Wounded Soldier: Master!

NAAMAN:One living? Quick, a torch this way!Lift up his head,--so,--carefully!Courage, my friend, your captain is beside you.Call back your soul and make report to him.

Hail, captain! O my captain,--here!

NAAMAN:Be patient,--rest in peace,--the fight is done.Nothing remains but render your account.

They fell upon us suddenly,--we foughtOur fiercest,--every man,--our lady foughtFiercer than all. They beat us down,--she's gone.Rezon has carried her away a captive. See,--Her amulet,--I die for you, my captain.

Farewell. This last report was brave; but strangeBeyond my thought! How came the High Priest here?And what is this? my chain, my seal! But thisHas never been in Tsarpi's hand. I gaveThis signet to a captive maid one night,--A maid of Israel. How long ago?Ruahmah was her name,--almost forgotten!So long ago,--how comes this token here?What is this mystery, Saballidin?

SABALLIDIN:Ruahmah is her name who brought you hither.

NAAMAN:Where then is Tsarpi?

SABALLIDIN:In Damascus.She left you when the curse of Rimmon fell,--Took refuge in his House,--and there she waitsHer lord's return,--Rezon's return.

NAAMAN:'Tis false!

SABALLIDIN:The falsehood is in her. She hath been friendWith Rezon in his priestly plot to winAssyria's favour,--friend to his designTo sell his country to enrich his temple,--And friend to him in more,--I will not name it.

NAAMAN:Nor will I credit it. Impossible!

SABALLIDIN:Did she not plead with you against the war,Counsel surrender, seek to break your will?

NAAMAN:She did not love my work, a soldier's task.She never seemed to be at one with meUntil I was a leper.

SABALLIDIN:From whose handDid you receive the sacred cup?

NAAMAN:From hers.

SABALLIDIN:And from that hour the curse began to work.

NAAMAN:But did she not have pity when she sawMe smitten? Did she not beseech the KingFor letters and a guard to make this journey?Has she not been the fountain of my hope,My comforter and my most faithful guideIn this adventure of the dark? All thisIs proof of perfect love that would have sharedA leper's doom rather than give me up.Can I doubt her who dared to love like this?

SABALLIDIN:O master, doubt her not,--but know her name;Ruahmah! It was she alone who wroughtThis wondrous work of love. She won the KingTo furnish forth this company. She ledOur march, kept us in heart, fought off despair,Watched over you as if you were her child,Prepared your food, your cup, with her own hands,Sang you asleep at night, awake at dawn,--

NAAMAN:Enough! I do remember every hourOf that sweet comradeship! And now her voiceWakens the echoes in my lonely breast.Shall I not see her, thank her, speak her name?Ruahmah! Let me live till I have lookedInto her eyes and called her my Ruahmah!

Away! away! I burn to take the roadThat leads me back to Rimmon's House,--But not to bow,--by God, never to bow!

KHAMMA:All is ready for the rites of worship; our lady will playa great part in them. She has put on her Tyrian robes,and all her ornaments.

NUBTA:That is a sure sign of a religious purpose. She is mostdevout, our lady Tsarpi!

KHAMMA:A favourite of Rimmon, too! The High Priest has assuredher of it. He is a great man,--next to the King, nowthat Naaman is gone.

NUBTA:But if Naaman should come back, healed of the leprosy?

KHAMMA:How can he come back? The Hebrew slave that went awaywith him, when they caught her, said that he was dead.The High Priest has shut her up in the prison of thetemple, accusing her of her master's death.

NUBTA:Yet I think he does not believe it, for I heard him tellingour mistress what to do if Naaman should return.

KHAMMA:What, then?

NUBTA:She will claim him as her husband. Was she not wedded tohim before the god? That is a sacred bond. Only the HighPriest can loose it. She will keep her hold on Naamanfor the sake of the House of Rimmon. A wife knows herhusband's secrets, she can tell--

KHAMMA:Hush! here comes the fool Shumakim. He is never sober.

SHUMAKIM:Are there two of you? I see two, but that is no proof.I think there is only one, but beautiful enough fortwo. What were you talking to yourself about, fairestone!

KHAMMA:About the lady Tsarpi, fool, and what she would do ifher husband returned.

SHUMAKIM:Fie! fie! That is no talk for an innocent fool to hear.Has she a husband?

NUBTA:You know very well that she is the wife of Lord Naaman.

SHUMAKIM:I remember that she used to wear his name and his jewels.But I thought he had exchanged her,--for a leprosy.

KHAMMA:You must have heard that he went away to Samaria to lookfor healing. Some say that he died on the journey; butothers say he has been cured, and is on his way hometo his wife.

SHUMAKIM:It may be, for this is a mad world, and men never knowwhen they are well off,--except us fools. But he mustcome soon if he would find his wife as he parted fromher,--or the city where he left it. The Assyrians havereturned with a greater army, and this time they willmake an end of us. There is no Naaman now, and the Bullwill devour Damascus like a bunch of leeks, flowers andall,--flowers and all, my double-budded fair one! Areyou not afraid?

NUBTA:We belong to the House of Rimmon. He will protect us.

SHUMAKIM:What? The mighty one who hides behind the curtain there,and tells his secrets to Rezon? No doubt he will takecare of you, and of himself. Whatever game is played,the gods never lose. But for the protection of thecommon people and the rest of us fools, I would ratherhave Naaman at the head of an army than all the sacredimages between here and Babylon.

KHAMMA:You are a wicked old man. You mock the god. He willpunish you.

SHUMAKIM:How can he punish me? Has he not already made me a fool?Hark, here comes my brother the High Priest, and mybrother the King. Rimmon made us all; but nobody knowswho made Rimmon, except the High Priest; and he willnever tell.