The Hairy Ape Part 5

YANK--[_With a bewildered uncertain growl._] Aw!

PADDY--And there was Yank roarin' curses and turning round wid his shovel to brain her--and she looked at him, and him at her--

YANK--[_Slowly._] She was all white. I tought she was a ghost. Sure.

PADDY--[_With heavy, biting sarcasm._] 'Twas love at first sight, divil a doubt of it! If you'd seen the endearin' look on her pale mug when she shrivelled away with her hands over her eyes to shut out the sight of him! Sure, 'twas as if she'd seen a great hairy ape escaped from the Zoo!

YANK--[_Stung--with a growl of rage._] Aw!

PADDY--And the loving way Yank heaved his shovel at the skull of her, only she was out the door! [_A grin breaking over his face._] 'Twas touching, I'm telling you! It put the touch of home, swate home in the stokehole. [_There is a roar of laughter from all._]

YANK--[_Glaring at Paddy menacingly._] Aw, choke dat off, see!

PADDY--[_Not heeding him--to the others._] And her grabbin' at the Second's arm for protection. [_With a grotesque imitation of a woman's voice._] Kiss me, Engineer dear, for it's dark down here and me old man's in Wall Street making money! Hug me tight, darlin', for I'm afeerd in the dark and me mother's on deck makin' eyes at the skipper!

[_Another roar of laughter._]

YANK--[_Threateningly._] Say! What yuh tryin' to do, kid me, yuh old Harp?

PADDY--Divil a bit! Ain't I wis.h.i.+n' myself you'd brained her?

YANK--[_Fiercely._] I'll brain her! I'll brain her yet, wait 'n' see!

[_Coming over to Paddy--slowly._] Say, is dat what she called me--a hairy ape?

PADDY--She looked it at you if she didn't say the word itself.

YANK--[_Grinning horribly._] Hairy ape, huh? Sure! Dat's de way she looked at me, aw right. Hairy ape! So dat's me, huh? [_Bursting into rage--as if she were still in front of him._] Yuh skinny tart! Yuh white-faced b.u.m, yuh! I'll show yuh who's a ape! [_Turning to the others, bewilderment seizing him again._] Say, youse guys. I was bawlin' him out for pullin' de whistle on us. You heard me. And den I seen youse lookin' at somep'n and I tought he'd sneaked down to come up in back of me, and I hopped round to knock him dead wit de shovel. And dere she was wit de light on her! Christ, yuh coulda pushed me over with a finger! I was scared, get me? Sure! I tought she was a ghost, see? She was all in white like dey wrap around stiffs. You seen her.

Kin yuh blame me? She didn't belong, dat's what. And den when I come to and seen it was a real skoit and seen de way she was lookin' at me--like Paddy said--Christ, I was sore, get me? I don't stand for dat stuff from n.o.body. And I flung de shovel--on'y she'd beat it.

[_Furiously._] I wished it'd banged her! I wished it'd knocked her block off!

LONG--And be 'anged for murder or 'lectrocuted? She ain't bleedin' well worth it.

YANK--I don't give a d.a.m.n what! I'd be square wit her, wouldn't I? Tink I wanter let her put somep'n over on me? Tink I'm goin' to let her git away wit dat stuff? Yuh don't know me! Noone ain't never put nothin'

over on me and got away wit it, see!--not dat kind of stuff--no guy and no skoit neither! I'll fix her! Maybe she'll come down again--

VOICE--No chance, Yank. You scared her out of a year's growth.

YANK--I scared her? Why de h.e.l.l should I scare her? Who de h.e.l.l is she?

Ain't she de same as me? Hairy ape, huh? [_With his old confident bravado._] I'll show her I'm better'n her, if she on'y knew it. I belong and she don't, see! I move and she's dead! Twenty-five knots a hour, dats me! Dat carries her but I make dat. She's on'y baggage.

Sure! [_Again bewilderedly._] But, Christ, she was funny lookin'! Did yuh pipe her hands? White and skinny. Yuh could see de bones trough 'em. And her mush, dat was dead white, too. And her eyes, dey was like dey'd seen a ghost. Me, dat was! Sure! Hairy ape! Ghost, huh? Look at dat arm! [_He extends his right arm, swelling out the great muscles._]

I coulda took her wit dat, wit' just my little finger even, and broke her in two. [_Again bewilderedly._] Say, who is dat skoit, huh? What is she? What's she come from? Who made her? Who give her de noive to look at me like dat? Dis ting's got my goat right. I don't get her. She's new to me. What does a skoit like her mean, huh? She don't belong, get me! I can't see her. [_With growing anger._] But one ting I'm wise to, aw right, aw right! Youse all kin bet your shoits I'll git even wit her. I'll show her if she tinks she--She grinds de organ and I'm on de string, huh? I'll fix her! Let her come down again and I'll fling her in de furnace! She'll move den! She won't s.h.i.+ver at nothin', den!

Speed, dat'll be her! She'll belong den! [_He grins horribly._]

PADDY--She'll never come. She's had her belly-full, I'm telling you.

She'll be in bed now, I'm thinking, wid ten doctors and nurses feedin'

her salts to clean the fear out of her.

YANK--[_Enraged._] Yuh tink I made her sick, too, do yuh? Just lookin'

at me, huh? Hairy ape, huh? [_In a frenzy of rage._] I'll fix her! I'll tell her where to git off! She'll git down on her knees and take it back or I'll bust de face offen her! [_Shaking one fist upward and beating on his chest with the other._] I'll find yuh! I'm comin', d'yuh hear? I'll fix yuh, G.o.d d.a.m.n yuh! [_He makes a rush for the door._]

VOICES--Stop him!

He'll get shot!

He'll murder her!

Trip him up!

Hold him!

He's gone crazy!

Gott, he's strong!

Hold him down!

Look out for a kick!

Pin his arms!

[_They have all piled on him and, after a fierce struggle, by sheer weight of numbers have borne him to the floor just inside the door._]

PADDY--[_Who has remained detached._] Kape him down till he's cooled off. [_Scornfully._] Yerra, Yank, you're a great fool. Is it payin'

attention at all you are to the like of that skinny sow widout one drop of rale blood in her?

YANK--[_Frenziedly, from the bottom of the heap._] She done me doit!

She done me doit, didn't she? I'll git square wit her! I'll get her some way! Git offen me, youse guys! Lemme up! I'll show her who's a ape!

[_Curtain_]

SCENE V

SCENE--Three weeks later. A corner of Fifth Avenue in the Fifties on a fine, Sunday morning. A general atmosphere of clean, well-tidied, wide street; a flood of mellow, tempered suns.h.i.+ne; gentle, genteel breezes.

In the rear, the show windows of two shops, a jewelry establishment on the corner, a furrier's next to it. Here the adornments of extreme wealth are tantalizingly displayed. The jeweler's window is gaudy with glittering diamonds, emeralds, rubies, pearls, etc., fas.h.i.+oned in ornate tiaras, crowns, necklaces, collars, etc. From each piece hangs an enormous tag from which a dollar sign and numerals in intermittent electric lights wink out the incredible prices. The same in the furrier's. Rich furs of all varieties hang there bathed in a downpour of artificial light. The general effect is of a background of magnificence cheapened and made grotesque by commercialism, a background in tawdry disharmony with the clear light and suns.h.i.+ne on the street itself.

Up the side street Yank and Long come swaggering. Long is dressed in sh.o.r.e clothes, wears a black Windsor tie, cloth cap. Yank is in his dirty dungarees. A fireman's cap with black peak is c.o.c.ked defiantly on the side of his head. He has not shaved for days and around his 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 trespa.s.sers 'ere. Proletarians keep orf the gra.s.s!

YANK--[_Dully._] I don't see no gra.s.s, yuh b.o.o.b. [_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.