The Pirate Page #4

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Manuela.

Don't you dare take another step

across that wire.

Don't you dare.

Manuela. Manuela, you don't mean that.

You don't mean that.

All right.

Do you see these? Do you see these?

I'm going to count to three.

Count to three. One, two...

Three.

All right. You've asked for this.

You should have thought of this

before you started.

You know, you know

you wouldn't cut that rope.

Manuela, you couldn't do that.

Please.

Don't come any nearer.

It looks so bad.

Go away. I'm going to be married.

- Go away. Don't come near me.

- Manuela.

- Don't come near me. Leave me alone

- Manuela. Wait. We're here, Manuela.

- We've come to get you.

- Leave me alone.

Manuela, are you real or an angel?

- How dare you come here.

- Have I walked the tightrope to heaven?

- How dare you!

- That wedding gown, that veil.

It isn't possible that you're still thinking

of getting married.

Not after that night.

Not after hearing that applause...

- Oh, stop it. Stop it.

...and seeing those people.

Can't you understand I have nothing

but horror and shame...

...for what I did that night?

Horror? Shame? You were wonderful.

Believe me,

you gave a brilliant performance.

And with polish, you'll be even better.

- Will you go now?

- Oh, Manuela, come with us.

We'll tour these enchanted islands,

then on to Rome.

- You wanna disgrace me, ruin me.

- Madrid, Paris.

My fianc will be here any minute.

- Well, let's go quickly.

- No.

Manuela, you can't marry that man.

You're not in love with him,

you're in love with me.

- Oh, the ego, the conceit.

- You told me so that night.

- What?

- Not in so many words, perhaps.

But when I held you in my arms

and kissed you, you clung to me.

Oh, how cruel to remind me of that.

You fooled me. You made a fool of me

and you tricked me.

Manuela, all my life...

...I've searched for someone who could

fill the void in my heart. I've found you.

Oh, come with me.

Once and for all, I do not love you.

I know it's hard for you to believe

but I do not love you.

Then why didn't you cut that rope

with your shears?

You would have been rid of me.

I wish I had now.

Now, will you get out of here?

- You won't come with me?

- No.

Very well, then.

It isn't essential

for you to love me to be in the troupe.

It helps, but it isn't essential.

Get out.

- Goodbye.

- No, not that way. You'll kill yourself.

- You do care.

- No, I don't.

- You do care.

- No, I don't.

- Manuela, you love me.

- I don't.

You love me. You love me, Manuela.

You love me.

Don Pedro will take care

of that mountebank.

- Who's that man with the whip?

- Manuela's fianc.

- He's also mayor of the town.

- Mayor.

- All right, boys, start packing.

- Okay, let's go. Let's go.

I tell you you're wrong.

You're making a great mistake.

I warn you, if you stop my marriage,

I'll hate you. I'll despise you.

All I'm asking you is to appear

with us once, just once.

- Sing one song.

- No.

Just to know what a thrill it is.

You were in a trance.

You couldn't hear the audience before.

You call it a thrill to live in a tent?

To be a vagabond?

- A vagabond?

- To be chased out of every town?

- You don't...

- To be looked down on by all people?

- Looked down upo...?

- Manuela.

If he finds you, he'll kill you.

Manuela. Manuela, let me in.

No. Don't... Don't come in, Don Pedro.

I'm in my wedding dress and it's

bad luck to see me in my wedding dress.

Let me in.

Please. Please, get out of here.

Not unless you come with me.

You fool.

You fool.

Manuela. Are you all right?

Don Pedro,

he didn't mean any harm. Please.

- Take Manuela away.

- Please, Don Pedro.

Take her away.

He didn't mean any harm.

He'll kill him.

Never mind.

He's none of our business.

He'll kill him, I know.

I know he'll kill him.

Something dreadful will happen.

You mountebank.

You thieving vagabond.

You scum,

sneaking into a lady's room.

Sneaking? You can hardly call it sneaking

when I walk a tightrope...

...across your main thoroughfare.

- I'll put you in irons.

I'll have you publicly flogged.

A lash across your back for every step

along that rope.

- What, sir?

- This is a respectable community.

We do not entertain the scum

of the cities.

The thieves, the vagabonds,

such as you.

Speak more, master, speak more.

I'm mayor in this town.

My word is law.

I give you five minutes.

Exactly five minutes for you and your

malodorous riffraff to get out of town.

Take your choice, get out

or I'll have you mercilessly flogged.

- That voice.

- Get out.

You and your scurvy troupe of actors.

Macoco!

Merciful saints of heaven.

Does that stir old memories, Macoco?

Would you like to hear it again,

Macoco?

No. No, for the love of heaven, no.

Go away.

Go away.

- Who are you?

- I am one of your rare mistakes.

You didn't quite succeed in killing me.

Very careless of you.

Do you remember the merchant ship

Capricorn...

...you sunk off the coast of Algiers?

I happened to be on it.

I was returning from my very

first theatrical engagement.

Quite successful one too.

Well, you threw me overboard and

you left me thinking I had drowned...

...but it's hard to kill an actor.

Of course, I wouldn't expect you

to remember me.

One victim out of so many hundreds.

But I remember you.

My heart. My heart.

Too much soft living, Macoco.

Don't say that name.

I never thought I'd live

to see this day.

Mack the Black,

scourge of the seven seas.

Murderer, torturer, pillager,

lying quivering like a sick jellyfish.

You know, last time we met, you were

lithe. You were supple. You were strong.

You could split a man in two

with a stroke of your cutlass.

What do you want? I'll give you anything

if you'll keep your mouth shut.

- I'll give you a thousand pesos.

- A thousand pesos.

It seems to me I remember a poster:

"Macoco. Wanted for hanging.

Reward, 100,000 pesos."

- Very well, then. 100,000.

- I'm an artist, not a blackmailer.

There's a crowd down there.

Perhaps they'd like to know their mayor.

Have you no pity? No heart?

Don't do this to me.

Look, I'm respectable now.

I've made a place for myself

in this community.

I'm very philanthropic.

I repaired the church belfry.

For the love of heaven...

...have mercy on me. If not for my sake,

then for Manuela's.

Look, what would she do if she

knew that I were Macoco the pirate?

Yes, what would Manuela do if...

I beg you don't tell her.

Is there no compassion in your heart

for a sinner who repents?

- I beg you, on my knees.

- Quiet.

I want you to go out on that balcony

and announce to the town...

...that my troupe will perform tonight

and you will be our patron.

Oh, be reasonable. I can't do that.

- Maco...

- No, no, no, no.

Fellow citizens.

Your attention, please.

Because this is a memorable day

in my life...

...I have decided to relax my usual rule

against strangers in our town.

I have decided to allow these...

These strolling players...

...to entertain us with a performance.

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