The narrator returns to Harlem and encounters Ras addressing a crowd that has gathered there to hear him speak against the Brotherhood. Ras sees the narrator, and the two argue briefly. As the narrator walks away, two of Ras's men follow and attack him, but a doorman at a movie theater intervenes on his behalf.
As the narrator waits for a cab, three men wearing dark glasses stand near him on the curb, whom he immediately identifies as Ras's men. Instead of running, the narrator buys himself a pair of dark glasses. From then on, he is mistaken for someone named Rinehart, especially when he adds a wide-brimmed hat to his disguise. Even Brother Maceo and Barrelhouse, the bartender, mistake him for Rinehart at the Jolly Dollar. The narrator marvels at how a hat and dark glasses enable him to hide in plain sight. He also decides to exploit his newfound invisibility.
