There's such a thing as eating words until Your belly cries for something solider. CHAUFFEUR. (_Pointing toward the mill_) You see that smoke back there. FIRST SENTRY. That's all right, too. A kid can start a fire. CHAUFFEUR. Wait and see. A MILITIAMAN. (_Who, half way back toward the mill, has climbed upon a lumber stack_) I nominate J. D. for Governor. A VOICE. (_Farther back, commandingly_) Shut up your mouth up there! SECOND VOICE. _Will_ you be good? (_The militiaman gets down from the stack_) SECOND SENTRY. How large a force is it they're counting on? CHAUFFEUR. It's not the force. It's the effect 'twill have. You let a dog run for another's bone, You'll see the last dog do some running too. FIRST SENTRY. And do some fighting, maybe. CHAUFFEUR. That's up to you. The law protects men in their right to work. (_The sentries whisper together_) CHAUFFEUR. The old man knows his business. All he says Is simply this, 'I'm bringing in the men. It's up to you to get them to the mill.' You see you don't know everything, my boy. FIRST SENTRY. You work for Egerton, and I don't blame you, But when you come right down to solid facts-- And if you'll clear your eye a bit you'll see it-- He's got his match in this man Williams. CHAUFFEUR. What! SECOND SENTRY. He's got his match in this man Williams. CHAUFFEUR. C-h-rist! FIRST SENTRY. Figure it out yourself. (_He sees Wes Dicey who, with Jim King and Rome Masters, has just come in, right_) What do you want? DICEY. He knows me. CHAUFFEUR. He's all right. (_Careful to keep out of sight of the shacks on the slope, Dicey and his companions whisper together near the fence. The Second Sentry, as though he had been neglecting his duty, goes out right, patrolling his beat_) FIRST SENTRY. It's easy enough To figure it out, I say. There's thirteen men Returned to work in five weeks. In an hour You calculate four hundred will return. You fellows couldn't count nine pins for me. (_Dicey and his companions pull their hats down over their eyes, their collars up about their necks, and make briskly for the gate_) FIRST SENTRY. (_Starts back on his beat_) Talk of a man like that running the State. He'd better learn to run his business first. (_George Egerton, looking spick and span, comes out of the mill-yard, putting on one of his gloves. He glances at Dicey and his companions as they pass in. Suddenly he turns and whistles after them and saunters back into the mill-yard as if to speak with them_) GEORGE EGERTON. (_Coming out a little later_) O Jack, will you tell mother---- CHAUFFEUR. Yes, sir. GEORGE EGERTON. (_Provoked_) What? Why do you put it that way? Now I've forgot.