 | Love After Death |  |
SCENE I.
—OUTSIDE THE WALLS OF GALERA.—TIME: NIGHT.Enter TUZANÍ alone. ALCUZCUZ seen sleeping at one side.
TUZANÍ.
O chilly night, so pale and starry-eyed,
Into whose silent care my dearest hopes confide
The glad result of an attempt like this,—
My soul its triumph, and my love its bliss—
Since though your stars are beautiful and bright,
Maleca fair will give a nobler light,
When in the clasp of my enfolding arms
The dearest prize earth holds shall fly with all her charms;
On wings of blended love and fear
Have I with rapid flight across the land come here
Unto Galera—here unto this part,
Where Nature works, without the aid of art,
Leafy labyrinths secure,
Neither too plainly open, nor obscure,
Which for my steed may be
A nightly shelter; and as no eyes see,
I may attach him to this trunk of a tree,
Where, by his reins alone, shall he
Be more secure, than when on yesternight
I gave the charge to a man.....
[He trips against ALCUZCUZ.
How everything doth fright
A loving breast! An augury
Of some impending sad event
Even my firm heart must feel this accident,
Since the first moment that I quit my horse,
My foot must strike against some wretched corse.
87
Fills me with terror, horror and dismay;
O wretch, that here hast met thy doom!
O thou that hast a mountain for thy tomb!
The troubles of thy state are o'er—
While I must struggle with a thousand more!
ALCUZCUZ,
awaking.
Who is that that's walking on me?
TUZANÍ.
Can I believe my sight—my hearing?
Who art thou?—speak!—
ALCUZCUZ.
Why, Alcuzcuz,
Whom you ordered to remain here
With the mare, and so I have,
Unobserved by anybody;—
If you meant unto Gabia
To go back, why stay so late?
But I know that lovers always
Are so tardy taking leave.
TUZANÍ.
Alcuzcuz, what brings you hither?
ALCUZCUZ.
Well! to ask me such a question!—
Have I not been waiting for you
Since the moment that you entered
By the wall to see the lady?
TUZANÍ.
Who ere saw the like of this?—
From last night, you mean to tell me
You have waited here?
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Who's speaking
Of last night? I've been a moment
Dozing from narcotic poison
Which I lately took from fear,
As my master said he'd kill me
For permitting his good mare
To go gadding through these by-ways:—
But the mare has now returned,
And the poison is not deadly,
Praise to Allah for the same!—
Therefore let us go.
TUZANÍ.
What fooling!
You were drunk the whole night through.
ALCUZCUZ.
Then it must have been on poison:
Yes 'tis easy to believe it,
For my mouth is like a furnace,
And my lips and eyes are dry,
And as hard as flints—my palate
Like to tinder—yes, the potion
Must have been all—vinegar.
TUZANÍ.
Leave me, for it were not well
That again you should deprive me
Of my joy, since through your fault
I, last night, a great occasion
Lost, and I would not repeat it
Now this second night through thee.
ALCUZCUZ.
No, not mine, the fault was Zara's,
Since she told me it was poison,
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Was to be dead—(drunk).
[A noise is heard within.
TUZANÍ.
A crowd
Comes this way; beneath these branches
Let us hide until they pass.
[They conceal themselves at the side.
Enter a number of soldiers headed by GARCES.
GARCES.
This is the entrance of the mine
Which beneath the walls extendeth;
Forward, forward, but in silence,
That we may be heard by none;
When I apply the fire, some moments
Let us wait, until the mountain
Bursts asunder, and its ashes
Rise like clouds amid the air;
When the mine explodes, let no one
Wait an instant, but advance
And upon the exposed intrenchments
Seize at once, and so maintain
Till the arrival of the other
Troops, who there in ambush lie
In that dusky thicket yonder.
[Exeunt.
TUZANÍ.
Did you hear him?
ALCUZCUZ.
I heard nothing.
TUZANÍ.
Doubtless 'tis the night-patrol
Circling in its rounds the mountain;
It was well that I retired:
Are they gone?
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What, can't you see?
TUZANÍ.
I must now approach still nearer.
[A report of a cannon is heard within.
What means this?
ALCUZCUZ.
There's not a mouth
That more clearly tells its meaning
Than the wide mouth of a cannon
Speaking the dead languages.
[The mine explodes with tremendous noise.
VOICES,
within.
Aid us, Heaven!
ALCUZCUZ.
Mahomet aid me!
And may Allah guard you, master!
TUZANÍ.
It would seem as if were shaken
On their everlasting axes,
All the mighty sphere of crystal,
All the huge round rocky globe.
DON LOPE DE FIGUEROA,
within.
Now the mine is sprung, brave soldiers,
Forward, forward to the breach.
TUZANÍ.
Oh! what Etnas, Mongibellos,
What volcano, what Vesuvius,
Must these mountains have conceived,
That they bring forth such an offspring!
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Who are you calling mangy fellows,
And the rest of those hard names?—
It is all but fire and smoke.
TUZANÍ.
O unequalled burst of terror!
Since in sudden wild confusion
Now the startled city burns;
And, to shorten all the horrors,
Snakes of liquid pitch, and serpents
Of explosive powder eat
Through and through its very entrails;
'Tis the ruin of our Spain!—
It were neither like a lover,
Nor a brave man, if to succour
My belovéd, 'mid the blazing
City I did throw me not,
Climbing up its walls and dashing
All its glittering turrets down,
That I may in my embraces
Bear the fair Maleca forth;
Then Galera—then the mighty
World itself may burn to dust.
[Exit.
ALCUZCUZ.
Neither lover-like nor noble
Were it now, in this confusion,
Zara to desert; what matter?
Being neither lord nor lover,
And I've had enough of both;
If I only save my bacon,
(Allah, pardon me!) Galera,
Zara, too, may burn for me.
[Exit.
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