_ Run upon them now, and
overpower
the crew while yet asleep.
Yeats
_Aibric. _ Speak lower or they'll hear.
_First Sailor. _ They cannot hear; they are too much taken up with one
another. Look! he has stooped down and kissed her on the lips.
_Second Sailor. _ When she finds out we have as good men aboard she may
not be too sorry in the end.
_First Sailor. _ She will be as dangerous as a wild cat. These queens
think more of the riches and the great name they get by marriage than
of a ready hand and a strong body.
_Second Sailor. _ There is nobody is natural but a robber. That is the
reason the whole world goes tottering about upon its bandy legs.
_Aibric.
_ Run upon them now, and overpower the crew while yet asleep.
[Sailors _and AIBRIC go out_. _The clashing of swords
and confused voices are heard from the other ship,
which cannot be seen because of the sail. _
_Forgael_ [_who has remained at the tiller_].
There! there! They come! Gull, gannet, or diver,
But with a man's head, or a fair woman's.
They hover over the masthead awhile
To wait their friends, but when their friends have come
They'll fly upon that secret way of theirs,
One--and one--a couple--five together.
And now they all wheel suddenly and fly
To the other side, and higher in the air,
They've gone up thither, friend's run up by friend;
They've gone to their beloved ones in the air,
In the waste of the high air, that they may wander
Among the windy meadows of the dawn.
But why are they still waiting? Why are they
Circling and circling over the masthead?
Ah! now they all look down--they'll speak of me
What the ever-living put into their minds,
And of that shadowless unearthly woman
At the world's end. I hear the message now.
But it's all mystery.