Poems by Adam Lindsay Gordon Part 37

Hugo: Aye, the flowery path that, sinward Pointing, ends in sin and wrath.

Orion: Songs by love-birds lightly caroll'd, Even the just man may allure.

Hugo: To his shame; in this wise Harold Sinn'd, his punishment was sure.

Orion: Nay, the Dane was worse than you are, Base and pitiless to boot; Doubtless all are bad, yet few are Cruel, false, and dissolute.

Hugo: Some sins foreign to our nature Seem; we take no credit when We escape them.

Orion: Yet the creature, Sin-created, lives to sin.

Hugo: Be it so; come good, come evil, Ride we to the Rhine again!

Orion (aside): 'Gainst the logic of the devil Human logic strives in vain.

SCENE--A Camp Near the Black Forest.

RUDOLPH, OSRIC, DAGOBERT, and followers. ORION disguised as one of the Free-lances. Mid-day.

Osric: Now, by axe of Odin, and hammer of Thor, And by all the G.o.ds of the Viking's war, I swear we have quitted our homes in vain: We have nothing to look to, glory nor gain.

Will our galley return to Norway's sh.o.r.e With heavier gold, or with costlier store?

Will our exploits furnish the scald with a song?

We have travell'd too far, we have tarried too long.

Say, captains all, is there ever a village For miles around that is worth the pillage?

Will it pay the costs of my men or yours To harry the homesteads of German boors?

Have we cause for pride in our feats of arms When we plunder the peasants or sack the farms?

I tell thee, Rudolph of Rothenstein, That were thy soldiers willing as mine, And I sole leader of this array, I would give Prince Otto battle this day.

Dost thou call thy followers men of war?

Oh, Dagobert! thou whose ancestor On the neck of the Caesar's offspring trod, Who was justly surnamed "The Scourge of G.o.d".

Yet in flight lies safety. Skirmish and run To forest and fastness, Teuton and Hun, From the banks of the Rhine to the Danube's sh.o.r.e, And back to the banks of the Rhine once more; Retreat from the face of an armed foe, Robbing garden and hen-roost where'er you go.

Let the short alliance betwixt us cease, I and my Nors.e.m.e.n will go in peace!

I wot it never will suit with us, Such existence, tame and inglorious; I could live no worse, living single-handed, And better with half my men disbanded.

Rudolph: Jarl Osric, what would'st thou have me do?

'Gainst Otto's army our men count few; With one chance of victory, fight, say I!

But not when defeat is a certainty.

If Rudiger joins us with his free-lances, Our chance will be equal to many chances; For Rudiger is both prompt and wary; And his men are gallant though mercenary; But the knave refuses to send a lance Till half the money is paid in advance.

Dagobert: May his avarice wither him like a curse!

I guess he has heard of our late reverse; But, Rudolph, whether he goes or stays, There is reason in what Jarl Osric says; Of provisions we need a fresh supply, And our b.u.t.ts and flasks are shallow or dry; My men are beginning to grumble sadly, 'Tis no wonder, since they must fare so badly.

Rudolph: We have plenty of foragers out, and still We have plenty of hungry mouths to fill; And, moreover, by some means, foul or fair, We must raise money; 'tis little I care, So long as we raise it, whence it comes.

Osric: Shall we sit till nightfall biting our thumbs?

The shortest plan is ever the best; Has anyone here got aught to suggest?

Orion: The cornfields are golden that skirt the Rhine, Fat are the oxen, strong is the wine, In those pleasant pastures, those cellars deep, That o'erflow with the tears that those vineyards weep; Is it silver you stand in need of, or gold?

Ingot or coin? There is wealth untold In the ancient convent of Englemehr; That is not so very far from here.

The Abbot, esteem'd a holy man, Will hold what he has and grasp what he can; The cream of the soil he loves to skim, Why not levy a contribution on him?

Dagobert: The stranger speaks well; not far away That convent lies; and one summer's day Will suffice for a horseman to reach the gate; The garrison soon would capitulate, Since the armed retainers are next to none, And the walls, I wot, may be quickly won.

Rudolph: I kept those walls for two months or more, When they feared the riders of Melchior!

That was little over three years ago.

Their Abbot is thrifty, as well I know; He haggled sorely about the price Of our service.

Dagobert: Rudolph, he paid thee twice.

Rudolph: Well, what of that? Since then I've tried To borrow from him; now I know he lied When he told me he could not spare the sum I asked. If we to his gates should come, He could spare it though it were doubled; and still, This war with the Church I like it ill.

Osric: The creed of our fathers is well-nigh dead, And the creed of the Christian reigns in its stead But the creed of the Christian, too, may die, For your creeds or your churches what care I!

If there be plunder at Englemehr, Let us strike our tents and thitherward steer.

SCENE--A Farm-house on the Rhine (About a mile from the Convent).

HUGO in chamber alone. Enter ERIC.

Eric: What, Hugo, still at the Rhine! I thought You were home. You have travell'd by stages short.

Hugo (with hesitation): Our homeward march was labour in vain, We had to retrace our steps again; It was here or hereabouts that I lost Some papers of value; at any cost I must find them; and which way lies your course?

Eric: I go to recruit Prince Otto's force.

I cannot study as you do; I Am wearied with inactivity; So I carry a blade engrim'd with rust (That a hand sloth-slacken'd has, I trust, Not quite forgotten the way to wield), To strike once more on the tented field.

Hugo: Fighting is all a mistake, friend Eric, And has been so since the age Homeric, When Greece was shaken and Troy undone, Ten thousand lives for a worthless one.

Yet I blame you not; you might well do worse; Better fight and perish than live to curse The day you were born; and such has been The lot of many, and shall, I ween, Be the lot of more. If Thurston chooses He may go with you. The blockhead abuses Me and the life I lead.

Enter ORION.

Orion: Great news!

The Englemehr monks will shake in their shoes; In the soles of their callous feet will shake The barefooted friars. The nuns will quake.

Hugo: Wherefore?

Orion: The outlaw of Rothenstein Has come with his soldiers to the Rhine, Back'd by those hardy adventurers From the northern forests of pines and firs, And Dagobert's horse. They march as straight As the eagle swoops to the convent gate.

Hugo: We must do something to save the place.

Orion: They are sure to take it in any case, Unless the sum that they ask is paid.

Eric: Some effort on our part must be made.

Hugo: 'Tis not so much for the monks I care.

Eric: Nor I; but the Abbess and nuns are there.