The Left Hand of God Page #5

You saw him?

I'm only the bearer of rumours.

A driver saw him in a village

west of the mountains.

Did the rumour say

where Yang was going?

Towards the seven villages.

East at the mountains, so they say.

All right, you can go.

You'd better put the collar on again.

No.

You're not going back? You'll

leave the mission unprotected?

Yang wants me, he won't

bother with the mission.

He'll be out in the

hills looking for me.

So, you'll desert again?

Seems to be my

speciality, doesn't it?

Before you were only

masquerading in that cloth.

Now you're dishonouring it!

I'm a fresh out of faith,

hope and charity, Reverend.

Wait a minute.

You might find this handy again.

To protect your neck.

Well...

Why not?

Stuck way out, isn't it?

Five days.

Where's O'Shea?

I'll bet he's headed south as

fast as the mule will carry him.

He would not desert us with Yang.

He picked a strange time

to make a social call, why?

And why it does Yang whip them and

say "The Shen Fu will cure them"?

Why should O'Shea mean

anything at all to Yang?

There's the smell of fish

about our theological friend.

He wouldn't leave us

without any explanation.

What odds would you give?

What odds would you take?

- Father.

How many of them has

Yang beaten like his?

There's been a half-dozen

come into the hospital.

Where have you been?

I was beginning to think...

- Dr Sigmund thought you were lost.

I was. Temporarily.

I wanna talk to you, Father.

All right.

- In the office.

Sit down, Father. Forgive me

if I skip the polite preamble.

I've been waiting

for you to get back.

Never occurred to me

that Yang would march on us.

I thought he would.

You? Why didn't you tell us?

There didn't seem much point. There

wasn't much you could do about him.

We could have prepared!

Prepared what?

I've been talking with

representatives of all the villages.

Yang has only 100 men,

we can raise double that!

Armed how?

There are a few rifles, not many,

but at least 50 men can fight.

We will have the hills, Yang will be outnumbered.

The villages will be defending their homes.

It Yang only have 20 troopers

he could still take the villages.

Your people aren't soldiers, doctor.

No, I won't sanction it.

I won't have the mission

turned into a fort.

That's not realistic, Father.

Yang's an animal.

Are you thinking of what your policy of

meekness would mean to our girls? To Anne, to me?

We can't leave ourselves to the mercy of someone

who doesn't know what mercy means, Father.

We're not going to trust his mercy.

Exactly what are we going to

trust, Father? A few loud hymns?

I'm asking you to trust me.

Let me deal with Yang alone.

If you fail, Father O'Shea, you'll

have that, but what will we have?

His prayers.

Well, I'm sorry, Mrs Sigmund,

I can't give you a sealed guarantee.

But we can't fight and we can't run.

Here I am, Lord.

I'm not going to pray.

What I'd like to say I'd like to say

standing on my feet.

These people think I'm a priest.

I have nothing to offer but faith in a

God I didn't believe in or think existed.

It doesn't matter now whether I

was right or wrong in what I did,

it's too late.

You dive into a pit easy and

then you have to crawl out hard.

Then there's nothing left to do but

to try to square the account a little.

Well, that's

just about how it stands.

I wanted you to know.

Wake up, John.

We have to go now.

Where is he?

Where's that military mastermind?!

You weren't going to turn the mission

into a fort - look at that mob!

I see it.

We've got that two-bit Napoleon

camping on our doorstep.

You're the mastermind here,

what do we do now?!

Look, Doctor.

Those men are Yang's boys. They are not going

to harm these people, they've come for me.

I'm going down to the

village to meet them.

Are you crazy?! Well, if you're

serious I'd better go along.

I may need you here.

You got a gun?

No.

Here, take this. I'll explain some

time how I happened to have it.

It's a very interesting story.

Have mercy, Excellency.

The harvest has been bad.

There has been much sickness.

Why do you stop?

Because of the Shen Fu?

He knows this is a miserable village.

Your merchandise isn't

worth the sweat of my horses.

Your men haven't the skill

to empty my slop buckets

and your women are old and withered.

The Shen Fu knows you are a fool to ask me to

even think of a vile dung heap like this village,

or to care what happens to it. It should be

burned! Down to the ground to purify the air!

Isn't that true, Father?

Clear the square.

Bring a chair for the Shen Fu.

That's a poor uniform, Jimmy.

You've come down in the world.

It's better than it looks, Yang.

Your troops would

never recognise you.

You wear skirts.

Mission territory is neutral,

you've always respected it.

Why change a wise policy?

You were here, Jimmy.

You're a deserter.

I don't like deserters, Jimmy.

You were getting fat and sloppy

while I did all the work.

Leaving you was good for you.

You're fed again, you look tough.

I am tough.

I could have you flayed with whips

and hang you up by your thumbs.

Yes, you could,

but consider this,

if I stood the torture well,

people would say I was strong

and that Yang couldn't break me.

If I were weak and stood it badly,

they'd marvel that I commanded

your troops. You'd lose face.

The soldiers begin to wonder

that maybe you too were weak.

And it'd be bad if the

soldiers started to wonder.

Shooting you might be better,

Jimmy, now that I think of it.

I could have it done with simple

dignity, with sadness almost,

right here in the village square.

Where all might see that shooting you

was a regrettable, but necessary thing.

That's a good way to die but

I deny your right to kill me.

Come now, Jimmy, you know better than to

talk about rights, you were never stupid.

But I don't want to shoot you.

I want you to work for me again.

What in skirts?

They are unbecoming. You should get

rid of them quickly, they offend me.

Not yet. You've told me what

you want, that isn't polite.

You're on my territory,

you should ask what I want.

You should have some troops, Jimmy,

before you start bargaining.

They always help.

What is it you want?

I want the safety of the mission,

I want the safety of the people and

their possessions in these villages.

I want you to go home

and leave them in peace.

You want a lot.

In exchange you offer what?

Not a thing.

It's an unreasonable bargain, Jimmy.

So I'll take what I want.

Ach, look at it.

What is there to steal?

Cheap loot not worth carting away, a burnt

mission and a lot of ill will. Is it worth it?

I could take you back with me,

Jimmy. Make you work for me.

As a prisoner?

You're right, you wouldn't be fun as

a prisoner. Slick, Jimmy, very slick.

How else could you have deceived

both the mission and me?

But you don't bore me and that's an

important talent. I'll tell you what,

I'll give you your mission

and your villagers.

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