[_To DR. BOXER, who has glanced at EDE and LANGHEINRICH alternately with serene laughter._] You just be so good an' be more careful: we ain't so soft. We don't take jokes so easy, especially not from the race to which you ... LANGHEINRICH Hold on, Mr. Schmarowski! That's enough! Nothin' like that here. That's enough an' too much, Mr. Schmarowski. You just see about gettin' along on your way now. SCHMAROWSKI Do you know where I am going straight from here? LANGHEINRICH You c'n go straight ahead to the Lord hisself! You c'n go where you want to, Schmarowski; only, don't be keepin' me from my work. We ain't got no time to lose here!--Ede, put that axle in! _SCHMAROWSKI exit, enraged._ EDE Good-bye! DR. BOXER So that was Mr. Schmarowski, the envied pillar of the church? Why, he's a poisonous little devil! LANGHEINRICH Yes, you're right there! Pois'nous is what he is. So you didn't, know him, Dr. Boxer? Well, then you've seen him now--nothin' but a little, sly, venomous pup! But you ought to go an' watch him when he gets in with that pious crowd. Then he lets his ears hang, so 'umble his own mother wouldn't hardly know him, like as if he was sayin': I ain't goin' to live more'n two weeks at--most an' then I'm goin' to heaven to be with Jesus. Yes! Likely! There's another place where he's goin'. But that won't be soon. He ain't thinkin' of it much yet. An' in the meantime he rolls his eyes upward 'cause somethin' might be hangin' round that he c'n make a profit on. EDE Well, you c'n look out now! Yon ain't goin' to get no work on the new institution. LANGHEINRICH I know that. Can't be helped. Things is as they is. Can't hold' my tongue at things like that. I won't learn that in a lifetime. DR. BOXER Have you many of that kind hereabouts now? LANGHEINRICH So, so. Enough to last for the winter. _RAUCHHAUPT has come out of the little gate. He faces the wind, shades his eyes with his hand and peers around._ RAUCHHAUPT Lord A'mighty! Well, well! Things is goin' the queerest way to-day! When is they comin' back--them Fielitzes? LANGHEINRICH That ain't goin' to be so very soon to-day. They've gone to buy a seven-day clock, a regulator. What are you upset about to-day? RAUCHHAUPT Wha'? Fielitz goin' to buy that kind of a clock? I don't believe's he c'n survive that. [_Calls._] Gustav! LANGHEINRICH Ain't he come back yet? I guess he's listenin' to the bells. You know how he sits an' listens when they ring. RAUCHHAUPT I don't know. Things is goin' queer to-day. Mrs. Fielitz sent for him to come over. Horseradish seed is what she said she wanted. An' then she goes an' leaves for the city. [_Exit, shaking his head._ EDE They been stalkin' about since four o'clock in the mornin'. Up an' down they went with their bull's-eye lantern. I don't believe they went to bed at all. LANGHEINRICH Well, if Fielitz has gone to buy a clock you can't expect him to eat or drink or sleep. RAUCHHAUPT