I'm meltin' wid heat! Runnin' an' runnin...

I'm meltin' wid heat! Runnin' an' runnin' an' runnin'! Damn dis heah coat! Like a strait−jacket! [He tears off his coat and flings it away from him, revealing himself stripped to the waist.] Dere! Dat's better! Now I kin breathe! [Looking down at his feet, the spurs catch his eye.] And to hell wid dese high−fangled spurs. Dey're what's been a−trippin' me up an' breakin' my neck. [He unstraps them and flings them away disgustedly.] Dere! I gits rid o’ dem frippety Emperor trappin's an' I travels lighter. Lawd! I'se tired! [After a pause, listening to the insistent beat of the tom−tom in the distance.] I must 'a put some distance between myself an' dem−runnin' like dat−and yit−dat damn drum sound jes' de same−−nearer, even. Well, I guess I a'most holds my lead anyhow. Dey won't never catch up. [With a sigh.] If on'y my fool legs stands up. Oh, I'se sorry I evah went in for dis. Dat Emperor job is sho' hard to shake. [He looks around him suspiciously.] How'd dis road evah git heah? Good level road, too. I never remembers seein' it befo'. [Shaking his head apprehensively.] Dese woods is sho' full o’ de queerest things at night. [With a sudden terror.] Lawd God, don't let me see no more o’ dem ha'nts! Dey gits my goat! [Then trying to talk himself into confidence.] Ha'nts! You fool nigger, dey ain't no such things! Don't de Baptist parson tell you dat many time? Is you civilized, or is you like dese ign'rent black niggers heah? Sho'! Dat was all in yo' own head. Wasn't nothin' dere. Wasn't no Jeff! Know what? You jus' get seein' dem things 'cause yo' belly's empty and you's sick wid hunger inside. Hunger 'fects yo' head and yo' eyes. Any fool know dat. [Then pleading fervently.] But bless God, I don't come across no more o’ dem. whatever dey is! [Then cautiously.] Rest! Don't talk! Rest! You needs it. Den you gits on yo' way again. [Looking at the moon.] Night's half gone a'most. You hits de coast in de mawning! Den you'se all safe.

O’Neill, Eugene. “The Emperor Jones”, Three Great Plays: The Emperor Jones, Anna Christie, and The Hairy Ape, Dover Publications Inc., 2005, pp.21-2.