“Legal! 'Fo' Gawd, nigger, whauh you been to school all dese yeahs, never to heah uv a nigger-stopper befo'!”
“But—but how can a stroke of the pen, a mere gesture, estop a whole class of American citizens forever?” cried Peter, with a rising voice. “Turn it around. Suppose they had put in a line that no white man should own that land. It—it's empty! I tell you, it's mere words!”
Tump cut into his diatribe: “No use talkin' lak dat. Our 'ciety thought you wuz a aidjucated nigger. We didn't think no white man could put nothin' over on you.”
“Education!” snapped Siner. “Education isn't supposed to keep you away from shysters!”
“Keep you away fum 'em!” cried Tump, in a scandalized voice. “'Fo' Gawd, nigger, you don' know nothin'! O' co'se a aidjucation ain't to keep you away fum shysters; hit's to mek you one 'uv 'em!”
Peter stood breathing irregularly, looking at his deed. A determination not to be cheated grew up and hardened in his nerves. With unsteady hands he refolded his deed and put it into his pocket, then he turned about and started back up the village street toward the bank.
Tump stared after him a moment and presently called out:
“Heah, nigger, whut you gwine do?” A moment
