The Littlest Horse Thieves Page #5

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Sandie, Come On.

Bluey!

He Has To Stop.

Come On, Bluey.

Come On, Flash.

Emily!

Emily!

What Is It?

What's Happened?

Alice Isn't--

Miss Coutts!

Mrs. Sandman:
Richard!

Miss Coutts!

[Knocking]

Oh, Mr. Sandman,

I'm Sorry--

Have You Seen

My Daughter?

No, Sir.

It's The Ponies, Sir--

They've Gone.

Come On, Flash.

Come On, Flash,

It's All Right.

[Neighs]

What's The Matter

With Flash?

I Don't Know.

I-It Must Be After Being Below

All Those Years.

Everything's

So Strange To Him.

He'll Like It When He

Gets Used To It, Won't He?

Yes.

We Did It, Didn't We?

We Saved Them.

Aye!

[Bang]

[Neighs]

Father...

[Voice Breaking] You

Won't Take The Ponies Away...

Will You?

Take Her Home,

Miss Coutts.

What's Up?

[Sniffling]

[Sobbing]

Nay, Come On.

Come On, My Little Lad.

Want Something To Eat?

You Best

Get To Bed, Then.

Dave...

Go On...

Go Up To Bed.

[Door Opens, Closes]

They're Ready,

Mr. Carter.

Oh, Right, Joe.

[Horse Whinnying]

Now Then, Get This Straw

Out Of The Way!

Clean The Ramp,

Quick As You Can.

All Right, Lads,

Don't Hang About Here.

Carry On Up To The Pit

And Get Below, Eh.

Now, That New Machinery

Might Take

A Bit Of Getting Used To,

But You Can Work A Full Shift,

And We'll Just See

How We Get On, Right?

Bert, Get Them Ponies

Loaded Up.

Take Old Flash Up First,

Then The Others Will Follow.

Leave Them Ponies

Where They Are!

You What?

Bert, Get Them Ponies Loaded.

I Said Leave Them!

Leave Them Be!

Listen, Lads...

Them Ponies

Have Served Us Well--

Helped Us To Win Coal

And Earn Our Living.

Will You Let Them

Be Taken Off To Be Slaughtered,

Like They Was So Much Raw Meat?

Yes?

Well, What Is It?

[Shouting Overlapping]

Carter:
Listen!!

Mr. Sandman:

When I Give An Order,

I Expect It To Be Obeyed!

Get Those Ponies Back

To The Station, Put In The Vans.

Luke:
Them Ponies Belong

In The Pit, Same As Us!

Aye!

Aye!

Aye!

Aye!

All Right! Look...

The Ponies Have Been Replaced

By Machinery,

Which Will Enable You

To Earn More Money!

We Didn't Earn More Money

Yesterday

When We Were Laid Off!

[Shouting]

There's Bound To Be

A Bit Of Dislocation At First

When We're Changing Over--

From Men To Machines!

No, Not From--

Not--Not--

That's The Dislocation!

They're Changing Over

From Men To Machines!

And We'll Not Have It!

We Never Asked

For Machines!

We Don't Want Them!

We'll Work With

The Pit Ponies,

Like We Always Have!

If Not For That Machinery,

The Pit Would Probably Be Closed

And You Out On The Streets

And Penniless!

That Machinery Is Here

To Protect Your Livelihood!

And If You Weren't

Such Damned Fools--

[Shouting Starts Again]

We'll Not Be Miscalled

By The Bosses!

That's Right, We Won't.

You Can Work

Your Own Pit, Mister,

With Your Own Machinery,

If You Think It's So Fine!

Hey, Come On!

Carter:
Where Do You Think

You're Goin', Lad?!

You Want To Lose

A Day's Pay?!

It's Time And More

You Were All On Shift!

Come On, Lads,

Get Down There!

Let's Have No More Of This!

We're On Strike, Sam!

And If You Put Them Ponies

In That Van,

We'll Never Come Back!

Now, Thanks To You,

I've Got A Strike On My Hands.

Now, I Hope You've Had Time

To Think Over Your Behavior

And Are Thoroughly Ashamed

Of Yourself.

[Clears Throat]

Now, I'm Not

Going To Punish You,

So I Hope It Will Be

Enough Punishment

For You To Know

That I'm Very Angry,

And I'm Disappointed

In You.

And I Hope

Your Future Behavior Will Show

That You Understand

What You've Done

And Are Very Sorry For It.

Well?

What Will Happen

To The Ponies?

[Sighs]

You Better Go To Bed Now.

Will The Union

Give You Their Backing?

They Might.

Then Again,

They Might Not.

If They Don't,

We Don't Get Any Strike Pay.

What Are We

Going To Live On?

Dave, I Don't Know

What You've Got To Grin About.

Haven't You Got Anything Better

To Do With Yourself?

Aren't You Glad They're Not

Going To Kill The Ponies?

Ponies. Ponies!

I'm Sick And Tired Of Ponies!

Ponies Won't Put Food

In Your Belly

Or Clothes On Your Back!

Come On, Love.

And As For You, I --

I'm Not Having You

Under My Feet All Day.

You Can Have

Your Breakfast Tomorrow,

And Then

Get Out Of The House.

If You're Going To Be

On Strike,

You Can Go And Be On Strike

Somewhere Else!

[Bells Jingling]

[Coughs]

When Does The Owner

Get Back, Sir?

In A Week's Time.

They Better Be Back At Work

By Then, Or Else--

[Neighs]

Can't He See At All?

No. They Call It

Anthracitis.

It's Inflammation

Caused By The Coal Dust.

A Lot Of Old Pit Ponies

Get It.

When He Was Down Underground,

He Knew His Way About,

So Nobody Noticed.

Strike?!

But What The Devil Have They

Got To Strike About?

I'm The One That's

Losing The Money. Hmm? Hmm?

They Better Be Careful,

Or I'll Beat Them To It

And Go On Strike Myself First,

And Then They'll Be Sorry,

Won't They? Won't They?

Yes, Milord.

Yes.

[Sighs]

All Right, All Right,

What's The Trouble This Time?

I Suppose They Want

More Money, Hmm?

No, Milord. It's A Question

Of The Machinery.

The Men Feel That In Replacing

The Ponies With --

Machinery?

Are You Saying They're

Refusing To Use The Machinery?

Not Exactly, Milord.

It's More That They

Want Assurances.

Shh! Shh! Shh!

Shh! Shh! Shh!

Sandman, Sanderson,

Please, Please.

Sit Down Somewhere

And Listen Very Carefully

To What I Have To Say.

Now, Will You Do That?

Yes, Milord.

[Laughs]

You See, I Just Simply

Don't Care What They Want.

They're Here To Work,

And You're Here To See

That They Do Work.

Now, You Told Me

That This Machinery Would,

In Time,

Or Should, In Time,

Make The Colliery

Begin To Pay.

Good. Very Well.

All Right.

But, If That Doesn't Happen,

[Chuckling] Then

I'll Have No Alternative

But Simply To Close

The Pit Altogether

And Use The Land

For Something Else.

Hmm?

Shooting. Anything.

I Don't Care.

Not A Bit.

But If That Happens,

Not A Single Man Jack Of Them

Will Have A Job...

Or Even Anywhere To Live

For That Matter.

But If I Could Just Go Back

To The Men, Milord, And--

Please, Please, Sandman.

[Laughing]

I'm Sorry, But There's

Just Nothing More To Be Said.

Nothing At All.

[Barking]

[Crowd Cheering]

We Won!

So, It's Tuppence

You'll Owe Me, All Right?

All Right, My Beauties.

[Indistinct Chatter]

Quickly, Alice,

Come Away.

Those Dreadful Miners.

There They Are On Strike,

And They Have The Impudence

To Be Seen Out Here

Playing With Their Dogs.

You Have To Keep

A Whippet Exercised.

Besides, They Have

Nothing Else To Do.

Amos:
Hey!

We've Won!

Hey, We've Won!

Sam Carter's

Just Put A Notice Up!

The Manager's

Called A Meeting At The Pit!

Quick, Come On Then--

We've Won!

We've Won!

Come On!

Either You

Come Back To Work Tomorrow,

Or The Pit Closes.

For Good!

No, I Mean What I Say!

The Emsdale Colliery

Is Making A Loss!

There's Only One Way

For It To Make A Profit,

And That's By Using Machinery

To Fetch The Coal Out

In Greater Quantities

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