"You," continued Uncle Ernst, for the first time turning to the culprits, "take your things and leave the yard at once! And you others, let this serve as a warning to you and a reminder of what, indeed, you must all have known long ago, that I am not to be trifled with, and that when I say a thing I mean it--and now go back to your work!" A good many of the men turned at once and began to disperse; but others--a few from almost every group--remained, and as the ranks thinned drew closer together, as if to afford each other protection. Those too who had moved away at first now stopped again, turned back, and also drew together, so that in a few minutes the throng was divided into two parts; the last mentioned, who for the present were more amenable and conciliatory, were by far the larger number; but the others--of whom there might be about thirty, were evidently the bolder and more determined. Reinhold moved to his uncle's side. "What are you waiting for?" asked Uncle Ernst, "what do you want?" From the group of malcontents who had now clustered thickly together, a man stepped forward, not one of the three; a young man who would have been handsome if his youthful countenance had not been marred and distorted already by evil passions. His pale, bold eyes had a watery look, as if he were already too much addicted to the bottle. He waved his hand as if he were standing on a platform to speak, and with great fluency began: "We wish to know, Herr Schmidt, why we should not be socialists and communists too, if we choose; who is to forbid us to enter the ranks of the army of workers who are marching against the hardhearted middle classes to win back the rights which are so shamefully withheld from us? We wish to know----" "Silence!" thundered Uncle Ernst; "silence, wretched boy! and blush for shame if you have any shame left in you!" Uncle Ernst advanced a few steps, and the lad retreated before him like a jackal before the lion, and slunk back into the knot of men which had drawn still closer together. "What are you standing there for, laying your heads together and muttering and threatening? Do you think that I fear you any more than I fear this wretched boy, whom I took from the streets, and clothed, and fed, and sent to school, and who wants to know now why I withhold his rights from him! His rights? Your rights? To keep honestly to what you have promised, what you have pledged yourselves to by your own signatures, that is your right--neither more nor less! Who forced you to sign your names?" "Hunger!" cried a rough voice. "You lie, Carl Peters!" cried Uncle Ernst; "and if you did suffer hunger it was because you are a sot and carry the money which belongs to your wife and children to the gin palace." "We are all socialists, every man of us!" called another voice from the crowd.