GIFT OF Mrs* WflHam Denman THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES AND SIX OTHER PLATS OF THE SEA THE MOON OF THE CAR I B B E E S AND SIX OTHER PLAYS OF THE SEA BY EUGENE G. O NEILL BONI AND LIVERIGHT NEW YORK 1919 Copyright, 1919, By BONI & LIVERIGHT, INC. A/5* /1 7 CONTENTS PAGE THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES 1 BOUND EAST FOB CABDIFF 34 THE LONG VOYAGE HOME 67 INTHE ZONE 85 ILE 117 WHEBE THE CBOSS Is MADE 147 THE ROPE 179 THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES A Play In One Act CHARACTERS Seamen of the British tramp steamer, Glencairn. YANK DRISCOLL OLSON DAVIS COCKY SMITTY PAUL LAMPS, the lamptrimmer* CHIPS, the carpenter. OLD TOM, the donkeyman. BIG FRANK ^Firemen on the Glencairn. West Indian Negresses. DICK MAX PADDY BELLA SUSIE VIOLET PEARL THE FIRST MATE Two other seamen SCOTTY AND IVAN and several other members of the stokehole-engine-room crew. NOTE. With the exception of In the Zone." the action of all the plays in this volume takes place in years preceding the .out break of the World War. THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES SCENE A -forward section of the main deck of the British tramp Steamer Glencairn, at anchor off an island in the West Indies. The full moon, half-way up the sky, throws a clear light on the deck. Th# sea is calm and the ship motionless. On the left two of the derrick booms of the foremast jut out at an angle of forty-five de grees, black against the sky. In the rear the dark outline of the port bulwark is sharply de fined against a distant strip of coral beach, white in the moonlight, fringed with coca palms whose tops rise clear of the horizon. On the right is the forecastle with an open doorway in the center leading to tJie seamen s and fire men s compartments. On either side of the doorway are two closed doors opening on the quarters of the Bo sun, the ship s carpenter, the messroom steward, and the donkeyman * what might be called the petty officers of the ship. Near each bulwark there is also a short stairway, like a section of fire escape, leading up to the forecastle head (the top of the fore* 3 V 1JIJS : : MOON OF THE CARIBBEES & edge of which can be seen on the In the center of the deck, and occupying most of the space, is the large, raised square of the number one hatch, covered with canvas, battened down for the night. A melancholy negro chant, faint and far- off, drifts, crooning, over the water. Most of the seamen and firemen are reclining or sitting on the hatch. PAUL is leaning against the port bulwark, the upper part of his stocky figure outlined against the sky. SMITTY and COCKY are sitting on the edge of the forecastle head with their legs dangling over. Nearly all are smoking pipes or cigarettes. The majority are dressed in patched suits of dungaree. Quite a few are in their bare feet and some of them, especially the firemen, have nothing on but a pair of pants and an undershirt. A good many wear caps. There is the low murmur of different con versations going on in the separate groups as the curtain rises. This is followed by a sudden silence in which the singing from the land can be plainly heard. DRISCOLL [A powerfully built Irishman who is sitting on the edge of the hatch, front irritably.] THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES 5 Will ye listen to them naygurs? I wonder now, do they call that keenin a song? SMITTY [A young Englishman with a "blond mustache. He is sitting on the forecastle head look ing out over the water with his chin supported on his hands. ~\ It doesn t make a chap feel very cheer ful, does it? [He sighs.] COCKY [A wizened runt of a man with a strag gling gray mustache slapping SMITTY on the back.] Cheero, ole dear ! Down t be ser dawhn in the marf , Duke. She loves yer. SMITTY [Gloomily. ] Shut up, Cocky! [He turns away from COCKY and falls to dreaming again, staring toward the spot on shore where the singing seems to come from] BIG FRANK [A huge fireman sprawled out on the right of the hatch waving a hand toward the land] They bury somebody py chiminy Christmas, I tink so from way it sound. YANK [A rather good-looking rough who is sit ting beside DRISCOLL,.] What d yuh mean, bury? They don t plant em down here, Dutchy. They eat em to save fun ral expenses. I guess this guy went down the wrong way an they got indigestion. COCKY Indigestion! Ho yus, not arf! Down t yer know as them blokes as two stomacks like a bleedin camel? DAVIS [A short t dark man seated on the right of hatch] An you seen the two, I s pect, ain t you? 6 THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES COCKY [Scornfully.] Down t be showin yer igerance be tryin to make a mock o me what has seen more o the world than yeself ever will. MAX [A Swedish fireman- from the rear of hatch.] Spin dat yarn, Cocky. COCKY It s Gawd s troof, what I tole yer. I card it from a bloke what was captured pris ner by em in the Solomon Islands. Shipped wiv im one voyage. Twas a rare treat to ear im tell what appened to im among em. [Musvngly] E was a funny bird, e was ailed from Mile End, e did. DRISCOI/L [With a snort.] Another lyin Cock ney, the loike av yourself! LAMPS [A fat Swede who is sitting on a camp stool in front of his door talking with CHIPS.] Where you meet up with him, Cocky? CHIPS [A lanky Scotchman derisively.] In New Guinea, I ll lay my oath ! COCKY [Defiantly] Yus! It was in New Guinea, time I was shipwrecked there. [There is a perfect storm of groans and laughter at this speech. ] YANK [Getting up] Yuh know what we said yuh d get if yuh sprung any of that lyin* New Guinea dope on us again, don t yuh? Close that trap if yuh don t want a duckin over the side. COCKY Ow, I was on y tryin to edicate yer a bit. [He sinks into dignified silence.] YANK [Noddmg toward the shore] Don t yuh THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES 7 know this is the West Indies, yuh crazy mut? There ain t no cannibals here. They re only com mon niggers. DRISCOLL [Irritably.] Whativir they are, the divil take their cryin*. It s enough to give a man the jigs listenin to em/ YANK [With a grin.} What s the matter, Drisc? Yuh re as sore as a boil about somethin . DRISCOLL I m dyin wid impatience to have a dhrink; an that blarsted bumboat naygur woman took her oath she d bring back rum enough for the lot av us whin she came back on board to-night/ BIG FRANK [Overhearing this in a loud eager voice. 1 You say the bumboat voman vill bring booze? ^ DRISCOLL [Sarcastically.] That s right tell the Old Man about ut, an the Mate, too. [All of the crew have edged nearer to DRISCOLL and are listening to the conversation with an air of sup pressed excitement. DRISCOLL lowers his voice im pressively and addresses them all] She said she cud snake ut on board in the bottoms av thim bas kets av fruit they re goin* to bring wid em to sell to us for ard. THE DONKEYMAN [An old gray-headed man with a kindly, wrinkled face. He is sitting on a camp stool in front of his door, right -front] She ll be bringin some black women with her this time or times has changed since I put in here last. - 8 THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES DRISCOLL She said she wud two or three more, maybe, I dunno. [This announcement is re ceived with great enthusiasm by all hands.] COCKY Wot a bloody lark! OLSON Py yingo, we have one hell of a time! DRISCOLL [Warningly] Renumber ye must be quiet about ut, ye scuts wid the dhrink, I mane ivin if the bo sun is ashore. The Old Man ordered her to bring no booze on board or he wudn t buy a thing off av her for the ship. PADDY [A squat, ugly Liverpool Irishman.] To the divil wid him ! BIG FRANK [Turning on him] Shud up, you tamn fool, Paddy! You vant make trouble? (To DRISCOLL.] You und me, ve keep dem quiet, Drisc. DRISCOLL Right ye are, Dutchy. I ll split the skull av the first wan av ye starts to foight. [Three bells are heard striking] DAVIS Three bells. When s she comin , Drisc? DRISCOLL She ll be here any minute now, sure ly. [To PAUL, who has returned to his position by the bulwark after hearing DRISCOLL S news] D you see em comin , Paul? PAUL I don t see anyting like bumboat. [They all set themselves to wait, lighting pipes, cigarettes, and making themselves comfortable. There is a silence broken only by the mournful singing of the negroes on shore.] SMITTY [Slowly with a trace of melancholy.] THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES 9 I wish they d stop that song. It makes you think of well things you ought to forget. Rummy go, what? COCKY [Slapping him on the back.] Cheer o, ole love! We ll be avin our rum in arf a mo , Duke. [He comes down to the deck, leaving SMITTY alone on the forecastle head.~\ BIG FRANK Sing someting, Drisc. Den ve don t hear dot yelling. DAVIS Give us a chanty, Drisc. PADDY Wan all av us knows. MAX We all .sing in on chorus. OLSON "Rio Grande," Drisc. BIG FRANK No, ve don t know dot. Sing "Vis- key Johnny." CHIPS "Flyin Cloud." COCKY Now ! Guv us "Maid o* Amsterdam." LAMPS "Santa Anna" iss good one. DRISCOLL Shut your mouths, all av you. [Scornfully. ] A chanty is ut ye want? I ll bet me whole pay day there s not wan in the crowd ceptin Yank here, an Ollie, an meself, an Lamps an Cocky, maybe, wud be sailors enough to know the main from the mizzen on a windjammer. Ye ve heard the names av chanties but divil a note av the tune or a loine av the words do ye know. There s hardly a rale deep-water sailor lift on the seas, more s the pity. YANK Give us "Blow The Man Down." We all ao THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES know some of that. [A chorus of assenting voices: Yes ! Righto ! Let er drive! Start er, Drisc! etc.] DRISCOLL Come in then, all av ye. [He sings:] As I was a-roamin down Paradise Street ALL Wa-a-ay, blow the man down! DRISCOLL As I was a-roamin down Paradise Street ALL Give us some time to blow the man down! CHORUS Blow the man down, boys, oh, blow the man down! Wa-a-ay, blow the man down! As I was a-roamin down Paradise Street- Give us some time to blow the man down! DRISCOLL A pretty young maiden I chanced for to meet. ALL Wa-a-ay, blow the man down ! DRISCOLL A pretty young maiden I chanced for to meet. ALL Give us some time to blow the man down ! CHORUS Blow the man down, boys, oh, blow the man down! Wa-a-ay, blow the man down! THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES 11 A pretty young maiden I chanced for to meet. Give us some time to blow the man down! PAUL [Just as Driscoll is clearing his throat preparatory to starting the next verse. } Hay, Drisc! Here she come, I tink. Some bumboat comin dis way. [They all rush to the side and look toward the land.] YANK There s five or six of them in it and they paddle like skirts. DRISCOLL [Wildly elated.] "Hurroo, ye scuts! Tis thim right enough. [He does a few jig steps on the deck.] OLSON [After a pause during which all are watching the approaching boat.] Py yingo, I see six in boat, yes, sir. DAVIS I kin make out the baskets. See em there amidships? BIG FRANK Vot kind booze dey bring viskey? DRISCOLL Rum, foine West Indy rum wid a kick in ut loike a mule s hoind leg. LAMPS Maybe she don t bring any; maybe skipper scare her. DRISCOLL Don t be throwin cold water, Lamps. I ll skin her black hoide off av her if she goes back on her worrd. SANK Here they come. Listen to em gig- 12 THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES glin . [Calling.] Oh, you kiddo! [The sound of women s voices can be heard talking and laugh ing.] DRISCOLL [Calling.] Is ut you, Mrs. Old Black Joe? A Woman s Voice Ullo, Mike! [There is loud feminine laughter at this retort.] DRISCOLL Shake a leg an come abord thin. THE WOMAN S VOICE We re a-comin . DRISCOLL Come on, Yank. You an me d best be goin to give em a hand wid their truck. Twill put em in good spirits. COCKY [As they start off left.] Ho, you ain t arf a fox, Drisc. Down t drink it all afore we sees it. DRISCOLL [Over his shoulder.] You ll be havin yours, me sonny bye, don t fret. [He and Yank go off left.] COCKY [Licking his lips.] Gawd blimey, I can do wiv a wet. DAVIS Me, too! CHIPS I ll bet there ain t none of us ll let any go to waste. BIG FRANK I could trink a whole barrel mine- self, py chimminy Christmas ! COCKY I opes all the gels ain t as bloomin ugly as er. Looked like a bloody organ-grinder s monkey, she did. Gawd, I couldn t put up wiv the likes of er! THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES 13 PADDY Ye ll be lucky if any of thim looks at ye, ye squint-eyed runt. COCKY [Angrily.] Ho, yus? You ain t no bleedin beauty prize yeself, me man. A airy ape, I calls yer. PADDY [Walking toward him truculently.] Whot s thot? Say ut again if ye dare. COCKY [His hand on his sheath knife snarl ing. ] Airy ape! That s wot I says! [PADDY tries to reach him but the others keep them apart.] BIG FRANK [Pushing PADDY back.] Vot s the matter mit you, Paddy. Don t you hear vat Dris- coll say no fighting? PADDY [Grumblingly.] I don t take no back talk from that deck-scrubbin shrimp. COCKY Blarsted coal-puncher! [DRISCOLL ap pears wearing a broad grin of satisfaction. The fight is immediately forgotten by the crowd who gather around him with exclamations of eager curi osity. How is it, Drisc? Any luck? Vot she bring, Drisc? Where s the gels? etc.] DRISCOLL [With an apprehensive glance back at the bridge.] Not so loud, for the love av hivin! [The clamor dies down.] Yis, she has ut wid her. She ll be here in a minute wid a pint bottle or two for each wan av ye three shillin s a bottle. So don t be impashunt. COCKY [Indignantly.] Three bob! The bloody cow! 14 THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES SMITTY [With an ironic smile. ] Grand lar ceny, by God! {They all turn and look up at him, surprised to hear him speak.] OLSON Py yingo, we don t pay so much. BIG FRANK Tamn black tief ! PADDY We ll take lit away from her and give her nothin . THE CROWD [Growling.] Dirty thief! Dot s right ! Give her nothin ! Not a bloomin apenny ! etc. DRISCOLL [Grinning. ] Ye can take ut or lave ut, me sonny byes. [He casts a glance in the di rection of the bridge and then reaches inside his shirt and pulls out a pint bottle.] Tis foine rum, the rale stuff. [He drinks.] I slipped this wan out av wan av the baskets whin they wasn t lookin . [He hands the bottle to OLSON who is nearest him.] Here ye are, Ollie. Take a small sup an pass ut to the nixt. Tisn t much but twill serve to take the black taste out av your mouths if ye go aisy wid ut. An there s buckets more av ut comin . [The bottle passes from hand to hand, each man taking a sip and smacking his lips with a deep "Aa- ah" of satisfaction.] DAVIS Where s she now, Drisc? DRISCOLL Up havin a worrd wid the skipper, makin arrangements about the money, I s pose. DAVIS An where s the other gels? DRISCOLL Wid her. There s foive av thim she THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES 15 took aboard two swate little slips av things, near as white as you an me are, for that gray-whiskered auld fool, an the mates an the engineers too, may be. The rist av thim ll be comin for ard whin she comes. COCKY E ain t arf a funny ole bird, the skip per. Gawd blimey! Member when we sailed from ome ow e stands on the bridge lookin like a bloody ole sky pilot? An is missus dawn on the bloomin dock owlin fit to kill erself ? An is kids owlin an wavin their andkerchief s ? {With great moral indignation.] An ere e is makin up to a bleedin nigger! There s a captain for yer! Gawd blimey! Bloody crab, I calls im ! DRISCOLL Shut up, ye insect! Sure, it s not you should be talkin , an you wid a woman an childer weepin for ye in iviry divil s port in the wide worrld, if we can believe your own tale av ut. COCKY [Still indignant.] I ain t no bloomin captain, I ain t. I ain t got no missus reg lar married, I means. I ain t BIG FRANK [Putting a huge paw over Cooky s mouth.] You ain t going talk so much, you hear? [COCKY wriggles away from him.] Say, Drisc, how ve pay dis voman for booze? Ve ain t got no cash. DRISCOLL It s aisy enough. Each girl ll have a slip av paper wid her an whin you buy anythin you write ut down and the price beside ut and sign 16 THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES your name. If ye can t write have some one who can do ut for ye. An rimimber this : Whin ye buy a bottle av dhrink or [With a wink. ] somethin else forbid, ye must write down tobaccy or fruit or somethin the loike av that. Whin she laves the skipper ll pay what s owin on the paper an take ut out av your pay. Is ut clear to ye now? ALL Yes Clear as day Aw right, Drisc Righto Sure. etc. DRISCOLL An don t forgit what I said about bein quiet wid the dhrink, or the Mate ll be down on our necks an spile the fun. [A chorus of as sent. ~\ DAVIS [Looking aft.] Ain t this them corn- in ? [They all look in that direction. The silly laughter of a woman is heard.] DRISCOLL Look at Yank, wud ye, wid his arrm around the middle av wan av thim. That lad s not wastin any toime. [The four women enter from the left, giggling and whispering to each other. The first three carry baskets on their heads. The youngest and best-looking comes last. YANK has his arm about her waist and is carrying her basket in his other hand. All four are distinct negro types. They wear light-colored, loose-fitting clothes and have bright bandana handkerchiefs on their heads. They put down their baskets on the hatch and sit down beside them. The men crowd around, grin- THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES 17 BELLA [She is the oldest, stoutest, and homeliest of the four grinning back at ihemJ\ Ullo, boys. THE OTHER GIRLS Ullo, boys. THE MEN Hello, yourself Evenin Hello How are you? etc. BELLA [Genially. ,] Hope you had a nice voy age. My name s Bella, this here s Susie, yander s Violet, and her there [Pointing to the girl with YANK] is Pearl. Now we all knows each other. PADDY [Roughly. ~\ Never mind the girls. Where s the dhrink? BELLA [Tartly. ] You re a hawg, ain t you? Don t talk so loud or you don t git any you nor no man. Think I wants the ole captain to put me off the ship, do you?" YANK Yes, nix on hollerin , you ! D yuh wanta queer all of us ? BELLA [Casting a quick glance over her shoul der. ] Here! Some of you big strapping boys sit back of us on the hatch there so s them officers can t see what we re doin . [DRISCOLL and several of the others sit and stand in back of the girls on the hatch. BELLA turns to DRISCOLL.] Did you tell em they gotter sign for what they gits and how to sign? DRISCOLL I did what s your name again oh, yis Bella, darlin . BELLA Then it s all right; but you boys has gotter go inside the fo castle when you gits your 18 THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES bottle. No drinkin out here on deck. I ain t takin* no chances. [An impatient murmur of as sent goes up from the crowd.] Ain t that right, Mike? DKISCOLL Right as rain, darlin . [BiG FRANK leans over and says something to him in a low voice. DRISCOLL laughs and slaps his thigh.] Listen, Bella, I ve somethin to ask ye for my little friend here who s bashful. Ut has to do wid the ladies so I d best be whisperin ut to ye meself to kape them from blushin. [He leans over and asks her a question.] BELLA [Firmly. ] Four shillings. DRISCOLL [Laughing. ] D you hear that, all av ye? Four shillin s ut is. PADDY [Angrily.] To hell wid this talkin . I want a dhrink. BELLA Is everything all right, Mike? DRISCOLL [After a look back at the bridge.] Sure. Let her droive! BELLA All right, girls. [The girls reach down in their baskets in under the fruit which is on top and each putts out a pint bottle. Four of the men crowed up and take the bottles.] Fetch a light, Lamps, that s a good boy. [LAMPS goes to his room and returns with a candle. This is passed from one girl to another as the men sign the sheets of paper for their bottles.] Don t you boys for get to mark down cigarettes or tobacco or fruit, re* THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES 19 member ! Three shillin s is the price. Take it into the fo castle. For Gawd s sake, don t stand out here drinkin in the moonlight. [The four go into the forecastle. Four more take their places. PAD DY plants himself in front of PEARL who is sitting by YANK with his arm still around her.~\ "PADDY [Gruffly.] Gimme thot! [She holds out a bottle which he snatches from her hand. He turns to go away] YANK [Sharply] Here, you! Where d yuh get that stuff? You ain t signed for that yet. PADDY [Sullenly] I can t write me name. YANK Then I ll write it for yuh. [He takes the paper from Pearl and writes] There ain t goin to be no welchin on little Bright Eyes here not when I m around, see? Ain t I right, kiddo? PEARL [With a grin] Yes, suh. BELLA [Seeing all four are served] Take it into the fo castle, boys. [PADDY defiantly raises his bottle and gulps down a drink in the full moon light. BELLA sees him] Look at im! Look at the dirty swine ! [PADDY slouches into the fore castle] Wants to git me in trouble. That set tles it ! We all got to git inside, boys, where we won t git caught. Come on, girls. [The girls pick up their baskets and follow BELLA. YANK and PEARL are the last to reach the doorway. She lingers behind him, her eyes fixed on SMITTY, who is 20 THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES still sitting on the forecastle head, his chin on his hands, staring off into vacancy.] PEARL [Waving a hand to attract his atten tion.] Come ahn in, pretty boy. Ah likes you. SMITTY [Coldly. ~\ Yes; I want to buy a bot tle, please. [He goes down the steps and follows her into the forecastle. No one remains on deck but the DONKEYMAN, who sits smoking his pipe in front of his door. There is the subdued babble of voices from the crowd inside but the mournful cadence of the song from the shore can again be faintly heard. SMITTY reappears and closes the door to the forecastle after him. He shudders and shakes his shoulders as if flinging off something which disgusted him. Then he lifts the bottle which is in his hand to his lips and gulps down a long drink. THE DONKEYMAN watches him impassively. SMITTY sits down on the hatch facing him. Now that the closed door has shut off nearly all the noise the singing from shore comes clearly over the moonlit water.] SMITTY [Listening to it for a moment.] Damn that song of theirs. [He takes another big drink.] What do you say, Donk? THE DONKEYMAN [Quietly.] Seems nice an* sleepy-like. SMITTY [With a hard laugh.] Sleepy! If I listened to it long sober I d never go to sleep. THE DONKEYMAN Tain t sich bad music, is it? THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES 21 Sounds kinder pretty to me low an mournful same as listenin to the organ outside o church of a Sunday. SMITTY [With a touch of impatience. } I didn t mean it was bad music. It isn t. It s the beastly memories the damn thing brings up for some reason. [He takes another pull at the bottle.] THE DONKEYMAN Ever hear it before? SMITTY No; never in my life. It s just a some thing about the rotten thing which makes me think of well oh, the devil! [He forces a laugh.] THE DONKEYMAN [Spitting placidly.] Queer things, mem ries. I ain t ever been bothered much by em. SMITTY [Looking at him -fixedly for a moment with quiet scorn.] No, you wouldn t be. THE DONKEYMAN Not that I ain t had my share o things goin wrong; but I puts em out o me mind, like, an fergets em. SMITTY But suppose you couldn t put them out of your mind? Suppose they haunted you when you were awake and when you were asleep what then? THE DONKEYMAN [Quietly. ,] I d git drunk, same s you re doin . SMITTY [With a harsh laugh.] Good advice. [He takes another drink. He is beginning to show the effects of the liquor. His face is flushed and he 22 THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES talks rather wildly. ] We re poor little lambs who have lost our way, eh, Donk? Damned from here to eternity, what? God have mercy on such as we! True, isn t it, Donk? THE DONKEYMAN Maybe; I dunno. [After a slight pause. ] Whatever set you goin to sea? You ain t made for it. SMITTY [Laughing wildly.] My old friend in the bottle here, Donk. THE DONKEYMAN I done my share o drinkin in my time. [Regretfully.] Them was good times, those days. Can t hold up under drink no more. Doctor told me I d got to stop or die. [He spits contentedly] So I stops. SMITTY [With a foolish smile] Then I ll drink one for you. Here s your health, old top! [He drinks] THE DONKEYMAN [After a pause] S pose there s a gel mixed up in it someplace, ain t there? SMITTY [Stiffly] What makes you think so? THE DONKEYMAN Always is when a man lets music bother im. [After a few puffs at his pipe.] An she said she threw you over cause you was drunk ; an you said you was drunk cause she threw you over. [He spits leisurely] Queer thing, love, ain t it? SMITTY [Rising to his feet with drunken dig nity] I ll trouble you not to pry into my affairs, Donkeyman. THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES 23 THE DONKEYMAN [Unmoved. ] That s every body s affair, what I said. I been through it many s the time. [Genially.] I always hit em a whack on the ear an went out and got drunker n ever. When I come home again they always had somethin special nice cooked fur me to eat. [Puffing at his pipe.} That s the on y way to fix em when they gits on their high horse. I don t s pose you ever tried that? SMITTY [Pompously.] Gentlemen don t hit women. THE DONKEYMAN [Placidly.] No; that s why they has mem ries when they hears music. [SMITTY does not deign to reply to this but sinks into a scorn ful silence. DAVIS and the girl VIOLET come out of the forecastle and close the door behind them. He is staggering a bit and she is laughing shrilly.] DAVIS [Turning to the left.] This way, Rose, .or Pansy, or Jessamine, or black Tulip, or Violet, or whatever the hell flower your name is. No one ll see us back here. [They go off left.] THE DONKEYMAN There s love at first sight for you an plenty more o the same in the fo c s tle. No mem ries jined with that. SMITTY [Really repelled.] Shut up, Donk. You re disgusting. [He takes a long drink] THE DONKEYMAN [Philosophically.] Ah 1 de pends on how you was brung up, I s pose. [PEARL comes out of the forecastle. There is a 24 THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES roar of voices from inside. She shuts the door be hind her, sees SMITTY on the hatch, and comes over and sits beside him and puts her arm over his shoulder.] THE DONKEYMAN [Chuckling.] There s love for you, Duke. PEARL [Patting SMITTY S face with her hand.] Ullo, pretty boy. [SMITTY pushes her hand away coldly.] What you doin out here all alone by yourself? SMITTY [With a twisted grin.] Thinking and, [He indicates the bottle in his hand.] drink ing to stop thinking. [He drinks and laughs maud- linly. The bottle is three-quarters empty.] PEARL You oughtn t drink so much, pretty boy. Don you know dat? You have big, big headache come mawnin . SMITTY [Dryly. ] Indeed ? PEARL Tha s true. Ah knows what Ah say. [Cooingly.] Why you run way from me, pretty boy? Ah likes you. Ah don like them other fel lahs. They act too rough. You ain t rough. You re a genelman. Ah knows. Ah can tell a gen- elman fahs Ah can see im. SMITTY Thank you for the compliment; but you re wrong, you see. I m merely a ranker. [He adds bitterly.] And a rotter. PEARL [Patting his arm.] No, you ain t. Ah knows better. You re a genelman. [Insinuat- THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES 25 ingly] Ah wouldn t have no thin to do with them other men, but [She smiles at him enticingly.] you is diff rent. [He pushes her away from him dis gustedly. She pouts.] Don you like me, pretty boy? SMITTY [A bit ashamed.] I beg your pardon. I didn t mean to be rude, you know, really. [His politeness is drunkenly exaggerated.] I m a bit off color. PEARL [Brightening up.] Den you do like me little ways? SMITTY [Carelessly] Yes, yes, why shouldn t I? [He suddenly laughs wildly and puts his arm around her waist and presses her to him.] Why not? [He pulls his arm back quickly with a shud^- der of disgust, and takes a drink. PEARL looks at him curiously, puzzled by his strange actions. The door from the forecastle is kicked open and YANK comes out. The uproar of shouting, laughing and smging voices has increased in violence. YANK staggers over toward SMITTY and PEARL.] YANK [Blinking at them.] What the hell oh, it s you, Smitty the Duke. I was goin to turn one loose on the jaw of any guy d cop my dame, but seem it s you [Sentimentally] Pals is pals and any pal of mine c n have anythin I got, see? [Holding out his hand] Shake, Duke. [SMITTY takes his hand and he pumps it up and down.] You n me s frens. Ain t I right? 26 THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES SMITTY Right it is, Yank. But you re wrong about this girl. She isn t with me. She was just going back to the fo c s tle to you. [PEARL looks at him with hatred gathering m her eyes.] YANK Tha right? SMITTY On my word ! YANK- [Grabbing her arm. ] Come on then, you, Pearl! Le s have a drink with the bunch. [He pulls her to the entrance where she shakes off his hand long enough to turn on SMITTY furiously.] PEARL You swine ! You can go to hell ! [She goes in the forecastle, slamming the door.] THE DONKEYMAN [Spitting calmly.] There s love for you. They re all the same white, brown, yeller n black. A whack on the ear s the only thing ll learn em. [SMITTY makes no reply but laughs harshly and takes another drink; then sits staring before him,, the almost empty bottle tightly clutched in one hand. There is an increase in vol ume of the muffled clamor from the forecastle and a moment later the door is thrown open and the whole mob, led by Driscoll, pours out on deck. All of them are very drunk and several of them carry bottles in their hands. BELLA is the only one of the women who is absolutely sober. She tries in vain to keep the men quiet. PEARL drinks from YANK S bottle every mo ment or so, laughing shrilly, and leaning against YANK, whose arm is about her waist. PAUL comes out last carrying an accordion. He staggers over THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES 27 and stands on top of the hatch, his instrument under his arm] DRISCOLL Play us a dance, ye square-head swab! a rale, Godforsaken son av a turkey trot wid guts to ut. YANK Straight from the old Barbary Coast in Frisco ! PAUL I don know. I try. [He commences tuning up. } YANK Ataboy! Let er rip! [DAVIS and VIOLET come back and join the crowd. THE DON- KEYMAN looks on them all with a detached, indulgent air. SMITTY stares before him and does not seem to know there is any one on deck but himself. ] BIG FRANK Dance? I don t dance. I trink! [He suits the action to the word and roars with meaningless laughter. ] DRISCOLL Git out av the way thin, ye big hulk, an give us some room. [BiG FRANK sits down on the hatch, right. All of the others who are not going to dance either follow his example or lean against the port bulwark.] BELLA [On the verge of tears at her inability to keep them in the forecastle or make them be quiet now they are out.] For Gawd s sake, boys, don t shout so loud ! Want to git me in trouble ? DRISCOLL [Grabbing her.~\ Dance wid me, me cannibal quane. [Some one drops a bottle on deck and it smashes.] 28 THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES BELLA [Hysterically.] There they goes ! There they goes! Captain ll hear that! Oh, my Lawd ! DRISCOLL Be damned to him! Here s the mu sic ! Off ye go ! [PAUL starts playing "You Great Big Beautiful Doll" with a note left out every now and then. The four couples commence dancing a jerk-shouldered version of the old Turkey Trot as it was done in the sailor-town dives, made more gro tesque by the fact that all the couples are drunk and keep lurching into each other every moment. Two of the men start dancing together, intentionally bumping into the others. YANK and PEARL come around in front of SMITTY and, as they pass him, PEARL slaps him across the side of the face with all her might, and laughs viciously. He jumps to his feet with his fists clenched but sees who hit him and sits down again smiling bitterly. YANK laughs bois terously.] YANK Wow ! Some wallop ! One on you, Duke. DRISCOLL [Hurling his cap at PAUL.] Faster, ye toad! [PAUL makes frantic efforts to speed up and the music suffers in the process. ] BELLA [Puffing.] Let me go. I m wore out with you steppin on my toes, you clumsy Mick. [She struggles but Driscoll holds her tight. ] DRISCOLL God blarst you for havin such big feet, thin. Aisy, aisy, Mrs. Old Black Joe! Tis dancin U take the blubber off ye. [He whirls her THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES 29 around the deck "by mam force. COCKY, with SUSIE, is dancing near the hatch, right, when PADDY, who is sitting on the edge with BIG FRANK, sticks his foot out and the wavering couple stumble over it and -fall flat on the deck. A roar of laughter goes up. COCKY rises to his feet, Ms face livid with rage, and springs at PADDY, who promptly knocks him down. DRISCOLL hits PADDY and BIG FRANK hits DRISCOI/L. In a flash a wholesale fight has broken out and the deck is a surging crowd of drink-maddened men hit ting out at each other indiscriminately, although the general idea seems to be a battle between seamen and firemen. The women shriek and take refuge on top of the hatch, where they huddle in a frightened group. Finally there is the flash of a knife held high in the moonlight and a loud yell of pain.] DAVIS [Somewhere in the crowd.] Here s the Mate comin ! Let s git out o this! [There is a general rush for the forecastle. In a moment there is no one left on deck but the little group of women on the hatch; SMITTY, still dazedly rubbing his cheek; THE DONKEYMAN quietly smoking on his stool; and YANK and DRISCOLL, their faces battered up con siderably, their undershirts in shreds, bending over the still form of PADDY, which lies stretched out on the deck between them. In the silence the mourn ful chant from the shore creeps slowly out to the ship. ] 30 THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES DRISCOI/L [Quickly m a low voice.] Who knoifed him? YANK [Stupidly.] I didn t see it. How do I know? Cocky, I ll bet. [The FIRST MATE enters from the left. He is a tall, strongly-built mem THE MATE [Angrily] What s all this noise about? [He sees the man lying on tlie deck] dressed m a plain blue uniform] Hello! What s this? [He bends down on one knee beside PADDY.] DRISCOLL [Stammering] All av us was in a bit av a harmless foight, sir, an I dunno [The MATE rolls PADDY over and sees a knife wound on his shoulder] THE MATE Knifed, by God. [He takes an electric -flash from his pocket and examines the cut] Lucky it s only a flesh wound. He must have hit his head on deck when he fell. That s what knocked him out. This is only a scratch. Take him aft and I ll bandage him up. DRISCOLI, Yis, sor. [They take PADDY by the shoulders and feet and carry him off left. The MATE looks up and sees the women on the hatch for the first time] THE MATE [Surprised] Hello! [He walks over to them] Go to the cabin and get your money and clear off. If I had my way, you d never [His foot hits a bottle. He stoops down and picks It up and smells of it] Rum, by God! THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES 31 So that s the trouble! I thought their breaths smelled damn queer. [To the women, harshly. ] You needn t go to the skipper for any money. You won t get any. That ll teach you to smuggle rum on a ship and start a riot. BELLA But, Mister THE MATE [Sternly.] You know the agree ment rum no money. BELLA [Indignantly. ] Honest to Gawd, Mis ter, I never brung no THE MATE [Fiercely.] You re a liar! And none of your lip or I ll make a complaint ashore to morrow and have you locked up. BELLA [Subdued.] Please, Mister THE MATE Clear out of this, now! Not an other word out of you ! Tumble over the side damn quick! The two others are waiting for you. Hop, now! [They walk quickly almost run off to the left. THE MATE follows them, nodding to THE DON- KEYMAN, and ignoring the oblivious SMITTY.] [There is absolute silence on the ship -for a few moments. The melancholy song of the negroes drifts crooning over the water. SMITTY listens to it inr- tently for a time; then sighs heavily, a sigh that is half a sob.] SMITTY God! [He drinks the last drop in the bottle and throws it behmd him on the hatch.] THE DONKEYMAN [Spitting tranquilly.] More mem ries? [SMITTY does not answer him. The 32 THE MOON OF THE CARIBBEES ship s bell tolls four bells. THE DONKEYMAN knocks out his pipe.] I think I ll turn in. [He opens the door to his cabin, but turns to look at SMITTY kindly. ] You can t hear it in the fo c s tle the music, I mean an there ll likely be more drink in there, too. Good night. [He goes m and shuts the door.] SMITTY Good night, Donk. [He gets wear ily to his feet and walks with bowed shoulders, stag gering a bit, to the forecastle entrance and goes in. There is silence for a second or so, broken only by the haunted, saddened voice of that brooding music, faint and far-off, like the mood of the moonlight made audible.] [The Curtain Falls] BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF A Play In One Act CHARACTERS YANK DRISCOLL COCKY DAVIS SCOTTY OLSON PAUL SMITTY IVAN THE CAPTAIN THE SECOND MATE BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF SCENE The seamen s forecastle of the British tramp steamer Glencairn on a foggy night midway on the voyage between New York and Cardiff. An irregular shaped compartment, the sides of which almost meet at the far end to form a triangle. Sleeping bunks about six feet long, ranged three deep with a space of three feet separating the upper from the lower, are built against the sides. On the right above the bunks three or four port holes can be seen. In front of the bunks, rough wooden benches. Over the bunks on the left, a lamp in a bracket. In the left foreground, a doorway. On the floor near it, a pail with a tin dipper. Oilskins are hanging from a hook near the doorway. The far side of the forecastle is so narrow that it contains only one series of bunks. In under the bunks a glimpse can be had of seachests, suit cases, seaboots, etc., jammed in indiscriminately. At regular intervals of a minute or so the blast of the steamer s whistle can be heard above all the other sounds. 35 36 BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF Five men are sitting on the benches talking. They are dressed in dirty patched suits of dun garee, flannel shirts, and all are in their stock ing feet. Four of the men are pulling on pipes and the air is heavy with rancid tobacco smoke. Sitting on the top bunk in the left foreground, a Norwegian, Paul, is softly playing some folk song on a battered accordion. He stops from time to time to listen to the conversation. In the lower bunk in the rear a dark-haired, hard-featured man is lying apparently asleep. One of his arms is stretched limply over the side of the bunk. His face is very pale, and drops of clammy perspiration glisten on his forehead. It is nearing the end of the dog watch about ten minutes to eight in the evening. COCKY [A weazened runt of a man. He is tell ing a story. The others are listening with amused, incredulous faces, interrupting him at the end of each sentence with loud derisive guffaws.] Makin love to me, she was ! It s Gawd s truth ! A bloomin nigger! Greased all over with cocoanut oil, she was. Gawd blimey, I couldn t stand er. Bloody old cow, I says; and with that I fetched er a biff on the ear wot knocked er silly, an [He is in terrupted by a roar of laughter from the others.] DAVIS [A middle-aged man with black hair and mustache.] You re a liar, Cocky. BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF 37 SCOTTY [A dark young fellow.] Ho-ho! Ye werr neverr in New Guinea in yourr life, I m thinkin . OLSON [A Swede with a drooping blond mus tache with ponderous sarcasm.] Yust tink of it! You say she wass a cannibal, Cocky? DEJSCOKL [A brawny Irishman with the battered features of a prizefighter.] How cud ye doubt ut, Ollie? A quane av the naygurs she musta been surely. Who else wud think herself aqual to fallin in love wid a beauthiful, divil-may-care rake av a man the loike av Cocky? [A burst of laughter from the crowd.] COCKY [Indignantly.] Gawd strike me dead if it ain t true, every bleedin word of it. Appened ten year ago come Christmas. SCOTTY Twas a Christmas dinner she had her eyes on. DAVIS He d a been a tough old bird. DRISCOLL Tis hicky for both av ye ye escaped; for the quane av the cannibal isles wad a died av the belly ache the day afther Christmas, divil a doubt av ut. {The laughter at this is long and loud.] ^ COCKY [Sullenly.] Blarsted fat eads ! [The sick man in the lower bunk in the rear groans and moves restlessly. There is a hushed silence. All the men turn and stare at him.] DRISCOLL Ssshh! [In a hushed whisper.] We d best not be talkin so loud and him tryin to have a bit av a sleep. [He tiptoes softly to the side of the 38 BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF bunk."] Yank ! You d be wantin a drink av wather, maybe? [YANK does not reply. DRISCOKL bends over and looks at him.~\ It s asleep he is, sure enough. His breath is chokin in his throat loike wather gurglin in a poipe. [He comes back quietly and sits down. Att are silent, avoiding each other s eyes.~\ COCKY [After a pause.] Pore devil! It s over the side for im, Gawd elp im. DRISCOI/L Stop your croakin ! He s not dead yet and, praise God, he ll have many a long day yet before him. SCOTTY [Shaking his head doubtfully. } He s bod, mon, he s verry bod. DAVIS Lucky he s alive. Many a man s light woulda gone out after a fall like that. OLSON You saw him fall? DAVIS Right next to him. He and me was goin down in number two hold to do some chippin . He puts his leg over careless-like and misses the ladder and plumps straight down to the bottom. I was scared to look over for a minute, and then I heard him groan and I scuttled down after him. He was hurt bad inside, ; f or the blood was drippin from the side of his mouth. He was groanin hard, but he never let a word out of him. COCKY An you blokes remember when we auled im in ere? Oh, ell, e says, oh, ell like that, and nothink else. BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF 39 OLSON Did the captain know where he iss hurted ? COCKY That silly ol* josser! Wot the ell would e know abaht anythink? SCOTTY [Scornfully.] He fiddles in his mouth wi a bit of glass. DRISCOLL [Angrily] The divil s own life ut is to be out on the lonely sea wid nothin betune you and a grave in the ocean but a spindle-shanked, gray- whiskered auld fool the loike av him. Twas enough to make a saint shwear to see him wid his gold watch in his hand, tryin to look as wise as an owl on a tree, and all the toime he not knowin whether twas cholery or the barber s itch was the matther wid Yank. SCOTTY [Sardonically] He gave him a dose of salts, na doot? DRISCOKL Divil a thing he gave him at all, but looked in the book he had wid him, and shook his head, and walked out widout sayin a word, the second mate afther him no wiser than himself, God s curse on the two av thim ! COCKY [After a pause] Yank was a good shipmate, pore beggar. Lend me four bob in Noo Yark, e did. DRISCOI/L [Warmly.] A good shipmate he was and is, none betther. Ye said no more than the truth, Cocky. Five years and more ut is since first I shipped wid him, and we ve stuck together iver 40 BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF since through good luck and bad. Fights we ve had, God help us, but twas only when we d a bit av drink taken, and we always shook hands the nixt mornin . Whativer was his was mine, and many s the toime I d a been on the beach or worse, but for him. And now [His voice trembles as he fights to control his emotion.] Divil take me if I m not startin to blubber loike an auld woman, and he not dead at all, but goin to live many a long year yet, maybe. 7 I DAVIS The sleep ll do him good. He seems bet ter now. OLSON If he wude eat someting DRISCOLL Wud ye have him be eatin in his con- dishun? Sure it s hard enough on the rest av us wid nothin the matther wid our insides to be stomachin the skoff on this rusty lime-juicer. SCOTTY [Indignantly.] It s a starvation ship. DAVIS Plenty o work and no food and the owners ridin around in carriages ! OLSON Hash, hash! Stew, stew! Marmalade, py damn! [He spits disgustedly.] COCKY Bloody swill! Fit only for swine is wot I say. DRISCOKL And the dishwather they disguise wid the name av tea! And the putty they call bread! My belly feels loike I d swalleyed a dozen rivets at the thought av ut! And sea-biscuit that d break the teeth av a lion if he had the misfortune to take a bite at one! [Unconsciously they have all raised BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF 41 their voices, forgetting the sick man in their sailor s delight at finding something to grumble about.] PAUL [Swings his feet over the side of his "bunk, stops playing his accordion, and says slowly] : And rot-ten po-tay-toes! [He starts in playing again. The sick man gives a groan of paw.] DRISCOLL [Holding up his hand.] Shut your mouths, all av you. "Tis a hell av a thing for us to be complainin about our guts, and a sick man maybe dyin listenin to us. [Gets up and shakes his fist at the Norwegian.] God stiffen you, ye square head scut! Put down that organ av yours or I ll break your ugly face for you. Is that banshee schreechin fit music for a sick man? [The Nor wegian puts his accordion in the bunk and lies back and closes his eyes. DRISCOLL goes over and stands beside YANK. The steamer s whistle sounds particw- loud in the silence.] DAVIS -Damn this fog! [Reaches m wider a bunk and yanks out a pair of seaboots, which he pulls on.] My lookout next, too. Must be nearly eight bells, boys. [With the exception of OLSON, all the men sitting up put on oilskins, sou* westers, sea- boots, etc., in preparation -for the watch on deck. Olson crawls into a lower bunk on the right.] SCOTTY My wheel. OLSON [Disgustedly.] Nothin but yust dirty weather all dis voyage. I yust can t sleep when 42 BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF weestle blow. [He turns his back to the light and is soon fast asleep and snoring.] SCOTTY If this fog keeps up, I m tellin* je, we ll no be in Carrdiff for a week or more. DRISCOLL Twas just such a night as this the auld Dover wint down. Just about this toime ut was, too, and we all sittin round in the fo castle, Yank beside me, whin all av a suddint we heard a great slitherin crash, and the ship heeled over till we was all in a heap on wan side. What came afther I disremimber exactly, except twas a hard shift to get the boats over the side before the auld teakittle sank. Yank was in the same boat wid me, and sivin morthal days we drifted wid scarcely a drop of wather or a bite to chew on. Twas Yank here that held me down whin I wanted to jump into the ocean, roarin mad wid the thirst. Picked up we were on the same day wid only Yank in his senses, and him steerin the boat. COCKY [Protestmgly.~\ Blimey but you re a cheerful blighter, Driscoll! Talkin abaht ship wrecks in this ere blushin fog. [YANK groans and stirs uneasily, opening his eyes. DRISCOLL hurries to his side.] DRISCOLL Are ye feelin any betther, Yank? YANK [In a weak voice.] No. DRISCOLL Sure, you must be. You look as sthrong as an ox. [Appealing to the others.] Am I tellin him a lie? BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF 43 DAVIS The sleep s done you good. COCKY You ll be avin your pint of beer in Car diff this day week. SCOTTY And fish and chips, mon! YANK- [Peevishly.] What re yuh all lyin fur? D yuh think I m scared to [He hesitates as if frightened by the word he is about to say.] DEISCOLL Don t be thinkin such things! [The ship s bell is heard heavily tolling eight times. From the fo itcastle head above the voice of the lookout rises in a long wail: Aaall s welll. The men look un~ certainly at YANK as if undecided whether to say good-by or not.] YANK [In an agony of fear.] Don t leave me, Dmsc ! I m dyin , I tell yuh. I won t stay here alone with every one snorin . I ll go out on deck. [He makes a feeble attempt to rise, but sinks back with a sharp groan. His breath comes in wheezy gasps.] Don t leave me, Drisc! [His face grows white and his head -falls back with a jerk.] DRISCOLL Don t be worryin , Yank. I ll not move a step out av here and let that divil av a bosun curse his black head off. You speak a word to the bosun, Cocky. Tell him that Yank is bad took and I ll be stayin wid him a while yet. COCKY Right-o. [COCKY, DAVIS, and SCOTTY go out quietly.] COCKY [From the alleyway.] Gawd blimey, the fog s thick as soup. 44 BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF DRISCOI/L Are ye satisfied now, Yank? [Receiv ing no answer, he bends over the still form.] He s fainted, God help him ! [He gets a tin dipper from the bucket and bathes YANK S forehead with the water. YANK shudders and opens his eyes.] YANK [Slowly, .] I thought I was goin then. Wha did yuh wanta wake me up fur? DRISCOI/L [With forced gayety.] Is it wishful for heaven ye are? YANK [Gloomily. } Hell, I guess. DRISCOLL [Crossing himself involuntarily. } For the love av the saints don t be talkin loike that! You d give a man the creeps. It s chippin rust on deck you ll be in a day or two wid the best av us. [YANK does not answer, but closes his eyes wearily. The seaman who has been on lookout, SMITTY, a young Englishman, comes in and takes off his drip ping oilskins. While he is doing this the man whose turn at the wheel has been relieved enters. He is a dark burly fellow with a round stupid face. The Englishman steps softly over to DRISCOLL. The other crawls into a lower bunk.} SMITTY [Whimpering.] How s Yank? DRISCOI/D Betther. Ask him yourself. He s awake. YANK I m all right, Smitty. SMITTY Glad to hear it, Yank. [He crawls to an upper bunk and is soon asleep.] IVAN [The stupid-faced seaman who came m af- BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF 45 ter SMITTY twists his head in the direction of the sick man.] You feel gude, Jank? YANK [Wearily.] Yes, Ivan. IVAN Dot s gude. [He rolls over on his side and falls asleep immediately.] YANK [After a pause broken only by snores with a bitter laugh.] Good-by and good luck to the lot of you! ,^> /DRISCOLL Is ut painin you again? YANK It hurts like hell here. [He points to the lower part of his chest on the left side.] I guess my old pump s busted. Ooohh ! [A spasm of pain contracts hfe pale features. He presses his hand to his side and writhes on the thin mattress of his bunk. The perspiration stands out in beads on his fore head.] DRISCOLL [Terrified.] Yank! Yank! What is ut? [Jumping to his feet.] I ll run for the cap tain. [He starts for the doorway.] YANK [Sitting up in his bunk, frantic with fear.] Don t leave me, Drisc! For God s sake <lon t leave me alone ! [He leans over the side of his bunk and spits. DBJSCOLL comes back to him.] Blood! Ugh! DRISCOLL Blood again! I d best be gettin the captain. YANK No, no, don t leave me ! If yuh do I ll git up and follow you. I ain t no coward, but I m scared to stay here with all of them asleep and 46 BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF snorin*. [DRISCOLL, not knowing what to do, sits down on the bench beside him. He grows calmer and sinks back on the mattress.~\ The captain can t do me no good, yuh know it yourself. The pain ain t so bad now, but I thought it had me then. It was like a buzz-saw cuttin into me. DRISCOLL [Fiercely.] God blarst ut! [The captain and the second mate of the steamer enter the forecastle. The captam is an old man with gray mustache and whiskers. The mate is clean-shaven and middle-aged. Both are dressed in simple blue uniforms.] THE CAPTAIN [Taking out his watch and feeling YANK S pulse] And how is the sick man? YANK [Feebly.] All right, sir. THE CAPTAIN And the pain in the chest? YANK It still hurts, sir, worse than ever. THE CAPTAIN [Taking a thermometer from his pocket and putting it into YANK S mouth] Here. Be sure and keep this in under your tongue, not over it. THE MATE [After a pause.] Isn t this your watch on deck, DRISCOI/L? DRISCOLL Yes, sorr, but Yank was fearin* to be alone, and THE CAPTAIN That s all right, Driscoll. DRISCOLL Thank ye, sorr. THE CAPTAIN [Stares at his watch for a mo ment or so; then takes the thermometer from YANK S BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF 47 mouth and goes to the lamp to read it. His ex pression grows very grave. He beckons the MATE and DRISCOLL to the corner near the doorway. YANK watches them furtively. The CAPTAIN speaks in a low voice to the MATE.] Way up, both of them. [To DRISCOLL] : Has he been spitting blood again? DRISCOLL Not much for the hour just past, sorr, but before that THE CAPTAIN A great deal? DRISCOLL Yes, sorr. THE CAPTAIN He hasn t eaten anything? DRISCOLL No, sorr. THE CAPTAIN Did he drink that medicine I sent him? DRISCOLL Yes, sorr, but it didn t stay down. THE CAPTAIN [Shaking his head.] I m afraid he s very weak. I can t do anything else for him. It s too serious for me. If this had only happened a week later we d be in Cardiff in time to DRISCOLL Plaze help him some way, sorr! THE CAPTAIN [Impatiently.] But, my goocl man, I m not a doctor. [More Jcindly as he sees DRISCOLL S grief.] You and he have been shipmates a long time? DRISCOLL Five years and more, sorr. THE CAPTAIN I see. Well, don t let him move. Keep him quiet and we ll hope for the best. I ll read the matter up and send him some medicine, some thing to ease the pain, anyway. [Goes over to 48 BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF YANK.] Keep up your courage! You ll be better to-morrow. [He breaks down lamely before YANK S steady gaze] We ll pull you through all right and hm well coming, Robinson? Dammit! [He goes out hurriedly, followed by the MATE.] J -- DRISCOLL [Trying to conceal his anxiety.] Didn t I tell you you wasn t half as sick as you thought you was? The Captain ll have you out on deck cursin and swearin loike a trooper before the week is out. YANK Don t lie, DRISC. I heard what he said, and if I didn t I c d tell by the way I feel. I know what s goin to happen. I m goin to [He hesi tates for a second then resolutely.] I m goin to die, that s what, and the sooner the better! DRISCOLL [Wildly.] No, and be damned to you, you re not. I ll not let you. YANK It ain t no use, Drisc. I ain t got a chance, but I ain t scared. Gimme a drink of water, will yuh, Drisc? My throat s burnin up. [DRIS COLL brings the dipper full of water and supports his head while he drinks m great gulps] DRISCOLL [Seeking vainly for some word of com fort] Are ye feelin more aisy loike now? YANK Yes now when I know it s all up. [A pause] You must nt take it so hard, Drisc. I was just thinkin it ain t as bad as people think dyin . I ain t never took much stock in the truck them sky-pilots preach. ^ I ain t never had religion ; BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF 49 but I know whatever it is what comes after it can t be no worser n this. I don t like to leave you, Drisc, but that s all. DRISCOLL [With a groan.] Lad, lad, don t be talkin . YANK This sailor life ain t much to cry about leavin just one ship after another, hard work, small pay, and bum grub ; and when we git into port, just a drunk endin up in a fight, and all your money gone, and then ship away again. Never meetin no nice people ; never gittin outa sailor town, hardly, in any port ; travellin all over the world and never seein none of it ; without no one to care whether you re alive or dead. [With a bitter smile.] There ain t much in all that that d make yuh sorry to lose it, Drisc. DRISCOLL [Gloomily.] It s a hell av a life, the sea. YANK [Musingly.] It must be great to stay on dry land all your life and have a farm with a house of your own with cows land pigs and chickens, way in the middle of the land where yuh d never smell the sea or see a ship. It must be great to have a wife, and kids to play with at night after supper when your work was done. It must be great to have a home of your own, Drisc. DRISCOLL [With a great sigh.] It must, surely ; but what s the use av thinkin av ut? Such things are not for the loikes av us. 50 BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF YANK Sea-farin is all right when you re young and don t care, but we ain t chickens no more, and / 1 somehow, I dunno, this last year has seemed rotten, and I ve had a hunch I d quit with you, of course and we d save our coin, and go to Canada or Argentine or some place and git a farm, just a small one, just enough to live on. I never told yuh this cause I thought you d laugh at me. DBISCOLL [Enthusiastically.] Laugh at you, is ut? When I m havin the same thoughts myself, toime afther toime. It s a grand idea and we ll be doin ut sure if you ll stop your crazy notions about about bein so sick. YANK [Sadly. ,] Too late. We shouldn ta made this trip, and then > How d all the fog git in here ? DRISCOLL Fog ? YANK Everything looks misty. Must be my eyes gittin weak, I guess. What was we talkin of a minute ago? Oh, yes, a farm. It s too late. [His mind wandering] Argentine, did I say? D yuh remember the times we ve had in Buenos Aires ? The moving pictures in Barracas? Some class to them, d yuh remember? DRISCOI/L [With satisfaction. ] I do that; and so does the piany player. He ll not be f orgettin the black eye I gave him in a hurry. YANK Remember the time we was there on the beach and had to go to Tommy Moore s boarding BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF 51 house to git shipped? And he sold us rotten oil skins and seaboots full of holes, and shipped us on a skysail yarder round the Horn, and took two months pay for it. And the days we used to sit on the park benches along the Paseo Colon with the vigilantes lookin hard at us? And the songs at the Sailor s Opera where the guy played ragtime d yuh remember them? DRISCOLL, I do, surely. YANK And La Plata phew, the stink of the hides ! I always liked Argentine all except that booze, cana. ^How drunk we used to git on that, remember? DRISCOLL Cud I forget ut? My head pains me at the menshun av^that divil s brew. YANK Remember the night I went crazy with the heat in Singapore? And the time you was pinched by the cops in Port Said? And the time we was both locked up in Sydney for fightin ? DRISCOLL I do so. YANK And that fight on the dock at Cape Town [His voice betrays great inward per turbation.] DRISCOLL [Hastily. ] Don t be thinkin av that now. Tis past and gone. YANK D yuh think He ll hold it up against me? DRISCOLL [Mystified.] Who s that? YANK God. They say He sees everything. He 52 BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF must know it was done in fair fight, in self-defense, don t yuh think? DEISCOLL Av course. Ye stabbed him, and be damned to him, for the skulkin swine he was, afther him tryin to stick you in the back, and you not suspectin . [Let your conscience be aisy. I wisht I had nothin blacker than that on my sowl. I d not be afraid av the angel Gabriel himself. YANK [With a shudder.] I c d see him a minute ago with the blood spurtin out of his neck. Ugh ! DRISCOKL The fever, ut is, that makes you see such things. Give no heed to ut. YANK [Uncertainly.] You don t think He ll hold it up agin me God, I mean. DRISCOKL If there s justice in hiven, no! [YANK seems comforted by this assurance.] YANK [After a pause.] We won t reach Car diff for a week at least. I ll be buried at sea. DRISCOI/L [Putting his hands over his ears.] Ssshh ! I won t listen to you. YANK [As if he had not heard him.] It s as good a place as any other, I s pose only I always wanted to be buried on dry land. But what the hell ll I care then? [Fretfully.] Why should it be a rotten night like this^ with that damned whistle blowin and people snorin all round? I wish the stars was out, and the moon, too ; I c d lie out on deck and look at them, and it d make it easier to go somehow. BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF 53 DRISCOLL For the love av God don t be talkin loike that ! YANK Whatever pay s comin to me yuh can divvy up with the rest of the boys ; and you take my watch. It ain t worth much, but it s all I ve got. DRISCOLL But have ye no relations at all to call your own? YANK No, not as I know of. One thing I forgot : You know Fanny the barmaid at the Red Stork in Cardiff? DRISCOLL Sure, and who doesn t? YANK She s been good to me. She tried to lend me half a crown when I was broke there last trip. Buy her the biggest box of candy yuh c n find in Cardiff. [Breaking dorm in a choking voice.] It s hard to ship on this voyage I m goin on alone ! [DRISCOLL reaches out and grasps his hand. There is a pause, during which both fight to control them selves.] My throat s like a furnace. [He gasps for air.] Gimme a drink of water, will yuh, Drisc? [DRISCOLL gets him a dipper of water.] I wish this was a pint of beer. Oooohh ! [He chokes, his face convulsed with agony, his hands tearing at his shirt front. The dipper falls from his nerveless fingers.] DRISCOLL For the love av God, what is ut, Yank? YANK [Speaking with tremendous difficulty.] S long, Drisc ! [He stares straight in front of him with eyes starting from their sockets.] Who s that? 54 BOUND EAST FOR CARDIFF DRISCOLL Who? What? YANK [Faintly.] A pretty lady dressed in black. [His face twitches and his body writhes in a final spasm, then straightens out rigidly] DRISCOLL [Pale with horror.] Yank! Yank! Say a word to me for the love av hiven! [He shrinks away from the bunk, making the sign of the cross. Then comes back and puts a trembling hand on YANK S chest and bends closely over the body] COCKY [From the alleyway] Oh, Driscoll! Can you leave Yank for arf a mo and give me a and? y DRISCOLL [With a great sob] Yank! [He sinks down on his knees beside the bunk, his head on his hands. His lips move in some half -remembered prayer] COCKY [Enters, his oilskins and sou wester glis tening with drops of water] The fog s lifted. [COCKY sees DRISCOLL and stands staring at him with open mouth. DRISCOLL makes the sign of the cross again] COCKY [Mockingly] Sayin is prayers ! [He catches sight of the still figure in the bunk and an expression of awed understanding comes over his face. He takes off his dripping sou wester and stands, scratching his head] COCKY [In a hushed whisper] Gawd blimey! [The Curtain Falls] THE LONG VOYAGE HOME A Play In One Act CHARACTERS FAT JOE, proprietor of a dive. NICK, a crimp. MAG, a barmaid. OLSON DRISCOI/L I Seamen of the British tramp steamer, COCKY I Glencairn. IVAN KATE FREDA Two ROUGHS THE LONG VOYAGE HOME SCENE The bar of a low dive on the London water front a squalid, dingy room dmly lighted by kerosene lamps placed in brackets on the walls. On the left, the bar. In front of it, a door lead ing to a side room. On the right, tables with chairs around them. In the rear, a door lead- mg to the street. A slovenly barmaid with a stupid face sod den with drink is mopping off the bar. Her arm moves back and forth mechanically and her eyes are half shut a$ if she were dozing on her feet. At the far end of the bar stands FAT JOE, the proprietor, a gross bulk of a man with an enormous stomach. His face is red and bloated, his little piggish eyes being almost concealed by rolls of fat. The thick fingers of his big hands are loaded with cheap rings and a gold watch chain of cable-like propor tions stretches across his checked waistcoat. At one of the tables, front, a round-shoul dered young fellow is sitting, smoking a ciga rette. His face is pasty, his mouth weak, his 57 58 THE LONG VOYAGE HOME eyes shifting and cruel. He is dressed in a shabby suit, which must have once been cheaply flashy, and wears a muffler and cap. It is about nine o clock in the evening. Blimey if bizness ain t arf slow to-night. I donnow wot s appened. The place is like a bleedin tomb. Where s all the sailor men, I d like to know? [Raising his voice, ,] Ho, you Nick! fNicK turns around listlessly.] Wot s the name o that wessel put in at the dock below jest arter noon? NICK [Laconic ally. ,] Glencairn from Bewne- zerry. (Buenos Aires). JOE Ain t the crew been paid orf yet? NICK Paid orf this arternoon, they tole me. I opped on board of er an seen em. Anded em some o yer cards, I did. They promised faithful they d appen in to-night them as whose time was done. JOE Any two-year men to be paid orf? NICK Four three Britishers an a square- ead. JOE [Indignantly. ] An yer popped orf an left em? An me a-payin yer to elp an bring em in ere! NICK [Grumblingly.] Much you pays me ! An I ain t slingin me ook abaht the ole bleedin town fur now man. See? JOE I ain t speakin on y fur meself. Down t THE LONG VOYAGE HOME 59 I always give yer yer share, fair an square, as man to man? NICK [With a sneer. ~\ Yus b cause you as to. JOE As to? Listen to im! There s many d be appy to ave your berth, me man! NICK Yus? Wot wiv the peelers li ble to put me away in the bloody jail fur crimpin , an all? JOE [Indignantly.] We down t do no crimpin . NICK [Sarcastically.] Ho, now! Not arf ! JOE [A bit embarrassed.] Well, on y a bit now an agen when there ain t no reg lar trade. [To hide his confusion he turns to the barmaid angrily. She is still mopping off the bar, her chin on her breast, half -asleep.] Ere, me gel, we ve ad enough o that. You been a-moppin , an a-moppin , an a-moppm* the blarsted bar fur a ole our. Op it aht o this ! You d fair guv a bloke the shakes a-watchin yer. MAG [Beginning to sniffle.] Ow, you do frighten me when you oiler at me, Joe. I ain t a bad gel, I ain t. Gawd knows I tries to do me best fur you. [She bursts into a tempest of sobs.] JOE [Roughly.] Stop yer grizzlin ! An op it aht of ere! NICK [Chuckling] She s drunk, Joe. Been ittin the gin, eh, Mag? MAG [Ceases crying at once and turns on him -furiously] You little crab, you! Orter wear a muzzle, you ort ! A-openin of your ugly mouth to a onest woman what ain t never done you no arm. 60 THE LONG VOYAGE HOME [Commencing to sob again.} H abusin me like a dawg cos I m sick an orf me oats, an all. JOE Orf yer go, me gel ! Go hupstairs and a\e a sleep. I ll wake yer if I wants yer. An wake the two gels when yer goes hup. It s arpas nine an time as some one was a-comin in, tell em. D yer ear me? MAG [Stumbling around the bar to the door on left sobbing.] Yus, yus, I ears you. Gawd knows wot s goin to appen to me, I m that sick. Much you cares if I dies, down t you? [She goes out.] JOE [Still brooding over NICK S lack of dili gence after a pause.] Four two-year men paid orf wiv their bloody pockets full o sovereigns an yer lorst em. [He shakes his head sorrowfully.] NICK [Impatiently.] Stow it! They promised faithful they d come, I tells yer. They ll be walkin in in arf a mo ? . There s lots o time yet. [In a low voice.] Ave yer got the drops? We might wanter use em. JOE [Taking a small bottle from behind the bar.] Yus ; ere it is. NICK [With satisfaction.] Righto! [His shifty eyes peer about the room searchingly. Then he beckons to JOE, who comes over to the table and sits down.] Reason I arst yer about the drops was cause I seen the capt n of the Amindra this arter- noon. JOE The Amindra? Wot ship is that? THE LONG VOYAGE HOME 61 NICK Bloody windjammer skys l yarder full rigged painted white been layin at the dock above ere fur a month. You knows er. JOE Ho, yus. I knows now. NICK The capt n says as e wants a man special bad ter-night. They sails at daybreak ter- morrer. JOE There s plenty o ands lyin abaht waitin* fur ships, I should fink. NICK Not fur this ship, ole buck. The capt n an mate are bloody slave-drivers, an they re bound down round the Orn. They arf starved the ands on the larst trip ere, an no one ll dare ship on er. [After a pause.] I promised the capt n faithful I d get im one, and ter-night. JOE [Doubtfully. } An ow are yer goin* to git im? NICK [With a wink. ] I was thinkin as one of em from the Glencairn d do them as was paid orf an is comin ere. JOE [With a grin.~\ It d be a good aul, that s the troof. [Frowning.] If they comes ere. NICK They ll come, an they ll all be rotten drunk, wait an see. [There is the noise of loud, bois terous singing from the street] Sounds like em, now. [He opens the street door and looks out] Gawd blimey if it ain t the four of em! [Turning to Joe in triumph] Naw, what d yer say? They re lookin for the place. I ll go aht an tell em. [He 62 THE LONG VOYAGE HOME goes out. Joe gets into position behind the bar, as suming his most oily smile. A moment later the door is opened, admitting DRISCOLL, COCKY, IVAN and OLSON. DRISCOLL is a tall, powerful Irishman; COCKY, a wizened runt of a man with a straggling gray mustache; IVAN, a hulking oaf of a peasant; OLSON, a stocky, middle-aged Swede with, round, childish blue eyes. The first three are all very drunk, especially IVAN, who is managing his legs with difficulty. OLSON is perfectly sober. All are dressed in their ill-fitting shore clothes and look very un comfortable. DRISCOLL has unbuttoned his stiff col lar and its ends stick out sideways. He has lost his tie. NICK slinks into the room after them and sits down at a table in rear. The seamen come to the table, front. ] JOE [With affected heartiness. ] Ship ahoy, mates ! Appy to see yer ome safe an sound. DRISCOLL [Turns round, swaying a bit, and peers at him across the bar.~\ So ut s you, is ut? [He looks about the place with an air of recogni tion.] An the same damn rat s-hole, sure enough. I remimber foive or six years back twas here I was sthripped av me last shillin whin I was aslape. [With sudden fury.~\ God stiffen ye, come none av your dog s thricks on me this trip or I ll [He shakes his fist at JOE.] JOE [Hastily interrupting. ] Yer must be mis- taiken. This is a onest place, this is. THE LONG VOYAGE HOME 63 COCKY [Derisively."] Ho, yus! An you re a bleedin angel, I s pose? IVAN [Vaguely taking off his derby hat and putting it on again plaintively.] I don li-ike dis place. DRISCOLL [Going over to the bar as genial as he was furious a moment before.] Well, no matther, tis all past an gone an forgot. I m not the man to be holdin harrd feelin s on me first night ashore, an me dhrunk as a lord. [He holds out his hand, which JOE takes very gingerly.] We ll all be havin a dhrink, I m thinkin . Whiskey for the three av us Irish whiskey ! COCKY [Mockingly.] An a glarse o ginger beer fur our blarsted love-child ere. [He jerks his thumb at OLSON.] OLSON [With a good-natured grin.] I bane a good boy dis night, for one time. DRISCOLL [Bellowing, and pointing to NICK as JOE brings the drinks to the table.] An see what that crimpin son av a crimp ll be wantin an have your own pleasure. [He pulls a sovereign out of his pocket and slams it on the bar.] NICK Guv me a pint o beer, Joe. [JoE draws the beer and takes it down to the far end of the bar. NICK comes over to get it and JOE gives him a sig nificant wink and nods toward the door on the left. NICK signals back that he understands.] COCKY [Drink in hand impatiently.] I m that 64 THE LONG VOYAGE HOME bloody dry! [Lifting his glass to DRISCOLL.] Cheero, ole dear, cheero! DRISCOLL [Pocketing his change without look ing at it.] A toast for ye: Hell roast that divil av a bo sun! [He drinks.] COCKY Righto! Gawd strike im blind! [He drains his glass.] IVAN [Half -asleep.] Dot s gude. [He tosses down his drink in one gulp. OLSON sips his ginger ale. NICK takes a swallow of his beer and then comes round the bar and goes out the door on left.] COCKY [Producing a sovereign.] Ho there, you Fatty! Guv us another! JOE The saime, mates? COCKY Yus. DRISCOLL No, ye scut ! I ll be havin a pint av beer. I m dhry as a loime kiln. IVAN [Suddenly getting to his feet in a befud dled manner and nearly upsetting the table.] I don li-ike dis place! I wan see girls plenty girls. [Pathetically.] I don t li-ike dis place. I wan dance with girl. DRISCOLL [Pushing him back on his chair with a thud.] Shut up, ye Rooshan baboon! A foine Romeo you d make in your condishun. [!VAN blub bers some incoherent protest then suddenly falls asleep.] JOE [Bringing the drinks looks at OLSON.] An you, matey? THE LONG VOYAGE HOME 65 OLSON [Shaking his head.] Noting dis time, thank you. COCKY [Mockingly.] A-saivin of is money, *e is ! Goin back to ome an mother. Goin to buy a bloomin farm an punch the blarsted dirt, that s wot e is ! [Spitting disgustedly.] There s a funny bird of a sailor man for yer, Gawd blimey ! OLSON [Wearing the same good-natured grin.~\ Yust what I like, Cocky. I wus on farm long time when I wus kid. DRISCOLL Lave him alone, ye bloody insect! Tis a foine sight to see a man wid some sense in his head instead av a damn fool the loike av us. I only wisht I d a mother alive to call me own. I d not be dhrunk in this divil s hole this minute, maybe. COCKY [Commencing to weep dolorously.] Ow, down t talk, Drisc! I can t bear to ear you. I ain t never ad no mother, I ain t DRISCOLL Shut up, ye ape, an don t be makin that squealin . If ye cud see your ugly face, wid the big red nose av ye all screwed up in a knot, ye d never shed a tear the rist av your loife. [Roar ing into song.] We ar-re the byes av We-e-exford who fought wid hearrt an hand ! [Speaking.] To hell wid Ulster! [He drinks and the others follow his example.] An I ll strip to any man in the city av London won t dhrink to that toast. [He glares truculently at JOE, who immediately downs his beer. NICK enters again from the door on the left and 66 THE LONG VOYAGE HOME comes up to JOE and whispers in his ear. The lat ter nods with satisfaction.] DRISCOLL [Glowering at them] What divil s thrick are ye up to now, the two av ye? [He -flour ishes a brawny fist.] Play fair wid us or ye deal wid me! JOE [Hastily] No trick, shipmate ! May Gawd kill me if that ain t troof ! NICK [Indicating IVAN, who is snoring] On y your mate there was arskin fur gels an I thorght as ow yer d like em to come dawhn and ave a wet wiv yer. JOE [With a smirking wink] Pretty, olesome gels they be, ain t they, Nick?" NICK Yus. COCKY Aar! I knows the gels you as, not arf ! They d fair blind yer, they re that omely. None of yer bloomin gels fur me, ole Fatty. Me an* Drisc knows a place, down t we, Drisc?" DRISCOLL Divil a lie, we do. An we ll be afther goin there in a minute. There s music there an a bit av a dance to liven a man. JOE Nick, ere, can play yer a tune, can t yer, Nick? NICK Yus. JOE An* yer can ave a dance in the side room ere. DRISCOLL Hurroo! Now you re talkin*. [The two women, FREDA and KATE, enter from the left. THE LONG VOYAGE HOME 67 FREDA is a little, sallows-faced blonde. KATE is stout and dark.} COCKY [In a loud aside to DRISCOLL.] Gawd blimey, look at em! Ain t they orrible? [The women come forward to the table, wearing their best set smiles. ] FREDA [In a raspy voice. ~\ Ullo, mates. KATE Ad a good voyage? DRISCOLL Rotten; but no matther. Welcome, as the sayin is, an sit down, an what ll ye be takin for your thirst? [To KATE.] You ll be sittin by me, darlin what s your name? KATE [With a stupid grin.} Kate. [She stands by his chair. ~\ DRISCOLL [Putting his arm around her."] A good Irish name, but you re English by the trim av ye, an be damned to you. But no matther. Ut s fat ye are, Katy dear, an I never cud endure skinny wimin. [FREDA favors him with a viperish glance and sits down by OLSON.] What ll ye have? OLSON No, Drisc. Dis one bane on me. [He takes out a roll of notes from his inside pocket and lays one on the table. JOE, NICK, and the women look at the money with greedy eyes. IVAN gives a particularly violent snore. ^ FREDA Waike up your fren . Gawd, ow I ates to ear snorin*. DRISCOLL [Springing to action, smashes IVAN S derby over his ears.} D you hear the lady talkin* 68 THE LONG VOYAGE HOME to ye, ye Rooshan swab? [The only reply to this is a snore. DRISCOLL pulls the battered remains of the derby off IVAN S head and smashes it back again. } Arise an shine, ye dhrunken swine ! [An other snore. The women giggle. DRISCOLL throws the beer left in his glass into IVAN S face. The Rus sian comes to in a flash, spluttering. There is a roar of laughter.] IVAN [Indignantly. ] I tell you dot s some- ting I don li-ike ! COCKY Down t waste good beer, Drisc. IVAN [Grumblingly.] I tell you dot is not ri-ight. DRISCOLL Ut s your own doin , Ivan. Ye was moanin for girrls an whin they come you sit grunt- in loike a pig in a sty. Have ye no manners? [IVAN seems to see the women for the first time and grins foolishly.] KATE [Laughing at him.] Cheero, ole chum, ows Russha? IVAN [Greatli) pleased putting his hand in his pocket. ] I buy a drink. OLSON No; dis one bane on me. [To JOE.] Hey, you faller!" JOE Wot ll it be, Kate?" KATE Gin. FREDA Brandy. DRISCOLL An Irish whiskey for the rist av us THE LONG VOYAGE HOME 69 wid the excipshun av our timperance friend, God pity him! FREDA [To OLSON.] You ain t drinkin ? OLSON [Half -ashamed. ] No. FREDA [With a seductive smile. ] I down t blame yer. You got sense, you ave. I on y tike a nip o brandy now an agen fur my ealth. [JoE brings the drinks and OLSON S change. COCKY gets unsteadily to his -feet and raises his glass in the air.] COCKY Ere s a toff toast for yer: The ladies, Gawd [He hesitates then adds in a grudging tone.] bless em. KATE [With a silly giggle.} Oo-er! That wasn t what you was goin to say, you bad Cocky, you! [They all drink. } DRISCOLL [To NICK.] Where s the tune ye was promisin to give us? NICK Come ahn in the side ere an you ll ear it. DRISCOLL [Getting up.] Come on, all av ye. We ll have a tune an a dance if I m not too dhrunk to dance, God help me. [COCKY and IVAN stagger to their -feet. IVAN can hardly stand. He is leer ing at KATE and snickering to himself in a maudlin fashion. The three, led by NICK, go out the door on the left. KATE follows them. OLSON and FREDA remain seated.] COCKY [Calling over his shoulder.] Come on an dance, Ollie. OLSON Yes, I come. [He starts to get up. 70 THE LONG VOYAGE HOME From the side room comes the sound of an accordion and a boisterous whoop from DRISCOLL, followed by a heavy stamping of feet.] FREDA Ow, down t go in there. Stay ere an ave a talk wiv me. They re all drunk an you ain t drinkin . [With a smile up into his face.] I ll think yer don t like me if yer goes in there. OLSON [Confused.] You wus wrong, Miss Freda. I don t I mean I do like you. FREDA [Smiling puts her hand over his on the table.] An I likes you. Yer a genelman. You don t get drunk an hinsult poor gels wot as a ard an uneppy life. OLSON [Pleased but still more confused wrig gling his feet.] I bane drunk many time, Miss Freda. FREDA Then why ain t yer drinkin now? [She exchanges a quick, questioning glance with JOE, who nods back at her then she continues persuasively.] Tell me somethin abaht yeself. OLSON [With, a grin.] There ain t noting to say, Miss Freda. I bane poor devil sailor man, dat s all. FREDA Where was you born Norway? [OLSON shakes his head.] Denmark? OLSON No. You guess once more. FREDA Then it must be Sweden. OLSON Yes. I wus born in Stockholm. FREDA [Pretending great delight.] Ow, ain t THE LONG VOYAGE HOME 71 that funny! I was born there, too in Stockholm. OLSON [Astonished.] You wus born in Sweden? FREDA Yes; you wouldn t think it, but it s Gawd s troof. [She claps her hands delightedly. ] OLSON [Beaming all over.] You speak Swed ish? FREDA [Trying to smile sadly. ~\ Now. Y see my ole man an woman come ere to England when I was on y a baby an they was speakin English b fore I was old enough to learn. Sow I never knew Swedish. [Sadly.] Wisht I ad! [With a smile.] We d ave a bloomin lark of it if I ad, wouldn t we? OLSON It sound nice to hear the old talk yust once in a time. FREDA Righto ! No place like yer ome, I says. Are yer goin up to to Stockholm b fore yer ships away agen? OLSON Yes. I go home from here to Stockholm. [Proudly.] As passenger! FREDA An you ll git another ship up there arter you ve ad a vacation? OLSON No. I don t never ship on sea no more. I got all sea I want for my life too much hard work for little money. Yust work, work, work on ship. I don t want more. FREDA Ow, I see. That s why you give up drinkin . 72 THE LONG VOYAGE HOME OLSON Yes. {With a grin.] If I drink I yust get drunk and spend all money. FREDA But if you ain t gointer be a sailor no more, what ll yer do ? You been a sailor all yer life, ain t ^ * r ? OLSON No. I work on farm till I am eighteen. I like it, too it s nice work on farm. FREDA But ain t Stockholm a city same s Lon don? Ain t no farms there, is there? OLSON We live my brother and mother live my father iss dead on farm yust a little way from Stockholm. I have plenty money, now. I go back with two years pay and buy more land yet; work on farm. [Grinning.] No more sea, no more bum grub, no more storms yust nice work. FREDA Ow, ain t that luv ly ! I s pose you ll be gittin married, too? OLSON [Very much confused.] I don t know. I like to, if I find nice girl, maybe. FREDA Ain t yer got some gel back in Stock holm? I bet yer as. OLSON No. I got nice girl once before I go on sea. But I go on ship, and I don t come back, and she marry other faller. [He grins sheepishly.] FREDA Well, it s nice for yer to be goin ome, anyway. OLSON Yes, I tank so. [There is a crash from the room on left and the music abruptly stops. A moment later COCKY and DRISCOLL appear, support- THE LONG VOYAGE HOME 73 ing the inert form of IVAN between them. He is in the last stage of intoxication, unable to move a mus cle. NICK follows them and sits down at the table in rear.] DRISCOLL [As they zigzag up to the bar.] Ut s dead he is, I m thinkin , for he s as limp as a blarsted corpse. COCKY [Puffing.] Gawd, e ain t arf eavy! DRISCOLL [Slapping IVAN S face with his free hand.] Wake up, ye divil, ye. Ut s no use. Gabriel s trumpet itself cudn t rouse him. [To JOE.] Give us a dhrink for I m perishing wid the thirst. Tis harrd worrk, this. JOE Whiskey ? DRISCOLL Irish whiskey, ye swab. [He puts down a coin on the bar. JOE serves COCKY and DRISCOLL. They drink and then swerve over to OLSON S table.] OLSON Sit down and rest for time, Drisc. DRISCOLL No, Ollie, we ll be takin this lad home to his bed. Ut s late for wan so young to be out in the night. An I d not trust him in this hole as dhrunk as he is, an him wid a full pay day on him. [Shaking his fist at JOE.] Oho, I know your games, me sonny bye ! JOE [With an air of grievance.] There yer goes again hinsultin a onest man ! COCKY Ho, listen to im! Guv im a shove in the marf, Drisc. 74 THE LONG VOYAGE HOME OLSON [Anxious to avoid a fight getting up.] I help you take Ivan to boarding house. FREDA [Protestingly.] Ow, you ain t gointer leave me, are yer? An we avin sech a nice talk, an all. DRISCOLL [With a wink] Ye hear what the lady says, Ollie. Ye d best stay here, me timperance lady s man. An we need no help. Tis only a bit av a way and we re two strong men if we are dhrunk. Ut s no hard shift to take the remains home. But ye can open the door for us, Ollie. [OLSON goes to the door and opens it.] Come on, Cocky, an don t be fallin aslape yourself. [They lurch toward the door. As they go out DRISCOLL shouts back over his shoulder.] We ll be comin back in a short time, surely. So wait here for us, Ollie. OLSON All right. I wait here, Drisc. [He stands in the doorway uncertainly. JOE makes vio lent signs to FREDA to bring him back. She goes over and puts her arm around OLSON S shoulder. JOE motions to NICK to come to the bar. They whisper together excitedly. ] FREDA [Coaxingly.] You ain t gointer leave me, are yer, dearie? [Then irritably. ] Fur Gawd s sake, shet that door! I m fair freezin to death wiv the fog. [OLSON comes to himself with a start and shuts the door.] OLSON [Humbly.] Excuse me, Miss Freda. FREDA [Leading him back to the table cough- THE LONG VOYAGE HOME 73 ing.] Buy me a drink o brandy, will yer? I m sow cold. OLSON All you want, Miss Freda, all you want. [To JOE, who is still whispering instructions to NICK.] Hey, Yoe! Brandy for Miss Freda. [He lays a coin on the table.] JOE Righto! [He pours out her drink and brings it to the table.] Avin somethink yeself, shipmate? OLSON No. I don t tank so. [He points to his glass with a grin.] Dis iss only belly-wash, no? [He laughs.] JOE [Hopefully.] Ave a man s drink. OLSON I would like to but no. If I drink one I want drink one tousand. [He laughs again.] FREDA [Responding to a vicious nudge from JOE S elbow.] Ow, tike somethin . I ain t gointer drink all be meself. OLSON Den give me a little yinger beer small one. [JoE goes back of the bar, making a sign to NICK to go to their table. NICK does so and stands so that the sailor cannot see what JOE is doing.] NICK [To make talk.] Where s yer mates popped orf ter ? [ JOE pours the contents of the lit tle bottle into OLSON S glass of ginger beer.] OLSON Dey take Ivan, dat drunk faller, to bed. They come back. [ JOE brings OLSON S drink to the table and sets it before him.] (76 THE LONG VOYAGE HOME JOE [To NICK angrily.] Op it, will yer? There ain t no time to be dawdlin . See ? Urry ! NICK Down t worry, ole bird, I m orf. [He hurries out the door. JOE returns to his place be hind the bar.] OLSON [After a pause worriedly.] I tank I should go after dem. Cocky iss very drunk, too, and Drisc FREDA Aar ! The big Irish is all right. Don t yer ear im say as ow they d surely come back ere, an fur you to wait fur em? OLSON Yes; but if dey don t come soon I tank I go see if dey are in boarding house all right. FREDA Where is the boardin ouse? OLSON Yust little way back from street here. FREDA You stayin there, too? OLSON Yes until steamer sail for Stockholm in two day. FREDA [She is alternately looking at JOE and feverishly trying to keep OLSON talking so he will forget about going away after the others.] Yer mother won t be arf glad to see yer agen, will she? [OLSON smiles.] Does she know yer comin ? OLSON No. I tought I would yust give her sur prise. I write to her from Bonos Eres but I don t tell her I come home. FREDA Must be old, ain t she, yer ole lady? OLSON She iss eighty-two. [He smiles reminis- cently.] You know, Miss Freda, I don t see my THE LONG VOYAGE HOME 77 mother or my brother in let me tank [He counts laboriously on his fingers.] must be more than ten year. I write once in while and she write many time; and my brother he write me, too. My mother say in all letter I should come home right away. My brother he write same ting, too. He want me to help him on farm. I write back always I come soon; and I mean all time to go back home at end of voyage. But I come ashore, I take one drink, I take many drinks, I get drunk, I spend all money, I have to ship away for other voyage. So dis time I say to myself: Don t drink one drink, Ollie, or, sure, you don t get home. And I want go home dis time. I feel homesick for farm and to see my people again. [He smiles.] Yust like little boy, I feel homesick. Dat s why I don t drink not ing to-night but dis belly-wash! [He roars with childish laughter, then suddenly becomes serious.] You know, Miss Freda, my mother get very old, and I want see her. She might die and I would never FREDA [Moved a lot in spite of herself.] Ow, don t talk like that! I jest ates to ear any one speakin abaht dyin . [The door to the street is opened and NICK enters, followed by two rough- looking, shabbily-dressed men, wearing mufflers, with caps pulled down over tlieir eyes. They sit at the table nearest to the door. JOE brings them three 78 THE LONG VOYAGE HOME beers, and there is a whispered consultation, with many glances in the direction of OLSON.] OLSON [Starting to get up worriedly. ] I tank I go round to boarding house. I tank some- ting go wrong with Drisc and Cocky. FREDA Ow, down t go. They kin take care of they selves. They ain t babies. Wait arf a mo*. You ain t ad yer drink yet. JOE [Coming hastily over to the table, indicates the men in the rear with a jerk of his thumb.] One of them blokes wants yer to a,ve a wet wiv im. FREDA Righto! [To OLSON.] Let s drink this. [She raises her glass. He does the same.] Ere s a toast fur yer : Success to yer bloomnr farm an may yer live long an appy on it. Skoal! [She tosses down her brandy. He swallows half his glass of ginger beer and makes a wry face.] OLSON Skoal ! [He puts down his glass.] FREDA [With feigned indignation.] Down t yer like my toast? OLSON [Grinning.] Yes. It iss very kind, Miss Freda. FREDA Then drink it all like I done. OLSON Well [He gulps down the rest.] Dere! [He laughs.] FREDA Done like a sport! ONE or THE ROUGHS [With a laugh.] Amindra, ahoy! NICK [ Warningly. ] Sssshh 1 THE LONG VOYAGE HOME 79 OLSON [Turns around in his chair. ] Amindra? Iss she in port? I sail on her once long time ago three mast, full rig, skys l yarder? Iss dat ship you mean? THE ROUGH [Grinning.] Yus; right you are. OLSON [Angrily. ,] I know dat damn ship worst ship dat sail to sea. Rotten grub and dey make you work all time and the Captain and Mate wus Bluenose devils. No sailor who know anyting ever ship on her. Where iss she bound from here? THE ROUGH Round Cape Orn sails at day break. OLSON Py yingo, I pity poor fallers make dat trip round Cape Stiff dis time year. I bet you some of dem never see port once again. [ He passes his hand over his eyes In a dazed way. His voice grows weaker. 1 Py golly, I feel dizzy. All the room go round and round like I wus drunk. [He gets weakly to his feet. } Good night, Miss Freda. I bane feeling sick. Tell Drisc I go home. [He takes a step forward and suddenly collapses over a chair., rolls to the floor, and lies there unconscious.] JOE [From behind the bar.~\ Quick, nawh! [NicK darts forward with JOE following. FREDA is already beside the unconscious man and has taken the roll of money from his inside pocket. She strips off a note furtively and shoves it into her bosom, trying to conceal her action, but JOE sees her. She hands the roll to JOE, who pockets it. NICK 80 THE LONG VOYAGE HOME goes through all the other pockets and lays a hand ful of change on the table.] JOE [Impatiently .~\ Urry, urry, can t yer? The other blokes ll be ere in arf a mo . [The two roughs come forward.] Ere, you two, tike im in under the arms like e was drunk. [They do so.] Tike im to the Amindra yer knows that, don t yer? two docks above. Nick ll show yer. An you, Nick, down t yer leave the bleedin ship till the capt n guvs yer this bloke s advance full month s pay five quid, d yer ear? NICK I knows me bizness, ole bird. [They sup port OLSON to the door.] THE ROUGH [As they are going out.] This silly bloke ll ave the s prise of is life when e wakes up on board of er. [They laugh. The door closes behind them. FREDA moves quickly for the door on the left but JOE gets m her way and stops her.] JOE [Threateningly.] Guv us what yer took! FREDA Took? I guv yer all e ad. JOE Yer a liar! I seen yer a-playin yer sneak- in tricks, but yer can t fool Joe. I m too old a and. [Furiously.] Guv it to me, yer bloody cow! [He grabs her by the arm.] FREDA Lemme alone ! I ain t got no JOE [Hits her viciously on the side of the jaw. She crumples up on the floor.] That ll learn yer! [He stoops down and fumbles in her bosom and pulls out the banknote^ which he stuffs into his pocket THE LONG VOYAGE HOME 81 with a grunt of satisfaction. KATE opens the door on the left and looks in then rushes to FREDA and lifts her head up m her arms.] KATE [Gently.] Pore dearie! [Looking at JOE angrily.] Been ittin* er agen, ave yer, yer cow ardly swine ! JOE Yus ; an* I ll it you, too, if yer don t keep yer marf shut. Tike er aht of ere! [KATE car ries FREDA into the next room. JOE goes "behind the bar. A moment later the outer door is opened and DRISCOLL and COCKY come in.] DRISCOLL Come on, Ollie. [He suddenly sees that OLSON is not there, and turns to JOE.] Where is ut he s gone to? JOE [With a meaning wink.] E an* Freda went aht t gether bout five minutes past. E s fair gone on er, e is. DRISCOLL [With a grin.] Oho, so that s ut, is ut? Who d think Ollie d be sich a divil wid the wimin? Tis lucky he s sober or she d have him stripped to his last ha penny. [Turning to COCKY, who is blinking sleepily.] What ll ye have, ye little scut? [To JOE.] Give me whiskey, Irish whiskey! [The Curtain Falls] IN THE ZONE A Play In One Act CHAEACTEES SMITTY DAVIS SwANSON SCOTTY IVAN PAUL JACK DEISCOLL, COCKY Seamen on the British Tramp Steamer Glencairn IN THE ZONE SCENE The seamen 9 s forecastle. On the right above the bunks three or four portholes covered with black cloth can be seen. On the floor near the doorway is a pail with a tin dipper. A lantern in the middle of the floor, turned down very low, throws a dim light around the place. Five men, SCOTTY, IVAN, SWANSON, SMITTY and PAUL, are in their bunks apparently asleep. It is about ten minutes of twelve on a night in the fall of the year 1915. SMITTY turns slowly in his bunk and, leaning out over the side, looks from one to another of the men as if to assure himself that they are asleep. Then he climbs carefully out of his bunk and stands in the middle of the forecastle fully dressed, but in his stocking feet, glancing around him suspiciously. Reassured, he leans down and cautiously pulls out a suit-case from under the bunks in front of him. Just at this moment DAVIS appears in the doorway, carrying a large steaming coffee-pot in his hand. He stops short when he sees 85 86 IN THE ZONE SMITTY. A puzzled expression comes over his face, followed by one of suspicion, and he re treats farther back in the alleyway, where he can watch SMITTY without being seen. All the latter s movements indicate a fear of discovery. He takes out a small bunch of keys and unlocks the suit-case, making a slight noise as he does so. SCOTTY wakes up and peers at him over the side of the bunk. SMITTY opens the suit-case and takes out a small black tin boa:, carefully places this under his mattress, shoves the suit-case back under the bunk, climbs into his bunk again, closes his eyes and begins to snore loudly. DAVIS enters the forecastle, places the coffee pot beside the lantern, and goes from one to the other of the sleepers and shakes them vigor ously, saying to each in a low voice: Near eight bells, Scotty. Arise and shine, Swanson. Eight bells, Ivan. SMITTY yawns loudly with a great pretense of having been dead asleep. All of the rest of the men tumble out of their bunks, stretching and gaping, and commence to pull on their shoes. They go one by one to the cupboard near the open door, take out their cups and spoons, and sit down together on the benches. The coffee-pot is passed around. They munch their biscuits and sip their coffee in dull silence. IN THE ZONE 87 DAVIS [Suddenly jumping to his feet nerv ously.] Where s that air comin from? [All are startled and look at him wonderingly.] SWANSON [A squat, surly-faced Swede grump ily. ] What air? I don t feel nothing. DAVIS [Excitedly.] I kin feel it a draft. [He stands on the bench and looks around sud denly exploding.] Damn fool square-head! [He leans over the upper bunk in which PAUL is sleeping and slams the porthole shut.] I got a good notion to report him. Serve him bloody well right ! What s the use o blindin the ports when that thick head goes an leaves em open? SWANSON [Yawning too sleepy to be aroused by anything carelessly.] Dey don t see what lit tle light go out yust one port. SCOTTY [Protestingly.] Dinna be a loon, Swanson ! D ye no ken the dangerr o showin a licht wi a pack o submarrines lyin aboot? IVAN [Shaking his shaggy ox-like head in an emphatic affirmative.] Dot s right, Scotty. I dori li-ike blow up, no, by devil! SMITTY [His manner slightly contemptuous.] I don t think there s much danger of meeting any of their submarines, not until we get into the War Zone, at any rate. DAVIS [He and SCOTTY look at SMITTY suspi ciously harshly.] You don t, eh? [He lowers his voice and speaks slowly.] Well, we re in the 88 IN THE ZONE war zone right this minit if you wants to know. [The effect of this speech is instantaneous. All sit bolt upright on their benches and stare at Davis.] SMITTY How do you know, Davis? DAVIS [Angrily. ] Cos Drisc heard the First send the Third below to wake the skipper when we fetched the zone bout five bells, it was. Now whata y got to say? SMITTY [Conciliatingly. .] Oh, I wasn t doubt ing your word, Davis; but you know they re not pasting up bulletins to let the crew know when the zone is reached especially on ammunition ships like this. IVAN [Decidedly. ] I don t li-ike dees voyage. Next time I ship on windjammer Boston to River Plate, load with wood only so it float, by golly I SWANSON [Fretfully.] I hope British navy blow em to hell, those submarines, py damn! SCOTTY [Looking at SMITTY, who is staring at the doorway in a dream, Ms chin on his hands. Meaningly.] It is no the submarrines only we ve to fear, I m thinkin . DAVIS [Assenting eagerly.] That s no lie, Scotty. SWANSON You mean the mines? SCOTTY I wasna thinkin o mines eitherr. DAVIS There s many a good ship blown up and at the bottom of the sea, what never hit no mine or torpedo. IN THE ZONE 89 SCOTTY Did ye neverr read of the Gerrman spies and the dirrty work they re doin all the war? [He and DAVIS both glance at SMITTY, who is deep m thought and is not listening to the conversation.] DAVIS An the clever way they fool you! SWANSON Sure; I read it in paper many time. DAVIS Well [He is about to speak but hesi tates and finishes lamely] you got to watch out, that s all I says. IVAN [Drinking the last of his coffee and slam ming his fist on the bench explosively.] I tell you dis rotten coffee give me belly-ache, yes! [They all look at him in amused disgust.] SCOTTY [Sardonically.] Dinna fret about it, Ivan. If we blow up ye ll no be mindin the pain in your middle. [JACK enters. He is a young Amer ican with a tough, good-natured face. He wears dungarees and a heavy jersey.] JACK Eight bells, fellers. IVAN [Stupidly.] I don hear bell ring. JACK No, and yuh won t hear any ring, yuh boob [Lowering his voice unconsciously.] now we re in the war zone. SWANSON [Anxiously.] Is the boats all ready? JACK Sure; we can lower em in a second. DAVIS A lot o good the boats ll do, with us loaded deep with all kinds o dynamite and stuff the like o that! If a torpedo hits this hooker we ll all be in hell b fore you could wink your eye. 90 IN THE ZONE JACK They ain t goin to hit us, see? That s my dope. Whose wheel is it ? IVAN [Sullenly. ] My wheel. [He lumbers out.~\ JACK And whose lookout? SWANSON Mine, I tink. [He follows IVAN.] JACK [Scornfully.] A hell of a lot of use keepin a lookout! We couldn t run away or fight if we wanted to. [To SCOTTY and SMITTY.] Bet ter look up the bo sun or the Fourth, you two, and let em see you re awake. [SCOTTY goes to the doorway and turns to wait for SMITTY, who is still in the same position, head on hands, seemingly un conscious of everything. JACK slaps him roughly on the shoulder and he comes to with a start.] Aft and report, Duke! What s the matter with yuh in a dope dream? [SMITTY goes out after SCOTTY without answering. JACK looks after him with a frown.] He s a queer guy. I can t figger him out. DAVIS Nor no one else. [Lowering his voice meaningly.] An he s liable to turn out queerer than any of us think if we ain t careful. JACK [Suspiciously.] What d yuh mean? [They are interrupted by the entrance of DRISCOI/L and COCKY.] COCKY [Protestingly] Blimey if I don t fink I ll put in this ere watch ahtside on deck. [He and DRISCOLL go over and get their cups] I down t want to be caught in this ole if they its us. [He pours out coffee.] IN THE ZONE 91 DRISCOLL [Pouring his.] Divil a bit ut wud mat- ther where ye arre. Ye d be blown to smithereens b fore ye cud say your name. [He sits down, over turning as he does so the untouched cup of coffee which SMITTY had forgotten and left on the bench. They all jump nervously as the t m cup hits the floor with a bang. DRISCOLL flies into an unreason ing rage.] Who s the dirty scut left this cup where a man ud sit on ut? DAVIS It s Smitty s. DRISCOLL [Kicking the cup across the fore castle.] Does he think he s too much av a bloody gentleman to put his own away loike the rist av us? If he does I m the bye ll beat that noshun out av his head. COCKY Be the airs e puts on you d think e was the Prince of Wales. Wot s e doin on a ship, I arsks yer? E ain t now good as a sailor, is e? dawdlin abaht on deck like a chicken wiv is ead cut orf ! JACK [Good-naturedly. ~\ Aw, the Duke s all right. S posin he did ferget his cup what s the dif? [He picks up the cup and puts it away with a grin.] This war zone stuff s got yer goat, Drisc and yours too, Cocky and I ain t cheerin much fur it myself, neither. COCKY [With a sigh.] Blimey, it ain t .no bleedin joke, yer first trip, to know as there s a ship full of shells li ble to go orf in under your/ 92 IN THE ZONE bloomin feet, as you might say, if we gets *it be a torpedo or mine. [With sudden savagery. } Calls the/selves uman bein s, too ! Blarsted Uns ! DRISCOI/L [Gloomily. ,] Tis me last trip in the bloody zone, God help me. The divil take their twenty-foive percent bonus and be drowned like a rat in a trap in the bargain, maybe. DAVIS Wouldn t be so bad if she wasn t carryin ammunition. Them s the kind the subs is layin for. DRISCOI/L [Irritably.] Fur the love av hivin, don t be talkin about ut. I m sick wid thinkin and jumpin at iviry bit av a noise. [There is a pause during which they all stare gloomily at the floor. ] JACK Hey, Davis, what was you sayin about Smitty when they come in? DAVIS [With a great air of mystery.] I ll tell you in a minit. I want to wait an see if he s comin 15 back. [Impress wely. ] You won t be callin him all right when you hears what I seen with my own eyes. [He adds with an air of satis faction.] An you won t be feelin no safer, neither. [They all look at him with puzzled glances full of a vague apprehension.] DRISCOI/L God blarst ut ! [He fills his pipe and lights it. The others, with an air of remembering something they had forgotten, do the same. SCOTTY enters.] IN THE ZONE 93 SCOTTY [In awed tones.] Mon, but it s clear outside the nicht! Like day. DAVIS [In low tones.] Where s Smitty, Scotty? SCOTTY Out on the hatch starin at the moon like a mon half-daft. DAVIS Kin you see him from the doorway? SCOTTY [Goes to doorway and carefully peeks out. ] Aye; he s still there. DAVIS Keep your eyes on him for a moment. I ve got something I wants to tell the boys and I don t want him walkin in in the middle of it. Give a shout if he starts this way. SCOTTY [With suppressed excitement. ] Aye, I ll watch him. And I ve somethin myself to tell aboot his Lordship. DRISCOLL [Impatiently.] Out wid ut! You re talkin more than a pair av auld women wud be standin in the road, and gittin no further along. DAVIS Listen! You member when I went to git the coffee, Jack? JACK Sure, I do. DAVIS Well, I brings it down here same as usual and got as far as the door there when I sees him. JACK Smitty ? DAVIS Yes, Smitty! He was standin in the middle of the fo c s tle there [Pomting.~\ lookin around sneakin -like at Ivan and Swanson and the rest s if he wants to make certain they re asleep. [He pauses significantly, looking from one to the 94 IN THE ZONE other of his listeners. SCOTTY is nervously dividmg his attention between SMITTY on the hatch outside and DAVIS story, fairly bursting to break in with his own revelations.] JACK [Impatiently.] What of it? DAVIS Listen! He was standin right there [Pointing again.] in his stockin feet no shoes on, mind, so he wouldn t make no noise! JACK [Spitting disgustedly. ] Aw! DAVIS [Not heeding the interruption.] I seen right away somethin on the queer was up so I slides back into the alleyway where I kin see him but he can t see me. After he makes sure they re all asleep he goes in under the bunks there bein careful not to raise a noise, mind ! an takes out his bag there. [By this time every one, JACK included, is listening breathlessly to his story.) Then he fishes in his pocket an takes out a bunch o keys an kneels down beside the bag an opens it. SCOTTY [Unable to keep silent longer.] Mon, didn t I see him do that same thing wi these two eyes. Twas just that moment I woke and spied him. DAVIS [Surprised, and a bit nettled to have to share his story with any one.] Oh, you seen him, too, eh? [To the others.] Then Scotty kin tell you if I m lyin or not. DRISCOLL An* what did he do whin he d the bag opened? IN THE ZONE 95 DAVIS He bends down and reaches out his hand sort o scared-like, like it was somethin dang rous he was after, an feels round in under his duds hidden in under his duds an wrapped up in em, it was an he brings out a black iron box! COCKY [Looking around him with a frightened glance.] Gawd blimey! [The others likewise be tray their uneasiness, shuffling their feet nervously.] DAVIS Ain t that right, Scott y? SCOTTY Right as rain, I m tellin ye ! DAVIS [To the others with an air of satisfac tion.] There you are! [Lowering his voice.] An then what d you suppose he did? Sneaks to his bunk an slips the black box in under his mattress in under his mattress, mind! JACK And it s there now? DAVIS Course it is ! [JACK starts toward SMIT- TY S bunk. DRISCOLL grabs him by the arm.] DRISCOLL Don t be touchin ut, JACK! JACK Yuh needn t worry. I ain t goin to touch it. [He pulls up SMITTY S mattress and looks down. The others stare at him, holding their breaths. He turns to them, trying hard to assume a careless tone.] It s there, aw right. COCKY [Miserably upset.] I m gointer op it aht on deck. [He gets up but DRISCOKL pulls him down again. COCKY protests.] It fair guvs me the trembles sittin still in ere. DRISCOLL [Scornfully.] Are ye frightened, ye 96 IN THE ZONE toad? "Tis a hell av a thing fur grown men to be shiverin loike childer at a bit av a black box. [Scratching his head in uneasy perplexity.] Still, ut s damn queer, the looks av ut. DAVIS [Sarcastically. ] A bit of a black box, eh? How big d you think them [He hesitates ] things has to be big as this fo c s tle? JACK [In a voice meant to be reassuring. } Aw, hell! I ll bet it ain t nothin but some coin he s saved he s got locked up in there. DAVIS [Scornfully.] That s likely, ain t it? Then why does he act so s picious? He s been on ship near two year, ain t he? He knows damn well there ain t no thief s in this fo c s tle, don t he? An you know s well s I do he didn t have no money when he came on board an he ain t saved none since. Don t you? [JACK doesn 9 t answer.] Lis ten! D you know what he done after he put that thing in under his mattress? an Scotty ll tell you if I ain t speakin truth. He looks round to see if any one s woke up SCOTTY I clapped my eyes shut when he turned round. DAVIS An then he crawls into his bunk an shuts his eyes, an starts in snoring pretending he was asleep; mind! SCOTTY Aye, I could hear him. DAVIS An when I goes to call him I don t even shake him. I just says, "Eight bells, Smitty," in IN THE ZONE 97 a most a whisper-like, an up he gets yawnin an s tret chin* fit to kill hisself s if he d been dead asleep. COCKY Gawd blimey ! DRISCOLL, [Shaking Ms head.} Ut looks bad, divil a doubt av ut. DAVIS [Excitedly. ,] An now I come to think of it, there s the porthole. How d it come to git open, tell me that? I know d well Paul never opened it. Ain t he grumblin about be in cold all the time? SCOTT Y The mon that opened it meant no good to this ship, whoever he was. JACK [Sourly. ,] What porthole? What re yuh talkin about? DAVIS [Pointing over PAUL S bunk.} There. It was open when I come in. I felt the cold air on my neck an shut it. It would a been dear s a light house to any sub that was watchin an we s posed to have all the ports blinded! Who d do a dirty trick like that? It wasn t none of us, nor Scotty here, nor Swanson, nor Ivan. Who would it be, then? COCKY [Angrily. } Must a been is bloody Lordship. DAVIS For all s we know he might a been signal- lin with it. They does it like that by winkin a light. Ain t you read how they gets caught doin* it in London an on the coast? COCKY [Firmly convinced now."} An* wots e 98 IN THE ZONE ctain aht alone on the *atch keepin isself clear of us like e was afraid? DRISCOLL Kape your eye on him, Scotty. SCOTTY There s no a move oot o him. JACK {In irritated perplexity.] But, hell, ain t he an Englishman? What d he wanta DAVIS English? How d we know he s English? Cos he talks it? That ain t no proof. Ain t you read in the papers how all them German spies they been catchin in England has been livin there for ten, often as not twenty years, an talks English as good s any one? An look here, ain t you noticed he don t talk natural? He talks it too damn good, that s what I mean. He don t talk exactly like a toff, does he, Cocky? COCKY Not like any toff as I ever met up wiv. DAVIS No; an he don t talk it like us, that s certain. An* he don t look English. An what d we know about him when you come to look at it? Nothin ! He ain t ever said where he comes from or why. All we knows is he ships on here in Lon don bout a year b fore the war starts, as an A. B. stole his papers most lik ly when he don t know how to box the compass, hardly. Ain t that queer in itself? An was he ever open with us like a good shipmate? No; he s always had that sly air about him s if he was hidin somethin . DRISCOLL [Slapping his thigh angrily. } Divil IN THE ZONE . 99 take me if I don t think ye have the truth av ut, Davis. COCKY [Scornfully. ] Lettin* on be is silly airs, and all, e s the son of a blarsted earl or some- think ! DAVIS An the name he calls hisself Smith! I d risk a quid of my next pay day that his real name is Schmidt, if the truth was known. JACK [Evidently fighting against his own con viction.] Aw, say, you guys give me a pain! What d they want puttin a spy on this old tub for? DAVIS [Shaking his head sagely.] They re deep ones, an there s a lot o things a sailor ll see in the ports he puts in ought to be useful to em. An if he kin signal to em an they blows us up it s one ship less, ain t it? [Lowering his voice and in dicating SMITTY S bunk.] Or if he blows us up his self. SCOTTY [In alarmed tones.~\ Hush, mon! Here he comes! [SCOTTY hurries over to a bench and sits down. A thick silence settles over the fore castle. The men look from one to another with un easy glances. SMITTY enters and sits down beside his bunk. He is seemingly unaware of the dark glances of suspicion directed at him from all sides. He slides his hand back stealthily over his mattress and his fingers move, evidently feeling to make sure the box is still there. The others follow this move ment carefully with quick looks out of the corners 100 IN THE ZONE of their eyes. Their attitudes grow tense as if they were about to spring at him. Satisfied the boy is safe, SMITTY draws his hand away slowly and utters u sigh of relief.] SMITTY [In a casual tone which to them sounds sinister.] It s a good light night for the subs if there s any about. [For a moment he sits staring in front of him. Finally he seems to sense the hos tile atmosphere of the forecastle and looks from one to the other of the men in surprise. All of them avoid his eyes. He sighs with a puzzled expression and gets up and walks out of the doorway. There is silence for a moment after his departure and then a storm of excited talk breaks loose.] DAVIS Did you see him feelin if it was there? COCKY E ain t arf a sly one wiv is talk of sub marines, Gawd blind im ! SCOTTY Did ve see the sneakin looks he gave us? DRISCOLL If ivir I saw black shame on a man s face twas on his whin he sat there! JACK [Thoroughly convinced at last.] He looked bad to me. He s a crook, aw right. DAVIS [Excitedly.] What ll we do? We got- ter do somethin quick or [He is interrupted by the sound of something hitting against the port side of the forecastle with a dull, heavy thud. The men start to their feet in wild-eyed terror and turn as if they were going to rush for the deck. They IN THE ZONE stand that way for a strained moment, scarcely breathing and listening intently.] JACK [With a sickly smile.] Hell! It s on y a piece of driftwood or a floatin log. [He sits down again.] DAVIS [Sarcastically.] Or a mine that didn t go off that time or a piece o wreckage from some ship they ve sent to Davy Jones. COCKY [Mopping his brow with a trembling hand] Blimey! [He sinks back weakly on a bench] DRISCOLL [Furiously.] God blarst ut! No man at all cud be puttin up wid the loike av this an I m not wan to be fearin anything or any man in the worrld ll stand up to me face to face; but this divil s trickery in the darrk [He starts for SMITTY S bunk] I ll throw ut out wan av the portholes an be done wid ut. [He reaches toward the mattress] SCOTTY [Grabbing his arm wildly] Arre ye daft, mon? DAVIS Don t monkey with it, Drisc. I knows what to do. Bring the bucket o water here, Jack, will you? [JACK gets it and brings it over to DAVIS.] An* you, Scotty, see if he s back on the hatch. SCOTTY [Cautiously peering out] Aye, he s sittin there the noo. DAVIS Sing out if he makes a move. Lift up $fcj.* ::..: :< -IN THE ZONE the mattress, Drisc careful now! [Dmscoi/L does so with infinite caution.] Take it out, JACK careful don t shake it now, for Christ s sake! Here put it in the water easy! There, that s fixed it! \Tlfiey all sit down with great sighs of relief. ] The water 11 git in and spoil it. DRISCOLL [Slapping DAVIS on the back] Good wurrk for ye, Davis, ye scut ! [He spits on his hands aggressively.] An now what s to be done wid that black-hearted thraitor? COCKY [Belligerently. ] Guv im a shove in the marf and eave im over the side ! DAVIS An* serve him right! JACK Aw, say, give him a chance. Yuh can t prove nothin till yuh find out what s in there. DBJSCOI/L [Heatedly] Is ut more proof ye d be needin afther what we ve seen an heard? Then listen to me an ut s Driscoll talkin if there s divilmint in that box an we see plain twas his plan to murrdher his own shipmates that have served him fair - [He raises his fist] I ll choke his rotten hearrt out wid me own hands, an over the side wid him, and one man missin in the mornin*. DAVIS An no one the wiser. He s the balmy kind what commits suicide. COCKY They angs spies ashore. JACK [Resentfully] If he s done what yuh think I ll croak him myself. Is that good enough (for yuh? IN THE ZONE 103 DRISCOLL [Looking down at the boa:. ] How ll we be openin this, I wonder? SCOTTY [From the doorway warningly.] He s standin up. DAVIS We ll take his keys away from him when he comes in. Quick, Drisc! You an Jack get be side the door and grab him. [They get on either side of the door. DAVIS snatches a small coil of rope from one of the upper bunks. ] This ll do for me an Scotty to tie him. SCOTTY He s turrnin this way he s comin ! [He moves away from door.~\ DAVIS Stand by to lend a hand, Cocky. COCKY Righto. [As SMITTY enters the -fore castle he is seized roughly from both sides and his arms pinned behind him. At first he struggles fiercely, but seeing the uselessness of this, he finally stands calmly and allows DAVIS and SCOTTY to tie up his arms.] SMITTY [When they have finished with cold contempt] If this is your idea of a joke I ll have to confess it s a bit too thick for me to enjoy. COCKY [Angrily.] Shut yer marf, ear! DRISCOLL [Roughly.] Ye ll find ut s no joke, me bucko, b fore we re done wid you. [To SCOTTY.] Kape your eye peeled, Scotty, and sing out if any one s comin . [SCOTTY resumes his post at the door.] 104 IN THE ZONE SMITTY [With the same icy contempt.] If you d be good enough to explain DRISCOLL, [Furiously.] Explain, is ut? "Tis you ll do the explainin an damn quick, or we ll know the reason why. [To JACK and DAVIS.] Bring him here, now. [They push SMITTY over to the bucket] Look here, ye murrdherin swab. D you see ut? [SMITTY looks down with an ex pression of amazement which rapidly changes to one of anguish] DAVIS [With a sneer] Look at him! S prised, ain t you? If you wants to try your dirty spyin* tricks on us you ve gotter git up earlier in the mornin . COCKY Thorght yer weren t arf a fox, didn t yer? SMITTY [Trying to restrain his growing rage] What what do you mean? That s only How dare What are you doing with my private be longings ? COCKY [Sarcastically] Ho yus ! Private b long 1 - ings! DRISCOLL [Shouting] What is ut, ye swine? Will you tell us to our faces ? What s in ut ? SMITTY [Biting his lips holding himself in check with a great effort] Nothing but That s my business. You ll please attend to your own. DRISCOI/L Oho, ut is, is ut? [Shaking his fist in SMITTY S face] Talk aisy now if ye know IN THE ZONE 105 what s best for you. Your business, indade ! Then we ll be makin ut ours, I m thinkin . [To JACK and DAVIS.] Take his keys away from him an we ll see if there s one ll open ut, maybe. [They start in searching SMITTY, who tries to resist and kicks out at the bucket. DRISCOLL leaps forward and helps them push him away.] Try to kick ut over, wud ye? Did ye see him then? Tryin to murrdher us all, the scut! Take that pail out av his way, Cocky. [SMITTY struggles with all of his strength and keeps them busy for a few seconds. As COCKY grabs the pail SMITTY makes a final effort and, lunging forward, kicks again at the bucket but only succeeds in hitting COCKY on the shin. COCKY immediately sets down the pail with a bang and, clutching his knee m both hands, starts hopping around the forecastle, groaning and swearing. ] COCKY Ooow! Gawd strike me pink! Kicked me, e did! Bloody, bleedin , rotten Dutch og! [Approaching SMITTY, who has given up the fight and is pushed back against the wall near the door- way with JACK and DAVIS holding him on either side wrathfully, at the top of his lungs. ~\ Kick me, will yer? I ll show yer what for, yer bleedin* sneak ! [He draws back his fist. DRISCOLL pushes him to one side.] DRISCOLL Shut your mouth! D you want to wake the whole ship? [COCKY grumbles and retires to a bench, nursing his sore shin.] 106 IN THE ZONE JACK [Taking a small bunch of keys from SMITTY S pocket.] Here yuh are, Drisc. DRISCOI/L [Taking them. } We ll soon be know- in . [He takes the pail and sits down, placing it on the floor between his feet. SMITTY again tries to break loose but he is too tired and is easily held back against the wall.] SMITTY \_Breathing heavily and very pale.~\ Cowards ! JACK [With a growl."\ Nix on the rough talk, see ! That don t git yuh nothin . DRISCOI/L [Looking at the lock on the box in the water and then scrutinizing the keys in his hand. ] This ll be ut, I m thinkin . [He selects one and gingerly reaches his hand in the water.] SMITTY [His face grown livid chokingly.] Don t you open that box, Driscoll. If you do, so help me God, I ll kill you if I have to hang for it. DRISCOLL [Pausing his hand in the water.] Whin I open this box I ll not be the wan to be kilt, me sonny bye ! I m no dirty spy. SMITTY [His voice trembling with rage. His eyes are fixed on DRISCOI/L S hand.] Spy? What are you talking about? I only put that box there so I could get it quick in case we were torpedoed. Are you all mad? Do you think I m [Chok ingly.] You stupid curs ! You cowardly dolts 1 [DAVIS claps his hand over SMITTY S mouth.] DAVIS That ll be enough from you ! [ IN THE ZONE 10*7 takes the dripping box -from the water and starts to fit in the key. SMITTY springs forward furi ously, almost escaping from their grasp, and drags them after him half-way across the forecastle. } DRISCOLL Hold him, ye divils ! [He puts the box back in the water and jumps to their aid. COCKY hovers on the outskirts of the battle, mind ful of the kick he received. ] SMITTY [Raging. ] Cowards! Damn you! Rot ten curs ! [He is thrown to the floor and held there. ,] Cowards! Cowards! DRISCOLL I ll shut your dirty mouth for you. [He goes to his bunk and pulls out a big wad of waste and comes back to SMITTY.] SMITTY Cowards ! Cowards ! DRISCOLL [With no gentle hand slaps the waste over SMITTY S mouth. ] That ll teach you to be misnamin a man, ye sneak. Have ye a handker chief, Jack? [JACK hands him one and he ties it tightly around SMITTY S head over the waste.] That ll fix your gab. Stand him up, now, and tie his feet, too, so he ll not be movin . [They do so and leave him with his back against the wall near SCOTTY. Then they all sit down beside DRISCOLL, who again lifts the box out of the water and sets it carefully on his knees. He picks out the key, then hesitates, looking from one to the other uncer tainly. ] We d best be takin this to the skipper, d you think, maybe? 108 IN THE ZONE JACK [Irritably. ] To hell with the Old Man. This is our game and we c n play it without no help. COCKY Now bleedin* horficers, I says ! DAVIS They d only be takin all the credit and makin heroes of theyselves. DRISCOLL [Boldly.] Here goes, thin! [He slowly turns the ~key in the lock. The others m- stinctively turn away. He carefully pushes the cover back on its hinges and looks at what he sees inside with an expression of puzzled astonishment. The others crowd up close. Even SCOTTY leaves his post to take a look] What is ut, Davis? DAVIS [Mystified] Looks funny, don t it? Somethin square tied up in a rubber bag. Maybe it s dynamite or somethin you can t never tell. JACK Aw, it ain t got no works so it ain t no bomb, I ll bet. DAVIS [Dubiously] They makes them alf kinds, they do. JACK Open it up, Drisc. DAVIS Careful now! [DRISCOLL takes a black rubber bag resembling a large tobacco pouch from the box and unties the string which is wound tightly around the top. He opens it and takes out a small packet of letters also tied up with string. He turns these over in his hands and looks at the others guestioningly. ] JACK [With a broad grm] On y letters! IN THE ZONE 109 [Slapping DAVIS on the back.] Yuh re a hell of a Sherlock Holmes, ain t yuh? Letters from his best girl too, I ll bet. Let s turn the Duke loose, what d yuh say? [He starts to get up.] DAVIS [Fixmg him with a withering look.] Don t be so damn smart, Jack. Letters, you says, s if there never was no harm in em. How d you s pose spies gets their orders and sends back what they finds out if it ain t by letters and such things? There s many a letter is worser n any bomb. COCKY Righto ! They ain t as innercent as they looks, I ll take me oath, when you read em. [Pointing at SMITTY.] Not is Lordship s letters; not be no means ! JACK [Sitting dowrt agafn.] Well, read *em and find out. [DRISCOLL commences untying the packet. There is a muffled groan of rage and pro test from SMITTY.] DAVIS [Triumphantly.] There! Listen to him! Look at him tryin to git loose! Ain t that proof enough? He knows well we re findin him out. Listen to me! Love letters, you says, Jack, s if they couldn t harm nothin . Listen ! I was readin in some magazine in New York on y two weeks back how some German spy in Paris was writin love let ters to some woman spy in Switzerland who sent em on to Berlin, Germany. To read em you wouldn t s pect nothin just mush and all. [Im pressively.] But they had a way o doin it a 110 IN THE ZONE damn sneakin way. They had a piece o* plain paper with pieces cut out of it an when they puts it on top o the letter they sees on y the words what tells them what they wants to know. An the Frenchies gets beat in a fight all on account o that letter. COCKY [Awed.] Gawd blimey! They ain t *arf smart bleeders ! DAVIS [Seeing his audience is again all with him.] An even if these letters of his do sound all right they may have what they calls a code. You can t never tell. [To DRISCOI/L, who has finished untying the packet.] Read one of em, Drisc. My eyes is weak. DRISCOI/L [Takes the first one out of its en velope and bends down to the lantern with it. He turns up the wick to give him a better light.] I m no hand to be readin but I ll try ut. [Again there is a muffled groan from SMITTY as he strains at his bonds.] DAVIS [Gloatingly.] Listen to him! He knows. Go ahead, Drisc! DRISCOLL [His brow furrowed with concentra tion.] Ut begins: Dearest Man [His eyes travel down the page.] An thin there s a lot av blarney tellin him how much she misses him now she s gone away to singin school an how she hopes he ll settle down to rale worrk an not be sky- larkin around now that she s away loike he used IN THE ZONE 111 to before she met up wid him and tit ends : "I love you betther than anythin in the worrld. You know that, don t you, dear? But b fore I can agree to live out my life wid you, you must prove to me that the black shadow I won t menshun uts hateful name but you know what I mean which might wreck both our lives, does not exist for you. You can do that, can t you, dear? Don t you see you must for my sake?" [He pauses for a moment then adds gruffly. ~\ Uts signed: "Edith." [At the sound of the name SMITTY, who has stood tensely with his eyes shut as if he were undergoing torture during the reading, makes a muffled sound like a sob and half turns his face to the wall.] JACK [Sympathetically. ] Hell! What s the use of readin that stuff even if DAVIS [Interrupting him sharply.~\ Wait! Where s that letter from, Drisc? DRISCOI/L There s no address on the top av ut. DAVIS [Meaningly] What d I tell you? Look at the postmark, Drisc, on the envelope. DRISCOLL The name that s written is Sidney Davidson, wan hundred an DAVIS Never mind that. O course it s a false name. Look at the postmark. DRISCOLL There s a furrin stamp on ut by the looks av ut. The mark s blurred so it s hard to read. [He spells it out laboriously.] B-e-r the ju xt is an 1, I think i an* an n. IN THE ZONE DAVIS [Excitedly.] Berlin! What did I tell you? I knew them letters was from Germany. COCKY [Shaking his fist in SMITTY S direction.} Rotten ound! [The others look at SMITTY as if this last fact had utterly condemned him in their eyes.] DAVIS Give me the letter, Drisc. Maybe I kin make somethin out of it. [DEISCOLL hands the let ter to him] You go through the others, Drisc, and sing out if you sees anythin queer. [He bends over the first letter as if he were determined to -fig ure out its secret meaning. JACK, COCKY and SCOTTY look over his shoulder with eager curiosity. DRISCOLL, takes out some of the other letters, run ning his eyes quickly down the pages. He looks curiously over at SMITTY from time to time, and sighs frequently with a puzzled frown] DAVIS [Disappointedly] I gotter give it up. It s too deep for me, but we ll turn em over to the perlice when we docks at Liverpool to look through. This one I got was written a year before the war started, anyway. Find anythin in yours, Drisc? DRISCOLL They re all the same as the first lovin blarney, an how her singin is doin , and the great things the Dutch teacher says about her voice, an how glad she is that her Sidney bye is worrkin harrd an makin* a man av himself for her sake. [SMITTY turns his face completely to the wall] DAVIS [Disgustedly.] If we on y had the code! IN THE ZONE 113 DRISCOLL [Takmg up the bottom letter, ,] Hullo ! Here s wan addressed to this ship s. s. Glencairn, ut says whin we was in Cape Town sivin months ago [Looking at the postmark.] Ut s from London. DAVIS [Eagerly.] Read it! [There is an other choking groan from SMITTY.] DRISCOLL [Reads slowly his voice becomes lower and lower as he goes on.~\ Ut begins wid simply the name Sidney Davidson no dearest or sweetheart to this wan. "Ut is only from your chance meetin* wid Harry whin you were drunk that I happen to know where to reach you. So you have run away to sea loike the coward you are be cause you knew I had found out the truth the truth you have covered over with your mean little lies all the time I was away in Berlin and blindly trusted you. Very well, you have chosen. You have shown that your drunkenness means more to you than any love or faith av mine. I am sorry for I loved you, Sidney Davidson but this is the end. I lave you the memories; an* if ut is any satisfaction to you I lave you the real-i-zation that you have wrecked my loife as you have wrecked your own. My one remainin hope is that nivir in God s worrld will I ivir see your face again. Good- by. Edith." [As he finishes there is a deep silence, broken only by SMITTY S muffled sobbing. The men cannot look at each other. DRISCOLL "114 IN THE ZONE "holds the rubber bag limply in his hand and some small white object falls out of it and drops noise lessly on the floor. Mechanically DRISCOI/L leans over and picks it up, and looks at it wonderingly.~\ DAVIS \In a dull voice.] What s that? DRISCOLL [Slowly. ,] A bit av a dried-up flower, a rose, maybe. [He drops it into the bag and gathers up the letters and puts them back. He replaces the bag in- the box, and locks it and puts it back under SMITTY S mattress. The others fol low him with their eyes. He steps softly over to SMITTY and cuts the ropes about his arms and ankles with his sheath knife, and unties the handker chief over the gag. SMITTY does not turn around but covers his face with his hands and leans his head against the wall. His shoulders continue to heave spasmodically but he makes no further sound] DRISCOLL [Stalks back to the others there is a moment of silence, in which each man is in agony with the hopelessness of finding a word he can say then DRISCOLL explodes:] God stiffen us, are we never goin to turn in fur a wink av sleep? [They all start as if awakening from a bad dream and gratefully crawl into their bunks, shoes and all, turning their faces to the wall, and pulling their blankets up over their shoulders. SCOTTY tiptoes past SMITTY out into the darkness.. .DRISCOLL turns down the light and crawls into his bunk as [The Curtain Falls] ILE A Play In One Act CHARACTERS BEN, the cabin boy THE STEWARD CAPTAIN KEENEY SLOCUM, second mate MRS. KEENEY JOE, a Jiarpooner Members of the crew of the steam whaler Atlantic Queen. ILE SCENE CAPTAIN KEENEY S cabin on board the steam whaling ship Atlantic Queen a small, square compartment about eight feet high with a skylight in the center looking out on the poop deck. On the left [the stern of the ship] a long bench with rough cushions is built in against the wall. In front of the bench, a table. Over the bench, several cur tained portholes. In the rear, left, a door leading to the cap tain s sleeping quarters. To the right of the door a small organ, looking as if it were brand new, is placed against the wall. On the right, to the rear, a marble-topped sideboard. On the sideboard, a woman s sew ing basket. Farther forward, a doorway leading to the companion way, and past the officer s quarters to the main deck. In the center of the room, a stove. From the middle of the ceiling a hanging lamp is suspended. The walls of the cabin are painted white. 117 118 ILE There is no rolling of the ship, and the light which comes through the skylight is sickly and faint, indicating one of those gray days of calm when ocean and sky are alike dead. The silence is unbroken except for the measured tread of some one walking up and down on the poop deck overhead. It is nearing two bells one o clock in the afternoon of a day in the year 1895. At the rise of the curtain there is a moment of interne silence. Then the STEWARD enters and commences to clear the table of the few dishes which still remain on it after the CAP TAIN S dinner. He is an old, grizzled man dressed in dungaree pants, a sweater, and a woolen cap with ear flaps. His manner is sullen and angry. He stops stacking up the plates and casts a quick glance upward at the skylight; then tiptoes over to the closed door in rear and listens with his ear pressed to the crack. What he hears makes his face darken and he mutters a furious curse. There is a noise from the doorway on the right and he darts back to the table. BEN enters. He is an over-grown, gawky boy with a long, pinched face. He is dressed in sweater, fur cap, etc. His teeth are chat tering with the cold and he hurries to the stove 9 where lie stands for a moment shivering, ILE 119 blowing on his hands, slapping them against his sides, on the verge of crying. THE STEWARD [In relieved tones seeing who it is.] Oh, tis you, is it? What re ye shiverin* bout? Stay by the stove where ye belong and ye ll find no need of chatterin . BEN It s c-c-cold. [Trying to control his chat tering teeth derisively.] Who d ye think it were the Old Man? THE STEWARD [Makes d threatening move BEN shrinks away.] None o your lip, young un, or I ll learn ye. [More kindly.] Where was it ye ve been all o the time the fo c s tle? BEN Yes. THE STEWARD Let the Old Man see ye up for ard monkeyshinin with the hands and ye ll get a hidin ye ll not forget in a hurry. BEN Aw, he don t see nothin . [A trace of awe in his tones he glances upward.] He just walks up and down like he didn t notice nobody and stares at the ice to the no the ard. THE STEWARD [The same tone of awe creeping into his voice.] He s always starin at the ice. [In a sudden rage, shaking his fist at the skylight.] Ice, ice, ice! Damn him and damn the ice! Hold- in us in for nigh on a year nothin to see but ice stuck in it like a fly in molasses ! BEN [Apprehensively.] Ssshh! He ll hear ye. 120 ILE THE STEWARD [Raging. ,] Aye, damn him, and damn the Arctic seas, and damn this stinkin whalin ship of his, and damn me for a fool to ever ship on it! [Subsiding as if realizing the uselessness of this outburst shaking his head slowly, with deep conviction.] He s a hard man as hard a man as ever sailed the seas. BEN [Solemnly. ] Aye. THE STEWARD The two years we all signed up for are done this day. Blessed Christ ! Two years o* this dog s life, and no luck in the fishin , and the hands half starved with the food runnin low, rotten as it is ; and not a sign of him turnin* back for home! [Bitterly. ,] Home! I begin to doubt if ever I ll set foot on land again. [Excit edly. } What is it he thinks he goin to do? Keep us all up here after our time is worked out till the last man of us is starved to death or frozen? We ve grub enough hardly to last out the voyage back if we started now. What are the men goin to do bout it? Did ye hear any talk in the fo c s tle? BEN [Going over to him in a half whisper.] They said if he don t put back south for home to day they re goin to mutiny. THE STEWARD [With grim satisfaction. ] Mu tiny? Aye, tis the only thing they can do; and serve him right after the manner he s treated them s if they wern t no better nor dogs. BEN The ice is all broke up to s uth ard. ILE They s clear water s far s you can see. He ain t got no excuse for not turnin back for home, the men says. THE STEWARD [Bitterly. } He won t look no- wheres but no the ard where they s only the ice to see. He don t want to see no clear water. All he thinks on is gittin the ile s if it was our fault he ain t had good luck with the whales. [Shaking Ms head.] I think the man s mighty nigh losin his senses. BEN [Awed.] D you really think he s crazy? THE STEWARD Aye, it s the punishment o God on him. Did ye ever hear of a man who wasn t crazy do the things he does? [Pointing to the door in rear.] Who but a man that s mad would take his woman and as sweet a woman as ever was on a stinkin whalin ship to the Arctic seas to be locked in by the rotten ice for nigh on a year, and maybe lose her senses forever for it s sure she ll never be the same again. BEN [Sadly.] She useter be awful nice to me before [His eyes grow wide and frightened.] she got like she is. THE STEWARD Aye, she was good to all of us. Twould have been hell on board without her; for he s a hard man a hard, hard man a driver if there ever was one. [TFif/i a grim laugh.] I hope he s satisfied now drivin her on till she s near lost her mind. And who could blame her? Tis a ILE God s wonder we re not a ship full of crazed peo ple with the damned ice all the time, and the quiet so thick you re afraid to hear your own voice. BEN [With a frightened glance toward the door on right.] She don t never speak to me no more jest looks at me s if she didn t know me. THE STEWARD She don t know no one but him. She talks to him when she does talk right enough. BEN She does nothin all day long now but sit and sew and then she cries to herself without makin no noise. I ve seen her. THE STEWARD Aye, I could hear her through the door a while back. BEN [Tiptoes over to the door and listens] She s cryin now. THE STEWARD [Furiously shaking his fist.] God send his soul to hell for the devil he is ! [There is the noise of some one coming slowly down the companionway stairs. THE STEWARD hurries to his stacked up dishes. He is so nervous from fright that he knocks off the top one, which falls and breaks on the floor. He stands aghast, trem bling with dread. BEN is violently rubbing off the organ with a piece of cloth which he has snatched from his pocket. CAPTAIN KEENEY appears in the doorway on right and comes into the cabin, remov ing his fur cap as he does so. He is a man of about forty, around five-ten in height but looking much ELE shorter on account of the enormous proportions of his shoulders and chest. His face is massive and deeply lined, tenth gray-blue eyes of a bleak hard ness, and a tightly clenched, thin-lipped mouth. His thick hair is long and gray. He is dressed in a heavy blue jacket and blue pants stuffed into his seaboots. [He is followed into the cabin by the SECOND MATE, a rangy six-footer with a lean weather- beaten face. The MATE is dressed about the same as the captain. He is a man of thirty or so.~\ KEENEY [Comes toward the STEWARD with a stern look on his face. Tine STEWARD is visibly frightened and the stack of dishes rattles in his trembling hands. KEENEY draws back his fist and the STEWARD shrinks away. The fist is gradually lowered and KEENEY speaks slowly.] Twould be like hitting a worm. It is nigh on two bells, Mr. Steward, and this truck not cleared yet. THE STEWARD [Stammering.] Y-y-yes, sir. KEENEY Instead of doin* your rightful work ye ve been below here gossipin old woman s talk with that boy. [To BEN, fiercely.] Get out o this, you! Clean up the chart room. [BEN darts past the MATE to the open doorway.] Pick up that dish, MR. STEWARD 1 THE STEWARD [Doing so with difficulty.] Yes, sir. KEENEY The next dish you break, Mr. Steward, ILE you take a bath in the Bering Sea at the end of a rope. THE STEWARD [Tremblingly.] Yes, sir. [He hurries out. The SECOND MATE walks slowly over to the CAPTAIN.] MATE I warn t specially anxious the man at the wheel should catch what I wanted to say to you, sir. That s why I asked you to come below. KEENEY [Impatiently.] Speak your say, Mr. Slocum. MATE [Unconsciously lowering his voice. ] I m afeard there ll be trouble with the hands by the look o things. They ll likely turn ugly, every blessed one o them, if you don t put back. The two years they signed up for is up to-day. KEENEY And d you think you re tellin me some- thin new, Mr. Slocum? I ve felt it in the air this long time past. D you think I ve not seen their ugly looks and the grudgin way they worked? [The door in rear is opened and MRS. KEENEY stands in the doorway. She is a slight, sweet-faced little woman primly dressed in black. Her eyes are red from weeping and her face drawn and pale. She takes in the cabin with a frightened glance and stands as if fixed to the spot by some nameless dread, clasping and unclasping her hands nervously. The two men turn and look at her.] KEENEY [With rough tenderness.] Well, An nie? ILE 125 MRS. KEENEY [As if awakening -from a dream.] David, I [She is silent. The MATE starts for the doorway.] KEENEY [Turning to him sharply. ] Wait! MATE Yes, sir. KEENEY D you want anything, Annie? MRS. KEENEY [After a pause, during which she seems to be endeavoring to collect her thoughts.] I thought maybe I d go up on deck, David, to get a breath of fresh air. [She stands humbly awaiting his permission. He and the MATE exchange a sig nificant glance.] KEENEY It s too cold, Annie. You d best stay below to-day. There s nothing to look at on deck but ice. MRS. KEENEY [Monotonously.] I know ice, ice, ice! But there s nothing to see down here but these walls. [She makes a gesture of loathing.] KEENEY You can play the organ, Annie. MRS. KEENEY [Dully.] I hate the organ. It puts me in mind of home. KEENEY [A touch of resentment in his voice.] I got it jest for you. MRS. KEENEY [Dully.] I know. [She turns away from them and walks slowly to the bench on left. She lifts up one of the curtains and looks through a porthole; then utters an exclamation of joy.] Ah, water! Clear water! As far as I can see! How good it looks after all these months of 126 ILE ice! [She turns round to them, her face transfig ured with joy.] Ah, now I must go upon deck and look at it, David. KEENEY [Frowning.] Best not to-day, Annie. Best wait for a day when the sun shines. MRS. KEENEY [Desperately.] But the sun never shines in this terrible place. KEENEY [A tone of command in his voice.] Best not to-day, Annie. MRS. KEENEY [Crumbling before this command abjectly.] Very well, David. [She stands there staring straight before her as if in a daze. The two men look at her uneasily.] KEENEY [Sharply.] Annie ! MRS. KEENEY [Dully.] Yes, David. KEENEY Me and Mr. Slocum has business to talk about ship s business. MRS. KEENEY Very well, David. [She goes slowly out, rear, and leaves the door three-quarters shut behind her.] KEENEY Best not have her on deck if they*s goin to be any trouble. MATE Yes, sir. KEENEY And trouble they s goin* to be. I feel it in my bones. [Takes a revolver from the pocket of his coat and examines it.] Got your n? MATE Yes, sir. KEENEY Not that we ll have to use em not if I know their breed of dog jest to frighten *em up ILE 127 a bit. [Grimly.] I ain t never been forced to use one yit; and trouble I ve had by land and by sea s long as I kin remember, and will have till my dyin day, I reckon. MATE [Hesitatingly.] Then you ain t goin to turn back? KEENEY Turn back ! Mr. Slocum, did you ever hear o me pointin s uth for home with only a measly four hundred barrel of ile in the hold? MATE [Hastily.] No, sir but the grub s git- tin low. KEENEY They s enough to last a long time yit, if they re careful with it; and they s plenty o water. MATE They say it s not fit to eat what s left; and the two years they signed on fur is up to-day. They might make trouble for you in the courts when we git home. KEENEY To hell with em ! Let them make what law trouble they kin. I don t give a damn bout the money. I ve got to git the ile! [Glancing sharply at the MATE.] You ain t turnin no damned sea lawyer, be you, Mr. Slocum? MATE [Flushing.] Not by a hell of a sight, sir. KEENEY What do the fools want to go home fur now? Their share o the four hundred barrel wouldn t keep em in chewin terbacco. MATE [Slowly.] They wants to git back to their folks an things, I s pose. 128 ILE KEENEY [Looking at him searchingly] N you want to turn back, too. [THE MATE looks down confusedly before his sharp gaze.] Don t lie, Mr. Slocum. It s writ down plain in your eyes. [With grim sarcasm.] I hope, Mr. Slocum, you ain t agoin to jine the men agin me. MATE [Indignantly.] That ain t fair, sir, to say sich things. KEENEY [With satisfaction] I warn t much afeard o that, Tom. You been with me nigh on ten year and I ve learned ye whalin*. No man kin say I ain t a good master, if I be a hard one. MATE I warn t thinkin of myself, sir bout turnin home, I mean. [Desperately] But Mrs. Keeney, sir seems like she ain t jest satisfied up here, ailin like what with the cold an bad luck an the ice an all. KEENEY [His face clouding rebukmgly but not severely] That s my business, Mr. Slocum. I ll thank you to steer a clear course o that. [A pause] The ice ll break up soon to no th ard. I could see it startin to-day. And when it goes and we git some sun Annie ll perk up. [Another pause then he bursts forth] It ain t the damned money what s keepin me up in the Northern seas, Tom. But I can t go back to Homeport with a measly four hundred barrel of ile. I d die fust. I ain t never come back home in all my days without a full ship. Ain t that truth? ILE 129 MATE Yes, sir; but this voyage you been ice bound, an KEENEY [Scornfully."] And d you s pose any of em would believe that any o* them skippers I ve beaten voyage after voyage? Can t you hear em laughin and sneerin Tibbots n* Harris n Simms and the rest and all o Homeport makin fun o* me? "Dave Keeney what boasts he s the best whalin* skipper out o Homeport comin back with a measly four hundred barrel of ile?" [The thought of this drives him into a frenzy, and he smashes his fist down on the marble top of the sideboard.~\ Hell! I got to git the ile, I tell you. How could I figger on this ice? It s never been so bad before in the thirty year I been acomin here. And now it s breakin up. In a couple o days it ll be all gone. And they s whale here, plenty of em. I know they is and I ain t never gone wrong yit. I got to git the ile! I got to git it in spite of all hell, and by God, I ain t agoin home till I do git it! [There is the sound of subdued sobbing from the door in rear. The two men stand silent for a moment, lis tening. Then KEENEY goes over to the door and looks in. He hesitates for a moment as if he were going to enter then closes the door softly. JOE, the harpooner, an enormous six-footer with a bat tered, ugly face, enters from right and stands wait ing for the captain to notice him.] KEENEY [Turning and seeing him.~\ Don t be 130 ILE standin there like a gawk, Harpooner. Speak upt JOE [Confusedly.] We want the men, sir they wants to send a deputation aft to have a word with you. KEENEY [Furiously.] Tell em to go to [Checks himself and continues grimly.] Tell em to come. I ll see em. JOE Aye, aye, sir. [He goes out.] KEENEY [With a grim smile] Here it comes, the trouble you spoke of, Mr. Slocum, and we ll make short shift of it. It s better to crush such things at the start than let them make headway. MATE [Worriedly] Shall I wake up the First and Fourth, sir? We might need their help. KEENEY No, let them sleep. I m well able to handle this alone, Mr. Slocum. [There is the shuf fling of footsteps from outside and five of the crew crowd into the cabin, led by JOE. All are dressed alike sweaters, seaboots, etc. They glance uneasily at the CAPTAIN, twirling their fur caps in their hands] KEENEY [After a pause] JVell? Who s to speak fur ye? JOE [Stepping forward with an air of bravado] I be. KEENEY [Eyeing him up and down coldly] So you be. Then speak your say and be quick about it. JOE [Trying not to wilt before the CAPTAIN S ILE 131 glance and avoiding his eyes.~\ The time we signed up for is done to-day. KEENEY [Icily.] You re tellin me no thin I don t know. JOE You ain t pintin fur home yit, far s we kin see. KEENEY No, and I ain t agoin* to till this ship is full of ile. JOE You can t go no further no the with the ice afore ye. KEENEY The ice is breaking up. JOE [After a slight pause during which the others mumble angrily to one another.] The grub We re gittin now is rotten. KEENEY It s good enough fur ye. Better men than ye are have eaten worse. [There is a chorus of angry exclamations from the crowd.~\ JOE [Encouraged by this support. } We ain t agoin to work no more less you puts back for home. KEENEY [Fiercely. ] You ain t, ain t you? JOE No ; and the law courts ll say we was right. , KEENEY To hell with your law courts! We re at sea now and I m the law on this ship. [Edging up toward the harpooner.~\ And every mother s son of you what don t obey orders goes in irons. [There are more angry exclamations from the crew. MRS. KEENEY appears in the doorway in rear and looks on with startled eyes. None of the men notice her.] JOE [With bravado.] Then we re agoin* to 138 ELE mutiny and take the old hooker home ourselves. Ain t we, boys? [As he turns his head to look at the others, KEENEY S fist shoots out to the side of his jaw. JOE goes down in a heap and lies there. MRS. KEENEY gives a shriek and hides her face in her hands. The men pull out their sheath knives and start a rush, but stop when they find themselves con fronted by the revolvers of KEENEY and the MATE.] KEENEY [His eyes and voice snapping] Hold still! [The men stand huddled together in a sullen silence. KEENEY S voice is full of mockery.] You ve found out it ain t safe to mutiny on this ship, ain t you? And now git for ard where ye belong, and [He gives JOE S body a contemptuous kick.] Drag him with you. And remember the first man of ye I see shirkin I ll shoot dead as sure as there s a sea under us, and you can tell the rest the same. Git for ard now ! Quick! [The men leave in cowed silence, carrying JOE with them. KEENEY turns to the MATE with a short laugh and puts his revolver back in his pocket.] Best get up on deck, Mr. Slocum, and see to it they don t try none of their skulkin tricks. We ll have to keep an eye peeled from now on. I know em. MATE Yes, sir. [He goes out, right. KEENEY "hears his wife s hysterical weeping and turns around in surprise then walks slowly to her side.] KEENEY [Putting an arm around her shoulder ILE 133 with gruff tenderness.] There, there, Annie. Don t be afeard. It s all past and gone. MRS. KEENEY [Shrinking away -from him.] Oh, I can t bear it! I can t bear it any longer! KEENEY [Gently] Can t bear what, Annie? MRS. KEENEY [Hysterically.] All this horrible brutality, and these brutes of men, and this terrible ship, and this prison cell of a room, and the ice all around, and the silence. [After this outburst she calms down and wipes her eyes with her handker chief] KEENEY [After a pause during which he looks down at her with a puzzled frown] Remember, I warn t hankerin* to have you come on this voyage, Annie. MRS. KEENEY I wanted to be with you, David, don t you see? I didn t want to wait back there in the house all alone as I ve been doing these last six years since we were married waiting, and watching, and fearing with nothing to keep my mind occupied not able to go back teaching school on account of being Dave Keeney s wife. I used to dream of sailing on the great, wide, glorious ocean. I wanted to be by your side in the danger and vig orous life of it all. I wanted to see you the hero they make you out to be in Homeport. And in stead [Her voice grows tremulous] All I find is ice and cold and brutality! [Her voice breaks.] ILE KEENEY I warned you what it d be, Annie. "Whalin ain t no ladies tea party," I says to you, and "you better stay to home where you ve got all your woman s comforts." [Shaking his head.} But you was so set on it. MRS. KEENEY [Wearily.] Oh, I know it isn t your fault, David. You see, I didn t believe you. I guess I was dreaming about the old Vikings in the story books and I thought you were one of them. KEENEY [Proitestingly.] I done tmy best to make it as cozy and comfortable as could be. [MRS. KEENEY looks around her in wild scorn.] I even sent to the city for that organ for ye, thinkin it might be soothin to ye to be playin it times when they was calms and things was dull like. MRS. KEENEY [Wearily.] Yes, you were very kind, David. I know that. [She goes to left and lifts the curtains from the porthole and looks out then suddenly bursts forth:] I won t stand it I can t stand it pent up by these walls like a pris oner. [She runs over to him and throws her arms around him, weeping. He puts his arm protectingly over her shoulders.] Take me away from here, David! If I don t get away from here, out of this terrible ship, I ll go mad! Take me home, David! I can t think any more. I feel as if the cold and the silence were crushing down on my brain. I m afraid. Take me home ! KEENEY [Holds her at arm s length and looks ELE 135 at her face anxiously.] Best go to bed, Annie. You ain t yourself. You got fever. Your eyes look so strange like. I ain t never seen you look this way before. MRS. KEENEY [Laughing hysterically.] It s the ice and the cold and the silence they d make any one look strange. KEENEY [Soothingly.] In a month or two, with good luck, three at the most, I ll have her filled with ile and then we ll give her everything she ll stand and pint for home. MRS. KEENEY But we can t wait for that I can t wait. I want to get home. And the men won t wait. They want to get home. It s cruel, it s brutal for you to keep them. You must sail back. You ve got no excuse. There s clear water to the south now. If you ve a heart at all you ve got to turn back. KEENEY [Harshly.] I can t, Annie. MRS. KEENEY Why can t you? KEENEY A woman couldn t rightly understand my reason. MRS. KEENEY [Wildly.] Because it s a stupid, stubborn reason. Oh, I heard you talking with the second mate. You re afraid the other captains will sneer at you because you didn t come back with a full ship. You want to live up to your silly repu tation even if you do have to beat and starve men and drive me mad to do it. 136 ILE KEENEY {His jaw set stubbornly, ] It ain t that, Annie. Them skippers would never dare sneer to my face. It ain t so much what any one d say but [He hesitates, struggling to express Ms meaning. ] You see I ve always done it since my first voyage as skipper. I always come back with a full ship* and it don t seem right not to somehow. I been always first whalin skipper out o Homeport, and Don t you see my meaning Annie? [He glances at Tier. She is not looking at him but staring dully in front of her, not hearing a word he is saying.] Annie! [She comes to her self with a start] Best turn in, Annie, there s a good woman. You ain t well. MRS. KEENEY [Resisting his attempts to guide her to the door in rear] David ! Won t you please turn back? KEENEY [Gently] I can t, Annie not yet awhile. You don t see my meanin . I got to git the ile. MRS. KEENEY It d be different if you needed the money, but you don t. You ve got more than plenty. KEENEY [Impatiently] It ain t the money I m thinkin of. D you think I m as mean as that? MRS. KEENEY [Dully] No I don t know I can t understand [Intensely] Oh, I want to be home in tlfe old house once more and see my own kitchen again, and hear a woman s voice talking to me and be able to talk to her. Two years ! It ELE 137 seems so long ago as if I d been dead and could never go back. KEENEY [Worried "by her strange tone and the far-away look in her eyesJ\ Best go to bed, Annie. You ain t well. MRS. KEENEY [Not appearing to hear him. ] I used to be lonely when you were away. I used to think Homeport was a stupid, monotonous place. Then I used to go down on the beach, especially when it was windy and the breakers were rolling in, and I d dream of the fine free life you must be leading. [She gives a laugh which is half a sob.~\ I used to love the sea then. [She pauses; then con tinues with slow intensity: ] But now I don t ever want to see the sea again. KEENEY [Thinking to humor her.] Tis no fit place for a woman, that s sure. I was a fool to bring ye. MRS. KEENEY [After a pause passing her hand over her eyes with a gesture of pathetic weariness.] How long would it take us to reach home if we started now? KEENEY [Frowning. } Bout two months, I reckon, Annie, with fair luck. MRS. KEENEY [Counts on her -fingers then murmurs with a rapt smile. ,] That would be Au gust, the latter part of August, wouldn t it? It was on the twenty-fifth of August we were married, David, wasn t it? 138 ILE KEENEY [Trying to conceal the fact that her memories have moved him gruffly.] Don t you re member ? MRS. KEENEY [Vaguely again passes her hand over her eyes.] My memory is leaving me up here in the ice. It was so long ago. [A pause then she smiles dreamily.] It s June now. The lilacs will be all in bloom in the front yard and the climb ing roses on the trellis to the side of the house they re budding. [She suddenly covers her face with her hands and commences to sob.] KEENEY [Disturbed.] Go in and rest, Annie. You re all wore out cryin over what can t be helped. MRS. KEENEY [Suddenly throwing her arms around his neck and clinging to him.] You love me, don t you, David? KEENEY [In amazed embarrassment at this out burst.] Love you? Why d you ask me such a question, Annie? MRS. KEENEY [Shaking him fiercely.] But you do, don t you, David ? Tell me ! KEENEY I m your husband, Annie, and you re my wife. Could there be aught but love between us after all these years? MRS. KEENEY [Shaking him again still more fiercely.] Then you do love me. Say it! KEENEY [Simply.] I do, Annie. MRS. KEENEY [Gives a sigh of relief her hands drop to her sides. Keeney regards her an&iously. ILE 139 She passes Tier "hand across her eyes and murmurs half to herself:] I sometimes think if we could only have had a child. [KEENEY turns away from her, deeply moved. She grabs his arm and turns him around to face her intensely. ] And I ve always been a good wife to you, haven t I, David? KEENEY [His voice betraying his emotion.] No man has ever had a better, Annie. MRS. KEENEY And I ve never asked for much from you, have I, David? Have I? KEENEY You know you could have all I got the power to give ye, Annie. MRS. KEENEY [Wildly.] Then do this this once for my sake, for God s sake take me home ! It s kill ing me, this life the brutality and cold and horror of it. I m going mad. I can feel the threat in the air. I can hear the silence threatening me day after gray day and every day the same. I can t bear it. [Sobbing.] I ll go mad, I know I will. Take me home, David, if you love me as you say. I m afraid. For the love of God, take me home! [She throws her arms around him, weeping against his shoulder. His face betrays the tremendous struggle going on within him. He holds her out at arm s length, his expression softening. For a mo ment his shoulders sag, he becomes old, his iron spirit weakens as he looks at her tear-stained face.] KEENEY [Dragging out the words with an ef- 140 ILE fort.] I ll do it, Annie for your sake if you say it s needful for ye. MRS. KEENEY [With wild joy kissing him.] God bless you for that, David! [He turns away from her silently and walks toward the companion- way. Just at that moment there is a clatter of footsteps on the stairs and the SECOND MATE enters the cabin.] MATE [Excitedly.] The ice is breakin up to no the ard, sir. There s a clear passage through the floe, and clear water beyond, the lookout says. [KEENEY straightens himself like a man coming out of a trance. MRS. KEENEY looks at the MATE with terrified eyes.] KEENEY [Dazedly trying to collect his thoughts.] A clear passage? To no the ard? MATE Yes, sir. KEENEY [His voice suddenly grim with deter mination.] Then get her ready and we ll drive her through. MATE Aye, aye, sir. MRS. KEENEY [Appealingly.] David! KEENEY [Not heeding her.] Will the men turn to willin or must we drag em out? MATE They ll turn to willin enough. You put the fear o God into em, sir. They re meek as lambs. KEENEY Then drive em both watches. [With ILE grim determination.] They s whale t other side o this floe and we re going to git em. MATE Aye, aye, sir. [He goes out hurriedly. A moment later there is the sound of scuffling feet from the deck outside and the MATE S voice shouting orders.] KEENEY [Speaking aloud to himself deri sively.] And I was agoin home like a yaller dog! MRS. KEENEY [Imploringly.] David! KEENEY [Sternly.] Woman, you ain t adorn right when you meddle in men s business and weaken em. You can t know my feelin s. I got to prove a man to be a good husband for ye to take pride in. I got to git the ile, I tell ye. MRS. KEENEY [Supplicatingly.] David! Aren t you going home? KEENEY [Ignoring this question command- ingly.] You ain t well. Go and lay down a mite. [He starts for the door.] I got to git on deck. [He goes out. She cries after him in anguish:] David ! [A pause. She passes her hand across her eyes then commences to laugh hysterically and goes to the organ. She sits down and starts to play wildly an old hymn. KEENEY reenters from the door way to the deck and stands looking at her angrily. He comes over and grabs her roughly by the shoul der.] KEENEY Woman, what foolish mockin is this? [She laughs wildly and he starts back from her in ELE alarm.] Annie! What is it? [She doesn t answer him. KEENEY S voice trembles.] Don t you know me, Annie? [He puts both hands on her shoulders and turns her around so that he can look into her eyes. She stares up at him with a stupid expression, a vague smile on her lips. He stumbles away from her, and she commences softly to play the organ again.] KEENEY [Swallowing hard in a hoarse whis per, as if he had difficulty in speaking.] You said you was a-goin mad God ! [ A long wail is heard from the deck above.] Ah bl-o-o-o-ow! [A moment later the MATE S face appears through the skylight. He cannot see MRS. KEENEY.] MATE [In great excitement.] Whales, sir a whole school of em off the star b d quarter bout five mile away big ones ! KEENEY [Galvanized into action.] Are you lowerin the boats? MATE Yes, sir. KEENEY [With grim decision.] I m a-comin with ye. MATE Aye, aye, sir. [Jubilantly.] You ll git the ile now right enough, sir. [His head is with drawn and he can be heard shouting orders.] KEENEY [Turning to his wife.] Annie! Did you hear him ? I ll git the ile. [She doesn t answer or seem to know he is there. He gives a hard laugh, which is almost a groan.] I know you re foolin me, ILE Annie. You ain t out of your mind [Anxiously.] be you? I ll git the ile now right enough jest a little while longer, Annie then we ll turn hom ard. I can t turn back now, you see that, don t ye? I ve got to git the ile. [In sudden terror.] Answer me ! You ain t mad, be you? [She keeps on playing the organ, but makes no reply. The MATE S face ap pears again through the skylight.] MATE All ready, sir. [KEENEY turns his back on his wife and strides to the doorway, where he stands for a moment and looks back at her in anguish, fighting to control his feelings.] MATE Comin , sir? KEENEY [His face suddenly grown hard with determination.] Aye. [He turns abruptly and goes out. MRS. KEENEY does not appear to notice his departure. Her whole attention seems centered in the organ. She sits with half-closed eyes, her body swaying a little from side to side to the rhythm of the hymn. Her fingers move faster and faster and she is playing wildly and discordantly as [The Curtain Falls] WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE A Play In One Act CHARACTERS CAPTAIN ISAIAH BARTLETT NAT BARTLETT, Ms son SUE BARTLETT, his daughter DOCTOR HIGGINS SILAS HORNE, mate , , , of the schooner Mary GATES, bo sun > * J 7 -Allen JIMMY KANAKA, harpooner J WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE SCENE Captain Bartlett s "cabin" a room erected as a lookout post at the top of his house situ ated on a high point of land on the California coast. The inside of the compartment is fitted up like the captain s cabin of a deep-sea sailing vessel. On the left, forward, a porthole. Farther back, the stairs of the companionway. Still farther, two more portholes. In the rear, left, a marble-topped sideboard with a ship s lantern on it. In the rear, center, a door open ing on stairs which lead to the lower house. A cot with a blanket is placed against the wall to the right of the door. In the right wall, five portholes. Directly under them, a wooden bench. In front of the bench, a long table with two straight-backed chairs, one in front, the other to the left of it. A cheap, dark-col ored rug is on the floor. In the ceiling, mid way from front to rear, a skylight extending from opposite the door to above the left edge of the table. In the right extremity of the sky light is placed a floating ship s compass. The 147 148 WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE light from the binnacle sheds over this from above and seeps down into the room, casting a vague globular shadow of the compass on the floor. The time is an early hour of a clear windy night in the fall of the year 1900. Moonlight, winnowed by the wind which moam in the stub born angles of the old house, creeps wearily in through the portholes and rests like tired dust in circular patches upon the floor and table. An insistent monotone of thundering surf, muf fled and far-off, is borne upward from the beach below. After the curtain rises the door in the rear is opened slowly and the head and shoulders of NAT BARTLETT appear over the sill. He casts a quick glance about the room, and seeing no one there, ascends the remaining steps and en ters. He makes a sign to some one in the dark ness beneath: "All right, Doctor." DOCTOE HIGGINS follows him into the room and, closing the door, stands looking with great curiosity around him. He is a slight, medium-sized pro fessional-looking man of about thirty-five. NAT BARTLETT is very tall, gaunt, and loose- framed. His right arm has been amputated at the shoulder and the sleeve on that side of the heavy mackinaw he wears hangs flabbily or flaps against his body as he moves. He ap- WHERE THE CKOSS IS MADE 149 pears much older than his thirty years. His shoulders have a weary stoop as if worn down by the burden of his massive head with its heavy shock of tangled black hair. His face is long, bony, and sallow, with deep-set black eyes, a large aquiline nose, a wide thin-lipped mouth shadowed by an unkempt bristle of mustache. His voice is low and deep with a penetrating, hollow, metallic quality. In addition to the mackinaw, he wears corduroy trousers stuffed down into high laced boots. NAT Can you see, Doctor? HIGGINS [In the too-casual tones which betray an inward uneasiness.] Yes perfectly don t trouble. The moonlight is so bright NAT Luckily. {Walking slowly toward the table.] He doesn t want any light lately only the one from the binnacle there. HIGGINS He? Ah you mean your father? NAT [Impatiently.] Who else? HIGGINS [A bit startled gazing around him in embarrassment] I suppose this is all meant to be like a ship s cabin? NAT Yes as I warned you. HIGGINS {In surprise.] Warned me? Why, warned? I think it s very natural and interesting this whim of his. NAT [Meaningly.] Interesting, it may be. 150 WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE HIGGINS And he lives up here, you said nevei comes down? NAT Never for the past three years. My sis ter brings his food up to him. [He sits down in the chair to the left of the table.] There s a lantern on the sideboard there, Doctor. Bring it over and sit down. We ll make a light. I ll ask your pardon for bringing you to this room on the roof but no one ll hear us here; and by seeing for yourself the mad way he lives Understand that I want you to get all the facts just that, facts! and for that light is necessary. Without that they be come dreams up here dreams, Doctor. HIGGINS [With a relieved smile carries over the lantern.] It is a trifle spooky. NAT [Not seeming to notice this remark. ] He won t take any note of this light. His eyes are too busy out there. [He flings his left arm in a wide gesture seaward.] And if he does notice well, let him come down. You re bound to see him sooner or later. [He scratches a match and lights the lan tern.] HIGGINS Where is he? NAT [Pointing upward.] Up on the poop. Sit (down, man ! He ll not come yet awhile. HIGGINS [Sitting gingerly on the chair in front of table.] Then he has the roof too rigged up like a ship? NAT I told you he had. Like a deck, yes. A WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE 151 wheel, compass, binnacle light, the companionway there [He points.], a bridge to pace up and down on and keep watch. If the wind wasn t so high you d hear him now back and forth all the live-long night. [With a sudden harshness.] Didn t I tell you he s mad? HIGGLES [With a professional air."} That was nothing new. I ve heard that about him from all sides since I first came to the asylum yonder. You say he only walks at night up there? NAT Only at night, yes. [Grimly.] The things he wants to see can t be made out in daylight dreams and $uch. HIGGINS But just what is he trying to see? Does any one know? Does he tell? NAT [Impatiently.] Why, every one knows what Father looks for, man ! The ship, of course. HIGGINS What ship? NAT His ship the Mary Allen named for my dead mother. HIGGINS But I don t understand Is the ship long overdue or what ? NAT Lost in a hurricane off the Celebes with all on board three years ago! HIGGINS [Wonderingly.~\ Ah. [After a pause.] But your father still clings to a doubt NAT There is no doubt for him or any one else to cling to. She was sighted bottom up, a complete wreck, by the whaler John Slocum. That was two 152 WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE weeks after the storm. They sent a boat out to read her name. HIGGINS And hasn t your father ever heard NAT He was the first to hear, naturally. Oh, he knows right enough, if that s what you re driving at. [He bends toward the doctor intensely. ] He knows, Doctor, he knows but he won t believe. He can t and keep living. HIGGINS [Impatiently.] Come, Mr. Bartlett, let s get down to brass tacks. You didn t drag me up here to make things more obscure, did you? Let s have the facts you spoke of. I ll need them to give sympathetic treatment to his case when we get him to the asylum. NAT [Anxiously lowering his voice.] And you ll come to take him away to-night for sure? HIGGINS Twenty minutes after I leave here I ll be back in the car. That s positive. NAT And you know your way through the Souse? HIGGINS Certainly, I remember but I don t See NAT The outside door will be left open for you. Vou must come right up. My sister and I will be here with him. And you understand Neither i)f us knows anything about this. The authorities liave been complained to not by us, mind but by Some one. He must never know WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE 153 HIGGINS Yes, yes but still I don t Is he liable to prove violent? NAT No no. He s quiet always too quiet; but he might do something anything if he knows HIGGINS Rely on me not to tell him, then; but I ll bring along two attendants in case [He breaks off and continues in matter-of-fact tones.] And now for the facts in this case, if you don t mind, Mr. Bartlett. NAT [Shaking his head moodily, ,] There are cases where facts Well, here goes the brass tacks. My father was a whaling captain as his father before him. The last trip he made was seven years ago. He expected to be gone two years. It was four before we saw him again. His ship had been wrecked in the Indian Ocean. He and six others managed to reach a small island on the fringe of the Archipelago an island barren as hell, Doctor after seven days in an open boat. The rest of the whaling crew never were heard from again gone to the sharks. Of the six who reached the island with my father only three were alive when a fleet of Malay canoes picked them up, mad from thirst and starvation, the four of them. These four men finally reached Frisco. [With great emphasis. ] They were my father ; Silas Home, the mate ; Gates, the bo sun, and Jimmy Kanaka, a Hawaiian har- pooner. Those four! [With a forced laugh.] 154* WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE There are facts for you. It was all in the papers at the time my father s story. HIGGINS But what of the other three who were on the island? NAT [Harshly.] Died of exposure, perhaps. Mad and jumped into the sea, perhaps. .That was the told story. Another was whispered killed and eaten, perhaps ! But gone vanished that, unde niably. That was the fact. For the rest who knows? And what does it matter? HIGGINS [With a shudder.] I should think it would matter a lot. NAT {Fiercely. } We re dealing with facts, Doc tor! [With a laugh.] And here are some more for you. My father brought the three down to this house with him Home and Gates and Jimmy Ka naka. We hardly recognized my father. He had been through hell and looked it. His hair was white. But you ll see for yourself soon. And the others they were all a bit queer, too mad, if you will. [He laughs again.] So much for the facts, Doctor. They leave off there and the dreams begin. HIGGINS [Doubtfully. 1 It would seem the facts are enough. NAT Wait. [He resumes deliberately."] One day my father sent for me and in the presence of the others told me the dream. I was to be heir to the secret. Their second day on the island, he said, they discovered in a sheltered inlet the rotten, water- WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE 155 logged hulk of a Malay prau a proper war prau such as the pirates used to use. She had been there rotting God knows how long. The crew had van ished God knows where, for there was no sign on the island that man had ever touched there. The Kanakas went over the prau they re devils for staying under water, you know and they found in two chests [he leans back in his chair and smiles ironically] Guess what, Doctor? HIGGINS [With an. answering smile. ] Treasure, of course. NAT [Leaning forward and pointing his -finger accusingly at the other.] You see! The root of belief is in you, too! [Then he leans back with a hollow chuckle.] Why, yes. Treasure, to be sure. What else? They landed it and you can guess the rest, too diamonds, emeralds, gold ornaments innumerable, of course. Why limit the stuff of dreams? Ha-ha! [He laughs sardonically as if mocking himself.] HIGGINS [Deeply interested.] And then? NAT They began to go mad hunger, thirst, and the rest and they began to forget. Oh, they forgot a lot, and lucky for them they did, probably. But my father realizing, as he told me, what was happening to them, insisted that while they still knew what they were doing they should guess again now, Doctor. Ha-ha! HIGGINS Bury the treasure? 156 WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE NAT [Ironically.] Simple, isn t it? Ha-ha. And then they made a map the same old dream, you see with a charred stick, and my father had care of it. They were picked up soon after, mad as hatters, as I have told you, by some Malays. [He drops his mocking and adopts a calm, deliber ate tone again.] But the map isn t a dream, Doc tor. We re coming back to facts again. [He reaches into the pocket of his mackinaw and pulls out a crumpled paper. ] Here. [He spreads it out on the table. ] HIGGINS [Craning his neck eagerly.] Dammit! This is interesting. The treasure, I suppose, is where NAT Where the cross is made. HIGGINS And here are the signatures, I see. And that sign? NAT Jimmy Kanaka s. He couldn t write. HIGGINS And below? That s yours, isn t it? NAT As heir to the secret, yes. We all signed it here the morning the Mary Allen, the schooner my father had mortgaged this house to fit out, set sail to bring back the treasure. Ha-ha. HIGGINS The ship he s still looking for that was lost three years ago? NAT The Mary Allen, yes. The other three men sailed away on her. Only father and the mate knew the approximate location of the island and I as heir. It s [He hesitates, frowning.] No WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE 157 matter. I ll keep the mad secret. My father wanted to go with them but my mother was dying. I dared not go either. HIGGIXS Then you wanted to go? You believed in the treasure then? NAT Of course. Ha-ha. How could I help it? I believed until my mother s death. Then Tie be came mad, entirely mad. He built this cabin to wait in and he suspected my growing doubt as time went on. So, as final proof, he gave me a thing he had kept hidden from them all a sample of the richest of the treasure. Ha-ha. Behold ! [He takes from his pocket a heavy bracelet thickly studded with stones and throws it on the table near the lan tern.] HIGGINS [Picking it up with eager curiosity as if in spite of himself.] Real jewels? NAT Ha-ha! You want to believe, too. No paste and brass Malay ornaments. HIGGINS You had it looked over? NAT Like a fool, yes. [He puts it back in his pocket and shakes his head as if throwing off a burden] Now you know why he s mad waiting for that ship and why in the end I had to ask you to take him away where he ll be safe. The mortgage the price of that ship is to be fore closed. We have to move, my sister and I. We can t take him with us. She is to be married soon. Perhaps away from the sight of the sea he may 158 WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE HIGGINS [Perfunctorily.] Let s hope for the best. And I fully appreciate your position. [He gets up, smiling.] And thank you for the interest ing story. I ll know how to humor him when he raves about treasure. NAT [Somberly. ] He is quiet always too quiet. He only walks to and fro watching HIGGINS Well, I must go. You think it s best to take him to-night? NAT [Persuasively.] Yes, Doctor. The neigh bors they re far away but for my sister s sake you understand. HIGGINS I see. It must be hard on her this sort of thing Well. [He goes to the door, which NAT opens for him.] I ll return presently. [He starts to descend.] NAT [Urgently.] Don t fail us, Doctor. And come right up. He ll be here. [He closes the door and tiptoes carefully to the companionway. He ascends it a few steps and remains for a moment listening for some sound from above. Then he goes over to the table, turning the lantern very low, and sits down, resting his elbows, his chin on his hands, staring somberly before him,. The door in the rear is slowly opened. It creaks slightly and NAT jumps to his feet in a thick voice of terror.] Who s there? [The door swings wide open, revealing SUE BARTLETT. She ascends into the room and shuts the door behind her. She is a tall, slender woman WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE 159 of twenty-five, with a pale, sad face framed in a mass of dark red hair. This hair furnishes the only touch of color about her. Her full lips are pale; the blue of her wistful wide eyes is fading into a twilight gray. Her voice is low and melancholy. She wears a dark wrapper and slippers.] SUE [Stands and looks at her brother accus ingly. ,] It s only I. What are you afraid of? NAT [Averts his eyes and sinks back on his chair again.] Nothing. I didn t know I thought you were in your room. SUE [Comes to the table.] I was reading. Then I heard some one come down the stairs and go out. Who was it? [With sudden terror.] It wasn t Father? NAT No. He s up there watching as he al ways is. SUE [Sitting down insistently.] Who was it? NAT [Evasively.] A man I know. SUE What man? What is he? You re holding something back. Tell me. NAT [Raising his eyes defiantly.] A doctor. SUE [Alarmed] Oh! [With quick intuition.] You brought him up here so that I wouldn t know! NAT [Doggedly.] No. I took him up here to see how things were to ask him about Father. SUE [As if afraid of the answer she will get.] 160 WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE Is he one of them from the asylum? Oh, Nat, you haven t NAT [Interrupting her hoarsely.] No, no! Be still. SUE That would be the last horror. NAT [Defiantly. } Why? You always say that. What could be more horrible than things as they are? I believe it would be better for him away where he couldn t see the sea. He ll forget his mad idea of waiting for a lost ship and a treasure that never was. [As if trying to convince himself vehemently.] I believe this! SUE [Reproachfully. ] You don t, Nat. You know he d die if he hadn t the sea to live with. NAT [Bitterly. ] And you know old Smith will foreclose the mortgage. Is that nothing? We can not pay. He came yesterday and talked with me. He knows the place is his to all purposes. He talked as if we were merely his tenants, curse him ! And he swore he d foreclose immediately unless SUE [Eagerly.] What? NAT [In a hard voice.] Unless we have Father taken away. SUE [In anguish.] Oh! But why, why? What is Father to him? NAT The value of the property our home which is his, Smith s. The neighbors are afraid. They pass by on the road at nights coming back to their farms from the town. They see him up there walk- WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE 161 ing back and forth waving his arms against the sky. They re afraid. They talk of a complaint. They say for his own good he must be taken away. They even whisper the house is haunted. Old Smith is afraid of his property. He thinks that he may set fire to the house do anything SUE [Despairingly.] But you told him how fool ish that was, didn t you? That Father is quiet, al ways quiet. NAT What s the use of telling when they be lieve when they re afraid? [SUE hides her face in her hands a pau^e NAT whispers hoarsely:] I ve been afraid myself at times. SUE Oh, Nat! Of what? NAT [Violently.] Oh, him and the sea he calls to ! Of the damned sea he forced me on as a boy the sea that robbed me of my arm and made me the broken thing I am ! SUE [Pleadingly.] You can t blame Father for your misfortune. NAT He took me from school and forced me on his ship, didn t he? What would I have been now but an ignorant sailor like him if he had had his way? No. It s the sea I should not blame, that foiled him by taking my arm and then throwing me ashore another one of his wrecks ! SUE [With a sob.] You re bitter, Nat and hard. It was so long ago. Why can t you forget? NAT [Bitterly.] Forget! You can talk! 162 WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE When Tom comes home from this voyage you ll be married and out of this with life before you a captain s wife as our mother was. I wish you joy. SUE [Supplicatingly] And you ll come with us, Nat and father, too and then NAT Would you saddle your young husband with a madman and a cripple? [Fiercely ] No, no, not I! [Vindictively, ,] And not him, either! [With sudden meaning deliberately.] I ve got to stay here. My book is three-fourths done my book that will set me free! But I know, I feel, as sure as I stand here living before you, that I must finish it here. It could not live for me outside of this house where it was born. [Staring at her fixedly.] So I will stay in spite of hell! [SUE sobs hope lessly. After a pause he continues:] Old Smith told me I could live here indefinitely without paying as caretaker if SUE [Fearfully like a whispered eclio.~\ If? NAT [Staring at Tier in a hard voice. ] If I have him sent where he ll no longer harm himself nor others. SUE [With horrified dread] No no, Nat! For our dead mother s sake. NAT [Struggling] Did I say I had? Why do you look at me like that? SUE Nat! Nat! For our mother s sake! NAT [In terror] Stop! Stop! She s dead WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE 163 and at peace. Would you bring her tired soul back to him again to be bruised and wounded? SUE Nat! NAT [Clutching at his throat as though to strangle something within him hoarsely. ] Sue! Have mercy! [His sister stares at him with dread foreboding. NAT calms himself with an effort and continues deliberately:] Smith said he would give two thousand cash if I would sell the place to him and he would let me stay, rent free, as caretaker. SUE- [Scornfully.] Two thousand! Why, over and above the mortgage its worth NAT It s not what it s worth. It s what one can get, cash for my book for freedom! SUE So that s why he wants Father sent away, the wretch ! He must know the will Father made NAT Gives the place to me. Yes, he knows. I told him. SUE [Dully.] Ah, how vile men are ! NAT [Persuasively.] If it were to be done if it were, I say there d be half for you for your wedding portion. That s fair. SUE [Horrified.] Blood money! Do you think I could touch it? NAT [Persuasively.] It would be only fair. I d give it you. SUE My God, Nat, are you trying to bribe me? NAT No. It s yours in all fairness. [With a 164 WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE twisted smile.] You forget I m heir to the treas ure, too, and can afford to be generous. Ha-ha. SUE [Alarmed.] Nat! You re so strange. You re sick, Nat. You couldn t talk this way if you were yourself. Oh, we must go away from here you and father and I! Let Smith foreclose. There ll be something over the mortgage; and we ll move to some little house by the sea so that father NAT [Fiercely.] Can keep up his mad game with me whispering dreams in my ear pointing out to sea mocking me with stuff like this ! [He takes the bracelet from his pocket. The sight of it infuriates him and he hurls it into a corner, exclaim ing in a terrible voice:] No! No! It s too late for dreams now. It s too late! I ve put them be hind me to-night forever! SUE [Looks at him and suddenly understands that what she dreads has come to pass letting her head fall on her outstretched arms with a long moan.] Then you ve done it! You ve sold him! Oh, Nat, you re cursed! NAT [With a terrified glance at the roof above.] Ssshh! What are you saying? He ll be better off away from the sea. SUE [Dully.] You ve sold him. NAT [Wildly.] No! No! [He takes the map from his pocket.] Listen, Sue! For God s sake, listen to me! See! The map of the island. [He WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE 165 spreads it out on the table.] And the treasure where the cross is made. [He gulps and his words pour out incoherently. ] I ve carried it about for years. Is that nothing? You don t know what it means. It stands between me and my book. It s stood between me and life driving me mad! He taught me to wait and hope with him wait and hope day after day. He made me doubt my brain and give the lie to my eyes when hope was dead when I knew it was all a dream I couldn t kill it! [His eyes starting -from his head.~\ God forgive me, I still believe! And that s mad mad, do you hear? SUE [Looking at him with horror.] And that is why you hate him! NAT No, I don t [Then in a sudden frenzy.] Yes ! I do hate him ! He s stolen my brain! I ve got to free myself, can t you see, from him and his madness. SUE [Terrified appealingly.] Nat! Don t! You talk as if NAT [With a wild laugh.] As if I were mad? You re right but I ll be mad no more ! See ! [He opens the lantern and sets fire to the map in his hand. When he shuts the lantern again it flickers and goes out. They watch the paper burn with fas cinated eyes as he talks.] See how I free myself and become sane. And now for facts, as the doctor said. I lied to you about him. He was a doctor from the asylum. See how it burns ! It must all be 166 WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE destroyed this poisonous madness. Yes, I lied to you see it s gone the last speck and the only other map is the one Silas Home took to the bot tom of the sea with him. [He lets the ash fall to the floor and crushes it with his foot.] Gone! I m free of it at last ! [His face is very pale, but he goes on calmly.] Yes, I sold him, if you will to save my soul. They re coming from the asylum to get him [There is a loud, muffled cry from above, which sounds like "Sail-ho," and a stamping of feet. The slide to the companionway above is slid back with a bang. A gust of air tears down into the room. NAT and SUE have jumped to their feet and stand petrified. CAPTAIN BARTLETT tramps down the stairs.] NAT [With a shudder.] God! Did he hear? SUE Ssshh! [CAPTAIN BARTLETT comes into the room. He bears a striking resemblance to his son, but his face is more stern and formidable, his form more robust, erect and muscular. His mass of hair is pure white, his bristly mustache the same, con- trasting with the weather-beaten leather color of his furrowed face. Bushy gray brows overhang the obsessed glare of his fierce dark eyes. He wears a heavy, double-breasted blue coat, pants of the same material, and rubber boots turned down from the knee.] BARTI/ETT [In a state of mad exultation strides toward his son and points an accusing finger at him. WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE 167 NAT shrinks backward a step.] Bin thinkin me mad, did ye? Thinkin it for the past three years, ye bin ever since them fools on the Slocum tattled their damn lie o the Mary Allen bein a wreck. NAT [Swallowing hard chokingly.] No Father- I BARTLETT Don t lie, ye whelp! You that I d made my heir aimin to git me out o the way! Aimin to put me behind the bars o the jail for mad folk! SUE Father no ! BARTLETT [Waving his hand for her to be silent.] Not you, girl, not you. You re your mother. NAT [Very pale.] Father do you think j BARTLETT [Fiercely.] A lie in your eyes! I bin a-readin em. My curse on you ! SUE Father ! Don t ! BARTLETT Leave me be, girl. He believed, didn t he? And ain t he turned traitor mockin at me and sayin it s all a lie mockin at himself, too, for bein a fool to believe in dreams, as he calls em. NAT [Placatingly.] You re wrong, Father. I do believe. BARTLETT [Triumphantly.] Aye, now ye do! Who wouldn t credit their own eyes? NAT [Mystified. ] Eyes ? 168 WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE BARTLETT Have ye not seen her, then? Did ye not hear me hail? NAT [Confusedly.] Hail? I heard a shout. But hail what? seen what? BARTLETT [Grimly.] Aye, now s your punish ment, Judas. [Explosively.] The Mary Allen, ye blind fool, come back from the Southern Seas come back as I swore she must ! SUE [Trying to soothe him.] Father! Be quiet. It s nothing. BARTLETT [Not heeding her his eyes fixed hyp notically on his sons.] Turned the pint a half -hour back the Mary Allen loaded with gold as I swore she would be carryin her lowers not a reef in em makin port, boy, as I swore she must too late for traitors, boy, too late! droppin her anchor just when I hailed her. NAT [A haunted, fascinated look in his eyes, which are fixed immovably on his father s.] TJie Mary Allen! But how do you know? BARTLETT Not know my own ship ! Tis you re mad! NAT But at night some other schooner BARTLETT No other, I say ! The Mary Allen clear in the moonlight. And heed this : D you call to mind the signal I gave to Silas Home if he made this port o a night? NAT [Slowly.] A red and a green light at the mainmast-head. WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE 169 BARTLETT [Triumphantly.] Then look out if ye dare! [He goes to the porthole, left forward.] Ye can see it plain from here. [Commandingly .] Will ye believe your eyes ? Look and then call me mad! [NAT peers through the porthole and starts back, a dumbfounded expression on his face.] NAT [Slowly. ~\ A red and a green at the main mast-head. Yes clear as day. SUE [With a- worried look at him.] Let me see. [She goes to the porthole.] BARTLETT [To his son with fierce satisfaction.] Aye, ye see now clear enough too late for you. [NAT stares at him, spellbound.] And from above I saw Home and Gates and Jimmy Kanaka plain on the deck in the moonlight lookin up at me. Come! [He strides to the companionway, -followed by NAT. The two of them ascend. SUE turns from the port hole, an expression of frightened bewilderment on her face. She shakes her head sadly. A loud "Mary Allen, ahoy!" comes from above in BART- LETT S voice, followed like an echo by the same hail from NAT. SUE covers her face with her hands, shuddering. NAT comes down the companionway, his eyes wild and exulting. ] SUE [Brokenly.] He s bad to-night, Nat. You re right to humor him. It s the best thing. NAT [Savagely.] Humor him? What in hell do you mean ? 170 WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE SUE [Pointing to the portliole.~\ There s noth ing there, Nat. There s not a ship in harbor. NAT You re a fool or blind ! The Mary Allen s there in plain sight of any one, with the red and the green signal lights. Those fools lied about her! being wrecked. And I ve been a fool, too. SUE But, Nat, there s nothing. [She goes over to the porthole again.] Not a ship. See. NAT I saw, I tell you! From above it s all plain. [He turns from her and goes back to his seat by the table. SUE follows him, pleading fright- enedly.] SUE Nat! You mustn t let this You re all excited and trembling, Nat. [She puts a sooth ing hand on his forehead.] NAT [Pushing her away from him roughly. ] You blind fool! [Bartlett comes down the steps of the companionway. His face is transfigured with\ the ecstasy of a dream come true.~\ BARTLETT They ve lowered a boat the three Home and Gates and Jimmy Kanaka. They re a-rowin ashore. I heard the oars in the locks. Listen! [A pause. ] NAT [Excitedly.] I hear! SUE [Who has taken the chair by her brother in a warning whisper.] It s the wind and sea you hear, Nat. Please ! BARTLETT [Suddenly.] Hark! They ve landed. They re back on earth again as I swore they d come WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE 171 back. They ll be a-comin up the path now. [He stands in an attitude of rigid attention. NAT strains -forward in his chair. The sound of the wind and sea suddenly ceases and there is a heavy silence. A dense green glow floods slowly in rhythmic waves like a liquid into the room as of great depths of the sea faintly penetrated by light. } NAT [Catching at his sister s hand chokingly.} See how the light changes ! Green and gold ! [He shivers.} Deep under the sea! I ve been drowned for years! [Hysterically.} Save me! Save me! SUE [Patting his hand comfortingly.} Only the moonlight, Nat. It hasn t changed. Be quiet, dear, it s nothing. [The green light grows deeper and deeper.} BARTLETT [In a crooning, monotonous tone.} They move slowly slowly. They re heavy, I know, heavy the two chests. Hark! They re below at the door. You hear? NAT [Starting to his feet.] I hear! I left the door open. BARTLETT For them? NAT For them. SUE [Shuddering. } Ssshh! [The sound of a door being heavily slammed is heard from way down in the house. ,} NAT [To his sister excitedly. ~\ There 1 You hear? WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE SUE A shutter in the wind. NAT There is no wind. BARTLETT Up they come ! Up, bullies ! They re heavy heavy! [The paddling of bare feet sounds from the floor below then comes up the stairs."] NAT You hear them now? SUE Only the rats running about. It s nothing, Nat. BARTLETT [Rushing to the door and throwing it open.] Come in, lads, come in! and welcome home! [The form$ of SILAS HORNE, GATES, and JIMMY KANAKA rise noiselessly into the room from the stairs. The last two carry heavy mlaid chests. HORNE is a parrot-nosed, angular old man dressed in gray cotton trousers and a singlet torn open across his hairy chest. JIMMY is a tally sinewy, bronzed young Kanaka. He wears only a breech cloth. GATES is squat and stout and is dressed in dungaree pants and a shredded white sailor s blouse, stained with iron rust. All are in their bare feet. Water drips from their soaked and rotten clothes. Their hair is matted, intertwined with slimy strands of seaweed. Their eyes, as they glide silently mto the room, stare frightfully wide at nothing. Their flesh in the green light has the suggestion of de composition. Their bodies sway limply, nerve lessly, rhythmically as if to the pulse of long swells of the deep seaJ\ WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE 173 NAT [Making a step toward them. ] See! [Frenziedly] Welcome home, boys! SUE [Grabbing Ms arm.] Sit down, Nat. It s nothing. There s no one there. Father sit down ! BARTLETT [Grinning at the three and putting his finger to his lips. ] Not here, boys, not here not before him. [He points to his son.] He has no right, now. Come. The treasure is ours only. We ll go away with it together. Come. [He goes to the companionway. The three follow. At the foot of it HORNE puts a swaying hand on his shoul der and with the other holds out a piece of paper to him. BARTLETT takes it and chuckles exult antly. ] That s right for him that s right! [He ascends. The figures sway up after him.~] NAT [Frenziedly.] Wait! [He struggles to ward the companionway. ] SUE [Trying to hold him back.] Nat don t! Father come back ! NAT Father! [He flings her away from him and rushes up the companionway. He pounds against the slide, which seems to have been shut down on him] SUE [Hysterically runs wildly to the door in rear] Help! Help! [As she gets to the door DOCTOR HIGGINS appears, hurrying up the stairs.] HIGGINS [Excitedly.] Just a moment, Miss. What s the matter? SUE [With a gasp] My father up there! WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE HIGGINS I can t see where s my flash? Ah. [He flashes it on her terror-stricken face, then quickly around the room. The green glow disap pears. The "wind and sea are heard again. Clear moonlight floods through the portholes. HIGGINS springs to the companionway. NAT is still pound ing. ] Here, Bartlett. Let me try. NAT [Coming down looking dully at the doc tor. ] They ve locked it. I can t get up. HIGGINS [Looks up in an astonished voice.] What s the matter, Bartlett? It s all open. [He starts to ascend.] NAT [In a voice of warning.] Look out, man! Look out for them ! HIGGINS [Calls down -from above.] Them? Who? There s no one here. [Suddenly in alarm.] Come up! Lend a hand here! He s fainted! [NAT goes up slowly. SUE goes over and lights the lantern, then hurries bade to the foot of the companionway with it. There is a scuffling noise from above. They reappear, carrying CAPTAIN BARTLETT S body.] HIGGINS Easy now! [They lay him on the couch in rear. SUE sets the lantern down by the couch. HIGGINS bends and listens for a heart-beat. Then he rises, shaking his head.] I m sorry SUE [Dully.] Dead? HIGGINS [Nodding.] Heart failure, I should WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE 175 judge. [With an attempt at consolation.] Per haps it s better so, if NAT [As if in a trance. ~\ There was something Home handed him. Did you see? SUE [Wringing her hands.] Oh, Nat, be still! He s dead. [To HIGGINS with pitiful appeal.] Please go go HIGGINS There s nothing I can do? SUE Go please [HIGGINS bows stiffly and goes out. NAT moves slowly to his father s body, as if attracted by some irresistible fascination.] NAT Didn t you see? Home handed him some thing. SUE [Sobbing.] Nat! Nat! Come away! Don t touch him, Nat! Come away. [But her brother does not heed her. His gaze is fixed on his father s right hand, which hangs downward over the side of the couch. He pounces on it and forcing the clenched fingers open with a great effort, secures a crumpled ball of paper.] NAT [Flourishing it above his head with a shout of triumph.] See! [He bends down and spreads it out in the light of the lantern. The map of the island! Look! It isn t lost for me after all! There s still a chance my chance! [With mad, solemn decision.] When the house is sold I ll go and I ll find it! Look! It s written here in his hand writing: "The treasure is buried where the cross is made." 176 WHERE THE CROSS IS MADE SUE [Covering her face with her hands brokenly.] Oh, God! Come away, Nat! Come away ! [The Curtain Falls] THE ROPE A Play In One Act CHARACTERS ABRAHAM BENTLEY ANNIE, his daughter PAT SWEENEY, her husband MARY, their child LUKE BENTLEY, Abe s son by a second marriage THE ROPE SCENE The interior of an old barn situated on top of a high headland of the seacoast. In the rear, to the left, a stall in which lumber is stacked up. To the right of it, an open double doorway looking out over the ocean. Outside the doorway, the faint trace of what was once a road leading to the barn. Beyond the road, the edge of a cliff which rues sheer -from the sea below. On the right of -the doorway, three stalls with mangers and hay-ricks. The first of these is used as a woodbin and is half full of piled-up cordwood. Near this bin, a chopping block with an ax driven into the top of it. The left section of the barn contains the hay loft, which extends at a height of about twelve feet from the floor as far to the right as the middle of the doorway. The loft is bare ex cept -for a few scattered mounds of dank-look ing hay. From the edge of the loft, half way from the door, a rope about five feet long with an open running noose at the end is hanging. 179 180 THE ROPE A rusty plow and various other farming imple ments, all giving evidence of long disuse, are lying on the -floor near the left wall. Farther forward an old cane-bottomed chair is set back against the wall. In front of the stalls on the right stands a long, roughly constructed carpenter 9 s table, evi dently home-made. Saws, a lathe, a hammer, chisel, a keg containing nails and other tools of the carpentry trade are on the table. Two benches are placed, one in -front, one ta the left of it. The right side of the barn is a bare wall. It is between six and half -past in the evening of a day in early spring. At the rising of the curtain some trailing clouds near the horizon, seen through the open doorway, are faintly tmged with gold by the first glow of the sunset. As the action progresses this reflected light gradually becomes brighter, and then slowly fades into a smoky crimson. The sea is a dark slate color. From the rocks below the headland sounds the muffled monotone of break ing waves. As the curtain rises MARY is discovered squatting cross-legged on the floor, her back propped against the right side of the doorway, her face in profile. She is a skinny, over-grown THE ROPE 181 girl of ten with thin, carroty hair worn in a pig-tail. She wears a shabby gingham dress. Her face is stupidly expressionless. Her hands flutter about aimlessly in relaxed, flabby ges tures. She is staring fixedly at a rag doll which she has propped up against the doorway opposite her. She hums shrilly to herself. At a sudden noise from outside she jumps to her feet, peeks out, and quickly snatches up the doll, which she hugs fiercely to her breast. Then, after a second s fearful hesitation, she runs to the carpenter s table and crawls under it. As she does so ABRAHAM BENTLEY appears in the doorway and stands, blinking into the shadowy barn. He is a tall, lean stoop-shoul dered old man of sixty-five. His thin legs, twist ed by rheumatism; totter feebly under him as he shuffles slowly along by the aid of a thick cane. His face is gaunt, chalky-white, furrowed with wrinkles, surmounted by a shiny bald scalp fringed with scanty wisps of white hair. His eyes peer weakly from beneath bushy, black brows. His mouth is a sunken line drawn in under his large, beak-like nose. A two weeks 9 growth of stubby patches of beard covers his jaws and chin. He has on a threadbare brown overcoat but wears no hat. 182 THE ROPE BENTLEY [Comes slowly into the barn, peering around him suspiciously. As he reaches the table and leans one hand on it for support, MARY darts from underneath and dashes out through the door way. BENTLEY is startled; then shakes his cane after her.~\ Out o my sight, you Papist brat! Spawn o Satan! Spyin on me! They set her to it. Spyin to watch me! [He limps to the door and looks out cautiously. Satisfied, he turns back into the barn.] Spyin to see what they ll never know. [He stands staring up at the rope and taps it testingly several times with his stick, talking to himself as he does so.] It s tied strong strong as death [He cackles with satisfaction.] They ll see, then! They ll see! [He laboriously creeps over to the bench and sits down wearily. He looks toward the sea and his voice quavers in a dole ful chant:] "Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out." [He mumbles to himself for a moment then speaks clearly.] Spyin on me ! Spawn o the Pit ! [He renews his chant.] "They hunt our steps that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come." [As he finishes ANNIE enters. She is a thin, slovenly, worn-out looking woman of about forty with a drawn, pasty face. Her habitual expression is one of a dulled irritation. She talks m a high- THE ROPE 183 pitched, sing-song whine. She wears a faded ging ham dress and a torn sunbonnet.] ANNIE [Comes over to her father but warily keeps out of range of his stick.] Paw ! [He doesn t answer or appear to see her.] Paw! You ain t fergittin what the doctor told you when he was here last, be you? He said you was to keep still and not go a-walkin round. Come on back to the house, Paw. It s gittin near supper time and you got to take your medecine b fore it, like he says. BENTLEY [His eyes fixed in front of him.] "The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, daughter of Zion: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins." ANNIE [Waiting resignedly until he has fin ished wearily.] You better take watch on your health, Paw, and not be sneakin up to this barn no more. Lord sakes, soon s ever my back is turned you goes sneakin off agen. It s enough to drive a body outa their right mind. BENTLEY "Behold, every one that useth prov erbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter!" [He cackles to himself.] So is her daughter! ANNIE [Her face flushing with anger.] And if 1 am, I m glad I take after her and not you, y old wizard! [Scornfully.] A fine one you be to be shoutin Scripture in a body s ears all the live-long day you that druv Maw to her death with your 184 THE ROPE naggin , and pincnin , and miser stinginess. If you ve a mind to pray, it s down in the medder you ought to go, and kneel down by her grave, and ask God to forgive you for the meanness you done to her all her life. BENTLEY [Mumbling.] "As is the mother, so is her daughter." ANNIE [Enraged by the repetition of this quo tation.] You quotin Scripture! Why, Maw wasn t cold in the earth b fore you was down in the port courtin agen courtin that harlot that was the talk o the whole town! And then you disgraces yourself and me by marryin her her and bringin her back home with you; and me still goin every day to put flowers on Maw s grave that you d fer- gotten. [She glares at him vindictively, pausing for breath.] And between you you d have druv me into the grave like you done Maw if I hadn t mar ried Pat Sweeney so s I could git away and live in peace. Then you took on so high and mighty cause he was a Cath lic you gittin religion all of a mo ment just for spite on me cause I d left and b cause she egged you on against me; you sayin it was a sin to marry a Papist, after not bein at Sunday meetin yourself for more n twenty years! BENTLEY [Loudly.] "He will visit thin iniq uity " ANNIE [Interrupting.] And the carryin s-on you had the six years at home after I d left you THE ROPE 185 the shame of the whole county ! Your wife, indeed, with a child she claimed was your n, and her goin with this farmer and that, and even men off the ships in the port, and you blind to it! And then when she got sick of you and ran away only to meet her end at the hands of God a year after she leaves you alone with that your son, Luke, she called him and him only five years old! BENTLEY [Babbling. ] Luke ? Luke ? ANNIE [Tauntingly.] Yes, Luke! "As is the mother, so is her son" that s what you ought to preach stead of puttin curses on me. You was glad enough to git me back home agen, and Pat with me, to tend the place, and help bring up that brat of hers. [Jealously.] You was fond enough of him all them years and how did he pay you back? Stole your money and ran off and left you just when he was sixteen and old enough to help. Told you to your face he d stolen and was leavin . He only laughed when you was took crazy and cursed him; and he only laughed harder when you hung up that silly rope there [She points.] and told him to hang himself on it when he ever came home agen. BENTLEY [Mumbling.] You ll see, then. You ll see! ANNIE [Wearily her face becoming dull and emotionless again.] I s pose I m a bigger fool than you be to argy with a half-witted body. But I 186 THE ROPE tell you agen that Luke of yours ain t comin back ; and if he does he ain t the kind to hang himself, more s the pity. He s like her. He d hang you more likely if he s pected you had any money. So you might s well take down that ugly rope you ve had tied there since he run off. He s probably dead anyway by this, BENTLEY [Frightened.] No ! No ! ANNIE Them as bad as him comes to a sudden end. [Irritably.] Land sakes, Paw, here I am argyin with your lunatic notions and the supper not ready. Come on and git your medicine. You can see no one ain t touched your old rope. Come on ! You can sit n read your Bible. [He makes no movement. She comes closer to him and peers into his face uncertainly.] Don t you hear me? I do hope you ain t off in one of your fits when you don t know nobody. D you know who s talkin ? This is Annie your Annie, Paw. BENTLEY [Bursting into senile rage.] None o* mine ! Spawn o the Pit ! [ With a quick movement lie hits her viciously over the arm with his stick. She gives a cry of pain and backs away from him, holding her arm.] ANNIE [Weeping angrily.] That s what I git for tryin to be kind to you, you ugly old devil! [The sound of a man s footsteps is heard from out side, and SWEENEY enters. He is a stocky, muscu lar, sandy-haired Irishman dressed in patched cordw- THE ROPE 187 roy trousers shoved down into high laced boots, and a blue flannel shirt. The bony face of his bullet head has a pressed-in appearance except for his heavy jaw, which sticks out pugnaciously. There is an expression of mean cunning and cupidity about his mouth and his small, round, blue eyes. He has evidently been drinking and his face is flushed and set in an angry scowl.~\ SWEENEY Have ye no supper at all made, ye lazy slut? [Seeing that she has been crying, ,] What re you blubberin about? ANNIE It s all his fault. I was tryin to git him home but he s that set I couldn t budge him; and he hit me on the arm with his cane when I went near him. SWEENEY He did, did he? I ll soon learn him better. [He advances toward BENTLEY threaten ingly. } ANNIE [Grasping his arm.~\ Don t touch him, Pat. He s in one of his fits and you might kill him. SWEENEY An good riddance ! BENTLEY [Hissing. } Papist! [Chants.~\ "Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name : for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and made his habitation desolate." SWEENEY [Instinctively crosses himself then scornfully. ] Spit curses on me till ye choke. It s not likely the Lord God ll be listenin* to a wicked 188 THE ROPE auld sinner the like of you. [To ANNIE.] What s got into him to be roamin up here? When I left for the town he looked too weak to lift a foot. ANNIE Oh, it s the same crazy notion he s had ever since Luke left. He wanted to make sure the rope was still here. BENTLEY [Pointing to the rope with his stick.] He-he ! Luke ll come back. Then you ll see. You ll see! SWEENEY [Nervously.] Stop that mad cacklin for the love of heaven! [With a forced laugh.] It s great laughter I should be havin at you, mad as you are, for thinkin that thief of a son of yours would come back to hang himself on account of your curses. It s five years he s been gone, and not a sight of him ; an you. cursin an callin down the wrath o God on him by day an by night. That shows you what God thinks of your curses an Him deaf to you! ANNIE It s no use talkin to him, Pat. SWEENEY I ve small doubt but that Luke is hung long since by the police. He s come to no good end, that lad. [His eyes on the rope.] I ll be pullin that thing down, so I will ; an the auld loon ll stay in the house, where he belongs, then, maybe. [He reaches up for the rope as if to try and yank it down. BENTLEY waves his stick frantically in the air, and groans with rage.] ANNIE [Frightened.] Leave it alone, Pat. THE ROPE 189 Look at him. He s liable to hurt himself. Leave his rope be. It don t do no harm. SWEENEY [Reluctantly moves away.] It looks ugly hangin there open like a mouth. [The old man sinks back into a relieved immobility. SWEENEY speaks to his wife in a low tone.~\ Where s the child? Get her to take him out o this. I want a word with you he ll not be hearin . [She goes to the door and calls out:] Ma-ry! Ma-ry! [A "faint, answering cry is heard and a moment later MARY rushes breathlessly into the barn. SWEENEY grabs her roughly by the arm. She shrinks away, looking at him with terrified eyes.] You re to take your grandfather back to the house an see to it he stays there. ANNIE And give him his medicine. SWEENEY [As the child continues to stare at him silently with eyes stupid from fear, he shakes her impatiently] D you hear me, now? [To his wife] It s soft-minded she is, like I ve always told you, an stupid; and you re not too firm in the head yourself at times, God help you! An look at him! It s the curse is in the wits of your family, not mine. ANNIE You ve been drinkin in town or you wouldn t talk that way. MARY [Whining] Maw! I m skeered! SWEENEY [Lets go of her arm and approaches BENTLEY.] Get up out o this, ye auld loon, an 190 THE ROPE go with Mary. She ll take you to the house. [BENTLEY tries to hit him with the cane.~\ Oho, ye would, would ye? [He wrests the cane from the old man s hands.] Bad cess to ye, you re the treach- rous one! Get up, now! [He jerks the old man to his feet.] Here, Mary, take his hand. Quick now! [She does so tremblingly] Lead him to the house. ANNIE Go on, Paw! I ll come and git your supper in a minute. BENTLEY [Stands stubbornly and begins to in tone.] "O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong; judge thou my cause. Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me " SWEENEY [Pushing him toward the door. BENTLEY tries to resist. MARY pulls at his hand in a sudden fit of impish glee, and laughs shrilly] Get on now an stop your cursin . BENTLEY "Render unto them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands." SWEENEY Shut your loud quackin ! Here s your cane. [He gives it to the old man as they come to the doorway and quickly steps back out of reach] An mind you don t touch the child with it or I ll beat you to a jelly, old as ye are. BENTLEY [Resisting MARY S efforts to pull him out, stands shaking his stick at SWEENEY and his wife] "Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto THE ROPE 191 them. Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord." MARY [Tugging at his hand and bursting again into shrill laughter.] Come on, gran paw. [He al lows himself to be led off, right] SWEENEY [Making the sign of the cross fur tively with a sigh of relief.] He s gone, thank God ! What a snake s tongue he has in him ! [He sits down on the bench to the left of table] Come here, Annie, till I speak to you. [She sits down on the bench in front of table. SWEENEY winks mys teriously.] Well, I saw him, sure enough. ANNIE [Stupidly. ] Who ? SWEENEY [Sharply] Who? Who but Dick Waller, the lawyer, that I went to see. [Lowering his voice] An I ve found out what we was wishin* to know. [With a laugh] Ye said I d been drinkin which is true ; but twas all in the plan I d made. I ve a head for strong drink, as ye know, but he hasn t. [He winks cunningly] An the whiskey loosened his tongue till he d told all he knew. ANNIE He told you about Paw s will? SWEENEY He did. [Disappointedly] But for all the good it does us we might as well be no wiser than we was before. [He broods for a moment in silence then hits the table furiously with his fist] God s curse on the auld miser! ANNIE What did he tell you? SWEENEY Not much at the first. He s a cute 192 THE ROPE one, an he d be askin a fee to tell you your own name, if he could get it. His practice is all drib bled away from him lately on account of the drink. So I let on I was only payin a friendly call, havin known him for years. Then I asked him out to have a drop o drink, knowin his weakness; an we had rashers of them, an I payin for it. Then I come out with it straight and asked him about the will because the auld man was crazy an on his last legs, I told him, an he was the lawyer made out the will when Luke was gone. So he winked at me an grinned he was drunk by this an said: "It s no use, Pat. He left the farm to the boy." "To hell with the farm," I spoke back. "It s mortgaged to the teeth; but how about the money?" "The money?" an he looks at me in surprise, "What money?" "The cash he has," I says. "You re crazy," he says. "There wasn t any cash only the farm." "D you mean to say he made no men tion of money in his will?" I asked. You could have knocked me down with a feather. "He did not on my oath," he says. [SWEENEY leans over to his wife indignantly.] Now what d you make o that? The auld divil! ANNIE Maybe Waller was lyin . SWEENEY He was not. I could tell by his face. He was surprised to hear me talkin of money. ANNIE But the thousand dollars Paw got for the mortgage just before that woman ran away THE ROPE QL93 SWEENEY An 9 that I ve been slavin me hands off to pay the int rist on! ANNIE What could he have done with that? He ain t spent it. It was in twenty dollar gold pieces he got it, I remember Mr. Kellar of the bank tellin me once. SWEENEY Divil a penny he s spent. Ye know as well as I do if it wasn t for my hammerin , an* sawin , an nailin , he d be in the poor house this minute or the mad house, more likely. ANNIE D you suppose that harlot ran off with it? SWEENEY I do not; I know better an* so do you. D you not remember the letter she wrote tellin him he :ould support Luke on the money he d got on the mortgage she d signed with him; for he d made the farm over to her when he married her. An where d you suppose Luke got the hun dred dollars he stole? The auld loon must have had cash with him then, an it s only five years back. ANNIE He s got it hid some place in the house most likely. SWEENEY Maybe you re right. I ll dig in the cellar this night when he s sleepin . He used to be down there a lot recitin Scripture in his fits. ANNIE What else did Waller say? SWEENEY Nothin much ; except that we should! put notices in the papers for Luke, an if he didn t come back by sivin years from when he d left two 194 THE ROPE years from now, that d be the courts would say he was dead an give us the farm. Divil a lot of use it is to us now with no money to fix it up; an him self ruinin it years ago by sellin everythin to buy that slut new clothes. ANNIE Don t folks break wills like his n in the courts ? SWEENEY Waller said twas no use. The auld divil was plain in his full senses when he made it; an the courts cost money. ANNIE [Resignedly.] There ain t nothin* we can do then. SWEENEY No except wait an pray that young thief is dead an* won t come back; an try an find where it is the auld man has the gold hid, if he has it yet. I d take him by the neck an choke him till he told it, if he wasn t your father. [He takes a full quart flask of whiskey from the pocket of his coat and has a big drink.~\ Aahh! If we d on y the thousand we d stock the farm good an I d give up this dog s game [He indicates the carpentry outfit scornfully.] an we d both work hard with a man or two to help, an in a few years we d be rich; for twas always a payin place in the auld days. ANNIE Yes, yes, it was always a good farm then. SWEENEY He ll not last long in his senses, the doctor told me. His next attack will be very soon an after it he ll be a real lunatic with no legal THE ROPE . 195 claims to anythin*. If we on y had the money Twould be the divil an all if the auld fool should forget where he put it, an him takin leave of his senses altogether. [He takes another nip at the bottle and puts it back in his pocket with a sigh.~\ Ah, well, I ll save what I can an at the end of two years, with good luck in the trade, maybe we ll have enough. [They are both startled by the heavy foot steps of some one approaching outside. A shrill burst of MARY S laughter can be heard and the deep voice of a man talking to her.] SWEENEY [Uneasily.] It s Mary; but who could that be with her? It s not himself. [As he finishes speaking LUKE appears in the doorway, hold ing the dancing MARY by the hand. He is a tall, strapping young fellow about twenty-five with a coarse-featured, rather handsome face bronzed by the sun. What hi$ face lacks in intelligence is partly forgiven for his good-natured, half-foolish grin, his hearty laugh, his curly dark hair, a certain devil-may-care recklessness and irresponsible youth in voice and gesture. But his mouth is weak and characterless; his brown eyes are large but shifty and acquisitive. He wears a dark blue jersey, patched Ulue pants, rough sailor shoes, and a gray cap. He advances into the stable with a mocking smile on his lips until he stands directly under the rope. The man and woman stare at him in petrified amazement.] 196 THE ROPE ANNIE Luke I SWEENEY [Crossing himself. ~\ Glory be to God it s him! MARY [Hopping up and down wildly. ] It s Uncle Luke, Uncle Luke, Uncle Luke! [She runs to her mother, who pushes her away angrily.] LUKE [Regarding them both with an amused grin.~\ Sure, it s Luke back after five years of bummin* round the rotten old earth in ships and things. Paid off a week ago had a bust-up and then took a notion to come out here bummed my way and here I am. And you re both of you tickled to death to see me, ain t yuh? like hell! [He laughs and walks over to ANNIE.] Don t yuh even want to shake flippers with your dear, long-lost brother, Annie? I remember you and me used to git on so fine together like hell! ANNIE [Giving him a venomous look of hatred.] Keep your hands to yourself. LUKE [Grinning. ] You ain t changed, that s sure on y yuh re homlier n ever. [He turns to the scowling Sweeney.] How about you, brother Pat? SWEENEY I d not lower myself to take the hand of a LUKE [With a threat in his voice.] Easy goes with that talk! I m not so soft to lick as I was when I was a kid; and don t forget it. ANNIE [To MARY, who is playing catch with a silver dollar which she has had clutched in her THE ROPE i97 hand sharply.] Mary! What have you got there? Where did you get it? Bring it here to me this minute! [MARY presses the dollar to her breast and remains standing by the doorway in stub born silence. 1 LUKE Aw, let her alone! What s bitin yuh? That s on y a silver dollar I give her when I met her front of the house. She told me you was up here; and I give her that as a present to buy candy with. I got it in Frisco cart-wheels, they call em. There ain t none of them in these parts I ever seen, so I brung it along on the voyage. ANNIE [Angrily .] I don t know or care where you got it but I know you ain t come by it honest. Mary! Give that back to him this instant! [As the child hesitates, she stamps her foot furiously. ] D you hear me? [MARY starts to cry softly, but comes to LUKE and hands him the dollar.] LUKE [Taking it with a look of disgust at his half-sister.~\ I was right when I said you ain t changed, Annie. You re as stinkin mean as ever. [To MARY, consolingly.] Quit bawlin , kid. You V me ll go out on the edge of the cliff here and chuck some stones in the ocean same s we useter, re member? [MARY S tears immediately cease. She looks up at him with shining eyes, and claps her hands.] MARY [Point wig to the dollar he has in his hand.] Throw that ! It s flat V it ll skip. 198 THE ROPE LUKE [With a grin. ] That s the talk, kid. That s all it s good for to throw away ; not buryin it like your miser folks d tell you. Here ! You take it and chuck it away. It s your n. [He gives her the dollar and she hops to the doorway. He turns to PAT with a grin.] I m learnin your kid to be a sport, Tight-Wad. I hope you ain t got no objections. MARY [Impatiently. } Come on, Uncle Luke. Watch me throw it. LUKE Aw right. [To PAT.] I ll step outside a second and give you two a chanct to git all the dirty things yuh re thinkin about me off your chest. [Threateningly.] And then I m gointer come and talk turkey to you, see? I didn t come back here for fun, and the sooner you gets that in your beans, the better. MARY Come on and watch me! LUKE Aw right, I m comin . [He walks out and stands, leaning his back against the doorway, left. MARY is about six feet beyond him on the other side of the road. She is leaning down, peering over the edge of the cliff and laughing excitedly.] MARY Can I throw it now? Can I? LUKE Don t git too near the edge, kid. The water s deep down there, and you d be a drowned rat if you slipped. [She shrinks back a step] You chuck it when I say three. Ready, now! [She draws back her arm] One! Two! Three! THE ROPE 199 [She throws the dollar away and "bends down to see it hit the water.] MARY [Clapping her hands and laughing.] I seen it! I seen it splash! It s deep down now, ain t it? LUKE Yuh betcher it is ! Now watch how far I kin chuck rocks. [He picks up a couple and goes to where she is standing. During the following con versation between SWEENEY and his wife he continues to play this way with MARY. Their voices can be heard but the words are indistinguishable.] SWEENEY [Glancing apprehensively toward the door with a great sigh.] Speak of the divil an here he is! [Furiously.] Flingin away dollars, the dirty thief, an us without ANNIE [Interrupting him.] Did you hear what he said? A thief like him ain t come back for no good. [Lowering her voice.] D you s pose he knows about the farm bein left to him? SWEENEY [Uneasily.] How could he? An yet I dunno [With sudden decision.] You d best lave him to me to watch out for. It s small sense you have to hide your hate from him. You re as looney as the rist of your breed. An he needs to be blarneyed round to fool him an find out what he s wantin . I ll pritind to make friends with him, God roast his soul ! An do you run to the house an break the news to the auld man; for if he seen him suddin its likely the little wits he has left would 200 THE ROPE leave him; an* the thief could take the farm from us to-morrow if himself turned a lunatic. ANNIE [Getting up] I ll tell him a little at a time till he knows. SWEENEY Be careful, now, or we ll lose the farm this night. [She starts towards the doorway. SWEENEY speaks suddenly in a strange, awed voice. ~\ Did you see Luke when he first came in to us? He stood there with the noose of the rope almost touch- in his head. I was almost wishin [He hesi tates.^ ANNIE [Viciously.] I was wishin it was round his neck chokin him, that s what I was hangin* him just as Paw says. SWEENEY Ssshh ! He might hear ye. Go along, now. He s comin back. MARY [Pulling at LUKE S arm as he comes back to the doorway] Lemme throw nother! Lemme throw nother I LUKE [Enters just as ANNIE is going out and stops her.] Goin to the house? Do we get any supper? I m hungry. ANNIE [Glaring at him but restraining her rage.] Yes. LUKE [Jovially] Good work! And tell the old man I m here and I ll see him in a while. He ll be glad to see me, too like hell! [He comes for ward. ANNIE goes off, right.] THE ROPE 201 MARY [In an angry whine, tugging at his hand.] Lemme throw nother. Lemme LUKE [Shaking her away.] There s lots of rocks, kid. Throw them. Dollars ain t so plenti ful. MARY [Screaming.] No! No! I don wanter throw rocks. Lemme throw nother o* them. SWEENEY [Severely. ,] Let your uncle in peace, ye brat! [She commences to cry.] Run help your mother now or I ll give ye a good hidin*. [MARY runs out of the door, whimpering. PAT turns to LUKE and holds out his hand.] LUKE [Looking at it in amazement.] Ahoy, there! What s this? SWEENEY [With an ingratiating smile.] Let s let by-gones be by-gones. I m harborin no grudge agen you these past years. Ye was only a lad when ye ran away an not to be blamed for it. I d have taken your hand a while back, an glad to, but for her bein with us. She has the divil s own tongue, as ye know, an she can t forget the rowin you an her used to be havin . LUKE [Still looking at SWEENEY S hand.] So that s how the wind blows! [With a grin.] Well, I ll take a chanct. [They shake hands and sit down by the table, SWEENEY on the front bench and LUKE on the left one.] SWEENEY [Putts the bottle from his coat pocket THE ROPE with a wink. } Will ye have a taste? It s real stuff. LUKE Yuh betcher I will ! [He takes a big gulp and hands the bottle back.] SWEENEY [After taking a drink himself, puts bottle on table. } I wasn t wishin herself to see it or I d have asked ye sooner. [There is a pause, during which each measures the other with his eyes.] LUKE Say, how s the old man now? SWEENEY [Cautiously.] Oh, the same as ivir older an uglier, maybe. LUKE I thought he might be in the bug-house by this time. SWEENEY [Hastily.] Indeed not; he s foxy to pritind he s looney, but he s his wits with him all the time. LUKE [Insinuatingly.] Is he as stingy with his coin as he used to be? SWEENEY If he owned the ocean he wouldn t give a fish a drink ; but I doubt if he s any money left at all. Your mother got rid of it all, I m thinkin . [LUKE smiles a superior, knowing smile.] He has on y the farm, an that mortgaged. I ve been payin* the int rist an supportin himself an his doctor s bills by the carpentryin these five years past. LUKE [With a grin.] Huh! Yuh re slow. Yuh oughter get wise to yourself. SWEENEY [Inquisitively.] What d ye mean by that? THE ROPE 203 LUKE [Aggravatingly.] Aw, nothin . [He turns around and his eyes fix themselves on the rope.] What the hell [He is suddenly convulsed with laughter and slaps his thigh.] Hahaha! If that don t beat the Dutch ! The old nut ! SWEENY What ? LUKE That rope. Say, has he had that hangin there ever since I skipped? SWEENEY [Smiling. ] Sure; an he thinks you ll be comin home to hang yourself. LUKE Hahaha ! Not this chicken ! And you say he ain t crazy ! Gee, that s too good to keep. I got to have a drink on that. [SWEENEY pushes the bot tle toward him. He raises it toward the rope.] Here s how, old chum ! [He drinks. SWEENEY does likewise.] Say, I d a most forgotten about that. Remember how hot he was that day when he hung that rope up and cussed me for pinchin the hun dred? He was standin there shakin his stick at me, and I was laughin cause he looked so funny with the spit dribblin outa his mouth like he was a mad dog. And when I turned round and beat it he shouted after me : "Remember, when you come home again there s a rope waitin for yuh to hang your self on, yuh bastard!" [He spits contemptuously.] What a swell chanct. [His manner changes and he frowns.] The old slave-driver! That s a hell of a fine old man for a guy to have! SWEENEY [Pushing the bottle toward him.] 204s THE ROPE Take a sup an forgit it. Twas a long time past. LUKE But the rope s there yet, ain t it? And he keeps it there. [He takes a large swallow. SWEENEY also drinks.] But I ll git back at him aw right, yuh wait n see. I ll git every cent he s got this time. SWEENEY \_Slyly .] If he has a cent. I m not wishful to discourage ye, but [He shakes his head doubtfully, at the same time -fixing LUKE with a keen glance out of the corner of his eye.~\ LUKE [With a cunning wink.] Aw, he s got it aw right. You watch me ! [He is beginning to show the effects of the drink he has had. He pulls out tobacco and a paper and rolls a cigarette and lights it. As he puffs he continues boastfully.] You country jays oughter wake up and see what s goin on. Look at me. I was green as grass when I left here, but bummin round the world, and bein in cities, and meetin all kinds, and keepin your two eyes open that s what ll learn yuh a cute trick or two. SWEENEY No doubt but you re right. Us coun try folks is stupid in most ways. We ve no chance to learn the things a travelin lad like you d be knowin . LUKE [Complacently.] Well, you watch me and I ll learn yuh. [He snickers] So yuh think the old man s flat broke, do yuh? SWEENEY I do so. THE ROPE 205 LUKE Then yuh re simple; that s what simple! You re lettin him kid yuh. SWEENEY If he has any, it s well hid, I know that. He s a sly old bird. LUKE And I m a slyer bird. D yuh hear that? I c n beat his game any time. You watch me ! [He reaches out his hand for the bottle. They both drink again. SWEENEY begins to show signs of getting drunk. He hiccoughs every now and then and his voice grows uncertain and husky. ~\ SWEENEY It d be a crafty one who d find where he d hidden it, sure enough. LUKE You watch me! I ll find it. I betcher anything yuh like I find it. You watch me! Just wait till he s asleep and I ll show yuh ter-night. [There is a noise of shuffling footsteps outside and ANNIE S whining voice raised in angry protest.] SWEENEY Ssshh ! It s himself comin now. [LUKE rises to his feet and stands, waiting in a defensive at titude, a surly expression on his face. A moment later BENTLEY appears in the doorway, -followed by AN NIE. He leans against the wall, in an extraordinary state of excitement, shaking all over, gasping for breath, his eyes devouring LUKE from head to foot.] ANNIE I couldn t do nothin with him. When I told him he 9 d come back there was no holdin him. He was a most frothin at the mouth till I let him out. [Whiningly.] You got to see to him, Pat, if you want any supper. I can t 206 THE ROPE SWEENEY Shut your mouth! We ll look after him. ANNIE See that you do. I m goin back. [She goes off, right. LUKE and his father stand looking at each other. The surly expression disappears from LUKE S face, which gradually expands in a broad grin.] LUKE [Jovially.] Hello, old sport! I s pose yuh re tickled to pieces to see me like hell! [The old man stutters and stammers incoherently as if the very intensity of his desire for speech had para lyzed all power of articulation. LUKE turns to Pat.] I see he ain t lost the old stick. Many a crack on the nut I used to get with that. BENTLEY [Suddenly finding his voice chants.] "Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it ; and let us eat, and be merry : For this my son was dead, and is alive again ; he was lost, and is found." [He ends up with a convulsive sob.] LUKE [Disapprovingly.] Yuh re still spoutin the rotten old Word o God same s ever, eh? Say, give us a rest on that stuff, will yuh? Come on and shake hands like a good sport. [He holds out his hand. The old man totters over to him, stretching out a trembling hand. LUKE seizes it and pumps it up and down.] That s the boy ! SWEENEY [Genuinely amazed.] Look at that, THE ROPE 207 would ye the two-faced auld liar. [BENTLEY passes his trembling hand all over LUKE, -feeling of his arms, his chest, his back. An expression of over whelming joy suffuses his worn features. ] LUKE [Grinning at SWEENEY.] Say, watch this. [With tolerant good-humor."} On the level I b lieve the old boy s glad to see me at that. He looks like he was tryin to grin ; and I never seen him grin in my life, I c n remember. [As BENTLEY attempts to feel of his face.~\ Hey, cut it out ! [He pushes his hand away, but not roughly.] I m all here, yuh needn t worry. Yuh needn t be scared I m a ghost. Come on and sit down before yuh fall down. Yuh ain t got your sea-legs workin right. [He guides the old man to the bench at left of table.] Squat here for a spell and git your wind. [BENTLEY sinks down- on the bench. LUKE reaches for the bottle.] Have a drink to my makin port. It ll buck yuh up. SWEENEY [Alarmed.] Be careful, Luke. It might likely end him. LUKE [Holds the bottle up to the old man s mouth, supporting his head with the other hand. BENTLEY gulps, the whiskey drips over his chin, and he goes into a "fit of convulsive coughing. LUKE laughs] Hahaha! Went down the wrong way, did it? I ll show yuh the way to do it. [He drinks] There yuh are smooth as silk. [He hands the bot tle to SWEENEY, who drinks and puts it back on the table.] 208 THE ROPE SWEENEY He must be glad to see ye or he d not drink. Tis dead against it he s been these five years past. [Shaking his head."] An him cursin* you day an night ! I can t put head or tail to it. Look out he ain t meanin some bad to ye underneath. He s crafty at pretendin*. LUKE [As the old man makes signs to him with his hand."] What s he after now? He s lettin on he s lost his voice again. What d yuh want ? [BENT- LEY points with his stick to the rope. His lips move convulsively as lie makes a tremendous effort to ut ter words. ~] BENTLEY [Mumbling incoherently. } Luke Luke rope Luke hang. SWEENEY [Appalled."] There ye are! What did I tell you? It s to see you hang yourself he s wishin , the auld fiend ! BENTLEY [Nodding. ,] Yes Luke hang. LUKE [Taking it as a joke with a loud guf faw. ] Hahaha! If that don t beat the Dutch ! The old nanny-goat ! Aw right, old sport. Anything to oblige. Hahaha! [He takes the chair from left and places it under the rope. The old man watches him with eager eyes and seems to be trying to smile. LUKE stands on the chair.] SWEENEY Have a care, now ! I d not be foolin* with it in your place. LUKE All out for the big hangin* of Luke Bent- ley by hisself. [He puts the noose about his neck THE ROPE 209 with an air of drunken bravado and grins at his father. The latter makes violent motions for him to go en.] Look at him, Pat. By God, he s in a hurry. Hahaha ! Well, old sport, here goes nothin . , [He makes a movement as if he were going to jump and kick the chair from under him.] SWEENEY [Half starts to his feet horrified."] Luke! Are ye gone mad? LUKE [Stands staring at his father, who is still making gestures for him to jump. A scowl slowly replaces his good-natured grin. ] D yuh really mean it that yuh want to see me hangin myself? [BENT- LEY nods vigorously in the affirmative. LUKE glares at him for a moment in silence."] Well, I ll be damned! [To Pat."] An I thought he was only kiddin . [He removes the rope gingerly from his neck. The old man stamps his foot and gesticulates wildly, groaning with disappointment. LUKE jumps to the floor and looks at his father for a second. Then his face grows white with a vicious fury.] I ll fix your hash, you stinkin old murderer ! [He grabs the chair by its back and swings it over his head as if he were going to crush BENTLEY S skull with it. The old man cowers on the bench in abject terror.] SWEENEY [Jumping to his feet with a cry of alarm.] Luke! For the love of God! [LUKE hesi tates; then hurls the chair in back of him under the loft, and stands menacingly in front of his father, his hands on his hips.] 310 THE ROPE LUKE [Grabbing BENTLEY S shoulder and shak ing him hoarsely.] Yuh wanted to see me hangin there in real earnest, didn t yuh? You d hang me yourself if yuh could, wouldn t yuh? And you my own father ! Yuh damned son of a gun ! Yuh would, would yuh? I d smash your brains out for a nickel! [He shakes the old man more and more furiously.] SWEENEY Luke! Look out! You ll be killin him next. LUKE [Giving his father one more shake, which sends him sprawling on the floor. ] Git outa here! Git outa this b fore I kill yuh dead! [SWEENEY rushes over and picks the terrified old man up] Take him outa here, Pat! [His voice rises to a threatening roar.] Take him outa here or I ll break every bone in his body ! [He raises his clenched fists over his head in a frenzy of rage.] SWEENEY Ssshh! Don t be roarin ! I ve got him. [He steers the whimpering, hysterical BENT- LEY to the doorway] Come out o this, now. Get down to the house ! Hurry now ! Ye ve made enough trouble for one night. [They disappear off right. LUKE flings himself on a "bench, breathing heavily. He picks up the bottle and takes a long swallow. SWEENEY reenters from rear. He comes over and sits down in his old place] Thank God he s off down to the house, scurryin like a frightened hare as if he d never a kink in his legs in his life. He was moanin out loud so you could hear him a long THE ROPE ways. [With a sigh.] It s a murd rous auld loon he is, sure enough. LUKE [Thickly.] The damned son of a gun! SWEENEY I thought you d be killiii him that time with the chair. LUKE [Violently.] Serve him damn right if I done it. SWEENEY An* you laughin at him a moment sooner! I thought twas jokin ye was. LUKE [Sullenly.] So I was kiddin ; but I thought he was tryin to kid me, too. And then I seen by the way he acted he really meant it. [Bang ing the table with his fist.] Ain t that a hell of a fine old man for yuh ! SWEENEY He s a mean auld swine. LUKE He meant it aw right, too. Yuh shoulda seen him lookin at me. [With sudden lugubrious- ness.] Ain t he a hell of a nice old man for a guy to have? Ain t he? SWEENEY [Soothingly.] Hush! It s all over now. Don t be thinkin about it. LUKE [On the verge of drunken tears.] How kin I help thinkin and him my own father? After me bummin and starvin round the rotten earth, and workin myself to death on ships and things and when I come home he tries to make me bump off wants to see me a corpse my own father, too ! Ain t he a hell of an old man to have? The rotten son of a gun! THE ROPE SWEENEY It s past an done. Forgit it. [He slaps LUKE on the shoulder and pushes the bottle toward him.] Let s take a drop more. We ll be goin to supper soon. LUKE [Takes a big drink huskily.] Thanks. [He wipes his mouth on his sleeve with a snuffle.] But I ll tell yuh something you can put in your pipe and smoke. It ain t past and done, and it ain t goin to be ! [More and more aggressively.] And I ain t goin to ferget it, either! Yuh kin betcher life on that, pal. And he ain t goin to ferget it not if he lives a million not by a damned sight ! [ With sudden fury.] I ll fix his hash! I ll git even with him, the old skunk ! You watch me ! And this very night, too I SWEENEY How d you mean ? LUKE You just watch me, I tell yuh! [Banging the table.] I said I d git even and I will git even this same night, with no long waits, either ! [Frown ing.] Say, you don t stand up for him, do yuh? SWEENEY [Spitting vehemently.] That s child s talk. There s not a day passed I ve not wished him in his grave. LUKE [Excitedly.] Then we ll both git even on him you n me. We re pals, ain t we? SWEENEY Sure. LUKE And yuh kin have half what we gits. That s the kinda feller I am! That s fair enough, ain t it? THE ROPE 213 SWEENEY Surely. LUKE I don t want no truck with this rotten farm. You kin have my share of that. I ain t made to be no damned dirt puncher not me! And I ain t goin* to loaf round here more n I got to, and when I goes this time I ain t never comin back. Not me! Not to punch dirt and milk cows. You kin have the rotten farm for all of me. What I wants is cash regular coin yuh kin spend not dirt. I want to show the gang a real time, and then ship away to sea agen or go bummin agen. I want coin yuh kin throw away same s your kid chucked that dollar of mine overboard, remember? A real dollar, too ! She s a sport, aw right ! SWEENEY [Anxious to bring him back to the subject. ] But where d you think to find his money? LUKE [Confidently.] Don t yuh fret. I ll show yuh. You watch me! I know his hidin places. I useter spy on him when I was a kid Maw used to make me and I seen him many a time at his sneakin . [Indignantly.] He used to hide stuff from the old lady. What d yuh know about him the mean skunk. SWEENEY That was a long time back. You don t know LUKE [Assertively.] But I do know, see! He s got two places. One was where I swiped the hun dred. SWEENEY It ll not be there, then. THE ROPE LUKE No; but there s the other place; and he never knew I was wise to that. I d have left him clean on y I was a kid and scared to pinch more. So you watch me! We ll git even on him, you n me, and go halfs, and yuh kin start the rotten farm goin agen and I ll beat it where there s some life. SWEENEY But if there s no money in that place, what ll you be doin to find out where it is, then? LUKE Then you n me ull make him tell! SWEENEY Oho, don t think it ! Tis not him d be tellin . LUKE Aw, say, you re simple! You watch me! I know a trick or two about makin people tell what they don t wanter. [He picks up the chisel from the table.] Yuh see this? Well, if he don t answer up nice and easy we ll show him ! [A ferocious grin settles over his face.] We ll git even on him, you n me and he ll tell where it s hid. We ll just shove this into the stove till it s red hot and take off his shoes and socks and warm the bottoms of his feet for him. [Savagely.] He ll tell then anything we wants him to tell. SWEENEY But Annie? LUKE We ll shove a rag in her mouth so s she can t yell. That s easy. SWEENEY [His head lolling drurikenly with a cruel leer.] Twill serve him right to heat up his hoofs for him, the limpin , auld miser! if ye don t hurt him too much. THE ROPE 215 LUKE [With a savage scowl] We won t hurt him more n enough. [Suddenly raging.] I ll pay him back aw right ! He won t want no more people to hang themselves when I git through with him. I ll fix his hash ! [He sways to Ms feet, the chisel in his hand] Come on! Let s git to work. Sooner we starts the sooner we re rich. [SWEENEY rises. He is steadier on his feet than LUKE. At this mo ment MARY appears in the doorway] MARY Maw says supper s ready. I had mine. N [She comes into the room and jumps up, trying to grab hold of the rope] Lift me, Uncle Luke. I wanter swing. LUKE [Severely] Don t yuh dare touch that rope, d yuh hear? MARY [Whining] I wanter swing. LUKE [With a shiver] It s bad, kid. Yuh leave it alone, take it from me. SWEENEY She ll get a good whalin if I catch her jumpin at it. LUKE Come on, pal. T hell with supper. We got work to do first. [They go to the doorway] SWEENEY [Turning back to the sulking Mary] And you stay here, d you hear, ye brat, till we call ye or I ll skin ye alive. LUKE And ter-morrer mornin , kid, I ll give yuh a whole handful of them shiny, bright things yuh chucked in the ocean and yuh kin be a real sport. 216 THE ROPE MARY [Eagerly. ~\ Gimme em, now! Gimme em now, Uncle Luke. [As he shakes his head whin- ingly.] Gimme one! Gimme one! LUKE Can t be done, kid. Ter-morrer. Me n* your old man is goin to git even now goin to make him pay for SWEENEY {Interrupting harshly. ] Hist with your noise! D you think she s no ears? Don t be talkin so much. Come on, now. LUKE [Permitting himself to be pulled out the doorway.] Aw right! I m with yuh. We ll git even you n me. The damned son of a gun ! [They lurch off to the right. ] [MARY skips to the doorway and peeps after them for a moment. Then she comes back to the center of the floor and looks around her with an air of de cision. She sees the chair in under the loft and runs over to it, pulling it back and setting it on its legs directly underneath the noose of the rope. She climbs and stands on the top of the chair and grasps the noose with both her upstretched hands. Then with a shriek of delight she kicks the chair from im- der her and launches herself for a swing. The rope seems to part where it is -fixed to the beam. A dirty gray bag tied to the end of the rope falls to the floor with a muffled, metallic thud. MARY sprawls for ward on her hands and knees, whimpering. Straggly wisps from the pile of rank hay fall silently to the floor in a mist of dust. MARY, discovering she is THE ROPE 217 hurt, glances quickly around and sees the bag. She pu.shes herself along the floor and, untying the string at the top, puts in her hand. She gives an exclama tion of joy at what she feels and, turning the bag upside down, pours its contents in her lap. Gig gling to herself, she gets to her feet and goes to the doorway, where she dumps what she has m her lap in a heap on the floor just inside the barn. They lie there In a little glittering pile, shimmering in the faint sunset glow fifty twenty-dollar gold pieces. MARY claps her hands and sings to herself: "Skip skip skip." Then she quickly picks up four or fve of them and runs out to the edge of the cliff. She throws them one after another into the ocean as fast as she can and bends over to see them hit the water. Against the background of horizon clouds still tinted with blurred crimson she hops up and down in a sort of grotesque dance, clapping her hands and laughing shrilly. After the last one is thrown she rushes back into the barn to get more.~\ MARY [Picking up a handful giggling ecstasti- cally.~\ Skip! Skip! [She turns and runs out to throw them as [The Curtain Falls] LOAN PERIUU I HOME USE ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 1-month loans may t Desk EEC. CIfc JUM2S UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELE FORM NO. DD6, 60m, 1 /83 BERKELEY, CA 94720 UU 61 J t^ O 1QRS ^ ^ ^ "Mj Library niversity of California Berkeley -y.c. 600083