human
Dark and damnable, said the old man suddenly.
gpt
Dark and damnable. Turned out of my room among all these dangers.
human
That's hard, ventured Graham.
gpt
That's hard on you.
human
Darkness. An old man lost in the darkness. And all the world gone mad. War and fighting. The police beaten and rogues abroad. Why don't they bring some negroes to protect us? ... No more dark passages for me. I fell over a dead man.
gpt
You're safer with company, said the old man,
human
Eh! he said,
gpt
God knows where they are to-night.
human
This Ostrog will win, he said.
gpt
He will win. And what the world will be like under him no one can tell. My sons are under the wind-vanes, all three. One of my daughters-in-law was his mistress for a while. His mistress! We're not common people. Though they've sent me to wander to-night and take my chance.... I knew what was going on. Before most people. But this darkness! And to fall over a dead body suddenly in the dark!
human
Ostrog!
gpt
The greatest Boss the world has ever seen,
human
The Council has few friends among the people,
gpt
Few friends. And poor ones at that. They've had their time. Eh! They should have kept to the clever ones. But twice they held election. And Ostrog--. And now it has burst out and nothing can stay it, nothing can stay it. Twice they rejected Ostrog--Ostrog the Boss. I heard of his rages at the time--he was terrible. Heaven save them! For nothing on earth can now he has raised the Labour Companies upon them. No one else would have dared. All the blue canvas armed and marching! He will go through with it. He will go through.
human
This Sleeper,
gpt
Yes, said Graham.
human
Well?
gpt
The real Sleeper--
human
Yes,
gpt
Died years ago.
human
What?
gpt
Years ago. Died. Years ago.
human
You don't say so!
gpt
I do. I do say so. He died. This Sleeper who's woke up--they changed in the night. A poor, drugged insensible creature. But I mustn't tell all I know. I mustn't tell all I know.
human
I don't know the ones that put him to sleep--that was before my time--but I know the man who injected the stimulants and woke him again. It was ten to one--wake or kill. Wake or kill. Ostrog's way.