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Montag started to speak twice and then finally ether

"Was it my wife turned in the alarm?"

Beatty nodded "But her friends turned in an alarot it It was pretty silly, quoting poetry around free and easy like that It was the act of a silly damn snob Give a man a few lines of verse and he thinks he's the Lord of all Creation You think you can walk on water with your books Well, the world can get by just fine without theot you, in slier, you'll drown!"

Montag could not reat earthquake had come with fire and leveled the house and Mildred was under there somewhere and his entire life under there and he could notand shivering inside hireat load of tiredness and bewilder a hand

"Montag, you idiot, Montag, you damn fool; why did you really do it?"

Montag did not hear, he was far away, he was running with histhis dead soot-covered body to sway in front of another raving fool

"Montag, get out of there!" said Faber

Montag listened

Beatty struck hireen bullet in which Faber's voice whispered and cried fell to the sidewalk Beatty snatched it up, grinning He held it half in, half out of his ear

Montag heard the distant voice calling, "Montag, you all right?"

Beatty switched the green bullet off and thrust it in his pocket "Well--so there'sFirst I thought you had a Seashell But when you turned clever later, I wondered We'll trace this and drop in on your friend"

"No!" said Montag

He twitched the safety catch on the flaers and his eyes widened the faintest bit Montag saw the surprise there and hi they had done Thinking back later he could never decide whether the hands or Beatty's reaction to the hands gave hi thunder of the avalanche stoned down about his ears, not touching him

Beatty grinned his et an audience Hold a gun on a man and force him to listen to your speech Speech away What'll it be this ti snob? There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, for I a in honesty that they pass by me as an idle wind, which I respect not! How's that? Go ahead now, you second-hand literateur, pull the trigger" He took one step toward Montag

Montag only said, "We never burned right"