"Jimmie!" shouted Rourke, leaping to the surface of the earth with a
bound, "Jimmie! Now, be Jasus, where is that bla'guard Eyetalian? Didn't
I tell him not to l'ave this place open!" and he began shoving the
planks into place himself.
Jimmie, suddenly made aware of this new catastrophe, came running as
fast as his short legs would carry him, scared almost out of his wits.
He was as pale as a very dark and dirty Italian could be, and so wrought
up that his facial expression changed involuntarily from moment to
moment. Rourke was in a fairly murderous mood, only he was so excited
and ashamed that he could not speak. Here was the supervisor, and here
was himself, and conditions--necessity for order, etc.--would not permit
him to kill the Italian in the former's presence. He could only choke
and wait. To think that he should be made a mark of like this, and that
in the face of his great supervisor! His face and neck were a beet-red,
and his eyes flashed with anger. He merely glared at his recalcitrant
henchman, as much as to say, "Wait!" When this train had departed and
the dignified supervisor had been carried safely out of hearing he
turned on Jimmie with all the fury of a masterful and excitable temper.
"So ye'll naht cover the hole, after me tellin' ye naht fifteen minutes
ago, will ye?" he shouted. "Ye'll naht cover the hole! An' what'll ye be
tellin' me ye was doin' now?"
"I carry da waut (water) for da concrete," pleaded Jimmie weakly.
"Waut fer the concrete," almost moaned Rourke, so great was his fury,
his angry face shoved close to the Italian's own. "Waut fer the
concrete, is it? It's a pity ye didn't fall into yer waut fer the
concrete, ye damned nagur, an' drown! Waut fer the concrete, is it, an'
me here, an' Mr. Mills steppin' off an' lookin' in on me, ye
black-hearted son of a Eyetalian, ye! I'll waut fer the concrete ye!
I'll crack yer blitherin' Eyetalian skull with a pick, I will! I'll
chuck ye in yer waut fer the concrete till ye choke, ye flat-footed,
leather-headed lunatic! I'll tache ye to waalk aaf an' l'ave the hole
open, an' me in it. Now, be Jasus, get yer coat an' get out av this.
Get--I'm tellin' ye! I'll have no more thruck with ye! I'll throuble no
more with ye. Ye're no damned good. Out with ye! An' niver show me yer
face again!" And he made a motion as if he would grab him and rend him
limb from limb.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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