The Book of Gud Part 29

And now they have vanished, leaving hope, And a thing that hangs at the end of a rope.

Under the lattice a rosebud trembles, a rosebud trembles gently....

Under the trees the shadows fall In a silver pool by the garden wall; Then here and there among the trees Wind whispers rouse low litanies.

Like tiny voices of tongueless grief That stir the silence of every leaf.

And who would know that under the lattice, under the lattice window, Where the rosebud stirred like a startled fawn, Two hands are creeping up the wall, Two hands that are slim and white and small?

And who can hear the lattice open, the lattice open gently?

Now over the lip of the window sill, A rustle of silks, the lattice closes, No one has heard, the night is still, Save unblossomed buds of the startled roses.

Yet were attentive ears to hearken: enemy ears to listen Far off, far off, where the white road bends, And the upturned cup of the blue sky ends, They might have heard a horse's hoofs Go clickity, clickity, clickity hack, clickity hack, clickity ...

clickity ... clickity ... hack Wisely wondered why late at night So speedy a horseman rode its back....

Then the echo dimmed at the edge of a wood, And the sound and the horse were gone for good.

The creature who watches through the bars Heard every footfall under the stars.

Beside the doorway of his cell Imprisoned in that iron h.e.l.l, He taunted the guards of the King--the King's own guards they were-- With scarlet breeches and purple coats, s.h.i.+ning buckles upon their boots.

He taunted them with sneering jests.

He sneered at the medals on their b.r.e.a.s.t.s; Laughed in the haughty captain's face, Cut short the chaplain's plea for grace, And hummed the popular air of the day When they read the sentence, and bade him pray.

"I promised her at our final tryst, When our aching bodies clung and kissed, That come what may, no matter when I should see her to tell her I love her again."

And he laughed through the bars In a redcoat's face,

Then he looked through the window Up at the stars, And saw that the dawn was taking place.

I'll be returning ere the dusk is down, I'll be returning....

Wait for me!

I'll be returning though life claims Allegiance under lying rames.

This was the song he sang for her--for her this song he sang.

So there by the pool where the rose leaves drift.

She waited knowing the dawn was near, And when she saw the shadows lift And all the skies turn deep and clear, She fled to her room--he had not come.

They dared not speak to her of him, Her mother, her sister--aye, any of them.

For her face was carven out of stone And her little lips made moan, made moan.

Yet late that night when the house was still She heard a horse ride over the hill.

"It is he, it is he," her heart sang sweet.

Then out of the window climbed to meet The lover who made her hot heart beat.

Yes there he was with his handsome head, And now the same dear things he said As he drew close with a sweep of his arm.

The G.o.ds of the gallows need no rest-- They ride like chieftains twelve abreast.

One flower touched as she fluttered by, Swung on its stem, And one bright star in the purple sky Shone over them.

And what he said, it matters not, Nor what she said to him.

And he stopped to listen like one who is stirred; His horse even hearkened, as though he heard.

For down the road there came abreast Twelve men in ancient armor dressed.

There was something strange in the way they rode; There was something odd in their manners.

They did not see the lovers there, Nor heed the house at all, But they rode like mad their horses backs....

Rode through the solid wall.

When she had opened her frightened eyes What was her pitiful heart's surprise To find him gone And the yellow dawn A roaring flame in the new day's skies.

And now they have vanished leaving hope, And a thing that hangs at the end of a rope.

They found her there In a little heap As though she had walked In her lilied sleep.

And they never knew, Though her mother said: "It's a pity, so, With her lover dead On the gallows' tree Three days ago...."

Chapter LX

"Why do you weep?" asked Gud, "since most of these dead ones will go to h.e.l.l anyway."

The man did not answer but kept on weeping. So Gud paused to read the epitaph on the tombstone of the grave on which the man was sitting. The inscription was: "IN THIS GRAVE LIE THE d.a.m.nED SOULS OF UNBAPTIZED BABES."

"Come," said Gud, shaking the weeping man by the shoulder. "If your child wasn't baptized it ought to be d.a.m.ned, but there is no use weeping about it."

"I never had a child," said the man, "but if I were going to have one, I would take no chances, for I would call the priest before I sent for the doctor."

"Then why are you weeping?" repeated Gud.

"Not over the contents of this grave, I a.s.sure you, but because of the contents of that grave there by the creek's edge."

"Is a relative of yours buried there?" asked Gud.

"He was no relative of mine," said the man. "And yet I am weeping because he is dead, and you would weep, too, if you were in my boots.

You see, I am the hangman and I hanged that man only a fortnight ago."

"Ah, ha!" said Gud, "you hanged an innocent man!"

"Indeed I did not! And if I wept over every innocent man I have hanged, I would never have time to clean the scaffold. But I hanged that man for a petty crime that was never committed."

"And you weep?" asked Gud.

"I weep," said the hangman, "because since I hanged him, we have discovered that he was guilty of a great crime for which I hanged another man a year ago."

"Then you are weeping for the other man?"

"No, no!" retorted the hangman, growing quite angry, "I am weeping because, having hanged this man for a petty crime which was never committed, I cannot hang him now for I have already hanged the other man."

"At last I understand," said Gud, greatly relieved, "and I think I can help you out. Go get your rope and call your citizens!"

Chapter LXI

As he was sitting one night by a campfire waiting for the beans to boil, Gud picked up a newspaper. Glancing over the advertis.e.m.e.nts, his eye fell on this item:

PARTNER WANTED: Fine opportunity for experienced deity to share control of fully evolved world. Will call at any address to give details.--I. B. DEVIL.