Sentence:  Fat, short, radiant, General Chattesworth—in full, artillery uniform—was there, smiling, and making little speeches to the ladies, and bowing stiffly from his hips upward—his great <WSD>cue</WSD> playing all the time up and down his back, and sometimes so near the ground when he stood erect and threw back his head, that Toole, seeing Juno eyeing the appendage rather viciously, thought it prudent to cut her speculations short with a smart kick. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  The tail; the end of a thing; especially, a tail-like twist of hair worn at the back of the head; a queue.