from the beggar,” he told the policeman. -“It’s a small fine for the offence.” Then turning to the woman, he said:</p> - -<p>“I am going to lock you up for ten days; but any time you give the name -of that dope peddler to the jailor you can leave. Do you understand?”</p> - -<p>Bess had nothing to say in reply, and after a moment the policeman took -her by the arm.</p> - -<p>“This way to the wagon,” he directed, and led her from the court room.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_91" id="page_91">{91}</a></span></p> - -<p>The street was a blaze of early morning sun, and the woman covered her -eyes with her hand. The wagon stood, step to curb, and the officer -hurried her across the narrow pavement and into the conveyance.</p> - -<p>The bell clanged, and the heavy horse flung its weight against the -collar.</p> - -<p>Something impelled Bess to remove her hand and to look down.</p> - -<p>Below the high side of the patrol, looking rather like a harbor tug -beside an ocean liner, stood the goat-cart. For a moment she looked into -Porgy’s face. It told her nothing, except that he seemed suddenly to -have grown older, and that the real Porgy, who had looked out at her -from the eyes for a little while, had gone back into his secret places -and closed the door.</p> - -<p>The wagon lunged forward.</p> - -<p>Then Porgy spoke.</p> - -<p>“How long?” he called.</p> - -<p>The incessant clamor of the gong commenced, and the hoofs beat their -noisy tattoo upon the stones.</p> - -<p>Bess raised both hands with fingers extended.</p> - -<p>The wagon rounded a corner and disappeared.</p> - -<p>§<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_92" id="page_92">{92}</a></span></p> - -<p>The jail in which Bess was incarcerated was no better, and no worse, -than many others of its period, and the score of negro women with whom -she found herself could not be said to suffer acutely under their -imprisonment. When life reaches a certain level of misery, it envelops -itself in a protective anesthesia which deadens the senses to extremes; -and having no tasks to perform, the prisoners awaited the expiration of -their brief sentences with sodden patience, or hastened the passage of -time with song.</p> - -<p>By day they were at liberty to exercise in the jail yard, a square of -about half an acre surrounded by a high brick wall, containing not so -much as a single blade of grass. Like a great basin, the yard caught and -held the heat which poured from the August sun until it seemed to -overflow the rim, and quiver, as though the immense vessel had been -jarred from without. But the soaring walls gave always a narrow strip of -shade to which the prisoners clung, moving around the sides as the day -advanced, with the accuracy of the hand of a sundial.</p> - -<p>Before nightfall the prisoners were herded into the steaming interior of -the building, and Bess and the other women were locked in a steel cage, -which resembled a large dog-pound and stood in the centre<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_93" id="page_93">{93}</a></span> of a high, -square room, with a passageway around it. A peculiarly offensive -moisture clung to the ceiling, and streamed in little rivulets down the -walls. An almost unbreatheable stench clogged the atmosphere.</p> - -<p>The jailers were not vindictive. They were not even unkind. Some of them -evidenced a mild affection for their charges, and would pause to -exchange greetings with them on their rounds. But it would have meant -effort to better the living conditions, and effort on the part of a -white warden in August was not to be considered. They locked them up, -gave them a sufficiency of hominy and white pork to sustain life, -allowed them to see their visitors, talk, and sing to their heart’s -content. If they were suffering from tuberculosis, or one of a hundred -nameless and communicable diseases, when they entered, it was none of -the County’s affair. And if they left showing that ash-pallor so -unmistakable in a negro, it was as lamentable as it was unavoidable. But -when all was said and done, what must one expect if one added to the -handicap of a dark skin the indiscretion of swallowing cocaine and -indulging in a crap game?</p> - -<p>Bess received but one visitor during her imprisonment. When the callers -were ad<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_94" id="page_94">{94}</a></span>mitted, on the day following her arrival, Maria loomed in the -centre of the small, timid group. She went directly to Bess where she -sat by the wall, with her eyes closed against the glare. The big negress -wore an expression of solicitude, and her voice was low and surprisingly -gentle as she said:</p> - -<p>“Porgy ask me tuh bring yer dis blanket fuh lie on, an’ dese fish an’ -bread. How yuh is feelin’ now?” Then she bent over and placed a bundle -in the prisoner’s lap.</p> - -<p>Bess opened her eyes in surprise.</p> - -<p>“I ain’t been expectin’ no fabors off none ob you folks,” she replied. -“How come yuh tuh care ef I lib er die, attuh dat row I mek?”</p> - -<p>Maria lowered herself to a seat beside her.</p> - -<p>“I lubs dat nigger, Porgy, lak he been my chile,” she told her. “An’ wut -mo’, I t’ink I know what done happen tuh yuh.”</p> - -<p>“Wut yuh know?”</p> - -<p>“I been in my do’ dat night; an’ I seen dat skunk, Sportin’ Life, sell -yuh dat stuff. Ef I had er known den wut it wuz, I’d a been hyuh long -side ob yuh now fuh murder.”</p> - -<p>After a moment, she asked: “Wut mek yuh don’t tell de jailluh who done -um, an’ come on home?”</p> - -<p>Bess remained silent for a moment; then<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_95" id="page_95">{95}</a></span> she raised her head and looked -into the eyes of the older woman.</p> - -<p>“I’s a ’oman grown. Ef I tek dope, dat muh own business. Ef I ebber gits -muh han’ on dat nigger, I goin’ fix um so he own mammy ain’t know um! -But I ain’t goin’ gib um ’way tuh de w’ite folks.”</p> - -<p>The hard lines about her mouth softened, and, in scarcely more than a -whisper, she added:</p> - -<p>“I gots tuh be decent ’bout somet’ing, ’less I couldn’t go back an’ look -in Porgy face.”</p> - -<p>Maria got heavily to her feet. The other visitors were leaving, and she -longed to be free of the high, brick walls. She dropped a hand on Bess’s -shoulder.</p> - -<p>“Yuh do right, Sister. But ef dat yalluh nigger come tuh Catfish Row -agin—leabe him fuh me—dat’s all!” Then the big negress joined the -departing group, and passed out through the small steel doorway that -pierced the massive gate.</p> - -<p>Bess sat for a long while without moving. The sun lifted over the high -wall, and drove its white-hot tide into her lap, and upon her folded -hands.</p> - -<p>“Wut mek yuh ain’t mobe intuh de shade?” a neighbor asked curiously.</p> - -<p>Bess looked up and smiled.</p> - -<p>“I jes’ settin’ hyuh t’inkin’ ’bout muh<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_96" id="page_96">{96}</a></span> frien’,” she said. “Yuh done -hear um call me ‘Sister,’ ain’t yuh? Berry well den. Dat mean me and she -is frien’.”</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>Bess lay upon the bed in Porgy’s room and stared at the ceiling with -hard, bright eyes. From time to time she would pluck at the sheet that -covered her and utter hurried, indistinct sentences that bore not the -slightest relation to existing circumstances. A week had passed since -her release, and its seven interminable days had been spent in this -fashion.</p> - -<p>Porgy was out upon the day’s rounds. Occasionally the door to the -sick-room would open, and an awed, black face peer in. The mystery of -delirium frightened and perplexed the negroes, and limited the -manifestations of kindness and sympathy that they usually bestowed upon -unfortunate friends. Even Maria was not proof against this dread, and -the irrelevant observations that greeted her when she went in with the -daily lunch sent her hurrying wide-eyed from the room.</p> - -<p>Porgy returned early in the evening. His face was deeply marked, but the -lines were those of anxiety, and his characteristic firm<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_97" id="page_97">{97}</a></span>ness of mouth -and jaw was gone. He closed the door on the curious glances of his -neighbors, and lifted himself to a seat upon the bed.</p> - -<p>“How Bess now?” he asked softly.</p> - -<p>She shifted her gaze from the ceiling to his face.</p> - -<p>“Eighteen miles tuh Kittiwar!” she muttered. “Rattlesnake’, palmettuh -bush, an’ such.”</p> - -<p>Her eyes were suddenly fearful, and she closed her hand tightly upon -his.</p> - -<p>Porgy cast a hurried glance over his shoulder. Then, reassured, stroked -her brow, and comforted her in his deep, gentle voice.</p> - -<p>“Yuh hyuh wid Porgy now; an’ nuttin’ can’t hurt yuh. Soon de cool wedder -comin’ an’ chill off dese febers. Ain’t yuh ’member how dat cool win’ -come tuh town wid de smell ob pine tree: an’ how de star is all polish -up lak w’ite folks’ silber? Den ebbery body git well. Ain’t yuh know? -Yuh jus’ keep still, an’ watch wut Porgy say.”</p> - -<p>She was silent after that, and closed her eyes. Presently, to his -relief, he saw that she was sleeping. This was the moment for which he -had been waiting. He went out, closing the door very gently, and joined -a group of sympathisers in the court.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_98" id="page_98">{98}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Wut we goin’ do now?” he asked. “A week gone, an’ she ain’t none -better.”</p> - -<p>Peter knocked out his clay pipe on a flagstone, with three staccato -little raps, thus gaining the attention of the circle.</p> - -<p>“Ef yuh wants tuh listen tuh me,” he remarked weightily, “I adwise yer -tuh sen’ she tuh de w’ite folk’ hospital.”</p> - -<p>His words were received with a surprise amounting to incredulity.</p> - -<p>“Fuh Gawd sake, Daddy Peter!” an awed voice said at last. “Ain’t yuh -knows dey lets nigger die dey, so dey kin gib um tuh de student?”</p> - -<p>But the old negro stood his ground.</p> - -<p>“De student ain’t gits um ’til he done dead. Ain’t dat so? Den he can’t -hurt um none. Ain’t dat so, too? An’ I gots dis tuh say. One ob my w’ite -folks is er nuss tuh de hospital; and dat lady is er pure angel wid de -sick nigger. Ef I sick tuhmorruh I goin’ tuh she; an’ wut she say is -good wid me. I wants dis carcase tek care ob w’ile he is alibe. W’en he -done dead, I ain’t keer.”</p> - -<p>“Yuh ain’t keer whedder yuh is cut up an’ scatter, ’stead of bein’ bury -in Gawd own grabe-yahd?” someone asked the iconoclast.</p> - -<p>Under this direct attack, the old man weakened.</p> - -<p>“Well, mebbe I ain’t sayin’ I jus’ as lief,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_99" id="page_99">{99}</a></span>” he compromised. “But I -t’ink Gawd onduhstan’ de succumstance, an’ mek allowance.”</p> - -<p>Serena Robbins broke the silence which followed.</p> - -<p>“How come yuh ain’t ax me fuh pray ober um?” she enquired in a slightly -offended voice. “Mus’ be yuh is done fergit how Gawd done answer we las’ -prayeh, and sen’ dat goat tuh sabe yu’ life, when starbation done stan’ -dey an’ look yuh in de eye.”</p> - -<p>Porgy brightened at that, and turned eagerly from the dark horror of -Peter’s suggestion.</p> - -<p>“Dat so, my Sister,” he commenced; but her eyes were already closed, and -her body was swaying from side to side, as she sat cross-legged on the -flags. Presently she began to intone:</p> - -<p>“Oh, Jedus, who done trouble de wateh in de sea ob Gallerie—”</p> - -<p>“Amen!” came the chorus, led by Porgy.</p> - -<p>“An’ likewise who done cas’ de Debbil out ob de afflicted, time an’ time -agin—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Jedus!”</p> - -<p>“Wut mek yuh ain’t lay yo’ han’ on dis sister’ head?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, my fadder!”</p> - -<p>“An’ sen’ de Debbil out ob she, down er steep place intuh de sea, lak -yuh use’ tuh do, time an’ time agin?<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_100" id="page_100">{100}</a></span>’</p> - -<p>“Time an’ time agin!”</p> - -<p>“Ain’t dis po’ cripple done lif’ up out de dus’ by we prayeh?”</p> - -<p>“Da’s de trut’, Jedus.”</p> - -<p>“Eben so, lif’ up he woman, an’ mek she well, time an’ time agin!”</p> - -<p>“Time an’ time ag’in! Allelujah!”</p> - -<p>After the prayer the group scattered, each going silently away in the -late dusk, until there remained only Porgy, who sat with bowed head, and -Maria, massive and inscrutable, beside him.</p> - -<p>When the last retreating footstep died away, the great negress bent her -turbaned head over until it almost touched Porgy’s face.</p> - -<p>“Listen tuh me,” she whispered. “Yuh wants dat ’oman cure up; ain’t -yuh?”</p> - -<p>“Yuh knows I does.” And, already suffering from the reaction from -religious enthusiasm, his voice was flat and hopeless.</p> - -<p>“Berry well den. De ribber boat leabe fum de wharf at sebben o’clock, -tuhmorruh mo’nin’. Yuh knows dat deck-han’ by de name Mingo?”</p> - -<p>Porgy nodded assent, his eyes intent upon her face.</p> - -<p>“Well; git on de wharf early, an’ gib um two dollar. Tell um w’en de -boat done git tuh Ediwander Islan’ at eight tuhmorruh<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_101" id="page_101">{101}</a></span> night, tuh go -right tuh Lody cabin, an’ tell she tuh mek a conjer tuh cas’ de debbil -out Bess.”</p> - -<p>“Yuh tink dat cure she?” asked Porgy, with a glimmer of new hope in his -eyes.</p> - -<p>“I ain’t tink. I knows,” came in tones of absolute conviction. “Now, -min’; an’ do wut I say.”</p> - -<p>The big negress shuffled away to her room, leaving Porgy alone in the -gloom.</p> - -<p>The bent, solitary figure raised its eyes to the square of sky, with its -bewildering profusion of stars, that fitted like a lid over the high rim -of the court. There were no sounds except a weary land breeze that -fingered the lichens on the south wall, and a whisper from the bay, as -the tide lifted its row of shells and pebbles a notch further up the -littered beach.</p> - -<p>Now that all human companionship had been withdrawn, the watcher felt -strangely alone, and smaller than the farthest star or most diminutive -shell. Like a caged squirrel, his tired mind spun the rounds of his -three alternatives: First, the white man’s science, gaunt, clean, and -mysterious, with the complete and awful magistracy which it assumed over -the luckless bodies that fell into its possession. He knew that it -returned some healed in body. He knew that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_102" id="page_102">{102}</a></span> others had passed into its -portals, and had been obliterated utterly. Then his second alternative: -the white man’s God, vague and abstract as the wind that moved among the -lichens, with his Jesus, who could stir him suddenly to his most -beautiful songs and make his heart expand until, for a moment, it -embraced all mankind with compassionate love, but who passed, as the -wind passes, leaving him cold and disillusioned. One of these he must -choose, or else turn his face back to the old blurred trail that -receded, down, down, down to the beginning of things: to the symbols one -might hold, tangible and terrifying; to the presciences that shuddered -like dawn at the back of the brain and told one what to do without the -process of thought.</p> - -<p>As though bent beneath a great physical weight, Porgy sat without -moving, until the pattern on his glittering ceiling had changed and -shifted. Then he lifted his face slowly, drew his sleeve across his -moist forehead, and entered his room.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>Just before sunrise Porgy left his room and hitched up his goat. In the -upper air over Catfish Row a single buzzard hung<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_103" id="page_103">{103}</a></span> poised. Slowly it -careened to a current of air, and its belly and under-wings lit to a -ruddy glory from the sun, which was still below the horizon. Porgy saw -it and winced. But as he went about his task there was no indecision in -his face. He harnessed the goat with steady hands, drove out of the -court and to the pier-head.</p> - -<p>He experienced no difficulty in finding his man. Mingo accepted the -mission and the handful of pennies and nickels; and Porgy, having closed -the bargain, returned at once to the court.</p> - -<p>Maria was opening her shop as he entered, and paused with a shutter in -her hands. She could scarcely believe her eyes. The beggar’s face was -bright, and he was humming a tune.</p> - -<p>“Wut de news?” she asked. “Bess done git well?”</p> - -<p>“Not jus’ yit,” he replied. “But I done had me a dream las’ night; an’ -de dream say tuh sen’ tuh de conjer ’oman; an’ Bess goin’ break she -feber tuhnight.”</p> - -<p>“Da’s right, my Brudder,” Maria responded heartily. “Dat ’oman good as -well now. You watch!”</p> - -<p>All day, sitting by Archdale’s office, Porgy hummed his tune, and -counted off the hours of the steamboat’s voyage. Now she would<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_104" id="page_104">{104}</a></span> be -passing Kittiwar, and, in only a few hours more, she would be coming to -rest for the night at Ediwander.</p> - -<p>The counting off continued after he went to bed, and he was strangely -undisturbed by Bess’s mutterings. Now the boat had arrived, he finally -told himself. Maria had said that the cabin was near the landing. Surely -it would not take the woman long to brew the spell. His excitement -increased to a mood of exaltation. He lay with his hand upon Bess’s -forehead, waiting.</p> - -<p>Far away St. Christopher struck the hour. The mellow bells threw the -quarter hours out like a handful of small gold coins to ring down upon -the drowsy streets. Then, very deliberately, they dropped ten round, -heavy notes into the silence.</p> - -<p>This should be the moment. Porgy pressed his hand harder, and sweat -broke out upon his brow. For a moment it seemed to him that life hung -suspended.</p> - -<p>“Porgy,” said a weak, flat voice beside him. “Porgy, dat you dey, ain’t -it? Why you ain’t talk tuh me?”</p> - -<p>The cripple’s answer was a sudden high laugh that broke to a sob.</p> - -<p>“T’ank Gawd!” he said; and again, “T’ank Gawd!”</p> - -<p>§<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_105" id="page_105">{105}</a></span></p> - -<p>On the evening following the day upon which Bess had taken her turn for -the better, Maria was alone in her shop. The supper hour was over, and -her patrons had departed. She was busy at her stove, and did not turn -immediately when someone entered. When she finally looked over her -shoulder, her customer had buried his face in his hands, and she failed -to recognize him. Of one fact there could be little doubt: the man was -drunk, for the close, little room was already heavy with the exhalations -of vile corn whiskey.</p> - -<p>She crossed the room, and touched the man on the shoulder. He lowered -his hands and attempted to focus his eyes on her face.</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s you, Mingo?” she said, and even then she did not grasp the -significance of his presence in the city at that time.</p> - -<p>“Gimme some supper,” he growled; and, with an uncertain movement, drew -some change from his pocket and spilled it in a small pile on the table.</p> - -<p>Maria looked at the money. There was about half a dollar in all, but -there were only two nickels, and the remainder was in pennies. It looked -suspiciously like the currency in which Porgy paid his debts. Then, as -she stood looking down at the little heap<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_106" id="page_106">{106}</a></span> of copper, the full import of -the man’s presence dawned upon her.</p> - -<p>“Wut yuh doin’ here now?” she demanded of him in a tense whisper; “when -de ribber boat ain’t due back fuh annoder day?”</p> - -<p>The question stirred her customer’s consciousness to a faint gleam of -life; but it did not vitalize it sufficiently for adroit prevarication.</p> - -<p>“I miss de boat dis trip,” he managed to articulate. “I take er drink -wid er frien’, and when I git tuh de wharf, de boat done gone.”</p> - -<p>Two powerful hands gripped his shoulders and flung him back against the -wall. He opened his eyes wide and looked into a face of such cold -ferocity that his loose lips emitted a sudden “Oh, Jedus!” and he became -immediately sober, and very much afraid.</p> - -<p>Then Maria poured into his ears words that had the heat and dead weight -of molten lead.</p> - -<p>“Now I goin’ lock yuh up in dat closet till de ribber boat is back at de -wharf,” she concluded. “Den I goin’ let yuh loose. But I all de time -goin’ be where I kin git my hand on yuh again. Ef yuh ebber tells Porgy, -or any libbin’ soul, dat yuh ain’t de<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_107" id="page_107">{107}</a></span>liber dat message tuh Lody, I -goin’ tuh hab nigger blood on my soul w’en I stan’ at de jedgement. Now -yuh gots dat straight in yuh head?”</p> - -<p>Mingo nodded assent. He was beyond the power to speak.</p> - -<p>The big negress jerked him suddenly to his feet, propelled him across -the room and into the stygian recesses of the closet. Then she slammed -the door, turned the immense iron key in the lock, and dropped it in her -pocket.</p> - -<p>“Well, dat’s dat!” she remarked, as she wiped a moist, mystified face -upon a corner of her apron. “Mus’ hab been Jedus done um atter all.” -Then, as though to dismiss the matter, she added: “No, I be damn ef he -did. He ain’t gots it in um.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_109" id="page_109">{109}</a></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_108" id="page_108">{108}</a></span>”</p> - -<h3><a name="IV" id="IV"></a><a name="PART_IV" id="PART_IV"></a>IV</h3> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/i_109.png"> -<img src="images/i_109.png" width="600" height="381" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_110" id="page_110">{110}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_111" id="page_111">{111}</a></span> </p> - -<h2>PART IV</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">I</span>T was the day set for the grand parade and picnic of “The Sons and -Daughters of Repent Ye Saith the Lord,” and, with the first light of -morning, Catfish Row had burst into a fever of preparation. Across the -narrow street, the wharf, from which the party was to leave, bustled and -seethed with life. A wagon rattled out to the pier-head and discharged -an entire load of watermelons. Under the vigilant eyes of a committee a -dozen volunteers lifted the precious freight from the vehicle, and piled -it ready for the steamer.</p> - -<p>From behind the next pier, with a frenzied threshing of its immense -stern paddle, came the excursion boat. Tall open exhaust funnels flanked -the walking-beam, and coughed great salmon-colored plumes of steam into -the faint young sunlight. A fierce torrent of wood-smoke gushed from the -funnel and went tumbling away across the harbor. Painters were hurled, -missed, coiled, and hurled again. Then, amid a babblement of advice and -encouragement, the craft was finally moored in readiness for the Lodge.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_112" id="page_112">{112}</a></span></p> - -<p>The first horizontal rays of the sun were painting the wall a warm -claret, when Porgy opened his door, to find Peter already dressed for -the parade, and perched upon the back of his gaily blanketed horse. He -wore a sky-blue coat, white pants which were thrust into high black -leggings, and a visored cap, from beneath which he scowled fiercely down -upon the turmoil around the feet of his mount. Across his breast, from -right shoulder to left hip, was a broad scarlet sash, upon which was -emblazoned, “Repent Ye Saith the Lord!” and from his left breast -fluttered a white ribbon bearing the word “MARSHAL.” From time to time, -he would issue orders in hoarse, menacing gutturals, which no one -heeded; and twice, in the space of half an hour, he rode out to the -pier-head, counted the watermelons, and returned to report the number to -an important official who had arrived in a carriage to supervise the -arrangements.</p> - -<p>Momently the confusion increased, until at eight o’clock it culminated -in a general exodus toward the rendezvous for the parade.</p> - -<p>The drowsy old city had scarcely commenced its day when, down through -King Charles Street, the procession took its way. Superbly -unselfconscious of the effect that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_113" id="page_113">{113}</a></span> it produced, it crashed through the -slow, restrained rhythm of the city’s life like a wild, barbaric chord. -All of the stately mansions along the way were servantless that day, and -the aristocratic matrons broke the ultimate canon of the social code and -peered through front windows at the procession as it swept flamboyantly -across the town.</p> - -<p>First came an infinitesimal negro boy, scarlet-coated, and aglitter with -brass buttons. Upon his head was balanced an enormous shako; and while -he marched with left hand on hip and shoulders back, his right hand -twirled a heavy gold-headed baton. Then the band, two score boys attired -in several variations of the band master’s costume, strode by. Bare, -splay feet padded upon the cobbles; heads were thrown back, with lips to -instruments that glittered in the sunshine, launching daring and -independent excursions into the realm of sound. Yet these improvisations -returned always to the eternal boom, boom, boom of an underlying rhythm, -and met with others in the sudden weaving and ravelling of amazing -chords. An ecstasy of wild young bodies beat living into the blasts that -shook the windows of the solemn houses. Broad, dusty, blue-black feet -shuffled and danced on the many-colored cobbles and the grass<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_114" id="page_114">{114}</a></span> between -them. The sun lifted suddenly over the housetops and flashed like a -torrent of warm, white wine between the staid buildings, to break on -flashing teeth and laughing eyes.</p> - -<p>After the band came the men members of the lodge, stepping it out to the -urge of the marshals who rode beside them, reinforcing the marching -rhythm with a series of staccato grunts, shot with crisp, military -precision from under their visored caps. Breast cross-slashed with the -emblems of their lodge, they passed.</p> - -<p>Then came the carriages, and suddenly the narrow street hummed and -bloomed like a tropic garden. Six to a carriage sat the sisters. The -effect produced by the colors was strangely like that wrought in the -music; scarlet, purple, orange, flamingo, emerald; wild, clashing, -unbelievable discords; yet, in their steady flow before the eye, -possessing a strange, dominant rhythm that reconciled them to each other -and made them unalterably right. The senses reached blindly out for a -reason. There was none. They intoxicated, they maddened, and finally -they passed, seeming to pull every ray of color from the dun buildings, -leaving the sunlight sane, flat, dead.</p> - -<p>For its one brief moment out of the year<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_115" id="page_115">{115}</a></span> the pageant had lasted. Out of -its fetters of civilization this people had risen, suddenly, amazingly. -Exotic as the Congo, and still able to abandon themselves utterly to the -wild joy of fantastic play, they had taken the reticent, old Anglo-Saxon -town and stamped their mood swiftly and indelibly into its heart. Then -they passed, leaving behind them a wistful envy among those who had -watched them go,—those whom the ages had rendered old and wise.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>When the exodus from the Row was completed, Bess helped Porgy out to the -boat and established him in an angle of the main-deck cabin, where he -could see and enjoy the excursion to the full. Below them on the wharf, -Maria, who had the direction of the refreshment committee in hand, moved -about among the baskets and boxes, looking rather like a water-front -conflagration, in a voluminous costume of scarlet and orange. Bess left -Porgy and descended the ladder.</p> - -<p>“I gots a ready hand wid bundle,” she announced diffidently.</p> - -<p>The immense negress paused, and looked her up and down.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_116" id="page_116">{116}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Well, well, it looks like yer tryin’ ter be decent,” she commented.</p> - -<p>Instantly the woman chilled, “Yuh kin go tuh Hell!” she said -deliberately. “I ain’t axin’ fuh no sermon. I want a job. Does yuh want -a han’ wid dem package, or not?”</p> - -<p>For a moment their eyes met. Then they laughed suddenly, loudly -together, with complete understanding.</p> - -<p>“All right, den,” the older woman said. “Ef yuh is dat independent, yuh -kin tek dem basket on board.”</p> - -<p>After that they worked together, until the procession arrived, without -the interchange of further remarks.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>Down the quiet bay, like a great, frenzied beetle, the stern-wheeler -kicked its way. On the main deck the band played without cessation. In a -ring before it, a number of negroes danced, for the most part shuffling -singly. The sun hurled the full power of an August noon upon the -oil-smooth water, and the polished surface cast it upward with added -force under the awnings. The decks sagged with color, and repeated -explosions of laughter rode the heat waves back to the drowsing, lovely -old city long after the boat<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_117" id="page_117">{117}</a></span> had turned the first bend in the narrow -river and passed from view on its way to the negro picnic grounds on -Kittiwar Island.</p> - -<p>Thrashing its way between far-sweeping marshes and wooded sea islands, -the boat would burst suddenly into lagoon after lagoon, that lay strewn -along the coast, that blazed in the noon like great fire-opals held in -silver mesh.</p> - -<p>Finally a shout went up. Kittiwar lay before them, thrusting a slender -wharf from its thickly wooded extremity into the slack tide.</p> - -<p>The debarkation over, Maria took possession of a clearing that stood in -a dense forest of palmettoes and fronted on the beach, and marshalled -her committee to prepare the lunch. From the adjacent beach came the -steady, cool thunder of the sea and the unremitting hum of sand, as -tireless winds scooped it from the dunes and sent it in low, flat-blown -layers across the hard floor of the beach.</p> - -<p>The picnickers heard it, and answered with a shout. Soon the streaming -whiteness of the inner surf was dotted with small, glistening black -bodies; the larger figures, with skirts hoisted high, were wading in the -shallows.</p> - -<p>Porgy sat with a large myrtle bush in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_118" id="page_118">{118}</a></span> one hand, with which he brushed -flies from several sleeping infants. The sun lay heavy and comforting -upon him. One of the children stirred and whimpered. He hummed a low, -bumbling song to it. There was a new contentment in his face. After a -while he commenced to nod.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>“I go an’ git some palmettuh leaf fuh tablecloth,” Bess told Maria; and, -without waiting for an answer, she took a knife from a basket, and -entered the dense tangle of palm and vine that walled the clearing.</p> - -<p>Almost immediately she was in another world. The sounds behind her -became faint, and died. A rattler moved its thick body sluggishly out of -her way. A flock of wood ibis sprang suddenly up, broke through the -thick roof of palm leaves, and streamed away over the treetops toward -the marsh with their legs at the trail.</p> - -<p>She cut a wide fan-shaped leaf from the nearest palmetto. Behind her -some one breathed—a deep interminable breath.</p> - -<p>The woman’s body stiffened slowly. Her eyes half closed and were -suddenly dark and knowing. Some deep ebb or flow of blood touched her -face, causing it to darken<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_119" id="page_119">{119}</a></span> heavily, leaving the scar livid. Without -turning, she said slowly:</p> - -<p>“Crown!”</p> - -<p>“Yas, yuh know berry well, dis Crown.”</p> - -<p>The deep sound shook her. She turned like one dazed, and looked him up -and down.</p> - -<p>His body was naked to the waist, and the blue cotton pants that he had -worn on the night of the killing had frayed away to his knees. He bent -slightly forward. The great muscles of his torso flickered and ran like -the flank of a horse. His small wicked eyes burned, and he moistened his -heavy lips.</p> - -<p>Earth had cared for him well. The marshes had provided eggs of wild -fowl, and many young birds. The creek had given him fish, crabs and -oysters in abundance, and the forest had fed him with its many berries, -and succulent palmetto cabbage.</p> - -<p>“I seen yuh land,” he said, “an’ I been waitin’ fuh yuh. I mos’ dead ob -lonesome on dis damn island, wid not one Gawd’s person to swap a word -wid. Yuh gots any happy-dus’ wid yuh?”</p> - -<p>“No,” she said; then with an effort, “Crown, I gots somethin’ tuh tell -yuh. I done gib up dope; and beside dat, I sort ob change my way.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_120" id="page_120">{120}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>His jaw shot forward, and the huge shoulder muscles bulged and set. His -two great hands went around her throat and closed like the slow fusing -of steel on steel. She stopped speaking. He drew her to him until his -face touched hers. Under his hands her arteries pounded, sending fierce -spurts of flame through her limbs, beating redly behind her eyeballs. -His hands slackened. Her face changed, her lips opened, but she said -nothing. Crown broke into low, shaken laughter, and threw her from him.</p> - -<p>“Now come wid me,” he ordered.</p> - -<p>Into the depths of the jungle they plunged; the woman walking in front -with a trance-like fixity of gaze. They followed one of the narrow -hard-packed trails that had been beaten by the wild hogs and goats that -roamed the island.</p> - -<p>On each side of them, the forest stood like a wall, its tough low trees -and thick-bodied palmettoes laced and bound together with wire-strong -vines. Overhead the foliage met, making the trail a tunnel as -inescapable as though it had been built of masonry.</p> - -<p>The man walked with a swinging, effortless stride, but his breath -sounded in long, audible inhalations, as though he labored physically.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_121" id="page_121">{121}</a></span></p> - -<p>When they had journeyed for half an hour they crossed a small cypress -swamp. The cypress-knees jutted grotesquely from the yellow water, and -trailing Spanish moss extended drab stalactites that brushed their faces -as they threaded the low, muddy trail.</p> - -<p>Finally Bess emerged into a small clearing, in the centre of which stood -a low hut with sides of plaited twigs and roof of palmetto leaves laid -on top of each other in regular rows like shingles.</p> - -<p>Crown was close behind her. At the low door of the hut she paused and -turned toward him. He laughed suddenly and hotly at what he saw in her -face.</p> - -<p>“I know yuh ain’t change,” he said. “Wid yuh an’ me it always goin’ tuh -be de same. See?”</p> - -<p>He snatched her body toward him with such force that her breath was -forced from her in a sharp gasp. Then she inhaled deeply, threw back her -head, and sent a wild laugh out against the walls of the clearing.</p> - -<p>Crown swung her about and threw her face forward into the hut.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>The sun was so low that its level rays shot through the tunnels of the -forest and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_122" id="page_122">{122}</a></span> bronzed its ceiling of woven leaves when Bess returned to -the clearing. She paused for a moment. Behind her, screened by the -underbrush, stood Crown.</p> - -<p>“Now ’member wut I tells yuh,” he said. “Yuh kin stay wid de cripple -’til de cotton come. Den I comin’. Davy will hide we on de ribber boat -fur as Sawannah. Den soon de cotton will be comin’ in fas’, an’ libbin -will be easy. Yuh gits dat?”</p> - -<p>For a moment she looked into the narrow, menacing eyes, then nodded.</p> - -<p>“Go ’long den, an’ tote fair, les yuh wants tuh meet yo’ Gawd.”</p> - -<p>She stepped into the open. Already most of the party were on the boat. -She crossed the narrow beach to the wharf.</p> - -<p>Maria stood by the gangplank and looked at her with suspicious eyes. -“Wuh yuh been all day?” she demanded.</p> - -<p>“I git los’ in de woods, an’ I can’t git my bearin’s ’til sundown. But -dat ain’t nobody’ business ’cep’ me an’ Porgy, ef yuh wants tuh know.”</p> - -<p>She found Porgy on the lower deck near the stern, and seated herself by -him in silence. He was looking into the sunset, and gave no evidence of -having noticed her arrival.</p> - -<p>Through the illimitable, mysterious<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_123" id="page_123">{123}</a></span> night, the steamer took its way. -Presently it swung out of one of the narrow channels and wallowed like -an antediluvian monster into the stillness of a wide lagoon. Out of the -darkness, low, broad waves moved in upon it, trailing stars along their -swarthy backs to shatter into silver dust against the uncouth bows.</p> - -<p>To Porgy and Bess, still sitting silent in the stern, came only the -echoes of drowsy conversations, sounds of sleeping, and the rhythmic -splash and drip of the single great wheel behind them. The boat forged -out into the centre of the lagoon, and the shore line melted out behind -it. Where it had shown a moment before, could now be seen only the -steady climb of constellations out of the water’s rim, and the soft, -humid lamps of low, near stars. The night pressed in about the two quiet -figures.</p> - -<p>Porgy had said no word since their departure. His body had assumed its -old, tense attitude. His face wore again its listening look. Now, he -said slowly:</p> - -<p>“Yuh nebber lie tuh me, Bess.”</p> - -<p>“No,” came an even, colorless voice, “I nebber lie tuh yuh. Yuh gots tuh -gib me dat.”</p> - -<p>Another interval, then:</p> - -<p>“War it Crown?<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_124" id="page_124">{124}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>A sharp, indrawn breath beside him, and a whisper:</p> - -<p>“How yuh know?”</p> - -<p>“Gawd gib cripple many t’ings he ain’t gib strong men.” Then again, -patiently, “War it Crown?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it war.”</p> - -<p>“Wut he say?”</p> - -<p>“He comin’ fuh me when de cotton come tuh town.”</p> - -<p>“Yuh goin’?”</p> - -<p>“I tell um—yes.”</p> - -<p>After a while the woman reached out a hand and closed it lightly about -the man’s arm. Under the sleeve she felt the muscles go rigid. What -power! She tried to circle it with her hand. It was almost as big as -Crown’s. It was strange that she had not noticed that before. She opened -her mouth to speak, but no sound came. Presently she sighed, and -withdrew her hand.</p> - -<p>Through the immense emptiness of sea and sky the boat forged slowly -toward the distant city’s lights.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>“I gots er feelin’ yistuhday,” announced Maria to Serena Robbins, as she -took a batch of wet clothing from the latter’s tub, gave it<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_125" id="page_125">{125}</a></span> one twist -with her enormous hands, and set it aside to go upon the line.</p> - -<p>“Wut yuh gots er feelin’ ’bout?”</p> - -<p>“I gots er feelin’ w’en Porgy ’oman come out de wood on de picnic, she -done been wid Crown.”</p> - -<p>At the mention of the murderer’s name Serena stepped back, and her usual -expression of sanctimonious complacency slowly changed. Her lower lip -shot forward, and her face darkened.</p> - -<p>“Yuh t’ink dat nigger on Kittiwar?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“I allus figgered he bin dey in dem deep palmetters,” Maria replied. -“But w’en I look in Bess’s eye las’ night, I sho ob two ting: one, dat -he is dey, an’ two, dat she been wid um.”</p> - -<p>“Yuh b’lieb she still ran wid dat nigger?”</p> - -<p>“Dem sort ob mens ain’t need tuh worry ’bout habin’ ’omen,” Maria told -her. “Dey kin lay de lash on um, an’ kick um in de street; den dey kin -whistle w’en dey ready, an’ dere dey is ag’in lickin’ dey han’.”</p> - -<p>“She goin’ stay wid Porgy, ef she know wut good fuh she.”</p> - -<p>“She know all right, an’ she lub Porgy. But ef dat nigger come attuh -she, dey ain’t goin’ tuh be noboddy roun’ hyuh but Porgy an’ de goat.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_126" id="page_126">{126}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>A sudden dark flame blazed in Serena’s face, sweeping the acquired -complacency before it, and changing it utterly. She leant forward, and -spoke heavily:</p> - -<p>“Dat nigger bes’ t’ank he Gawd dat I gots My Jedus now fuh hol’ back my -han’!”</p> - -<p>“Yuh ain’t means dat yuh is goin’ tuh gib um up tuh de w’ite folks ef he -come back to town, ’stead ob settle wid um yu’self?’ Maria asked -incredulously.</p> - -<p>“I ain’t know wut fuh do,” the other replied, the hatred in her face -giving way to a look of perplexity. “Ef dat nigger come tuh town he sho -tuh git kill’ sooner er later. Den de w’ite folks goin’ lock me up. Dey -gots it on de writin’s now dat I been Robbins’ wife; an’ dey goin’ -figger I like as not kill um. I knows two people git lock up dat way, -an’ dey ain’t do one Gawd t’ing.”</p> - -<p>“Nigger sho’ gots fuh keep he eye open in dis worl’,” the big negress -observed. “But we can’t turn no nigger ober tuh de police.”</p> - -<p>A man paused before the entrance of the court, and looked in. To the two -women he was only a silhouette standing under the arch against a -dazzling expanse of bay; but the foppish outlines of the indolent, -slender figure were unmistakable.</p> - -<p>A smile of pleased anticipation grew about<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_127" id="page_127">{127}</a></span> Maria’s wide mouth. She -dried her hands upon her apron.</p> - -<p>“Jus’ like I been tellin’ yuh!” she remarked to Serena. “T’ank Gawd, -Jedus ain’t gots me yit wuh he gots you; an’ I still mens enough tuh -straighten out a crooked nigger. See dat yalluh snake wrigglin’ in de -do’way? He de one wut sell Bess dat happy-dus’.”</p> - -<p>Drying her hands and bared forearms with ominous thoroughness, she -crossed to her shop. The room was empty when she entered. She went at -once to the stove which stood in its corner, with its legs set upon four -bricks. She bent forward, placed a shoulder against one of its corners, -gave a heave, and drew out a brick. Then she straightened up, spat first -on one hand, then on the other, and, carrying the brick in her immense -right, lightly, and with a certain awful fondness, stepped out of her -door.</p> - -<p>Sportin’ Life was now within the entrance, and presented an unsuspecting -profile to the cook-shop.</p> - -<p>With frightful deliberation, Maria swung her long arm back; then, like -the stroke of a rattler, it shot forward. The brick caught the mulatto -full on the side of the head. He crumpled among his gaudy habiliments -like a stricken bird.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_128" id="page_128">{128}</a></span></p> - -<p>After a space of time the victim blinked feebly, then opened his eyes -upon Maria’s face. She was mopping his head with a wet rag, and his -first glance discovered an expression of gentleness on her heavy -features. Reassured, he opened his eyes wide. But the gentleness was -gone. He felt himself gripped by the shoulders, and suddenly snatched -upward to be placed upon unsteady legs. Then he was propelled rapidly -toward the gate.</p> - -<p>At the pavement’s edge Maria swung her victim around until his wandering -and reluctant gaze met hers.</p> - -<p>“De las’ time yuh wuz aroun’ hyuh, I ain’t hab nuttin’ on yuh but my -eyes. Now I knows yuh—yuh damn, dirty, dope-peddler, wreckin’ de homes -ob dese happy niggers!”</p> - -<p>Her arms shot forward and back like locomotive pistons. The man’s head -snapped to an acute angle, and righted itself with difficulty.</p> - -<p>“Now, w’en I done flingin’ yuh out dis gate,” she proceeded, “it’s de -las’ time yuh is goin’ tuh leabe it erlibe. Eberybody say I is er berry -t’orough nigger, an’ ef yuh ebber comes roun’ hyuh agin, drunk or sobuh, -I ain’t goin’ to be t’rough wid yuh carcase<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_129" id="page_129">{129}</a></span> ontil I t’row yuh bones out -tuh de buzza’d one by one.”</p> - -<p>Abruptly she reversed the luckless man and placed a foot in the small of -his back. Then with a heave that seemed to bring into play every muscle -of her huge bulk, she catapulted him once and for all out of Catfish Row -and the lives of its inhabitants.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_130" id="page_130">{130}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_131" id="page_131">{131}</a></span> </p> - -<h3><a name="V" id="V"></a><a name="PART_V" id="PART_V"></a>V</h3> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 520px;"> -<a href="images/i_131.png"> -<img src="images/i_131.png" width="520" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_132" id="page_132">{132}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_133" id="page_133">{133}</a></span> </p> - -<h2>PART V</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">“F</span>ISH runnin’ well outside de bar, dese days,” remarked Jake one evening -to several of his seagoing companions.</p> - -<p>A large, bronze-colored negro paused in his task of rigging a line, and -cast an eye to sea through the driveway.</p> - -<p>“An’ we mens bes’ make de mores ob it,” he observed. “Dem Septumbuh -storm due soon, an’ fish ain’t likes eas’ win’ an’ muddy watuh.”</p> - -<p>Jake laughed reassuringly.</p> - -<p>“Go ’long wid yuh. Ain’t yuh done know we hab one stiff gale las’ -summer, an’ he nebber come two yeah han’ runnin’.”</p> - -<p>His wife came toward him with a baby in her arms, and, giving him the -child to hold, took up the mess of fish which he was cleaning in a -leisurely fashion.</p> - -<p>“Ef yuh ain’t mans enough tuh clean fish no fastuh dan dat, yuh bes’ -min’ de baby, an’ gib um tuh a ’oman fuh clean!” she said scornfully, as -she bore away the pan.</p> - -<p>The group laughed at that, Jake’s somewhat shamefaced merriment rising -above the others. He rocked the contented little negro<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_134" id="page_134">{134}</a></span> in his strong -arms, and followed the retreating figure of the mother with admiring -eyes.</p> - -<p>“All right, mens,” he said, returning to the matter in hand. “I’m all -fuh ridin’ luck fer as he will tote me. Turn out at fo’ tuhmorruh -mornin’, and we’ll push de ‘Seagull’ clean tuh de blackfish banks befo’ -we wets de anchor. I gots er feelin’ in my bones dat we goin’ be gunnels -undeh wid de pure fish when we comes in tuhmorruh night.”</p> - -<p>The news of Jake’s prediction spread through the negro quarter. Other -crews got their boats hastily in commission and were ready to join the -“Mosquito Fleet” when it put to sea.</p> - -<p>On the following morning, when the sun rose out of the Atlantic, the -thirty or forty small vessels were mere specks teetering upon the -water’s rim against the red disc that forged swiftly up beyond them.</p> - -<p>Afternoon found the wharf crowded with women and children, who laughed -and joked each other as to the respective merits of their men and the -luck of the boats in which they went to sea.</p> - -<p>Clara, Jake’s wife, sought the head of the dock long before sundown, and -sat upon the bulkhead with her baby asleep in her lap. Occasionally she -would exchange a greeting<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_135" id="page_135">{135}</a></span> with an acquaintance; but for the most part -she gazed toward the harbor mouth and said no word to any one.</p> - -<p>“She always like dat,” a neighbor informed a little group. “A conjer -’oman once tell she Jake goin’ git drownded; an’ she ain’t hab no -happiness since, ’cept when he feet is hittin’ de dirt.”</p> - -<p>Presently a murmur arose among the watchers. Out at the harbor mouth, -against the thin greenish-blue of the horizon, appeared the “Mosquito -Fleet.” Driven by a steady breeze, the boats swept toward the city with -astonishing rapidity.</p> - -<p>Warm sunlight flooded out of the west, touched the old city with -transient glory, then cascaded over the tossing surface of the bay to -paint the taut, cupped sails salmon pink, as the fleet drove forward -directly into the eye of the sun.</p> - -<p>Almost before the crowd realized it, the boats were jibing and coming -about at their feet, each jockeying for a favorable berth.</p> - -<p>Under the skillful and daring hand of Jake, the “Seagull” took a chance, -missed a stern by a hairbreadth, jibed suddenly with a snap and boom, -and ran in, directly under the old rock steps of the wharf.</p> - -<p>A cheer went up from the crowd. Never had there been such a catch. The -boat<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_136" id="page_136">{136}</a></span> seemed floored with silver which rose almost to the thwarts, -forcing the crew to sit on gunnels, or aft with the steersman.</p> - -<p>Indeed the catch was so heavy that as boat after boat docked, it became -evident that the market was glutted, and the fishermen vied with each -other in giving away their surplus cargo, so that they would not have to -throw it overboard.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>By the following morning the weather had become unsettled. The wind was -still coming out of the west; but a low, solid wall of cloud had -replaced the promising sunset of the evening before, and from time to -time the wind would wrench off a section of the black mass, and volley -it with great speed across the sky, to accumulate in unstable pyramids -against the sunrise.</p> - -<p>But the success of the day before had so fired the enthusiasm of the -fishermen that they were not easily to be deterred from following their -luck, and the first grey premonition of the day found the wharf seething -with preparation.</p> - -<p>Clara, with the baby in her arms, accompanied Jake to the pier-head. She -knew the futility of remonstrance; but her eyes were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_137" id="page_137">{137}</a></span> fearful when the -heavy, black clouds swept overhead. Once, when a wave slapped a pile, -and threw a handful of spray in her face, she moaned and looked up at -the big negro by her side. But Jake was full of the business in hand, -and besides, he was growing a little impatient at his wife’s incessant -plea that he sell his share of the “Seagull” and settle on land. Now he -turned from her, and shouted:</p> - -<p>“All right, mens!”</p> - -<p>He bestowed a short, powerful embrace upon his wife, with his eyes -looking over her shoulder into the Atlantic’s veiled face, turned from -her with a quick, nervous movement, and dropped from the wharf into his -boat.</p> - -<p>Standing in the bow, he moistened his finger in his mouth, and held it -up to the wind.</p> - -<p>“You mens bes’ git all de fish yuh’ kin tuhday,” he admonished. “Win’ be -in de eas’ by tuhmorruh. It gots dat wet tas’ ter um now.”</p> - -<p>One by one the boats shoved off, and lay in the stream while they -adjusted their spritsails and rigged their full jibs abeam, like -spinnakers, for the free run to sea. The vessels were similar in design, -the larger ones attaining a length of thirty-five feet. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_138" id="page_138">{138}</a></span> were very -narrow, and low in the waist, with high, keen bows, and pointed sterns. -The hulls were round-bottomed, and had beautiful running lines, the -fishermen, who were also the designers and builders, taking great pride -in the speed and style of their respective craft. The boats were all -open from stem to stern and were equipped with thole-pins for rowing, an -expedient to which the men resorted only in dire emergency.</p> - -<p>Custom had reduced adventure to commonplace; yet it was inconceivable -that men could put out, in the face of unsettled weather, for a point -beyond sight of land, and exhibit no uneasiness or fear. Yet bursts of -loud, loose laughter, and snatches of song, blew back to the wharf long -after the boats were in mid-stream.</p> - -<p>The wind continued to come in sudden flaws, and, once the little craft -had gotten clear of the wharves, the fleet made swift but erratic -progress. There were moments when they would seem to mark time upon the -choppy waters of the bay; then suddenly a flaw would bear down on them, -whipping the water as it came, and, filling the sails, would fairly lift -the slender bows as it drove them forward.</p> - -<p>By the time that the leisurely old city was sitting down to its -breakfast, the fleet<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_139" id="page_139">{139}</a></span> had disappeared into the horizon, and the sun had -climbed over its obstructions to flood the harbor with reassuring light.</p> - -<p>The mercurial spirits of the negroes rose with the genial warmth. -Forebodings were forgotten. Even Clara sang a lighter air as she rocked -the baby upon her lap.</p> - -<p>But the sun had just lifted over the eastern wall, and the heat of noon -was beginning to vibrate in the court, when suddenly the air of security -was shattered. From the center of town sounded the deep, ominous clang -of a bell.</p> - -<p>At its first stroke life in Catfish Row was paralyzed. Women stopped -their tasks, and, not realizing what they did, clasped each others’ -hands tightly, and stood motionless, with strained, listening faces.</p> - -<p>Twenty times the great hammer fell, sending the deep, full notes out -across the city that was holding its breath and counting them as they -came.</p> - -<p>“Twenty!” said Clara, when it had ceased to shake the air.</p> - -<p>She ran to the entrance and looked to the north. Almost at the end of -vision, between two buildings, could be seen the flagstaff that -surmounted the custom-house. It was bare when she looked—just a thin, -bare line against the intense blue, but even as she<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_140" id="page_140">{140}</a></span> stood there, a -flicker of color soared up its length; then fixed and flattened, showing -a red square with a black center.</p> - -<p>“My Gawd!” she called over her shoulder. “It’s de trut’. Dat’s de -hurricane signal on top de custom-house.”</p> - -<p>Bess came from her room, and stood close to the terrified woman.</p> - -<p>“Dat can’t be so,” she said comfortingly. “Ain’t yuh ’member de las’ -hurricane, how it tek two day tuh blow up. Now de sun out bright, an’ de -cloud all gone.”</p> - -<p>But Clara gave no sign of having heard her.</p> - -<p>“Come on in!” urged Bess. “Ef yuh don’t start tuh git yuh dinner, yuh -won’t hab nuttin’ ready fuh de mens w’en dey gits in.”</p> - -<p>After a moment the idea penetrated, and the half-dazed woman turned -toward Bess, her eyes pleading.</p> - -<p>“You come wid me, an’ talk a lot. I ain’t likes tuh be all alone now.”</p> - -<p>“Sho’ I will,” replied the other comfortingly. “I min’ de baby fuh yuh, -an’ yuh kin be gittin’ de dinner.”</p> - -<p>Clara’s face quivered; but she turned from the sight of the far red flag -and opened her door for Bess to pass in.</p> - -<p>After the two women had remained together for half an hour, Bess left -the room<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_141" id="page_141">{141}</a></span> for a moment to fetch some sewing. The sun was gone, and the -sky presented a smooth, leaden surface. She closed the door quickly so -that Clara might not see the abrupt change, and went out of the entrance -for a look to sea.</p> - -<p>Like the sky, the bay had undergone a complete metamorphosis. The water -was black, and strangely lifeless. Thin, intensely white crests rode the -low, pointed waves; and between the opposing planes of sky and sea a -thin westerly wind roamed about like a trapped thing and whined in a -complaining treble key. A singularly clear half-light pervaded the -world, and in it she could see the harbor mouth distinctly, as it lay -ten miles away between the north and south jetties that stretched on the -horizon like arms with the finger-tips nearly touching.</p> - -<p>Her eyes sought the narrow opening. Guiltless of the smallest speck, it -let upon utter void.</p> - -<p>“It’d take ’em t’ree hour tuh mek harbor from de banks wid good win’,” -said a woman who was also watching. “But dere ain’t no powuh in dis -breeze, an’ it a head one at dat.”</p> - -<p>“Dey kin row it in dat time,” encouraged Bess. “<span class="lftspc">‘</span>An’ de storm ain’t hyuh -yit.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_142" id="page_142">{142}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>But the woman hugged her forebodings, and stood there shivering in the -close, warm air.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>Except for the faint moan of the wind, the town and harbor lay in a -silence that was like held breath.</p> - -<p>Many negroes came to the wharf, passed out to the pier-head, and sat -quietly watching the entrance to the bay.</p> - -<p>At one o’clock the tension snapped. As though it had been awaiting St. -Christopher’s chimes to announce “Zero Hour,” the wind swung into the -east, and its voice dropped an octave, and changed its quality. Instead -of the complaining whine, a grave, sustained note came in from the -Atlantic, with an undertone of alarming variations, that sounded oddly -out of place as it traversed the inert waters of the bay.</p> - -<p>The tide was at the last of the ebb, and racing out of the many rivers -and creeks toward the sea. All morning the west wind had driven it -smoothly before it. But now, the stiffening eastern gale threw its -weight against the water, and the conflict immediately filled the bay -with large waves that leapt up to angry points, then dropped back -sullenly upon themselves.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_143" id="page_143">{143}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Choppy water,” observed a very old negro who squinted through -half-closed eyes. “Dem boat nebbuh mek headway in dat sea.”</p> - -<p>But he was not encouraged to continue by the silent, anxious group.</p> - -<p>Slowly the threatening undertone of the wind grew louder. Then, as -though a curtain had been lowered across the harbor mouth, everything -beyond was blotted by a milky screen.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my Jedus!” a voice shrilled. “Here he come, now! Le’s we go!”</p> - -<p>Many of the watchers broke for the cover of buildings across the street. -Some of those whose men were in the fleet crowded into the small -wharf-house. Several voices started to pray at once, and were -immediately drowned in the rising clamor of the wind.</p> - -<p>With the mathematical precision that it had exhibited in starting, the -gale now moved its obliterating curtain through the jetties, and thrust -it forward in a straight line across the outer bay.</p> - -<p>There was something utterly terrifying about the studied manner in which -the hurricane proceeded about its business. It clicked off its moves -like an automaton. It was Destiny working nakedly for the eyes of men<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_144" id="page_144">{144}</a></span> -to see. The watchers knew that for at least twenty-four hours it would -stay, moving its tides and winds here and there with that invincible -precision, crushing the life from those whom its preconceived plan had -seemed to mark for death.</p> - -<p>With that instant emotional release that is the great solace of the -negro, the tightly packed wharf-house burst into a babblement of weeping -and prayer.</p> - -<p>The curtain advanced to the inner bay and narrowed the world to the -city, with its buildings cowering white and fearful, and the remaining -semi-circle of the harbor.</p> - -<p>And now from the opaque surface of the screen came a persistent roar -that was neither of wind or water, but the articulate cry of the storm -itself. The curtain shot forward again and became a wall, grey and -impenetrable, that sunk its foundations into the tortured sea and bore -the leaden sky upon its soaring top.</p> - -<p>The noise became deafening. The narrow strip of water that was left -before the wharves seemed to shrink away. The buildings huddled closer -and waited.</p> - -<p>Then it crossed the strip, and smote the city.</p> - -<p>From the roofs came the sound as though ton after ton of ore had been -dumped from<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_145" id="page_145">{145}</a></span> some great eminence. There was a dead weight to the shocks -that could not conceivably be delivered by so unsubstantial a substance -as air, yet which was the wind itself, lifting abruptly to enormous -heights, then hurling its full force downward.</p> - -<p>These shocks followed the demoniac plan, occurring at exact intervals, -and were succeeded by prying fingers, as fluid as ether, as hard as -steel, that felt for cracks in roofs and windows.</p> - -<p>One could no longer say with certainty, “This which I breathe is air, -and this upon which I stand is earth.” The storm had possessed itself of -the city and made it its own. Tangibles and intangibles alike were -whirled in a mad, inextricable nebula.</p> - -<p>The waves that moved upon the bay could be dimly discerned for a little -distance. They were turgid, yellow, and naked; for the moment they -lifted a crest, the wind snatched it and dispersed it, with the rain, -into the warm semi-fluid atmosphere with which it delivered its attack -upon the panic-stricken city.</p> - -<p>Notch by notch the velocity increased. The concussions upon the roofs -became louder, and the prying fingers commenced to gain a purchase, -worrying small holes into large ones. Here and there the wind would<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_146" id="page_146">{146}</a></span> get -beneath the tin, roll it up suddenly, whirl it from a building like a -sheet of paper, and send it thundering and crashing down a deserted -street.</p> - -<p>Again it would gain entrance to a room through a broken window, and, -exerting its explosive force to the full, would blow all of the other -windows outward, and commence work upon the walls from within.</p> - -<p>It was impossible to walk upon the street. At the first shock of the -storm, the little group of negroes who had sought shelter in the -wharf-house fled to the Row. Even then, the force of the attack had been -so great that only by bending double and clinging together were they -able to resist the onslaughts and traverse the narrow street.</p> - -<p>Porgy and Bess sat in their room. The slats had been taken from the bed -and nailed across the window, and the mattress, bundled into a corner, -had been pre-empted by the goat. Bess sat wrapped in her own thoughts, -apparently unmoved by the demoniac din without. Porgy’s look was one of -wonder, not unmixed with fear, as he peered into the outer world between -two of the slats. The goat, blessed with an utter lack of imagination, -revelled in the comfort and intimacy of his new environment, expressing -his contentment in suffocating<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_147" id="page_147">{147}</a></span> waves, after the manner of his kind. A -kerosene lamp without a chimney, smoking straight up into the unnatural -stillness of the room, cast a faint, yellow light about it, but only -accentuated the heavy gloom of the corners.</p> - -<p>From where Porgy sat, he could catch glimpses of what lay beyond the -window. There would come occasional moments when the floor of the storm -would be lifted by a burrowing wind, and he would see the high, naked -breakers racing under the sullen pall of spume and rain.</p> - -<p>Once he saw a derelict go by. The vessel was a small river sloop, with -its rigging blown clean out. A man was clinging to the tiller. One wave, -larger than its fellows, submerged the little boat, and when it wallowed -to the surface again, the man was gone, and the tiller was kicking -wildly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my Jedus, hab a little pity!” the watcher moaned under his breath.</p> - -<p>Later, a roof went by.</p> - -<p>Porgy heard it coming, even above the sound of the attack upon the Row, -and it filled him with awe and dread. He turned and looked at Bess, and -was reassured to see that she met his gaze fearlessly. Down the street -the roar advanced, growing nearer and louder momentarily. Surely it -would be the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_148" id="page_148">{148}</a></span> final instrument of destruction. He held his breath, and -waited. Then it thundered past his narrow sphere of vision. Rolled -loosely, it loomed to the second story windows, and flapped and tore at -the buildings as it swept over the cobbles.</p> - -<p>When a voice could be heard again, Porgy turned to his companion.</p> - -<p>“You an’ me, Bess,” he said with conviction “We <i>sho’</i> is a little -somet’ing attuh all.”</p> - -<p>After that, they sat long without exchanging a word. Then Porgy looked -out of the window and noticed that the quality of the atmosphere was -becoming denser. The spume lifted for a moment, and he could scarcely -see the tormented bay.</p> - -<p>“I t’ink it mus’ be mos’ night,” he observed. “Dey ain’t much light now -on de outside ob dis storm.”</p> - -<p>He looked again before the curtain descended, and what he saw caused his -heart to miss a beat.</p> - -<p>He knew that the tide should be again at the ebb, for the flood had -commenced just after the storm broke. But as he looked, the water, which -was already higher than a normal flood, lifted over the far edge of the -street, and three tremendous waves broke in rapid succession, sending -the deep layers<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_149" id="page_149">{149}</a></span> of water across the narrow way to splash against the -wall of the building.</p> - -<p>This reversal of nature’s law struck terror into the dark places of -Porgy’s soul. He beckoned to Bess, his fascinated eyes upon the -advancing waves.</p> - -<p>She bent down and peered into the gloom.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes,” she remarked in a flat tone. “It been dis way in de las’ -great storm. De win’ hol’ de watuh in de jetty mout’ so he can’t go out. -Den he pile up annoder tide on him.”</p> - -<p>Suddenly an enormous breaker loomed over the backs of its shattered and -retreating fellows. The two watchers could not see its crest, for it -towered into, and was absorbed by, the low-hanging atmosphere. Yellow, -smooth, and with a perpendicular, slightly concave front, it flashed -across the street, and smote the solid wall of the Row. They heard it -roar like a mill-race through the drive, and flatten, hissing in the -court. Then they turned, and saw their own door give slightly to the -pressure, and a dark flood spurt beneath it, and debouch upon the floor.</p> - -<p>Bess took immediate command of the situation. She threw an arm about -Porgy, and hurried him to the door. She withdrew the bolt, and the -flimsy panels shot inward.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_150" id="page_150">{150}</a></span> The court was almost totally dark. One after -another now the waves were hurtling through the drive and impounding in -the walled square.</p> - -<p>The night was full of moving figures, and cries of fear; while, out of -the upper dark, the wind struck savagely downward.</p> - -<p>With a powerful swing, Bess got Porgy to a stairway that providentially -opened near their room, and, leaving him to make his way up alone, she -rushed back, and was soon at his heels with an armful of belongings.</p> - -<p>They sought refuge in what had been the great ball-room of the mansion, -a square, high-ceilinged room on the second story, which was occupied by -a large and prosperous family. There were many refugees there before -them. In the faint light cast by several lanterns, the indestructible -beauty of the apartment was evident, while the defacing effects of a -century were absorbed in shadow. The noble open fireplace, the tall, -slender mantel, with its Grecian frieze and intricate scrollwork, the -high panelled walls were all there. And then, huddled in little groups -on the floor, or seated against the walls, with eyes wide in the -lantern-shine, the black, fear-stricken faces.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_151" id="page_151">{151}</a></span></p> - -<p>Like the ultimate disintegration of a civilization—there it was; and -upon it, as though to make quick work of the last, tragic chapter, the -scourging wrath of the Gods—white, and black.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>The night that settled down upon Catfish Row was one of nameless horror -to the inhabitants, most of whom were huddled on the second floor in -order to avoid the sea from beneath, and deafening assaults upon the -roof above their heads.</p> - -<p>With the obliteration of vision, sound assumed an exaggerated -significance, and the voice of the gale, which had seemed by day only a -great roar, broke up in the dark into its various parts. Human voices -seemed to cry in it; and there were moments when it sniffed and moaned -at the windows.</p> - -<p>Once, during a silence in the room, a whinny was distinctly heard.</p> - -<p>“Dat my ole horse!” wailed Peter. “He done dead in he stall now, an’ dat -he woice goin’ by. Oh, my Gawd!”</p> - -<p>They all wailed out at that; and Porgy, remembering his goat, whimpered -and turned his face to the wall.</p> - -<p>Then someone started to sing:<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_152" id="page_152">{152}</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“I gots uh home in de rock, don’t yuh see?”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>With a feeling of infinite relief, Porgy turned to his Jesus. It was not -a charm that he sought now for the assuaging of some physical ill, but a -benign power, vaster perhaps even than the hurricane. He lifted his rich -baritone above the others:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Oh, between de eart’ an’ sky,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">I kin see my Sabior die.<br /></span> -<span class="i1">I gots uh home in de rock,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Don’t yuh see!”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>Then they were all in it, heart and soul. Those who had fallen into a -fitful sleep, awoke, rubbed their eyes, and sang.</p> - -<p>Hour after hour dragged heavily past. Outside, the storm worked its will -upon the defenceless city. But in the great ball-room of Catfish Row, -forty souls sat wrapped in an invulnerable garment. They swayed and -patted, and poured their griefs and fears into a rhythm that never -missed a beat, which swept the hours behind it into oblivion, and that -finally sang up the faint grey light that penetrated the storm, and told -them that it was again day.</p> - -<p>§<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_153" id="page_153">{153}</a></span></p> - -<p>At about an hour after daybreak the first lull came. Like the other -moves of the hurricane, it arrived without warning. One moment the -tumult was at its height. The next, there was utter suspension. -Abruptly, like an indrawn breath, the wind sucked back upon itself, -leaving an aching vacuum in its place. Then from the inundated -water-front arose the sound of the receding flood.</p> - -<p>The ebb-tide was again overdue, and with the second tide piled upon it, -the whole immeasurable weight of the wind was required to maintain its -height. Now, with the pressure removed, it turned and raced beneath the -low-lying mist toward the sea, carrying its pitiful loot upon its back.</p> - -<p>To the huddled figures in the great room of the Row came the welcome -sound, as the court emptied itself into the street. The negroes crowded -to the windows, and peered between the barricades at the world without.</p> - -<p>The water receded with incredible speed. Submerged wreckage lifted above -the surface. The street became the bed of a cataract that foamed and -boiled on its rush to the sea. Presently the wharf emerged, and at its -end even a substantial remnant of the house could be descried. How it -had survived that long was one of the inexplicable mysteries of the -storm.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_154" id="page_154">{154}</a></span></p> - -<p>Suddenly Peter, who was at one of the windows, gave a cry, and the other -negroes crowded about him to peer out.</p> - -<p>The sea was still running high, and as a large wave lifted above the -level of the others, it thrust into view the hull of a half-submerged -boat. Before the watchers could see, the wave dropped its burden into a -trough, but the old man showed them where to look, and presently a big -roller caught it up, and swung it, bow on, for all to see. There was a -flash of scarlet gunnel, and, beneath it, a bright blue bird with open -wings.</p> - -<p>“De ‘Seagull’!” cried a dozen voices together. “My Gawd! dat Jake’ -boat!”</p> - -<p>All night Clara had sat in a corner of the room with the baby in her -arms, saying no word to anyone. She was so still that she seemed to be -asleep, with her head upon her breast. But once, when Bess had gone and -looked into her face, she had seen her eyes, wide and bright with pain.</p> - -<p>Now the unfortunate woman heard the voices, and sprang to the window -just in time to see the craft swoop into a hollow at the head of the -pier.</p> - -<p>She did not scream out. For a moment she did not even speak. Then she -spun around on Bess with the dawn of a wild hope in her dark face.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_155" id="page_155">{155}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Tek care ob dis baby ’til I gits back,” she said, as she thrust the -child almost savagely into Bess’s arms. Then she rushed from the room.</p> - -<p>The watchers at the window saw her cross the street, splashing wildly -through the kneedeep water. Then she ran the length of the wharf, and -disappeared behind the sheltering wall of the house.</p> - -<p>It was so sudden, and tired wits move slowly. Several minutes had passed -before it occurred to anyone to go with her. Finally Peter turned from -the window.</p> - -<p>“Dat ’oman ain’t ought tuh be out dey by sheself,” he said. “Who goin’ -out dey wid me, now?”</p> - -<p>One of the men volunteered, and they started for the door.</p> - -<p>A sound like the detonation of a cannon shook the building to its -foundations. The gale had returned, smashing straight downward from some -incredible height to which it had lifted during the lull.</p> - -<p>The men turned and looked at one another.</p> - -<p>Shock followed shock in rapid succession. Those who stood by the windows -felt them give inward, and instinctively threw their weight against the -frames. The explosions merged into a steady roar of sound that -sur<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_156" id="page_156">{156}</a></span>passed anything that had yet occurred. The room became so dark that -they could no longer see one another. The barricaded windows were -vaguely discernible in bars of muddy grey and black. Deeply rooted walls -swung from the blows, and then settled slowly back on the recoil.</p> - -<p>A confused sound of praying filled the room. And above it shrilled the -terror of the women.</p> - -<p>For an appreciable space of time the spasm lasted. Then, slowly, as -though by the gradual withdrawing of a lever, the vehemence of the -attack abated. The muddy grey bars at the windows became lighter, and -some of the more courageous of the negroes peered out.</p> - -<p>The wharf could be seen dimly extending under the low floor of spume and -mist. The breakers were higher than at any previous time, but instead of -smashing in upon the shore, they raced straight up the river and -paralleled the city. As each one swung by it went clean over the wharf, -obliterating it for the duration of its passage.</p> - -<p>Suddenly from the direction of the lower harbor a tremendous mass -appeared, showing first only a vast distorted stain against the grey -fabric of the mist. Then a gigantic wave took it, and drove it into -fuller view.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_157" id="page_157">{157}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Great Gawd A’mighty!” some one whispered. “It’s dat big lumbuh schooner -bruck loose in de harbor.”</p> - -<p>The wave hunched its mighty shoulders under the vessel and swung it -up—up, for an interminable moment. The soaring bowsprit lifted until it -was lost in mist. Tons of water gushed from the steep incline of the -deck, and poured over the smooth, black wall of the side, as it reared -half out of the sea. Then the wave swept aft, and the bow descended in a -swift, deadly plunge.</p> - -<p>A crashing of timbers followed that could be heard clearly above the -roaring of the storm. The hull had fallen directly across the middle of -the wharf. There was one cataclysmic moment when the whole view seemed -to disintegrate. The huge timbers of the wharf up-ended, and were washed -out like straws. The schooner rolled half over, and her three masts -crashed down with their rigging. The shock burst the lashings of the -vessel’s deck load, and as the hull heeled, an avalanche of heavy -timbers took the water. The ruin was utter.</p> - -<p>Heavy and obliterating, the mist closed down again.</p> - -<p>Bess turned from the window holding the sleeping infant in her arms, -raised her eyes and looked full at Porgy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_158" id="page_158">{158}</a></span></p> - -<p>With an expression of awe in his face, the cripple reached out a timid -hand and touched the baby’s cheek.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>The windows of the great ball-room were open to the sky, and beyond -them, a busy breeze was blowing across its washed and polished expanse, -gathering cloud-remnants into little heaps, and sweeping them in -tumbling haste out over the threshold of the sea.</p> - -<p>Most of the refugees had returned to their rooms, where sounds of busy -salvaging could be heard. Porgy’s voice arose jubilantly announcing that -the goat had been discovered, marooned upon the cook-stove; and that -Peter’s old horse had belied his whinny, and was none the worse for a -thorough wetting.</p> - -<p>Serena Robbins paused before Bess, who was gathering her things -preparatory to leaving the room, placed her hands upon her hips, and -looked down upon her.</p> - -<p>“Now, wut we all goin’ do wid dis po’ mudderless chile?” she said, -addressing the room at large.</p> - -<p>The other occupants of the room gathered behind Serena, but there was -something about Bess’s look that held them quiet.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_159" id="page_159">{159}</a></span> They stood there -waiting and saying nothing.</p> - -<p>Slowly Bess straightened up, her face lowered and pressed against that -of the sleeping child. Then she raised her eyes and met the gaze of the -complacent older woman.</p> - -<p>What Serena saw there was not so much the old defiance that she had -expected, as it was an inflexible determination, and, behind it, a -new-born element in the woman that rendered the scarred visage -incandescent. She stepped back, and lowered her eyes.</p> - -<p>Bess strained the child to her breast with an elemental intensity of -possession, and spoke in a low, deep voice that vested her words with -sombre meaning.</p> - -<p>“Is Clara come back a’ready, since she dead, an’ say somet’ing ’bout -‘<i>we</i>’ tuh yuh ’bout dis chile?”</p> - -<p>She put the question to the group, her eyes taking in the circle of -faces as she spoke.</p> - -<p>There was no response; and at the suggestion of a possible return of the -dead, the circle drew together instinctively.</p> - -<p>“Berry well den,” said Bess solemnly. “Ontell she do, I goin’ stan’ on -she las’ libbin’ word an’ keep dis chile fuh she ’til she do come back.”</p> - -<p>Serena was hopelessly beaten, and she knew it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_160" id="page_160">{160}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, berry well,” she capitulated. “All I been goin’ tuh do wuz jus’ tuh -puhwide um wid er propuh Christian raisin’. But ef she done gib um tuh -yuh, dere ain’t nuttin mo’ I kin do, I guess.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_161" id="page_161">{161}</a></span>”</p> - -<h3><a name="VI" id="VI"></a><a name="PART_VI" id="PART_VI"></a>VI</h3> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> -<a href="images/i_161.png"> -<img src="images/i_161.png" width="450" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_162" id="page_162">{162}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_163" id="page_163">{163}</a></span> </p> - -<h2>PART VI</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">O</span>CTOBER blew down from the north, bracing, and frosty-clear. It sent a -breeze racing like mad over the bay and bouncing into the court to toss -the clotheslines like lanyards of signal flags. The torpid city and -wide, slumbrous marshes were stung to sudden life and laughed up at the -far, crisp blue of the sky.</p> - -<p>Out in the harbor mouth, a faint wisp of smoke grew and blackened, and -presently beneath it the rusty hull of a tramp lifted from the Atlantic, -and thrust its blunt nose into the waters of the bay.</p> - -<p>Summer had gone. Soon the cotton would be coming through.</p> - -<p>It was nine o’clock, and still Porgy lingered in the court. His blood -leapt swiftly in his veins, and he experienced that sweet upsurge of -life that the North knows with the bursting of spring, but that comes -most keenly to the sultry lands with the strong breath of autumn. Yet, -when he looked up at the sky, a vague prescience of disaster darkened -his spirit. He sat beside Bess in the doorway, with his eyes upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_164" id="page_164">{164}</a></span> -child in her lap. After a while he took the baby into his arms, and then -the foreboding suddenly became pain.</p> - -<p>He looked up and met the gaze of the woman. It was there in her eyes -also, plain for him to see.</p> - -<p>Out in the silence of the street a sound commenced to grow. Only a -faint, far murmur at first, it gathered weight until it became a steady -rumble, with a staccato clip, clip, clip running through it.</p> - -<p>There were a few women and children about, and they ran to the entrance -to see. But Porgy and Bess sat and looked fixedly at the bay, where it -lay beyond the gate.</p> - -<p>Then the drays came, and the bay was blotted out by the procession.</p> - -<p>The great mules, fat and strong from their summer in pasture, moved -swiftly with a sharp click of shoes, and the drivers cracked their whips -and laughed down at the crowd. The low platforms of the vehicles seemed -almost to brush the ground; and, upon them, clear to the top of the -entrance arch, the bales towered, with the fibre showing in dazzling -white patches where the bagging was torn. Twenty or more in the train -they passed.</p> - -<p>Scarcely had the rumble receded in the distance, than a burst of heavy -laughter<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_165" id="page_165">{165}</a></span> sounded in the street, and two tall figures strode through the -entrance and into the group of women and children. There was a bright -flash from bandanas, and one of the men swung a child to his shoulder. -Loud greetings followed, and another burst of laughter, heavy, -deep-chested and glad.</p> - -<p>From an upper window a woman’s voice called, “Come on, Sister; le’s we -go down. De stevedore is comin’ back.”</p> - -<p>Porgy turned toward Bess, and moistened his lips with his tongue. Then -he spoke in a low husky voice:</p> - -<p>“Us ain’t talk much sence de picnic, Bess, you an’ me. But I gots tuh -talk now. I gots tuh know how you an’ me stan’.”</p> - -<p>Bess regarded him dumbly. For a moment the look which Serena had seen -when she had tried to take the baby brushed her face, then it passed, -leaving it hopeless.</p> - -<p>Porgy leaned forward. “Yuh is wantin’ tuh go wid Crown w’en he come?”</p> - -<p>Then she answered: “W’en I tek dat dope, I know den dat I ain’t yo’ -kin’. An’ w’en Crown put he han’ on me dat day, I run tuh he like water. -Some day dope comin’ agin. An’ some day Crown goin’ put he han’ on my -t’roat. It goin’ be like dyin’ den. But I gots tuh talk de trut’ tuh -yuh. W’en dem time come, I goin’ tuh go.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_166" id="page_166">{166}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Ef dey warn’t no Crown?” Porgy whispered. Then before she could answer, -he hurried on: “Ef dey wuz only jes’ de baby an’ Porgy, wut den?”</p> - -<p>The odd incandescence flared in her face, touching it with something -eternal and beautiful beyond the power of human flesh to convey. She -took the child from Porgy with a hungry, enfolding gesture. Then her -composure broke.</p> - -<p>“Oh, fuh Gawd sake, Porgy, don’t let dat man come an’ handle me! Ef yuh -is willin’ tuh keep me, den lemme stay. Ef he jus’ don’t put dem hot -han’ on me, I kin be good, I kin ’member, I kin be happy.”</p> - -<p>She broke off abruptly, and hid her face against that of the child.</p> - -<p>Porgy patted her arm. “Yuh ain’t needs tuh be ’fraid,” he assured her. -“Ain’t yuh gots yo’ man? Ain’t yuh gots Porgy? Wut kin’ of a nigger yuh -t’inks yuh gots anyway, fuh let annuduh nigger carry he ’oman? No, suh! -yuh gots yo’ man now; yuh gots Porgy.”</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>From behind a sea island the full October moon lifted its chill disc and -strewed the bay with cold, white fire. The lights were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_167" id="page_167">{167}</a></span> out in Catfish -Row, except for a shaft of firelight that fell across the dark from -Serena’s room, and a faint flicker in the cook-shop, where Maria was -getting her fire laid in readiness for the early breakfast.</p> - -<p>A cry sounded in the court, which was quickly muffled; then followed -low, insolent laughter.</p> - -<p>Maria was at her door instantly. Across the court, a man could be seen -for one moment, seated on Serena’s wash-bench; then behind him the door -closed with a bang, shutting off the shaft of firelight.</p> - -<p>Maria crossed the court, and when she had reached the man’s side he -looked up. The moonlight fell upon his face. It was Crown.</p> - -<p>“What yuh doin’ hyuh?” she asked him.</p> - -<p>“Jus’ droppin’ in on a few ole frien’.”</p> - -<p>“Come tuh de shop,” she commanded. “I gots tuh hab talk wid yuh.”</p> - -<p>He arose obediently, and followed her.</p> - -<p>Maria turned up the lamp and faced about as Crown entered the room. He -had to bend his head to pass under the lintel, and his shoulders brushed -the sides of the opening.</p> - -<p>The big negress stood for a long moment looking at him. Her gaze took in -the straight legs with their springing thighs straining the fabric of -the cotton pants, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_168" id="page_168">{168}</a></span> slender waist, and the almost unbelievable -outward flare of the chest to the high, straight span of the shoulders.</p> - -<p>A look of deep sadness grew in her somber face.</p> - -<p>“Wid uh body like dat!” she said at last, “why yuh is goin’ aroun’ -huntin’ fuh deat’?”</p> - -<p>Crown laughed uneasily, stepped into the room, and sat at a table. He -placed his elbows upon it, hunched his shoulders forward with a writhing -of muscle beneath the shirt, then dropped his chin in his hands, and -regarded the woman.</p> - -<p>“I know dese hyuh niggers,” he replied. “Dey is a decent lot. Dey -wouldn’t gib no nigger away tuh de w’ite folks.”</p> - -<p>“Dat de Gawd’ trut’. Only dey is odder way ob settlin’ up er debt.”</p> - -<p>“Serena?” he asked, with a sidelong look, and a laugh. “Dat sister gots -de fear ob Gawd in she heart. I ain’t ’fraid none ob she.”</p> - -<p>After a moment of silence he asked abruptly:</p> - -<p>“Bess still libbin’ wid de cripple?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; an’ she a happy, decent ’oman. Yuh bes’ leabe she alone.”</p> - -<p>“Fer Gawd’ sake! Wut yuh tink I come tuh dis damn town fuh? I ain’t jus’ -huntin’ fuh deat’! I atter my ’oman.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_169" id="page_169">{169}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>Maria placed her hands on the table opposite the man and bent over to -look into his face.</p> - -<p>“<span class="lftspc">’</span>Oman is all berry much de same,” she said in a low, persuasive voice. -“Dey comes an’ dey goes. One sattify a man quick as annuduh. Dey is lots -ob bettuh lookin’ gal dan Bess. She fix fuh life now wid dat boy. I ax -yuh go an’ lef she. Gib she uh chance.”</p> - -<p>“It tek long time tuh learn one ’oman,” he said slowly. “Me an’ Bess -done fight dat all out dese fibe year gone.”</p> - -<p>“Yuh ain’t goin’ leabe she den?” There was an unusual note of pleading -in the heavy voice.</p> - -<p>“Not till Hell freeze.”</p> - -<p>After a moment he arose and turned to her.</p> - -<p>“I gots tuh go out now. I ain’t sho’ wedder I goin’ away tuhnight or -wait fuh tuhmorruh night. I goin’ look aroun’ an’ see how de lan’ lay; -but I’ll be seein’ yuh agin befo’ I goes.”</p> - -<p>Maria regarded him for a long moment; the look of sadness in her face -deepened to a heavy melancholy; but she said nothing.</p> - -<p>Crown started for the street with his long, swaggering stride. The big -woman watched him until he turned to the north at the entrance and -passed from view. Then she<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_170" id="page_170">{170}</a></span> locked the door and, with a deep sigh, -walked to her own room.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>Porgy opened his eyes suddenly. The window, which had been luminous when -he went to sleep, was now darkened. He watched it intently. Slowly he -realized that parts of the little square still showed the moonlit waters -of the bay, and that only the centre was blocked out by an intervening -mass. Then the mass moved, and Porgy saw that it was the torso and -shoulders of a man. The window was three feet in width, yet the -shoulders seemed to brush both sides of it as the form bent forward. The -sash was down, and presently there came a sound as though hands were -testing it to see whether it could be forced up.</p> - -<p>Porgy was lying on his back. He reached his left hand over the covers -and let the fingers touch ever so lightly the sleeping faces of first -the baby, then the woman. His right hand slid beneath his pillow, and -his strong, slender fingers closed about the handle of a knife.</p> - -<p>At the window the slight, testing noise continued.</p> - -<p>§<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_171" id="page_171">{171}</a></span></p> - -<p>It was certainly after midnight when Maria looked from her doorway; for -the moon was tottering on the western wall, and while she stood looking, -slowly it dropped over and vanished.</p> - -<p>The vague forebodings that she had felt when she talked to Crown earlier -in the evening had kept sleep from her; with each passing hour her fears -increased, and with them a sense of imminence that finally forced her to -get up, slip on a wrapper, and prepare to make the rounds of the court.</p> - -<p>But on opening her door, she was at once reassured. The square stood -before her like a vast cistern brimmed with misty dark and roofed with a -lid of sky. A cur grovelled forward on its belly from a near-by nook, -and licked one of her bare feet with its moist, warm tongue.</p> - -<p>Above her, in the huge honeycomb of the building, someone was snoring in -a slow, steady rhythm.</p> - -<p>The big negress drew a deep sigh of relief and turned back toward her -room.</p> - -<p>A sound of cracking wood snapped the silence. Then, like a flurry of -small bells, came a shiver of broken glass on the stones.</p> - -<p>Maria spun around, and tried to locate the sound; but no noise followed. -Silence flowed back over the court and settled pal<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_172" id="page_172">{172}</a></span>pably into its -recesses. The faint, not unpleasant rhythm of the snoring came -insistently forward.</p> - -<p>Suddenly Maria turned, her face quick with apprehension. She drew her -wrapper closely about her, and crossed to Porgy’s door. With only half -of the distance traversed, she heard a sound from the room. It was more -of a muffled thump than anything else, and with it, something very like -a gasp.</p> - -<p>When her hand closed over the knob all was silent again, except that she -could hear a long, slightly shuddering breath.</p> - -<p>Then came a sound that caused her flesh to prickle with primal terror. -It was so unexpected, there in the chill, silent night. It was Porgy’s -laugh, but different. Out of the stillness it swelled suddenly, deep, -aboriginal, lustful. Then it stopped short.</p> - -<p>Maria heard the baby cry out; then Bess’s voice, sleepy and mystified. -“Fuh Gawd’ sake, Porgy, what yuh laughin’ ’bout?”</p> - -<p>“Dat all right, honey,” came the answer. “Don’t yuh be worryin’. Yuh -gots Porgy now, an’ he look atter he ’oman. Ain’t I done tells yuh: Yuh -gots er <i>man</i> now.”</p> - -<p>Maria turned the knob, entered the room, and closed the door quickly -behind her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_173" id="page_173">{173}</a></span></p> - -<p>Night trailed westward across the city. In the east, out beyond the -ocean’s rim, essential light trembled upward and seemed to absorb rather -than quench the morning stars. Out of the sliding planes of mist that -hung like spent breath above the city, shapes began to emerge and assume -their proper values.</p> - -<p>Far in the upper air over Catfish Row a speck appeared. It took a long, -descending spiral, and became two, then three. Around a wide circle the -specks swung, as though hung by wires from a lofty pivot. The light -brightened perceptibly. The specks dropped to a lower level, increased -in size, and miraculously became a dozen. Then some of them dropped in -from the circumference of the circle, cutting lines across like the -spokes of a wheel, and from time to time flapping indolent wings. Dark -and menacing when they flew to the westward, they would turn easily -toward the east, and the sun, still below the horizon, would gild their -bodies with ruddy gold, as they sailed, breast on, toward it.</p> - -<p>Down, down they dropped, reaching low, and yet lower levels, until at -last they seemed to brush the water-front buildings with their sombre -wings. Then gradually they narrowed to a small circle that pa<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_174" id="page_174">{174}</a></span>trolled -the air directly over a shape that lay awash in the rising tide, across -the street from Catfish Row.</p> - -<p>Suddenly from the swinging circle a single bird planed down and lit with -an awkward, hopping step directly before the object. For a moment he -regarded it with bleak, predatory eyes; then flew back to his fellows. A -moment later the whole flock swooped down, and the shape was hidden by -flapping wings and black awkward bodies that hopped about and fought -inward to the centre of the group.</p> - -<p>A negro who had been sleeping under an overturned bateau awoke and -rubbed his eyes; then he sprang up and, seizing an oar, beat the birds -away with savage blows.</p> - -<p>He bent over the object for a moment, then turned and raced for the -street with eyes showing white.</p> - -<p>“Fuh Gawd’ sake, folks,” he cried, “come hyuh quick! Hyuh Crown, an’ he -done dead.”</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>A group of three white men stood over the body. One was the -plain-clothes man with the goatee and stick who had investigated the -Robbins’ murder. Behind him<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_175" id="page_175">{175}</a></span> stood a uniformed policeman. The third, a -stout, leisurely individual, was stooping over the body, in the act of -making an examination.</p> - -<p>“What do you make of it, Coroner?” asked the plain-clothes man.</p> - -<p>“Knife between fifth and sixth ribs; must have gone straight through the -heart.”</p> - -<p>“Well, he had it comin’ to him,” the detective observed. “They tell me -he is the nigger, Crown, who killed Robbins last April. That gives us -the widow to work on fer a starter, by the way; and Hennessy tells me -that he used to run with that dope case we had up last August. She’s -livin’ in the Row, too. Let’s go over and have a look.”</p> - -<p>The Coroner cast an apprehensive glance at the forbidding structure -across the way.</p> - -<p>“Can’t be so sure,” he cautioned. “Corpse might have been washed up. -Tide’s on the flood.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m goin’ to have a look at those two women, anyway,” the -plain-clothes man announced. “That place is alive with crooks. I’d like -to get something on it that would justify closing it up as a public -nuisance, and throwing the whole lot of ’em out in the street. One -murder and a happy-dust riot already this summer; and here we are -again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_176" id="page_176">{176}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>Then turning to the policeman, he gave his orders.</p> - -<p>“Get the wagon and take the body in. Then you had better come right -back. We might have some arrests. The Coroner and I’ll investigate while -you’re gone.”</p> - -<p>He turned away toward the Row, assuming that he would be followed.</p> - -<p>“All right, Cap; what do you say?” he called.</p> - -<p>The Coroner shook his ponderous figure down into his clothes, turned -with evident reluctance, and joined him.</p> - -<p>“All right,” he agreed. “But all I need is a couple of witnesses to -identify the body at the inquest.”</p> - -<p>Across the street a small negro boy detached himself from the base of -one of the gateposts and darted through the entrance.</p> - -<p>A moment later the white men strode into an absolutely empty square. -Their heels made a sharp sound on the flags, and the walls threw a clear -echo down upon them.</p> - -<p>A cur that had been left napping in the sun woke with a start, looked -about in a bewildered fashion, gave a frightened yelp, and bolted -through a doorway.</p> - -<p>It was all clearly not to the taste of the Coroner, and he cast an -uneasy glance about him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_177" id="page_177">{177}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Where do we go?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“That’s the widow’s room over there, if she hasn’t moved. We’ll give it -a look first,” said the detective.</p> - -<p>The door was off the latch, and, without knocking, he kicked it open and -walked in.</p> - -<p>The room was small, but immaculately clean. Beneath a patched white -quilt could be seen the form of a woman. Two other women were sitting in -utter silence beside the bed.</p> - -<p>The form under the covers moaned.</p> - -<p>“Drop that,” the detective commanded. “And answer some questions.”</p> - -<p>The moaning stopped.</p> - -<p>“Where were you yesterday and last night?”</p> - -<p>The reply came slowly, as though speaking were great pain.</p> - -<p>“I been sick in dis bed now t’ree day an’ night.”</p> - -<p>“We been settin’ wid she, nursin’ she, all dat time,” one of the women -said.</p> - -<p>And the other supplemented, “Dat de Gawd’ trut’.”</p> - -<p>“You would swear to that?” asked the Coroner.</p> - -<p>Three voices answered in chorus:</p> - -<p>“Yes, Boss, we swear tuh dat.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_178" id="page_178">{178}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“There you are,” said the Coroner to the plain-clothes man, “an -air-tight alibi.”</p> - -<p>The detective regarded him for a moment with supreme contempt. Then he -stepped forward and jerked the sheet from Serena’s face, which lay upon -the pillow as immobile as a model done in brown clay.</p> - -<p>“You know damn well that you were out yesterday!” he snapped. “I have a -good mind to get the wagon and carry you in.”</p> - -<p>Silence followed.</p> - -<p>“What do you say to that?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>But Serena had nothing to say, and neither had her handmaidens.</p> - -<p>Then he turned a menacing frown upon them, as they sat motionless with -lowered eyes.</p> - -<p>“Well!”</p> - -<p>They jumped slightly, and their eyes showed white around the iris. -Suddenly they began to speak, almost in unison.</p> - -<p>“We swear tuh Gawd, we done been hyuh wid she t’ree day.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Hell!” said the exasperated detective. “What’s the use? You might -as well argue with a parrot-cage.”</p> - -<p>“That woman is just as ill at this moment as you are,” he said to his -unenthusiastic associate when they were again in the sunlight.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_179" id="page_179">{179}</a></span> “Her -little burlesque show proves that, if nothing else. But there is her -case all prepared. I don’t believe she killed Crown; she doesn’t look -like that kind. She is either just playing safe, or she has something -entirely different on her chest. But there’s her story; and you’ll never -break in without witnesses of your own; and you’ll never get ’em.”</p> - -<p>The Coroner was not a highly sensitized individual; but as he moved -across the empty court, he found it difficult to control his nerves -under the scrutiny which he felt leveled upon him from behind a hundred -shuttered windows. Twice he caught himself looking covertly over his -shoulders; and, as he went, he bore hopefully away toward the entrance.</p> - -<p>But the detective was intent upon his task, and presently called him -back.</p> - -<p>“This is the cripple’s room,” he said. “He ain’t much of a witness. I -tried to break him in the Robbins case; but he wouldn’t talk. I want to -have a look at the woman, though.”</p> - -<p>He kicked the door open suddenly. Porgy and Bess were seated by the -stove, eating breakfast from tin pans. On the bed in the corner the baby -lay.</p> - -<p>Porgy paused, with his spoon halfway<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_180" id="page_180">{180}</a></span> to his mouth, and looked up. Bess -kept her eyes on the pan, and continued to eat.</p> - -<p>The Coroner stopped in the doorway, and made a businesslike show of -writing in a notebook.</p> - -<p>“What’s your name?” he asked Porgy.</p> - -<p>The cripple studied him for a long moment, taking in the ample -proportions of the figure and the heavy, but not unsympathetic, face. -Then he smiled one of his fleeting, ingenuous smiles.</p> - -<p>“Jus’ Porgy,” he said. “Yuh knows me, Boss. Yuh is done gib me plenty ob -penny on King Charles Street.”</p> - -<p>“Of course, you’re the goat-man. I didn’t know you without your wagon,” -he said amiably. Then, becoming businesslike, he asked:</p> - -<p>“This nigger, Crown. You knew him by sight. Didn’t you?”</p> - -<p>Porgy debated with himself for a moment, looked again into the Coroner’s -face, was reassured by what he saw there, and replied:</p> - -<p>“Yes, Boss: I ’member um w’en he usen tuh come hyuh, long ago.”</p> - -<p>“You could identify him, I suppose?”</p> - -<p>Porgy looked blank.</p> - -<p>“You’d know him if you saw him again?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Boss; I know um.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_181" id="page_181">{181}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>The Coroner made a note in his book, closed it with an air of finality, -and put it in his pocket.</p> - -<p>During the brief interview, the detective had been making an examination -of the room. The floor had been recently scrubbed, and was still damp in -the corners. He gave the clean, pine boards a close scrutiny, then -paused before the window. The bottom of the lower sash had been broken, -and several of the small, square panes were missing.</p> - -<p>“So this is where you killed Crown, eh?” he announced.</p> - -<p>The words fell into the silence and were absorbed by it, causing them to -seem theatrical and unconvincing. Neither Porgy nor Bess spoke. Their -faces were blank and noncommittal.</p> - -<p>After a full moment, the woman said:</p> - -<p>“I ain’t onduhstan’, Boss. Nobody hyuh ain’t kill Crown. My husban’ he -fall t’rough dat winduh yisterday when he leg gib ’way. He er cripple.”</p> - -<p>“Any one see him do it?” enquired the Coroner from the door.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, Boss,” replied Bess, turning to him. “T’ree or four ob de mens -was in de street; dey will tell yuh all ’bout um.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, of course; more witnesses,” sneered the detective. Then turning to -the Coroner,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_182" id="page_182">{182}</a></span> he asked with a trace of sarcasm in his tone:</p> - -<p>“That satisfies you fully, I suppose?”</p> - -<p>The Coroner’s nerves were becoming edgy.</p> - -<p>“For God’s sake,” he retorted, “do you expect me to believe that a -cripple could kill a two-hundred pound buck, then tote him a hundred -yards? Well, I’ve got what I need now anyway. As far as I’m concerned, -I’m through.”</p> - -<p>They were passing the door of Maria’s shop when the detective caught -sight of something within that held his gaze.</p> - -<p>“You can do as you please,” he told his unwilling companion. “But I’m -going to have a look in here. I have never been able to get anything on -this woman; but she is a bad influence in the neighborhood. I’d trust -her just as far as I could throw her.”</p> - -<p>The Coroner heaved a sigh of resignation, and they stepped back, and -entered the shop.</p> - -<p>Upon the flooring, directly before the door, and not far from it, was a -pool of blood. Standing over the pool was a table, and upon it lay the -carcass of a shark. Maria sat on a bench behind the table. As the men -entered she swung an immense cleaver downward. A cross-section of the -shark detached itself and fell away on a pile of similar slices. A thin -stream of blood<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_183" id="page_183">{183}</a></span> dribbled from the table, augmenting the pool upon the -floor.</p> - -<p>Maria did not raise her eyes from her task. Again the cleaver swung up, -and whistled downward.</p> - -<p>From the street sounded the clatter of the returning patrol.</p> - -<p>“I’ll wait for you in the wagon,” said the Coroner hastily, and stepped -back into the sunlight.</p> - -<p>But he was not long alone. The uninterrupted swing of the dripping -cleaver was depressing, and the enthusiasm of his associate waned.</p> - -<p>The bell clanged. Hoofs struck sparks from the cobbles, and the strong -but uncertain arm of the law was withdrawn, to attend to other and more -congenial business.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>The sound from the retreating wagon dwindled and ceased.</p> - -<p>For a moment Catfish Row held its breath; then its windows and doors -flew open, and poured its life out into the incomparable autumn weather. -The crisis had passed. There had been no arrests.</p> - -<p>Serena stepped forth, her arms filled with the morning’s wash.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_184" id="page_184">{184}</a></span></p> - -<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>Ain’t it hahd tuh be er nigger!’<span class="lftspc">”</span> someone sang in a loud, clear voice. -And everybody laughed.</p> - -<p>Down the street, like an approaching freight train, came the drays, -jarring the building and rattling the windows, as the heavy tires rang -against the cobbles.</p> - -<p>Bess and Porgy came out with the others, and seated themselves against -the wall in the gracious sunlight. Of the life, yet apart from it, -sufficient unto each other, they did not join in the loud talk and -badinage that was going on about them. Like people who had come on a -long, dark journey, they were content to sit, and breathe deeply of the -sun. The baby was sleeping in Bess’s arms, and from time to time she -would sing a stave to it in a soft, husky voice.</p> - -<p>Into the court strode a group of stevedores. Their strong white teeth -flashed in the sunshine, and their big, panther-like bodies moved easily -among the women and children that crowded about them.</p> - -<p>“Wey all de gals?” called one in a loud, resonant voice. “Mus’ be dey -ain’t know dat dis is pay-day.”</p> - -<p>Two women who were sitting near Porgy and Bess rose and went forward, -with their arms twined about each other’s waists. In a few minutes they -were out of the crowd<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_185" id="page_185">{185}</a></span> again, each looking up with admiring eyes into -the face of one of the men.</p> - -<p>“Mens an’ ’omans ain’t de same,” said Porgy. “One mont’ ago dem gals -been libbin’ wid dey own mens. Den de storm tek um. Now dey is fuhgit um -a’ready, an’ gibbin’ dey lub tuh de nex’.”</p> - -<p>“No; dey is diff’rent fuh true,” replied Bess. “An’ yuh won’t nebber -onduhstan’. All two dem gal gots baby fuh keep alibe.” She heaved a deep -sigh; and then added, “Dey is jus’ ’oman, an’ nigger at dat. Dey is -doin’ de bes’ dey kin—dat all.”</p> - -<p>She was looking down at the baby while she spoke, and when she raised -her eyes and looked at Porgy, he saw that they were full of tears.</p> - -<p>“But you, Bess; you is diff’rent f’om dat?” he said, with a gently -interrogating note in his voice.</p> - -<p>“Dat ’cause Gawd ain’t mek but one Porgy!” she told him. “Any ’oman gots -tuh be decent wid you. But I gots fuh tell yuh de trut’, widout Porgy I -is jus’ like de res’.”</p> - -<p>A shadow drifted across their laps, and they lifted their faces to the -sky.</p> - -<p>A solitary buzzard had left the circle that had hung high in the air all -morning, and was swinging back and forth over the Row, almost brushing -the parapet of the roof as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_186" id="page_186">{186}</a></span> it passed. While Porgy and Bess looked, it -suddenly raised the points of its wings, reached tentative legs -downward, spread its feet wide, and lit on the edge of the roof directly -over their room.</p> - -<p>“My Gawd!” exclaimed Maria, who was standing near. “Crown done sen’ he -buzzud back fuh bring trouble. Knock um off, Porgy. Fer Gawd’ sake, -knock um off befo’ he settle!”</p> - -<p>The cripple reached out and picked up a brick-bat. The happiness had -left his face, and his eyes were filled with fear. With a swing of his -long, powerful arm, he sent the missile on its errand.</p> - -<p>It struck the parapet directly beneath the bird.</p> - -<p>With a spasmodic flap of wings, the black body lifted itself a few feet -from the building, then settled suddenly back. For a moment it hopped -awkwardly about, as though the roof were red hot beneath its feet, then -folded its wings, drew its nude head in upon its breast, and surveyed -the court with its aloof, malevolent eyes.</p> - -<p>“T’row agin,” Maria called, handing Porgy another brick-bat. But he -seemed not to hear. His face quivered, and he hid it in his hands.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_187" id="page_187">{187}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Sonny,” the big negress called to a small boy who was standing near, -looking at the bird with his mouth open. “Git out on de roof wid uh -stick, an’ run dat bird away.”</p> - -<p>But Porgy plucked at her skirt, and she looked down.</p> - -<p>“Let um be,” he said in a hopeless voice. “It too late now. Ain’t yuh -see he done settle, an’ he pick my room fuh light ober? It ain’t no use -now. Yuh knows dat. It ain’t no use.”</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>The next morning Porgy sat in his accustomed place by Archdale’s door. -Autumn had touched the oaks in the park across the way, and they brushed -the hard, bright sky with a slow circling motion, and tossed handfuls of -yellow leaves down upon the pedestrians who stepped briskly along.</p> - -<p>King Charles Street was full of hurrying men on their way to the cotton -offices and the big wholesale warehouses that fronted on the wharves. -Like the artery of a hale old man who has lain long asleep, but who -wakens suddenly and springs into a race, the broad thoroughfare seemed -to pound and sing with life.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_188" id="page_188">{188}</a></span></p> - -<p>The town was in a generous mood. Again and again the bottom of Porgy’s -cup gave forth its sharp, grateful click as a coin struck it and -settled. But the cripple had not even his slow glance of thanks for his -benefactors on that flashing autumn morning. Always he kept veiled, -apprehensive eyes directed either up or down the street, or lifted -frightened glances to the sky, as though fearing what he might see -there.</p> - -<p>At noon a white man stopped before him. But he did not drop a coin and -pass on.</p> - -<p>After a moment, Porgy brought his gaze back, and looked up.</p> - -<p>The white man reached forward, and handed him a paper.</p> - -<p>“Dat fuh me?” asked Porgy, in a voice that shook.</p> - -<p>“You needn’t mind takin’ it,” the man assured him with a laugh. “It’s -just a summons as witness to the Coroner’s inquest. You knew that -nigger, Crown, didn’t you?”</p> - -<p>He evidently took Porgy’s silence for assent, for he went on.</p> - -<p>“Well, all you got to do is to view the body in the presence of the -Coroner, tell him who it is, and he’ll take down all you say.”</p> - -<p>Porgy essayed speech, failed, tried again, and finally whispered:</p> - -<p>“I gots tuh go an’ look on Crown’ face<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_189" id="page_189">{189}</a></span> wid all dem w’ite folks lookin’ -at me. Dat it?”</p> - -<p>His voice was so piteous that the constable reassured him:</p> - -<p>“Oh, cheer up; it’s not so bad. I reckon you’ve seen a dead nigger -before this. It will all be over in a few minutes.”</p> - -<p>“Dey ain’t goin’ be no nigger in dat room ’cept me?” Porgy asked.</p> - -<p>“Just you and Crown, if you still call him one.”</p> - -<p>After a moment Porgy asked:</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t jus’ bring a ’oman wid me? I couldn’t eben carry my—my -’oman?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said the white man_ positively. “Now I’ve got to be gettin’ along, -I reckon. Just come over to the Court House in half an hour, and I’ll -meet you and take you in. Only be sure to come. If you don’t show up -it’s jail for you, you know.”</p> - -<p>For a moment after the man had gone, Porgy sat immovable, with his eyes -on the pavement. Then a sudden change swept over him. He cast one glance -up and down the hard, clean street, walled by its uncompromising, -many-eyed buildings. Then in a panic he clambered into his cart, gave a -cruel twist to the tail of his astonished goat, and commenced a -spasmodic, shambling race up Meeting House Road in the direction in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_190" id="page_190">{190}</a></span> -which he knew that, miles away, the forests lay.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>To many, the scene which ensued on the upper Meeting House Road stands -out as an exquisitely humorous episode, to be told and retold with -touching up of high lights and artistic embellishments. To these, in the -eyes of whom the negro is wholly humorous, per se, there was not the -omission of a single conventional and readily recognizable stage -property.</p> - -<p>For, after all, what could have been funnier than an entirely serious -race between a negro in a dilapidated goat-cart, and the municipality’s -shining new patrol wagon, fully officered and clanging its bell for the -crowds to hear as it came.</p> - -<p>The finish took place in the vicinity of the railway yards and -factories, and the street was filled with workmen who smoked against the -walls, or ate their lunch, sitting at the pavement’s edge—grand-stand -seats, as they were quite accurately described in the telling.</p> - -<p>The street cars ran seldom that far out; and Porgy had the thoroughfare -almost entirely to himself. His face wore a demented look, and was -working pitifully. In his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_191" id="page_191">{191}</a></span> panic, he wrung the tail of his unfortunate -beast without mercy. The lunchers along the pavement saw him coming, and -called to friends further along; so that as he came, he was greeted with -shouts of laughter and witty sallies from the crowd.</p> - -<p>Then the wagon appeared, a mere speck in the distance, but sending the -sound of its bell before it as an advertisement of its presence. It grew -rapidly until it reached the cheering crowds. Then it seemed that even -the sedate officers of the law were not above a sly humor of their own, -for the vehicle slackened its pace perceptibly and prolonged the final -moment of capture.</p> - -<p>The big buildings had been left behind, and there lay before Porgy only -the scattered, cheap bungalows of the labor quarters; and beyond, as -elusive and desirable as the white man’s heaven, glimmered the far line -of the woods, misty and beautiful in the pink autumn haze.</p> - -<p>The patrol forged ahead and came to a clanging stop. The officers leapt -out and, amid shouts of laughter from the crowd, lifted wagon, goat and -man into the vehicle. The driver jerked the horse back into its -breechings, swung the wagon with a dramatic snap that was not wasted -upon his gallery, and sent it clanging and rocking<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_192" id="page_192">{192}</a></span> back in the -direction from which it had come.</p> - -<p>Porgy fell forward, with his arms thrown out upon the back of the goat, -and buried his face between them in the shaggy, evil-smelling hair.</p> - -<p>The workmen upon the sidewalks cheered and shouted with mirth. Surely it -had been a great day. They would not soon have another laugh to match -it.</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>When the wagon reached the down-town district, the inquest was over. It -had been a simple matter to secure another witness for the -identification of the body. The jury had made short work of their task, -and had found that Crown had come to his death as the result of a chest -wound at the hands of person or persons unknown.</p> - -<p>Porgy was taken at once to the station house, where the charge of -“Contempt of Court” was formally entered against him on the blotter, and -he was locked up to await trial early the following morning.</p> - -<p>Under the wheezing gas jet, the Recorder looked Porgy over with his -weary glance, brought the tips of his slender fingers together; gave him -“five days,” in his tired<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_193" id="page_193">{193}</a></span> drawl, and raised his eyes to the next negro -on the morning’s list.</p> - -<p>They hoisted the outfit, goat and all, into the patrol for the trip to -the jail, thus again brightening a day for a group of light-hearted -Nordics upon the pavement.</p> - -<p>A large, red-faced policeman took his seat at the rear of the wagon.</p> - -<p>“You sure beat all!” he confided to Porgy, with a puzzled frown. -“Runnin’ away like the devil was after you, from bein’ a witness; an’ -now goin’ to jail with a face like Sunday mornin’.”</p> - -<h4>§</h4> - -<p>In the fresh beauty of an early October morning, Porgy returned home. -There were few of his friends about, as work was now plentiful, and most -of those who could earn a day’s wage were up and out. He drove through -the entrance, pulled his goat up short, and looked about him.</p> - -<p>Serena was seated on her bench with a baby in her arms.</p> - -<p>Porgy gave her a long look, and a question commenced to dawn in his -eyes. The child turned in her arms, and his suspicions were confirmed. -It was his baby—his and Bess’s.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_194" id="page_194">{194}</a></span></p> - -<p>Then Serena looked up and saw him. She arose in great confusion, clasped -the infant to her ample bosom, and, without a word of greeting, stepped -through her doorway. Then, as though struck by an afterthought, she -turned, thrust her head back through the opening, and called loudly:</p> - -<p>“Oh, Maria! hyuh Porgy come home.”</p> - -<p>Then she disappeared and the door slammed shut.</p> - -<p>Mystified and filled with alarm, Porgy turned his vehicle toward the -cook-shop and arrived at the door just as Maria stepped over the -threshold.</p> - -<p>She seated herself on the sill and brought her face level with his. Then -she looked into his eyes.</p> - -<p>What Porgy saw there caused him to call out sharply:</p> - -<p>“Where’s Bess? Tell me, quick, where’s Bess?”</p> - -<p>The big negress did not answer, and after a moment her ponderous face -commenced to shake.</p> - -<p>Porgy beat the side of his wagon with his fist.</p> - -<p>“Where, where—” he began, in a voice that was suddenly shrill.</p> - -<p>But Maria placed a steadying hand over his frantic one and held it -still.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_195" id="page_195">{195}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Dem dutty dogs got she one day w’en I gone out,” she said in a low, -shaken voice. “She been missin’ yuh an’ berry low in she min’ ’cause she -can’t fin’ out how long yuh is lock up fuh. Dat damn houn’ she knock off -de wharf las’ summer fin’ she like dat an’ git she tuh tek er swalluh ob -licker. Den half a dozen of de mens gang she, an’ mek she drunk.”</p> - -<p>“But wuh she now?” Porgy cried. “I ain’t keer ef she wuz drunk. I want -she now.”</p> - -<p>Maria tried to speak, but her voice refused to do her bidding. She -covered her face with her hands, and her throat worked convulsively.</p> - -<p>Porgy clutched her wrist. “Tell me,” he commanded. “Tell me, now.”</p> - -<p>“De mens all carry she away on de ribber boat,” she sobbed. “Dey leabe -word fuh me dat dey goin’ tek she all de way tuh Sawannah, an’ keep she -dey. Den Serena, she tek de chile, an’ say she is goin’ gib um er -Christian raisin’.”</p> - -<p>Deep sobs stopped Maria’s voice. For a while she sat there, her face -buried in her hands. But Porgy had nothing to say. When she finally -raised her head and looked at him, she was surprised at what she saw.</p> - -<p>The keen autumn sun flooded boldly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_196" id="page_196">{196}</a></span> through the entrance and bathed the -drooping form of the goat, the ridiculous wagon, and the bent figure of -the man in hard, satirical radiance. In its revealing light, Maria saw -that Porgy was an old man. The early tension that had characterized him, -the mellow mood that he had known for one eventful summer, both had -gone; and in their place she saw a face sagged wearily, and the eyes of -age lit only by a faint reminiscent glow from suns and moons that had -looked into them, and had already dropped down the west.</p> - -<p>She looked until she could bear the sight no longer; then she stumbled -into her shop and closed the door, leaving Porgy and the goat alone in -an irony of morning sunlight.</p> - -<p class="fint">THE END</p> - -<hr class="full" /> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PORGY ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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