The Haitian Trilogy: Plays: Henri Christophe, Drums and Colours, and The Haytian Earth (10 page)

Now, some Spanish soldiers in a phalanx on the right,

So hoist up them halberds in a mass of steel spikes.

We picking three, four heroes, all in history, look a test

Disguise as Columbus, in the front pardner. Yes, I see

Walter Raleigh, up this side friend …

(
COLUMBUS
and
RALEIGH
leave the crowd.
)

POMPEY

Where this man Mano acquire such knowledge?

MANO

No Horatio Nelson? He ain’t in Mass this year? Well, we going take what we get. Toussaint L’Ouverture and his Haitian rebellion. In front, brother. No Morgan? No Rodney? Ah, I see George William Gordon. Now I want a test who could spout the Queen English.

(
GORDON
and
TOUSSAINT
join
COLUMBUS
and
RALEIGH
.)

Come up here, pardner. Yes, you.

(
A tall
WARRIOR
appears from crowd.
)

Now I want two masks, tragedy and comedy.

(
Two
MASKERS
hand over masks to the warrior, which he fixes to a staff.
)

As the figure of time and the sea, I giving you these two masks, and speak the best you could, poetry and all. And everybody going act, every blest soul going act the history of this nation. And now, friends and actors, as the sun been on his road march all day cooling his crack sole in the basin of the sea, we starting from sunset, through night to the dawn of this nation. Clear the stage. Darkness, music, and quiet. Right!

(
All go off. Drum roll and bugle.
)

CHORUS

Before our actors praise his triumph, Time

Shows his twin faces, farce and tragedy;

Before they march with drums and colours by

He sends me, his mace bearer, Memory.

To show the lives of four litigious men,

The rise and ebb of cause and circumstance.

For your delight, I raise them up again,

Not for your judgement, but remembrance.

And now that I revolve his tragic eyes

Upon this stage, I’ll show you his device.

This barren height towards which the steps ascend

Is that fixed point round which some issue wheeled.

There our four heroes meet their common end,

There in harsh light, each age must be revealed.

(
Steps down.
)

Below them, on this level of the stage,

The spokes of normal action turn their course,

(
Enter
SPANISH SAILORS
.)

Just as these sailors, fished from a drowned age,

Were simple men, obscure, anonymous.

And where the stage achieves its widest arc

The violence of large action shall take place,

Each sphere within the other leaves its mark,

As one man’s dying represents the race.

So turn with me, far as your thought will reach,

By this drum’s pulse, through the dissolving foam.

(
Enter to drumbeats,
PRIESTS
and a choir of
AMERINDIAN ACOLYTES
.)

Time, 1499. A crowded beach.

Columbus leaves on his third voyage home,

Behind him, Governor Bobadilla, whom Isabella, Queen

Of this Castilian colony, has decreed

To charge the old admiral with mismanagement.

By his heart’s side, Las Casas, the grey friar.

Santo Domingo, while the sun’s lamp descends,

Our actions start, the conqueror cracks the whip

A desolate conch sounds from the waiting ship

These ghosts Time raised are given back their speech.

(
Exit.
)

Scene 1

Santo Domingo. 1499.
COLUMBUS
sent home in disgrace.
COLUMBUS; FRANCISCO DE BOBADILLA
,
governor;
LAS CASAS
,
bishop of the Indies;
INDIANS, SAILORS, SOLDIERS, QUADRADO
,
officer of the watch.

LAS CASAS

This is the ship that takes you back to Spain.

Our bodies are ribbed vessels, Admiral,

And being fitted thus, shipwreck is certain

Unless Christ is our pilot.

BOBADILLA

As governor of the province of Santo Domingo,

I accept in the names of our two sovereigns

The resignation of your recent office.

Your Excellency, despite the jurisdiction of our princes,

Saw fit to contradict their majesties’ edicts

Against these Indians who are their native subjects,

Against these add, this province’s indiscipline,

The mounting, step by step, to your great arrogance

And the mishandling of this Christian conquest.

For this, and all the rest, as public remonstrance,

I have seen it fit to send you home in irons.

I wish you a safe conduct to Cádiz. The chains.

(
SOLDIERS
chain
COLUMBUS
.)

LAS CASAS

Kneel, for the blessing of the perpetual Church.

Keep in your days that memorable seal

Of christopher, who bore Christ to the west,

And let this hand that fights for the Indians’ cause

Rest heaven’s blessing on your foam-white hair.

Jesus et Maria sit nobis in via.
God go with you.

(
Exit with
ACOLYTES
.)

QUADRADO

Vamos, marineros.
Set the ropes free.

Vamos, vamos,
the sun is losing light.

(
SAILORS
hauling. A sail unfurls.
)

SAILORS

O Dio! Ayuta noy! O que some! Servi soy!

O voleamo! Ben servir O la fede! Mantenir!

(
Drumbeat; exit
BOBADILLA, SOLDIERS, CROWD
.)

(
On deck.
)

QUADRADO

Excellency, my captain says the chains need not be used.

COLUMBUS

I’ll wear these irons till we fold sail in Spain.

Now lead me to my quarters, my good officer.

QUADRADO
(
To
SOLDIER
)

You, take the admiral to the captain’s quarters.

(
COLUMBUS
climbs steps. Exit; a rope ladder let down from above. Two sailors,
FERNANDO
and
BARTOLOME
,
enter.
)

FERNANDO

A gentle dusk to thee, Quadrado.

BARTOLOME

You took us out of the port most commendably.

Wilt thou have a biscuit, it appears wholesome,

But worms are mining in it, it should suit

Thy opinion of the times.

FERNANDO
(
Laughing.
)

He’s a poor scholar, Lieutenant,

This world is like an orange, not a biscuit.

QUADRADO

I have forbidden the use of wine till it is issued,

That is well known to you. Give me the wineskin.

GARCÍA

I paid for it.

(
Hands it over.
)

QUADRADO

Some get so drunk they have a sense of justice.

(
Throws away wineskin.
)

When is your watch, Bartolome?

BARTOLOME

With these two Christians. The cemetery patrol.

QUADRADO

See you observe it. Come set the shrouds.

GARCÍA

I hate the bloody authority of that officer.

There’s not half a skinful of a man’s blood in him.

Didn’t he use to drink with us before?

FERNANDO

Come set the shroud, you’re a sailor, a drunk one.

He’s changed fidelities, but hasn’t lost his temper.

BARTOLOME

The penitential officer, he troubles me.

Tonight you’ll hear him pace the deck alone.

GARCÍA

The fellow is a lizard, whenever the complexion

Of the world’s opinion changes, then so does his.

Since Las Casas, apostle of the Indies, made his sermons,

He has turned into a subtle hypocrite.

FERNANDO
(
Fixing ropes.
)

Yet at what cost has this instruction gone?

For every Arawak converted to a Christian

Thousands of them have perished in the mines.

Surely it will be a terribly steep bill

Which these grey friars will present to God.

BARTOLOME

One needs the Indians to work the mines. It’s facts.

Either Spain gets the gold, or others will.

GARCÍA

There’s an extra wineskin down in the hold. Fetch it.

FERNANDO

Fetch it yourself.

GARCÍA

                                                                         I’ll fetch it.

(
Enter
PACO
.)

Well, as I live and breathe sour wine, a cannibal.

What dost thou want, little Indian?

PACO

Señor, I seek the officer of the watch.

BARTOLOME

Remove thy cap in the presence of authority.

Didst thou not study the spectacle of the admiral?

GARCÍA

There is thy officer meditating on a biscuit.

Kneel before Lieutenant Fernando and be christened.

FERNANDO

Leave him alone, García, his lip is trembling.

PACO

Señor Officer, I kneel only to God.

GARCÍA
(
Grabbing him by the hair.
)

                                                             Thou art a cannibal,

Thou art a foul mixture, thou wert misbegotten

Between the mailed thighs of a lecherous soldier. Kneel!

PACO

I will kneel down, I will kneel down, my officer.

FERNANDO

García, Quadrado should complete his circuit soon,

If he should find thee torturing the boy …

BARTOLOME

You can’t talk to this one when he’s drunk.

GARCÍA

I’m not the Indian-loving, hypocritical officer.

Swear this as a good Christian. I vow never to eat

White flesh again, be mutinous to a Spanish officer …

(
Enter
QUADRADO
.)

QUADRADO

Go hang some lanterns up now, all of you. García!

GARCÍA

I am giving this barbarian some instruction.

He flouts all discipline, thanks to your good friars.

BARTOLOME

He’s that way when he’s drunk, Lieutenant, we had

A few on shore, he don’t mean no harm with the kid.

Come, fool, do what the officer has instructed.

FERNANDO

I’ll drench his head; he’ll be all right, Lieutenant.

GARCÍA

My watch is midnight, and till the appointed glass,

I’ll do no other labour for this officer.

QUADRADO

This is the best of the conquest, rebellious trash!

GARCÍA

I won’t be called filth before an Indian bastard.

QUADRADO

Bartolome, Fernando, go fetch some lanterns for the admiral.

BARTOLOME

Come, drunkard, let us harvest illuminations.

(
Exit with
GARCÍA
.)

QUADRADO

Come,
niño,
we’ll walk the pavement of the deck

And watch the sun go down in the dark sea.

What is thy name, why art thou on this vessel?

These rotting ribs that hold the heart of Spain?

PACO

Paco, señor. I am the new
grometto.

QUADRADO

Thou art a boy of mixed blood. Where is thy father?

PACO

In Spain, my lord, he was a Spanish soldier.

My mother died with the last moon in the mines.

My brothers would not work, and the dogs ate them.

QUADRADO

Of what nation of the Indians art thou?

PACO

Of the Tainos, Excellency.

QUADRADO

The Tainus. Yes, the peaceful ones.

How many will be left to slaughter now?

The Chibchas, the Chocos, the Mayas,

The Lucayos, the Tainos.

PACO

Many of our warriors were killed, señor,

It was a good thing. They were savages.

QUADRADO

Niño,
there are no righteous wars. Listen.

(
Takes hourglass.
)

I shall show you the functions of a
grometto.

This, Paco, is an hourglass, an
ampolleta.

With each half hour, the top sphere of sand

Dwindles into the lower and marks that time.

Now, when the lower half fills, reverse the glass,

And do this hourly; your watch is at midnight.

Unless we come too early into white seas,

In which event you must steady the glass.

By this we tell our speed and hourly

Express our thanks to Christ for our safe conduct.

Recite for me “The Salve Regina.”

PACO

Bendite … sea luz, y la Santa Vera Cruz,

Y la Santa Trinidad.

QUADRADO

With less speed and more faith.

What is the matter, what are you watching?

(
COLUMBUS
enters above.
)