 |
|
| 1. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 2. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 3. |
| 1. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. | Scene VI |
| 4. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 5. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
|
|
| 1. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 2. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 3. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
|
|
| 1. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 2. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 3. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 5. |
| 5. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
|
| 1. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 2. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 3. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 4. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
| 5. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
 | The unpublished plays of Thomas Holley Chivers |  |
Scene VI
(Lamorah's cottage as before. Lamorah and Canondah are sitting as in conversation.)Lamorah
Then, by Manito! He may meet his doom!
Whatever fate may fall on him—may fall!
He never shall be warned by me again!
I am an old man now—too full of years
To trouble my old hand about such dogs!
Where is Celuta? saw you Endea there?
56
He would not tell me where Celuta was
Nor where the young Fawn of my heart was hid—
Whether among the Valley Reeds alone,
Or with Celuta, fairest of the fair,
The milk white beauty of the Isle of Founts,
Feeding her cygnets by the Lake of Swans,
Or lived afar off in some mighty Oak;
But treated me with bitter, cold disdain,
As young Yanassa never did in life.
He looks not like Yanassa now—nor is—
But only wears the garb Yanassa wore.
The paint you put upon his face is gone.
Lamorah
The Great High Spirit knows that he is false—
False to the father that he seemed to love!
It was not so before he died—not so!
Have they false children in the Land of Souls?
Sure Ataensic would not suffer this.
For how can disobedience dwell in Heaven?
And how can disobedience dwell in him
Who sang so sweetly in the Bower of Bliss?
If he prove false to me, in whom my soul
Was so wrapped up—there is no rest on earth!
57
What! are you shunning death, or flying from
The Devil, that you run so swiftly home?
When you have breath enough to speak, speak out!
And tell me what great Wonder you have seen!
Ostenee
A Wonder you may say!
Lamorah
So it appears!
Ostenee
A hellish, fiendish Devil called your son—
The young Yanassa from the Land of Souls!
Who murdered your Yanassa for his clothes—
Cheating you in them to your very face—
Coming upon this Isle to steal my wife!
For know, the traitor that you call your son,
Was never dead, nor in the Land of Souls—
(Would to the great Manito that he were!)
But is a White Man! “Julian” is his name!
He is Celuta's husband—curse his soul!
Who came within an inch of murdering me—
I only saving life by swiftest flight!
Lamorah
What do I hear? Who told you of this thing?
58
Celuta did—that Dove of Heaven—who called
Him “Julian”—called!him by his proper name!
I tell you that his face is white as snow!
Think you Yanassa from the Land of Souls,
Or Hell, would not remember Ostenee?
This villian knew me not, nor cared to know!
I tell you he is “Julian” in disguise—
After killing your son to cheat you in his clothes!
Oh! father! if you value your own life,
Or love the life of any one on earth—
Shew forth the thunder of your vengeance now!
For no one ever knew this Isle before,
But our own family! Now he is here!
A few short months will roll around in Heaven,
When he will bring ten thousand White Men here
To sweep us from the Earth! This Isle was ours;
But it will never more be ours again!
Lamorah
You say you fought?
Ostenee
We did for one whole hour!
Lamorah
And, from your flight, he foiled you in the fight?
59
He did by choking me—which no one could
Have helped!
Lamorah
But are you sure he's not my son?
Say, are you sure of it?
Ostenee
I know he's not!
I know Yanassa's garb too well! Thy son!
He is the White Man come to take this Isle!
Lamorah
Where is Manito that He will not hear?
In what sulphurous lair of cloud, afar
Off in the mighty realms of space, now sleep
The Eternal Thunderbolts of God, that they
Do not descend in lightnings on his head?—
Come, Ostenee go quickly—take this key—
Unlock the Boat chain from the Willow tree—
Get in the Boat—fly swiftly through the Lake—
Rowing as mortal never rowed before—
Until you reach the farthest shore! Then go—
Walk not—but run, as runs the Roebuck on
The Hills, when goaded on to swiftest flight
By Hounds with open mouths, whose eager cries
60
To Ouithlacoochee's Isle of Founts—bring back
With you great Ensenore, the Man of men!
Areskou's mighty thunderbolt of War!
And Esnah, Captain of the Sons of Night;
And old Tekoah, Captain of the Brave—
Bloody Avengers of their father's slain!
Bring fifty warriors—ten fair Virgins pure—
To celebrate the Banqueting of Souls!
For on that night that foul traitor's soul—
Translated in a Chariot of Fire—
Amid the shouts of his exultant foes
Go back again into the Land of Souls!—
| The unpublished plays of Thomas Holley Chivers | |