FATHER BENEDICT--But let God have his--

(_He swallows the wine._) His will.

And he will have it, mark you that, young man.

(_To the Abbot._)

Strange are the ways God hath of rousing up

The slothful to a work he long since laid

Upon the world and the world shirked it. But

It shall be done now, _it shall be done now_.

If for three years the heathen on the heights

Have served their idols, in less than three days

Their idols and themselves shall be in Hell.

Lead the chase yonder, Father, lead it there!

Beneath _them_ shake the mountains. Let this hand

Strike for Thee there, and serve Thee, striking them,

That this accursed deed may smell no more,

A putrid carcass rotting under heaven.

This is how God hath roused us up at last.

(_He drains the cup and sets it down._)

My people armed with vengeance had swung down

And reached the bridge, and Jardin, valiant man,

Soldier of God, Knight Templar of the Cross,

Who in the heathen land fought for ten years

To stamp out Satan, even in his old age

A furnace burning with the breath of God

And firing those about him to the work

Of ridding these mountains of the heathen, he--May

God reward him for it in the world

Without end, Amen--he had grabbed the dwarf

To drag him off and burn him--

The Saxons: A Drama of Christianity in the North · 第 107 / 139 题