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diff --git a/7250.txt b/7250.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b06a034 --- /dev/null +++ b/7250.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1760 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's +Court, Part 9., by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 9. + +Author: Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +Release Date: July 7, 2004 [EBook #7250] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONNECTICUT YANKEE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT + + by + + MARK TWAIN + (Samuel L. Clemens) + + Part 9. + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +THE INTERDICT + +However, my attention was suddenly snatched from such matters; +our child began to lose ground again, and we had to go to sitting +up with her, her case became so serious. We couldn't bear to allow +anybody to help in this service, so we two stood watch-and-watch, +day in and day out. Ah, Sandy, what a right heart she had, how +simple, and genuine, and good she was! She was a flawless wife +and mother; and yet I had married her for no other particular +reasons, except that by the customs of chivalry she was my property +until some knight should win her from me in the field. She had +hunted Britain over for me; had found me at the hanging-bout +outside of London, and had straightway resumed her old place at +my side in the placidest way and as of right. I was a New Englander, +and in my opinion this sort of partnership would compromise her, +sooner or later. She couldn't see how, but I cut argument short +and we had a wedding. + +Now I didn't know I was drawing a prize, yet that was what I did +draw. Within the twelvemonth I became her worshiper; and ours +was the dearest and perfectest comradeship that ever was. People +talk about beautiful friendships between two persons of the same +sex. What is the best of that sort, as compared with the friendship +of man and wife, where the best impulses and highest ideals of +both are the same? There is no place for comparison between +the two friendships; the one is earthly, the other divine. + +In my dreams, along at first, I still wandered thirteen centuries +away, and my unsatisfied spirit went calling and harking all up +and down the unreplying vacancies of a vanished world. Many a +time Sandy heard that imploring cry come from my lips in my sleep. +With a grand magnanimity she saddled that cry of mine upon our +child, conceiving it to be the name of some lost darling of mine. +It touched me to tears, and it also nearly knocked me off my feet, +too, when she smiled up in my face for an earned reward, and played +her quaint and pretty surprise upon me: + +"The name of one who was dear to thee is here preserved, here made +holy, and the music of it will abide alway in our ears. Now +thou'lt kiss me, as knowing the name I have given the child." + +But I didn't know it, all the same. I hadn't an idea in the +world; but it would have been cruel to confess it and spoil her +pretty game; so I never let on, but said: + +"Yes, I know, sweetheart--how dear and good it is of you, too! +But I want to hear these lips of yours, which are also mine, utter +it first--then its music will be perfect." + +Pleased to the marrow, she murmured: + +"HELLO-CENTRAL!" + +I didn't laugh--I am always thankful for that--but the strain +ruptured every cartilage in me, and for weeks afterward I could +hear my bones clack when I walked. She never found out her mistake. +The first time she heard that form of salute used at the telephone +she was surprised, and not pleased; but I told her I had given +order for it: that henceforth and forever the telephone must +always be invoked with that reverent formality, in perpetual honor +and remembrance of my lost friend and her small namesake. This +was not true. But it answered. + +Well, during two weeks and a half we watched by the crib, and in +our deep solicitude we were unconscious of any world outside of +that sick-room. Then our reward came: the center of the universe +turned the corner and began to mend. Grateful? It isn't the term. +There _isn't_ any term for it. You know that yourself, if you've +watched your child through the Valley of the Shadow and seen it +come back to life and sweep night out of the earth with one +all-illuminating smile that you could cover with your hand. + +Why, we were back in this world in one instant! Then we looked +the same startled thought into each other's eyes at the same +moment; more than two weeks gone, and that ship not back yet! + +In another minute I appeared in the presence of my train. They +had been steeped in troubled bodings all this time--their faces +showed it. I called an escort and we galloped five miles to a +hilltop overlooking the sea. Where was my great commerce that +so lately had made these glistening expanses populous and beautiful +with its white-winged flocks? Vanished, every one! Not a sail, +from verge to verge, not a smoke-bank--just a dead and empty +solitude, in place of all that brisk and breezy life. + +I went swiftly back, saying not a word to anybody. I told Sandy +this ghastly news. We could imagine no explanation that would +begin to explain. Had there been an invasion? an earthquake? +a pestilence? Had the nation been swept out of existence? But +guessing was profitless. I must go--at once. I borrowed the king's +navy--a "ship" no bigger than a steam launch--and was soon ready. + +The parting--ah, yes, that was hard. As I was devouring the child +with last kisses, it brisked up and jabbered out its vocabulary! +--the first time in more than two weeks, and it made fools of us +for joy. The darling mispronunciations of childhood!--dear me, +there's no music that can touch it; and how one grieves when it +wastes away and dissolves into correctness, knowing it will never +visit his bereaved ear again. Well, how good it was to be able +to carry that gracious memory away with me! + +I approached England the next morning, with the wide highway of +salt water all to myself. There were ships in the harbor, at +Dover, but they were naked as to sails, and there was no sign +of life about them. It was Sunday; yet at Canterbury the streets +were empty; strangest of all, there was not even a priest in sight, +and no stroke of a bell fell upon my ear. The mournfulness of +death was everywhere. I couldn't understand it. At last, in +the further edge of that town I saw a small funeral procession +--just a family and a few friends following a coffin--no priest; +a funeral without bell, book, or candle; there was a church there +close at hand, but they passed it by weeping, and did not enter it; +I glanced up at the belfry, and there hung the bell, shrouded in +black, and its tongue tied back. Now I knew! Now I understood +the stupendous calamity that had overtaken England. Invasion? +Invasion is a triviality to it. It was the INTERDICT! + +I asked no questions; I didn't need to ask any. The Church had +struck; the thing for me to do was to get into a disguise, and +go warily. One of my servants gave me a suit of clothes, and +when we were safe beyond the town I put them on, and from that time +I traveled alone; I could not risk the embarrassment of company. + +A miserable journey. A desolate silence everywhere. Even in +London itself. Traffic had ceased; men did not talk or laugh, or +go in groups, or even in couples; they moved aimlessly about, each +man by himself, with his head down, and woe and terror at his heart. +The Tower showed recent war-scars. Verily, much had been happening. + +Of course, I meant to take the train for Camelot. Train! Why, +the station was as vacant as a cavern. I moved on. The journey +to Camelot was a repetition of what I had already seen. The Monday +and the Tuesday differed in no way from the Sunday. I arrived +far in the night. From being the best electric-lighted town in +the kingdom and the most like a recumbent sun of anything you ever +saw, it was become simply a blot--a blot upon darkness--that is +to say, it was darker and solider than the rest of the darkness, +and so you could see it a little better; it made me feel as if +maybe it was symbolical--a sort of sign that the Church was going to +_keep_ the upper hand now, and snuff out all my beautiful civilization +just like that. I found no life stirring in the somber streets. +I groped my way with a heavy heart. The vast castle loomed black +upon the hilltop, not a spark visible about it. The drawbridge +was down, the great gate stood wide, I entered without challenge, +my own heels making the only sound I heard--and it was sepulchral +enough, in those huge vacant courts. + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +WAR! + +I found Clarence alone in his quarters, drowned in melancholy; +and in place of the electric light, he had reinstituted the ancient +rag-lamp, and sat there in a grisly twilight with all curtains +drawn tight. He sprang up and rushed for me eagerly, saying: + +"Oh, it's worth a billion milrays to look upon a live person again!" + +He knew me as easily as if I hadn't been disguised at all. Which +frightened me; one may easily believe that. + +"Quick, now, tell me the meaning of this fearful disaster," I said. +"How did it come about?" + +"Well, if there hadn't been any Queen Guenever, it wouldn't have +come so early; but it would have come, anyway. It would have +come on your own account by and by; by luck, it happened to come +on the queen's." + +"_And_ Sir Launcelot's?" + +"Just so." + +"Give me the details." + +"I reckon you will grant that during some years there has been +only one pair of eyes in these kingdoms that has not been looking +steadily askance at the queen and Sir Launcelot--" + +"Yes, King Arthur's." + +"--and only one heart that was without suspicion--" + +"Yes--the king's; a heart that isn't capable of thinking evil +of a friend." + +"Well, the king might have gone on, still happy and unsuspecting, +to the end of his days, but for one of your modern improvements +--the stock-board. When you left, three miles of the London, +Canterbury and Dover were ready for the rails, and also ready and +ripe for manipulation in the stock-market. It was wildcat, and +everybody knew it. The stock was for sale at a give-away. What +does Sir Launcelot do, but--" + +"Yes, I know; he quietly picked up nearly all of it for a song; +then he bought about twice as much more, deliverable upon call; +and he was about to call when I left." + +"Very well, he did call. The boys couldn't deliver. Oh, he had +them--and he just settled his grip and squeezed them. They were +laughing in their sleeves over their smartness in selling stock +to him at 15 and 16 and along there that wasn't worth 10. Well, +when they had laughed long enough on that side of their mouths, +they rested-up that side by shifting the laugh to the other side. +That was when they compromised with the Invincible at 283!" + +"Good land!" + +"He skinned them alive, and they deserved it--anyway, the whole +kingdom rejoiced. Well, among the flayed were Sir Agravaine and +Sir Mordred, nephews to the king. End of the first act. Act +second, scene first, an apartment in Carlisle castle, where the +court had gone for a few days' hunting. Persons present, the +whole tribe of the king's nephews. Mordred and Agravaine propose +to call the guileless Arthur's attention to Guenever and Sir +Launcelot. Sir Gawaine, Sir Gareth, and Sir Gaheris will have +nothing to do with it. A dispute ensues, with loud talk; in the +midst of it enter the king. Mordred and Agravaine spring their +devastating tale upon him. _Tableau_. A trap is laid for Launcelot, +by the king's command, and Sir Launcelot walks into it. He made +it sufficiently uncomfortable for the ambushed witnesses--to wit, +Mordred, Agravaine, and twelve knights of lesser rank, for he +killed every one of them but Mordred; but of course that couldn't +straighten matters between Launcelot and the king, and didn't." + +"Oh, dear, only one thing could result--I see that. War, and +the knights of the realm divided into a king's party and a +Sir Launcelot's party." + +"Yes--that was the way of it. The king sent the queen to the +stake, proposing to purify her with fire. Launcelot and his +knights rescued her, and in doing it slew certain good old friends +of yours and mine--in fact, some of the best we ever had; to wit, +Sir Belias le Orgulous, Sir Segwarides, Sir Griflet le Fils de Dieu, +Sir Brandiles, Sir Aglovale--" + +"Oh, you tear out my heartstrings." + +"--wait, I'm not done yet--Sir Tor, Sir Gauter, Sir Gillimer--" + +"The very best man in my subordinate nine. What a handy right-fielder +he was!" + +"--Sir Reynold's three brothers, Sir Damus, Sir Priamus, Sir Kay +the Stranger--" + +"My peerless short-stop! I've seen him catch a daisy-cutter in +his teeth. Come, I can't stand this!" + +"--Sir Driant, Sir Lambegus, Sir Herminde, Sir Pertilope, +Sir Perimones, and--whom do you think?" + +"Rush! Go on." + +"Sir Gaheris, and Sir Gareth--both!" + +"Oh, incredible! Their love for Launcelot was indestructible." + +"Well, it was an accident. They were simply onlookers; they were +unarmed, and were merely there to witness the queen's punishment. +Sir Launcelot smote down whoever came in the way of his blind fury, +and he killed these without noticing who they were. Here is an +instantaneous photograph one of our boys got of the battle; it's +for sale on every news-stand. There--the figures nearest the queen +are Sir Launcelot with his sword up, and Sir Gareth gasping his +latest breath. You can catch the agony in the queen's face through +the curling smoke. It's a rattling battle-picture." + +"Indeed, it is. We must take good care of it; its historical value +is incalculable. Go on." + +"Well, the rest of the tale is just war, pure and simple. Launcelot +retreated to his town and castle of Joyous Gard, and gathered +there a great following of knights. The king, with a great host, +went there, and there was desperate fighting during several days, +and, as a result, all the plain around was paved with corpses +and cast-iron. Then the Church patched up a peace between Arthur +and Launcelot and the queen and everybody--everybody but Sir Gawaine. +He was bitter about the slaying of his brothers, Gareth and Gaheris, +and would not be appeased. He notified Launcelot to get him +thence, and make swift preparation, and look to be soon attacked. +So Launcelot sailed to his Duchy of Guienne with his following, and +Gawaine soon followed with an army, and he beguiled Arthur to go +with him. Arthur left the kingdom in Sir Mordred's hands until +you should return--" + +"Ah--a king's customary wisdom!" + +"Yes. Sir Mordred set himself at once to work to make his kingship +permanent. He was going to marry Guenever, as a first move; but +she fled and shut herself up in the Tower of London. Mordred +attacked; the Bishop of Canterbury dropped down on him with the +Interdict. The king returned; Mordred fought him at Dover, at +Canterbury, and again at Barham Down. Then there was talk of peace +and a composition. Terms, Mordred to have Cornwall and Kent during +Arthur's life, and the whole kingdom afterward." + +"Well, upon my word! My dream of a republic to _be_ a dream, and +so remain." + +"Yes. The two armies lay near Salisbury. Gawaine--Gawaine's head +is at Dover Castle, he fell in the fight there--Gawaine appeared to +Arthur in a dream, at least his ghost did, and warned him to +refrain from conflict for a month, let the delay cost what it might. +But battle was precipitated by an accident. Arthur had given +order that if a sword was raised during the consultation over +the proposed treaty with Mordred, sound the trumpet and fall on! +for he had no confidence in Mordred. Mordred had given a similar +order to _his_ people. Well, by and by an adder bit a knight's heel; +the knight forgot all about the order, and made a slash at the +adder with his sword. Inside of half a minute those two prodigious +hosts came together with a crash! They butchered away all day. +Then the king--however, we have started something fresh since +you left--our paper has." + +"No? What is that?" + +"War correspondence!" + +"Why, that's good." + +"Yes, the paper was booming right along, for the Interdict made +no impression, got no grip, while the war lasted. I had war +correspondents with both armies. I will finish that battle by +reading you what one of the boys says: + + 'Then the king looked about him, and then was he + ware of all his host and of all his good knights + were left no more on live but two knights, that + was Sir Lucan de Butlere, and his brother Sir + Bedivere: and they were full sore wounded. Jesu + mercy, said the king, where are all my noble + knights becomen? Alas that ever I should see this + doleful day. For now, said Arthur, I am come to + mine end. But would to God that I wist where were + that traitor Sir Mordred, that hath caused all + this mischief. Then was King Arthur ware where Sir + Mordred leaned upon his sword among a great heap + of dead men. Now give me my spear, said Arthur + unto Sir Lucan, for yonder I have espied the + traitor that all this woe hath wrought. Sir, let + him be, said Sir Lucan, for he is unhappy; and if + ye pass this unhappy day, ye shall be right well + revenged upon him. Good lord, remember ye of your + night's dream, and what the spirit of Sir Gawaine + told you this night, yet God of his great goodness + hath preserved you hitherto. Therefore, for God's + sake, my lord, leave off by this. For blessed be + God ye have won the field: for here we be three + on live, and with Sir Mordred is none on live. + And if ye leave off now, this wicked day of + destiny is past. Tide me death, betide me life, + saith the king, now I see him yonder alone, he + shall never escape mine hands, for at a better + avail shall I never have him. God speed you well, + said Sir Bedivere. Then the king gat his spear + in both his hands, and ran toward Sir Mordred + crying, Traitor, now is thy death day come. And + when Sir Mordred heard Sir Arthur, he ran until + him with his sword drawn in his hand. And then + King Arthur smote Sir Mordred under the shield, + with a foin of his spear throughout the body more + than a fathom. And when Sir Mordred felt that he + had his death's wound, he thrust himself, with + the might that he had, up to the butt of King + Arthur's spear. And right so he smote his father + Arthur with his sword holden in both his hands, + on the side of the head, that the sword pierced + the helmet and the brain-pan, and therewithal + Sir Mordred fell stark dead to the earth. And + the noble Arthur fell in a swoon to the earth, + and there he swooned oft-times--'" + +"That is a good piece of war correspondence, Clarence; you are +a first-rate newspaper man. Well--is the king all right? Did +he get well?" + +"Poor soul, no. He is dead." + +I was utterly stunned; it had not seemed to me that any wound +could be mortal to him. + +"And the queen, Clarence?" + +"She is a nun, in Almesbury." + +"What changes! and in such a short while. It is inconceivable. +What next, I wonder?" + +"I can tell you what next." + +"Well?" + +"Stake our lives and stand by them!" + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"The Church is master now. The Interdict included you with Mordred; +it is not to be removed while you remain alive. The clans are +gathering. The Church has gathered all the knights that are left +alive, and as soon as you are discovered we shall have business +on our hands." + +"Stuff! With our deadly scientific war-material; with our hosts +of trained--" + +"Save your breath--we haven't sixty faithful left!" + +"What are you saying? Our schools, our colleges, our vast +workshops, our--" + +"When those knights come, those establishments will empty themselves +and go over to the enemy. Did you think you had educated the +superstition out of those people?" + +"I certainly did think it." + +"Well, then, you may unthink it. They stood every strain easily +--until the Interdict. Since then, they merely put on a bold +outside--at heart they are quaking. Make up your mind to it +--when the armies come, the mask will fall." + +"It's hard news. We are lost. They will turn our own science +against us." + +"No they won't." + +"Why?" + +"Because I and a handful of the faithful have blocked that game. +I'll tell you what I've done, and what moved me to it. Smart as +you are, the Church was smarter. It was the Church that sent +you cruising--through her servants, the doctors." + +"Clarence!" + +"It is the truth. I know it. Every officer of your ship was +the Church's picked servant, and so was every man of the crew." + +"Oh, come!" + +"It is just as I tell you. I did not find out these things at once, +but I found them out finally. Did you send me verbal information, +by the commander of the ship, to the effect that upon his return +to you, with supplies, you were going to leave Cadiz--" + +"Cadiz! I haven't been at Cadiz at all!" + +"--going to leave Cadiz and cruise in distant seas indefinitely, +for the health of your family? Did you send me that word?" + +"Of course not. I would have written, wouldn't I?" + +"Naturally. I was troubled and suspicious. When the commander +sailed again I managed to ship a spy with him. I have never +heard of vessel or spy since. I gave myself two weeks to hear +from you in. Then I resolved to send a ship to Cadiz. There was +a reason why I didn't." + +"What was that?" + +"Our navy had suddenly and mysteriously disappeared! Also, as +suddenly and as mysteriously, the railway and telegraph and +telephone service ceased, the men all deserted, poles were cut +down, the Church laid a ban upon the electric light! I had to be +up and doing--and straight off. Your life was safe--nobody in +these kingdoms but Merlin would venture to touch such a magician +as you without ten thousand men at his back--I had nothing to +think of but how to put preparations in the best trim against your +coming. I felt safe myself--nobody would be anxious to touch +a pet of yours. So this is what I did. From our various works +I selected all the men--boys I mean--whose faithfulness under +whatsoever pressure I could swear to, and I called them together +secretly and gave them their instructions. There are fifty-two of +them; none younger than fourteen, and none above seventeen years old." + +"Why did you select boys?" + +"Because all the others were born in an atmosphere of superstition +and reared in it. It is in their blood and bones. We imagined +we had educated it out of them; they thought so, too; the Interdict +woke them up like a thunderclap! It revealed them to themselves, +and it revealed them to me, too. With boys it was different. Such +as have been under our training from seven to ten years have had +no acquaintance with the Church's terrors, and it was among these +that I found my fifty-two. As a next move, I paid a private visit +to that old cave of Merlin's--not the small one--the big one--" + +"Yes, the one where we secretly established our first great electric +plant when I was projecting a miracle." + +"Just so. And as that miracle hadn't become necessary then, +I thought it might be a good idea to utilize the plant now. I've +provisioned the cave for a siege--" + +"A good idea, a first-rate idea." + +"I think so. I placed four of my boys there as a guard--inside, +and out of sight. Nobody was to be hurt--while outside; but any +attempt to enter--well, we said just let anybody try it! Then +I went out into the hills and uncovered and cut the secret wires +which connected your bedroom with the wires that go to the dynamite +deposits under all our vast factories, mills, workshops, magazines, +etc., and about midnight I and my boys turned out and connected +that wire with the cave, and nobody but you and I suspects where +the other end of it goes to. We laid it under ground, of course, and +it was all finished in a couple of hours or so. We sha'n't have +to leave our fortress now when we want to blow up our civilization." + +"It was the right move--and the natural one; military necessity, +in the changed condition of things. Well, what changes _have_ come! +We expected to be besieged in the palace some time or other, but +--however, go on." + +"Next, we built a wire fence." + +"Wire fence?" + +"Yes. You dropped the hint of it yourself, two or three years ago." + +"Oh, I remember--the time the Church tried her strength against +us the first time, and presently thought it wise to wait for a +hopefuler season. Well, how have you arranged the fence?" + +"I start twelve immensely strong wires--naked, not insulated +--from a big dynamo in the cave--dynamo with no brushes except +a positive and a negative one--" + +"Yes, that's right." + +"The wires go out from the cave and fence in a circle of level +ground a hundred yards in diameter; they make twelve independent +fences, ten feet apart--that is to say, twelve circles within +circles--and their ends come into the cave again." + +"Right; go on." + +"The fences are fastened to heavy oaken posts only three feet apart, +and these posts are sunk five feet in the ground." + +"That is good and strong." + +"Yes. The wires have no ground-connection outside of the cave. +They go out from the positive brush of the dynamo; there is a +ground-connection through the negative brush; the other ends of +the wire return to the cave, and each is grounded independently." + +"No, no, that won't do!" + +"Why?" + +"It's too expensive--uses up force for nothing. You don't want +any ground-connection except the one through the negative brush. +The other end of every wire must be brought back into the cave +and fastened independently, and _without_ any ground-connection. +Now, then, observe the economy of it. A cavalry charge hurls +itself against the fence; you are using no power, you are spending +no money, for there is only one ground-connection till those horses +come against the wire; the moment they touch it they form a +connection with the negative brush _through the ground_, and drop +dead. Don't you see?--you are using no energy until it is needed; +your lightning is there, and ready, like the load in a gun; but +it isn't costing you a cent till you touch it off. Oh, yes, the +single ground-connection--" + +"Of course! I don't know how I overlooked that. It's not only +cheaper, but it's more effectual than the other way, for if wires +break or get tangled, no harm is done." + +"No, especially if we have a tell-tale in the cave and disconnect +the broken wire. Well, go on. The gatlings?" + +"Yes--that's arranged. In the center of the inner circle, on a +spacious platform six feet high, I've grouped a battery of thirteen +gatling guns, and provided plenty of ammunition." + +"That's it. They command every approach, and when the Church's +knights arrive, there's going to be music. The brow of the +precipice over the cave--" + +"I've got a wire fence there, and a gatling. They won't drop any +rocks down on us." + +"Well, and the glass-cylinder dynamite torpedoes?" + +"That's attended to. It's the prettiest garden that was ever +planted. It's a belt forty feet wide, and goes around the outer +fence--distance between it and the fence one hundred yards--kind of +neutral ground that space is. There isn't a single square yard +of that whole belt but is equipped with a torpedo. We laid them +on the surface of the ground, and sprinkled a layer of sand over +them. It's an innocent looking garden, but you let a man start +in to hoe it once, and you'll see." + +"You tested the torpedoes?" + +"Well, I was going to, but--" + +"But what? Why, it's an immense oversight not to apply a--" + +"Test? Yes, I know; but they're all right; I laid a few in the +public road beyond our lines and they've been tested." + +"Oh, that alters the case. Who did it?" + +"A Church committee." + +"How kind!" + +"Yes. They came to command us to make submission. You see they +didn't really come to test the torpedoes; that was merely an incident." + +"Did the committee make a report?" + +"Yes, they made one. You could have heard it a mile." + +"Unanimous?" + +"That was the nature of it. After that I put up some signs, for the +protection of future committees, and we have had no intruders since." + +"Clarence, you've done a world of work, and done it perfectly." + +"We had plenty of time for it; there wasn't any occasion for hurry." + +We sat silent awhile, thinking. Then my mind was made up, and +I said: + +"Yes, everything is ready; everything is shipshape, no detail is +wanting. I know what to do now." + +"So do I; sit down and wait." + +"No, _sir_! rise up and _strike_!" + +"Do you mean it?" + +"Yes, indeed! The _de_fensive isn't in my line, and the _of_fensive +is. That is, when I hold a fair hand--two-thirds as good a hand +as the enemy. Oh, yes, we'll rise up and strike; that's our game." + +"A hundred to one you are right. When does the performance begin?" + +"_Now!_ We'll proclaim the Republic." + +"Well, that _will_ precipitate things, sure enough!" + +"It will make them buzz, I tell you! England will be a hornets' +nest before noon to-morrow, if the Church's hand hasn't lost its +cunning--and we know it hasn't. Now you write and I'll dictate thus: + + "PROCLAMATION + + --- + + "BE IT KNOWN UNTO ALL. Whereas the king having died + and left no heir, it becomes my duty to continue the + executive authority vested in me, until a government + shall have been created and set in motion. The + monarchy has lapsed, it no longer exists. By + consequence, all political power has reverted to its + original source, the people of the nation. With the + monarchy, its several adjuncts died also; wherefore + there is no longer a nobility, no longer a privileged + class, no longer an Established Church; all men are + become exactly equal; they are upon one common + level, and religion is free. _A Republic is hereby + proclaimed_, as being the natural estate of a nation + when other authority has ceased. It is the duty of + the British people to meet together immediately, + and by their votes elect representatives and deliver + into their hands the government." + +I signed it "The Boss," and dated it from Merlin's Cave. +Clarence said-- + +"Why, that tells where we are, and invites them to call right away." + +"That is the idea. We _strike_--by the Proclamation--then it's +their innings. Now have the thing set up and printed and posted, +right off; that is, give the order; then, if you've got a couple +of bicycles handy at the foot of the hill, ho for Merlin's Cave!" + +"I shall be ready in ten minutes. What a cyclone there is going +to be to-morrow when this piece of paper gets to work!... It's a +pleasant old palace, this is; I wonder if we shall ever again +--but never mind about that." + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +THE BATTLE OF THE SAND BELT + +In Merlin's Cave-- Clarence and I and fifty-two fresh, bright, +well-educated, clean-minded young British boys. At dawn I sent +an order to the factories and to all our great works to stop +operations and remove all life to a safe distance, as everything +was going to be blown up by secret mines, "_and no telling at what +moment--therefore, vacate at once_." These people knew me, and +had confidence in my word. They would clear out without waiting +to part their hair, and I could take my own time about dating the +explosion. You couldn't hire one of them to go back during the +century, if the explosion was still impending. + +We had a week of waiting. It was not dull for me, because I was +writing all the time. During the first three days, I finished +turning my old diary into this narrative form; it only required +a chapter or so to bring it down to date. The rest of the week +I took up in writing letters to my wife. It was always my habit +to write to Sandy every day, whenever we were separate, and now +I kept up the habit for love of it, and of her, though I couldn't +do anything with the letters, of course, after I had written them. +But it put in the time, you see, and was almost like talking; +it was almost as if I was saying, "Sandy, if you and Hello-Central +were here in the cave, instead of only your photographs, what +good times we could have!" And then, you know, I could imagine +the baby goo-gooing something out in reply, with its fists in its +mouth and itself stretched across its mother's lap on its back, +and she a-laughing and admiring and worshipping, and now and then +tickling under the baby's chin to set it cackling, and then maybe +throwing in a word of answer to me herself--and so on and so on +--well, don't you know, I could sit there in the cave with my pen, +and keep it up, that way, by the hour with them. Why, it was +almost like having us all together again. + +I had spies out every night, of course, to get news. Every report +made things look more and more impressive. The hosts were gathering, +gathering; down all the roads and paths of England the knights were +riding, and priests rode with them, to hearten these original +Crusaders, this being the Church's war. All the nobilities, big +and little, were on their way, and all the gentry. This was all +as was expected. We should thin out this sort of folk to such +a degree that the people would have nothing to do but just step +to the front with their republic and-- + +Ah, what a donkey I was! Toward the end of the week I began to get +this large and disenchanting fact through my head: that the mass +of the nation had swung their caps and shouted for the republic for +about one day, and there an end! The Church, the nobles, and +the gentry then turned one grand, all-disapproving frown upon them +and shriveled them into sheep! From that moment the sheep had +begun to gather to the fold--that is to say, the camps--and offer +their valueless lives and their valuable wool to the "righteous +cause." Why, even the very men who had lately been slaves were +in the "righteous cause," and glorifying it, praying for it, +sentimentally slabbering over it, just like all the other commoners. +Imagine such human muck as this; conceive of this folly! + +Yes, it was now "Death to the Republic!" everywhere--not a dissenting +voice. All England was marching against us! Truly, this was more +than I had bargained for. + +I watched my fifty-two boys narrowly; watched their faces, their +walk, their unconscious attitudes: for all these are a language +--a language given us purposely that it may betray us in times of +emergency, when we have secrets which we want to keep. I knew +that that thought would keep saying itself over and over again +in their minds and hearts, _All England is marching against us!_ +and ever more strenuously imploring attention with each repetition, +ever more sharply realizing itself to their imaginations, until +even in their sleep they would find no rest from it, but hear +the vague and flitting creatures of the dreams say, _All England_ +--ALL ENGLAND!--_is marching against you_! I knew all this would +happen; I knew that ultimately the pressure would become so great +that it would compel utterance; therefore, I must be ready with an +answer at that time--an answer well chosen and tranquilizing. + +I was right. The time came. They HAD to speak. Poor lads, it +was pitiful to see, they were so pale, so worn, so troubled. At +first their spokesman could hardly find voice or words; but he +presently got both. This is what he said--and he put it in the +neat modern English taught him in my schools: + +"We have tried to forget what we are--English boys! We have tried +to put reason before sentiment, duty before love; our minds +approve, but our hearts reproach us. While apparently it was +only the nobility, only the gentry, only the twenty-five or thirty +thousand knights left alive out of the late wars, we were of one +mind, and undisturbed by any troubling doubt; each and every one +of these fifty-two lads who stand here before you, said, 'They +have chosen--it is their affair.' But think!--the matter is +altered--_All England is marching against us_! Oh, sir, consider! +--reflect!--these people are our people, they are bone of our bone, +flesh of our flesh, we love them--do not ask us to destroy our nation!" + +Well, it shows the value of looking ahead, and being ready for +a thing when it happens. If I hadn't foreseen this thing and been +fixed, that boy would have had me!--I couldn't have said a word. +But I was fixed. I said: + +"My boys, your hearts are in the right place, you have thought the +worthy thought, you have done the worthy thing. You are English +boys, you will remain English boys, and you will keep that name +unsmirched. Give yourselves no further concern, let your minds be +at peace. Consider this: while all England is marching against +us, who is in the van? Who, by the commonest rules of war, will +march in the front? Answer me." + +"The mounted host of mailed knights." + +"True. They are thirty thousand strong. Acres deep they will march. +Now, observe: none but _they_ will ever strike the sand-belt! Then +there will be an episode! Immediately after, the civilian multitude +in the rear will retire, to meet business engagements elsewhere. +None but nobles and gentry are knights, and _none but these_ will +remain to dance to our music after that episode. It is absolutely +true that we shall have to fight nobody but these thirty thousand +knights. Now speak, and it shall be as you decide. Shall we +avoid the battle, retire from the field?" + +"NO!!!" + +The shout was unanimous and hearty. + +"Are you--are you--well, afraid of these thirty thousand knights?" + +That joke brought out a good laugh, the boys' troubles vanished +away, and they went gaily to their posts. Ah, they were a darling +fifty-two! As pretty as girls, too. + +I was ready for the enemy now. Let the approaching big day come +along--it would find us on deck. + +The big day arrived on time. At dawn the sentry on watch in the +corral came into the cave and reported a moving black mass under +the horizon, and a faint sound which he thought to be military +music. Breakfast was just ready; we sat down and ate it. + +This over, I made the boys a little speech, and then sent out +a detail to man the battery, with Clarence in command of it. + +The sun rose presently and sent its unobstructed splendors over +the land, and we saw a prodigious host moving slowly toward us, +with the steady drift and aligned front of a wave of the sea. +Nearer and nearer it came, and more and more sublimely imposing +became its aspect; yes, all England was there, apparently. Soon +we could see the innumerable banners fluttering, and then the sun +struck the sea of armor and set it all aflash. Yes, it was a fine +sight; I hadn't ever seen anything to beat it. + +At last we could make out details. All the front ranks, no telling +how many acres deep, were horsemen--plumed knights in armor. +Suddenly we heard the blare of trumpets; the slow walk burst into +a gallop, and then--well, it was wonderful to see! Down swept +that vast horse-shoe wave--it approached the sand-belt--my breath +stood still; nearer, nearer--the strip of green turf beyond the +yellow belt grew narrow--narrower still--became a mere ribbon in +front of the horses--then disappeared under their hoofs. Great +Scott! Why, the whole front of that host shot into the sky with +a thunder-crash, and became a whirling tempest of rags and fragments; +and along the ground lay a thick wall of smoke that hid what was +left of the multitude from our sight. + +Time for the second step in the plan of campaign! I touched +a button, and shook the bones of England loose from her spine! + +In that explosion all our noble civilization-factories went up in +the air and disappeared from the earth. It was a pity, but it +was necessary. We could not afford to let the enemy turn our own +weapons against us. + +Now ensued one of the dullest quarter-hours I had ever endured. +We waited in a silent solitude enclosed by our circles of wire, +and by a circle of heavy smoke outside of these. We couldn't +see over the wall of smoke, and we couldn't see through it. But +at last it began to shred away lazily, and by the end of another +quarter-hour the land was clear and our curiosity was enabled +to satisfy itself. No living creature was in sight! We now +perceived that additions had been made to our defenses. The +dynamite had dug a ditch more than a hundred feet wide, all around +us, and cast up an embankment some twenty-five feet high on both +borders of it. As to destruction of life, it was amazing. Moreover, +it was beyond estimate. Of course, we could not _count_ the dead, +because they did not exist as individuals, but merely as homogeneous +protoplasm, with alloys of iron and buttons. + +No life was in sight, but necessarily there must have been some +wounded in the rear ranks, who were carried off the field under +cover of the wall of smoke; there would be sickness among the +others--there always is, after an episode like that. But there +would be no reinforcements; this was the last stand of the chivalry +of England; it was all that was left of the order, after the recent +annihilating wars. So I felt quite safe in believing that the +utmost force that could for the future be brought against us +would be but small; that is, of knights. I therefore issued a +congratulatory proclamation to my army in these words: + + SOLDIERS, CHAMPIONS OF HUMAN LIBERTY AND EQUALITY: + Your General congratulates you! In the pride of his + strength and the vanity of his renown, an arrogant + enemy came against you. You were ready. The conflict + was brief; on your side, glorious. This mighty + victory, having been achieved utterly without loss, + stands without example in history. So long as the + planets shall continue to move in their orbits, the + BATTLE OF THE SAND-BELT will not perish out of the + memories of men. + + THE BOSS. + +I read it well, and the applause I got was very gratifying to me. +I then wound up with these remarks: + +"The war with the English nation, as a nation, is at an end. +The nation has retired from the field and the war. Before it can +be persuaded to return, war will have ceased. This campaign is +the only one that is going to be fought. It will be brief +--the briefest in history. Also the most destructive to life, +considered from the standpoint of proportion of casualties to +numbers engaged. We are done with the nation; henceforth we deal +only with the knights. English knights can be killed, but they +cannot be conquered. We know what is before us. While one of +these men remains alive, our task is not finished, the war is not +ended. We will kill them all." [Loud and long continued applause.] + +I picketed the great embankments thrown up around our lines by +the dynamite explosion--merely a lookout of a couple of boys +to announce the enemy when he should appear again. + +Next, I sent an engineer and forty men to a point just beyond +our lines on the south, to turn a mountain brook that was there, +and bring it within our lines and under our command, arranging +it in such a way that I could make instant use of it in an emergency. +The forty men were divided into two shifts of twenty each, and +were to relieve each other every two hours. In ten hours the +work was accomplished. + +It was nightfall now, and I withdrew my pickets. The one who +had had the northern outlook reported a camp in sight, but visible +with the glass only. He also reported that a few knights had been +feeling their way toward us, and had driven some cattle across our +lines, but that the knights themselves had not come very near. +That was what I had been expecting. They were feeling us, you +see; they wanted to know if we were going to play that red terror +on them again. They would grow bolder in the night, perhaps. +I believed I knew what project they would attempt, because it was +plainly the thing I would attempt myself if I were in their places +and as ignorant as they were. I mentioned it to Clarence. + +"I think you are right," said he; "it is the obvious thing for +them to try." + +"Well, then," I said, "if they do it they are doomed." + +"Certainly." + +"They won't have the slightest show in the world." + +"Of course they won't." + +"It's dreadful, Clarence. It seems an awful pity." + +The thing disturbed me so that I couldn't get any peace of mind +for thinking of it and worrying over it. So, at last, to quiet +my conscience, I framed this message to the knights: + + TO THE HONORABLE THE COMMANDER OF THE INSURGENT + CHIVALRY OF ENGLAND: YOU fight in vain. We know + your strength--if one may call it by that name. + We know that at the utmost you cannot bring + against us above five and twenty thousand knights. + Therefore, you have no chance--none whatever. + Reflect: we are well equipped, well fortified, we + number 54. Fifty-four what? Men? No, MINDS--the + capablest in the world; a force against which + mere animal might may no more hope to prevail than + may the idle waves of the sea hope to prevail + against the granite barriers of England. Be advised. + We offer you your lives; for the sake of your + families, do not reject the gift. We offer you + this chance, and it is the last: throw down your + arms; surrender unconditionally to the Republic, + and all will be forgiven. + + (Signed) THE BOSS. + +I read it to Clarence, and said I proposed to send it by a flag +of truce. He laughed the sarcastic laugh he was born with, and said: + +"Somehow it seems impossible for you to ever fully realize what +these nobilities are. Now let us save a little time and trouble. +Consider me the commander of the knights yonder. Now, then, +you are the flag of truce; approach and deliver me your message, +and I will give you your answer." + +I humored the idea. I came forward under an imaginary guard of +the enemy's soldiers, produced my paper, and read it through. +For answer, Clarence struck the paper out of my hand, pursed up +a scornful lip and said with lofty disdain: + +"Dismember me this animal, and return him in a basket to the +base-born knave who sent him; other answer have I none!" + +How empty is theory in presence of fact! And this was just fact, +and nothing else. It was the thing that would have happened, +there was no getting around that. I tore up the paper and granted +my mistimed sentimentalities a permanent rest. + +Then, to business. I tested the electric signals from the gatling +platform to the cave, and made sure that they were all right; +I tested and retested those which commanded the fences--these +were signals whereby I could break and renew the electric current +in each fence independently of the others at will. I placed the +brook-connection under the guard and authority of three of my +best boys, who would alternate in two-hour watches all night and +promptly obey my signal, if I should have occasion to give it +--three revolver-shots in quick succession. Sentry-duty was discarded +for the night, and the corral left empty of life; I ordered that +quiet be maintained in the cave, and the electric lights turned +down to a glimmer. + +As soon as it was good and dark, I shut off the current from all +the fences, and then groped my way out to the embankment bordering +our side of the great dynamite ditch. I crept to the top of it +and lay there on the slant of the muck to watch. But it was +too dark to see anything. As for sounds, there were none. The +stillness was deathlike. True, there were the usual night-sounds +of the country--the whir of night-birds, the buzzing of insects, +the barking of distant dogs, the mellow lowing of far-off kine +--but these didn't seem to break the stillness, they only intensified +it, and added a grewsome melancholy to it into the bargain. + +I presently gave up looking, the night shut down so black, but +I kept my ears strained to catch the least suspicious sound, for +I judged I had only to wait, and I shouldn't be disappointed. +However, I had to wait a long time. At last I caught what you +may call in distinct glimpses of sound dulled metallic sound. +I pricked up my ears, then, and held my breath, for this was the +sort of thing I had been waiting for. This sound thickened, and +approached--from toward the north. Presently, I heard it at my +own level--the ridge-top of the opposite embankment, a hundred +feet or more away. Then I seemed to see a row of black dots appear +along that ridge--human heads? I couldn't tell; it mightn't be +anything at all; you can't depend on your eyes when your imagination +is out of focus. However, the question was soon settled. I heard +that metallic noise descending into the great ditch. It augmented +fast, it spread all along, and it unmistakably furnished me this +fact: an armed host was taking up its quarters in the ditch. Yes, +these people were arranging a little surprise party for us. We +could expect entertainment about dawn, possibly earlier. + +I groped my way back to the corral now; I had seen enough. I went +to the platform and signaled to turn the current on to the two +inner fences. Then I went into the cave, and found everything +satisfactory there--nobody awake but the working-watch. I woke +Clarence and told him the great ditch was filling up with men, +and that I believed all the knights were coming for us in a body. +It was my notion that as soon as dawn approached we could expect +the ditch's ambuscaded thousands to swarm up over the embankment +and make an assault, and be followed immediately by the rest +of their army. + +Clarence said: + +"They will be wanting to send a scout or two in the dark to make +preliminary observations. Why not take the lightning off the +outer fences, and give them a chance?" + +"I've already done it, Clarence. Did you ever know me to be +inhospitable?" + +"No, you are a good heart. I want to go and--" + +"Be a reception committee? I will go, too." + +We crossed the corral and lay down together between the two inside +fences. Even the dim light of the cave had disordered our eyesight +somewhat, but the focus straightway began to regulate itself and +soon it was adjusted for present circumstances. We had had to feel +our way before, but we could make out to see the fence posts now. +We started a whispered conversation, but suddenly Clarence broke +off and said: + +"What is that?" + +"What is what?" + +"That thing yonder." + +"What thing--where?" + +"There beyond you a little piece--dark something--a dull shape +of some kind--against the second fence." + +I gazed and he gazed. I said: + +"Could it be a man, Clarence?" + +"No, I think not. If you notice, it looks a lit--why, it _is_ +a man!--leaning on the fence." + +"I certainly believe it is; let us go and see." + +We crept along on our hands and knees until we were pretty close, +and then looked up. Yes, it was a man--a dim great figure in armor, +standing erect, with both hands on the upper wire--and, of course, +there was a smell of burning flesh. Poor fellow, dead as a +door-nail, and never knew what hurt him. He stood there like a +statue--no motion about him, except that his plumes swished about +a little in the night wind. We rose up and looked in through +the bars of his visor, but couldn't make out whether we knew him +or not--features too dim and shadowed. + +We heard muffled sounds approaching, and we sank down to the ground +where we were. We made out another knight vaguely; he was coming +very stealthily, and feeling his way. He was near enough now for +us to see him put out a hand, find an upper wire, then bend and +step under it and over the lower one. Now he arrived at the +first knight--and started slightly when he discovered him. He +stood a moment--no doubt wondering why the other one didn't move +on; then he said, in a low voice, "Why dreamest thou here, good +Sir Mar--" then he laid his hand on the corpse's shoulder--and just +uttered a little soft moan and sunk down dead. Killed by a dead +man, you see--killed by a dead friend, in fact. There was something +awful about it. + +These early birds came scattering along after each other, about +one every five minutes in our vicinity, during half an hour. +They brought no armor of offense but their swords; as a rule, +they carried the sword ready in the hand, and put it forward and +found the wires with it. We would now and then see a blue spark +when the knight that caused it was so far away as to be invisible +to us; but we knew what had happened, all the same; poor fellow, +he had touched a charged wire with his sword and been elected. +We had brief intervals of grim stillness, interrupted with piteous +regularity by the clash made by the falling of an iron-clad; and +this sort of thing was going on, right along, and was very creepy +there in the dark and lonesomeness. + +We concluded to make a tour between the inner fences. We elected +to walk upright, for convenience's sake; we argued that if discerned, +we should be taken for friends rather than enemies, and in any case +we should be out of reach of swords, and these gentry did not seem +to have any spears along. Well, it was a curious trip. Everywhere +dead men were lying outside the second fence--not plainly visible, +but still visible; and we counted fifteen of those pathetic +statues--dead knights standing with their hands on the upper wire. + +One thing seemed to be sufficiently demonstrated: our current +was so tremendous that it killed before the victim could cry out. +Pretty soon we detected a muffled and heavy sound, and next moment +we guessed what it was. It was a surprise in force coming! whispered +Clarence to go and wake the army, and notify it to wait in silence +in the cave for further orders. He was soon back, and we stood +by the inner fence and watched the silent lightning do its awful +work upon that swarming host. One could make out but little of +detail; but he could note that a black mass was piling itself up +beyond the second fence. That swelling bulk was dead men! Our +camp was enclosed with a solid wall of the dead--a bulwark, +a breastwork, of corpses, you may say. One terrible thing about +this thing was the absence of human voices; there were no cheers, +no war cries; being intent upon a surprise, these men moved as +noiselessly as they could; and always when the front rank was near +enough to their goal to make it proper for them to begin to get +a shout ready, of course they struck the fatal line and went down +without testifying. + +I sent a current through the third fence now; and almost immediately +through the fourth and fifth, so quickly were the gaps filled up. +I believed the time was come now for my climax; I believed that +that whole army was in our trap. Anyway, it was high time to find +out. So I touched a button and set fifty electric suns aflame +on the top of our precipice. + +Land, what a sight! We were enclosed in three walls of dead men! +All the other fences were pretty nearly filled with the living, +who were stealthily working their way forward through the wires. +The sudden glare paralyzed this host, petrified them, you may say, +with astonishment; there was just one instant for me to utilize +their immobility in, and I didn't lose the chance. You see, in +another instant they would have recovered their faculties, then +they'd have burst into a cheer and made a rush, and my wires +would have gone down before it; but that lost instant lost them +their opportunity forever; while even that slight fragment of time +was still unspent, I shot the current through all the fences and +struck the whole host dead in their tracks! _There_ was a groan +you could _hear_! It voiced the death-pang of eleven thousand men. +It swelled out on the night with awful pathos. + +A glance showed that the rest of the enemy--perhaps ten thousand +strong--were between us and the encircling ditch, and pressing +forward to the assault. Consequently we had them _all!_ and had +them past help. Time for the last act of the tragedy. I fired +the three appointed revolver shots--which meant: + +"Turn on the water!" + +There was a sudden rush and roar, and in a minute the mountain +brook was raging through the big ditch and creating a river a +hundred feet wide and twenty-five deep. + +"Stand to your guns, men! Open fire!" + +The thirteen gatlings began to vomit death into the fated ten +thousand. They halted, they stood their ground a moment against +that withering deluge of fire, then they broke, faced about and +swept toward the ditch like chaff before a gale. A full fourth +part of their force never reached the top of the lofty embankment; +the three-fourths reached it and plunged over--to death by drowning. + +Within ten short minutes after we had opened fire, armed resistance +was totally annihilated, the campaign was ended, we fifty-four were +masters of England. Twenty-five thousand men lay dead around us. + +But how treacherous is fortune! In a little while--say an hour +--happened a thing, by my own fault, which--but I have no heart +to write that. Let the record end here. + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +A POSTSCRIPT BY CLARENCE + +I, Clarence, must write it for him. He proposed that we two +go out and see if any help could be accorded the wounded. I was +strenuous against the project. I said that if there were many, +we could do but little for them; and it would not be wise for us to +trust ourselves among them, anyway. But he could seldom be turned +from a purpose once formed; so we shut off the electric current +from the fences, took an escort along, climbed over the enclosing +ramparts of dead knights, and moved out upon the field. The first +wounded mall who appealed for help was sitting with his back +against a dead comrade. When The Boss bent over him and spoke +to him, the man recognized him and stabbed him. That knight was +Sir Meliagraunce, as I found out by tearing off his helmet. He +will not ask for help any more. + +We carried The Boss to the cave and gave his wound, which was +not very serious, the best care we could. In this service we had +the help of Merlin, though we did not know it. He was disguised +as a woman, and appeared to be a simple old peasant goodwife. +In this disguise, with brown-stained face and smooth shaven, he +had appeared a few days after The Boss was hurt and offered to cook +for us, saying her people had gone off to join certain new camps +which the enemy were forming, and that she was starving. The Boss +had been getting along very well, and had amused himself with +finishing up his record. + +We were glad to have this woman, for we were short handed. We +were in a trap, you see--a trap of our own making. If we stayed +where we were, our dead would kill us; if we moved out of our +defenses, we should no longer be invincible. We had conquered; +in turn we were conquered. The Boss recognized this; we all +recognized it. If we could go to one of those new camps and +patch up some kind of terms with the enemy--yes, but The Boss +could not go, and neither could I, for I was among the first that +were made sick by the poisonous air bred by those dead thousands. +Others were taken down, and still others. To-morrow-- + +_To-morrow._ It is here. And with it the end. About midnight +I awoke, and saw that hag making curious passes in the air about +The Boss's head and face, and wondered what it meant. Everybody +but the dynamo-watch lay steeped in sleep; there was no sound. +The woman ceased from her mysterious foolery, and started tip-toeing +toward the door. I called out: + +"Stop! What have you been doing?" + +She halted, and said with an accent of malicious satisfaction: + +"Ye were conquerors; ye are conquered! These others are perishing +--you also. Ye shall all die in this place--every one--except _him_. +He sleepeth now--and shall sleep thirteen centuries. I am Merlin!" + +Then such a delirium of silly laughter overtook him that he reeled +about like a drunken man, and presently fetched up against one +of our wires. His mouth is spread open yet; apparently he is still +laughing. I suppose the face will retain that petrified laugh until +the corpse turns to dust. + +The Boss has never stirred--sleeps like a stone. If he does not +wake to-day we shall understand what kind of a sleep it is, and +his body will then be borne to a place in one of the remote recesses +of the cave where none will ever find it to desecrate it. As for +the rest of us--well, it is agreed that if any one of us ever +escapes alive from this place, he will write the fact here, and +loyally hide this Manuscript with The Boss, our dear good chief, +whose property it is, be he alive or dead. + + + +THE END OF THE MANUSCRIPT + + + + + +FINAL P.S. BY M.T. + +The dawn was come when I laid the Manuscript aside. The rain +had almost ceased, the world was gray and sad, the exhausted storm +was sighing and sobbing itself to rest. I went to the stranger's +room, and listened at his door, which was slightly ajar. I could +hear his voice, and so I knocked. There was no answer, but I still +heard the voice. I peeped in. The man lay on his back in bed, +talking brokenly but with spirit, and punctuating with his arms, +which he thrashed about, restlessly, as sick people do in delirium. +I slipped in softly and bent over him. His mutterings and +ejaculations went on. I spoke--merely a word, to call his attention. +His glassy eyes and his ashy face were alight in an instant with +pleasure, gratitude, gladness, welcome: + +"Oh, Sandy, you are come at last--how I have longed for you! Sit +by me--do not leave me--never leave me again, Sandy, never again. +Where is your hand?--give it me, dear, let me hold it--there +--now all is well, all is peace, and I am happy again--_we_ are happy +again, isn't it so, Sandy? You are so dim, so vague, you are but +a mist, a cloud, but you are _here_, and that is blessedness sufficient; +and I have your hand; don't take it away--it is for only a little +while, I shall not require it long.... Was that the child?... +Hello-Central!... she doesn't answer. Asleep, perhaps? Bring her +when she wakes, and let me touch her hands, her face, her hair, +and tell her good-bye.... Sandy! Yes, you are there. I lost +myself a moment, and I thought you were gone.... Have I been +sick long? It must be so; it seems months to me. And such dreams! +such strange and awful dreams, Sandy! Dreams that were as real +as reality--delirium, of course, but _so_ real! Why, I thought +the king was dead, I thought you were in Gaul and couldn't get +home, I thought there was a revolution; in the fantastic frenzy +of these dreams, I thought that Clarence and I and a handful of +my cadets fought and exterminated the whole chivalry of England! +But even that was not the strangest. I seemed to be a creature +out of a remote unborn age, centuries hence, and even _that_ was +as real as the rest! Yes, I seemed to have flown back out of that +age into this of ours, and then forward to it again, and was set +down, a stranger and forlorn in that strange England, with an +abyss of thirteen centuries yawning between me and you! between +me and my home and my friends! between me and all that is dear +to me, all that could make life worth the living! It was awful +--awfuler than you can ever imagine, Sandy. Ah, watch by me, Sandy +--stay by me every moment--_don't_ let me go out of my mind again; +death is nothing, let it come, but not with those dreams, not with +the torture of those hideous dreams--I cannot endure _that_ again.... +Sandy?..." + +He lay muttering incoherently some little time; then for a time he +lay silent, and apparently sinking away toward death. Presently +his fingers began to pick busily at the coverlet, and by that sign +I knew that his end was at hand with the first suggestion of the +death-rattle in his throat he started up slightly, and seemed +to listen: then he said: + +"A bugle?... It is the king! The drawbridge, there! Man the +battlements!--turn out the--" + +He was getting up his last "effect"; but he never finished it. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's +Court, Part 9., by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONNECTICUT YANKEE *** + +***** This file should be named 7250.txt or 7250.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/7/2/5/7250/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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