(_With a motion toward old Jacques._)
Fell palsied and he said: "Let's kill the witch;
Next thing she'll strike some brother." Was he right?
Was he? In here is a cross can tell you.
Is the cross done? Can any man say why?
The holy monk that carves it, where is he?
Up yonder on the mountain in his cell,
Nigh unto death. Only the Virgin's hands
That plucked him from the pit can save his life.
And who's to blame? Who is to blame, men? Eh?
You men that shout to sail out to the East
And swell about the neck as vipers do,
Blowing against the Moslems, what do you say
To the heathen on the mountain up there, eh?
Twenty moons and more have risen and set
Since they took up their station 'neath the stars
And, in collusion with the hag of hell,
Shook pestilence and death upon the air.
Planets have knocked and fire has fallen and blood
Has drizzled over all this region. Eh?
What do you think our Lord thinks of these things?
Rescue the mountains; they are His Sepulcher.
You want to see Golgotha? _There_ it is.
A mountain with a heretic on its peak
Is like a spear thrusting a bitter sop
Up to our Lord's lips even in heaven. You men
Who see the sop and leave it there are Jews.
HUGH CAPET--They're Maccabees.
JARDIN-- As for Jacques Sar and me,
We'll wear these arms--
JACQUES SAR-- Until the Judgment Day.
JARDIN--Till our old bodies rot, or see those peaks
Waved over with the banner of our Lord.
And you think you will live to see that chase.
You know what I would do if I were God?
(_He draws his sword._)
Gabriel should pass over with his sword
And pierce some heart would bow all heads in tears.
Then you would go shouting up the mountains. And
If this keeps up, you mark me what I say,
Crosses will thicken out there on that grass.
(_He points toward the churchyard. A man reaches
out of the crowd and touches him on the leg._)
But eat and sleep, though. Feed your coward hearts.
Then die. And then what? Then the Judgment Day.
And after that, what? Hell.
(_He stoops down and the man talks with him in an
undertone._)
BACQUEUR-- Who is it's dead?
JACQUES SAR--Dead? All of us, he says, an the hag lives.
HUGH CAPET--He's right, too.
MADAM BACQUEUR--(_Entering, right, and hurrying to the_
_women._)
Is it Father Benedict?
JARDIN-- (_Straightening up._)
It was for that that he rode back there. Eh?
Tell them? What for? What good would that do? What
Do they care if the heathen keeps his land?
I see some of you here that yesterday
Was down at Bacqueur's. Do I? Do I see you?
Somehow it seems to me I recollect
Hearing as how old Hulga'd never strike
No man no more since God had saved the monk
And maybe threw her off the cliff herself.
Did any of you hear that? Did you men?
Eh? No one, eh? So Jardin must have dreamed.
Well, in the dream then Jardin seemed to say:
"The hag will strike till we have dragged her down,
Her and her dwarf, Canzler, the big heathen,
And all his kith, and burnt them in the street."
A VOICE--You got him in the church, Jardin?
MADAM BACQUEUR-- La, now!
HUGH CAPET-- Down with him!
JARDIN--Was Jardin right again? Has Hulga struck?
You'd see the ass he rode you'd think she'd struck.
Awhile ago here some one shouted out:
"Who's in the church?" I've got the arrow strung
And now I'll tell you, now I'll let it fly.
The wine train's lost; three of the mules are dead;
Two men were crushed to death; our Lord's dear blood,
Witches have poured out on the mountain rocks.
Now, has she struck? You think she has, eh? Hugh,
What did we tell them? Jacques Sar? Bacqueur? Eh?
Didn't we?
BACQUEUR--How did it happen, Bailiff?
JARDIN--Some one here asked if Canzler was in here.
No. Yes. What if he were or what if he is?
You think I'd tell you and see you fall dead? (_Madam_
_Valmy enters, right, leading old Rachel by the hand._)
One of the muleteers rode in for help.
He only spoke Italian. A friar, though,
Told me his tale. Last night when the train reached
The Devil's Pass--'twas dark; the moon had sunk--Three
withered hell-hags, with the skirring clouds
Flying toward Pampeluna to their sabbath,
Lit on a gray crag. Lightning splintered blue
About them, smells of sulphur rose, and thunder
Clapped the dark rock. The mountain shook. Straightway,
Cries of the men rang out. The leaders crashed,
Dumb-smitted with horror, mules and packs and all,
Down through the chaparral to the gowle below.
The witches vanished. All the Pass was still
Save through the night the golden chalices
Clinking far down the scaur. Then on a sudden
(_Rosa, excited, runs in, right, and hurries to the
women._)
The grisly hags, crooning a wild song, rose
Tossing the golden cups up in the air,
And like a strip of mist went down the wind
Toward Pampeluna. What is the matter, women?
A MAN--They say the hag's in town.
ROSA--(_In an underbreath._) Sigurd.
MADAM BACQUEUR-- The dwarf.
THE MAN--They say the dwarf's in town.
JARDIN--(_Deeply moved._) Men,--!
THE BOY--(_Up in the tree craning his neck._) I see him!
Yonder he is by the bridge. He's got something
Shining in his hand.
JARDIN---(_His face paling._) What was it the hunter saw
In his dream, men? What was it that roused the dogs--
The heathen dogs to chase the brother?
HUGH CAPET-- Blood.
JARDIN-- (_Feeling the tip of his sword._)
To-day God stains the trail.
A SHOUT-- Down with him!
JARDIN-- Wait.
THE BOY--See it! See it flash! It's a dagger!
JARDIN-- Men!
JACQUES SAR-- Men!
A SHOUT--Come on, men!
JARDIN-- Stop them, Bacqueur! Knock them down!
Bring those fools back.
(_Hugh Capet, out in the street, waves with his
arm. The men who rushed out, right, return
sulky._)
ONE OF THEM--Who is the coward now?
ANOTHER--Hush, Noel.
ANOTHER-- Let's have no trouble, men.
JARDIN-- Silence!