_A fourteen-year-old boy comes madly hurrying up._

THE BOY

[_To DR. BOXER._] Master! The key to the engine house! They can't get in to the engine.

DR. BOXER

I'm not the fireman! Just keep cool!

THE BOY

They wants you to come to the engine right off.

DR. BOXER

You didn't hear what I told you.

THE BOY

There's a fire!

DR. BOXER

I know that. The engine master has left. He's reached the engine long ago.

THE BOY

There's a fire. They wants you to come down to the engine!

[_He runs away._

_RAUCHHAUPT appears at the gate. Two LITTLE GIRLS cling to his rags._

RAUCHHAUPT

I'm used to that! It don't excite me a bit! Mieze! Lottie! You c'n come an' see somethin'.--I seen hundreds an' hundreds o' fires,

DR. BOXER

[_Takes off the leathern ap.r.o.n._] It's a very sad thing for those people, though!

RAUCHHAUPT

Everythin' is sad in this here world. It's all a question o' how you looks at it! The same thing that's sad c'n be mighty cheerin'. Now there's me: I raises pineapples, an' my hothouse wall ... it's right up against Fielitzes' back wall. Now I won't have to keep no fire goin' for three days.

_A somewhat OLDER GIRL also comes out through the gate and nestles close up to the others. MRS. SCHULZE leans out from the window in the gable._

MRS. SCHULZE

[_Addressing someone in the room behind her._] Missis, you c'n be reel quiet! The wind's blowin' from the other side.

[_She disappears._

RAUCHHAUPT

Did you see that there old witch? She always knows where the wind comes from.--I retired from all that, yessir! I didn't want to be a old bloodhound right along. I don't mix in them things no more. But that woman--she could be a keen one. [_A fireman, blowing his horn very excitedly, walks by._] Go it easy, August! Patience! Look out, or your breeches will bust!

THE FIREMAN

[_Enraged._] Aw, shut up! Go an' hide yourself in the holes you're always diggin.

[_Exit._

_A FOURTH and a FIFTH GIRL, aged nine and ten years respectively, join the old man._

DR. BOXER

[_Laughing._] That's quite a fierce fellow.

RAUCHHAUPT

Gussie, Nelly, gimme your hand.--That's all nothin' but hurry. That feller don't know what's goin' on in this world. He's blowin' the trumpet of Jericho, I'm thinkin', or maybe even the trump o' Judgment Day!--

DR. BOXER

I don't think I quite take your meaning, Mr. Rauchhaupt.

RAUCHHAUPT

Maybe Mrs. Wolff was only tryin' to scorch roaches. All right. Maybe, for all I care, 'twas somethin' else. But if Mrs. Wolff ever puts _her_ hand to somethin'--there ain't very much left.

DR. BOXER

What do you mean by that?

RAUCHHAUPT

Oh, I was just thinkin'.

[_He withdraws, together with the children._

THE CURTAIN FALLS

THE THIRD ACT