Pelle the Conqueror Part 110

Pelle went home; he was vexed by Morten's violence, which was, he felt, an attack upon himself. He knew this of himself--that he was not faithless; and no one had any right to grudge him the happiness of founding a family. He was quite indignant--for the first time for a long time. That they should taunt him, who had done more for the cause than most!--just because he looked after his own affairs for a time!

Something unruly was rising within him; he felt a sudden need to lay about him; to fight a good stiff battle and shake the warm domesticity out of his bones.

Down by the ca.n.a.l they were engaged cutting the ice in order to clear the water. It was already spring tide, and the ice-cakes were drifting toward the sea, but with unbelievable slowness. After all, that's the work for you, he told himself as he turned away. He was conscious of that which lay beneath the surface, but he would not let it rise.

As soon as he was between four walls again he grew calmer. Ellen sat by the stove busied with little La.s.se, who lay sprawling on his belly in her lap.

"Only look what a sweet little roly-poly he is! There isn't a trace of chafing anywhere!"

XVII

From his place at the window Pelle could look out over the ca.n.a.l and the bridge by the prison, where the prisoners lay on the rafts, was.h.i.+ng wool. He recognized Ferdinand's tall, powerful figure; shortly after Christmas they had captured him in an underground vault in the cemetery, where he had established himself; the snow had betrayed his hiding-place. And now he lay yonder, so near the "Ark" and his mother!

From time to time he raised his closely-shorn head and looked thither.

Beyond the bridge toward the market, was the potter with his barge; he had piled up his Jutland wares on the quay, and the women from Kristianshavn came to deal with him. And behind at the back of all rose the ma.s.s of the "Ark."

It was so huge that it did not give the impression of a barracks, but had rather the character of a fantastic village--as though a hundred hamlets had been swept together in one inextricable heap. Originally it had been a little frame building of one story with a gabled roof. Then it had gradually become an embryo town; it budded in all directions, upward as well, kaleidoscopically increasing to a vast ma.s.s of little bits of facade, high-pitched roofs, deep bays, and overhanging gables, all mingled together in an endless confusion, till in the middle it was five stories high. And there a bluish ring of vapor always hovered, revealing the presence of the well, that hidden ventilating shaft for the thronging inmates of the "Ark." One could recognize Madam Frandsen's garret with its chimney-cowl, and farther back, in a deep recess, which ran far into the ma.s.s of the building, Pelle could distinguish Hanne's window. Otherwise he could not place many of the little windows. They stared like failing eyes. Even the coal-dealer, who was the deputy landlord of the "Ark," was imperfectly acquainted with all its holes and corners.

He could see the inmates of the "Ark" running to and fro across the bridge, careless and myopic; they always rushed along, having started at the last moment.. There was something tranquilizing about their negligence, which was evoked by privation; in the "Ark" a man began to worry about his food only, when he sat down to table and discovered there wasn't any!

And among them little groups of workmen wandered in and out across the bridge; that steady march from the North Bridge had travelled hither, as though seeking him out.

The ma.s.ses were now no longer vaguely fermenting; a mighty will was in process of formation. Amid the confusion, the chaotic hubbub, definite lines became visible; a common consciousness came into being and a.s.sumed a direction; the thousands of workers controlled themselves in a remarkable way, and were now progressing, slowly and prudently, with the ideal of closing up the ranks. One whose hearing was a little dull might have received the impression that nothing was happening--that they were reconciled with their lot; but Pelle knew what was going on. He himself had put his shoulder to the wheel, and was secretly one of their number.

He was happy in Ellen's divided love, and all he undertook had reference to her and the child.

But now again the sound of footsteps echoed through his brain; and it would not be silenced. They had penetrated further than he himself could go. It was as though a deadening screen had suddenly been removed and whether he wished it or not, he heard every step of the wanderers outside.

The hard times forced them to proceed quietly, but work was being done in secret. The new ideas were in process of becoming current, the newspapers introduced them into the bosom of the family, and they were uttered from the speaker's platform, or discussed at meal-times in workshop and factory. The contagion ran up staircases and went from door to door. Organizations which more than once had been created and broken up were created afresh--and this time to endure. The employers fought them, but could not defeat them; there was an inward law working upon the ma.s.ses, making a structure behind which they must defend themselves.

They taxed themselves and stole the bread out of their own mouths in order to increase the funds of their organization, in the blind conviction that eventually something miraculous would come of it all.

The poor achieved power by means of privation, tears, and self-denial, and had the satisfaction of feeling that they were rich through their organization. When many united together they tasted of the sweets of wealth; and, grateful as they were, they regarded that already as a result. A sense of well-being lifted them above the unorganized, and they felt themselves socially superior to the latter. To join the trades unions now signified a rise in the social scale. This affected many, and others were driven into the movement by the strong representations of their house-mates. The big tenement buildings were gradually leavened by the new ideas; those who would not join the Union must clear out. They were treated as the sc.u.m of society, and could only settle down in certain quarters of the city. It no longer seemed impossible to establish the organization of labor in a stable fas.h.i.+on, and to accomplish something for the workers--if only some courageous worker would place himself at the head of affairs. The fact that most of them worked at home in their lodgings could no longer make them invisible--the movement had eyes everywhere. Pelle, with surprise, caught himself sitting at his bench and making plans for the development of the movement.

He put the matter from him, and devoted his whole mind to Ellen and the child. What had he to do with the need of strangers, when these two called for all his ability and all his strength, if he was to provide them merely with necessities? He had tortured himself enough with the burden of poverty--and to no end. And now he had found his release in a blessed activity, which, if he was to neglect nothing, would entirely absorb him. What then was the meaning of this inward admonition, that seemed to tell him that he was sinning against his duty?

He silenced the inward voice by dwelling on his joy in his wife and child. But it returned insidiously and haunted his mind like a shadow.

At times, as he sat quietly working, something called him: "Pelle, Pelle!"--or the words throbbed in his ears in the depth of the night.

At such times he sat upright in bed, listening. Ellen and the child were fast asleep; he could hear a faint whistling as little La.s.se drew his breath. He would go to the door and open it, although he shook his head at his own folly. It was surely a warning that some one near to him was in trouble!

At this time Pelle threw himself pa.s.sionately into his life with Ellen and the child; he lived for them as wholly as though he had antic.i.p.ated an immediate parting.

They had purchased a perambulator on the instalment system, and every Sunday they packed sandwiches under the ap.r.o.n and pushed it before them to the Common, or they turned into some beer-garden in the neighborhood of the city, where they ate their provisions and drank coffee. Often too they made their way along the coast road, and went right out into the forest. La.s.se-Frederik, as Ellen called him, sat throned in all his splendor in the perambulator, like a little idol, Pelle and Ellen pus.h.i.+ng him alternately. Ellen did not want to permit this. "It's no work for a man, pus.h.i.+ng a perambulator," she would say. "You won't see any other man doing it! They let their wives push the family coach."

"What are other people to me?" replied Pelle. "I don't keep a horse yet."

She gave him a grateful look; nevertheless, she did not like it.

They spent glorious hours out there. Little La.s.se was allowed to scramble about to his heart's content, and it was wonderful how he tumbled about; he was like a frolicsome little bear. "I believe he can smell the earth under him," said Pelle, recalling his own childish transports. "It's a pity he has to live in that barrack there!" Ellen gazed at him uncomprehendingly.

They did not move about much; it contented them to lie there and to delight in the child, when he suddenly sat up and gazed at them in astonishment, as though he had just discovered them. "Now he's beginning to think!" said Pelle, laughing.

"You take my word for it, he's hungry." And little La.s.se scrambled straight up to his mother, striking at her breast with his clenched hands, and saying, "Mam, mam!" Pelle and the perambulator had to station themselves in front of her while he was fed.

When they reached home it was evening. If the doormat was displaced it meant that some one had been to call on them; and Ellen was able to tell, from its position, who the visitor had been. Once it stood upright against the wall.

"That's Uncle Carpenter," said Pelle quietly. Little La.s.se was sleeping on his arm, his head resting on Pelle's shoulder.

"No, it will have been Cousin Anna," said Ellen, opening the door.

"Thank the Lord we weren't at home, or we should have had such a business till late in the evening! They never eat anything at home on Sundays, they simply drink a mouthful of coffee and then go round eating their relations out of house and home."

XVIII

Pelle often thought with concern of the three orphans in the "Ark." They were learning nothing that would be of use to them in the future, but had all they could do to make a living. The bad times had hit them too, and little Karl in particular; people were stingy with their tips. In these days they were never more than a day ahead of dest.i.tution, and the slightest misfortune would have brought them face to face with it. But they let nothing of this be seen--they were only a little quieter and more solemn than usual. He had on several occasions made inquiries as to obtaining help for them, but nothing could be done without immediately tearing them asunder; all those who were in a position to help them cried out against their little household, and separation was the worst that could befall them.

When he went to see them Marie always had plenty to tell and to ask him; he was still her particular confidant, and had to listen to all her household cares and give her his advice. She was growing tall now, and had a fresher look than of old; and Pelle's presence always filled her eyes with joy and brought the color to her cheeks. Father La.s.se she eulogized, in a voice full of emotion, as though he were a little helpless child; but when she asked after Ellen a little malice glittered in her eyes.

One morning, as he sat working at home, while Ellen was out with the child, there was a knock at the door. He went out and opened it. In the little letter-box some one had thrust a number of _The Working Man_, with an invitation to take the paper regularly. He opened the paper eagerly, as he sat down to his bench again; an extraordinary feeling of distress caused him first of all to run through the "Accidents."

He started up in his chair; there was a heading concerning a fourteen-year-old boy who worked in a tinplate works and had had the fingers of the right hand cut off. A premonition told him that this misfortune had befallen the little "Family"; he quickly drew on a coat and ran over to the "Ark."

Marie met him anxiously. "Can you understand what has happened to Peter?

He never came home last night!" she said, in distress. "Lots of boys roam about the streets all night, but Peter has never been like that, and I kept his supper warm till midnight. I thought perhaps he'd got into bad company."

Pelle showed her _The Working Man_. In a little while the inmates of the "Ark" would see the report and come rus.h.i.+ng up with it. It was better that he should prepare her beforehand. "But it's by no means certain,"

he said, to cheer her. "Perhaps it isn't he at all."

Marie burst into tears. "Yes, of course it is! I've so often gone about worrying when he's been telling me about those sharp knives always sliding between their fingers. And they can't take proper care of themselves; they must work quickly or they get the sack. Oh, poor dear Peter!" She had sunk into her chair and now sat rocking to and fro with her ap.r.o.n to her eyes, like an unhappy mother.

"Now be grown-up and sensible," said Pelle, laying his hand on her shoulder. "Perhaps it's not so bad after all; the papers always exaggerate. Now I'll run out and see if I can trace him."

"Go to the factory first, then," said Marie, jumping to her feet, "for, of course, they'll know best. But you mustn't in any case say where we live--do you hear? Remember, we've not been to school, and he hasn't been notified to the pastor for confirmation. We could be punished if they found that out."

"I'll take good care," said Pelle, and he hurried away.

At the factory he received the information that Peter was lying in hospital. He ran thither, and arrived just at the time for visitors.

Peter was sitting upright in bed, his hand in a sling; this gave him a curiously crippled appearance. And on the boy's face affliction had already left those deep, ineradicable traces which so dismally distinguish the invalided worker. The terrible burden of the consequences of mutilation could already be read in his pondering, childish gaze.

He cheered up when he saw Pelle, made an involuntary movement with his right hand, and then, remembering, held out his left. "There--I must give you my left fist now," he said, with a dismal smile. "That'll seem queer to me for a bit. If I can do anything at all. Otherwise"--he made a threatening movement of the head--"I tell you this--I'll never be a burden to Marie and Karl all my life. Take my word for it, I shall be able to work again."