The Rev. Vinegar Atts came stalking across the churchyard like a turkey walking through mud and dressed in all his Sunday finery. None of the men seemed to be aware of his presence. Vinegar reflected on the strangeness of this, and began to ponder uneasily on his chance of retaining his job as the preacher at the Shoofly Church.
He bowed and spoke to all the men, and hardly one of them gave him a nod of recognition in return.
Vinegar determined to find out the cause of this indifference, and he chose for his informant a man named Pap Curtain—a tall, slim negro with a yellow monkey face and an habitual sneer upon his lips.
“Whut ails you niggers to-day?” Vinegar demanded in a trembling voice. “How come dis here awful silence aroun’ dis church?”
“Hoodoo gal!” Pap Curtain answered laconically, pointing across the churchyard.
“Huh!” Vinegar grunted with popping eyes.
On the other side of the yard old Ginny Babe Chew, a woman of immense size, was walking beside a slim young negress dressed in white and very handsome.
“Huh,” Vinegar grunted again, unable to comprehend.
“How much will you gib me fer a piece of real news, Revun?” Pap inquired.
“Ef you got any tales to tell, bawl out!” Vinegar snapped, for the men’s actions were getting on his nerves.