California, Southern -- Fiction; Motion picture industry -- Fiction; Petroleum industry and trade -- Fiction; Political fiction
It was twilight, and the white steam that rose from these pans had a
faint violet tinge as it merged with the sky. Electric lights came on,
white and yellow and red, until the place looked like a section of Coney
Island. And this resemblance increased as you drove farther, and came to
a building, long and low, in which forty-four Dutchmen sat hidden
puffing on forty-four pipes, and doing it all in unison, like an
orchestra; the most comical effect you could imagine—forty-four
exhausts all keeping time, quick and
sharp—puff-puff-puff-puff-puff-puff-puff!
Bunny felt his old embarrassment in connection with the Paradise tract;
his title to these vast possessions was not clear, and Paul was bound to
be jealous, realizing how his family had been tricked. But, then, in
swift flashes of revelation, Bunny discovered how completely out of date
these old feelings had become. Nevermore would Paul be jealous for his
lost heritage; never would he consider the claims of the Watkins
family—any more than the claims of the Ross family! The Paradise tract
belonged to the Paradise workers; the beautiful new refinery was a ripe
peach, hanging on a tree and waiting to be picked! All that was needed
was for some one to point this out to the men. If Paul had not been weak
and exhausted, he might have pointed it out that evening, and they could
have taken over the plant, and had it ready for operation under the new
management by morning! All power to the Soviets!
VII
Bunny went back to the university, charged with these electrical new
thoughts; at one moment he would be trembling with excitement, and at
the next he would be frightened to realize what he had been thinking.
Some instinct warned him that the idea of expropriating the industries
of Southern California would stand no chance with his class-mates; so he
contented himself with telling the good tidings about Russia—that the
revolution was not a blind outburst of ferocity, but the birth of a new
social order. Bunny told this; and Peter Nagle received the gospel with
his large mouth wide open; while Gregor Nikolaieff said yes, but why had
they got his cousin in jail; and Rachel Menzies said they had got
thousands of Socialists in jail; and Billy George said, “Let’s get a
group of fellows together and have Paul come and talk to them.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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