Omaha daily bee., 1921-08-07

Rosa, found her still smiling in fierce appreca-
tion and boasted again. And Comrade O'Don-
nell had handed him the lump OF. pseudo
COAL -. .
And then the next picture-the tunnels and
upper works Of the Gargantuan lividly iliumined
In the glare of the purplsh- white arc lamps that
painted her on the night as the volunteer gangs
worked .feverishly at her, shift relieving shift
The long line of warehouses in the deep con-
trasting shadow from that blaze blackened out
the bottom OF the pcture-a blackness to which
he had crept and lodged. avoiding scrutiny,
heavy object close-hugged to his breast.
Then closer viewed from dark angle Of the
warehouse wall. he saw, in a proximity that
dwarfed him, the towering sides Of the great
liner at the quayside, her gangways busy with
hurrying dimunitive figures absorbed in pur-
poseful activity.
road tracks, locomotives puffed and shrieked as
they butted their trains Of clanking freight cars
vehicle by vehicle to the tips. Car after. car,
quoined on the platform Of the cages, rose it's 20
feet upon the elevator, heeled suddenly and dis
charged it's black contents with a cattering,
Changing roar, down the iron chute into the
bunkers Of the ship. Train beyond train of coal
and merchandise stood ranged upon the sidngs,
awaiting it's turn for sling or cataract.
Towards one Of those trains, the nearest he
crept stealthily from shadow to shadow, weak
kneed fear and diabolical malice at conflict with
IN MIN. he CurSeOs auLoIIldllCdIiy uHuer LiS
breath, in an escape of nervous tension, as he
approached it. It stood engineless unguarded,
but to his disgust not one of it was in the
shadow.
For moment he had hesitated. his burden
heavy in his arms, in a temptation of relinquish-
ment. Then the image Of Rosa Bauermann, her
smile of enigma turning upon htm-and the
fierce little chemists exultant phrase. BLOW de
belly out Of her" had echoed in strange depths
of him an invocation that called up food Of his
bitter primitive hatred for these phenomena Of
a civilization from which he was excluded, and
which he himself was impotent to create. The
Sioux prowing around the stockade, the bar
barian bursting in upon the monuments Of an
cent Rome. ground their teeth even as he, in
lust such a blind, jealous rage Of destruction.
During long minutes he had crouched in the
shadow for his spring. awaiting opportunity.
Then. in temporary complete desertion OF that
stretch of quay, he leaped forward to the near
est truck, the last in the train.
In the full illumination, the white car num-
ber, the black on white Of the large label
"3451S"-"Bunker Goals. 8. Gargantuan"-
were vividly distinct before his vision, level
with his eyes. He judged his distance and hurled
the thing he carried. The lump Of pseudo coal
fell upon the heaped-up coal OF the truck, in
distinguishable from any other lump.
"Blow de belly out of her!"- the hercely
vindicitive phrase of the little German-Jew
cripple had rung in his ears as he turned and
fed into the night -. 49, . L,
Then the great moment Of relief, when, q
seemingly endless period Of waiting In the
shadows by the dock suddenly terminated. he
had mingled with the crowd of shift coming
off work and under the protection Of q posse OF
policemen had passed into the street where the
sulen crowd Of strikers congregated. His job
was done-even now perhaps that artfully dis
simulated canister Of steel was sliding into the
depths Of the great liner like germ OF death
unperceived but inevitable. Now to announce
it to the comrades!
The picture Of Rosa Bauermann. with her
shock Of black hair over her disturbing eyes.
her great red cash of mouth parted in a smile
that was no longer enigmatic, haunted him as
he lodged out Of the crowd of "scabs" and sped,
at a run. down the squalid streets to that little
boarded-up saloon His heart thumped heavily
and unsteadily in his breast as he gave the ar
ranged sequence of knocks upon its muddied
door.
He waited. It opened not He knocked