Them ducks is your regular fire eaters. There don't need nothin' but for some sparks to fly off an', right straight off, they gobbles 'em down. Then we gets what you might call roast duck that never meant to be roasted. An' my old woman she ain't no friend o' that. _RAUCHHAUPT looks over the fence to the left._ LANGHEINRICH There's been a big fire again over there behind Landsberg. All the houses on a great estate is ashes. RAUCHHAUPT Did you maybe see Gustav anywhere? LANGHEINRICH Mornin', old boy! No, not me! Has he gone an' run off again? RAUCHHAUPT I ordered him to go over to the Fielitzes. LANGHEINRICH The Fielitzes have all gone in to town. RAUCHHAUPT I don't know, but there's a kind o' burned smell in the air ... Ouch! [_He distorts his face in pain and grasps his leg._] Ain't Leontine here? LANGHEINRICH Naw, she had to go to court to-day. Always the same trouble with the alimony. That confounded feller, he don't pay. RAUCHHAUPT [_Calls out._] Gustav! [_He listens and then turns leisurely back to the little gate. The wind worries and drives him._] Gustav! LANGHEINRICH Stiff wind coming up, all right! [_RAUCHHAUPT disappears._] Ede! EDE All right. LANGHEINRICH Let's get to work now! [_He spits into his hands and sets to work vigorously._] Well, Doctor, where've you been runnin' about? Did you get as far as the Chinese? You gotta tell us all about that some day when we got plenty o' time for it. DR. BOXER Surely, I've been all over. LANGHEINRICH Did you see the sea-serpent too? Da. BOXER Surely, Langheinrich, far down in the South Seas. LANGHEINRICH An' it's true that it feeds on dill pickles? DR. BOXER Several hundred dozen a day. LANGHEINRICH [_Laughing._] That's all right then. An' when, you see that serpent again, just give her my best regards. DR. BOXER I doubt whether I'll ever get so far again in life. LANGHEINRICH I guess you got all you wanted o' that? Now you see. Doctor, you just got to the point where I am exactly an' I didn't have to move from this spot.--Well, I guess your old mother, she'll be glad. She's gettin' along all right. Doin' reel well. I always looked in a bit now an' then, helpin' to see that things was all right. DR. BOXER And that was very good in you, Langheinrich. LANGHEINRICH Naw! Pshaw! I ain't sayin' it on that account. By the way, though, before I forget. I got a little account standin' with your good mother--for taffeta an' silk an' needles an' thread. Some cloth, too. My wife used 'em sewing. I'll straighten that up very soon. DR. BOXER [_Deprecatingly._] Never mind. That matter will be arranged. LANGHEINRICH Ede! EDE All right? LANGHEINRICH Hurry along now! [_He takes up a heavy hammer._] If I don't go right on workin' I'll end by bustin' out o' my skin. _EDE approaches with a white hot piece of iron in the tongs and holds it on the anvil._ LANGHEINRICH