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      PERSONS.
    • The Master .
    • The Millionaire .
    • His Pupil .
    • A Girl , his Daughter.
    • A Young Lieutenant .
    • An Old Pressman .

A workshop in the midst of a vast city and high above it. Wide windows command the roofs that shelter a million people and the harbor to which has come for generations the tribute of a world. A high wind sweeps freely round; it causes the defiant flaunting of a myriad flags — but the same flag always, and it will bring at intervals great swirling clouds of dun and pungent smoke. Outside the harbor one sees an aggregation of enormous ironclads, whose flag is not the flag above the roofs all round about: the clouds of smoke, too, will come from that same quarter, for the smoke is to be the smoke of battle.

The room is cumbered with the varied apparatus of science, and through every window the air is seen to be cut by the black lines of multitudes of wires that radiate to every point of the compass.

The Master, a grave, self-absorbed man of thirty-five, stands looking out at one of the windows. No one can be sure of what he sees, or of his seeing anything at all; it can only be certain that his hands, with corded veins and half-purpled nails, are strained in a motionless and viselike grip behind his back.

The Pupil
( a young fellow of twenty ).

Note: Contains 8 words in 1 sentence using 40 chars.

The Lieutenant
( his arm in a sling ).

Note: Contains 11 words in 1 sentence using 47 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 7 words in 1 sentence using 37 chars.

The Millionaire
( his hand in his pocket ).

Note: Contains 9 words in 1 sentence using 43 chars.

The Lieutenant .

Note: Contains 7 words in 1 sentence using 42 chars.

The Millionaire .

Note: Contains 6 words in 1 sentence using 31 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 8 words in 1 sentence using 43 chars.

The Girl .

Note: Contains 1 word in 1 sentence using 8 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 22 words in 3 sentences using 121 chars.

[From the sea there comes suddenly a dull roar; the battle-ships are at once half-lost in their own smoke. The Master gives a quick start.]
The Lieutenant .

Note: Contains 11 words in 2 sentences using 62 chars.

The Girl .

Note: Contains 27 words in 3 sentences using 136 chars.

The Millionaire
( to the Master ).

Note: Contains 15 words in 2 sentences using 86 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 81 words in 5 sentences using 421 chars.

[A shell from the sea flies in a long curve through the air and explodes disastrously not half a mile away. There is a feeble response from shore. And from the roofs of the city, black with people, thousands of invoking arms and thousands of imploring voices are sent upward to the Master's tower.]
The Millionaire .

Note: Contains 8 words in 3 sentences using 38 chars.

The Lieutenant .

Note: Contains 10 words in 1 sentence using 55 chars.

The Girl .

Note: Contains 6 words in 1 sentence using 34 chars.

The Millionaire .

Note: Contains 11 words in 1 sentence using 62 chars.

The Lieutenant .

Note: Contains 10 words in 1 sentence using 66 chars.

The Master .

Note: Contains 17 words in 2 sentences using 82 chars.

The Millionaire .

Note: Contains 25 words in 1 sentence using 116 chars.

The Lieutenant .

Note: Contains 10 words in 1 sentence using 49 chars.

The Master .

Note: Contains 13 words in 2 sentences using 64 chars.

The Millionaire .

Note: Contains 16 words in 4 sentences using 79 chars.

The Pupil
( sweeping his hand aside ).

Note: Contains 72 words in 3 sentences using 351 chars.

The Millionaire .

Note: Contains 20 words in 2 sentences using 92 chars.

The Lieutenant .

Note: Contains 8 words in 2 sentences using 31 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 9 words in 2 sentences using 41 chars.

The Lieutenant .

Note: Contains 9 words in 2 sentences using 52 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 8 words in 1 sentence using 50 chars.

The Girl .

Note: Contains 31 words in 4 sentences using 146 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 64 words in 4 sentences using 361 chars.

The Girl .

Note: Contains 5 words in 1 sentence using 26 chars.

The Master
( turning slowly ).

Note: Contains 23 words in 2 sentences using 113 chars.

The Lieutenant .

Note: Contains 5 words in 1 sentence using 36 chars.

The Millionaire
( looking through his glass ).

Note: Contains 40 words in 3 sentences using 214 chars.

[Another dull roar is heard, and again a great smoke-cloud obscures the harbor. The wind sweeps over the populous roofs at a wilder pace and bears the fumes of battle with it. The flags below flaunt with a fiercer defiance, but one of them, not a furlong distant, now flaps all torn and shredded in the gale. A shell strikes the proud building above which it rises.]
The Millionaire .

Note: Contains 68 words in 8 sentences using 394 chars.

The Master .

Note: Contains 26 words in 3 sentences using 132 chars.

The Girl .

Note: Contains 11 words in 1 sentence using 58 chars.

The Lieutenant .

Note: Contains 11 words in 1 sentence using 61 chars.

The Millionaire .

Note: Contains 7 words in 1 sentence using 39 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 8 words in 1 sentence using 34 chars.

The Master
( to the Pupil , with a melancholy smile which ignores the others ).

Note: Contains 10 words in 2 sentences using 48 chars.

[A wild tumult of yells ascends from the street. And there is a medley of scuffles and cries on the other side of the workshop door.]
The Pupil .

Note: Contains 23 words in 2 sentences using 120 chars.

The Millionaire .

Note: Contains 35 words in 5 sentences using 183 chars.

The Pupil
( ironically ).

Note: Contains 16 words in 2 sentences using 75 chars.

The Master .

Note: Contains 8 words in 2 sentences using 38 chars.

The Pupil
( hastening to his side and speaking in a low, hurried tone ).

Note: Contains 36 words in 3 sentences using 181 chars.

The Master
( with an embarrassed smile ).

Note: Contains 47 words in 2 sentences using 243 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 6 words in 1 sentence using 29 chars.

The Master
( aloud, to the Girl ).

Note: Contains 6 words in 1 sentence using 29 chars.

[The Girl scans the harbor; then she looks into the Master's face and silently shrinks away.]
The Master
( to himself ).

Note: Contains 17 words in 3 sentences using 77 chars.

The Lieutenant .

Note: Contains 20 words in 2 sentences using 80 chars.

[The Girl looks at him with a startled admiration; then she lays a detaining hand upon his arm.]
The Millionaire .

Note: Contains 15 words in 1 sentence using 68 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 21 words in 1 sentence using 94 chars.

The Master .

Note: Contains 2 words in 2 sentences using 14 chars.

[Renewed disorder outside the door. Cries of "Hold him back!" "No favor must be shown!" "He cannot enter unless we enter too!" The Pressman precipitates himself into the room, with torn clothes and bleeding face.]
The Pressman
( calling back ).

Note: Contains 18 words in 1 sentence using 83 chars.

[He slams the door and braces himself against it. The Pupil hastens to strengthen his resistance.]
The Pupil .

Note: Contains 6 words in 1 sentence using 25 chars.

The Pressman .

Note: Contains 23 words in 5 sentences using 116 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 12 words in 2 sentences using 51 chars.

The Pressman
( recovering his breath, to the Master ).

Note: Contains 23 words in 6 sentences using 116 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 8 words in 2 sentences using 38 chars.

The Pressman .

Note: Contains 80 words in 6 sentences using 385 chars.

The Master .

Note: Contains 8 words in 1 sentence using 46 chars.

The Pressman .

Note: Contains 25 words in 3 sentences using 104 chars.

The Pupil
( pinning him in his arms and throwing him back ).

Note: Contains 17 words in 3 sentences using 91 chars.

[Another cannonade from the sea. A shell explodes within a hundred yards of the Master's tower and tears to sudden tatters the flag that strains in the gale from his window-ledge.]
The Millionaire .

Note: Contains 10 words in 2 sentences using 48 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 10 words in 2 sentences using 50 chars.

[The Master , standing at his table with a drooping head, takes a deep reluctant breath and applies a long slow pressure to one of the keys. There is a vast and instantaneous response. He remains standing in an unaltered attitude, but the others, hastening to the window, see what no man has ever seen before, and hear what no man has ever heard. New forces have been summoned from the water and from the air and find themselves for the first time face to face in the service of man. The darkened sky seems full of vast gleaming scimitars; the sea splits widely into a great yawning chasm; the land rocks, and immeasurable clouds compounded of smoke and of spray and of new things yet without a name reel madly over the town and past the tower: for the elements of the elements have been loosed at last, and in a wider way than one has ever dared to dream the work of creation has been undone.]
The Pupil
( exultingly, though nothing can yet be distinguished within the area where the cloud and the noise have alike been generated ).

Note: Contains 10 words in 1 sentence using 55 chars.

The Girl
( dazed ).

Note: Contains 4 words in 1 sentence using 20 chars.

The Pupil
( perversely ).

Note: Contains 1 word in 1 sentence using 8 chars.

The Girl
( trying to look toward the Master ).

Note: Contains 4 words in 1 sentence using 17 chars.

The Master
( immovable, with eyes still downcast ).

Note: Contains 3 words in 1 sentence using 19 chars.

The Millionaire
( struggling to master his own awe ).

Note: Contains 6 words in 1 sentence using 25 chars.

The Master .

Note: Contains 31 words in 2 sentences using 164 chars.

The Pressman .

Note: Contains 11 words in 2 sentences using 51 chars.

The Master .

Note: Contains 31 words in 2 sentences using 159 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 17 words in 3 sentences using 88 chars.

[The Master raises his eyes for the first time and looks toward the Girl . She, all a-tremble, refuses to meet his gaze. Instead, she looks out toward the sea, from which the great cloud is lifting and blowing away. She sees only a mass of rolling billows upon which no single vestige of human life or of human craft is visible. With an hysterical shudder she clasps her hands across her eyes.]
The Girl .

Note: Contains 20 words in 3 sentences using 105 chars.

[The Master drops his head sadly. At the same time a wild shout of triumph rises from the roofs and from the streets, and a thousand feet are heard to be swarming up the stairs.]
The Girl
( with a mounting fear ).

Note: Contains 6 words in 2 sentences using 30 chars.

The Pressman .

Note: Contains 10 words in 1 sentence using 43 chars.

The Master
( without looking up ).

Note: Contains 12 words in 2 sentences using 63 chars.

[The Girl , accompanied by her Father and the Lieutenant , retires through a small door on the other side.]
The Pressman .

Note: Contains 7 words in 1 sentence using 33 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 26 words in 2 sentences using 119 chars.

The Pressman .

Note: Contains 18 words in 1 sentence using 104 chars.

[The Master smiles a melancholy and ironical smile.]
The Pupil .

Note: Contains 25 words in 2 sentences using 124 chars.

The Pressman .

Note: Contains 11 words in 2 sentences using 58 chars.

The Master .

Note: Contains 1 word in 1 sentence using 4 chars.

The Pressman .

Note: Contains 31 words in 1 sentence using 174 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 8 words in 1 sentence using 34 chars.

The Master .

Note: Contains 1 word in 1 sentence using 8 chars.

The Pressman .

Note: Contains 37 words in 1 sentence using 190 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 17 words in 2 sentences using 90 chars.

The Master .

Note: Contains 1 word in 1 sentence using 9 chars.

The Pressman .

Note: Contains 23 words in 1 sentence using 126 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 8 words in 2 sentences using 38 chars.

The Master
( glancing sidewise toward the private door ).

Note: Contains 3 words in 1 sentence using 13 chars.

[The Millionaire and the Lieutenant appear, leading back the Girl from the inner room.]
The Lieutenant .

Note: Contains 16 words in 2 sentences using 70 chars.

The Master
( advancing toward the Girl ).

Note: Contains 11 words in 3 sentences using 57 chars.

The Pupil
( indignantly ).

Note: Contains 18 words in 1 sentence using 75 chars.

The Girl
( upon the verge of hysterics, as she clutches the Lieutenant's arm ).

Note: Contains 17 words in 2 sentences using 61 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 6 words in 1 sentence using 22 chars.

The Girl .

Note: Contains 18 words in 2 sentences using 76 chars.

The Pressman .

Note: Contains 45 words in 3 sentences using 238 chars.

The Girl .

Note: Contains 45 words in 1 sentence using 245 chars.

The Master .
( sadly ).

Note: Contains 2 words in 1 sentence using 8 chars.

The Pressman .

Note: Contains 11 words in 2 sentences using 55 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 14 words in 2 sentences using 72 chars.

[The sound of a key is heard in the outer door, and the scuffling and struggling is renewed.]
The Pressman .

Note: Contains 6 words in 2 sentences using 29 chars.

The Master .

Note: Contains 18 words in 2 sentences using 81 chars.

The Pupil .

Note: Contains 6 words in 1 sentence using 28 chars.

The Pressman
( retiring, with the others, to the inner room ).

Note: Contains 9 words in 1 sentence using 51 chars.

The Master .

Note: Contains 9 words in 1 sentence using 49 chars.

[The Master and his Pupil remain there alone, to oppose the wreckage threatened by a pressing and enthusiastic populace.]
CC-BY-4.0
Lizenzvertrag
Holder of rights
Mathias Göbel
Citation Suggestion for this Object
TextGrid Repository (2024). American Drama. On the Whirlwind. On the Whirlwind. American Drama Corpus. Mathias Göbel. https://hdl.handle.net/21.11113/0000-0014-A493-A