Act 3 — ACT III. SCENE 3 AT SEA: SUNSET
Reading edition
A stormy dark sunset, late in the gloaming. The ship is seen tossing wildly on a tempestuous sea. The Thief is sitting quietly in the stern with her head bowed; her face is invisible. The Carpenter and the Tracker are whimpering on the floor. Finn is alone at the helm, but the waves are driving the boat about at their mercy.
Carpenter
[Terrified, from bottom of boat.]
I don’t believe this boat is sound.
Tracker
[Blubbering with terror.]
Boohoo! Boohoo! We’s all going to be drowned!
[Clutches Finn’s legs.]
Finn
[Spurning him suddenly.]
Be quiet, you fool!
[The Tracker collapses howling in a corner.]
Carpenter
Cheer up! You’ll soon be able to keep cool.
[A great shower of spray comes over and drenches them. The Tracker cries despairingly.]
Carpenter
[To Finn.]
I had a sense of something due
To someone, though I scare kent who,
And like a fool I lent my ship to you.
Although I made her at my own expense
I thought you had a little common sense.
Didn’t I tell you she was bound
To carry you quite safe and sound
From earth to Heaven, if you could handle
Her properly. It’s a fair scandal
To see the way you hold the tiller.
You’ll sink her. Look! You’ll sink and fill her!
[The ship heels and dips, the Tracker yells again, and even the Carpenter gasps and moans.]
I thought that she would even carry
God back again to earth to tarry.
Oh! If she’d had another master
Than you, she would have got on faster,
But with this God-forsaken mind
No other body could I find.
Tracker
[To Carpenter, blubbering.]
I’d like to tell you what I think
Of you.
Carpenter
I jalouse we must sink
Our differences for a little;
This boat won’t stand it, she’s too brittle.
[The boat gives a wild lurch and appears to founder. Both cry wildly to Finn. The Tracker clutches the Thief’s knees, weeping loudly.]
Thief
[Quietly.]
Have patience!
Finn
[Looking desperately up to the sky.]
If there is any Truth in what she said,
If there is any Hope that answers prayer,
If there is any Faith beyond her share
That stretches nervous from a lovelier Head
Than ours, and quickens in the brighter dead,
I summon all my strong human emotion
To stir that Brain to feel what I am feeling,
And rouse a Thought of which I had no notion
Into consideration of my healing,
For though my mind is smaller than That Other
I have enough of sense to call it Brother
If It be there at all. If It be there.
[At his words a golden life-line is suddenly whirled on board and falls at his feet. The Carpenter and the Tracker cry wildly: “A rope! A rope! Oh, make it fast!”]
Thief
[With a sigh of relief.]
The danger’s past!
[She runs hurriedly and makes the rope fast to the mast, while Finn remains gazing at it as if dazed. In a moment the Climber is seen swinging along it, immediately followed by the Gripper, the Listener, and the Marksman. Finn remains as if spellbound, while the Gripper runs to the tiller, seizes it from him, and turns the boat completely round.]
Finn
[To himself, as if bewildered.]
This is more than any sense deserves!
Climber
[Shaking her head at him.]
Fancy going off like that in an open boat
Without your coat!
Your state of mind is preying on my nerves.
[She helps him into his coat, which he submits to passively, gazing at her as if dazed; then suddenly falling on his knees, he snatches her hand, crying exultantly—]
Finn
Before the sun shall rise upon the land
I’ll shake all darkness by this other hand!
[The storm gradually abates, and as the ship slips away the Gripper leans back against the tiller and sings.]
Gripper’s Song
I saw above the straining shrouds
No rift nor hint of dawn,
I saw no light beyond the clouds,
But still I carried on.
I saw the end of the world, Dear Heart,
And I believed it true,
But still I held to my small part,
And so she carried through.