Do what you will for me. [_He seats himself at his loom._] I stay here. GOTTLIEB [_After a short struggle._] I'm going to work too--come what may. [_Goes out._ [_The Weavers' Song is heard, sung by hundreds of voices quite close at hand; it sounds like a dull, monotonous wail._ INMATES OF THE HOUSE [_In the entry-room._] "Oh, mercy on us! there they come swarmin' like ants!"--"Where can all these weavers be from?"--"Don't shove like that, I want to see too."--"Look at that great maypole of a woman leadin' on in front!"--"Gracious! they're comin' thicker an' thicker." HORNIG [_Comes into the entry-room from outside._] There's a theayter play for you now! That's what you don't see every day. But you should go up to the other Dittrich's an' look what they've done there. It's been no half work. He's got no house now, nor no factory, nor no wine-cellar, nor nothin'. They're drinkin' out o' the bottles--not so much as takin' the time to get out the corks. One, two, three, an' off with the neck, an' no matter whether they cuts their mouths or not. There's some of 'em runnin' about bleedin' like stuck pigs.--Now they're goin' to do for Dittrich here. [_The singing has stopped._ INMATES OF THE HOUSE There's nothin' so very wicked like about them. HORNIG You wait a bit! you'll soon see! All they're doin' just now is makin' up their minds where they'll begin. Look, they're inspectin' the palace from every side. Do you see that little stout man there, him with the stable pail? That's the smith from Peterswaldau--an' a dangerous little chap he is. He batters in the thickest doors as if they were made o' pie-crust. If a manufacturer was to fall into his hands it would be all over with him! HOUSE INMATES "That was a crack!"--"There went a stone through the window!"--"There's old Dittrich, shakin' with fright."--"He's hangin' out a board."--"Hangin' out a board?"--"What's written on it?"--"Can't you read?"--"It'd be a bad job for me if I couldn't read!"--"Well, read it, then!"--"'You--shall have--full--satis-fac-tion! You--you shall have full satisfaction.'" HORNIG He might ha' spared hisself the trouble--_that_ won't help him. It's something else they've set their minds on here. It's the factories. They're goin' to smash up the power-looms. For it's them that is ruinin' the hand-loom weaver. Even a blind man might see that. No! the good folks knows what they're after, an' no sheriff an' no p'lice superintendent'll bring them to reason--much less a bit of a board. Him as has seen 'em at work already knows what's comin'. HOUSE INMATES "Did any one ever see such a crowd!"--"What can _these_ be wantin'?"--[_Hastily._] "They're crossin' the bridge!"--[_Anxiously._] "They're never comin' over on this side, are they?"--[_In excitement and terror._] "It's to us they're comin'! They're comin' to us! They're comin' to fetch the weavers out o' their houses!"