University of Virginia Library

ACT II.

Scene.—A ruined chapel by moonlight. Aisles divided by pillars and arches; ruined Gothic windows at back. General Stanley discovered seated pensively, surrounded by his daughters.
Frederic enters down aisle.
Mab.

Oh, Frederic, cannot you reconcile it with your conscience
to say something that will relieve my father's sorrow?

Fred.

I will try, dear Mabel. But why does he sit, night
after night, in this draughty old ruin?

Gen.

Why do I sit here? To escape from the pirates'
clutches, I described myself as an orphan, and I am no orphan!
I come here to humble myself before the tombs of my ancestors,
and to implore their pardon for having brought dishonour on
the family escutcheon.

Fred.

But you forget, sir, you only bought the property a
year ago, and the stucco in your baronial hall is scarcely dry.

Gen.

Frederic, in this chapel are ancestors; you cannot
deny that. With the estate, I bought the chapel and its
contents. I don't know whose ancestors they were, but I know
whose ancestors they are, and I shudder to think that their
descendant by purchase (if I may so describe myself) should
have brought disgrace upon what, I have no doubt, was an
unstained escutcheon.

Fred.

Be comforted. Had you not acted as you did, these
reckless men would assuredly have called in the nearest clergyman,
and have married your large family on the spot.

Gen.

I thank you for your proffered solace, but it is unavailing.
At what time does your expedition march against these
scoundrels?

Fred.

At eleven; and before midnight I hope to have atoned
for my involuntary association with the pestilent scourges by
sweeping them from the face of the earth. And then, my
Mabel, you will be mine!

Gen.

Are your devoted followers at hand?

Fred.

They are; they only wait my orders.

Recitative.—General.
Then, Frederic, let your escort lion-hearted
Be summoned to receive a general's blessing,
Ere they depart upon their dread adventure.

Fred.
Dear sir, they come.

Enter Police, marching in double file. Form in line facing audience.
Song—Sergeant.
When the foeman bares his steel,
Tarantara! tarantara!
We uncomfortable feel,
Tarantara!
And we find the wisest thing,
Tarantara! tarantara!
Is to slap our chests and sing.
Tarantara!
For when threatened with emeutes,
Tarantara! tarantara!
And your heart is in your boots,
Tarantara!
There is nothing brings it round,
Tarantara! tarantara!
Like the trumpet's martial sound.
Tarantara!
Tarantara, ra-ra-ra-ra!

All.
Tarantara, ra-ra-ra-ra!

Mab.
Go, ye heroes, go to glory;
Though you die in combat gory
Ye shall live in song and story.
Go to immortality.
Go to death, and go to slaughter;
Die, and every Cornish daughter
With her tears your grave shall water.
Go, ye heroes; go and die.

All.
Go, ye heroes; go and die.

Pol.
Though to us it's evident,
Tarantara! tarantara!
These attentions are well meant,
Tarantara!
Such expressions don't appear,
Tarantara! tarantara!
Calculated men to cheer,
Tarantara!
Who are going to meet their fate
In a highly nervous state,
Tarantara!
Still to us it's evident
These attentions are well meant.
Tarantara!

Edith.
Go and do your best endeavour,
And before all links we sever
We will say farewell for ever;
Go to glory and the grave.
For your foes are fierce and ruthless,
False, unmerciful, and truthless.
Young and tender, old and toothless,
All in vain their mercy crave.

All.
Yes, your foes are fierce and ruthless, etc.

Serg.
We observe too great a stress
On the risks that on us press,
And of reference a lack
To our chance of coming back.
Still perhaps it would be wise
Not to carp or criticise,
For it's very evident
These attentions are well meant.

All.
Yes, to them it's evident
Our attentions are well meant.
Tarantara, ra-ra-ra-ra!
Go, ye heroes, go to glory, etc.

Gen.
Away, away.

Pol.
(without moving).
Yes, yes, we go.

Gen.
These pirates slay.

Pol.
Yes, yes, we go.

Gen.
Then do not stay.

Pol.
We go, we go.

Gen.
Then why all this delay?

Pol.
All right—we go, we go.
Yes, forward on the foe,
Ho, ho! Ho, ho!
We go, we go, we go!
Tarantara-ra-ra!
Then forward on the foe!

All.
Yes, forward!

Pol.
Yes, forward!

Gen.
Yes, but you don't go!

Pol.
We go, we go, we go!

All.
At last they really go—Tarantara-ra-ra!

Ensemble.
Chorus of all
but Police.
Go and do your best endeavour,
And before all links we sever
We will say farewell for ever;
Go to glory and the grave.
For your foes are fierce and ruthless,
False, unmerciful and truthless,
Young and tender, old and toothless,
All in vain their mercy crave.

Chorus of Police.
Such expressions don't appear,
Tarantara! tarantara!
Calculated men to cheer,
Tarantara!
Who are going to their fate,
Tarantara! tarantara!
In a highly nervous state.
Tarantara!
We observe too great a stress,
Tarantara! tarantara!
On the risks that on us press,
Tarantara!
And of reference a lack,
Tarantara! tarantara!
To our chance of coming back.
Tarantara!

[Mabel tears herself from Frederic and exit, followed by her sisters, consoling her. The General and others follow the Police off. Frederic remains.
Recitative.—Frederic.
Now for the pirate's lair! Oh, joy unbounded!
Oh, sweet relief! Oh, rapture unexampled!
At last I may atone, in some slight measure,
For the repeated acts of theft and pillage
Which, at a sense of duty's stern dictation,
I, circumstance's victim, have been guilty.

[The Pirate King and Ruth appear at the window armed.
King.
Young Frederic! (Covering him with pistol.)


Fred.
Who calls?

King.
Your late commander! (Coming down.)


Ruth.
And I, your little Ruth! (Covering him with pistol.)


Fred.
Oh, mad intruders,
How dare ye face me? Know ye not, oh rash ones,
That I have doomed you to extermination?

[King and Ruth hold a pistol to each car.
King.
Have mercy on us, hear us, ere you slaughter.

Fred.
I do not think I ought to listen to you.
Yet, mercy should alloy our stern resentment,
And so I will be merciful—say on.

Trio.—Ruth, King, and Fred.
When first you left our pirate fold
We tried to cheer our spirits faint,
According to our customs old,
With quips and quibbles quaint.
But all in vain the quips we heard,
We lay and sobbed upon the rocks,
Until to somebody occurred
A curious paradox.

Fred.
A paradox!

King
(laughing).
A paradox.

Ruth.
A most ingenious paradox.
We've quips and quibbles heard in flocks,
But none to beat this paradox!
Ha! ha! ha! ha! ho! ho! ho! ho!

King.
We knew your taste for curious quips,
For cranks and contradictions queer,
And with the laughter on our lips,
We wished you had been there to hear.
We said, “If we could tell it him,
How Frederic would the joke enjoy,”
And so we've risked both life and limb
To tell it to our boy.

Fred.
(interested).
That paradox? That paradox!

King and Ruth
(laughing).
That most ingenious parodox!
We've quips and quibbles heard in flocks,
But none to beat that paradox!
Ha, ha, ha, ha! ho, ho, ho, ho!

Chant.—King.
For some ridiculous reason, to which, however, I've no desire to be disloyal,
Some person in authority, I don't know who—very likely the Astronomer Royal—
Has decided that, although for such a beastly month as February twenty-eight days as a general rule are plenty,
One year in every four his days shall be reckoned as nine and twenty.
Through some singular coincidence—I shouldn't be surprised if it were owing to the agency of an ill-natured fairy—
You are the victim of this clumsy arrangement, having been born in leap year, on the twenty-ninth of February,
And so, by a simple arithmetical process, you'll easily discover,
That though you've lived twenty-one years, yet, if we go by birthdays, you're only five and a little bit over!

Ruth.
Ha! ha! ha! ha!

King.
Ho! ho! ho! ho!

Fred.
Dear me!
Let's see! (Counting on fingers.)

Yes, yes; with yours my figures do agree!

All.
Ha, ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho, ho! (Frederic more amused than any.)


Fred.
How quaint the ways of paradox!
At common sense she gaily mocks!
Though counting in the usual way,
Years twenty-one I've been alive,
Yet, reckoning by my natal day,
I am a little boy of five!

All.
He is a little boy of five. Ha, ha!
At common sense she gaily mocks;
So quaint a way is paradox.

All.
Ha, ha, ha, ha!

King.
Ho, ho, ho, ho!

Ruth.
Ha, ha, ha, ha!

Fred.
Ha, ha, ha, ha!

All.
Ho, ho, ho, ho!

[Ruth and King throw themselves back on seats, exhausted with laughter.]
Fred.

Upon my word, this is most curious—most absurdly
whimsical. Five and a quarter! No one would think it to
look at me.

Ruth.

You are glad now, I'll be bound, that you spared us.
You would never have forgiven yourself when you discovered
that you had killed two of your comrades.

Fred.

My comrades?

King.

I'm afraid you don't appreciate the delicacy of your
position. You were apprenticed to us—

Fred.

Until I reached my twenty-first year.

King.

No, until you reached your twenty-first birthday
(producing document)
, and, going by birthdays, you are as yet
only five and a quarter.

Fred.

You don't mean to say you are going to hold me to
that?

King.

No, we merely remind you of the fact, and leave the
rest to your sense of duty.

Fred.
(wildly).

Don't put it on that footing! As I was
merciful to you just now, be merciful to me! I implore you
not to insist on the letter of your bond just as the cup of
happiness is at my lips!

Ruth.

We insist on nothing; we content ourselves with
pointing out to you your duty.

Fred.
(after a pause).

Well, you have appealed to my sense
of duty, and my duty is only too clear. I abhor your infamous
calling; I shudder at the thought that I have ever been mixed
up with it; but duty is before all—at any price I will do my
duty!

King.

Bravely spoken. Come, you are one of us once more.

Fred.

Lead on; I follow. (Suddenly.)
Oh, horror!

King and Ruth.

What is the matter?

Fred.

Ought I to tell you? No, no, I cannot do it; and
yet, as one of your band—

King.

Speak out, I charge you, by that sense of conscientiousness
to which we have never yet appealed in vain.

Fred.

General Stanley, the father of my Mabel—

King and Ruth.

Yes, yes!

Fred.

He escaped from you on the plea that he was an
orphan?

King.

He did.

Fred.

It breaks my heart to betray the honoured father of
the girl I adore, but, as your apprentice, I have no alternative.
It is my duty to tell you that General Stanley is no orphan.

King and Ruth.

What!

Fred.

More than that, he never was one!

King.

Am I to understand that, to save his contemptible life,
he dared to practise on our credulous simplicity? (Frederic nods as he weeps.)

Our revenge shall be swift and terrible.
We will go and collect our band and attack Tremorden Castle
this very night.

Fred.

But—

King.

Not a word. He is doomed. (Goes up and down stage.)

Trio.
King and Ruth.
Away, away, my heart's on fire,
I burn this base deception to repay,
This very day my vengeance dire
Shall glut itself in gore. Away, away!

Frederic.
Away, away, ere I expire—
I find my duty hard to do today!
My heart is filled with anguish dire,
It strikes me to the core. Away, away!

King.
With falsehood foul
He tricked us of our brides.
Let vengeance howl;
The pirate so decides.
Our nature stern
He softened with his lies,
And, in return,
To-night the traitor dies.

All.
Yes, yes; to-night the traitor dies.

Ruth
(crosses to Frederic).
To-night he dies.

King.
Yes, or early to-morrow.

Fred.
His girls likewise?

Ruth.
They will welter in sorrow.

King.
The one soft spot—

Fred.
In their natures they cherish,
And all who plot—

Ruth.
To abuse it shall perish!

All.
Yes, all who plot

King.
To abuse it shall perish!
Away, away, etc.

[Exeunt King and Ruth. Frederic throws himself on a stone in blank despair.
Enter Mabel.
Recitative.—Mabel.
All is prepared, your gallant crew await you.
My Frederick in tears? It cannot be
That lion-heart quails at the coming conflict?

Fred.
No, Mabel, no. A terrible disclosure
Has just been made! Mabel, my dearly loved one,
I bound myself to serve the pirate captain
Until I reached my one and twentieth birthday—

Mab.
But you are twenty-one?

Fred.
I've just discovered
That I was born in leap year, and that birthday
Will not be reached by me till 1940.

Mab.
Oh, horrible! catastrophe appalling!

Fred.
And so, farewell!

Mab.
No, no! Oh, Frederic, hear me.

Duet.—Mabel and Frederic.
Mab.
Stay, Frederic, stay!
They have no legal claim;
No shadow of a shame
Will fall upon thy name.
Stay, Frederic, stay!

Fred.
Nay, Mabel, nay,
To-night I quit these walls.
The thought my soul appals.
But when stern duty calls,
I must obey.

Mab.
Stay, Frederic, stay—

Fred.
Nay, Mabel, nay—

Mab.
They have no claim—

Fred.
But duty's name!
The thought my soul appals,
But when stern duty calls,
I must obey.

Ballad.—Mabel (kneels).
Oh, leave me not to pine
Alone and desolate;
No fate seemed fair as mine,
No happiness so great.
And nature, day by day,
Has sung, in accents clear,
This joyous roundelay,
“He loves thee—he is here.
Fal-la, fa-la, fa-la.”

Fred.
Ah, must I leave thee here
In endless night to dream,
Where joy is dark and drear,
And sorrow all supreme!
Where nature, day by day,
Will sing, in altered tone,
This weary roundelay,
“He loves thee—he is gone.
Fa-la, fa-la, fa-la.”
He loves thee, he is gone. (Rises.)


Fred.
In 1940 I of age shall be.
I'll then return, and claim you—I declare it.

Mab.
It seems so long!

Fred.
Swear that, till then, you will be true to me.

Mab.
Yes, I'll be strong!
By all the Stanleys dead and gone,
I swear it!
Ensemble.
Oh, here is love, and here is truth,
And here is food for joyous laughter.
He/She will be faithful to his/her sooth
Till we are wed, and even after.
What joy to know that though he/I must
Embrace piratical adventures,
He/She will be faithful to his/her trust
Till he is/I am out of his/my indentures.

Fred.
Farewell! Adieu!

Both.
Farewell! Adieu!

[Frederic rushes to window and leaps out.
Mab.
(feeling pulse).
Yes, I am brave! Oh, family descent,
How great thy charm, thy sway how excellent!
Come, one and all, undaunted men in blue;
A crisis, now, affairs are coming to.

Enter Police, marching in single file.
Serg.
Though in body and in mind,
Tarantara! tarantara!
We are timidly inclined,
Tarantara!
And anything but blind,
Tarantara! tarantara!
To the danger that's behind,
Tarantara!
Yet, when the danger's near,
Tarantara! tarantara!
We manage to appear
Tarantara!
As insensible to fear
As anybody here.
Tarantara!
Tarantara! tarantara, ra—ra—ra—ra!

Mab.

Sergeant, approach. Young Frederic was to have led
you to death and glory.

All.

That is not a pleasant way of putting it.

Mab.

No matter; he will not so lead you, for he has allied
himself once more with his old associates.

All.

He has acted shamefully.

Mab.

You speak falsely. You know nothing about it. He
has acted nobly.

All.

He has acted nobly.

Mab.

Dearly as I loved him before, his heroic sacrifice to his
sense of duty has endeared him to me tenfold. He has done his
duty. I will do mine. Go ye, and do yours.

[Exit Mabel.

All.

Very well.

Serg.

This is perplexing.

All.

We cannot understand it at all.

Serg.

Still he is actuated by a sense of duty—

All.

That makes a difference, of course. At the same time
we repeat, we cannot understand it at all.

Serg.

No matter; our course is clear. We must do our best
to capture these pirates alone. It is most distressing to us to
be the agents whereby our erring fellow-creatures are deprived
of that liberty which is so dear to all—but we should have
thought of that before we joined the force.

All.

We should.

Serg.

It is too late now!

All.

It is.

Pir.
He thought he heard a noise—ha! ha!

Pol.
He thought he heard a noise—ha! ha!

(Very loud.)
Gen.
No, all is still
In dale, on hill;
My mind is set at ease.
So still the scene—
It must have been
The sighing of the breeze.

Ballad.—General.
Sighing softly to the river
Comes the loving breeze,
Setting nature all a-quiver,
Rustling through the trees—

All.
Through the trees.

Gen.
And the brook in rippling measure
Laughs for very love,
While the poplars, in their pleasure,
Wave their arms above. (Goes up stage and returns.)


Pol. and Pir.
Yes, the trees, for very love,
Wave their leafy arms above,
River, river, little river,
May thy loving prosper ever.
Heaven speed thee, poplar tree;
May thy wooing happy be.

Gen.
Yet, the breeze is but a rover;
When he wings away,
Brook and poplar mourn a lover!
Sighing well-a-day!

All.
Well-a-day!

Gen.
Ah, the doing and undoing
That the rogue could tell!
When the breeze is out a-wooing,
Who can woo so well?

Pol. and Pir.
Shocking tales the rogue could tell,
Nobody can woo so well.
Pretty brook, thy dream is over,
For thy love is but a rover
Sad the lot of poplar trees
Courted by the fickle breeze.

Enter the General's daughters, all in white peignoirs and nightcaps, and carrying lighted candles.
Girls.
Now, what is this, and what is that, and why does father leave his rest
At such a time as this, so very incompletely dressed?
Dear father is, and always was, the most methodical of men;
It's his invariable rule to go to bed at half-past ten.
What strange occurrence can it be that calls dear father from his rest
At such a time of night as this, so very incompletely dressed?

King
(springing up).
Forward, my men, and seize that General there!

[They seize the General.
Pir.
Ha! ha! we are the pirates, so despair—

King.
With base deceit
You worked upon our feelings
Revenge is sweet,
And flavours all our dealings.
With courage rare
And resolution manly,
For death prepare,
Unhappy General Stanley!

Fred.
(coming forward).
Alas, alas, unhappy General Stanley!

Gen.
Frederic here! Oh, joy! Oh, rapture!
Summon your men and effect their capture.

Mab.
Frederic, save us!

Fred.
Beautiful Mabel,
I would if I could, but I am not able.

Pir.
He's telling the truth, he is not able.

Pol.
(pianissimo).
Tarantara! tarantara.

Mab.
(wildly).
Is he to die, unshriven—unannealed?

Girls.
Oh, spare him!

Mab.
Will no one in his cause a weapon wield?

Girls.
Oh, spare him!

Pol.
(springing up).
Yes, we are here, though hitherto concealed!

Girls.
Oh, rapture!

Pol.
So to our prowess, pirates, quickly yield!

Girls.
Oh, rapture!

[A struggle ensues between Pirates and Police. Eventually the Police are overcome, and fall prostrate, the Pirates standing over them with drawn swords. Ladies run down.
Chorus of Police and Pirates.
You/We triumph now, for well we trow
Our mortal career's cut short,
No pirate band will take its stand
At the Central Criminal Court.

Serg.
To gain a brief advantage you've contrived,
But your proud triumph will not be long-lived.

King.
Don't say you are orphans, for we know that game.

Serg.
On your allegiance we've a nobler claim.
We charge you yield, in Queen Victoria's name!

King
(baffled).
You do!

Pol.
We do;
We charge you yield, in Queen Victoria's name!

[Pirates kneel, Police stand over them triumphantly.
King.
We yield at once, with humbled mien,
Because, with all our faults, we love our Queen,

Pol.
Yes, yes; with all their faults, they love their Queen.

Ladies.
Yes, yes; with all, etc.

[Police, holding Pirates by the collar, take out handkerchiefs and weep.
Ruth enters.
Gen.
Away with them, and place them at the bar.

Ruth.
One moment; let me tell you who they are.
They are no members of the common throng;
They are all noblemen, who have gone wrong!

Gen., Pol., and Girls.
What, all noblemen?

King and Pir.
Yes, all noblemen!

Gen., Pol., and Girls.
What, all?

King.
Well, nearly all!

Gen.
No Englishmen unmoved that statement hears,
Because, with all our faults, we love our House of Peers.
[All kneel to Pirates.
Recitative.—General.
I pray you, pardon me, ex-Pirate King,
Peers will be peers, and youth will have its fling.
Resume your ranks and legislative duties,
And take my daughters, all of whom are beauties.

Finale.
Mab.
Poor wandering ones,
Though ye have surely strayed,
Take heart of grace,
Your steps retrace,
Poor wandering ones!
Poor wandering ones,
If such poor love as ours
Can help you find
True peace of mind,
Why, take it, it is yours!

All.
Poor wandering ones, etc.