early the next morning there were four men who paid a visit to all the negro settlements in tickfall. they explained that they were a canvassing committee who were soliciting members for the high exalted negro flying club.
red cutt had told them that it was impossible to teach three hundred negroes at one time the art of aviation. the classes could not consist of more than one hundred, but he was willing to teach as many as wanted to learn. he said that he would have to divide them into three classes, and instruct just one class at a time.
it was the tickfall big four who did the canvassing, and after a while there was a disagreement among them. the religious adherents of vinegar’s church fell out like the early disciples over the question of “who should be greatest?”
they went back to red cutt and presented the matter to him.
“who’s gwine be president of dis here club?” skeeter butts demanded.
“i thinks you ought to be presidunt,” red told him, “because you done had some expe’unce as a flyin’ man.”
“ain’t dar no mo’ jobs connected wid dis club?” vinegar atts inquired.
“suttinly,” red told him. “i app’ints you observer right now.”
“what do a observer do?” vinegar atts inquired.
“he sets up in de airplane an’ looks at de scenery an’ lets de worl’ go by.”
“dat suits me,” vinegar bellowed. “settin’ down an’ lookin’ at things is a easy, high, hon’able job.”
“i needs a job, too,” hitch diamond grumbled.
“i app’ints you mechanic,” red cutt announced promptly. “git yo’ tools an’ all yo’ wipin’ rags an’ git ready fer de job of keepin’ dat machine in order.”
“whut do i git to do?” figger bush wanted to know.
“i nomernates you stabilizer.”
“does dat mean dat i keeps de stable whar de machine stays at?” figger bush inquired.
“yep, you is de high boss keeper of the hangar, an’ yo’ job is to steady the machine when folks climbs in an’ climbs out.”
that each negro was satisfied with his job was apparent from the fact that he took out a cigarette and lighted it, and sat for a while in silent meditation. at last vinegar spoke.
“we done collected up over a hundred dollars already.”
the eyes of red cutt glowed like the little green eyes of a pig. he wet his lips with his tongue as if he could already taste that money. his fingers twitched and he clasped them together covetously, saying, in a voice that was hungry with desire:
“gimme dat money, quick, niggers. i always demands my pay in eggsvance.”
the four negroes promptly emptied their pockets of the money they had collected, and red cutt drew a large buckskin bag from his coat pocket and eagerly stuffed the soiled currency into its depths.
“i thinks eve’y nigger dat pays his dollar out ought to be allowed to wear some kind of badge what shows dat be belongs,” vinegar atts remarked.
“i forgot to tell you about dat, nigger,” red cutt replied promptly. “so i wants you to pass de word down de line to eve’y nigger dat paid his dollar dat he must get a chicken feather and wear it stuck up in his hat.”
by two o’clock that afternoon, one hundred negroes in tickfall suddenly sprouted feathers, and refused to tell in answer to any inquiry just what those feathers meant, for if a negro organizes a club or lodge, it is always a secret organization.
it was sunday afternoon.
that morning, vinegar, at the shoofly church, made many eloquent references to the chariot of fire, to the men from the sky, to the machine that had a wheel in the midst of a wheel, and a form of a man’s hand under the wings. it was just the sort of mysterious, high-sounding, and meaningless sermon that would catch the fancy of his emotional and imaginative parishioners and the services at the shoofly church on that particular morning were memorable.
at the most dramatic point of vinegar’s harangue, the colored clergyman took a letter out of his pocket and read it to his congregation with many theatrical flourishes.
there are big corporations in this country who do a large mail-order business. of necessity, they must have a large mailing-list, and in order to acquire it they pay two cents for every name and address that is furnished them. very much of that money is wasted in the south, and a great deal of their literature is squandered, for the reason that those who sell these addresses do not care whether it is the name of a man white or black.
many negroes who cannot read get regular letters from great mail-order houses, and other large corporations who have something to sell will frequently address a letter to a colored man who cannot read it, and cannot understand it when it is read to him.
by this method vinegar atts had acquired the letter, which he was now parading before his congregation, and which he read in a loud, clear voice:
“rev. vinegar atts,
“tickfall, louisiana.
“dear sir: draw up your chair just a little closer; listen carefully and we will suggest to you how to make some money by investing a small amount. “we are going to tell you about that opportunity you have been waiting for all your life. we are going to let you in on one of the best propositions offered since manufacturers tried to interest people financially in the automobile years ago.
“the war is over—peace is here—the airplane helped win that victory, and now the airplane will rapidly take the place of the automobile and the truck in commercial life.
“the man who makes money is the man who has the courage to back up his convictions. while money can be earned by labor, it can be multiplied only by investment. we offer you an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of this money-making proposition and reap the tremendous profits which we believe are bound to follow.
“please read the enclosed folder carefully, and then if you decide you want to invest a modest sum and see it grow, let us hear from you at once.”
laying this letter aside, vinegar spread open a folder to the gaze of his congregation. it contained impressive pictures of airplanes, and hydroplanes, of factories, and of work upon the big machines in their various stages of development.
“one dollar is a mighty modest sum, brudder,” vinegar bellowed. “eve’y man whut is got a dollar ought to git in on de ground floor of dis money-makin’ proposition an’ reap de tremendous profits which is bound to follow behind. dar is a flyin’-school teacher in dis town now, and i considers it a religious thing to endorse his bizzness an’ to git up a lot of learners in his flyin’-school.”
it was whispered among the folks at the church that the first lesson in the art of flying would be given in the little moccasin prairie where the airplane was. so very early in the afternoon a long procession of negroes moved in that direction, and a very curious crowd had assembled about the machine. when the aviator, red cutt, made his appearance, he stood by the machine and delivered a harangue, explaining various parts of the machine, and calling them by certain names which would have been very interesting if heard in the aviation schools of this country.
being familiar with the automobile, he could make a pretty shrewd guess at some things; but he also had that inestimable advantage which comes to the man who pretends to know when all others profess their ignorance.
a few minutes later, hitch arrived. he carried an immense sack full of all sorts of tools. there was even an instrument for digging in the ground in that assortment, for hitch was evidently ready, as the chief mechanic, to meet all emergencies. he carried also a large bag of cotton, with which he intended to wipe off the machinery and keep everything shining and bright just like new.
skeeter arrived, looked at the machine, and listened to red cutt explaining its uses and manipulations to the crowd. he saw hitch crawling around underneath, wiping the wheels with cotton, and pretending to be very busy, while actually afraid to touch anything he saw under there.
skeeter decided that his place on the program was to be seated in the machine. the negroes very eagerly lifted him up, and as he took his place on the seat, he felt that he had reached the highest point of prominence in his entire career.
vinegar atts, who had lingered too long at his sunday dinner, was the last to arrive, and when he rode up in his little automobile and saw skeeter butts seated in the airplane like a king upon the throne, he was glad, indeed, that he had been elected to the high office of observer.
he pushed his way through the crowd and bawled at skeeter:
“hey, skeeter! i wants to set up dar wid you.”
“dar ain’t no room to set wid me,” skeeter announced. “dar ain’t but one seat, an’ i am in it.”
“but i got to set up dar! i’m de observer!” vinegar howled.
thereupon he clambered up into the machine, lifted skeeter out of his place, sat down on the seat himself, and let skeeter sit on his knee!
at this point hitch diamond climbed out from under the airplane, stuck a handful of dirty cotton waste into the bag that contained the rest of the cotton, and tossed the bag into the lap of skeeter.
“you two niggers put dis sack of cotton in the tool-box under de seat!” hitch diamond bellowed.
“i cain’t find de tool-box,” vinegar said.
“well, put it under yo’ foots den,” hitch told him. “fer you got to take dat sack of wipin’ cotton wharever you go.”
