(Disappears down the pass.Enter a Monk.A shepherd appears on the rocks above.)Monk.Ave Maria, gratia plena.Ola! good man!
Shep.Ola!
Monk.Is this the road to Segovia?
Shep.It is, your reverence.
Monk.How far is it?
Shep.I do not know.
Monk.What is that yonder in the valley?
Shep.San Ildefonso.
Monk.A long way to breakfast.
Shep.Ay, marry.
Monk.Are there robbers in these mountains?
Shep.Yes, and worse than that.
Monk.What?
Shep.Wolves.
Monk.Santa Maria! Come with me to San Ildefonso, and thou shalt be well rewarded.
Shep.What wilt thou give me?
Monk.An Agnus Dei and my benediction.
(They disappear.A mounted Contrabandista passes, wrapped in his cloak, and a gun at his saddle-bow.He goes down the pass singing.)SONG.
Worn with speed is my good steed, And I march me hurried, worried;Onward, caballito mio, With the white star in thy forehead!
Onward, for here comes the Ronda, And I hear their rifles crack!
Ay, jaleo! Ay, ay, jaleo!
Ay, jaleo! They cross our track.
(Song dies away.Enter PRECIOSA, on horseback, attended by VICTORIAN, HYPOLITO, DON CARLOS, and CHISPA, on foot, and armed.)Vict.This is the highest point.Here let us rest.
See, Preciosa, see how all about us Kneeling, like hooded friars, the misty mountains Receive the benediction of the sun!
O glorious sight!
Prec.Most beautiful indeed!
Hyp.Most wonderful!
Vict.And in the vale below, Where yonder steeples flash like lifted halberds, San Ildefonso, from its noisy belfries, Sends up a salutation to the morn, As if an army smote their brazen shields, And shouted victory!
Prec.And which way lies Segovia?
Vict.At a great distance yonder.
Dost thou not see it?
Prec.No.I do not see it.
Vict.The merest flaw that dents the horizon's edge.
There, yonder!
Hyp.'T is a notable old town, Boasting an ancient Roman aqueduct, And an Alcazar, builded by the Moors, Wherein, you may remember, poor Gil Blas Was fed on Pan del Rey.O, many a time Out of its grated windows have I looked Hundreds of feet plumb down to the Eresma, That, like a serpent through the valley creeping, Glides at its foot.
Prec.O yes! I see it now, Yet rather with my heart than with mine eyes, So faint it is.And all my thoughts sail thither, Freighted with prayers and hopes, and forward urged Against all stress of accident, as in The Eastern Tale, against the wind and tide Great ships were drawn to the Magnetic Mountains, And there were wrecked, and perished in the sea!
(She weeps.)
Vict.O gentle spirit! Thou didst bear unmoved Blasts of adversity and frosts of fate!
But the first ray of sunshine that falls on thee Melts thee to tears! O, let thy weary heart Lean upon mine! and it shall faint no more, Nor thirst, nor hunger; but be comforted And filled with my affection.
Prec.Stay no longer!
My father waits.Methinks I see him there, Now looking from the window, and now watching Each sound of wheels or footfall in the street, And saying, "Hark! she comes!" O father! father!
(They descend the pass.CHISPA remains behind.)Chispa.I have a father, too, but he is a dead one.Alas and alack-a-day.Poor was I born, and poor do I remain.I neither win nor lose.Thus I was, through the world, half the time on foot, and the other half walking; and always as merry as a thunder-storm in the night.And so we plough along, as the fly said to the ox.Who knows what may happen? Patience, and shuffle the cards! I am not yet so bald that you can see my brains; and perhaps, after all, I shall some day go to Rome, and come back Saint Peter.Benedicite!
[Exit.
(A pause.Then enter BARTOLOME wildly, as if in pursuit, with a carbine in his hand.)Bart.They passed this way! I hear their horses' hoofs!
Yonder I see them! Come, sweet caramillo, This serenade shall be the Gypsy's last!
(Fires down the pass.)
Ha! ha! Well whistled, my sweet caramillo!
Well whistled!--I have missed her!--O my God!
(The shot is returned.BARTOLOME falls).
****************
THE BELFRY OF BRUGES AND OTHER POEMS
THE BELFRY OF BRUGES
CARILLON
In the ancient town of Bruges, In the quaint old Flemish city, As the evening shades descended, Low and loud and sweetly blended, Low at times and loud at times, And changing like a poet's rhymes, Rang the beautiful wild chimes From the Belfry in the market Of the ancient town of Bruges.
Then, with deep sonorous clangor Calmly answering their sweet anger, When the wrangling bells had ended, Slowly struck the clock eleven, And, from out the silent heaven, Silence on the town descended.
Silence, silence everywhere, On the earth and in the air, Save that footsteps here and there Of some burgher home returning, By the street lamps faintly burning, For a moment woke the echoes Of the ancient town of Bruges.
But amid my broken slumbers Still I heard those magic numbers, As they loud proclaimed the flight And stolen marches of the night;Till their chimes in sweet collision Mingled with each wandering vision, Mingled with the fortune-telling Gypsy-bands of dreams and fancies, Which amid the waste expanses Of the silent land of trances Have their solitary dwelling;All else seemed asleep in Bruges, In the quaint old Flemish city.
And I thought how like these chimes Are the poet's airy rhymes, All his rhymes and roundelays, His conceits, and songs, and ditties, From the belfry of his brain, Scattered downward, though in vain, On the roofs and stones of cities!
For by night the drowsy ear Under its curtains cannot hear, And by day men go their ways, Hearing the music as they pass, But deeming it no more, alas!
Than the hollow sound of brass.
Yet perchance a sleepless wight, Lodging at some humble inn In the narrow lanes of life, When the dusk and hush of night Shut out the incessant din Of daylight and its toil and strife, May listen with a calm delight To the poet's melodies, Till he hears, or dreams he hears, Intermingled with the song, Thoughts that he has cherished long;Hears amid the chime and singing The bells of his own village ringing, And wakes, and finds his slumberous eyes Wet with most delicious tears.