disposed to distrust Elzbieta's consolations, and to
believe that there was some terrible thing about all this that he was
not allowed to know. Once or twice in these outbreaks he caught Ona's
eye, and it seemed to him like the eye of a hunted animal; there were
broken phrases of anguish and despair now and then, amid her frantic
weeping. It was only because he was so numb and beaten himself that
Jurgis did not worry more about this. But he never thought of it, except
when he was dragged to it--he lived like a dumb beast of burden, knowing
only the moment in which he was.

The winter was coming on again, more menacing and cruel than ever. It
was October, and the holiday rush had begun. It was necessary for the
packing machines to grind till late at night to provide food that would
be eaten at Christmas breakfasts; and Marija and Elzbieta and Ona, as
part of the machine, began working fifteen or sixteen hours a day. There
was no choice about this--whatever work there was to be done they had to
do, if they wished to keep their places; besides that, it added another
pittance to their incomes. So they staggered on with the awful load.
They would start work every morning at seven, and eat their dinners
at noon, and then work until ten or eleven at night without another
mouthful of food. Jurgis wanted to wait for them, to help them home at
night, but they would not think of this; the fertilizer mill was not
running overtime, and there was no place for him to wait save in a
saloon. Each would stagger out into the darkness, and make her way to
the corner, where they met; or if the others had already gone, would get
into a car, and begin a painful struggle to keep awake. When they got
home they were always too tired either to eat or to undress; they would
crawl into bed with their shoes on, and lie like logs. If they should
fail, they would certainly be lost; if they held out, they might have
enough coal for the winter.

A day or two before Thanksgiving Day there came a snowstorm. It began
in the afternoon, and by evening two inches had fallen. Jurgis tried
to wait for the women, but went into a saloon to get warm, and took two
drinks, and came out and ran home to escape from the demon; there he
lay down to wait for them, and instantly fell asleep. When he opened
his eyes again he was in the midst of a nightmare, and found Elzbieta
shaking him and crying out. At first he could not realize what she
was saying--Ona had not come