Chapter XVI

When Jurgis got up again he went quietly enough.
He was exhausted and half-dazed, and besides he saw the
blue uniforms of the policemen. He drove in a patrol
wagon with half a dozen of them watching him; keeping
as far away as possible, however, on account of the fertil~
izer. Then he stood before the sergeant's desk and gave
his name and address, and saw a charge of assault and
battery entered against him. On his way to his cell
a burly policeman cursed him because he started down the
wrong corridor, and then added a kick when he was not
quick enough; nevertheless, Jurgis did not even lift
his eyes -- he had lived two years and a half in Pack~
ingtown, and he knew what the police were. It was as
much as a man's very life was worth to anger them,
here in their inmost lair; like as not a dozen would pile
on to him at once, and pound his face into a pulp. It
would be nothing unusual if he got his skull cracked in
the melee -- in which case they would report that he had
been drunk and had fallen down, and there would be no
one to know the difference or to care.

So a barred door clanged upon Jurgis and he sat down
upon a bench and buried his face in his hands. He was
alone; he had the afternoon and all of the night to him~
self.

At first he was like a wild beast that has glutted itself;
he was in a dull stupor of satisfaction. He had done up
the scoundrel pretty well -- not as well as he would have
if they had given him a minute more, but pretty well, all
the same; the ends of his fingers were still tingling from
their contact with the fellow's throat. But then, little by

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p182 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p183w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p184

v?