The Regent shook his head.
"No, my little beauty, it's not wise. I promise you that not a hair of his head shall be harmed. He is safe and well. If you wish to test my power, try to bribe1 my guards and see him."
Day after day Barbara sought in vain to gain admittance to the jail, send or receive a message from within. Her lover had disappeared as completely as if the earth had opened and swallowed his body.
The episode of the dredge was the last effort to question the power of the regent. The day after its capture Wolf put the men who had helped Norman build it to work operating the big machine, and its huge pumps began to throb2 in perfect time, piling ton on ton of gold-bearing sand and gravel3 into the flumes, as faithful to the touch of the thief who had stolen it as to the hand of the man of genius who invented it.
The head machinist he ordered to build [296]five duplicates, and placed the entire working force of the mechanical department at once on the job.
The daily New Era received a number of protests against the outrage4 of the inventor's arrest and imprisonment5. Two protests were signed by the names of the writers, Diggs and the Bard7. There appeared in the paper a warning editorial against sneaks8 who, under cover of the cause of justice, were seeking to aid treason and rebellion against the State.
Diggs and the Bard were summoned before Wolf in person.
The regent fixed9 his gray eyes on Diggs, and the man of questions forgot to smile.
"You are not dealing10 with an amateur now, Diggs," Wolf said, with a sneer11. "The insulting letter you wrote——"
"I—I—beg your pardon, Mr. Regent," Diggs stammered12, "my questions were asked in the spirit of honest inquiry14."
"I understand their spirit, sir," Wolf growled15. "And don't you interrupt me again when I'm talking! Your article was seditious. I've a mind to imprison6 you a year, but as this is your first offence I'll simply transfer you from the department of accounts to that of garbage and sewerage. Report at once to the overseer."
[297]Diggs's lips quivered and he tried to speak, but Wolf froze him with a look and he dropped to a seat.
"I said report at once, sir, to the overseer of the department of garbage and sewerage. Did you hear me?" Wolf thundered.
Diggs leaped to his feet stammering16 and retreating.
"Yes, sir! Yes, sir! Excuse me. I was only waiting for Comrade Adair, sir! Excuse me, sir, I'll go at once!"
He stumbled through the door and disappeared.
The Bard of Ramcat watched this scene with increasing terror. He had prepared an eloquent17 and daring appeal for freedom of speech. He tried to open his mouth, but Wolf's gaze froze the blood in his veins19. His tongue refused to move. He sat huddled20 in a heap, trembling and shifting uneasily in his seat.
At length the regent spoke21 with sneering22 patronage23:
"You wield24 a facile pen, Adair. I admire the glib25 ability with which you pour out gaseous26 matter from your overheated imagination."
The Bard scrambled27 to his feet and bowed low in humble28 submission29, fumbling30 his slouch hat tremblingly.
"I meant no harm, sir, I assure you. A great [298]leader of your power and genius can make allowances for poetic31 fervour. I'm sure you know that my whole soul is aflame with enthusiasm for our noble Cause!"
"Well, upon my word," Wolf laughed, "you're developing into a nimble liar32! You used to be quite brutal33 in the frankness of your criticisms."
"But I see the error of my way, sir," the Bard humbly34 cried.
"Then I'll remit35 your prison sentence also and merely transfer you to the stone-quarry. We need more common labourers on the rock-pile there preparing the macadam for the court of the regent's palace. Report at once to the foreman of that gang."
"Thank you, sir," the Bard stammered, feebly, as he backed out of the room.
The poet bent36 his proud back over the stone-pile for two weeks and suddenly disappeared.
His hat was found on a rustic37 seat on a high cliff whose perpendicular38 wall was washed by the sea. Beneath this hat lay his last manuscript protest to the world. It was entitled:
"The Journal of Roland Adair, Bard of Ramcat." It was written in blank verse and proved a most harrowing recital39 of the horrors he had suffered at the hands of the tyrant40 regent. With eloquence41 fierce and fiery42 he called on the [299]slaves who were being ground beneath his heel to rise in their might and slay43 the oppressor. He had chosen to die that his death-song might stir their souls to heroic action.
Search was made on the beaches for his body in vain. His wife's grief was genuine and a few of his friends gathered with her on the tenth day after his disappearance44 to express their sorrow and appreciation45 in a brief formal service.
Diggs was delivering a funeral oration46 bombarding Death, Hell, and the Grave with endless questions, when suddenly the Bard appeared, pinched with hunger, his clothes covered with dirt, his long hair dishevelled and unkempt. He had evidently been sleeping in the open.
His friends stood in wonder. His wife shrieked47 in terror.
The Bard solemnly lifted his hand and cried:
"I stood on the hills and waited for slaves to rise and fight their way to death or freedom. And no man stirred! Did they not find my death-song?"
Diggs spoke in timid accents:
"The regent destroyed it."
"Yes, yes, but before my death I anticipated his treachery. I left ten mimeographed copies where they could be found by the people. If they have not been found my death would have been vain. I waited to be sure. I've come to ask."
[300]"They were found all right," his wife cried, angrily. "And if Wolf finds you now——"
She had scarcely spoken when an officer of the secret service suddenly laid his hand on the Bard's shoulder and quietly said:
"Come. We'll give you something to sing about now worth while!"
His wife clung to the tottering48, terror-stricken figure for a moment and burst in tears. His friends shrank back in silence.
The regent had him flogged unmercifully; and Roland Adair, the Bard of Ramcat, ceased to sing. He became a mere13 cog in the wheel of things which moved on with swift certainty to its appointed end.
The social system worked now with deadly precision and ceaseless regularity50. No citizen dared to speak against the man in authority over him or complain to the regent, for they were his trusted henchmen. Men and women huddled in groups and asked in whispers the news.
Disarmed51 and at the mercy of his brutal guard, cut off from the world as effectually as if they lived on another planet, despair began to sicken the strongest hearts, and suicide to be more common than in the darkest days of panic and hunger in the old world.
A curious group of three huddled together in [301]the shadows discussing their fate on the day the Bard was publicly flogged.
Uncle Bob led the whispered conference of woe52.
"I tells ye, gemmens, dis beats de worl'! Befo' de war I wuz er slave. But I knowed my master. We wuz good friends. He say ter me, 'Bob you'se de blackest, laziest nigger dat ebber cumber53 de groun'! And I laf right in his face an' say, 'Come on, Marse Henry, an' le's go fishin'—dey'll bite ter-day'! An' he go wid me. He nebber lay de weight er his han' on me in his life. He come ter see me when I sick an' cheer me up. He gimme good clothes an' a good house an' plenty ter eat. He love me, an' I love him. I tells ye I'se er slave now an' I don't know who de debbil my master is. Dey change him every ten days. Dey cuss an' kick me—an' I work like a beast. Dis yer comrade business too much fer me."
"To tell you the truth, boys," said a bowed figure by old Bob's side, "I lived in a model community once before."
"Oh, go 'long dar, man, dey nebber wuz er nudder one!" Bob protested.
"Yes. We all wore the same thickness of clothes, ate the same three meals regularly, never over-ate or suffered from dyspepsia; all of us worked the same number of hours a day, went to [302]bed at the same time and got up at the same time. There was no drinking, cursing, carousing54, gambling55, stealing, or fighting. We were model people and every man's wants were met with absolute equality. The only trouble was we all lived in the penitentiary56 at San Quentin——"
"Des listen at dat now!" Bob exclaimed.
"Yes, and I found the world outside a pretty tough place to live in when I got out, too. I thought I'd find the real thing here and slipped in. What's the difference? In the pen we wore a gray suit. We've got it here with a red spangle on it. There they decided57 the kind of grub they'd give us. The same here. There we worked at jobs they give us. The same here. There we worked under overseers and guards. So we do here. I was sent up there for two years. It looks like we're in here for life."
"How long, O Lord, how long, will Thy servant wait for deliverance?" cried Methodist John, in plaintive58 despair. "If I only could get back to the poorhouse! There I had food and shelter and clothes. It's all I've got here—but with it work, work, work! and a wicked, sinful, cussin' son of the devil always over me drivin' and watchin'!"
John's jaw59 suddenly dropped as a black cloud swept in from the sea and obscured the sun. A [303]squall of unusual violence burst over the island with wonderful swiftness. The darkness of twilight60 fell like a pall61, and a sharp peal18 of thunder rang over the harbour.
John watched the progress of the storm with strange elation63, quietly walked through the blinding, drenching64 rain to the barn, and drew from the forks of two trees a lightning-rod about thirty feet long which Norman had finally made for him in answer to his constant pleading. The tip of the rod was pointed49 with a dozen shining spikes65.
John seized this rod, held it straight over his head, and began to march with firm step around the lawn. He walked with slow, measured tread past the two big colony houses to the amazement66 of the people who stood at the windows watching the storm. He held his lightning-rod as a soldier a musket67 on dress-parade, his eyes fixed straight in front. As he passed through the floral court between the two buildings he burst into an old Methodist song, his cracked voice ringing in weird68 and plaintive tones with the sigh and crash of the wind among the foliage69 of the trees and shrubbery:
"I want to be an angel, And with the angels stand, A crown upon my forehead, A harp62 within my hand."
[304]Over and over he sang this stanza70 with increasing fervour as he marched steadily71 on through every path around the buildings, his rain-soaked clothes clinging to his flesh and flopping72 dismally73 about his thin legs. As the storm suddenly lifted he stopped in front of the kitchen, dropped his rod, and sank with a groan74 to his knees taking up again his old refrain:
"How long, O Lord, how long?"
Old Bob ran out and shook him.
"Name er God, man, what de matter wid you? Is you gone clean crazy? What you doin' monkeyin' wid dat lightnin'-rod?"
John lifted his drooping75 head and sighed:
"You see, neighbour, I don't like to kill myself. It's against my religion. It seems like taking things out of the hands of God. But I thought the Lord, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, might be kind enough to spare me a bolt if I lifted my rod and put myself in the way. If he had only seen fit to do it, I'd be at rest now in the courts of glory!"
"Dis here's a sad worl', brudder," Bob said comfortingly. "'Pears lak ter me de Lawd doan' lib here no mo'."
Before John could reply, a guard arrested him for disorderly conduct. The regent kicked him [305]from his office and ordered him to prison on a diet of bread and water for a week.
The slightest criticism of his reign76 Wolf resented with instant and crushing cruelty. His system of spies was complete and his knowledge of every man's attitude accurate and full. Where-ever he appeared, he received the most cringing77 obeisance78.
Especially did women tremble at his approach and count themselves happy if he condescended79 to smile.
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1
bribe
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| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
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throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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imprison
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| vt.监禁，关押，限制，束缚 | |
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bard
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| n.吟游诗人 | |
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sneaks
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| abbr.sneakers (tennis shoes) 胶底运动鞋（网球鞋）v.潜行( sneak的第三人称单数 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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12
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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15
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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16
stammering
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的现在分词 ) | |
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17
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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peal
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| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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22
sneering
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| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
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patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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24
wield
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| vt.行使，运用，支配；挥，使用(武器等) | |
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glib
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| adj.圆滑的，油嘴滑舌的 | |
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gaseous
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| adj.气体的，气态的 | |
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27
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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28
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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29
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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30
fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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remit
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| v.汇款，汇寄；豁免（债务），免除（处罚等） | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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perpendicular
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| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
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39
recital
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| n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会 | |
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40
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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41
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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42
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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43
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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44
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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45
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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46
oration
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| n.演说，致辞，叙述法 | |
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47
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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49
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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50
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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51
disarmed
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| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
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52
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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53
cumber
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| v.拖累，妨碍；n.妨害；拖累 | |
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54
carousing
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| v.痛饮，闹饮欢宴( carouse的现在分词 ) | |
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55
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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56
penitentiary
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| n.感化院；监狱 | |
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57
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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58
plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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59
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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60
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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61
pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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62
harp
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| n.竖琴；天琴座 | |
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63
elation
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| n.兴高采烈，洋洋得意 | |
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64
drenching
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| n.湿透v.使湿透( drench的现在分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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65
spikes
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| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
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66
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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67
musket
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| n.滑膛枪 | |
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68
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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69
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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70
stanza
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| n.（诗）节，段 | |
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71
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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72
flopping
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| n.贬调v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的现在分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅 | |
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73
dismally
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| adv.阴暗地，沉闷地 | |
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74
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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76
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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77
cringing
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| adj.谄媚，奉承 | |
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78
obeisance
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| n.鞠躬，敬礼 | |
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79
condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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