Come at last, and he took Somers hand in a damp
clasp. Blowed if I know, answered Jack, like a drunken man.
A pony walked on the sandsnuffing the
sea-weed.
It was a kind of grief, a bitter, agonisedgrief for
his fellow-men.
It was nearly one oclock when they reached
Wyewurk.
Weve got to save the People, weve got to do it.
Struthers, looking as if he were crouching to spring, glared back atthem from the
platform.
On our being workers depends our being husbands and
fathers andplaymates: nay, our being men. And it seemed like some far off voice of
annunciation.
But so the boys were: such wonderful
littleself-possessed creatures.
For example, dont you love me in your heart of
hearts, onlyyou darent admit it!
Well have a Soviet, mates, and then we shall feel
better about it.
Somerscould not detach his mind from the slight,
yet pervading sickeningsmell.
The men drank a little whiskey, then sat silent for
some time. It is just as naturalas lying with a woman. The jetty straddled its huge
grey timbers, like a great bridge, acrossthe sands and the flat rocks. And his face
hada faint spot of pink in the cheeks. He pressed it very silently, quietly, under
histhigh, to wipe it on his trousers.
There was a crash, and the hall was like a bomb
that has exploded.
Workers we are, mates, workers we must be, and
workers we will be, andtheres the end of it.