Home is the Hunter (18 page)

You’re right. Better leave by a window from that side of the house.

(
PHILETIUS
has already moved to that doorway. He goes out.
ULYSSES
advances on the heap of weapons.)

Now, let’s get this cleared away.

(He lifts a sword and pushes it through his belt, and starts carrying the rest of the weapons to the nearest chest. It lies against the wall, between the steps to the dais and the fireplace.
CLIA
helps him.
TELEMACHUS
selects a sword for himself.)

Come on, Telemachus. Hide that sword. Meanwhile...

TELEMACHUS

(Puts it unwillingly inside the chest, as
ULYSSES
pulls the knife from the wall and throws it into the chest, too)

I just don’t know anything, that’s the trouble. Every time something happens, I’m not there. I just don’t know
anything.

ULYSSES

(Thinking; then pulling out the sword he had chosen and adding it to the chest)

Painful, but necessary. We’ll keep our daggers—even a beggar can own a knife without causing suspicion.

(He begins to help
clia
stuff back the linen from the chest on top of the weapons. They close the chest.)

That’s right, Clia; put pots and pans on top. You’re preparing a banquet. Remember?

CLIA

Banquet!

(She sniffs.)

ULYSSES

In case they stay to dinner—how’s the wine?

CLIA

We are down to our last barrel.

ULYSSES

Then strengthen it. I want one cup to be as powerful as four. What’s wrong? You used to make the drugs and medicines.

CLIA

I was just thinking—what a pity I never specialised in poisons!

ULYSSES

(Putting a couple of bowls on top of the chest for good measure)

No, thank you. You stick to sleeping powders and we’ll keep our appetites.

(He has walked back to his place at the hearth, and draws his cloak around him.)

TELEMACHUS

(Looking at his father, then at
CLIA
,
who has begun to cut up vegetables again, then at
EUMAEUS
,
who is still at his post)

You aren’t going to be a beggar again? Aren’t we going to fight?

ULYSSES

In our own way. And at our own time. Relax, Telemachus. Try to imagine the touching little scene being played down at the stream, right now. They are still there, Eumaeus?

EUMAEUS

Still there. A lot of talking’s going on.

ULYSSES

Eryx is spinning a good story—I wish I could hear him. He is persuading some half-wit to take the hill road into the village.

TELEMACHUS

And Philetius will ambush him!

ULYSSES

You see, I didn’t trust Eryx so much. He didn’t believe my story altogether. But he will, when his man doesn’t come back with a report on the harbour. He’ll believe then that Ulysses is in control of the island.

CLIA

Eryx may send more than one man to scout the harbour.

ULYSSES

He may. But that would leave him shorthanded for sailing our boat to the mainland.

TELEMACHUS

He’s going to take our boat? Oh, Jupiter!

(He starts for the door.)

ULYSSES

Stay here, boy!

TELEMACHUS

I wouldn’t let them
see
me watching them.

ULYSSES

Stay here and forget about it. You’ve a lot to learn about fighting, haven’t you? Battles can be won by courage, but wars are won with brains. Remember that. And remember, too, that a man’s a fool who starts a war and doesn’t win it. What kind of hero is he then? So wait. That’s the first thing you learn in the army—there’s always plenty of waiting to do.

CLIA

But Eryx is clever; he might—

ULYSSES

Clever?

(He laughs.)

There’s a point where astuteness makes a full circle and meets stupidity. The greatest fools I ever met were those who prided themselves on their cleverness. Let me tell you of the Trojans when they laughed at Cassandra’s warning about the Wooden Horse—

(But the door to the men’s quarters is opened, and
HOMER
comes into the Hall.)

HOMER

Really, a most remarkable thing! I could swear a man entered my room, entered it silently, not even begging my pardon, crossed to the window, and jumped out. And when I rose, and went to look—nothing. Nothing to be seen. Except quiet fields and sleeping trees, and the waves rolling in to pound themselves to pieces against the cliffs.

(He crosses to the fireplace.)

You don’t believe me? I assure you the man seemed as real as you do now. Yet, I stood there at the window and looked and he had—he had melted into air, into thin air.

CLIA

You must have been dreaming.

HOMER

Dreaming? Perhaps... We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep... Hm! I rather like that. I forgive the man, if he can stir up such thoughts to keep me company.

(To
ULYSSES
)

When we are old, our thoughts are our friends.

ULYSSES

Then we’d better choose them carefully. A man is marked by the company he keeps.

(
AMARYLLIS
strolls in, carrying a large basket of figs and a respectable-sized pot of honey.)

CLIA

(Watching
AMARYLLIS
)

Indeed he is.

AMARYLLIS

There!

(She dumps the basket and pot on the table.)

Figs. Honey. And that’s my job done for the day.

CLIA

I need some—

AMARYLLIS

It’s my night off. The sun is just about to set.

HOMER

(Goes over to the mark
eryx
had made on the floor, now lying in the shadow)

The men are late. See—they haven’t kept their threat!

(He points to the mark, and smiles all around.)

AMARYLLIS

There’s a dance in the village tonight, but no one will take me. Hey, what about you, traveller? Like to go with me? We could borrow a donkey and—

CLIA

No one will take you to the dance, eh? Have you been talking to those men again?

AMARYLLIS

I wasn’t
talking.
I only asked Lucas to wait and give me a lift. But he rode off, and left me standing at the stream. And Eryx turned on me, and I—

HOMER

(Excited)

One moment! All this happened down at the stream? When?

AMARYLLIS

Just before I brought in the figs.

(To
CLIA
)

But I wasn’t
talking
to them.

CLIA

It wasn’t for lack of trying. Just you wait and I’ll—

(She drops her work and rushes toward
AMARYLLIS
,
who escapes quickly into the yard. She returns to the table, where she has been working.)

HOMER

Clia, you were much too quick. There’s something important in what she says, if only we could understand it. This Lucas person—riding into the village?

ULYSSES

The sacrificial goat.

HOMER

I beg your pardon?

ULYSSES

He’d better take his coat. The evenings turn cold, round here.

HOMER

Your blood is thin, my man. Look, while you’ve been sitting here, something has developed. These men, or some of them at least, have returned; but they don’t come to the Hall! And one of them goes riding off toward the village. Now don’t you see—

ULYSSES

Did you get any sleep this afternoon?

HOMER

No. I was too busy thinking about my poem. But don’t change the subject! What has been happening here? I felt it as soon as I came into the Hall: I sensed a—a difference. You are all too peaceful, too relaxed.

ULYSSES

I’m not changing any subject. You needed sleep; you didn’t get it. Result: nervous and—

HOMER

(Testily)

I am not!

EUMAEUS

(From his lookout post at the door)

If it was all too peaceful for your taste, you can be happy now. Melas and his friends are coming down the mountainside.

ULYSSES

How many?

EUMAEUS

...Four, I make it. Four riders, and five horses.

CLIA

(As
HOMER
hurries over to the door to look toward the mountain, too)

Where’s the fifth man? Did they leave him—?

(She silences her lips with her hands.)

HOMER

(Watching the distance)

Only four men, most definitely.

(
ULYSSES
lifts a charred piece of wood from the hearth as he rises, and, with a smile for
CLIA
,
he scores one stroke on the wall. He throws the piece of wood into the hearth again, and takes his seat.)

HOMER

(Nervous, as he still watches the distant riders)

I don’t like this... Keep calm, Eumaeus! Keep calm!

EUMAEUS

Me?

HOMER

My advice is to forget these men and concentrate on something pleasant, like a—like a sunset. Look at that one, Eumaeus, just beginning. How would you describe the sun? I see it as a winged chariot moving slowly, surely, on its way to the stables of night.

EUMAEUS

It’s a wheel of cheese to me, and I wish I had a wedge of it. I haven’t eaten since morning.

HOMER

Look at it! It never betrays our trust... What if we were to waken tomorrow morning, and never see it again? Bright sun, would I were steadfast as thou art...

(He wanders, speaking, into the courtyard.)

EUMAEUS

(Watching him)

Now, when
I
go around talking to myself, people say I’m crazy. It’s useful, being a poet.

ULYSSES

(Quickly, to
TELEMACHUS
)

Don’t let Homer wander around. Eryx might think he is spying. Bring him back here, somehow.

(He watches
TELEMACHUS
follow
HOMER
,
worriedly.)

I’m afraid Homer won’t approve of my way of fighting any more than Telemachus.

CLIA

(Who has been filling the wine vases from a barrel of wine, all this time)

But Homer has seen you fight before.

ULYSSES

No. He has seen only the results of the way I fight.

CLIA

Well, he always admired
them.

ATHENA

(Comes to life, and moves over to the frowning
ULYSSES
)

Sleep is what he needs, isn’t it? If he woke up only after the fighting was all over, then he could admire the results once more. Why add to his worries? He’s having trouble enough with Penelope in his poem. Besides, you don’t want the major poet of Greece to be killed in your house. Let him sleep, and stay out of harm’s way.

ULYSSES

(To
CLIA
,
as
ATHENA
touches his shoulder and then walks out through the nearest wall)

What’s that you’re mixing with the wine? Something to strengthen it?

(He rises to go over to the table, to watch her work.)

CLIA

If you’d let me add enough, I’d have them all stretched snoring on the floor. You could polish them off, then.

ULYSSES

That isn’t killing. That’s murder. When I do lift a sword, I fight fair.

CLIA

But the odds against you are heavy.

ULYSSES

I’ll take them. The only odds I refuse are the impossible ones.

CLIA

All right, all right... I was only trying to help.