Page:Nigger Heaven (1926).pdf/293



The music shivered and broke, cracked and smashed. Jungle land. Hottentots and Bantus swaying under the amber moon. Love, sex, passion. . . hate. Lef? side, right side! Git off dat dime. . . . The dancers swayed from one side to the other like sailors heaving an anchor. Black, green, blue, purple, brown, tan, yellow, white: coloured people!

In the tangle of dancers Byron caught a glimpse of Anatole Longfellow, dancing with. . . Where had he seen that girl? He knew he had seen her before. Yes, he remembered now: at the Winter Palace. . . with Randolph Pettijohn. Frightened eyes. He was her man; she was afraid. No woman afraid of me. Made a fool out of me. Hate her! Hate 'em all! . . . Doan never git One woman on yo' min'. . . Byron filled his glass.

The Creeper and his girl sat down in the two deserted places at Byron's table.

'Toly, you sho' is one bardacious scroncher.

You's goin' git scronched.

a new entertainer boasted through a megaphone.