The Haitian Trilogy: Plays: Henri Christophe, Drums and Colours, and The Haytian Earth (16 page)

RALEIGH
(
Shouts.
)

I am not a Spaniard, man.

KEYMIS

                                               Sir Walter.

BERRIO
(
Rising.
)

No, I am a Spaniard and responsible to my country.

And, you are English, your star in the ascendant.

But to me you are a finished phenomenon, my friend,

In that this pursuit of wealth, of personal glory,

Is of a finished age, the age of conquest, cruelty.

The gold is veining out.

KEYMIS

                                          Is that why you preach?

BERRIO

As governor I pursued my Catholic precepts,

Brought here by our first admiral and Las Casas,

That what men take away out of a country

They must restore by something else.

Our mines are finishing, and the more profitable pursuits

Of growing cities, establishing Christian culture,

Is now the general concern, not avarice.

The individual reputation must be dimmed,

For the establishment of commerce, justice.

I am the proconsul of a new empire, señor.

KEYMIS

Now will Your Excellency look at this map?

RALEIGH
(
To
BERRIO
)

You tell me not to pursue my search for El Dorado.

Must I presume, before the discoveries,

Before Cortés, Pizarro, Bilbão, Alcázar

There was no Montezuma, nor Peru; in fact no gold.

No massacre of natives, no Spanish imperialism

Under you Christian conquerors? Let us be honest.

I’m ageing. I believe in the existence of this city,

And so do you, I know, and Keymis, but you,

Exhibiting that familiar Spanish arrogance …

BERRIO

Señor, I am too tired to bear arrogance.

(
Rises.
)

RALEIGH
(
Enraged
)

                                                                    If you please!

Think all the world the property of Spain.

But Spain is shattered, her wealth will be ours,

I am not an even-tempered man, señor.

SON

Father, there is no need to be so angry with him.

RALEIGH
(
Turning on
SON
.)

I am your admiral, not your father now.

(
Pause.
)

KEYMIS

Señor Berrio, do you recognise certain names here?

BERRIO
(
Amused
)

I see a map whose drawings are as haphazard

As any I have done concerning this fable.

KEYMIS

And where is the best direction to this fable?

BERRIO

I have a fatal statement for you gentlemen.

RALEIGH

Which is?

(
He sits.
)

BERRIO

                   There is no El Dorado.

There is a story devised for malice by the Indians.

It is a vicious fable, it is like Atlantis, it is like

Columbus’s Cipango, like your own John Mandeville.

The more you pierce Guiana and explore it,

Pages of pages part before you, volumes of forest;

But El Dorado has no meaning, there are the bones

Of ruined Spanish expeditions, and nothing else.

KEYMIS

Yet you yourself have made cynical expeditions

Of this nature.

BERRIO

                          That is why I speak.

I cannot warn you of the terrible expense

When men or nations turn to beasts for gold.

RALEIGH
(
Rises angrily.
)

Very well then, to be considered a beast!

Issue this order to the captains, Keymis.

Despite the orders of the King of England,

Despite the hypocrisy of this cunning Spaniard,

Raleigh now risks his life, his soldiers’ lives,

His son’s, and all the weight, experience

Of his life, to find this fool’s gold and be King of it!

Burn down the Spanish fort and find Manoa,

And now, señor, I wish you a good night.

(
He exits.
)

KEYMIS

I have not seen him so angry for some time.

He has a tongue that wounds his friends.

BERRIO

He is a sensitive but a dangerous man.

If he is your friend, then I say, look again.

He uses people.

KEYMIS

And you know nothing?

BERRIO

Oh, you persistent English, I know nothing.

I should like some rest. I wish him luck.

But I know this will bring some terrible price.

SON

My father is no coward, Señor de Berrio.

BERRIO

Sí, niño.
No coward. But a frightened man. Good night.

(
Exit
BERRIO, KEYMIS
.)

SON
(
Picks up lute and sings.
)

Gather ye money while ye may,

Old Time is still a-flying,

And that same price you raised today

Tomorrow will be dying.

That yellow coin of heaven, the sun,

The higher he’s a-getting.

Pursue him still and you may run

A profit ere his setting.

So be you wise and be you bold

But let this keep you bonny.

Joy is a thing that’s bought and sold.

So sing hey money, money.

(
RALEIGH
,
cloaked, enters above, listens to end of song, and descends.
)

RALEIGH

Go, get to bed, boy, there’s soldier’s work at sunrise.

Excuse my anger. Know I love you. Now get to bed.

SON

How is your fever? You should rest, Father.

RALEIGH

I have the fever and I cannot rest,

I think of my responsibility, and each man’s life,

Of your sweet mother, of how greed makes men mad,

And that dull ache of absence called a wife.

(
Lights fade as
RALEIGH
exits. Slow drumbeats start. Trumpet calls. To suggest passage of time—spot on
CHORUS
at left and spot on
RALEIGH
motionless. Enter
CHORUS
.)

CHORUS

The lanterns of the fleet die one by one,

The wandering moon rides through a foam of clouds,

As Raleigh walks the deadened deck alone.

The false grey of daylight fills the east.

He waits with a few soldiers, alone, aboard,

(
Spot on
RALEIGH
.)

Through morning to the dead dial of noon.

The hours pass, till a far drum is heard.

(
Lights up slowly.
)

SAILOR

Smoke, sir! It’s the fort, they’ve burnt the fort.

RALEIGH
(
Wearily
)

And that drum’s pulse means failure and defeat.

Lower the longboat there for Captain Keymis.

Can you shout what you see there, fellow?

SAILOR

Aye, aye, sir. It’s the expedition, they’re launching the skiffs, and it seems they’ve got a couple wounded, though I can’t make out who, sir. They’re down to the brown shallows of the river, and there’s some getting into the boats by the jungle’s edge.

RALEIGH

Get ready to brace them aboard. I’m coming down.

SAILOR

It’s Captain Keymis’s boat, sir, and there’s two dead.

RALEIGH

Who are they?

SAILOR

I can’t rightly tell, sir. They’re dead is all I know.

RALEIGH

Give them a shout again!

(
BERRIO
enters below.
)

SAILOR

Allo there! Alloa off there!

(
Silence.
)

CHORUS

Now the hot wind haunts the abandoned armour,

The wild bees build in the rusting Spanish helms,

The armoured cricket nests in the empty shield.

SAILOR

Allo, allo there? Who got it this time, mate?

VOICE OFF

Jeremy Ford, carpenter. Walter Raleigh, squire.

BERRIO
(
Moving forward.
)

Señor!

RALEIGH

What is it now, man? Do you come to mock me?

SAILOR

It’s the boy, sir. They’re coming aboard.

(
The
PATROL
boards,
KEYMIS
enters; behind,
SAILORS
bearing
SON
’s
body.
)

SAILOR

Come, rest him on the table, I’ll shift the lute.

KEYMIS

Your son is dead, my lord.

RALEIGH

And gold outlasts the wearer. Remain here, Keymis.

(
All exit but
BERRIO
and
KEYMIS
.)

Will you not go into your quarters?

BERRIO

Suffering binds men together, Excellency.

Not long ago I mourned my nephew’s death.

RALEIGH

How did this happen?

KEYMIS

He fell in the skirmish with another sailor

When we attacked the fort of San Thome.

RALEIGH

I placed the boy in your particular care.

(
Over body
)

So late I heard thee playing on the lute;

Now these poor fingers, that should pluck a viol,

Are cold as this sword that I place in them.

There he lies, on the unknown world, my son.

KEYMIS

We must return to England now, Sir Walter.

RALEIGH

I weigh this body of my finished son

Against, sweet Christ, a little mound of gold,

But God, who sacrificed Thy Son Thyself,

Temper my grief, rib me with fortitude.

O death that takes a little piece of me,

When one man dies, the only empire is yours.

All mockery carved in that marble stiffness

Wrapped in the reputation of a shroud,

A mirror clouded by the breath of time.

A broken sword laid at the foot of war,

A cold meat for the whimsy of a king

(
Pause.
)

—Keymis!

KEYMIS

I share your sorrow, Walter, I am with you.

RALEIGH
(
Turning on him.
)

With me? I wish you were with him there dead.

KEYMIS

And I. Believe me, as his friend and captain.

RALEIGH

Or to speak the truth, his captain and his butcher.

KEYMIS

Butcher? I know the quantity of your suffering,

But I was his friend when he lived. You know it.

RALEIGH

Take him away, the lute, map, everything; but Keymis,

If you are as honest as you say you are, then look,

And take his murder as your own negligence.

(
The body is borne away.
)

Come back here, man!

KEYMIS

Do you call me back to abuse me, then, Sir Walter,

Here in the full view of the common sailors,

To the contempt and pity of the enemy?

RALEIGH

Yes, yes, and more, death is a common thing,

And it is you who are the enemy.

KEYMIS

                                                           Your mind is feverish.

RALEIGH

It was you, with your cupidinous, common fawning,

Who drew me by the sleeve away from God

When I was locked in darkness in the tower,

And whispered gold and empire in this ear.

KEYMIS

Whatever fever you may have, Sir Walter, I tell you,

That is a weak and cowardly lie, sweet Christ. Remember,

We searched for Guiana many times before this.

Then it was dear Laurence, friend, exchanger of my love.

It was your fever that infected mine. We have failed,

And execution waits for us in England. But God,

I had preferred to slaughter Indians uselessly

Than to endure this malice from a gentleman.

BERRIO

Gentlemen, señores. I lost a nephew to your soldiers.

RALEIGH

I’ll tell you, de Berrio, the contagion of madness

Makes snakes of friends when profit is involved

(
Points.
)

There is the leech Keymis who fed on me,

Who crawled on green Guiana like a leaf,

Murdering men’s sons and fattening on my friendship.

Do not cross my sight till we return to England.

(
He exits.
)

KEYMIS

O God, pluck down the star of selfish men!

Break the proud shaft on which they hoist their colours.

The man has burst my heart. I loved them both.

I could not hold the boy back, I swear to God.

I roll the map up, where the stain of his life

Marks red for conquest. I will not live with this.

(
He exits.
)

BERRIO

Again and again, the plot of conquest follows

The hollow carcass of the drum of reputation,