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Show page £j" weeds. Blue curses, turns and backs over the spot where the cat crossed. A black cat darting in front of him is an omen of i l l fortune. He throws his head back and gives vent to the loneliness he feels: "Oh, dig my grave with a silver spade, low me down with a golden chain. . . ." Blue keeps singing, s k i r t s an outhouse, a hogpen. He walks down a narrow path toward the back door of a tx-?o-room shanty. Someone inside shadows a lamp. He grins and changes his tune. "If I could holler like a mountain jack, I'd go up on a mountain and c a l l my baby back. How long, baby, how long?" A door opens, silhouetting the figure of Pearl. Pearl's built like a Zulu queen and is as mixed. Blue hugs her and squeezes past, into the kitchen, where coffee is bubbling on the stove, neckbones simmering in an iron pot, and Jabbo is sitting at the t a b l e. "Where you been, you lowdown devil? I t ' s foolish to Blue, with Jabbo reared back, laughing. Q u i n t r i l l i a n and Osborn Moses s t a r t baying before they can eat, t h e i r voices making a hollow sound in the cabin. Jabbo scrambles to his feet. Blue says, philosophically, "Sssh, somebody eavesdropping under the house." They caught the freight as i t pulled out. They sat in the open door of the freight car, blowing kisses to Police Chief Lattimore and the hounds, as the t r a i n pulled away. And |