_The smithy of LANGHEINRICH. The little house protrudes at an angle into the village street. The shed that projects over the smithy is supported by wooden posts. The empty s.p.a.ce below the shed is used for the storage of tools and materials. Wheels are leaned against the wood, a plough, wheel-tyres, pieces of pig iron, etc. An anvil stands in the open, too, and several working stools. From behind the house, jutting out diagonally, a wooden wagon is visible. The left front wheel has been taken off and a windla.s.s supports the axle._

_Through the door that leads to the shop one sees smithy fires and bellows._

_Opposite the smithy, on the left side of the village street which, taking a turn, is lost to view in the background, there is a board fence. A small locked gate opens upon the street._

_A cloudy, windy day._

_DR. BOXER, in a slouch hat and light overcoat, stands holding a heavy smith's hammer at arm's length. EDE has a horseshoe in his right hand, a smaller hammer in his left, and is looking on._

EDE

[_Counts._] ... twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four an' one makes twenty-five an' another makes twenty-six.--Great guns, you're ahead o' me now. An' twenty-seven, an' twenty-eight, an' twenty-nine an' thirty. My respects, Doctor. That's all right. Is that the effect o' the sea air?

DR. BOXER

It may be. You see I haven't quite forgotten the trick.

EDE

No, you haven't. That's pretty good. Now let's try it with weights, though. I c'n hold up a hundred an' fifty pounds, Doctor. How about yourself?

DR. BOXER

I don't know. It remains to be seen.

EDE

What? You think you c'n lift a hundred weight an' a half? You're a little bit of a giant, ain't you? You didn't learn that on board ship. I thought you travelled as a sawbones an' not as a strong man!--Look at that little man over there goin' into Mrs. Fielitz' house. That's her son-in-law.

DR. BOXER

He looks very much like a bishop.

EDE

Right enough! That's what he is--Bishop Schmarowski.--You c'n knock! The old woman's out and she took her cobbler with her. There won't be nothin'

to get there to-day.--You see, Doctor, when that fellow goes there he wants money. If he weren't hard up he wouldn't come.

DR. BOXER

The Fielitzes went in to Berlin to-day; I met them this morning at the railway station. Tell me: _he_ isn't quite right in his mind, is he?

EDE

How so? That wasn't never noticed. He's a pretty keen fellow ... No, I couldn't say that _he's_ crazy.

DR. BOXER

He talked a mixture of idiotic nonsense and looked away from me while he was talking. The fellow looked like an evil conscience personified. But I don't suppose he has a conscience.

EDE

By the way: that time they came down on you an' made a search in your house--that fellow Fielitz had his hand in it. He helped get you into that pickle.

[_MRS. SCHULZE puts her head out at the attic window._

MRS. SCHULZE

Ede!

EDE

What?

MRS. SCHULZE

Ain't Mr. Langheinrich back yet?

EDE

Well, o' course he is, naturally. [_MRS. SCHULZE disappears and EDE withdraws under the shed._] Quick! Take this hammer, will you, Doctor, an' hammer away a bit. If you kept up your strength the way you have, you ain't forgot about that neither.

DR. BOXER

I went at locksmith's work like the deuce when there was nothing to do on board ship. That gave me a very good chance.

EDE

You're a doctor an' you're a smith an' ... I guess you're a sausage maker too!

DR. BOXER

I even made sausages once.

EDE

n.o.body didn't want to eat them, I guess.

DR. BOXER

I wouldn't have advised any one to do so either. The sausages were mainly filled with a.r.s.enic. The rats scarcely left us s.p.a.ce to turn around in.

EDE

[_About to set to work._] Ugh! That wouldn't be no kind o' sausage for me. Come now, Doctor, go at it! We wants the missis to think that two people is workin' here or she'll never stop axin' questions.

DR. BOXER