[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

"A tragic affair!" said Thou Taddeo, with an apparent degree of sin-
cerity. "Because of my nationality, I offer to leave at once."
"Why?" Dom Paulo asked. "You don't approve of Hannegan's ac-
tions, do you?"
The scholar hesitated, then shook his head. He looked around to make certain
no one overheard them. "Personally, I condemn them. But in public--" He
shrugged. "There is the collegium to think of. If it were only a question of
my own neck, well--"
"I understand."
"May I venture an opinion in confidence?"
"Of course."
"Then someone ought to warn New Rome against making idle threats. Hannegan's
not above crucifying several dozen Marcus Apollos."
"Then some new martyrs will attain Heaven; New Rome doesn't make idle
threats."
The thon sighed. "I supposed that you'd look at it that way. But I re-
Page 83
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
new my offer to leave."
"Nonsense. Whatever your nationality, your common humanity makes you welcome."
But a rift had appeared. The scholar kept his own company after-
ward, seldom conversing with the monks. His relationship with Brother
Kornhoer became noticeably formal, although the inventor spent an hour or two
each day in servicing and inspecting the dynamo and the lamp, and
abbey to request sanctuary for the townspeople in the event of invasion.
"My final offer," said the abbot, after several hours of argument, "is this:
we will take in all the women, children, invalids, and aged, without question.
But as for men capable of bearing arms, we'll consider each case individu-
ally, and we may turn some of them away."
"Why?" the mayor demanded.
"That should be obvious, even to you!" Dom Paulo said sharply.
"We may come under attack ourselves, but unless we're directly attacked, we're
going to stay out of it. I'll not let this place be used by anybody as a
garrison from which to launch a counterattack if the only attack is on the
village itself. So in case of males able to bear arms, we'll have to insist on
a pledge--to defend the abbey under our orders. And we'll decide in individual
cases whether a pledge is trustworthy or not."
"It's unfair!" howled a committeeman. "You'll discriminate--"
"Only against those who can't be trusted. What's the matter? Were you hoping
to hide a reserve force here? Well, it won't be allowed. You're not going to
plant any part of a town militia out here. That's final."
Under the circumstances, the committee could not refuse any help offered.
There was no further argument. Dom Paulo meant to take in any-
one, when the time came, but for the present he meant to forestall plans by
the village to involve the abbey in military planning. Later there would be
officers from Denver with similar requests; they would be less interested in
saving life than in saving their political regime. He intended to give them a
similar answer. The abbey had been built as a fortress of faith and knowl-
edge, and he meant to preserve it as such.
The desert began to crawl with wanderers out of the east. Traders, trappers,
and herdsmen, in moving west, brought news from the Plains.
The cattle plague was sweeping like wildfire among the herds of the no-
mads; famine seemed imminent. Laredo's forces had suffered a mutinous cleavage
since the fall of the Laredan dynasty. Part of them were returning to their
homeland as ordered, while the others set out under a grim vow to march on
Texarkana and not stop until they took the head of Hannegan II
or died in trying. Weakened by the split, the Laredans were being wiped out
enemies.
It was during the brief visit of a party of shepherds that the Poet vanished
from the abbey. Thon Taddeo was the first to notice the Poet's absence from
the guesthouse and to inquire about the versifying vagrant.
Dom Paulo's face wrinkled in surprise. "Are you certain he's moved out?" he
asked. "He often spends a few days in the village, or goes over to the mesa
for an argument with Benjamin."
"His belongings are missing," said the thon. "Everything's gone from his
room."
The abbot made a wry mouth. "When the Poet leaves, that's a bad sign. By the
way, if he's really missing, then I would advise you to take an immediate
inventory of your own belongings."
The thon looked thoughtful. "So that's where my boots--"
"No doubt."
"I set them out to be polished. They weren't returned. That was the same day
he tried to batter down my door."
"Batter down--who, the Poet?"
Page 84
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Thon Taddeo chuckled. "I'm afraid I've been having a little sport with him. I
have his glass eye. You remember the night he left it on the refectory table?"
"Yes."
"I picked it up."
The thon opened his pouch, groped in it for a moment, then laid the
Poet's eyeball on the abbot's desk. "He knew I had it, but I kept denying it. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

  • zanotowane.pl
  • doc.pisz.pl
  • pdf.pisz.pl
  • alwayshope.keep.pl

    •