being diligent in endeavoring to bring to his home any and all Negro
girls to whom his white patrons might take a fancy, had great influence
with this element of whites.

Noting the indisposition of the men to talk to him, and rightly
interpreting their contemptuous silence, Crutcher drew from his pocket a
wallet full of greenbacks. Taking out as many one dollar bills as there
were hackmen, he threw them on the platform and said, "I am a gentleman,
myself. Money talks these days. Help yourselves, gentlemen."

The men did not look at the money. Each one returned to his vehicle and
journeyed to his humble home, leaving Crutcher alone upon the platform.
If the hackmen had taken his money it would have served as proof to him
that they were no better than he, that they were not in a business like
his simply because they lacked his skill and finesse.

The action of the hackmen intensified his resentment at the treatment
accorded him by Bud Harper and the young woman, and, meditating
vengeance, he now walked toward his den of infamy where his mother had
reigned in her day and where he was born of a white father.

The human race has not thus far even approached the point of
constructing such habitations as would render mankind indifferent to
rumblings underground, nor has society such secure foundation that it
can think lightly of its lower elements.

In the long run the LeRoy Crutchers will be heard from. It is
inevitable.

CHAPTER III.

_Wherein Foresta First Appears._

When the young woman who had committed herself to Bud Harper's care
awoke the next morning she saw standing near her a tall, slender, Negro
girl, of a dark brown complexion.

"My name is Foresta," said the girl, showing the tips of her beautiful
white teeth. Her lips were thin, her nose prettily chiseled, her skin
smooth, her brow high, her head covered with an ample supply of jet
black hair. "Excuse me, please," said Foresta, "but mama told me to tell
you that breakfast would soon be ready."

Foresta having delivered her message, for which she was thanked, did not
at once turn to leave. Her pretty brown eyes nestling under equally
pretty eyebrows, looked lovingly into the stranger's face. Without
saying more, however, Foresta left the room. A little later she brought
the young woman's breakfast, clearing the center table to make room for
it.

[Illustration: "Her pretty brown eyes, nestling under equally pretty
eyebrows, looked lovingly i