On the southern coast between two towns Merton and Shawboro, a large but seemingly meek Black man with light brown eyes named Jim Hammer is fleeing from the authorities after having shot someone. He runs to Annie Poole's home to hide. Annie asks who he killed, but he's not sure who it was. Annie reluctantly and exasperatedly acquiesces to hiding him. She assures him that she's only doing her duty, and that if he were white she would not have been as kind. He gratefully takes her offered hiding place under a pile of clothes on her feather bed. Jim hides for a long while and eventually falls asleep. He's awoken later by the sound of a car. He becomes so afraid and agitated about the idea of being caught, that he almost gets up from his hiding place. But he suddenly feels a sharp pain in his heart, and his memory fades. It comes rushing back. Now he hears no one coming and feels relief, assured that he had chosen right to go to Annie, who was his friend Obadiah's mother. He smiles an ugly, cunning smile, and his now yellow eyes glow like pale flame. He remains hidden, and eventually the police show up to Annie's home. The police deliver the news that Obadiah was shot and killed by someone stealing tires. The police believe it's Jim Hammer. Annie is shocked and distressed, but still does not reveal that she is hiding Jim. The police leave, and Annie comes into the room where Jim hides. Jim is afraid, almost wishing the police had found him so he would not deal with Annie's rage. But Annie only tells him to get out, and to thank God for his Black face.