Running through the streets of Harlem, the narrator is accidentally shot after stumbling into the path of two armed policemen in pursuit of four men stealing a safe. A man later identified as Scofield, stops to help the narrator and discovers that the bullet only “knicked” his head. The narrator’s briefcase, apparently misplaced in the melee, is returned to him.
Seeing that one of the men carrying the safe has been killed, the startled narrator realizes his wound could have been fatal. Carrying a large cloth bag, Scofield urges the narrator to go with him. The narrator and Scofield meet up with Scofield’s friend Dupre, also carrying a sack. Scofield suggests that the narrator has “loot” in his briefcase, but the narrator replies, “Not much,” correcting his misperception.
Continuing to follow Scofield and Dupre, the narrator is caught up in Dupre’s plan to burn down a tenement building—despite the protests of Dupre’s wife. Running from the burning building, the narrator loses his briefcase again and runs back into the flames to retrieve it. He continues running and suddenly finds himself surrounded by seven hanging dummies, which he at first mistakes for human bodies.
The narrator tries desperately to return to Mary’s, but while running from two men with baseball bats, he falls into a manhole and lands in a coal cellar, his refuge and sanctuary. Desperate for light, he burns each of the items in his briefcase, discovering that Brother Jack wrote the letter warning him not to “go too fast.” Finally, exhausted, having lost all track of time, he falls asleep and dreams of being castrated by Brother Jack while several of the antagonists he has encountered during his life stand by and watch. Awakening from his nightmare, the narrator realizes he can never return to Mary’s or to any other part of his past. Resolving to remain in his cellar, stripped of his illusions, the narrator sees his life with renewed vision and clarity.
