JOE.  You can’t go no further no’the with the ice afore ye.

KEENEY.  The ice is breaking up.

JOB (after a slight pause during which the others mumble angrily to one another).  The grub we’re gittin’ now is rotten.

KEENEY.  It’s good enough fur ye.  Better men than ye are have eaten worse.

(There is a chorus of angry exclamations from the crowd.)

JOE (encouraged by this support).  We ain’ta-goin’ to work no more ’less you puts back fur home.

KEENEY (fiercely).  You ain’t, ain’t you?

JOE.  No; and the law courts ’ll say we was right.

KEENEY.  To hell with your law courts!  We’re at sea now and I’m the law on this ship. (Edging up toward the harpooner.) And every mother’s son of you what don’t obey orders goes in irons.

(There are more angry exclamations from the crew. MRS. KEENEY appears in the doorway in rear and looks on with startled eyes.  None of the men notices her.)

JOE (with bravado).  Then we’re a-goin’ to mutiny and take the old hooker home ourselves.  Ain’t we, boys?

(As he turns his head to look at the others, KEENEY’S fist shoots out to the side of his jaw. JOE goes down in a heap and lies there. MRS. KEENEY gives a shriek and hides her face in her hands.  The men pull out their sheath knives and start a rush, but stop when they find themselves confronted by the revolvers of KEENEY and the MATE.)

KEENEY (his eyes and voice snapping).  Hold still! (The men stand huddled together in a sullen silence. KEENEY’S voice is full of mockery.) You’ve found out it ain’t safe to mutiny on this ship, ain’t you?  And now git for’ard where ye belong, and (he gives JOE’S body a contemptuous kick) drag him with you.  And remember, the first man of ye I see shirkin’ I’ll shoot dead as sure as there’s a sea under us, and you can tell the rest the same.  Git for’ard now!  Quick! (The men leave in cowed silence, carrying JOE with them. KEENEY turns to the MATE with a short laugh and puts his revolver back in his pocket.) Best get up on deck, Mr. Slocum, and see to it they don’t try none of their skulkin’ tricks.  We’ll have to keep an eye peeled from now on.  I know ’em.

MATE.  Yes, sir.

(He goes out, right. KEENEY hears his wife’s hysterical weeping and turns around in surprise—­then walks slowly to her side.)

KEENEY (putting an arm around her shoulder—­with gruff tenderness).  There, there, Annie.  Don’t be afeard.  It’s all past and gone.

MRS. KEENEY (shrinking away from, him).  Oh, I can’t bear it!  I can’t bear it any longer!

KEENEY (gently).  Can’t bear what, Annie?

MRS. KEENEY (hysterically).  All this horrible brutality, and these brutes of men, and this terrible ship, and this prison cell of a room, and the ice all around, and the silence.