Moonfleet Page #2

Jeremy!

Why do you lie to the boy?

Who was your mother?

Why did she send you to him?

Why? Answer! Can't you speak?

It's him they set the dogs on!

They? Who?

The Mohunes.

Jeremy...

Jeremy, why didn't you tell me?

She's dead, Ann.

Not to you, Jeremy!

That's why we had to leave

the islands, isn't it?

To come back here

to this accursed house...

Her house!

It would have been better

for both of us if you'd told me.

So that you could give me

the benefit of your compassion?

No, Jeremy, but at least I would

have known what lay ahead of me.

I would have known howfoolish

I was to be jealous of the others.

The women that you play with

to fill the emptiness

which is your life!

You're right, Ann.

You should not have come here

to share a life that seems so empty.

So I'll arrange for you

to return to the islands.

But I have nothing to go back to!

You knowthat!

When I followed you here

I gave up everything!

You'll sail on the Bonaventure.

She'll be here within a week.

Mr. Fox! Mr. Fox!

John! John!

Ive been here for hours

waiting for you.

How did you get in?

I'll show you,

if you promise not to tell anybody,

or I couldn't come to see you

any more.

Here. There's a breach

in the wall. See?

You do want me to come

and see you, don't you?

Well, come on then,

we'll sit in the summerhouse.

What's wrong?

What are you afraid of?

You don't talk much, do you?

Did the cat get your tongue?

I can't stay long, you know.

It's almost time for church.

The wind blewthe tide

into the graveyard last night.

Came over the wall

and right up to the church door.

Washed away

some of the tombstones.

Have you ever heard

about Redbeard?

Redbeard?

He's been in the churchyard again.

And taken another man.

What?

Master Greening. They say

it was Redbeard that took him!

Do you believe in ghosts?

I believe people should stay

out of the graveyard at night.

While Redbeard's around

looking for his lost diamond.

If I knew where it was,

I wouldn't be afraid!

Id sell the diamond

and rebuild the manor.

When my mother lived here, she said

the house had a hundred rooms

and stables for a hundred horses.

And fountains with gold and silver

fish that played all the time.

But it's not yours.

It belongs to Mr. Fox now.

We're going to live here together.

He's my friend!

That's the bell for church.

My uncle's waiting.

Are you coming?

...Praise Him, all creatures here below

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Amenl

"Thou shalt not have strange gods

before me!" So it is written.

Yet you worship the dark gods

of superstition and falsehood

like so many benighted savages!

You whisper of a man long dead,

a man whom you call Redbeard!

You credit him with supernatural

powers, powers of life and death!

Redbeard, indeed!

Sir John Mohune

was an officer of the Crown

who betrayed his sacred trust,

traduced his king

and sold his honour

for a diamond of great price!

He died in Hollisbrooke, a madman,

balked of the enjoyment

of his ill-gotten treasure.

And now, in death,

it is not to be believed

that such a man would be suffered

to defy the divine law

and dishonour the resting places

of our Christian dead!

- Amen!

- Amen, Parson.

But if it weren't Redbeard,

who killed Cracky Jones last winter?

And now...

Nat Greening.

Who took him?

Silence, Granny Clarke, and you,

Ratsey, that should know better.

When I urged...

that a search be made for Nathaniel

Greening, two days missing,

I was told that a search

was useless,

that he was last seen

in the churchyard, after sundown,

and so must have met a monstrous

fate at Redbeard's hands.

I say to you that

this is blasphemy!

And I say to you that if you

persist in these heathen beliefs,

you mock God in His own house

and this shall not be forgiven you

here or hereafter.

Amen!

Who is it?

It's I, sir. John Mohune.

Olivia Mohune's boy.

I was fond of your mother.

Most fond.

Seeing you here in church today

was a comfort to me.

On a day of great anger!

Parson Glennie,

what became of the diamond?

The diamond he sold his honour for.

That secret lies buried

with Sir John.

Perhaps it is better so.

But if I found it,

it would be mine, wouldn't it?

So young, and your heart already

set on possessions?

But if I put it to good use, sir?

If you found it, you would succeed

where generations have failed.

Now, my boy, we're about to

be plunged in primeval darkness.

You're not afraid to cross

the churchyard alone, are you?

No, sir.

Still, you'd better take this.

You can return it in the morning.

I shall look forward

to talking with you.

Thank you, sir.

Good night, my boy. God bless you.

Good night, sir.

Get the ladder up.

Half the roof's fallen in!

Blood, what a shambles!

Get those kegs out of the water!

It was the brandy kegs

dancing around, not Redbeard!

I wonder Parson didn't smell a rat!

The tide come any higher, the

barrels will float down the aisle!

What about me?

- Is this all that's coming?

- Parminter's cried off.

And Starkill...

Rot their chicken hearts!

What ails 'em?

Feared to showfight

since that business of Greening.

The fools!

We'd be twenty against one!

Aye. But the question is,

do we need the one?

Gentlemen!

On my way to Ashwood House,

I received a message.

It said that I might find

better entertainment here.

Who peached?

I can spare you five minutes.

Well, here it is. The men's hearts

ain't in this business any more.

What do the men want,

plainly and simply?

Before they'll run another cargo,

they want a bigger share.

It ain't right that

some should take all the chances

while others

pockets all the profits!

You may give yourself airs

above ground, Mr. Kiss-me-hand Fox,

but down here

you're no better than we are.

You witless, gutless

misbegotten gallows-bait!

Before you thought yourselves

desperate fellows

if you smuggled two kegs

a month in a load of mackerel!

I turned your paltry swindle

into a trade worth thousands!

And I claim the captain's share

because I earn it!

Now, gentlemen,

anything else you wished to discuss?

No?

Then if you'll excuse me.

"Strengthen ye the weak hands,

and confirm the feeble knees."

Isaiah 35:
3.

Im for bed.

Here, best see to this.

Cover it up.

Stap me!

It's not my hat! It's too small.

Well, it's more'n likely that

your head's too big with the brandy.

All right, all right.

Get along with it!

That'll do it.

Now nobody can get in or out!

Mr. Fox! Mr. Fox!

Carr, Ashwood. Four queens.

I believe I have the right

to a post draw, do I not?

- Kings over all!

- You're cheating, Ashwood!

Well, even if I were, I should

consider it grossly impolite of you

to say so in my own house.

Id know you anywhere.

It's Jeremy Fox!

You've got a very good memory,

my dear.

Good evening, Mr. Fox.

My lady.

I thought you'd not come.

Ashwood House seems to have

so little to attract you.

Not even gypsy music.

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