_] Come On! all of you that is not cowardly
scoundrels!--hurrah!
[_He dashes out, followed by LUISE, JAEGER, and others, all shouting_
"Hurrah!"
BECKER
Good-bye, then, father Hilse; well see each other again.
[_Is going._
OLD HILSE
I doubt that. I've not five years to live, and that'll be the soonest
you'll get out.
BECKER
[_Stops, not understanding._] Out o' what, father Hilse?
OLD HILSE
Out o' prison--where else?
BECKER
[_Laughs wildly._] Do you think I'd mind that? There's bread to be had
there anyhow!
[_Goes out._
OLD BAUMERT
[_Has been cowering on a low stool, painfully beating his brains; he now
gets up._] It's true, Gustav, as I've had a drop too much. But for all
that I knows what I'm about. You think one way in this here matter; I
think another. I say Becker's right: even if it ends in chains an'
ropes--we'll be better off in prison than at home. You're cared for
there, an' you don't need to starve. I wouldn't have joined 'em, Gustav,
if I could ha' let it be; but once in a lifetime a man's got to show what
he feels. [_Goes slowly towards the door._] Good-bye, Gustav. If anything
happens, mind you put in a word for me in your prayers.
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