Elijah of Buxton

The Preacher asks Elijah the next day if he is still willing to help the Settlement. He shows Elijah an advertisement for a traveling carnival that promises music, games, treats, “freaks of nature” (105), and medicines. Elijah tells the Preacher that Ma and Pa would forbid attendance, but the Preacher mentions how Elijah and Cooter go into the woods at night without permission. Elijah knows he’s been “painted in a corner” (105) by the Preacher, but he doesn’t entirely mind, as the carnival sounds fascinating.

Arriving at the carnival, Elijah and the Preacher first go to the tent of Madame Sabbar, who, according to the huckster announcing the show, eliminated the moth lion population of the jungles of Sweden with her slingshot. After Madame Sabbar hits many bullseyes, the huckster tells the audience that a young tribal chief, MaWee, is out to get Madame Sabbar. A boy in a skirt of leaves points a spear at the woman and goes behind a barrier with numbered holes. The huckster blindfolds Madame Sabbar, and the audience yells out the number of the hole in which MaWee appears. Elijah is shocked to recognize MaWee as a white student in his class, Jimmy Blassingame from Chatham.