Martin. Swear by your vacant concave belly, man. (_Tapping Joe's stomach._) You'll find no stronger oath than that. Matthew. They'll have the law of you. Martin. The law doesn't care for us. The law lets us starve. We've finished with palaver now. We've got to _do_. (_They are reaching the door when Ephraim, John and Guy enter by the opposite door._) Ephraim. Where are you going? Martin. We're tired of waiting. Ephraim. Come, come! We had to consider our answer. (_The men come back._) Joe (_closing door, l._). Well, have you got your answer? Epiiraim. Yes. Go back to your fellows and tell them this: We will raise wages to the old figure---- Martin. We've refused that. Ephraim. Let me finish, my man. And as to a further increase, when you've tried how you go on and we've all of us thought it over and feel a little calmer than we do now, well, we'll see if we can't do something more for you. Henri. You will see now if you mean to see at all. Ephraim. That's my last word, men. You've got a lot. Now go away and be reasonable. Martin. And this is my last word, Mr. Barlow. You've refused, and refused with scorn. Ephraim. Scorn? I've not---- Martin. If you haven't, he has (_pointing at Guy_), and we know which of the pair is boss. You think you are, but we and Mr. Guy know better. He's boss and (_taking picture from Matthew_) he calls us dirty and makes insulting pictures of us for you to laugh at. We shan't do anything to-night. To-morrow night we're meeting on the moors. Look to your factory, then. Guy. If I'm boss, listen to me. I've told you I believe in factories. Martin. And I tell you you'll have no factory to believe in. We're tired of machinery. Guy. The machines are going on. Factories are going on. It's my life's work to push them on. Henri. Then look to your life. Guy. The system's going on. It may break men in the making. It may break me. But, by God, I'll break you first. Ideas are greater than men. They conquer men. You can burn and kill and scotch the system _here_, but the idea will go on in spite of you and anything you rioters can do to us. You can crush us perhaps, but you can't kill the idea. Factories will spring up and men will live and die for them and roll themselves against them like waves against the rocks, but the factories are permanent because the world is crying for our cloth. Joe. And I haven't got a shirt. Guy. A shirt! The world doesn't care for you. It's cloth by the hundred thousand yards they want. It's not your petty wants the system cares about. It's---- Martin. Then to hell with the system. We're petty, and, as you say, we can't do much. We can't stop factories being built elsewhere. But we can stop them here. We're broken men, but our spirit isn't broken yet. You've set up your last machine. Your system may be all you think, but men come first. Guy. Your men or mine?