A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Page 9

  CHAPTER VI

  THE ECLIPSE

  In the stillness and the darkness, realization soon began tosupplement knowledge. The mere knowledge of a fact is pale; butwhen you come to _realize_ your fact, it takes on color. It isall the difference between hearing of a man being stabbed tothe heart, and seeing it done. In the stillness and the darkness,the knowledge that I was in deadly danger took to itself deeperand deeper meaning all the time; a something which was realizationcrept inch by inch through my veins and turned me cold.

  But it is a blessed provision of nature that at times like these,as soon as a man's mercury has got down to a certain point therecomes a revulsion, and he rallies. Hope springs up, and cheerfulnessalong with it, and then he is in good shape to do something forhimself, if anything can be done. When my rally came, it came witha bound. I said to myself that my eclipse would be sure to save me,and make me the greatest man in the kingdom besides; and straightwaymy mercury went up to the top of the tube, and my solicitudesall vanished. I was as happy a man as there was in the world.I was even impatient for to-morrow to come, I so wanted to gatherin that great triumph and be the center of all the nation's wonderand reverence. Besides, in a business way it would be the makingof me; I knew that.

  Meantime there was one thing which had got pushed into the backgroundof my mind. That was the half-conviction that when the natureof my proposed calamity should be reported to those superstitiouspeople, it would have such an effect that they would want tocompromise. So, by and by when I heard footsteps coming, thatthought was recalled to me, and I said to myself, "As sure asanything, it's the compromise. Well, if it is good, all right,I will accept; but if it isn't, I mean to stand my ground and playmy hand for all it is worth."

  The door opened, and some men-at-arms appeared. The leader said:

  "The stake is ready. Come!"

  The stake! The strength went out of me, and I almost fell down.It is hard to get one's breath at such a time, such lumps come intoone's throat, and such gaspings; but as soon as I could speak, I said:

  "But this is a mistake--the execution is to-morrow."

  "Order changed; been set forward a day. Haste thee!"

  I was lost. There was no help for me. I was dazed, stupefied;I had no command over myself, I only wandered purposely about,like one out of his mind; so the soldiers took hold of me, andpulled me along with them, out of the cell and along the maze ofunderground corridors, and finally into the fierce glare of daylightand the upper world. As we stepped into the vast enclosed courtof the castle I got a shock; for the first thing I saw was the stake,standing in the center, and near it the piled fagots and a monk.On all four sides of the court the seated multitudes rose rankabove rank, forming sloping terraces that were rich with color.The king and the queen sat in their thrones, the most conspicuousfigures there, of course.

  To note all this, occupied but a second. The next second Clarencehad slipped from some place of concealment and was pouring newsinto my ear, his eyes beaming with triumph and gladness. He said:

  "Tis through _me_ the change was wrought! And main hard have I workedto do it, too. But when I revealed to them the calamity in store,and saw how mighty was the terror it did engender, then saw I alsothat this was the time to strike! Wherefore I diligently pretended,unto this and that and the other one, that your power against the suncould not reach its full until the morrow; and so if any would savethe sun and the world, you must be slain to-day, while yourenchantments are but in the weaving and lack potency. Odsbodikins,it was but a dull lie, a most indifferent invention, but you shouldhave seen them seize it and swallow it, in the frenzy of theirfright, as it were salvation sent from heaven; and all the whilewas I laughing in my sleeve the one moment, to see them so cheaplydeceived, and glorifying God the next, that He was content to letthe meanest of His creatures be His instrument to the saving ofthy life. Ah how happy has the matter sped! You will not needto do the sun a _real_ hurt--ah, forget not that, on your soul forgetit not! Only make a little darkness--only the littlest littledarkness, mind, and cease with that. It will be sufficient. Theywill see that I spoke falsely,--being ignorant, as they will fancy--and with the falling of the first shadow of that darkness youshall see them go mad with fear; and they will set you free andmake you great! Go to thy triumph, now! But remember--ah, goodfriend, I implore thee remember my supplication, and do the blessedsun no hurt. For _my_ sake, thy true friend."

  I choked out some words through my grief and misery; as much asto say I would spare the sun; for which the lad's eyes paid me backwith such deep and loving gratitude that I had not the heartto tell him his good-hearted foolishness had ruined me and sent meto my death.

  As the soldiers assisted me across the court the stillness wasso profound that if I had been blindfold I should have supposedI was in a solitude instead of walled in by four thousand people.There was not a movement perceptible in those masses of humanity;they were as rigid as stone images, and as pale; and dread satupon every countenance. This hush continued while I was beingchained to the stake; it still continued while the fagots werecarefully and tediously piled about my ankles, my knees, my thighs,my body. Then there was a pause, and a deeper hush, if possible,and a man knelt down at my feet with a blazing torch; the multitudestrained forward, gazing, and parting slightly from their seatswithout knowing it; the monk raised his hands above my head, andhis eyes toward the blue sky, and began some words in Latin; inthis attitude he droned on and on, a little while, and then stopped.I waited two or three moments; then looked up; he was standingthere petrified. With a common impulse the multitude rose slowlyup and stared into the sky. I followed their eyes, as sure as guns,there was my eclipse beginning! The life went boiling throughmy veins; I was a new man! The rim of black spread slowly intothe sun's disk, my heart beat higher and higher, and still theassemblage and the priest stared into the sky, motionless. I knewthat this gaze would be turned upon me, next. When it was, I wasready. I was in one of the most grand attitudes I ever struck,with my arm stretched up pointing to the sun. It was a nobleeffect. You could _see_ the shudder sweep the mass like a wave.Two shouts rang out, one close upon the heels of the other:

  "Apply the torch!"

  "I forbid it!"

  The one was from Merlin, the other from the king. Merlin startedfrom his place--to apply the torch himself, I judged. I said:

  "Stay where you are. If any man moves--even the king--beforeI give him leave, I will blast him with thunder, I will consumehim with lightnings!"

  The multitude sank meekly into their seats, and I was just expectingthey would. Merlin hesitated a moment or two, and I was on pinsand needles during that little while. Then he sat down, and I tooka good breath; for I knew I was master of the situation now.The king said:

  "Be merciful, fair sir, and essay no further in this perilous matter,lest disaster follow. It was reported to us that your powers couldnot attain unto their full strength until the morrow; but--"

  "Your Majesty thinks the report may have been a lie? It _was_ a lie."

  That made an immense effect; up went appealing hands everywhere,and the king was assailed with a storm of supplications thatI might be bought off at any price, and the calamity stayed.The king was eager to comply. He said:

  "Name any terms, reverend sir, even to the halving of my kingdom;but banish this calamity, spare the sun!"

  My fortune was made. I would have taken him up in a minute, butI couldn't stop an eclipse; the thing was out of the question. SoI asked time to consider. The king said:

  "How long--ah, how long, good sir? Be merciful; look, it growethdarker, moment by moment. Prithee how long?"

  "Not long. Half an hour--maybe an hour."

  There were a thousand pathetic protests, but I couldn't shorten upany, for I couldn't remember how long a total eclipse lasts. I wasin a puzzled condition, anyway, and wanted to think. Somethingwas wrong about that eclipse, and the fact was very unsettling.If this wasn't the one I was after
, how was I to tell whether thiswas the sixth century, or nothing but a dream? Dear me, if I couldonly prove it was the latter! Here was a glad new hope. If the boywas right about the date, and this was surely the 20th, it _wasn't_the sixth century. I reached for the monk's sleeve, in considerableexcitement, and asked him what day of the month it was.

  Hang him, he said it was the _twenty-first_! It made me turn coldto hear him. I begged him not to make any mistake about it; buthe was sure; he knew it was the 21st. So, that feather-headedboy had botched things again! The time of the day was rightfor the eclipse; I had seen that for myself, in the beginning,by the dial that was near by. Yes, I was in King Arthur's court,and I might as well make the most out of it I could.

  The darkness was steadily growing, the people becoming more andmore distressed. I now said:

  "I have reflected, Sir King. For a lesson, I will let this darknessproceed, and spread night in the world; but whether I blot outthe sun for good, or restore it, shall rest with you. These arethe terms, to wit: You shall remain king over all your dominions,and receive all the glories and honors that belong to the kingship;but you shall appoint me your perpetual minister and executive,and give me for my services one per cent of such actual increaseof revenue over and above its present amount as I may succeedin creating for the state. If I can't live on that, I sha'n't askanybody to give me a lift. Is it satisfactory?"

  There was a prodigious roar of applause, and out of the midstof it the king's voice rose, saying:

  "Away with his bonds, and set him free! and do him homage, highand low, rich and poor, for he is become the king's right hand,is clothed with power and authority, and his seat is upon the higheststep of the throne! Now sweep away this creeping night, and bringthe light and cheer again, that all the world may bless thee."

  But I said:

  "That a common man should be shamed before the world, is nothing;but it were dishonor to the _king_ if any that saw his minister nakedshould not also see him delivered from his shame. If I might askthat my clothes be brought again--"

  "They are not meet," the king broke in. "Fetch raiment of anothersort; clothe him like a prince!"

  My idea worked. I wanted to keep things as they were till theeclipse was total, otherwise they would be trying again to getme to dismiss the darkness, and of course I couldn't do it. Sendingfor the clothes gained some delay, but not enough. So I had to makeanother excuse. I said it would be but natural if the king shouldchange his mind and repent to some extent of what he had doneunder excitement; therefore I would let the darkness grow a while,and if at the end of a reasonable time the king had kept his mindthe same, the darkness should be dismissed. Neither the king noranybody else was satisfied with that arrangement, but I hadto stick to my point.

  It grew darker and darker and blacker and blacker, while I struggledwith those awkward sixth-century clothes. It got to be pitch dark,at last, and the multitude groaned with horror to feel the colduncanny night breezes fan through the place and see the starscome out and twinkle in the sky. At last the eclipse was total,and I was very glad of it, but everybody else was in misery; whichwas quite natural. I said:

  "The king, by his silence, still stands to the terms." ThenI lifted up my hands--stood just so a moment--then I said, withthe most awful solemnity: "Let the enchantment dissolve andpass harmless away!"

  There was no response, for a moment, in that deep darkness andthat graveyard hush. But when the silver rim of the sun pusheditself out, a moment or two later, the assemblage broke loose witha vast shout and came pouring down like a deluge to smother mewith blessings and gratitude; and Clarence was not the last ofthe wash, to be sure.