s fierce,
resentful eyes--as around those of Long to a lesser degree--the black
smudge of coal dust still sticks like make-up. They hesitate and stand
together at the corner, swaggering, looking about them with a forced,
defiant contempt.

LONG--[_Indicating it all with an oratorical gesture._] Well, 'ere we
are. Fif' Avenoo. This 'ere's their bleedin' private lane, as yer might
say. [_Bitterly._] We're trespassers 'ere. Proletarians keep orf the
grass!

YANK--[_Dully._] I don't see no grass, yuh boob. [_Staring at the
sidewalk._] Clean, ain't it? Yuh could eat a fried egg offen it. The
white wings got some job sweepin' dis up. [_Looking up and down the
avenue--surlily._] Where's all de white-collar stiffs yuh said was
here--and de skoits--her kind?

LONG--In church, blarst 'em! Arskin' Jesus to give 'em more money.

YANK--Choich, huh? I useter go to choich onct--sure--when I was a kid.
Me old man and woman, dey made me. Dey never went demselves, dough.
Always got too big a head on Sunday mornin', dat was dem. [_With a
grin._] Dey was scrappers for fair, bot' of dem. On Satiday nights when
dey bot' got a skinful dey could put up a bout oughter been staged at
de Garden. When dey got trough dere wasn't a chair or table wit a leg
under it. Or else dey bot' jumped on me for somep'n. Dat was where I
loined to take punishment. [_With a grin and a swagger._] I'm a chip
offen de old block, get me?

LONG--Did yer old man follow the sea?

YANK--Naw. Worked along shore. I runned away when me old lady croaked
wit de tremens. I helped at truckin' and in de market. Den I shipped in
de stokehole. Sure. Dat belongs. De rest was nothin'. [_Looking around
him._] I ain't never seen dis before. De Brooklyn waterfront, dat was
where I was dragged up. [_Taking a deep breath._] Dis ain't so bad at
dat, huh?

LONG--Not bad? Well, we pays for it wiv our bloody sweat, if yer wants
to know!

YANK--[_With sudden angry disgust._] Aw, hell! I don't see noone,
see--like her. All dis gives me a pain. It don't belong. Say, ain't
dere a backroom around dis dump? Let's go shoot a ball. All dis is too
clean and quiet and dolled-up, get me! It gives me a pain.

LONG--Wait and yer'll bloody well see--

YANK--I don't wait for noone. I keep on de move. Say, what yuh drag me
up here for, anyway? Tryin' to kid me, yuh simp, yuh?

LONG--Yer wants to get back at her, don't yer? That's what yer been
saying' every bloomin' 'our since she hinsulted ye