Short Fiction, Leonid Andreyev [good e books to read .TXT] 📗

been thinking of the church⁠—of the kind of church you need. Oh, it’s hard to get along with you, people!”

The fishermen go out very slowly⁠—they are purposely lingering.

“The sea is coming,” says one. “I can hear it.”

“Yes, yes, the sea is coming! Did you understand what he said?”

The few who remained are more hasty in their movements. Some of them politely bid Haggart farewell.

“Goodbye, Gart.”

“I am thinking, Haggart, what kind of a church we need. This one will not do, it seems. They prayed here a hundred years; now it is no good, they say. Well, then, it is necessary to have a new one, a better one. But what shall it be?”

“ ‘Pope’s a rogue, Pope’s a rogue.’ But, then, I am a rogue, too. Don’t you think, Gart, that I am also something of a rogue? One moment, children, I am with you.”

There is some crowding in the doorway. The abbot follows the last man with his eyes and roars angrily:

“Eh, you, Haggart, murderer! What are you smiling at? You have no right to despise them like that. They are my children. They have worked⁠—have you seen their hands, their backs? If you haven’t noticed that, you are a fool! They are tired. They want to rest. Let them rest, even at the cost of the blood of the one you killed. I’ll give them each a little, and the rest I will throw out into the sea. Do you hear, Haggart?”

“I hear, priest.”

The abbot exclaims, raising his arms:

“O Lord! Why have you made a heart that can have pity on both the murdered and the murderer! Gart, go home. Take him home, Mariet, and wash his hands!”

“To whom do you lie, priest?” asks Haggart, slowly. “To God or to the devil? To yourself or to the people? Or to everybody?”

He laughs bitterly.

“Eh, Gart! You are drunk with blood.”

“And with what are you drunk?”

They face each other. Mariet cries angrily, placing herself between them:

“May a thunder strike you down, both of you, that’s what I am praying to God. May a thunder strike you down! What are you doing with my heart? You are tearing it with your teeth like greedy dogs. You didn’t drink enough blood, Gart, drink mine, then! You will never have enough, Gart, isn’t that true?”

“Now, now,” says the abbot, calming them. “Take him home, Mariet. Go home, Gart, and sleep more.”

Mariet comes forward, goes to the door and pauses there.

“Gart! I am going to little Noni.”

“Go.”

“Are you coming along with me?”

“Yes⁠—no⁠—later.”

“I am going to little Noni. What shall I tell him about his father when he wakes up?”

Haggart is silent. Khorre comes back and stops irresolutely at the threshold. Mariet casts at him a glance full of contempt and then goes out. Silence.

“Khorre!”

“Yes.”

“Gin!”

“Here it is, Noni. Drink it, my boy, but not all at once, not all at once, Noni.”

Haggart drinks; he examines the room with a smile.

“Nobody. Did you see him, Khorre? He is there, behind the curtain. Just think of it, sailor⁠—here we are again with him alone.”

“Go home, Noni!”

“Right away. Give me some gin.”

He drinks.

“And they? They have gone?”

“They ran, Noni. Go home, my boy! They ran off like goats. I was laughing so much, Noni.”

Both laugh.

“Take down that toy, Khorre. Yes, yes, a little ship. He made it, Khorre.”

They examine the toy.

“Look how skilfully the jib was made, Khorre. Good boy, Philipp! But the halyards are bad, look. No, Philipp! You never saw how real ships are fitted out⁠—real ships which rove over the ocean, tearing its grey waves. Was it with this toy that you wanted to quench your little thirst⁠—fool?”

He throws down the little ship and rises:

“Khorre! Boatswain!”

“Yes.”

“Call them! I assume command again, Khorre!”

The sailor turns pale and shouts enthusiastically:

“Noni! Captain! My knees are trembling. I will not be able to reach them and I will fall on the way.”

“You will reach them! We must also take our money away from these people⁠—what do you think, Khorre? We have played a little, and now it is enough⁠—what do you think, Khorre?”

He laughs. The sailor looks at him, his hands folded as in prayer, and he weeps.

VII

“These are your comrades, Haggart? I am so glad to see them. You said, Gart, yes⁠—you said that their faces were entirely different from the faces of our people, and that is true. Oh, how true it is! Our people have handsome faces, too⁠—don’t think our fishermen are ugly, but they haven’t these deep, terrible scars. I like them very much, I assure you, Gart. I suppose you are a friend of Haggart’s⁠—you have such stern, fine eyes? But you are silent? Why are they silent, Haggart; did you forbid them to speak? And why are you silent yourself, Haggart? Haggart!”

Illuminated by the light of torches, Haggart stands and listens to the rapid, agitated speech. The metal of the guns and the uniforms vibrates and flashes; the light is also playing on the faces of those who have surrounded Haggart in a close circle⁠—these are his nearest, his friends. And in the distance there is a different game⁠—there a large ship is dancing silently, casting its light upon the black waves, and the black water plays with them, pleating them like a braid, extinguishing them and kindling them again.

A noisy conversation and the splashing of the waters⁠—and the dreadful silence of kindred human lips that are sealed.

“I am listening to you, Mariet,” says Haggart at last. “What do you want, Mariet? It is impossible that someone should have offended you. I ordered them not to touch your house.”

“Oh, no, Haggart, no! No one has offended me!” exclaimed Mariet cheerfully. “But don’t you like me to hold little Noni in my arms? Then I will put him down here among the rocks. Here he will be warm and comfortable as in his cradle. That’s the way! Don’t be afraid of waking him, Gart; he sleeps soundly and will not hear anything. You may shout, sing, fire a pistol⁠—the boy sleeps