The Devil's Disciple Page #5

- I haven't time! Now, will you forgive me!

You haven't time

to save a man's life?

- Hawkins!

- More than one good man

will die in the next 24 hours!

John, you go to the Nevilsons

and bring up their equipment.

Tom, you go to Collings Hill

and around you go to river.

So you with the rebels.

- But before, in Springtown ...

- It was at the moment but

it's all very different - now.

- Hawkins, wait ...

- I am fighting a war and I can't jeopardize success

for the sake of your troubles or Richard Dudgeon!

- Mr. Hawkins!

- Oh God! Go back to your church,

minister and pray.

No, don't you fret, mummy:

he slept like a child, and

has made a rare good breakfast.

- He is in good spirits?

- Tip top!

The chaplain looked in to see him

last night, and he won seventeen

shillings off him at a backgammon.

He spent it among us

like the gentleman he is.

- Well, my little wife.

- Richard!

Sergeant, how long do you allow

a brokenhearted husband for leave-taking?

As long as we can, sir.

We shall not disturb you till the court sits.

And General Burgoyne has not come back yet, sir.

Gentlemanly Johnny we call him, mum, he

won't have done finding fault with everything

to least come of half past. I know him, sir.

Is your husband safe?

Is he clear of the village?

Well, that's good.

He is no longer my husband.

- He's run away.

- Poor lad. They'd only have hanged us both.

- Why did you let them take you last night?

- Upon my life, Mrs. Anderson, I don't know.

- I've been asking myself that question ever since.

- It was for my sake, wasn't it?

Well, you ... had a hand in it.

It must have been a little for your sake.

- I can't let you. I'm going to tell them.

- Mrs. Anderson!

They'll never kill you when they know

how valiantly you have acted!

But if I don't go through with it,

where will the heroism be?

I shall simply have tricked them,

and they'll hang me anyway.

Serve me right too!

- Do you realize you're going to kill yourself?

- The only man I have any right to kill.

Bless you, nobody cares for me.

My mother's last word to me was her curse.

My other relatives will not grieve much on my account.

Ah, Essie will cry for a day or two,

but I have provided for her:

I made my own will last night.

I will give them a few surprises.

- And I!

- You?

Am I not to care at all?

I'll give you credit for liking me a

little more than you did, but

my death will not break your heart.

What can I do to show you

how wrong you are?

Save yourself ... for my sake.

I'll come with you to ...

to the end of the world.

- Judith.

- Yes.

Judith, listen to me. If I said - to please you -

that I did what I did ever so little for your sake,

I lied ... as men always lie to women.

I've seen even most worthless men

can rise to some sort of goodness

when they were in love.

That has taught me to set

very little store by the goodness

that only comes out red hot.

What I did last night, I did in cold blood,

caring not half so much for your husband,

or for you as I did for myself.

I had no motive ... and no interest:

all I can say certainly is that when it

came to the point whether I would

put another man's neck into the noose ...

I could not do it. I have been brought up

assured by the law of my own nature, and I

could not go against it, gallows or no gallows.

I would have done the same thing

for any other man in the place ...

or any other man's wife.

You understand?

Do you really think I believe it?

- Time's up, I am afraid.

Court's to take to sit.

- Thank you, Sergeant.

Halt! Left! Front!

Good morning, gentlemen.

Sorry to disturb you, I am sure.

Very good of you to spare us a few moments.

Will you preside, sir?

No, sir:
I feel my own deficiencies

too keenly to presume so far.

If you will kindly allow me,

I will sit at the foot of the table.

Halt!

Right turn!

Escort, take position!

Sergeant!

Who is that woman?

Prisoner's wife, sir.

She asked to be allowed

to be present, and I ...

- I thought that ...

- You thought it would be a pleasure for her.

Quite so, quite so.

Give the lady a chair, and make

her thoroughly comfortable.

Your name, sir?

- You don't mean to say that you've brought

me here without knowing who I am?

- As a matter of form, sir, give your name.

As a matter of form then,

my name is Anthony Anderson ...

Presbyterian minister of this parish.

Presbyterian?

Indeed! Pray, Mr. Anderson, what

do you gentlemen believe in?

I shall be glad to explain if time is allowed me,

but I cannot undertake to complete your

conversion in less than a fortnight.

We are not here to discuss your views.

- I stand rebuked.

- Oh, not you, sir.

- Pray, don't mention it.

Any ... political views, Mr. Anderson?

I understand that that is just

what we are here to find out.

Do you mean to deny

that you are a rebel?

- I am ... an American.

- What might expect you to think

of that speech, Mr. Anderson?

I never expect a soldier to think.

I advise you not to be insolent, prisoner.

Oh, you can't help yourself, General.

When you make up your mind to hang a man,

you put yourself at a disadvantage with him.

Now, why should I be civil with you?

I may as well be hanged

for a sheep as a lamb.

You have no right to assume that

the court has made up its mind

without a fair trial.

And please do not address me as General.

I am Major Swindon.

My deepest apology, sir.

I thought I had the pleasure of

addressing Gentlemanly Johnny.

I believe I am Gentlemanly Johnny, sir.

My more intimate friends

call me General Burgoyne.

You will understand, sir, I hope,

since you seem to be a gentleman

and a man of some spirit

in spite of your calling, that if we

do have the misfortune to hang you,

we shall do so as a mere matter of political

necessity and military duty,

without any personal ill-feeling.

- Oh, that makes all the difference in the world, of course.

- How CAN you?

- Judith!

You believe me, madam, your husband

is placing us under the greatest obligation

by taking this very disagreeable business so

thoroughly in the spirit of a gentleman.

Give Mr. Anderson a chair.

You are aware, I presume, Mr. Anderson,

of your obligation as a subject of

His Majesty King George the Third.

I am aware, sir, that His Majesty King George

the Third is about to hang me because

I object to Lord North's robbing me.

- That is a treasonable speech, sir.

- I meant it to be.

Now, don't you think, Mr. Anderson, that

this is rather - if you will forgive the word -

a vulgar line to take?

Why should you cry out robbery

because of a stamp duty and

a tea duty and so forth are drawn?

It is the essence of your position as

a gentleman that you pay with a good grace.

It is not the money, General.

But to be ... swindled by a pig-headed

lunatic like King George.

Chut, sir ...

- Silence!

- Silence!

That, now, is another point of view.

My position does not allow of

my going into that, except in private.

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