blows dat up! It knocks dat dead! It slams dat off en de face of
de oith! It, get me! De engines and de coal and de smoke and all
de rest of it! He can't breathe and swallow coal dust, but I kin,
see? Dat's fresh air for me! Dat's food for me! I'm new, get me?
Hell in de stokehole? Sure! It takes a man to work in hell. Hell,
sure, dat's my fav'rite climate. I eat it up! I git fat on it!
It's me makes it hot! It's me makes it roar! It's me makes it
move! Sure, on'y for me everyting stops. It all goes dead, get me?
De noise and smoke and all de engines movin' de woild, dey stop.
Dere ain't nothin' no more! Dat's what I'm sayin'. Everyting else
dat makes de woild move, somep'n makes it move. It can't move
witout somep'n else, see? Den yuh get down to me. I'm at de
bottom, get me! Dere ain't nothin' foither. I'm de end! I'm de
start! I start somep'n and de woild moves! It--dat's me!--de new
dat's moiderin' de old! I'm de ting in coal dat makes it boin; I'm
steam and oil for de engines; I'm de ting in noise dat makes yuh
hear it; I'm smoke and express trains and steamers and factory
whistles; I'm de ting in gold dat makes it money! And I'm what
makes iron into steel! Steel, dat stands for de whole ting! And
I'm steel--steel--steel! I'm de muscles in steel, de punch behind
it! [As he says this he pounds with his fist against the steel
bunks. All the men, roused to a pitch of frenzied self-
glorification by his speech, do likewise. There is a deafening
metallic roar, through which Yank's voice can be heard bellowing.]
Slaves, hell! We run de whole woiks. All de rich guys dat tink
dey're somep'n, dey ain't nothin'! Dey don't belong. But us guys,
we're in de move, we're at de bottom, de whole ting is us! [Paddy
from the start of Yank's speech has been taking one gulp after
another from his bottle, at first frightenedly, as if he were
afraid to listen, then desperately, as if to drown his senses, but