And how long will it be before he will waken of
himself?
Yeats
ANDREW.
It was Father John wakened him yesterday the time he was lying in the
same way. Wasn't I telling you it was for that I called to him?
BIDDY.
Waken him now till they'll see did I tell any lie in my foretelling. I
knew well by the signs, he was coming within the best day of his life.
PAUDEEN.
And not dead at all! We'll be marching to attack Dublin itself within a
week. The horn will blow for him, and all good men will gather to him.
Hurry on, Father, and waken him.
FATHER JOHN.
I will not waken him. I will not bring him back from where he is.
JOHNNY.
And how long will it be before he will waken of himself?
FATHER JOHN.
Maybe to-day, maybe to-morrow, it is hard to be certain.
BIDDY.
If it is _away_ he is he might be away seven years. To be lying like
a stump of a tree and using no food and the world not able to knock a
word out of him, I know the signs of it well.
JOHNNY.
We cannot be waiting and watching through seven years. If the business
he has started is to be done we have to go on here and now. The
time there is any delay, that is the time the Government will get
information. Waken him now, Father, and you'll get the blessing of the
generations.
FATHER JOHN.
I will not bring him back. God will bring him back in his own good
time. For all I know he may be seeing the hidden things of God.
JOHNNY.
