t it--I can!

[JAN begins again to play his whistle; MADGE gets up; half
tenderly she ruffles his hair; then, sitting, leans her elbows
on the table, and her chin on her hands. Behind her, on MRS.
ROBERTS'S face the smile has changed to horrified surprise. She
makes a sudden movement, sitting forward, pressing her hands
against her breast. Then slowly she sinks' back; slowly her
face loses the look of pain, the smile returns. She fixes her
eyes again on JAN, and moves her lips and finger to the tune.]

The curtain falls.

SCENE II

It is past four. In a grey, failing light, an open muddy space
is crowded with workmen. Beyond, divided from it by a
barbed-wire fence, is the raised towing-path of a canal, on which
is moored a barge. In the distance are marshes and snow-covered
hills. The "Works" high wall runs from the canal across the open
space, and ivy the angle of this wall is a rude platform of
barrels and boards. On it, HARNESS is standing. ROBERTS, a
little apart from the crowd, leans his back against the wall. On
the raised towing-path two bargemen lounge and smoke
indifferently.

HARNESS. [Holding out his hand.] Well, I've spoken to you straight.
If I speak till to-morrow I can't say more.

JAGO. [A dark, sallow, Spanish-looking man with a short, thin
beard.] Mister, want to ask you! Can they get blacklegs?

BULGIN. [Menacing.] Let 'em try.

[There are savage murmurs from the crowd.]

BROWN. [A round-faced man.] Where could they get 'em then?

EVANS. [A small, restless, harassed man, with a fighting face.]
There's always blacklegs; it's the nature of 'em. There's always men
that'll save their own skins.

[Another savage murmur. There is a movement, and old THOMAS,
joining the crowd, takes his stand in front.]

HARNESS. [Holding up his hand.] They can't get them. But that
won't help you. Now men, be reasonable. Your demands would have
brought on us the burden of a dozen strikes at a time when we were
not prepared for them. The Unions live by justice, not to one, but
all. Any fair man will tell you--you were ill-advised! I don't say
you go too far for that which you're entitled to, but you're going
too far for the moment; you've dug a pit for yourselves. Are you to
stay there, or are you to climb out? Come!

LEWIS. [A clean-cut Wel