ANY
Yes
T H E
ESKIMO
TRANCE
A Play in Two Acts
Maurice Rowdon
VICTORIA THEATRE,
HARTSHILL ROAD,
STOKE-ON-TRENT,
STAFFORDSHIRE.
Phone: Newcastle Staffs 65962


T H E
ESKIMO
TRANCE
A Play in Two Acts
Maurice Rowdon
VICTORIA THEATRE,
HARTSHILL ROAD,
STOKE-ON-TRENT,
STAFFORDSHIRE.
Phone : Newcastle Staffs 65962.


CHARACTERS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
STUBB
FAWCETT
DOG
YOUNG DAVE


SCENE 0
The interior of a trapper's hut in the North
West Territories close to the Alaskan border,
several hundred miles from the Mackenzie river.
There are three simrle beds with pelts thrown
roughly over them, and a log table; no chairs,
only store-chests. Three pairs of snowshoes lean
against the wall near the door, and there are
trappers' packs. Hanging by the window is a large
frying-pan, the only: cooking utensil we can see.
Apparently, the cooking is done outside.
The place is in a bad state of repair: the
door has no lock or handle, and swings open; the
window is off its hinges. There are two sporting
guns in the corner.
The only modern object in the room is a field-
radio, in the corner farthest from the door.
We are on top of a hill overlooking a massive
valley, and the broad window looks out on to the
sky.
TIME :
The present.


NOTE FOR DIRECTORS
DOG, STUBB and FAWCETT are Englishmen.
FAWCETT'S parentage is uncertain, but he is
certainly Welsh stock, as we hear from his accent;
perhaps born in British Columbia, illegitimate.
STUBB is a Londoner by birth; he worked in a London
wood-yard until he walked out on his wife. DOG is
a Somerset man, with the characteristic strong burr.
These three men probably came together in one
of the trapper's towns, perhaps Eskimo Point; or
in a military area like Mackenzie Bay where casual
labour is needed. Or they may have met in Montreal,
before any of them took a chance and came north.
However they met, a common quality brought them
together: loneliness and lack of ties.
They are on a mission here but exactly what
it is even they don't know. There is only a radio
connecting them to the other side of the valley.
They've learned the rudiments of trapping to pass
the time, and they try to imagine themselves real
trappers or even good prospectors from fifty or a
hundred years ago.
Relevant to this play are the following
quotations from SIR BERNARD LOVELL, Jodrell Bank
Astronomical Station:
'In the case of certain experiments which are
now possible the initial S teps could produce
irremediable results
'A modification of conditions in space could
influence the mental conditions of mankind
'It seems almost that we are moving towards
the proof of the old and universal belief that
connected the moon with madness.'


INDEX OF TERMS
White-trapping is trapping by laying strychnine
poisoning,1llegal because the husky dogs can pick
it up. A trapper's word for treacherous.
Smudge is a fire lit near the hut to keep mosquitoes
away: it smoulders gently day and night.
Cache is a structure on poles to keep provisions
on, so that the grizzly be ars can't climb up and
take it at night.
PAS was a famous prospe ctor's station earlier this
century; saloons, whorehouses, a few shops (for
rye whisky). PRINCE GEORGE was the same. ESKIMO
POINT and CHURCHILL were where the trappers traded
their pelts.
Radiun was found at ECHO- POINT, as
the play says. BARKERVILLE mentioned in Act II
with ridicule was a shanty town from the goldrush
days.
pitchblend ore
a kind of gold; assay me ans to
test this ore in the laboratory; it cost five pounds
in the Twenties.
de luxe prospectors were the spe cula tors, not the
men who did the actual prospecting and staking out
of the ground.
white-fox
the foxes trapped in the snowy regions.
angekok and torngarsoak
terms from Eskimo
mythology which are explained in the play.
the old telegraphic trail
this first telephonic
trail in the NW territories was laid by trappers,
mostly by a Frenchman on horseback. The flowers
mentioned in the play are those actually to be
found there.
cockroach
adapted from the Italian as slang for
priest.
placer gold in. the gravel bars of the river
the
river beds were dredged for gold; placer me ans the
sands or gravel bed that contained valuable minerals.
tailings -
refuse from the gold-dredging.


King Prempel
an Ashanti king on the Gold Coast
of Africa who massacred people and used their blood
for paint.
Gillis's Grave
where three trappers died in
mysterious circumstances without a mark on their
bodies, leaving their hut as described in the play;
a true story.


It is late-morning on a sparkling clear
day and light is pouring thro ugh the door.
STUBB and FAWCETT sit on their beds, the ir
heads in their hands, dosing gloomily.
STUBB is small and round, FAWCETT slim and
clean-shaven. FAWCETT's long, slim face
always seems startled; STUBB looks round in
a gingerly way, like a man on the run.
Silence.
FAWCETT starts, looks towards the door,
his eyes wide, then relaxes again.
STUBB opens his eyes slowly and stares at
the door, too. He suddenly grabs FAWCETT'S
arm, and FAWCETT jumps in a terrified way.
STUBB
It's him !
They scramble to the door. There is
the sound of steps and heavy breathing,
and of something being dragged.
FAWCETT
(delighted) Dog !
STUBB
What you got, Dog ?
DOG, an enormous figure of a man, with
a wild beard and bushy red hair, enters
dragging an ammunition box.
He has a wild and yet abashed look which
makes him squint up his eyes frequently.
FAWCETT
(watching DOG as he drags the box in) Gunshot ?
DOG
(wiping his brow as he lets the box fall) That's
right !
STUBB
How's Dave ?
DOG
OK !
STUBB
(with his quick hunted look) See Mrs. Dave ?
DOG
No !
FAWCETT
Isn't she there ?


DOG
She's there, I think ! He talks about her !
STUBB
Where'd you kip down, Dog ?
DOG
Dave's. In the shop. Behind the grain
where
he keeps the rats !
FAWCETT
You didn't even glimpse her ?
DOG
Well -
(blinking) I thought I did - - I once !
STUBB
(warmly) You did ?
Where ?
DOG
Just
disappearing round the hut. I thought so.
(Sitting on the box, still wiping himself) He just
calls her Mrs. Dave
I think.
FAWCETT
(fixing him with his eyes) What's she look like,
Dog ?
DOG
I didn't really glimpse her
just an idea
like a feeling. (After a pause) On the plump side,
maybe. (Bursting out) Why couldn't she come out
and shake my hand ?
The others look at him sympa the tically.
Are we scarecrows or some thing ?
STUBB
She might have been down the lake.
DOG
She was there. (Pausing again) She must have been
there ! He said
'See that hut ? That's where
she is ! 1
STUBB
Dave said that ?
DOG
Yes !
FAWCETT
(quickly) They're not married ?
DOG
Married ? He said she was a schoolteacher, come
from Winnipeg, to help him with the children. He
never clapped eyes on her before !
STUBB
But he called her Mrs. Dave !
DOG
She didn't come out and shake me by the hand,that's
all I know! That's just like him
keep her back
like that. (Pausing) I don't go across that valley
often. It's a twenty-mile hike ! And if you don't
keep to the path ---! (makes a meaning gesture
of being shot)


STUBB
You got supper all right ?
DOG
Oh, yes ! You know how he is. Grinning all the
time.
STUBB
Did you get the mail ?
DOG
(scornf ully) Mail ! No, I missed it. I thought,
to hell, I'm not waiting all morning for that !
STUBB
You'd have had to wait two years, maybe !
DOG
Shut up !
FAWCETT and STUBB cease watching him,
and also sit down.
Husky-dogs bark in the distance. Then
it is quiet again.
FAWCETT
Dave's huskies
A pause.
STUBB
(to DOG) We knew you was there all right by the
dogs
right to the minute, like always.
DOG nods indifferently.
(Glumly) You didn't see nobody ?
DOG shakes his head like a child,
pouting and almost in tears.
DOG
He just left the food out. And a bed. (Lips
quivering) Like a leper !
STUBB and FAWCETT look at him
sympathetionlly.
STUBB
You didn't see him or hear him ?
DOG shakes his head.
FAWCETT
But you got a glimpse of the dame, you said !
DOG
(blinking doubtfully, unwilling to let him down)
Well
FAWCETT
(eagerly) Did you ?
DOG
I thought I did


FAWCETT
(with contempt) 'Thought' !
DOG
(angrily)
They stick me in a hut five hundred
yards away ! Barbed wire all round !
STUBB
(in astonishment) Barbed wire ?
DOG
It seemed to gleam
like bared wire !
FAWCETT
(his eyes glinting and fascinated) You could have
crawled up
taken a peek at this dame ! (Suddenly
cackling with laughter) She might have fallen in
love with your beard !
DOG
(leering) I'm tired.
STUBB
(half to himself) Barbe ed wire 0 e
DOG
Well, I'm nct sure. (Trying to make a definite
picture) I know he's got a gun trained on the
cabin door, for when you try and get near him.
That's for certain !
STUBB
(nodding) And why else would he send his son up
here with the mail ? He could give it to you
himself !
DOG
That's right !
FAWCETT
He don't want you peeking at his dames !
STUBB
He wants you up here
going crazy ! And if you
try and break out
DOG
(interrupting him) Shut up !
FAWCETT
(his indigna tion directed at DOG) Even a walk's
not allowed ! We can fish a mile offshore, and
three miles out there's the finest fishing in the
North West Territories !
DOG
(gazing at him St teadily) You eat too much fish.
Fawcett. It make S you lustful.
A pause.
STUBB
(with the same implie d blame on DOG) These guns
are to shoot at people
not creatures !
FAWCETT
Even Dave don't know why we 're here, I re ckon.


os Chais
ENDOF I


STUBB
He gets his pay packet once a month but he don't
know where from and it's dead money be cause he
can't spend on trees and lake-water, which is all
he's got
and a whore he keeps locked up !
FAWCETT
If he goes to town he's a dead man inside an hour,
he told us so himself ! No police investigation.
'suicide while of unsound mind, ! he said so himself.
(Dreamily) Or was that Long Martin ?
STUBB
He says we 're unsafe, that I do know.
DOG
(grudgingly interested) Unsafe ?
STUBB
We 've got it in our bodies -
DOG
(alarme d) What ?
STUBB
It's working in our bones, it's
DOG
Shut up ! (Then quietly) I've told you before,
them towers has ears (with a glance outside).
FAWCETT
(in a lower voice) I'll tell you some thing, every
creature knows why he's on the earth but we don't,
we don't belong, the birds don't seem to like us,
it isn't our furniture if you see what I mean, all
these trees and that ---!
DOG
(quietly again) You're Fawcett. He's Stubb. I'm
Dog.
FAWCETT
That's not your name !
DOG
It's the aptest name I ever had, cockroach.
STUBB
We 're not trappers
DOG
(flaring up again) We 're three trappers. get that
into your nut ! We trap, those are our pelts,
they're what we sleep under, therefore we 're
trappers !
We're trappers in trapping country !
STUBB
Except we're under orders. To a man under orders.
FAWCETT
- reaything we got 15 govermment-issue, The-shacky
he M UN the gursyf-- And how do you account' for,
the concrete ?
DOG
It's just there, cockroach. And
fo government)
gevermment 1S areams. Somet body dreamed- it-onee-in
hisnead, same- ras-concretord


They give up in puzzlement.
A opause.
Suddenly STUBB nudges FAWCETT to tell
DOG something.
FAWCETT
(remembering) It's the fifteenth of July, Dog. I
worke d it out.
STUBB
(to DOG) He says it's election day. I said I
thought the eighteenth.
DOG
(suspiciously, to FAWCETT) Why
you anxious to
step into my boots ?
FAWCETT
(with his startled look) Me ?
STUBB
Is he right, Dog ?
DOG
Sure it's election day ! (Again to FAWCETT) You
never miss, do you ?
FAWCETT
It's our constitution !
We agreed on it !
DOG
That's not why you remember !
FAWCETT
Why, then ?
DOG
(turning away, blinking) Jealousy !
The other two are silent in a
contrite way.
FAWCETT
(suddenly. sniffing) I smell grizzly !
DOG
(half to himself) Like hell you do !
STUBB
They was round last night, Dog. They near on
climbed the cache.
DOG
That's for Fawcett to mend ! (Without looking at
FAWCETT) He '11 be fixing a ladder for 'em next !
STUBB
(jokingly) They can stamp you to pulp, Fawcett !
DOG
(harshly, to FAWCETT) And look at this door ! 'How
many more nights are you going to barricade us in:
with snowshoes ? And the window ! (Turning away
impa atiently, since FAWCETT shows no sign of
responding)


STUBB
Remember that summez r we saw steam coming up from a
hole, it was after a thaw, it must have been the
spring, and Dave jumped straight down into a
grizzly's lap ?
DOG
And the grizzly didn't even wake up !
FAWCETT
(waking up suddenly) Well, so Dave says, but
Dave's a bloody liar !
DOG
He's kept you in provisions for a couple or three
years, swee theart, and hasn't overcharged. You
take the name of the Provider in vain and he might
not provide any more.
FAWCETT
Well, I reckon he don't do it for nothing.
DOG
We all do it for nothing.
STUBB
We get nothing, that's true !
DOG
(still to FAWCETT) He showed you how to make a
cache. He taught you all you know. How to stretch
the pelts. Lay the traps. Clean your guns. Keep a
smudge against mosquitoes. What's wrong with that
did you want his blood as well ?
STUBB
(to DOG) But he couldn't introduce you to his
whore !
There is silence.. Then DOG gets up
wearily.
DOG
0.K. ! Let's get it done with !
The others rise as well.
STUBB
As if we didn't know
DOG
(cutting him short angrily) Well, if you know,
waive the formalities
but there's him
(indicating FAWCETT) to contend with !
STUBB
DOG
Well, get it done with
who's chairman ?
STUBB
Fawcett.
FAWCETT
It's always me. e Be cause I get no votes. O.K.
a show of confidence for me, by raising the hand.


He waits, but neither of the other
two raises his hand.
FAWCETT
(threatening) Why, you me an couple of
DOG
Get on with it !
FAWCETT
For Stubb.
A show of hands.
DOG raises his hand.
FAWCETT
(reluctantly) For last year's Dog ! a show of
hands.
Only STUBB raises his hand. FAWCETT
keeps his arms firmly at his side.
DOG
(glowering at him) That's one for Stubb and one
for me
so you decide ! Stubb's our Dog, is
that it ?
FAWCETT hesitates.
Well, come on
! It's Stubb you want !
HE and FAWCETT stand glaring at
each other.
I'll give you ten seconds ! What's it to be ?
At last FAWCETT raises his hand,
still glaring at DOG.
Thank you !
STUBB
Just what I said !
FAWCETT
(to DOG) Was I going to vote him Dog (meaning
STUBB) ?
DOG
Don't blame me for it, that's all ! (Sitting down
again) It's circumstances,
FAWCETT
I've never seen you raise your hand for me, that's
all !
DOG
(mildly) You're power-hungry, Fawcett, that's why!
You'd be starving us of fires at night and keeping
the pelts to yourself if we made you Dog.
FAWCETT
And where did you get your education
at the
whorehouse reading-room down at Pas ?


ÉND 0 F 2
GARRIEL


DOG
Oh, listen to that
he's bitter ! Listenoif you
want to be Dog take it
I'll call you Dog a
hundred times a day
but that wouldn't be free
election, W ould it ?
FAWCETT
STUBB
The same every year (with a sigh) !
They relax again, yawning, scratching
themselves, gazing before them.
Suddenly there is a distant shot from
across the valley.
DOG
(jumping up furiously) She's shootin' for Christ's
sake i : Dave's whore ! Like a man ! (Turning to
STUBB) She's laying trap-lines like a man
yet
she couldn't shake me by the hand
STUBB
0.K., take it easy !
DOG
What's she shootin' at
can you tell me that ?
STUBB
(with a wink at FAWCETT) A timber-wolf.
DOG
(taking him seriously) A timber-wolf, my arse ! So
that's how it's going to be from now on
showin'
us she's there !
A woman ! In trousers ! Talkin'
with a gun
There is silence while he stands
glaring across the valley, with
a very slight bewilderment in his
anger.
STUBB
(looking away) You're bushe d
DOG
'Woman' ! It's nowhere I can see ! It's just
rolls of fat !
FAWCETT
(with immediate fierce interest) Is that how she
looks ?
DOG shrugs.
I think she is thin, with glasses on
(Gazing
before him)
STUBB
And I think she 's---fattish - I agree with Dog
fattish with lovely


OF 2
WAY dire 4) AEEE
CAUCHT- RUSHED


DOG
That's enough ! (Contemptuously) Stop thinking
thinkers ! (striding up and down) ThatTs no woman !
DOG
(glancing across the valley as if it had
contradicted him) A woman carries her flesh, well,
(quietly) like a kind of angel. Like we was reading
about, remember (looking down at STUBB and FAWCETT)?
FAWCETT
It's always angels or some thing ! Angels are men,
anyhow.
DOG
(turning on him) They're any sex !
FAWCETT
Angels ? They're boys !
DOG
Tell him, Stubb !
STUBB
I seem to remember they're both. Gabriel, like we
was reading
was he a he or a she ?
FAWCETT
A he.
STUBB
The two fallen angels, that started up hell, was
women, I seem to remember.
DOG
(striding again) Women ! I've seen women in my
day
! (To FAWCETT) Remember Flaming Ethel
down at Pas ?
FAWCETT
Do I ?
DOG
(to STUBB) She used to keep the most miniaturest
revolver you've ever seen in her stocking, and she
never took it out, it was there all the time and you
had the feeling it might go off
! Remember
that ?
FAWCETT
That's right !
Silence, as they about this, smiling.
STUBB
I always used to think you got like the air when
you came up here
clear all the way through,
like you see Dave's cabin of a morning on the other
side of the valley, like a piece of canvas. (A
pause) Did you think so, too ?
DOG
(Another pause) Yes, I did.
FAWCETT
So did I.


STUBB
And it didn't happen. We're getting bushed
bit more every day
DOG
So what keeps you here ? (Glaring at them both)
You're a couple of lame ducks ! You're lousy
drunks ! You sit at a table with a couple of pints
of rye in your guts and because the dice says six
you
uccch !
STUBB
You did the same.
FAWCETT
In fact, you laid the bet.
DOG
(imitating them) 'You laid the bet, you laid the
bet'
I always ge t that ! You had it in your
faces, you couple of white-trapping lice
you
asked for that six !
FAWCETT
(to STUBB) Listen to that !
DOG
You think you're strong
what's strong about
signing up for voluntary imprisonment for five
years
without a prison, without a sentence,
without a crime ?
STUBB
(uncomfortably) It takes strength
don't it ?
DOG
No, it's just pigheaded and proud, that's what !
It's just conceit ! And when you get ba ck to Pas
and plant yourself in Amy's whorehouse and don't
need your trousers for a week
STUBB
(laughing) That's good !
DOG
Who's going to look at you ? Who's going to
remember ? Who'll even know your name ? Can you
tell me that ? Will Amy be the re ? They'll all
be dead ! The saloon won't be there where you threw
the dice ! 'Five years' !
FAWCETT
That's the beauty of it.
DOG
That's right
talk to me about beauty !
FAWCETT
There won't be anybody there. Nobody'll remember.
There'll just be us.
DOG
That's right, thinker !
FAWCETT
There'll just be our lives, like signing your name
in water, as somebody said down at Pas when I was
prospecting.


ND SF
StSRES CONYE
GILLISS GRAVE


DOG
That's it, that's it !
FAWCETT:
Just between yourself and God, if you follow me !
DOG
Oh', I follow you, I've been following you for near
on three years
(bellowing at the top of his
voice) but I want some NOISE
some real NOISE,
do you hear me 9 not your voices any more
some
NOISE !
There is another shot in the distance.
DOG gapes in the direction it came from.
STUBB
You got your noise, mate. (With a wink at FAWCETT) ) !
DOG
What does she mean
? (He stops, trying to puzzle
something out)
STUBB
You're bushed.
FAWCETT
(with a sigh) Every election day there's some thing
crazy !
DOG
(turning on him again) And that's because of me 9
I suppose ! (Scornfully) Electing me Dog ! What
a name !
STUBB
It was your name o We'll spell God the wrong way
round, you said.
FAWCETT
You've certainly been that ! God the wrong way
round !
DOG
(squinting at him dangerously) Meaning I'm the
devil ?
FAWCETT
(with fear) I didn't mean exactly that !
STUBB
(to DOG) He means like he said the other night.
DOG
What was that ?
STUBB
About you running messages between God and us.
DOG
(appeased) Oh, that ! (Looking out across the
valley again) There might be something in that.
A pause. o
STUBB
Can you see the flag ?
DOG


STUBB
Put your telescope up.
DOG
(quietly) Why, who's going to write you mail ?
STUBB
It was that last letter
DOG
(with a sigh) 0.J., 0.K.
FAWCETT
There we go !
STUBB
(almost in tears) What's she have to rub it in for?
She don't have to write !
It makes me think
of the kitchen, where's she sitting. And her
front
FAWCETT
(mournfully, as if they'd heard it a hundred times
before) Oh !
STUBB
(in tears) What am I doing here ? I don't remember
what happened !
FAWCETT
A cool son-of-a-bitch happened !
STUBB
(in a strange reasoning way) He wasn't cool, mate
he was on the same bench
DOG
Yes, yes !
STUBB
We used to give each other -
DOG
'a smoke at teatime ! I (With disgust) Oh,
Christ !
STUBB
We did !
DOG
(to himself) Five years ! (Glaring at both of them)
And where's it going to get you ? I'll tell you
where
where it got the boys at Gillis's Grave,
down at Manson Creek !
FAWCETT
(with his startled look) What's that ?
DOG
Never hear ?
FAWCETT
DOG
There was a couple of trappers
they'd been
trapping ten years or more. Found dead, sitting up
against a couple of trees, each side of a dead fire,
froze stiff, they was nearly covered over with
autumn leaves, they'd been sitting there a long
time, all winter long


FAWCETT
Yes, I think I heard
DOG
There was a rusty frying pan by the fire. A few
yards on there was the other one
STUBB
There was three ?
DOG
That's right. He was leaning against a tree, too.
His rifle was cocked, none of the bullets was fired.
Not a mark on their faces. Just sitting there.
Their hut was a couple of hundred yards up the hill.
The door was swinging open. There was a bundle of
letters nailed to the table.
STUBB
What did the letters say ?
DOG
They was eaten by rats.
FAWCETT
That's the way to go out
like Flaming Ethel
used to say down at Pas, 'Just sit and fall asleep'!
STUBB
(to DOG) They could have got some white bait in
their food
strychnine kills straight off.
DOG
How do you get white bait in a frying pan ?
FAWCETT
A moose comes along and gets trapped -
DOG
What ? Would you cut up a moose you hadn't shot ?
FAWCETT
They might have been desperate !
DOG
In the middle of summe r ? With all the fish in the
lake ?
FAWCETT
Oh, this was summe: r ?
DOG
How else would they be sitting out there
how else
would they be going along the traps at all ? It's
only nuts like you who stay out in the wintertime
and have to have the frostbite rubbed out of their
fingers !
STUBB
(to FAWCETT) And how ak out the letters ? How did
they get nailed on the table if they didn't know
some thing beforehand ?
DOG
That's right !
FAWCETT
Because they didn't have any rat-food and the rats
had to eat something ! (He cackles with laugh ter)
DOG
(with disgust) That's why youlre never Dog


E NDOF (
GAR. hAVS WHITE TRARE,
Is7. FIGHT,


FAWCETT
Why ?
DOG
Because you can't be damned-well serious ! You've
got that cackle at the end of everything
(imitating him) ha ! ha ! ha ! If I do go
bushed, it'll be your long face sent me !
FAWCETT
You was bushed before you ever set foot in Prince -
George, mate !
DOG
I was bushe d to set foot in Amy's whorehouse and
get to know you !
STUBB
Me and Long Martin had just sold two hundred fox at
Eskimo Point for eighteen hundred dollars, remember
that ?
DOG
(relaxing) You could have got double the price at
Churchill !
STUBB
We was in a hurry !
FAWCETT
(to STUBB) You and Long Martin must have looked a
scream together, setting the traps
the long and
the short of it !
STUBB
(comically) I have my dignity.
FAWCETT
You need it, mate !
DOG
The biggest let-down I ever had was when they
found radium at Echo Point. I must have walked over
that ground about fifty thousand times ! It took
five pounds to have a bit of pitchblend ore assayed
in those days and I didn't have it
I didn't even
have a couple of cents ! That was a big rush.
Eldorado Gold Mine shares went up to eigh teen
shillings a share ! They all came in aeroplane es,
all the de luxe prospectors !
Silence.
FAWCETT
Did you say Dave's whore has rolls of fat ?
DOG
That's it !
FAWCETT
From just a glimpse ?
DOG
(with a wink at STUBB) I can tell from the way she
fires a gun !
STUBB
Ha !


DOG
That's not tall and thin ! That's a heavy
domineering type of woman !
FAWCETT
Yes ?
DOG
(with authority) In any case, she lays white traps.
FAWCETT
(suddenlyrejecting-this) To hell with you toyst
be cause you found a dead fox from last winterT
DOG
On her line !
FAWCETT
What does that prove ? Suppose Young Dave laid it?
I wouldn't put itpast him !
DOG
It's a greenhorn's trick, that's why ! Young Dave
krows-better then-that
STUBB
(to FAWCETT) What's wrong in a white trap anyway ?
DOG
What ?
STUBB
I'm ge tting to think it's better.
DOG
Well, listen to that
he's been trapping and
stretching pelts for three years and he suddenly
gets humane !
STUBB
You know it yourself, mate
the animals suffer,
they bite off their legs, they starve to death,
they're eaten alive by their own kind, sitting in
a trap like that. I re ckon a real man don't do
that, for money or anything else.
DOG
(suspiciously) So that's it ? I've heard you use
them words before
! (Squinting at him) You
STUBB looks questioningly at FAWCETT.
FAV WCETT
(to STUBB) He means 'real man.'
STUBB
(blinking at DOG) What ?
DOG
(still smouldering) Should we all be sitting down
in Montreal writing accounts
is that it ?
silea
STUBB
We could run mink farms
-waite fox farms. It's
the big thing in the south !
DOG
The pelts aren't so good !
STUBB
They sell all right !


A silence, during which DOG continues
to squint his eyes dangerously at
STUBB, who begins to look uncomfortable.
DOG
(quie tly) I'm not quite a 'real man'
is that
it ?
FAWCETT
He didn't say that !
DOG
(turning round on him) Keep your mouth shut ! (He
slowly puts his hand on his rifle, still staring at
STUBB)
STUBB
(frightened but without moving
in a whisper)
Now, then, Dog.
DOG
I know what's in your mind ! (Grips hold of the
rifle) You mean I'm a pouf, eh ?
FAWCETT
Drop that !
STUBB has his eyes fixed on the
gun in a terrified way.
STUBB
Dog
Suddenly DOG picks the rifle up as if
to point it and STUBB dashes to his
feet.
FAWCETT
(trying to reach over) Drop it !
DOG lifts the rifle and begins to
sight it calmly. STUBB is trembling
all over.
STUBB
(running) Dog ! Dog ! Stop him, Fawcett, for
Christ's sake !
He sees DOG taking aim and in desperation
doubles himself up on the floor, showing
his behind, moaning and trembling. DOG
takes aim on his behind. FAWCETT watches
him with horror.
FAWCETT
Dog, you can't
You can't
Just at the moment DOG is about to pull
the trigger there is another shot from
across the valley, but closer. STUBB
lets out a scream, taking himself as shot.


STUBB
Oh, Christ ! Oh, Christ ! (Rolling over) He's
got me, 9 Fawcett. oh, Christ !
DOG lowers his gun slowly, watching
him in a fascinated way, his head on
one side. FAWCETT also watches him.
STUBB
He's done it, he's done it, oh, Christ, I knew he 'd
do it one day (crying) !
DOG creeps over and touches STUBB on
the behind with his foot.
STUBB
(taking it as another blow) Oh, no, for Christ's
sake, 9 no
no more, 9 mate !
FAWCETT
(quietly) Get up, mate. He didn't fire.
STUBB looks up, astonished. DOG is
towering over him.
(Beginning to cackle with laughter, and imitating
STUBB) Oh, ch, he's done it, he's done it !
(Leaping round as STUBB did) Oh, Christ, oh, Christ,
I knew he'd do it, oh, Christ ! (Cackling helplessly)
STUBB
There's no need to mock.
DOG
(watching him, but abashed) I just raise my gun and
you go like that !
STUBB
Well, you have done it before, mate. (Glumly and
reproachfully) And a gun's a gun, you know.
FAWCETT
(pointing at DOG) Look, he's ashamed !
STUBB
(walking away) So he should be !
FAWCETT
That's the first time you've set your sights on him,
Dog. And yet you're supposed to be res sponsible !
DOG
(limply) Have another election, then.
STUBB
(to himself) Blimey ! I thought that was the end
of Joe Stubb all right !
DOG
(trying 10 appease) You're suggestible, that's all,
mate !
STUBB
But you was pointing a gun at me !
FAWCETT
That's it.


END OF (6
MYSTKAL DIC
Éx.TRARCE.INTRD.
GILLISS GRAVE 2aTine


DOG
I wouldn't have fired.
FAWCETT
You near on did !
I saw you !
DOG
(decisively) I won't stand for nomination again.
FAWCETT
Listen to it
pride
A pause during which they all
stare glumly before them.
DOG
O.K., I'm sorry, then.
STUBB
That's all right
I'd like to take a gun on you
sometimes.
They laugh politely.
DOG
(conversationally, to STUBB) This thing
the
'white traps
how are you goingto keep your
huskies off the poison ? A whole pack died of
strychnine down at Manson Creek ten years back.
STUBB
What Leaid: breed your animals instead. Don't
- em run Wild and then trap-t
A pause.
DOG
(in a hesitant way) Dod you notice somet thing ?
She 's getting to see my side of things ?
The other two gaze at him in silence.
FAWCETT
What's that ?
STUBB
Who's she ?
DOG
Dave's whore.
FAWCETT
What do you mean ?
DOG
She fired off just when she should have
did you
notice that ?
AS they stare at him.
All right, look at me as if I was crazy !
FAWCETT
What are you talking about ?
DOG
She fired to stop me firing.


STUBB
You are bushed, you know
FAWCETT
Who's the 'thinker' now ?
DOG
That's not thinking, it's plain facts !
FAWCETT
Oh !
DOG
(to STUBB) She fired to stop me killing you.
FAWCETT
(with an amused glance at STUBB) Well
DOG
I'm not sure, mind you
STUBB
(to DOG) You're better in the winter-time, mate
not so jumpy.
DOG
Well, it's true. It's the angekok in my, I suppose.
(Seeming to hope that they will ask him what the
word me ans) That means :
STUBB
(me chanically) 'Medicine man.'
DOG
That's right. It was the longest apprenticeship I
ever served. The hardest, too. When the Eskimo
feels he's been called he retires to a lonely place
I chose Carlyle Street, Winnipeg
I didn't
hardly speak to a living soul for two years or more
I prayed and fasted until the Torngarsoak
appeared I
FAWCETT and STUBB both rec cite the
next sentence with him, as if they
know every word of his narrative.
ALL
that's the great white bear.
DOG
It came up in front of the iron bedstead. Yet I
wasn't surprised. He did everything they said, too.
He ate me up and vomited out the pie ces, and these
formed together again, and the great white bear
disappeared. They gave me a wife, and I used to do
all their healing. I swear I had healing powers.
STUBB
Did you use the wife ?
The radio begins blinking red, a
device for when it is unattended.
DOG
Not me. I've seen a few white men go native ! I
didn't want the lice picked out of my hair ! And
the stench of those pelts in the igloos
never really got used to it.


STUBB
As long as you. don't go into that Eskimo trance
again
eh, Fawcett ?
FAWCETT
I'll say !
STUBB
Last time you looked like dead !
DOG
(quietly) We've been known to die
STUBB
It lasted all day
scared the balls off me !
You couldn't answer the radio for twenty-four hours!
FAWCETT
(seeing the radio) Hey, it's Showing red, Dog.
DOG
(with a scowl towards the radio) Leave it be !
It's Dave wanting to apologise. 'I'll be up for a
game of cards, boys ! 1
he's been promising that
for near on three years !
The radio ceases to blink.
FAWCETT
(to STUBB) Remember that old.telegraph trail in
the Arctic, and all those flowers
the blue
lupins, saxifrage, forge t-me-nots, yellow Arctic
poppies?
No radio there !
You had to lay it all
by wire !
STUBB
That's right !
DOG
'Flowers' ! (In a leg-pulling way) What did you
make posies ?
FAWCETT
That's it !
A pause. e
DOG
(looking round) It's funny
I expec cted her to
fire then !
FAWCETT
Why ?
DOG
(with a shrug) I don't know !
STUBB
(to FAWCETT) She's the voice of his conscience !
Be cause he sneered at your flowers !
DOG
'Conscience' !
They listen. But nothing happe: ens.
STUBB
(to DOG) How do you fast at Carlyle S tree t,
Winnipeg, Dog ?


FAWCETT
He means he didn't eat, he only drank. (With his
cackle)
DOG
(disregarding him) I used to have water for break-
ast. If you eat nothing first thing it shrinks the
stomach. Then dry bread and water for dinner. Or
unsalted potatoes. ThenI went on a jag Saturday and
Sunday. It usually took fourteen hours' sleep to
bring me round. A jag never had less effect on me
in my life. That was the fasting. I'll tell you
something about fasting, I mean when you don't eat
a thing for a couple or more weeks, only drink
water I
Again FAWCETT and STUBB re cite with him.
ALL
: all your diseases come out backwards.
FAWCETT
(with sudden surprise) They do ?
DOG
That's right. You get a touch of all the diseases
you ever had, starting from the last one you had to
the first one when you was a baby. I started with
a dose of clap and ended up with nappy-rash !
They laugh. But Fawcett's cackle
spoils Dog's fun.
FAWCETT
(still cackling) That's difficult to believe !
DOG
It's true ! Ask anybody who's fasted. It purges
you right through. Ask any of the shipwre cked
fellows, they '11 tell they didn't even want to eat.
The trouble's eating again, you don't want it !
STUBB
You get out of the habit, I suppose.
A shot, from the same distance.
DOG
(flaring up) Now
! (Taking the shot as a
challenge to his truthfulness)
FAWCETT and STUBB gaze at each other.
FAWCETT
(with a wink at STUBB) What did that one mean ?
DOG is gazing across the valley wi th
his mouth open.
DOG
(to himself) We,, I did want to eat, I suppose. I
wanted a jaz
how's that ? Not exactly food,
but a prolonged jag. (Addressing the valley) Now
is that all right ?


STUBB
(to FAWCETT) Listen to it !
DOG
(still addressing the valley) I wanted a jag
purge myself. It was part of the fast. I
wanted
(insipidly) well, a carnival, release of
the spirit - !
A shot.
The devil
? Why, you
The others sit staring at him.
But it's true
it's
(He stops)
FAWCETT
(another wink at STUBB) Is it true ?
DAG
(wearily) No. I just wanted a jag, that's all.
Just to get disgusting drunk and flop out on a bed.
Like suicide for half-a-day.
He stares emptily before him.
They listen. Silence.
FAWCETT
That seemed like the truth !
STUBB
You're bushed !
DOG
(eagerly) I'll try an experiment, I'll
Staring. : across the valley)
STUBB
(scared) Keep your hand off that gun, that's all !
DOG
I'll see if we're tuned !
FAWCETT
What ?
DOG
(speaking in the dire ction of the valley) Fire
in ten seconds
STUBB
Hey ! (Superstitions aroused)
FAWCETT
Sssh ! (He quickly reads his watch) Five
Six
They listen. A shot.
DOG
(excited) What was that
was that ten se conds?
God above ! Who's bushed now, eh ?
FAWCETT
About seven seconds.


END oF


DOG
It's near enough ! Wake up, Stubb
STUBB
(with disgust) Oh, Christ
DOG
(to the valley) Fire when I say
(turning to
FAWCETT) Who was that in the bible-reading last
night
FAWCETT
Eh ?
DOG
The guardian angel
the one who brings peace
you said she was a man and Stubb said she was a
woman
FAWCETT
Oh, Gabriel !
A shot.
DOG
That's it ! (Jumping up and down) By Christ, I
didn't mean her to be that exact
STUBB
(shaking his head) Look at it, just look at it
DOG
That's the word I meant
I meant her to fire on
Gabriel
A shot.
STUBB
Blimey !
DOG
(beyond himself) That's it ! That's it ! Oh,
Christ, that's it !
FAWCETT
(wary for the first time) Listen
you'd better
stop
DOG
Gabriel ! (A shot) Gabriel ! (A shot)
FAWCETT
(frightened) Now shut up !
DOG
FAWCETT
Shut up ! Do you hear me ? Shut up !
DOG
(panting) 0.K. But
1 don't say I'm wrong ! Eh ?
(To STUBB) Who's wrong about the shots ?
FAWCETT
Just calm down ! If it's true or not don't make
any difference
- just calm down !
Silence. They gaze before them
and gradually calm returns.
TRara improitle.


GOD
FAWCETT'S CONFESSION
STUBR'S REREAT COWFESS"
GODF WORRN.WAAE


H Dr à
ThA
aposisi-ble
DOG
Impossible ? I told you the story of Gillis's Grave
strange things happen up here
FAWCETT
DOG
(still excited)
letters eaten away by rats
not a mark on their bodies
door leaning open !
STUBB
That's funny we should have talked about Gab
FAWCETT
Sssh !
DOG
What ?
STUBB
FAWCETT
Stubb !
STUBB
(almost whispering) Gabriel.
A shot. He jumps.
STUBB
Blimey !
DOG
There !
STUBB
(to himself) Blimey
DOG
(to FAWCETT) Don't talk to me about impossible
after that !
FAWCETT
(trembling) Well, just don't let's say that word
again, that's all !
DOG
Why not ? I thought you was silence's best friend!
HUnti it-heppens- - -Like-the storm onthelake
FAWCETT
Don't say that !
DOG
Just a little wave
FAWCETT
(pleading) No, please !
STUBB
(to DOG) Leavehim alone !
FAWCETT
I did alli could ! I
STUBB
(toDOG) Toutye_done-it.som-1


DOG
FAWCETT
(almost in tears) I could hear her crying I They
say you can't shout when you're drowning but she
did ! A kind of a long call, like a moan or a
crooning noise, like an Indian calling L-- she went
up and down in the water
she lost/her foothold,
you see
she was being taken further and further
off I well, I'm just standing there
I just
start to wade in with my hands stretched out, can
you imagine that ?
what a thing to do ! And
she was fifty yards away ! And I couldn't swim
there I was stretching out my hands
DOG
If you couldn't swim
the re 's nothing to be
ashamed of
FAWCETT
But I was so ashame d V Then all of a sudden the
lifeguard came down with a boat
it was off
Vancouver Island
STUBB
You said a lake
FAWCETT
Vancouver Island, I said ! And he pushes the boat
out
he takes hold of her arms and pulls her in
I never seen a life saved so easy ! He even
rowed with one hand ! And all I did was stand and
watch ! She was thin
with glasses on
DOG
'Vancouver Island' ! They all come here with their
dreams
expect the air to wear 'em down
but
it, Aon't !
FAWCETT
Hell-Ged-forgive-mer oh 1 a a. a
In three years
Da enee you'd think he 'd have spoken.
STUBB
Who ?
FAWCETT
God.
STUBB
(with a twinkle) He just ain't talkative, mate I
DOG
He's talkative all right to them with ears !
FAWCETT
Meaning -
DOG
You've been on many a jag since your cockroach-days,
Fawcett, and you haven't asked forgiveness for them!
FAWCETT
It's 0.K. for you, You was never in the cloth, I
believe ?


DOG
Cloth be damned ! Cloth don't change a man !
STUBB
(with sly humour) What's wrong with a cockroach
having a drop of
FAWCETT
(persuasively) It's a mission ! It's a trust !
That's why ! And I failed the trust ! Can't you
see that ?
STUBB
You wasn't cut out for the life, mate, that's all !
DOG
(reminiscing pleasantly) Remember we used to
fish of a Sunday
regular
take a boat on
the lake
have the days all marked up
Monday
for washing
Tuesdays for the cache
Wednesday the pelts and Dave's store
those were
early days !
STUBB
That's right !
FAWCETT
(reflecting) I used to run a communion-class and a
child asked me once, 'Why can't we see the rest of
God's body ?' I said, 'What do you mean ?', and
he said, 'We can see God's face in the moon, why
can't we see the rest of him ?' And do you know
what I said ?
DOG
No ?
FAWCETT
I said, 'What you see is the face of a man, your
own face, reflected in the moon.'
STUBB
I thought God was a copper when I was a kid. The
night was his dark-blue uniform, when he came up
close, to see you was all right when you was asleep.
DOG.
(to FAWCETT) And now you know better ?
FAWCETT
That's right. Now I know that that child was right.
A pause.
STUBB
(in a matter-of-fact way) A policeman came to the
door and he said, 'I hear you've been get tting
violent ?' And I said, 'Oh ?' He said, "Yes, the
wife's been down to the station, she says she wants
prote ction, 1 I told him about the lodger, with
his long black coat, and he said they'd drop the
case. All I did was take my belt off,show her the
belt. But her going down to the station finished
me. It was like the fireplace walking out of the
back door. I've never felt warm since !


FAWCETT
There's a Judas everywhere.
STUBB
I couldn't go back now. I'd be
sick ! That
fireplace with the little black bars in front
the way the clock ticks of a Saturday afternoon
my waistcoat used to smell of wood shavings, from
the mill, it used to get in my hair. (Looking at
the others) You've saddled yourselves with this
for life. Dying can't be much different. You
can't go back now. He'd shoot you dead." And
nobody'd be the wiser.
DOG
There's always a woman in it. Not women
just
one woman. The same one every time. (Nodding
towards the valley)
There she is again
- the
same one.
FAWCETT
Who do youreckon this Mrs. Dave is ?
DOG
She come from Winnipe g
that's all Dave said.
She's SO brainy she-is evil, he said, and yéry
handy with a gun !
FAWCETT
Because there was a schoolteacher down at Pas, too
had a big let-down in love, so Long Martin said.
Suppose this is her ?
DOG
Long Martin's a liar. He's also the biggest pimp
in the North West Territories. He runs three whore-
houses in Fort Churchill alone 9 to my knowledge.
FAWCETT
That's what he said, anyhow
she had a big love-
hitch.
STUBB
(to DOG) He was no pimp when We was prospec ting
toge ther, that's aldI know !
DOG
But he found trapping was slow money
he needed
a lot of hot money, illegal !
STUBB
That's noproof he's a pimp.
DOG
Ask Daye !
Flaming Ethel told him over at Pas !
STUBB
Over/at Pas
that's where tall stories are
hatched ! Down at Fort St. John or Hudson's Hope
you don't hear of whorehouses !
DOG
Flaming Ethel says he pulled out a wad of fifty-
dollar bills
threw it across the table
said
keep it ! You don't get that trapping !
STUBB
You get it dicing.


DOG
Isne said he didn't touch the cards all week
was looking round for white trafficail the time.
She told himakeep off girlse That's a pimp L
FAWCETT
(eagerly) I feel like slipping across the valley
tonight and knocking at her cabin-door. She might
throw me the key ! Then I'll slip it in
the
key I mean ! (He cackles with laughter)
DOG looks at him with disgust.
FAWCETT!s laughter subsides and he
begins looking surreptitiously at
his pack on the ground.
DOG
(watching him closely and talking to STUBB) I do
believe he's serious, my God !
FAWCETT
(hesitantly) I thought for a night
DOG
You'll stay here ! We're not having a week of
wailing and gnashing of teeth, is that right, Stubb?
STUBB
That's right.
DOG
If you want a jag go down to Pas and stay there a
week
break your be t
but you're not turning
this valley into your vicarage
FAWCETT
Vicarage !
(Starting towards him) You -
DOG
Watch it !
FAWCETT
(drawing back because of DOG's grim look) All I
wanted to do was tell you what she's like !
DOG
Go down in the daytime, feast your eyes and come
back. But we're not having you try and get us to
burn your hands with flaming logs and Christ knows
what else
tie your hands up and whip your back-
side
sling soil all over your face
no, sir !
STUBB
(to DOG) Remember him putting a sack over his head
that's what he thought sackcloth and ashes
was ! Blimey,you ought to have seen his face !
FAWCETT
(to DOG) Iineed a jag !
DOG
You need the remorse after, too. But you're not
getting it up here. Not while I'm Dog. You want
to break the bet, go down and break it, stay at
Amy's for a couple of weeks, she '11 give you plenty
to gnash your teeth about, and a dose of some thing,
too,


ÉND OF
STUBA> FAJLET,
|s7. MISTALLEN LDENTITY


FAWCETT
I never had a vicarage. Your education don't stretch
that far, It seems.
DOG
(laughing) It'd be some vicarage ! With cubicles
on every floor !
FAWCETT
(smiling unwillingly) 'Cubicles' -
STUBB
Remember those cubicles at Prince George
with
the boys answering each other over the walls ?
DOG
And the trapper from Eskimo Bay who sat on the bed
and just looked at her for a couple of hours, and
paid double the price and went away ? There's a
lot of strange love in the human breast !
STUBB
That's right.
DOG
I'll tell you somet thing. Before I came up here I
thought I'd have a tough time.
thonght-net juet
a-tough -time with the freezing eoldand bhe-yak-food
but tough with the otherboys
plenty of fights,
knife-brawls and jags every night. Big museley
fellows whotd-eneek-your down 11 you breathed too
deepd I was frightened. But there's less of that
than down below ! Welre
: they
-don-t-senap-each th ner
onl
foed
their-ma-tes
or - pre-tectiron
eap
That's why
I couldn't go back downstairs. I couldn't get back
to that hardness. They're like insects ! And they
all sit down there in their offices thinking
ber ware of thinkers, that's what I've always told
you !
FAWCETT
I couldn't go down because of the jags. The jags
lack sympathy down the re. (to STUBB) Know what I
me an ?
STUBB
(irrit tated) No jags are good enough for you, are
they, mate - - ever since you whored with your
cassock on ?
DOG
FAWCETT
(to DOG) It's true what he says !
STUBB
(to FAWCETT, be ginning to be fascinated) Fawcett!
How did you
? (Wriggling closer to him) Was
this on your morning visits ?
FAWCETT
Eh ?


STUBB
You just called in of a morning
you did the
rounds
and you
FAWCETT
(as fascinated) They needed it, I tell you !
STUBB
(excited) Go on !
FAWCETT
The married 1
the unmarried ! Young
and old !
DOG
Drop it !
EAWCETT
(still to STUBB) It seemed
to fascinate them
being under
- ! (With a glance at DOG)
know what I mean ?
STUBB
Yes, yes ! (Staring into FAWCETT'S face)
FAWCETT
I might be standing there
just inside the door
and
STUBB
(still staring at him) Hey !
FAWCETT
Yes ?
STUBB
(gripping him by the arm) You said inside the
door
! (Peering into his eyes) Listen,
weren't you - ? (To himself) By God ! It's -
Dog, it's -
! Well, Christ alive !
FAWCETT begins to draw back from him.
DOG
(screwing up his eyes) What's the matter ?
FAWCETT
Stubb I :
STUBB
It's
! It's him !
Dog, it's him ! (Shouting)
You rat !
You dirty cassocky ratT
FAWCETT
What ?
STUBB
(breathlessly) There was a cassock upstairs
behind the door
it gave him a. thrill with his
cassock on
DOG
Where was the cassock ? (To FAWCETT) What's he
talking about ?
FAWCETT. shakes his head dumbly.
STUBB
At home !
DOG
What ?


STUBB
was the lodger !
DOG
You're bOsCEA3E
STUBB
The wife used to say, I'll get that long black coat
of his cleaned, that funny black coat that reaches
down to his feet ! (To DOG) Look, he don't say no!
DOG
(with disgust) You're bushed, Stubb ! You didn't
even know Fawcett then !
STUBB
Look at his face
he don't deny it !
DOG
Deny it, Fawce tt.
FAWCETT simply stares at STUBB.
STUBB
She used to go upstairs
DOG
That was fifteen years before you come to Pas !
Fawcett was never in London ! Stubb !
STUBB
Look at him !
DOG
Tell him it's wrong, Fawcett !
Fawcett !
But FAWCETT still stares before him.
STUBB
The same long face
The way he used to come
downstairs, very soft
DOG
Bushed !
STUBB
(in a dreamy way) It makes us
brothers in a
way
DOG
Brothers !
STUBB
I knew we 'd meet up again
FAWCETT
(also dreamily) Me 9 too ! Stubb
was her name
was she called
Gabriel ?
A shot. The other two gasp.
FAWCETT
(seeming to wake up) Hey ! Gabriel !
Another shot.
DOG
(delighted) You did it !
STUBB
Fawcett !


AD % F 9
and FICHT
DDG - FAWOETT.
pos ist LONFESS,


They rush to congratulate him.
FAWCETT
(beaming) Thanks !
DOG
I knew you could do it !
FAWCETT
(to DOG, excited) You may be right
she's over
there to stop us getting bushed ! (Gazing across
the valley)
DOG
That's right ! What did I say ? (To STUBB) You
wouldn't believe me ! (Shouting) Gabriel !
A shot.
FAWCETT
Gabriel !
A shot.
DOG
(hilariously) Gabriel !
Another shot.
STUBB
Gabriel !
Silence. STUBB looks across the
valley suspiciously.
(turning on them) You rats ! Trying to edge me
out ! (Shouting at the top of his voice) Gabriel!
Gabriel ! Gabriel ! Gabriel ! Gab
A shot.
DOG
At last !
(Encouragingly) How's that, Stubb, eh?
STUBB
(exhausted) Thank Christ i Thank Christ for that !
DOG
She means us all
get that into your nuts !
Now sit down I
They sit down round the table in
a happy spirit.
Now I don't know about you two, but it's begun to
be clear to me that
this name, this name
I won't say it
me ans some thing.
STUBB and FAWCETT grunt agreement.
It means some thing for us. The question is what ?
(A pause) Now I've got a suggestion
I don't
know how you two'll take it,


FAWCETT
What ?
DOG
She
the name
she 's bringing us closer
she's guiding us all the time
(He stops)
FAWCETT
Where ?
DOG
It might be something
rich
and marvellous
I don't know ! We've just got to wait and see.
(With an appreciative glance across the valley)
STUBB
I think she might be somebody
connected with
DOG
Connected ?
STUBB
With one of us. Just with one of us ! And we don't
know which one yet !
FAWCETT
Our names are certainly writ in water, like they
said down at Pas Tnever saw her-more-than a
couple of minutes, she was there bobbi-ng up and
down in the water, then she-was lying on the sand,
then she was gone, walking up the beach
She
never evenspoke to me ! She went away with my
soul
I don'teven know her name L!
DOG
(burying his head) Ucch !
FAWCETT
When you go back downstairs, to Pas or Prince
George, nobody recognises.: you. They say, 'Aren't
you
?', then they stare in your face. And you
don't say nothing. That's be cause you're different
now. Your life goes along like water, you don't
belong to places any more *
That's why I came up
here.
DOG
To find out you was made of water ?
FAWCETT
That's right !
STUBB
I heard a doc say it was true. He said we could be
melted down !
DOG
(nodding) I tried to melt away in Kumasi. But the
heat didn' 't do it. Nor did the monsoons, though it
was pretty wet. Yes, indeed ! I had a
punkah-
wallah worked the fan for me.
The radio blinks red again.
STUBB
You did ?


FAWCETT
(imitating DOG) 'And a policeman out there, a white
policeman, was next to God!'
DOG
He was, too !
STUBB
But still, you found you wasn't next to God, didn't
you, mate ?
DOG
It was over before I knew what was happening, I
tell you !
STUBB
I know !
The radio ceases again, unobserved.
DOG
He was standing there
in the governor's drawing
room
under the fan
swish, swish, like the
wings of some sort of big bird, and I can remember
the pictures on the wall
we used to call it the
picture gallery
and this little black boy was
like an angel, an Ashanti-boy in white, so delicate,
so humble and sweet, I had to touch him
and he
didn't say anything
I think he even smiled
I don't know what was in my mind
it just
happened
I touched him
I was getting married
the next month
FAWCETT-
(with a sigh) That's it !
DOG-
I was ! A magistrate e's daughter
! But I
It was only that chaplain
a blasted cockroach
(with sudden fury) I could have crushed him in
my fingers and he 'd have made a crackling sound -
STUBB
Who gives a damn here ?
DOG
I do ! With my hand on that little boy's cheek
they made it dirty
there was nothing wrong in
it ! Staring at me
in the doorway !
FAWCETT
Thatis what they all say.
DOG
Why not ?
FAWCETT
If I go on a jag I don't say afterwards I've been
pure ! What's so pure about
DOG
(understanding what he is about to say) You
(He leaps across and grabs FAWCETT by the throat)
Say it, say it, you cockroach, go on !
FAWCETT struggles and his face gets
redder and redder.


He can only make wild strangling
sounds. STUBB gets alarmed.
STUBB
(tapping him on the back gingerly) Dog
Dog.
mate !
DOG seems unable to release his hands.
DOG
(to FAWCETT) Say it
say it !
STUBB
Gabriel ! (Shouting across the valley) Gabriel !
A shot. DOG suddenly releases
FAWCETT. They stare across the
valley.
DOG
(as FAWCETT tries to get his breath back) She
saved his life ! She does look after us, Stubb !
STUBB
(humouring him) That's it
now just calm down,
mate !
FAWCETT
(re covering his speech) We're - bushed ! We
never done
this before !
STUBB
(to himself) She did save us, in a way !
DOG
My hands went limp, I tell you
when I heard
that shot !
FAWCETT
Thank Christ they did ! (To STUBB) Let's find a
hut up the line, mate ! This one's bushed !
STUBB
(to DOG) You want to watch yourself !
FAWCETT
Look at his face ! Look ! (Feeling his own neck)
You never done that before ! It's the finish !
He begins to walk off, still
feeling his neck.
STUBB
(alarmed) Where you going, mate ?
FAWCETT
Find a hut up the line ! I'll go to Dave's !
He's a killer, that one ! Look at him !
STUBB
Fawcett !
Come back !
FAWCETT
(to DOG, who still stares up at the sky) You
killed that boy ! You killed him, didn't you. ?
DOG
(looking at him in horror) Fawcett !


FAWCETT
(seeing the effect) It's in your hands
you've
got murderer's hands ! That's what you did to the
little Ashanti boy !
DOG
(glancing down at his hands) Kill ! (With horror)
No ! I DISNT.
FAWCETT
(at the door) Murderer ! Murderer ! You murdered
a little Ashanti boy !
DOG
(screaming) No, no ! (Staring at his own hands)
No, for God's sake, no ! No ! Take themeway !
(Holding out his hands) Take them away, oh, for
Christ's sake take-them away ! (Bursting into
tears) Take themawey +
FAWCETT
(moving back, humbled) Dog -- - I didn't mean
He approaches DOG to comfort him.
STUBB
You didn't
did you, Dog ? You didn't kill
him, did you ?
DOG
(hopelessly) I don't know ! I don't know !.
He weeps on FAWCETT's shoulder.
FAWCETT
I didn't me an it, Dog !
DOG
They never told me ! They never
let me know
FAWCETT
DOG
(looking into his eyes like a child) They ne ver
said ! They just
sent me away !
STUBB
(to FAWCETT) Sit him down.
They help DOG to sit down.
FAWCETT
What did you do, Dog ? Try and remember !
DOG
I don't know !
FAWCETT
What did you do to the little Ashanti boy ?
DOG
(looking up and reflecting for a time) Nothing.
He Reed
FAWCETT
What nyou worried about, then ?
DOG
What they said I what they made me out to be !


ENDof (ID
ESKIMD HFOVENS. :
Gitiis's GRAVE Sed


FAWCETT
(turning away from him) It's pride ! What I've
always said
you're proud !
A bird suddenly flies over outside
and STUBB seizes his gun and moves to
the window. But he doesn't shoot.
STUBB
Let him live, I thought. Probably going home to his
dinner !
They sit down exhausted. DOG passes
his hand over his head and sighs.
FAWCETT
That's another thing, You get not to like killing
birds any more. Last week I took aim at fifteen
birds and didn't fire a shot. Hear that, Dog ?
DOG
Uh-huh !
FAWCETT
(with his cackle) Because I had no ammunition !
A pause.
STUBB
All we do is live in our sins up here. I thought
we'd be so pure ! But all we hear about is sins.
DOG
It's all we got !
FAWCETT
You're too fond of fate Deg. Itis like a black
-hood overyour-hoadf!
STUBB
That's why we make his Dog.
he's always sniffing
the sky !
DOG
Youknow damn-well I've got an instinet
myour
interlocutor
be.tween-the Sky and you !
FAWCETT
Tister
DOG
You can't fool the Indians ! Fi-saw-tho-whi-te bear
0.K. : he. ate_me up-
in- Cnrlyle-Street,
Winnipeg
nnd-ho-spewed-me-owt-ngein- For five
years I told them all about their gods - I sat in
their igloos ! I knew more about their gods than
they knew themselves ! I was the first white
angekok
and the last most likely !
FAWCETT
Then the stink of moose got you down !
DOG
I used to sit and talk about the sky. You've got
nothing so peaceful in your life, you cockroach !
I used to talk about the Eskimo heavens


END OF @
GOINC DOWN
EARTAL7-CoMmE RCIA L-CHA AT


FAWCETT
You could take that away from an Indian just by
snapping your fingers ! But you couldn't take away
what I learned !
DOG
About Jesus ?
FAWCETT
That's it !
DOG
It's God I'm talking about
not the King of the
Cockroaches !
FAWCETT
You're a blasphei mer
DOG
And you never know what he '11 decide. (Speaking
monotonously, almost drowsily) Like at Gillis's
Grave, near Manson Creek. The cabin door swinging
open, letters nailed on the table
eaten by rats
two men sitting up
a rusty frying pan in
between
not a mark on their bodies
another
man fifty yards down the hill
rifle cocked
Cocked
They seem to fall asleep. Silence.
STUBB
(waking up with a start) Were they known men ?
DOG
(also waking up with a start) They were known as
much as a trapper is !
A face and a name !
FAWCETT
Maybe they were on a bet, too
like us !
STUBB
Don't talk bushed !
DOG
(gazing across the valley again) You couldn't go
back down again if you wanted to !
FAWCETT
Why not ?
DOG
(to STUBB) You can talk to me about SeCO-fox
farms, but it's them's brought your prices down.
Not s0 long-brrck-beaver pelts took thirty dollarsa
P pieeeknew that ? All you get for the best prime
pelt of silver fox is seventy dollars nowadays !
And I remember selling two hundred low-grade dark
pelts for near on five thousand dollars at Eskimo
Point
myself ! Don't talk to me about white-fox
farms !
Slres
STUBB
(with a wink at FAWCETT) Why, Dog
are you
thinking of going down all of a sudden ?
DOG continues to gaze across the
valley as if nursing a se cret.


FAWCETT
(approaching DOG, intrigued) Where would you go ?
DOG
(after eyeing them both for a moment) Little place
by the Peace River
STUBB
(also drawing near him, excited) He's had it all
worked out !
FAWCETT
What would you do ?
DOG
I figured it out like this. A place like Fort St.
John or Hudson's Hope, along the Peace River valley:
you've got the whole of that boiling water
FAWCETT
Yes !
DOG
All that power in the Peace River Canyon, you've
got prospects
it's rich country
you've got
coal, you've got timber, fur, bog iron, copper
they say there 's still placer gold in the gravel-
bars of the river
STUBB
What about that ?
what about the dredging firms
that lost their money back before the war ?
DOG
I don't say that's what we'd do
STUBB
(digging FAWCETT excitedly) We !
DOG
I say there 's prospe cts
there's riches all
round
in the sky
in the water
in the
earth !
FAWCETT
There'd be
people, too -
DOG
That's right ! People you can talk to ! No more
of this Gabriel stuff !
Suptend A short pause, then there is a shot.
They eye each other.
STUBB
(quietly) Let her talk !
DOG
That's it ! (Turning his back on the valley
deliberately) We '11 go down and be among people
We '11 go in the saloons, play cards, we '11 be
luxury prospectors
STUBB
That's it !
d stalles
FAWCETT
We'll have horses
a fine old house up on wooden
stilts


STUBB
We've got the money
cached out in those trees
in pelts !
DOG
And what do we do ? We trade them across the valley
to Dave for half-price ! Well, they say if you're
trapping you're not in it for money, and that's the
truth !
STUBB
Peace River !
A pause, during which they all dream
about this.
FAWCETT
(quie tly, looking up at DOG) How about the police ?
DOG
It's only what I think ! I don't know I did it ---!
It's only what I say I did ! I don't remember ! I
just think !
FAWCETT
And you'd think just the same down there !
Another silence, more glum than before.
STUBB
(pondering) We could try it. Go down for a week.
Tell Dave we 're selling pelts
DOG
No cooking
think of that ! I can hear how my
footstepsid sound on the wood floor, going to the
pelt-store
FAWCETT
They'd laugh at us !
DOG
(flaring up) They laugh at people who laugh at
themselves !
FAWCETT
(to STUBB) You wouldn't think he gets all wound up
if you move his cup of coffee an inch in the
morning, would you
if you don't have your
blankets turned by half-six
then his Bible-
reading at night !
STUBB
(with a wink) He's got his little Ashanti boy to
keep him warm !
DOG
(murmuring, half to himself) He keeps me good !
When I think of him
I can see the little gold
rings in his ears
the way his teeth sparkle ---!
FAWCETT
But
(leaning forward persuasively) being good's
a S struggle, Dog, a daily struggle
it's a
(He stops dead and stares in front of him)
DOG
I hate cockroaches


-TroNT.O
DOG - FAWCETT
Cuoprn-
IDENTTY WITID


STUBB
(to DOG) Remember that time down at Pas he 'd been
on a week's jag and put his head in the ashcan
outside Amy's saloon and got the boys to give him a
welting with their straps ?
DOG
Tcha !
STUBB
(to FAWCETT) I bet you never even felt it, you was
so drunk !
FAWCETT
(who has subsided in a puzzled way after his moral
speech) I saw my sheets next morning, covered with
blood
- There was sores all over my back.
DOG
I don't mind a Catholic cockroach, he goes on a jag
and forgets, but you lot !
FAWCETT
We're our own judges
we don't send our dirty
linen to the mother-church and expe ct it to come
back clean !
They are quiet again.
DOG
(to himself) 'Being good's a struggle'
yes, I
can remember that ! (To STUBB) Then he led me
through the gallery down to the gaol !
STUBB
(looking at him) What ?
DOG
The swea t was pouring down my neck
I can
remember my knees shaking. And he said 'Being good's
a struggle, Haines'
and. he puts his hand on my
shoulder.
A pause, during which the other
two look at him.
STUBB
Who did ?
DOG
The chaplain. A long-faced
! (Putting his
hand over his eyes) I've thought about it so much--!
(Looking up at FAWCETT with clear eyes) Listen
whose idea was that ?
FAWCETT
(staring at him) Eh ?
DOG
What was the plan
you must have known the
Governor's mind like your own !
FAWCETT
What's that ?


DOG
(reasoning with him) I reckon you must have sat in
his office four hours a day
I can remember that
you used to take your tiffin together
FAWCETT
(with a perplexed look at STUBB) Tiffin ? What the
hell's that ?
DOG
Was I getting too big for you ?
FAWCETT
Big ?
DOG
Too popular ? I know the language too well ?
STUBB
Bushed !
DOG
You can say bushed, but he knocked my career on the
head inside thirty seconds !
STUBB
Yes, yes !
DOG
'That little native boy'
(imi itating a chaplain's
fluting voice, 9 which is incidentally also FAWCETT's)
'is the Prince Regent's son, Haines. I'll have
to see the Governor about this ! (To STUBB) I
pleaded with him
'Please don't do it, chaplain,
please don't
! 1 But he went on walking up the
stairs, I can remember the punkah wallah outside
the Governorts door
then
up went Chief
Inspector Haines in smoke
phew
FAWCETT
(gazing before him sadly) I wish we was down below
DOG
What does it make you feel like, Chaplain Fawcett ?
FAWCETT
And the marble stairs. I can remember the marble
stairs ! (As if illuminated) How the sunlight
shone on them !
DOG
That's it !
FAWCETT
They were white !
DOG
(to STUBB) He rel members ! You see ?
FAWCETT
(radiant) But you deserved it, Haines -
you
killed that boy !
STUBB
'Haines' ! It's a different name every week
Haines, Wykham, Stornford, Crampton ! It's time
you moved on to Wykham about now, isn' 't it (to DOG)?


ÉND (3
311 FIGHT
DO6.-FAMCETT. -


DOG
Chief Inspector Haines
until this cockroach
tore me down ! Fifteen years in a sweat-bath
provided royalty with a wall
my own body
STUBB
(imitating him) 'And they used to call me the
battering ram f
DOG
My face was known in the highest circles
'Haines'll see to it,' they always said !
(He yawns unexpe ectedly)
FAWCETT
(looking about him) Listen to that silence !
DOG stares before him, re collecting.
A pause.
FAWCETT
(to STUBB) Suppose they just fell asleep ?
STUBB
Who ?
FAWCETT
Them three at Gillis's Grave ? The cold makes you
sleepy ! Suppose there's a sudden cold snap ? You
freeze !
Just sitting there !
STUBB
It was. summe r !
FAWCETT
But a sudden wind - - like a breath
! It
makes you sleepy
(He yawns and stretches up)
Remember that time north of the Skeena River, along
the trap-line, behind the huskies
just miles
and miles of white snow
we had to pinch each
other awake
to stop getting frost bite
just miles and miles
white
falls asleep)
DOG
'Haines' - (He begins to nod, sitting)
STUBB gets up, stretches and looks
down at the othe r two.
STUBB
(also yawning) Bushed !
He begins strolling off, his hands in
his pocke ts, whistling quie etly to him-
self. He disappears out of the door.
Silence.
The other two sleep on, DOG still in
the sitting position, his head hanging
forward; FAWCETT snoring loudly.
We hear STUBB'S whistle fade away.


END 44
STUBB. SUST FIRING 05 Bens.
DoCs-RELOVERY


A bird suddenly flies over but
neither DOG nor FAWCETT stir.
Two or three more birds fly over.
Suddenly there are shots from
across the valley, one after the
< other. FAWCETT jumps into the
sitting position, panic-stricken.
DOG lifts his head in a dazed way.
FAWCETT
(staring at DOG with horror, as if still asleep)
Haines, Ha ines
don't shoot 14(As the volley
continued) Haines, for Christ's sake, Haines,
you're hitting me
all over the body N Haines!
(Twitching violently with each shot, just as if
he 'd been struck)
DOG simply stares at him wi th
fascination.
Haines ! Haines !
Unable to bear the 'shots' any more
FAWCETT seizes his own gun and points
it at DOG. DOG is at once on his feet.
DOG
You - - - ! It's guilt, you cockroach !
He wrenches FAWCETT'S gun out of his
hand and flings it aside, then wrestles
with him. FAWCETT fights frantically.
At last DOG overpowers him, on the
floor close to the door.
(Lying on top of FAWCETT, breathless) Who's
Haines ? Who's this Haines ?
FAWCETT
(seeming to recognise him slowly) Dog
DOG
The name 's Wykham. Get that into your head
Wykham !
STUBB dashes in and almost trips
over them. They struggle to their
feet and stare at him in
astonishment.
DOG
(peering at him) Who - ? (Passing his hand over
his face) Christ
! I thought it was
nowcomer !:
FAWCETT
So did I ?
DOG
A new face !


STUBB
It's always the same
if I go away for a minute
you two fight ! Every time ! Like a couple of
brothers !
Don't you,?
DOG
He jumps on me (abashed) !
FAWCETT
He was firing at me
like in dreams !
They notice STUBB is panting.
DOG
(to STUBB) What you been running for ?
ST UBB
I've got news !
DOG
News ?
STUBB
She's firing at birds ! (He sits down on a chest
heavily) That's the news. I watched 'em falling.
DOG
You saw
FAWCETT
Did you see her ?
STUBB
She bagged five in a row. I just saw the birds.
They gaze before them glumly. This
is bad news. especially for DOG.
DOG
It's all disappointments up here
STUBB
Just like I said
nothing talks to you up here
get that into your nut !
FAWCETT
So what do we do ?
DOG
Go back down
(with sorrow) There's nothing to
stay up here for
A shot. They stares at each other.
STUBB
Another bird.
DOG
(reminiscing sadly) I asked a parson once
was sitting in church one afte rnoon
the sun was
coming through the stained glass
I said, 'Isn't
God's face in the moon, if so, where's his feet ?'
And he said, 'That's the face of man, that's your
face, son
Trust a cockroach to take the guts
out of life !
FAWCETT
I can't live without somebody !
STUBB
There's just Dave over there
and his son !


FAWCETT
There's her as well !
STUBB
It's only Dave says she's there. You know how he
is --- - with a little twinkle in his eye !
FAWCETT
Long Martin says she's neat, with plenty in front,
and she had a big let-down in love !
STUBB
Long Martin's a pinp !
DOG
He's no pimp !
STUBB
What about that wad of fifty-dollar bills
she
said he hadn't played a card all week !
DOG
You believe that ?
STUBB
(stopping, screwing up his eyes) Hey
! Wasn't
it you
who told me that ? (He stops again,
looking puzzled)
DOG is silent, thinking some thing over.
DOG
And suppose she does shoot birds ?
FAWCETT
What ?
DOG
(to STUBB) Suppose she does ? (To FAWCETT) Let
him answer
he brought the news, after all.
STUBB
It means
she's not in tune with us !
DOG
You think so ? I'm not so sure ! I'd just like to
find out. (Looking across the valley) What do you
say
(suddenly) Gabriel ?
An immediate shot.
FAWCETT
(radiantly) Dog !
DOG
Gabriel ! (A shot) Gabriel ! (He says this one
with firm confidence, his chin set)
And again there is a shot.
FAWCETT
Gabriel !
Another shot.
They all three begin shouting Gabriel
and there is a volley of shots as before.
They dance up and down happily chanting
the name as the volley continues.


At last the shots cease. They laugh
happily and sit down in a busy and
celebrative way
it is like a
happy reunion.
DOG
Well, thank God for it ! That's all I can say !
Thank God for a little guidance
(winking at
them) with or without birds !
The other two nod and laugh maturely
at this.
FAWCETT
Does it make you feel peaceful again, Dog ?
DOG
(nodding) And clear.
FAWCETT
Me 9 too !
The radio blinks again.
DOG
My insides feel all right
put it that way.
Same with you ?
FAWCETT nods quickly like a child
trying to please.
STUBB
Like Fawcett said down at Pas, when we laid the bet,
remember ?
'Something's got to come out of the
silence ! 1
A pause
DOG
Another thing. It makes me hungry.
STUBB
Me, too !
The radio ceases blinking, unobserved.
DOG
What about the beans
did you put 'em in soak,
Mrs. Fawcett ? (With a gay wink at STUBB)
FAWCETT doesn't answer. He seems
to be thinking.
STUBB
(nudging DOG happily) He forgot !
FAWCETT
(deliberately) Mrs. Dave don't exist !
DOG
What ?
Now shut your mouth !
FAWCETT
She
DOG
You're spoiling it, you're


FAKCETT
She don't exist !
DOG
(desperately) I've seen her !
FAWCETT
You said to Dave, 'What you keep in that cabin
over there, Dave ?', for a joke, and he said, with
that little twinkle, 'A woman ! 1 That's all !
For a joke !
STUBB
That's right ! I wanted to ask Young Dave but (to
DOG) J ou wouldn't let me !
FAWCETT
(to STUBB) That's to keep his dream going ! He's
driving us 208A I tell you ! Young Dave'll be
the little Ashanti boy soon !
DOG
(to himself) Don't talk bushed !
FAWCETT
But it'll take some doing
a Canadian boy in the
bloom of sixteen, with bright yellow hair, and
trigger-happy, to the son of a Gold Coast tribes-
man.
STUBB
Dog could do it, don't you worry about that !
DOG nods, again thinking it over.
DOG
All I'd like to know is this: what difference
does it make ? Something's there -
call it a
she
call it Gabriel
There is a shot.
(With increased confidence but still in a level
voice) Call it I Dave's whore
it doesn't
matter ! Something's talking to us, and that's
all I'm interested in. (Briskly) Now, come on,
get the lamps ready, Fawcett
steam ahead
you want us in darkness tonight ?
He rises in a businesslike way and
the others follow suit, with a glance
at each other.
STUBB
It's always lamps when he loses confidence !
DOG
(to STUBB) Have a look at the cache
we don't
want half the grizzly population up those poles
tonight
it seems, Fawcett can't use grease !
FAWCETT
There's no more grease to use, I've told you that.


DOG
(to STUBB) And look at the smudge. Whose turn for
petrol ?
STUBB
Mine.
DOG
Then get to it. Have a look at the generators
the tower
STUBB stops on his way out.
STUBB
The what ?
DOG
The generators.
STUBB
What generators ?
DOG
You always say that !
The ones outside !
FAWCETT stands watching them as if
for the outcome of a contest.
STUBB
Where ?
DOG
(impatiently) You haven't noticed anything
three years ?
STUBB
There's - - (he trails off dreamily)
DOG
What would you call them ?
STUBB
I don't know, I --- ! (With fear) Would you call
them towers ? I'd say
masts
DOG
(interested despite himself) Masts ?
STUBB
With kind of wings
1 that turn round and round
not towers exactly.
DOG
(hesitantly) I see them as towers.
STUBB
(quickly) But what for ?
DOG
(taking this as unfair) Shut up !
They stand there frightene d by
their own talk.
(To FAWCETT) Would would you say they was like ?
FAWCETT
(eagerly) I'd say they was for the weather
maybe weather detection


ENS oF IS


DOG
(angrily) I didn't ask you what they was for !
Nobody asked you that !
FAWCETT's answer has increased
his fear.
STUBB
And what's the good of looking every day
concrete towers won't walk away !
DOG
(shouting at him) You know your orders ! If you
see a stranger, shoot !
Now get out !
STUBB
(going out, rifle on shoulder) It's the only order
we ever got.
The other two stand watching him go.
They don't like to be reminded of the
outside.


plan -
don
0 os peforan
o Es. Hance


Only DOG and FAWCETT. FAWCETT is
preparing the guns and packs for hunting.
DOG stands scanning the other side of the
valley through a small telescope. He
suddenly sights something.
DOG
Hey ! Look at this !
There's mail !
FAWCETT
Mail ? (Running to the door) Hey, Stubb
there's mail !
DOG
(taking the teléscope down) The last time it came
was
(He screws up his eyes painfully and stops;
he can't remember)
STUBB appears, with his rifle, as
if from his patrol.
STUBB
What's that ?
FAWCETT
The flag's out ! I'm expe cting a letter from
(He also stops)
DOG
At Carlyle Street, Winnipeg, I got forty Christmas
cards one year ! I kept them on my dresser for six
months !
STUBB
Remember that time we danced all night
a new
moon
when some mail came up ? We got double
price for our pelts and nobody could tell us why !
DOG
A war broke out downstairs, that's why ! Is the
STUBB
It won't hold more 'n a week.
DOG
Hear that, Fawcett ?
FAWCETT
Stubb's our cache expert !
DOG
Like hell he is ! You just don't like work !
Listen
Stubb and me'll sit upwind today and
cook ! You can sit by the Creek and pick 'em off !
STUBB
I don't like the way Fawcett shoots - he's too
deadly !
DOG
He's a cockroach, that's why !


FAWCETT
I'm a stalker, really
I'm no good with the
flying species !
STUBB
(to DOG) Remember when he brought that moose-ram
down and we hadn't even seen it ?
DOG
Come on
there' 's shootin' to do ! (As they
inspect their guns)
Wire 0.K. ?
STUBB
Yes.
DOG
Generator ?
ST UBB
(nodding) Beats me why we can't have light. There
must be a couple of million volts out there !
DOG
Light's real, that's why.
STUBB
They say Young Dave's a spy. Hw only brings the
mail to spy on us. To see if we 're still around.
DOG
(squinting at him)
Why, feeling nervous ?
STUBB
(hushed, making a gesture towards the door) But
what's under that
DOG
Shut up !
FAWCETT
(turning suddenly) Why shouldn't he ask questions?
DOG
(turning on him as swiftly) Who can answer them ?
FAWCETT
But
DOG
(interrupting him roughly) You can't ! That's for
sure !
FAWCETT
We had issue chairs and issue washbasins once, and
you had to burn the chairs
use the basins for
goldfish ! Why ?
DOG
Because them things are real, that's why !
FAWCETT
(wildly) I like reality !
DOG
(gazing at him scornfully) You ?
And what are
you going to shoot withy realist ? You've got no
ammunition !
FAWCETT
(baffled) There's ammunition there 0.K. !
(Pointing at the chest)


DOG
Are you sure ?
FAWCETT
(making a move towards it) I can look !
DOG
(keeping him away roughly) Lay off ! Ever since
you elected me Dog you've been giving me the glass
eye !
FAWCETT
Eh ?
DOG
Find yourself another Dog, realist. And some
other dreams : (He sits down on the chest heavily)
STUBB
(nervously) Are we going, Dog ?
DOG
I'm just tired of making it up, that's all :
FAWCETT
(humbled) Is there anything wrong, Dog ? Shall I
go ahead to the Creek ? (Trying to be bright) Beans
for supper ?
DOG
I've got no more dreams to weave, boys. (Looks
from one to the other) There's no Mrs. Dave. Just
somebody out there shootin' birds.
STUBB
3 We like your dreams, Dog.
DOG
Like hell you do ! We're in a dead-end street,
Stubb ! I've held the office too long.
FAWCETT
(gingerly) No, no.
DOG
It's time to rec collect, boys !
STUBB
(knowing what this means) Oh, no, for Christ's
sake
- not the Eskimo trance !
DOG
She ain't there any more ! (Calling) Gabriel ? a
No Gabriel. Yes, it's time to re collect ! (He
continues to sit there with a blank face)
It dawns on the other two that
this really will be the Eskimo trance.
STUBB
(drawing back) Dog !
FAWCETT
(also drawing back) Hey, Dog
DOG continues to sit there as if
forcing himself to lose consciousness.
His head droops more every moment.


STUBB and FAWCETT stand close
toge ther, gazing at him in growing
horror. DOG's eyes close.
STUBB
(in a whisper) Dog : e Dog . * come back !
DOG's head slumps forward. He is
quite still. There is a long silence.
(Without moving) What do we do ?
FAWCETT
(running to shake DOG) Dog, it ain't true ! She e's
there all right ! Mrs. Dave's there !
But DOG remains motionless.
STUBB
(with resignation) He's gone -
FAWCETT
(withdrawing again and speaking hesitantly) Dog
shall we be making up the books tonight ?
STUBB bends down and speaks into
DOG's face.
'STUBB
Haines ! (No reply) Wykham ! Bailly !
Stornford ! (Turning to FAWCETT) What's the other
one ?
FAWCETT
Crampton.
STUBB
Crampton ! Crampton ! (He raises himself slowly)
He's on the white-bear stuff again: he's got to
be spewed out in bits and then put toge ther again.
(Turning away in disgust) Tcha !
FAWCETT
(persisting with DOG) Dog
I can't keep the
books like you ! Where's the rosta- ? Dog ! (He
turns to STUBB in alarm) He takes the signals from
Dave, don't forget that ! Dog
we can't signal!
How do we get the provisions up ? Suppose there's
an S.0.S. ? Listen, Dog
I think there's an
S.0.S. ! Right now !
DOG is motionless.
STUBB
He' 's the only man can talk to the huskies, too !
FAWCETT
Crampton !
Bailly !
The radio blinks S.0.S.
STUBB
(in alarm, seeing it) Crampton ! There's an S.0.S.!


leam
Dead)


They both stare at the radio in horror,
until after a few seconds it ceases.
They relax a little.
FAWCETT
Don't you know one signal ?
STUBB
No !
They stare at DOG with growing fear.
FAWCETT
Who handles the husky teams now, Dog ? I feel
cold !
Silence. They sit down and glance
towards the radio
no signals.
STUBB
He '11 sit there till winter comes. That's what the
Indians do ! Remember what he always used to say ?
'The Eskimo trance is the death of the Torngarsock,
which means the death of : (drowsily) dreams
FAWCETT is staring at DOG in a
fixed way.
FAWCETT
(in a hushed voice) Hey
Stubb ! Look at his
head !
STUBB
(starting) What ?
FAWCETT
He looks like the man who came to the vestry
A man in the choir !
STUBB
What are you talking about ?
FAWCETT
It's true : I swear by God ! He says, 'I've
followed your career very close, Mr. Fawcett,' he
says, 'and I'll have the cloth off your back : 1
Standing there in the vestry door ! |His big red
beard
His head hanging down like that
They called him the shaggy mountain
He kept
the morals'of the village in his head, Yet they
say he died a profligate. He disliked the
compe tition from a priest, they said. There were
too many women in the village
suffering from
the same desires, Stubb
I always used to call
them such loud desires !
STUBB
What was his name ?
FAWCETT
Bailly, I think.
STUBB
Bailly ?


FAWCETT
(springing up and approaching DOG with fascinated
attention) It is Bailly ! It's his head
when
he died ! (He springs back suddenly)
STUBB
(frightened by this) What ?
FAWCETT
(shrieking) Dog, Dog
you can't die ! Dog !
A long silence. He stands there
trembling.
STUBB
(quie tly) Maybe that's how the boys at Gillis's
Grave died. Just
sat and died
(Looking
round) Per'aps. we're dead ! It's too quiet,
Fawcett
not a husky
or a bird !
They listen, quaking.
FAWCETT
(looking towards the window and whispering) Gabriel!
Gabriel !
STUBB
(nudging FAWCETT) Take his pulse !
FAWCETT
(drawing back) Not me !
STUBB
You must have done the last offices -
to the dead!
FAWCETT
(his teeth chattering) I
STUBB
Was you a cockroach ?
FAWCETT
Yes
STUBB
(threateningly) Was you ?
FAWCETT
I - I
think so
STUBB
You're bushed !
FAWCETT
Put a glass under his nose
I done that to
Bailly !
STUBB quickly rummages about in his
pocke t, and finds a broken piece of
mirror. He puts it under DOG's nose.
(Whispering) Careful, Stubb - the last offices
has got to be careful !
STUBB studies the mirror for some
time, afraid to get too close.
STUBB
He 's -
dead !


FAWCETT
Christ !
STUBB
(jumping back) DOG !
DOG : I
FAWCETT
(also shouting) Dog !
DOG is motionless.
STUBB
He's spoofin'.
I re ckon !
FAWCETT
That's it ! He was holding his breath ! (A pause)
Do you think so ?
STUBB
I think he's - not dead.
FAWCETT
(smiling) Well, thank God, then ! You see, Stubb.
I think he needs us
I - - ! (He promptiy goes
and sits down beside DOG in a confidential way) I
did resent your power, Dog. I never wanted you
elected ! You didn't deserve that prison-sentence
on the Gold Coast ! You see, the Governor and me
resented the way you spoke the language, we
couldn't speak it, you see. We tried to learn from
the text-books but it didn't work
we was jealous
of your way with the natives ! You didn't kill
that little Ashanti boy, did you ? He keeps you
good !
STUBB
(bending down and speaking softly) You said you
was going to lead us to a place, Dog
remember.?
Three years ago ? When we laid the bet ? (A
pause, then to FAVCETT) Is he breathing ?
FAWCETT
Oh, he 's breathing !
STUBB
(again to DOG) You said we. need five years of
silence, remember ?
FAWCETT
(with sudden disillusion) We should never have come
up ! We should never have signed on ! (Shouting
at DOG again) Dog ! Dog ! Wake up ! (Shaking
DOG violently) Dog !
DOG remains still, slumped on the
ammunition chest.
STUBB
(shouting in DOG's ear) You ditched us, you rat !
Now wake up !
He also shakes DOG violently. As
he does so he hears something clink
in DOG's pocket. He stops.


Conenion


FAWCETT
What's that ?
STUBB seizes a little bunch of
keys and holds them up before him.
STUBB
The gunshot keys !
FAWCETT
(radiantly) We'll shoot our way across the
valley
we '11
With sudden resolve they both have
DOG off the ammunition chest
tremendous effort
and leave him
slumped against one of the other
chests.
STUBB
(unlocking the chest) Hey, look at this !
FAWCETT
Bottles !
They stare inside the chest.
STUBB
Where's the gunshot ?
FAWCETT
It's rye !
Bottles of rye !
STUBB seizes a bottle and tears the
top off, then drinks thirstily.
STUBB
(gasping) God save the King !
FAWCETT
(cackling) A couple of sips and you always say
that ! (Also seizing a bottle and drinking) Sing
your prohibition song !
STUBB
(with great relish, an enormous smile on his face)
Four and twenty Yankees, feeling very dry,
Went across the border to get a drink of rye,
When the rye was opened, the Yanks began to sing,
BOTH
God bless America but God save the King !
FAWCETT
(peeping at DOG) What's he ever done except feed
us on lies ? 'Mrs. Dave's over there !' (To DOG,
defiantly) Mrs."Dave don't exist ! And last year
it was Young Dave coming up with a contract from
Prince George to make us rich ! - The year before
that there was radium in the valley ! Then he was
on the run
every time a bear sniffed round the
cache he said, 'That's the cops ! 1
STUBB
Shall I tell you some thing about Dog ? (After
peeping at DOG) Long Martin told me - four years


STUBB
ago.: He
went native with the Indians. (Peeping
cautiously at DOG again) Ate moose-meat with his
hands, had the lice picked out of his hair. Lived
in their stink and liked it. He
(lowering his voice) came to my door in South
London and said, 'I hear you've bin getting
violent with the wife ?' 'The wife ?' I says. And
the tears started pouring down my face ! He took
me down the station and I told him about - Fawcett
and he said
FAWCETT
Uccch !
STUBB
(in an imploring way) What did you do it for, mate?
FAWCETT
(drinking) Well
(forcing himself to say some -
thing) It was
the village
the women with
all their desires
such loud desires, I always
used to say !
The village in Wales !
STUBB
It was South London !
FAWCETT
South: Wales !
STUBB
London !
FAV WCETT
Wales !
STUBB
(giving in) All right, then. Fawcett
tell me
aout her
FAWCETT
Who ?
STUBB
My wife
FAWCETT
Well - - I .used to come in
STUBB
Yes !
FAWCETT
Knock at the door
start walking up the stairs--!
STUBB
(fascinated) Yes !
FAWCETT
She id say, let me have your cassock for the cleaners,
I'll come and get it
and she
STUBB
Go on !
FAWCETT
(suddenly rejecting the fantasy) To hell with it !
(Shaking STUBB out of his fascinated state) Don't
you realise
shet tay S-dgshed ? We'll go
bashed
at DOG) Look what he's come to
now
magiooking


STUBB
Just to think, I used to go out of a morning at
five o'clock sharp and walk down the road to the
tram, and they used to call me Mr. Stubb. - And Joe
at the works. Or Joseph. The boss called me
Joseph. (A pause) And I went on the boose every
Friday night, regular. I never got rough but she
couldn't stick it after near on fifteen years.
(Disconsolately) 'You're not fit to live in a
street,' she said. 'You're
you're
ashamed of it,' she said.
FAWCETT
Ashamed of what ?
STUBB
It. (In total disillusion) There ne ver was a
lodger. I wanted her to. But she said no.
FAWCETT
(with the same disconsolate air) I never did take
orders. I was only in the choir. And I
liked
the girls
- That's all.
STUBB.
(turning to DOG) What do you say to that, Dog ?
What do you say to a drop of truth ?
FAWCETT
(whispering) Let's go down, Stubb !
STUBB
(rising with a nod but still looking at DOG) You
ne ver could bear to hear the truth about yourself,
could you, mate ? Well, you'll get it now, all on
your own. You'll get your silence.
They begin to pack stealthily,
with glances at DOG.
FAWCETT
Women ! Think of it !
STUBB
And people talking sane !
FAWCETT
We - '11 get to Dave's before nightfall
tell him
Dog's asleep !
STUBB
For ever !
They continue packing busily.
FAWCETT
Hey
what about gunshot ?
STUBB
Sssh ! (Glancing at DOG) We don't need shot
not in daylight !
They hitch on the ir packs. As they
do So a dog barks on the other side
of the valley.


Pir :
clax


FAWCETT
(whispering) Dave's huskies !
Their own huskies answer, close by.
They wait, fearful that DOG will be
disturbed.
STUBB
(whispering) Come on !
They creep out, with a last glance
at DOG.
DOG is alone. The huskies bark
again near by. Then there is silence o.
DOG is quite motionless as before.
Suddenly there is a shot. It is
followed by another, then another,
until there is a volley.
The dogs begin to bark frantically.
DOG shakes himself awake.
DOG
(looking round with a. glare) Gone !
He jumps up with a tremendous bound
and stands with his feet astride like
a great animal, glowering.
The firing dies down.
So that's it !
He sees the open ammunition chest, tears
out a bottle, then anothers gazes at
them, and puts them back. He sees the
half-empty bottle they have left behind
them, seizes it, holds it up to the
light, and puts it down again.
Gone !
He begins to calm down, picks up his
gun, which they have left lying on
the ground; leans it against the bed
carefully, closes the chest with a
violent kick and sits down on it again.
(To himself) And I used to sweep the gravel at
the Governor's lodge
look at me now ! (Takes
a drink from the used bottls) You liar ! (Pauses)
Yes, old King Prempel painted the walls of his
palace with human blood ! Gallons of it ! But
the English broke him. They turned him into a


Boptim
Dogamme lontaf
Atntn.


DOG
citizen. (With a smile) Like . me. They exiled him
to an island in the Indian Ocean, and when he came
back he was talking about public works.
He frowns as if trying to recollect
some thing.
(With an effort) I could never bear to touch
woman !
He seems astonished at his own words
and looks round to see if there ae
hearers.
(Looking up as if answering someone) ) What's that
I don't like the truth ! There's the truth ! And
I hope it chokes you ! They stoned me - - (almost
weeping) hissed at me ! A poor damned white !
(After recollection) Liar. (Looks up at the sky
and whispers) Gabriel !
Silence. He nods in a resigned way.
He gazes before him in the silence,
quite lost in memories, it seems.
There is a movement close by and he
seizes his gun.
Who's there ? (He waits, breathing heavily, his
gun pointed) Who's there ?
STUBB and FAWCETT appear again.
They walk in cautiously. DOG
lowers his gun. They appear
shaken. DOG watches them closely
as they put down their packs and
guns.
DOG
How far d'you get ?
STUBB
Edge of the lake.
DOG
Then ?
STUBB
We saw Young Dave.
DOG
You did ?
They nod silently.
What did he say ?
STUBB
laughed at us
He just stood there
and laughed - : 1 The tears was pouring down his face.


STUBB
He was holding his sides. He couldn't help it.
He's a decent kid. He just couldn't help laughing.
DOG
(gritting his teeth) I'll give him laugh !
They sit down again and stare
before them in silence.
FAWCETT
Why did he laugh, Dog ?
DOG
Because you're unfit for civilisation ! Because
you're a couple of scare crows. You're finished
you can't go down to reality any more. That's why.
FAWCETT
They'd have drummed us out of Pas if we'd gone down !
STUBB
He just stood and laughed. He couldn't get his
breath
he doubled up ! And you couldn't blame
him !
FAWCETT
(to DOG) They'd laugh at you, too !
DOG
(with sudden fury) I wouldn't try to go down ! I
wouldn't try it ! Get that into your nut !
A pause.
STUBB
(pleasantly) It's nice to hear your voice again,
Dog
DOG
(still to FAWCETT) 'Women' ! Look at yourself in
a mirror, Casanova !
FAWCETT strokes his chin in a self-
conscious way.
FAWCETT
We need your help. Dog. Perhaps you could choke
Young Dave off for us ! I over the radio. Tell
his dad !
DOG
Like hell I could. You want the truth
you got
it ! Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings - -
i And I'll tell
you something else
while
was
you
out butterfly-hunting I talked the truth to myself
- it's getting quite a habit round here ! Truth's
a two-way traffic !
while you was asleep.
S7UBB
DOG
at did you talk ?
STUBB
Wes
tejked,
when


nunits


DOG
No, just tell me, 9 in the same words !- Go ahead !
STUBB
I - - ! (Glancing at FAWCETT for help)
FAWCETT.
I said I was only
in the cloth
DOG
Yes ?
FAWCETT
I said I was
! (He can't go on)
DOG
And that was the truth ?
FAWCETT
That's it !
DOG
(with relentless mockery) I'm fascinated !
STUBB
I told Fawcet tt about the - - I said she always said
'You're not meant
1 I said
About
fifteen years
(He gives up)
DOG
(nodding) Quite a confession, eh ? And you had
some rye ?
STUBB
That's right.
DOG
'Four and twenty Yankees' ?
STUBB nods.
GOD SAVE THE KING ! (Imitating STUBB)
DOG finishes off with FAWCETT'S cackle,
and the other two look away, shamefaced.
FAWCETT
(with sudden spirit, lighting up) And what was your
truth ?
DOG
(momentarily off-guard) My own ! (Pointing to the
sky) For God !
STUBB
(flinging his keys at him) You can have
your rye
keys .
DOG
Thanks.
They glower at each other.
STUBB
Dog.
DOG
Yes ?
STUBB
Young Dave had some mail. A whole wad of it.
Sticking out of his pack.


DOG
A wad of it ?
STUBB
That's right !
DOG
So where is he now ?
STUBB
I don't know
We just ran !
DOG
Oh, you did !
Heroes !
FAWCETT
It seemed like trapper's mail for a couple or three
years !
DOG
We'll just have to wait, then
unless you scared
him off for good !
STUBB
I reckon all that shooting was just Young Dave
coming over with the mail !
DOG
You did ? Realist !
(msEer)
STUBB
And Dog
we talked it over
(pointing at the
ammunition chest) We thought it was funny
there's a lot of bottles there !
DOG
And you thought you'd find gunshot ?
STUBB
That's right ! It seemed a lot of bottles
for an ammunition chest ! (Trying to kid)
DOG
Don't you like rye ?
STUBB
But that's a year's supply
FAWCETT
Dog
where's that gunshot ?
thaue
DOG
Here
right mder me
! (He smiles
defiantly)
FAWCETT
You mean
? (He gives an alarmed glance at
STUBB) You traded the pelts for
! You traded
all those pelts
STUBB
(staring at DOG) You did what ?
FAWCETT
There's no gunshot ! Oh, Christ in heaven ! How
are we going to live
eat
? God help us,
Dog, that's all !
DOG
That's the idea
for God to help you - - if he
wants to !
FAWCETT
You E a
ed !


STUBB
He 1 S spoofin' ! Like the Eskimo trance ! (Laughing)
DOG luahgs with him ironically,
and they both suddenly stop.
STUBB
(leaping at him) You rat !
DOG pushes him off with a kick.
FAWCETT
Suppose a grizzly comes prowling round - suppose
one of the huskies goes wild
STUBB
Yot ses ousherd
DOG
(mildly) I can talk to huskies, you know that.
And grizzlies never come near me -
STUBB
They might come near us !
DOG
Then put your faith in God, like I do !
FAWCETT
There's my ten-foot rod -
just that
between
us and starvation !
STUBB
'God,' he says ! 'God' I
DOG
It's funny
(quietly) I don't know why I did it.
I just had to. I radio-ed to Dave, 'Give me rye
this time. It'll help us dream' !
FAWCETT
And there was me cleaning the guns
STUBB
Well, we 're stuck now.
DOG
Why stuck ! Go on down. ! Like you started doing :
STUBB
Suppose we meet a grizzly ?
DOG
It's laughter you're afraid of ! Gunshot won't
keep you from that !
STUBB
And Dave allows it ? How are we to shoot strange rs ?
DOG
Well, maybe (with a broad smile) I could lay my
hands on a few rounds, for purposes of murder.
That's some thing we can all rise to.
FAWCETT
Dave didn't say a word ? He just let you ?
DOG
Wouldn't you have let me
with all those pelts,
and a ten-foot fishing rod ?
FAWCETT
What
? Dog ! Dog ! (Frantically, almost
in tears) My rod -
my rod


Bik atthe
fart
Cappak, L


He dashes to his bed in search of his rod.
STUBB
You're bushed !
DOG
Leave gunshot for the people downstairs, Stubb
you're a mild man
(Laughing)
FAWCETT
(to STUBB) He's done it ! He's stolen my rod !
He seizes his gun and points it at Dog.
DOG
(quietly) Shoot me !
I like being shot
it's
my weakness !
FAWCETT pulls the trigger and there
is only a click.
FAWCETT
(flinging the gun away) I'm going down -
I'll ge t
there tonight if it kills me ! (Picks up his pack
again) Come on, Stubb !
STUBB doesn't move.
DOG
He's scared of grizzlies.
FAWCETT
Stubb !
STUBB doesn't move.
FAWCETT
(to STUBB) How are we going to live, then ?
STUBB only shrugs indifferently.
DOG
(to STUBB) Remember when we got your love-letter
near on two years ago ? And we laced ourselves with
rye all night, and sat round a fire and listened to
the sound of the trees and watched the sun come up?
And you wouldn't read your letter
the only letter
we ever got
the only time Dave's red flag went
up !
STUBB
That's your idea, too ! - - the red flag. Whe n
we've got a radio !
DOG
But we '11 read our letters this time
and drink
ourselves round the clock ! (To FAWCETT) Now, come
on, sit down
Let's talk the truth! It makes me
feel good.
FAWCETT
(taking off his pack again and shaking his head)
Youtre bushed, Deg
re bushed and God knows
where- it - geing to end-t -


X - D I -
EEE


DOG
What did she write a love-letter for, Stubb, if
she's having a joy-ride on the lodger every night ?
STUBB
(hanging his head) The lodger don't exist
DOG
Ah ! (To FAWCETT) Is that what I missed ?
FAWCETT
You was awake ! (Scoffing) Eskimo trance :
STUBB
(continuing in same vein) She wants me back. She
loves me.
DOG
(holding out the bottle to him) Here
wash the
truth down !
STUBB
(with subdued ferocity) What about your truth ?
DOG
Oh, that'll come in time ! (Suddenly to FAWCETT)
Expecting mail ?
FAWCETT
No !
DOG
I thought you wanted to talk reality ?
FAWCETT
There - you was awake - - I said so !
DOG
I was more awake than I've ever been before
now
who's that letter from ?
FAWCETT
(wincing under his glare) Well
I always
expe cted my old mum and dad to write.
DOG
Didn't they ever ?
FAWCETT
Back in Vancouver they did. They hate me o
DOG
Why ?
FANCETT
They think I'm - rich ! They think I'm down in
Vancouver with a cheroot in my mouth, living in the
whorehouse. my feet up ! I used to send them a
postcard every year
to keep 'em happy
hotel
a nice garden
some thing de luxe. So
they think I'm rich ! They think, 'He doesn't give
us a ceht ! And he's rich like that ! !
DOG
(slyly) Not even as a cockroach wasn't you rich,
Fawcett ?.
FAWCETT
(He stares sadly before him)
DOG




FAWCETT
I wasn't in the cloth.
DOG
There !
FAWCETT
They wanted me to. badly. First the choir, then a
course in theology
He breaks off, waiting for DOG'S
next question.
DOG
'They,' Fawcett ? Who's 'they' ?
FAWCETT
Well
DOG
Your mum and dad ?
FAWCETT
(at the dead bottom of his morale) I haven't got
no mum and dad.
DOG
(soothingly) You are rich in a way, Fawcett. You
live in one of God's loveliest hotel-gardens - !
FAWCETT
(looking round him) I feel cold !
DOG
(with a pleasant chuckle) It's as hot as you'll
ever get it this latitude !
ST UBB
(quietly, eyeing DOG) Now it's your turn.
FAWCETT
(excitedly) Are you expecting mail, Dog ?
DOG
P'raps.
P'raps I am !
FAWCETT
An arrest ?
DOG
No. Only tax evasion. That's from Winnipeg. From
the old prospecting days. And a police-summons
from Mackenzie Bay
drunk and disorderly. A guy
from Eskimo Point owes me three hundred dollars.
He might be writing to apologise. He did once or
twice, down at Pas. Very serious letters. That's
all.
Silence.
STUBB
What about the murder charge ?
DOG
(blinking rapidly) Murder charge ?
FAWCETT
Is your name clear, Dog ?
DOG
(screwing up his eyes) I think so, yes.


Gons down


STUBB
Was you ever in Kamasi ?
DOG
(after a long pause, hanging his head so that his
eyes aren't seen) No.
STUBB
What's your name ?
DOG shakes his head dumbly.
FAWCETT
(encouragingly) But, Dog
- if there's no price
on your head, we. can go down
we' 're free a you
can lead us down
you know how ?
DOG
(in a murmur) You'd be laughed at just the same e
STUBB
P'raps not with you !
DOG
(pulling at hisown-beard-impe.tuously)-Look at
this !
STUBB
That's
- -agood beard !
DOG
ou don't see_lemany more ! Not thisbig And
whatts-your destination - ?
FAWCETT
Fort St. John
Prince George ! - Barharialle
DOG
And Amy's whorehouse ?
FAWCETT
That's right !
DOG
Where we sat and laid the bet ?
FAWCETT
enthusiastically) Yes !
DOG
The 'truth' ! They want the truth !
A doubtful pause.
STUBB
Hhese-odsoy-then. Amy's still there !
DOG
You're thinking of the construction-days, Stubb !
STUBB
What's that ?
DOG
'What's that 31 You wasn't alive in construction
days, that's what ! Fort St. John
Prince
George - Amy's whorehouse
they don't exist !
Thatis what !
FAWCETT
Dort-St. John don't exist ?


DOG
Not your Fort St. Johnt
know a Taitread-track.,
some hotels, a Board of Trade, some churches,
stores
FAWCETT
What about that ?
STUBB
- can't remember !
DOG
How do you talk the truth if you can't rer member
what's true !
STUBB
There's Amy's saloon
DOG
The Port Douglas Hotel ! They don't even call it
saloon any more !
FAWCETT
And Barkerville
DOG
Barkerville 1 !
STUBB
Kelly's Hotel - Remember the tailings along
Williams Creek ? I reckon they turned that gravel
over a thousand times
polished and bright !
That's it !
DOG
(mocking) 'That's it ! 1
FAWCETT
Barker took six hundred thousand dollars in gold,
so they say
DOG
'And laid the seed of/ British Columbia !
FAWCETT
That's it !
STUBB
Richfield 1
Walker's Gulch
Nuggets as big as
your hand
Antler Creek
Low Hee
DOG
(taking up the recital) Conklins Gulch
Remer mber the Roger's Restaurant
the tin shop---?
STUBB
That's if !
DOG
The Oécidental Hotel
The Brewery Saloon ?
STUBB
Yes !
DOG
You remember pictures ! You remember dreams,Stubb!
A hundred years ago ! But I thought you was after
the- tauth new
FAWCETT
(with his startled look) What's the_ truth ?


DOG
This
Barkerville's a museum-pie ce from the
goldrush days ! It's a dream that brought you to
Canada
that's what ! Amy's whorehouse don't
exist ! You laid a bet in the backroom of the Fort
Douglas Hotel, drinking ryett With-basinessmenalt
round !
White collars ! Christian mission workers!
Train time-tables ! A fellee-from the civil air-
lines
Acouple-of schoolmarms drinking port and
lenon- Thntlo-whatt (Obuekling totrimself And
Amy used to clean out your room, you lice ! No
shooting, no cursing
! No Flaming Ethel !
FAWCETT
(starting up) Flaming Ethel, she
STUBB..
She
They both stop.
DOG
She existed all right
before you was born
Awith-the-mast miniaberest Irttte-rewolyer -
you 've
ever seen in her stocking'
STUBB
I've seen her
DOG
That was a pie ce from the north of England out here
on a dream like you ! You only called her Flaming
Ethel !
FAWCETT
Because she had red hair !
DOG
That's right ! And Ahey took her away for
disinfestation ! hen they put her on mission-work
among the Indians. Stubb
they go prospe cting
in helicopters nowadays !
STUBB
You don't see helicopters round here !
DOG
What would they want round here -
sit and watch
xou going-buehed-A
FAWCETT
(bitterly) What about the great white bear
the
two years fast at Carlyle Street, Winnipeg ? Tell
me that's not a dream !
DOG
(quietly) You take your choice, Fawcett.
FAWCETT
And-the-Perngasoak
There issilence.
STUBB
What ould a e- COWA- be-LON Dog.


DOG
Merimly) Hang yourself in a white collar ! You
wanted it wild when you came up here and youffe got
it !
STUBB
Long Martin was wild all right
we staked our
claims north of the Ingenika River-- high-grade
ore
DOG
But you went north by traih. And Long Martin got
back to Vancouver byailitary plane !
FAWCETT
What are yow trying to prove ?
DOG
k consenuosdosn-dego-toumoverl If you want
to go down, go down!
but there 's just streets.
Streets. Town councils
sewage plans
prostitution laws
wives to hook you
politics
newspapers ! (Fixing FAWCETT with his
eyes) Don't you remember ?
FAWCETT
-fawkwardly) Youlve_got.to_sign-certificates
special licences
that kind of thing ?
DOG
That kind of thing, yesT
1d6
of the law
Tawcet U
Shail
tell you why ?
ecause
( free
FAWCETT nods gravely.
FAWCETT
Perhaps those three fellers
ae got
caught by a squall
like you get on the lake
the sky goes black before you can turn the boat
round
DOG
They weren't in a boat !
FAWCETT
I thought you said - I ! (He stops)
STUBB
(eagerly) Dog
is that Peace River plan still on?
DOG
ESuret
STUBB
A fur farm
lynx
fishers
some silvers
some black fox
DOG
(still watching FAWCETT) You're breaking the law all
the time, Fawce tt. Yougo stalking in June ! Did
you know that was-outside the moose-season ?
FAWCETT
DOG
-Can you-tell-me when the moose-season starts ?


ovante
E + ninn L ro dnoms


FAWCETT
DOG
After how many years ? (Hithdisgust) September
15th !
FAWCETT
I reckon ifafat moose walks into your territory
he wants to be eaten!! (With his cackling laugh)
In-or - out -of season-
DOG
(watching the other two in silence) Why do you
two follow me
first for dreams, then for truth?
STUBB
(looking up at the sky and shivering) It seems to
be blowing up cold !
FAWCETT
(startled) That's what I thought ! You never know
what weather you're going to get. Remember that
day it stayed dark till two in the afternoon ?
DOG
(cynically) It was dark be cause you was dead
asleep
FAWCETT
(indignantly) We moved around with lamps -
DOG
(beyond his tet ther) What about it ? What's the
good of remembering ?
STUBB
(quie tly) I don't like it full moon. It seems
dangerous
The towers seem to move !
DOG
What towers ?
STUBB
They
FAWCETT
(frantic) Shut up !
FAWCETT sits there shivering. The
others seem unaware of this cold.
DOG
(pleasantly) Listen to that silence. You can't
break a silence like that. Do you notice, the
animals never try ? They squawk and bellow but the
noises just sink in.
STUBB nods vigorously.
FAWCETT
(seeing STUBB's nod) That's right !
DOG
I told the silence a mouthful while you was away.
I said I couldn't never bear to
(For a moment
he seems to falter) touch a woman.


STUBB
(laughing deliberately) Go on ! Nobody'd say you
was a pouf if they'd seen you with Flaming Ethel
down at Pas, eh, Fawcett ?
FAWCETT
That's right !
STUBB
I heard she nearly pulled her pistol on you in the
act ! And she said, 'Do you want my blood as well?'
Do you want my blood !
DOG
(delighted with the bogus nemory) That's right !
The atmosphe ere of make-believe
starts again.
FAWCETT
That was the time Long Martin jumped over a cubicle
and landed on May and a de luxe prospector from
Winnipeg. He was blind that night ! He said the
prospe ctor had her knickers and high-heeled shoes
on and she was painting him red !
DOG
(chuckling) With her rouge-stick !
FAWCETT
They used to charge all-night prices there ! Rose
never would take an all-night customer if she could
help it. Remember that ? She said you had to be a
wife every time
and she wasn't that unfaithful,
not to change husbands six times a week !
DOG
She had a kind of a wit, don't you think so
Rose ?
FAWCETT
She did !
STUBB
Remember the guy W ho used to sit her on his knees
for a couple of hours and then go away ? They say
he had it shot away in the war.
FAWCETT
He was scared, that's all ! He was pale, you
remember ? His eyes moved a lot, they seemed to
be floating all the time
very dark, very soft !
STUBB
(quietly) You're talking about Long Martin.
FAWCETT
Am I ?
STUBB
That's how the pimps start. No interest in sex !
- FAWCETT
I remember - - !
DOG
(suddenly) Stop remenbering !
Silence.


I D.
Uo Dows
tath m


STUBB
tewng Dave-t never beet
FAWCETT
If we 're leaving, Dog
shall I damp the smudge
down ?
DOG
No, let it stay !
FAWCETT
And start a forest fire ? It hasn't rained in two
months !
DOG
(angrily) It's all right, I tell you
it's
dying every minute, just the same !
The radio begins blinking again, S.0.S.
FAWCETT
(to STUBB)
What's the matter with him ?
STUBB
(seeing the radio) There's a signal, Dog.
DOG
You'll get your signals soon enough !
FAWCETT
(approaching the radio) I'll answer it.
DOG
(bellowing) Leave it alone ! (Murmuring to him-
self) Long Martin
(To STUBB) Perhaps you'd
like to go into partnership with him again - - when
we go down ?
STUBB
Pimping ?
DOG
In the mail-order racket ! He took a room six foot
by ten in a seven-storey house in Bridge Street,
Vancouver
he rubbed blanco in his collar to
get it white
and he sent out envelopes
! (Stopping) You're looking so sad !
FAWCETT
(quietly, as if to protect STUBB) Long Martin
has a couple of the brightest whorehouses in the
North West Territories, isn't that right ?
DOG
Like hell he has ! He never even had a se cretary !
And he said to you (to STUBB), if your memory
stretches back that far, he said, 'Come in with me 9
we' '11 advertise our pelts in the small-ads column
in the Vancouver Times, we '11 give a mail-order
number, and we '11 send 'em bad pelts for cut prices! 1
What a hero !
And he went round all the stations
from Mackenzie Bay to Eskimo Point picking up bad
pelts ! And the business caught like a forest fire!
It went from bad to better, and from better to low-
down crooked, and now he's a rich man ! And you
was his white-collared worker
you wiped his
business clean every day !


STUBB
(hanging his head) Doesn't sound like Long Martin
to me !
DOG
Not the Long Martin you've been cooking up for
yourself for three years !
The radio-signal ceases.
FAWCETT
I always heard he's got the fattest whores in Prince
George ! It was Dave broke the news
remember
that, Stubb ?
STUBB
Do I !
FAWCETT
'He's gone prospecting in petticoats ! ! - - talk
about laugh !
STUBB
And the night Long Martin played Flaming Ethel
they didn't take their eyes off the dice for two
whole nights - and that's where he got the money!
DOG
I'll strike a bargain. Tell me the truth about
Long Martin and we'll go down ----P11-shaxe-off-my
beard at Davels_and I'll march you into Pas like a
victorious army
we '11 make a fortune on a
white-fox farm !
STUBB
(radiantly) You promise ?
DOG
If you tell the truth ! (Relentlessly) It's got
inside me !
STUBB and FAWCETT glance at each
other.
STUBB
DOG
(to FAWCETT) First
your list of Long Martin's
whores
you remember ?
FAWCETT
(eagerly) Yes !
DOG
How did you draw it up ?
FAWCETT
(in alarm) I -- !
STUBB
(impatiently) Tell him !
FAWCETT
From
- from the girls in the village
South
Wales
the
the fat ones


Garidl Ish.
Th Aty


DOG
Thanks ! And now (to STUBB) I want this one quick
What's Long Martin's mail-order address ?
STUBB
(with lightning speed) Best Pelts Ltd., 24 Bridge
Street, Vancouver.
DOG
Like a puppy !
Good !
STUBB
How-tono-go-dour 2
DOG
Without the mail ? We '11 wait for that
then go
down.
FAWCETT
(irritated) Mail
A long silence.
STUBB
(burying his head in his hands) We'll wait a
Jundred-yeans
Suddenly there is a shot, quaie close by.
It's him.
They all listen.
FAWCETT
What's he shooting his way up for ?
DOG
(laughing) He's blazing a trail for your mum and
dad's letters !
STUBB
(with sudden resolve) I don't want letters !
FAWCETT
(jumping up at once) Nor me !
STUBB
(also jumping up) Let's go !
DOG
(alarmed) You'll stay here !
They stop in the act of picking up
their packe.
STUBB
(to FAWCETT) He's scared !
DOG
(abashed) We'll go down together. I'm leading you
is that right ? Who else can fix it up with
Dave ? You're on contract, remember !
STUBB
(seeing a bargaining point) Well, it's got to be
quick !
DOG
He's nearly here ! Can't you tell by the shot ?
He's down by the Creek ! Now take it easy


DOG
Easy
What about another bottle of
(laughing
with an effort) gunshot ? - Eh ?
He jumps up and opens the chest,
pulls out another bottle while the
other two watch him suspiciously.
FAWCETT
HTtto-boon a 1ong time,
STUBB
Eh ?
FAWCETT
Three years
DOG
(hending themthe
1 after opening it.) Here !
STUBB
FAWCETT
(also shaking his head) It disagrees with me e
(Suddenly getting an idea) Perhaps they died of a
jag - !
DOG
Who ?
FAWCETT
The fellers at Gillis's Grave ! Suppose they
drank all night
the mail comes up the night
before
they went out stalking and just -
sat
there and died
of boose
DOG nods with a kind of disgust as
he puts the untouched bottle on the
table.
STUBB
(to DOG) Was the letters read ?
DOG
I don't know !
STUBB
I mean, was they opened ?
DOG
(impatiently) The rats ate 'em up, so how do I
know ?
Another shot, even closer.
There !
What did I say ?
They look in the direction of the
shot, run to the door.
FAWCETT
(calling out) Is that you, Young Dave ?
They wait but there is silence.


STUBB
You there, Dave ?
DOG
(sharply, his voice much stronger than the others)
Gabriel !
The others gape at him.
STUBB
Listen to that, 'Gabriel' !
FAWCETT
(suddenly turning on DOG) It was you got us up
here ! 'Gabriel,' 'Gabriel' ! Who you calling
who you been calling to for three years, for
Christ's sake ? (Screaming at the top of his voice)
You big, fat, two-faced, bearded pouf ! I'm going,
down, do you hear that ? I'm going down to
civilisation !
DOG
(also shouting) There ain't no civilisation
don't exist ! It's make-believe, you cockroach !
They're all the same as us down there !
FAWCETT
For a bet ! You'd been on a jag and the town
looked dead, so you laid a bet
Some thing's got
to come out of the silence,' you said. Like hell
it did ! Like hell !
STUBB
(quietly) It was you said that, mate.
FAWCETT
(turning on him also) Said what ?
STUBB
About the silence. Down at Pas.
FAWCETT
(staring at him) Me ?
STUBB
That's right ! You'd just been offered a job on
road-haulage and it scared the shit out of you !
So you came up here !
FAWCEET
Dog was offered the job !
STUBB
Dog was working in the municipal
DOG
(going for him) Nov, then, you rat
STUBB
(junping away) In the municipal office -
(speaking
quickly) sewage department
che cking up on the
road menders
ten dollars a week !
He stands there panting with the
effort and they all seem to share
the et xhaustion.


DOG suddenly dashes S to the bottle,
picks it up and takes a long draught.
DOG
(gasping) It's the memory that goes
they say
it's the first thing
therets too much silence
STUBB
You remember all right !
DOG
I feel cold
(shivering) dead cold !
FAWCETT
That's what I said just now ! And you said it's as
hot as you'll ever get this latitude !
DOG
(sitting down on the chest again, hugging himself
up) Got the fire laid for tonight ?
FAWCETT
We 're going, you said !
STUBB
We're. in a fix if we don't go down - - without gun-
shot !
FAWCETT
That's right ! (To DOG) What do we eat ? The
beans '11 be out by the end of the week, the moose-
meat's nearly gone ! (Bending down and talking to
him fiercely)
That's like you, isn't it
letting us starve to death like the boys at Gillis's
Grave, 9 by Manson Creek
there's the creek just
below
do you want us to do the same
DOG
(bursting out angrily but still shivering) To hell
with your stories ! 'Manson Creek'
'Gillis's
Grave' -
how long are you going to cling to that
one ?
FAWCETT
It's your story
the rusty frying pan, the
letters nailed to the table eaten by rats
that's
yours !
DOG
And you believe it ! You put your own lying stories
in ny mouth and then say they're true !
FAWCETT
(gasping) I - !
STUBB
It's true all right
I heard it from a guy at
Coldwater Creek
stories about death are always
true !
DOG
(fiercely) I'll cast you two in the truth and
leave you stinking of it
like men in a bog !
(He goes very quiet) They'll never let us back.
Get that in your nuts.
They both stare at him.


Hatip Raltr


STUBB
(in a whisper) What's that ?
A hush falls on them. FAWCETT
casts his eyes round in the
silence.
DOG
(also whispering) Remember what Dave said three
years ago ? 'I'm looking for guys who've given up.
And he shot me a wink. 'Like you,' he said.
STUBB
(trembling) Hey, does that Young Dave wear a fall,
out suit ? He seemed to
FAWCETT
(shrieking) Shut up !
Shut up ! (Apause) How'd
they give us superannuation if we wasn't going back?
DOG
(still quietly, gazing at him) To lead you on.
'Keep yourselves amused up there,' he says.
Remem ber ? 'I'll teach you how to trap, stretch
the pelts. Take a gun apiece. A fishing rod. I'll
give you a pack of huskies.' Remember ?
FAWCETT
(bowed) No.
DOG
'All you got to do,' he says, 'is answer the radio
four times a day, keep the grass round the station
trimmed, patrol once an hour and
keep your
rotten mouths shut ! 1
Remember ?.
STUBB
(terrified, with a gesture towards the door)Whabts
under- the-eenerete ? them-tewens
DOG
He didnltsay.
STUBB
What did you sign on for, Dog ?
DOG
We all did.
The hush continues.
FAWCETT
(suddenly) I'll go down tonight if it kills me 9
I'll make Dave 's cabin and kip there the night,
I'll go alone, so help me God !
DOG
God'll help you all right if you can help yourself
but be careful of that silence on your way over,
that's all, Fawcett
mind you don't get wobbly
knees !
FAWCETT
You come with me, Stubb -
the silence makes me
giddy
I have to start shouting
they'll pick
me up for crazy
let's go down, Stubb !


DOG
We only feed each other with dreams ! Alone we 're
real ! Go ahead
go down
we '11 all go down
alone !
STUBB
Are you bushed?! We've got no gunshot ! I can't
talk to huskies
by Christ (to FAWCETT) He's
leaving us, Fawce 1 tt
DOG, suddenly seeing his advantage 9 -
seizes his pack and makes as if to
leave.
STUBB
He's doing it, Fawcett
! Dog, Dog, come back
we can't handle the huskies
Dog, Dog !
DOG
(stopping) What do you want me for ? I'm not
guns hot !
STUBB
(exhausted) We just need you.
FAWCETT
(surrendering) You're
in with the silence, Dog.
You seem to know about it.
DOG
(throwing down his pack with a glad gesture) All
right !
FAWCETT
Thank Christ !
DOG
Anyway, maybe he's dead
moved to another town
another
civilisation !
STUBB
Who's 'he' 1 ?
DOG
Long Martin.
FAWCETT
The petticoat-dealer !
DOG
(turning on him fiercely) And you
what'll you
live on ? Going back to lavatory-attendant in
Vancouver ?
FAWCETT
(stunned) Dog
DOG
(relentlessly) Maybe the hole you drilled through
to the ladies' lavatory is still there !
FAWCETT
(staring before him) It was Wales
DOG
You didn't stir out of British Columbia till you
was turned twenty-three ! And Christ knows who gave
birth to you !


STUBB
flaughing-ouddonay)
Eawcett !
DOG
(with disgust) Grin your bloody head off !
A shot, close by. They jump.
FAWCETT
They should take that gun out of his hands ! He's
tiscer-happy 1
STUBB
(to DOG) And what about you - what'll you go back
to ?
DOG
STUBB
(continuing) He comes out to do the big prospe cting
job
sails from Southampton in a de luxe liner
carrying coal
and they give him a job at the
T awn Hall in Winnipeg ! A job listening to the
assistant sewage-officer talking big about Eskimos
and the king of Kumasi who painted the walls of his
palace with human blood !
DOG
(quiet tly) You look ugly when you say that.
STUBB
I feel sick, more likely !
DOG
That's digust at yourself !
They glare at each other.
FAWCETT
I just feel dead -
the air feels dead 9 do you
know what I mean ? I can't smell the pine-firs
any more (he sniffs)
just about now you can
smell the lake, usually
when the wind changes,
as the sun starts its downward course tas tr guy
dev a a
1 A sayt - -
The other two continue to glare
at each other.
DOG
(still to STUBB) Why don't you finish it ? How he
took a wife
STUBB
I was leaving it to you !
DOG
And couldn't do it - - got half-way and couldn't do
STUBB
(sorry now) Well, you don't have to blame yourself
Silence.


FAWCETT
There don't seem a reason for doing anything;
(Pointing at the bottle) Even the rye
it's just
liquid: Eh, Stubb ?
DOG
(in a dried-up, sunken voice) We '11 leave. I'll
tear up the contract with my own hands !
STUBB
(in a whisper) Leave, now, Dog ?
DOG
Yes.
FAWCETT
We won't wait for the mail ?
DOG
STUBB and FAWCETT reach out for their
packs, watching DOG for a move.
STUBB
Whatao we do Withthe rye, Dog ?
DOG
(in the same voice as before) Lock it up.
STUBB
We lock the cabin ?
DOG
What's that ?
STUBB
We close the cabin up ?
DOG
No, leave it open for the boy. (Strangely) He's
y oung and green :
FAWCETT
(as STUBB takes/ up his gun) What's the use of guns
without shot ?/
STUBB
(strapping up his pack) They're weapons just the
same.
Do0_unsches-thes-thom-Jiatlessly as
they prepare their packs again.
DOG
forget the frying-pan,
Teed-to-oook !
prais
STUBB
(turning) What's that ?
DOG
The frying par.
STUBB
Oh ! The frying_pan. Eawce-tt !
FAWCETT nods and absently takes it
down and begins strapping it to the
back of his pack.


STUBB
(hastily) We'll hit the other side of the valley
by' nightfall
there's light enough
DOG
Helll_be-here- - with-his polished white COllar!
Remenber that !
STUBB
Iadonl-t-ave- te-see-him-
DOG
I heard of a man once, he filled in seventy
thousand, nine hundred and forty-two envelopes !
FAWCETT
turning) That was Stubb !
STUBB
(stopping his preparations) I used to hate that
wall
more than anything
it was dirty yellow
and the way Long Martin used to cough
every
day, every hour of the day -
(he imitates a
terrible dry cough) the way he used to put his
finger round the inside of his collar on the hot
days
I had to get out, Dog !
DOG
And you're going back to that ?
STUBB
(helplessly) I couldn't !
DOG
You was talking through your snot about me just
now
in the sewage department
do you expe ct
me to go back to that ?
There is a shot in the distance.
FAWCETT
He's further off !
STUBB
Maybe he' 's lost ! (To DOG) We could answer his
shots with ours if you hadn't traded our pelts for
rye this morning !
FAWCETT
That was yesterday ! We've been two days without
gunshot !
STUBB
It was this morning
- ! (But he isn't sure)
DOG
(to STUBB) I'll tell you why you won't go to Long
Martin
be cause you owe him close on seven
hundred quid !
STUBB
FAWCETT
You owe Long Martin that, Stubb ?
STUBB
(to DOG.)- Wien2y


DOG
The-deate-mekes no difference
A couple-of thousand
tzappisng-days-argo
-coupte-of-e-te-rni-ties !
STUBB
(dazed) Seven hundred
DOG
(to FAWCETT) That leaves you, lavatory-man
go back to your hole in the wall - - alone !
FAWCETT
(as if to cover this up) I never heard about Stubb
owing any seven hundred quid !
DOG
Not about Long Martin waiting down in Pas for him,
saying he won't put him in gaol, he '11 take him
into partnership again
on half-pay
for
fourteen years, until his balls have shrivelled to
the size of peas ! That was Long Martin's own
expression !
STUBB
What would I need that money for ?
DOG
To pay your wife for leaving her in the shit twenty
years back
A silence during which FAWCETT
gazes at STUBB sympathetically.
STUBB
The lodger
DOG
The re was no lodger ! There was Mr. and Mrs.
Stubb
nobody even looked at her in the butcher's
every morning !
STUBB
I never sent her nothing. No money, only letters !
DOG
You left that. to Long Martin'! That's what you
did ! And it piled up until he had you in a corner
where you couldn't move !
STUBB
(with sudden decision) I ain't going down !
DOG
Like hell you ain't !
They listen again. Nothing.
DOG
(in a lower voice) Let's go up, not down !
STUBB
(startled) Up ?
DOG
We'll find another cabin further up ! Beyond the
wire.
FAWCETT
(nervously) It's an idea !


STUBB
But
but
DOG
(with a chuckle) Give me that rye, lavatory-man !
FAWCETT hands him the bottle and
DOG takes a drink.
FAWCETT
(looking at him affectionately) You know, you're
still our Dog. You always will be. It's some thing
a man's born with.
DOG hands the bottle back to him and
FAWCETT closes it again carefully.
STUBB
We'll freeze to death up there !
DOG
It did me good to trade that gunshot !
I've
always hated guns !
FAWCETT
You could-never-shoot !
DOG
(indignantly) I used to be a marksman in the war
at five hundred yards I
STUBB
You wasn't in the war !
FAWCETT
(gazing at the bottle/he has just closed) I never
used to get real drunk
even on a week's jag.
J always had one/eye open
DOG
Like hell you did
one lavatory-eye !
STUBB
We could/go to Dave's
kip there the night
see what he says about moving on
try a town
we've pever seen before !
FAWCETT
Therens lots of towns I wouldn't like to see again !
DOG
Me too !
Vancouver, Winnipeg
STUBB
Eskimo Ppint, Prince George, Pas ! The whole damn
Tett
A shot, close by again. They jump.
They stare at each other in horror.
STUBB
Suppose he's bringing bad news
DOG
Ssssh !
They listen intently.


DOG
(in a lowered voice) I don't like the way he is
moving round
FAWCETT
What ?
DOG
Suppose it's not one at all ! Suppose it's several!
FAWCETT
(frightened) How could that be ?
DOG
Suppose they're signalling
one side of the valley
to the other
closing in ?
STUBB
(uncomfortably) Youre
FAWCETT
We-lve-getmite -
They listen again.
FAWCETT
(bursting out) Is there a price on your head or not?
DOG
What about him ? (Pointing at STUBB) He's wanted
for seven hundred quid ! They'd surround a place
for that !
FAWCETT
We're wanted for the war maybe
shirking the
war
DOG
The war was
when ? (He stops, perplexed)
STUBB
Long Martin's too lazy. And he might be dead !
I tell you, it didn't seem like seven hundred
more like
FAWCETT
How much, Stubb ?
STUBB
Five quid !
DOG
'Five' ! ! Five a week for three years !
FAWCETT
I never was married, so I can't tell ! (With his
startled look)
DOG
(burying his head in his hands). I_dontt-want-te-be-
with you two any more !
STUBB
We can't wait for this mail all-night !
They listen again. And again they
relax a little in the silence.
FAWCETT
(to DOG) L The air feels dead up here
there's
nothing moving
Frightening himself) May-bel Ay


SiT
trond Drlnt
n Je Ihg Rins
doge


FAWCETT
we-tre radio-active ! It's got-in-our bones
driving us mad !
STUBB
Shut
DOG
(his head still buried) 'You're as limp as a rag,' 1
'she said, 'Why the hell did I marry you ?
that dance I thought you had a trunche on in your
trousers
and now look ! 1
That's what she
said
The other two gaze at him. They sit
down again. Silence.
FAWCETT
(quietly) We used to have quite a ritual round he: re. e
Remember what Dog used to say (to STUBB) ?
the
stars have a rhythm, so have we, so has the moon,
and it's the same one !
STUBB
(gazing at DOG) He used to bless the cabin once a
month with Greek water. Half-an-hour's silence at
nightfall. We had some style in our life then !
Look at him now !
DOG
(murmuring) But you hated me for it ! Well, you've
got your demo cracy now ! (Suddenly) It's funny
I was wider awake than I've ever been before but---!
STUBB
What's that ?
DOG
In the Eskimo trance
that's right !
(Radiantly) I saw a new land, a land where she 's
been leading us all this time 9 you can laugh at
Gabriel, you can kill her if you like
you've
done it, you've killed my dreams
but she 's
leading us there
I remember it now
you can
call her what you like
you can call her Dave's
whore or my little Ashanti boy : !
FAWCETT
I swear you was dead in that trance, Dog - - I we
tried your breath on a piece of glass !
DOG
I saw the new land -
right before my eyes
and the three guys sitting there
at Gillis's
Grave
FAWCETT
(startled) Gillis's Grave ?
DOG
That's where she led them ! And they just sat down
out of joy and thought they was dead
because
they was alive for the very first time
! They
just sat down and died of joy ! And one of the
guys
I'll never forget !
he was trailing a




DOG
frying pan 1 he ran maybe ten or fifteen miles along
the rim of a hill, up the trap-line, behind the
other guys, I remember this frying pan clanging
against the trees, it clanged for ten or fifteen
miles, along the rim of the hill
he must have
been strong
he must have had some constitution
it was fear that gave him the strength maybe
his eyes was popping out of his head !
FAWCETT
I never heard of people dying of joy
DOG
You'd say they died of cold -
they reached the
snow-line
they had no
! (He stops with a
perplexed expression) They had no gunshot
STUBB
What's that ?
FAWCETT
Listen, Dog, I'd like to go down !
DOG
I'll never forge et that frying pan clanging along
In the woods, at the rim of the hill ! And every-
thing was so clean, so cool, the further you went,
the sounds were so clear
For fifteen miles !
And then the snow-line !
FAWCETT
(with his startled look, gazing up) This is the
best home I ever had !
DOG
Me, too !
A shot very close by. They jump. again.
STUBB
Hey !
DOG
Sssh !
They listen intently.
STUBB.
(whispering) He's just round the corner !
DOG
(also whispering) He can't be ! You can't walk
through that bush without rustling a leaf !
STUBB
He must have crept
They sit quite still, peering at the door.
DOG
(suddenly calling out) Young Dave ! Young Dave !
Is that you out there ? (A pause) Come and join
us !
Dead silence.


FAWCETT
tare-whiaper) Way SOt
ame be Young Dave
just be cause his dad's
DOG
It's what we've always called him !
STUBB
(in an animated whisper) Dave never told his son's
name ! (To FAWCETT) I reckon know why, too !
he's the son of a whore 1
FAWCETT
Go on !
STUBB
Amy made a mis take one night
she
DOG
(sharply) Fhnt's enough !
We don't have scandal
A twig breaks near by.
STUBB
Hey !
They listen, their eyes wide.
FAWCETT
(still whispering) He 's spying on us ! With
orders to shoot if we try to leave !
DOG
(calling out again, but more tremulously) Son of
Dave !
Son of Dave !
There isn't a sound.
FAWCETT
It's the smudge ! I threw some twigs on the smudge
this morning ! (But he is trembling)
STUBB
That's where the shot came from
the last shot !
DOG
I can feel some thing's there !
FAWCETT
It's the smudge, I tell you - 1 I can see the smoke
STUBB
It's somebody moving
FAWCETT
It's Young Dave taking the mike
he plays the
fool
(Trembling violently)
DOG
(suddenly.at the top of his voice) Come out, you
son-of-a-bitch, come on out.
His voice echoes away and there is
dead silence.
STUBB
(frantically, to DOG) It's you get's us laughed
at. with your dreams !


FAWCETT
That's right. (But still trembling) Remember when
he hid from the cops over at Dave 's cabin ? Ran
out of the shop with his beard flying
Dave's face
fell a mile
DOG
(shouting) Except that you ran with me !
FAWCETT
(his teeth chattering) What ?
DOG
With your coat-tails flying !
FAWCETT
I ran be cause you ran !
DOG
We all ran toget ther.
FAWCETT
And all the cops did was sit there and play cards,
and we stayed in the bushes and watched 'em
for
three hours or more ! And I think they
kept
chuckling ! (His teeth chatter so much that he can
hardly talk)
STUBB
That's right ! And Dave said on the radio, 'What
was you scared of, boys ?' afterwards ! With that
little twinkle !
They listen again but nothing move S.
FAWCETT
It's the smudge, I tell you
DOG
(calling out again) Got the mail, Dave 's son ?
Silence.
Suddenly there is a shot almost
where they stand.
They are all shivering violently.
STUBB
(clutching hold of DOG) Somebody's moving
(Pointing)
They stand close toge ther, gaping
at the spot the shot came from.
DOG
(with a peculiar wild triumph) They've come
ge t us !
They're surrounding us, boys !
STUBB
The seven hundred -
FAWCETT
(with horror) The hole in the wall
DOG
(shouting) Get the packs on your backs !


They all scramble over éach other trying
to get their packs on, picking up their
rifles, kicking the bottles over.
FAWCETT doesn't succeed in getting his
pack on be cause of the frying pan he has
strapped on.
DOG
Hammer a note on the table for Dave
(Diving at one of the store-chests and pulling out
a large hammer and some long nails) A pencil,
quick ! An S.0.s.
we 're going up the trapline
further up
STUBB
(trembling feeling in his pockets for a pencil)
You're bushed !
There is another shot, immediately
by them.
DOG
Quick !
He drops the hammer and nails and he and
STUBB dash off, with their packs and guns.
We hear DOG shout:
They've come to get us, Stubb !
FAWCETT is left alone, 9 hopelessly trembling
as he tries to get the pack on his back
and pick up his rifle at the same time.
The frying pan trails.
FAWCETT
(frantically) Stubb ! Stubb !
STUBB !
STUBB reappears.
STUBB
(taking hold of him) Quick !
FAWCETT
(still trying to get the pack up) Stubb, the
frying pan
the frying pan
STUBB
Come on !
He pulls FAWCETT off, and the last we
see of the latter is the frying pan
he is trailing his pack along by the
straps, with the frying pan clattering
behind.
FAWCETT
(as he goes off) The frying pan !


We hear it clanging along behind him.
It dies away slowly. Silence.
Huskies bark close by, then there is
silence again.
After a long pause YOUNG DAVE enters,
a youth of fifteen or sixteen. He has
a gun slung over his shoulder, a small
pack and a belt of ammunition.
He is_gloved and heavily booted.
He stares round at all the disorder. He
takes a thick bundle of letters out of
his pack and puts them on the table.
Suddenly a bird. flies over: he runs to -
the window to take aim but is too late.
Then he leaves and tries to close the
door behind him. But there is no lock
and it swings on its hinges. He kicks
it closed a second time but again it
swings open.
He re-enters the cabin, clearly wondering.
where to leave the letters, for fear they
will blow away. He sees the hammer and
long nails. With one sure, smart stroke
he drives a nail into the letters and
fixes them on the table.
He leaves in a hurry. The door swings
behind him.
There is silence.
The radio blinks S.0.s.
There appear to be quite a number of
letters there. Our attention is
concentrated on them as the curtain
falls.
We can already imagine the rats
nibbling them.
CURTAIN


ESKIMO TRANCE at Theatre in the Round, Stoke-on-Trent
by Benedict Nightingale
HE audience seemed glad to disappear symbols, most less obvious than this) and
1; into the relative snugness of the Potteries there are frequent :refèrences to the deity
and snatches of Bible. At the end, when
after the shivers this gave. Maurice all illusions have been smashed and the
Rowdon's new play concerns three men- trappers troop forlornly out to freeze in
petty thieves, it seems, and down-and- the snow, it isn't clear whether this
outers-who have shut themselves away in betokens some Mr possible salvation well he or just
North Canadian trapping territory. Each leaves emptiness. the audience Rowdon, to puzzle as out the might, old I
spends his days constructing fantasies for problem of after-life for itself.
himself, in' which he plays defrocked Actually, I sensed in the reception
minister or cuckolded husband or what- something of the boredom one used to
you will, and sometimes varies it by taking feel during the bleaker scripture lesson
part in,reconstruction of the myths créated at school, a pity. Mr Rowdon (a novelist
by his partners in silence. Truth and and travel writer, by the way, who lives
illusion have elided into an inseparable in Italy) does seem to write a bit flatly
jumble-hence, much of the difficulty of and uninventively sometimes : we feel
the play.
the tedium of the tedium too much. But
But it is about more than the effect of he has a good grasp of dialogue and
isolation on the mind. Mr Rowdon is using character,.and he uses them to ask really
people and setting as a microcosm in which interesting, fat-reaching questions.
man, dominated by the constant threat of Terence Davies, Tony Handy, and Anton
death, clearly needs both self-deception and Vogel soldier through it all' bravely. I
the sense of belonging in supernatural particularly liked Mr Handy's Welshman :
order if he is to survive. ft is obviously solemn intensity with just a hint of levity
significant that the leading trapper calls at the back of it. Director : Peter
himself Dog (the play fairly seethes with Cheeseman.
long nightmare journey to
If this' review reads like an
attempt to make sense out
of a dream, with fantasy
compulsion
and truth mixed up, it is
the after-effects of getting
into the Eskimo Trance
Victoria
New Vic
at the
Theatre,
stark
play
Hartshill, last night.
I must report honestly monotony of some of Mr.
In writing about being in,but
in last
repetitive
a trance, therefore, I am/that a lot of people
Rowdon's
passages.
expressing a very personalnight's premiere audience Tony Handy is soundly!
point of view in saying that/clearly, never got into the Welsh, although that is noti
I finally reached a surprised/trance.
vitally important, and was so
state of compulsion, after
Memory of sin successful in his portrayal that he of
graduating through near-
hopeless inadequacy
boredom, during this new This was certainly no might have been one of hose
play about three fur trappersireflection on the efforts of thellost, Ionely souls spreading
in the white wastes ofNew Vic Trio, who playedout his life over a 22-year
Northern Canada.
themselves to exhaustion, asregular army engagement.
It is a first attempt at play- football reporters sometimes My only géneral criticism
writing by Maurice Rowdon, say. Anton Vogel, with his of the performance is that the
whose previous literary rough-looking beard, had thelactors sometimes tend to
experience has been as a best appearance and the most/build up false tensions by
novelist and travel writer, convincing manner of theltrying to give too much
and his work has the bleakly three; the other two, Tonys significance to it all. They
realistic approach of a docu- Handy and Terence Davies, would be well advised to play
mentary reporter of human were still in our hemisphere it down a bit.
jnature which suggests thel when they needed something Mr. Rowdon has yet to
influence of Russian andless recognisable in this learn about the dramatic
Scandinavian masters.
unfamiliar dramatic territory. opportunities' available in the
His isolated trio are British, These three have opted for theatre, but his,first play has
but the atmosphere he gener- their white to dreamland the hard asla stark strength and savagely
ates is far removed from these Ireality preferable of their failure to cope clear is thinking a dream. in parts, even
shores in the sense that
with life in the ifit only
could have believed the writerproperly civilised world and Anton
was still up there himself in Vovel gave me the most satis-
his log cabin if I had not met fying impression of a man
him afterwards.
slowly freezing up with only,
My own feeling is that the the memory of his sins, and
audience has to get into thatthose of the other two, tof
cabin and share this sense ofkeep him company.
isolation to get absorbed in Terence Davies, a goodi
the dementia which creeps comedian who seems to be
slowly into the minds of such stuck with his northern
Heut-off people.
accent in every part, is the
VI managed it, after per- often unconscious humorist,
severing with it as though which sets him rapart from
getting into a difficult book,Ithe others and breaks up ronel


ESKIMO TRANCE-- Index of Terms :
White-trapping is trapping by laying strychinine poison-
ing, illegal because the husky dogs can pick it upi A
trapper's word for swinish.
Smudge is a fire lit near the hut to keep mosquitoes away :
It smoulders gently day and night.
Cache is a structure on poles to keep provisions on, so
that the grizzly bears can't climb up and take it at night.
PAS was a famous prospector's station earlier this century:
saloons, whorehouses, a few shops (for rye whisky). PRINCE
GEORGE was the same. ESKIMO POINT and CHURCHILL were where
the trappers traded. the ir pelts. Radium was,found at ECHO
POINT, as the play says. BASKERVILLE, mentioned in Act 2
with ridicule, was a shanty town from the goldrush days.
pitchblend ore-- -a kind of gold; assay means to test this.
ore in the laboratory; it cost five pounds in the Twenties:
de luxe prospectors were the speculators, not the men who
did the ac tual prospec ting and staking out of the ground.
white-fox---the foxes trapped in the snowy regions of course.
angekok---the Eskimo medicine man, as the play says.
the old telegraph trail-- -this first telephonic trail in
the NW Territories was laid by trappers, mostly by a French-
man on horseback, a wild, godfearing, drunken man. The
flowers mentioned in the play (p. 21) are those actually
to be found there.
cockroach---I've adapted this from the Italian: meaning
priest.
placer gold in the gravel bars of the river: the river beds
were dredged for gold; placer means the sands or gravel bed
that contained valuabie minerals.
tailings---refuse from the gold-dredging.


THE ESKIMO TRANCE.
If I were asked what kind of play this was I Would
think first of WAITING FOR GODOT and THE ICEMAN COMETH.
The scene is a 'nuclear outpost' at the northern edge
of Canada: exactly what kind we don't know. The three
men-- -DOG, STUBB and FANCETT---have been sent up here to
keep guard, 'trim the grass', answer the radio. They've
been given a trapper's hut (probably it belongs to one of
the old trapping routes) and have learned trapping and pelt-
stretching more to keep themselves amused than anything.
Most of this we learn only towards the end of the play.
There are two acts. In the first these men deceive
each other and above all themselves into believing that they
are real trappers and that in the old days they lived really
adventurous lives, gold-prospecting and redium-prospecting
and whoring. They tell themselves that they're up here on
a foolish bet they made down at Pas, a prospector's town:
to see how long they could stand the silence'. They8ve
been up here for ouer three years now, in the. silence, and
clearly they're going "bushedt---trapper's language for crazy.
But in Act 11 DOG, partly provoked by the others, skil-
fully leads them to the truth. The truth is that outside
their trapper's hut there is a concrete emplacement with
barbed wire all round, a 'tower', unexplained generators.
And the significance of the radio is explained to us. The
three of them really feel they will never see civilisation
again: DAVE, whose son appears at the end of the play for
a moment or two, chose them for the job because he was after
people who'd cléarly 'given up': And he told them to keep
their mouths shut. No one visits them. DOG goes down for
the mail, the arrival of which is signalled across to them
by a red flag. Significantly other people seem to avoid him
when he visits the other station.
Are they radio-active? would they be quietly got rid of
if they did try to break their contract and go 'down'? These
are the frightful questions put towards the end of the play.
But we see that what chiefly prevents them from going down is
their lassitude, which comes from a sense of having C ommitted
terrible crimes.
They've each run away from their own lives in England,
and ves they can't face themselves. They can't exact tly say
what their crimes have been. They even get their supposed
crimes mixed up, and accuse each other of what they secretly
accuse themselves; they even accept roles which the others
attribute to them, though these are manifestly false---for
instance, FAWCETT accepts STUBB'S idiotic assertion that he
was the iodger in South London who seduced his wife; partly
FAWCETT does this to excite STUBB sexually. And STUBB sud-
denly says that DOG was the policeman who nearly arrested
him for beating his wife; though he and DOG never met before
they came to Canada:
They lie; romance to each other, get their stories mixed
up: It is almost as if we were listening to the C onfused
story of humanity itself...
DOG has several names, though he only owns to one of them
at a time, with great parnestness.


They are in danger ali the time, frightened all the
time; this is what makes their cosy dreams necessary.
Surely things are all right? surely the past is still there?
And this past is the nineteenth century: the 'construction
days' in trapper's language, and the period in which our
modern world, with its nuclear posts as well, was constructed.
All three characters were in fact too young to know the
construction days but they look back to them as if Baskerville,
Pas etc (the gpldrush shanty towns) were still there, and
they get a daredevil feeling from doing so. But they're not
daredevil: they haven't even ordinary sexual energies, as
we see towards the end of the play; they're too terrified
perhaps, too 'bushed'.
And the play---their lives---is dominated and haunted
by one story, which is repeated again and again throughout,
the story of Gillis's Grave at Manson Creek. This is a
genuine trapper's story.
Three trappers were found dead
without a mark on their bodies: the door of their hut was
swinging open; their mail was nailed to the table, except
that when it was found it had been mostly gnawed by rats.
Was it terror that killed them? cold? hunger? 'joyt?---
DOG even suggests 'joy', ina strange mood. All through
the play we are given explanations of what might have happ-
ened to these three trappers. And at the end we realise
that these men are no less than the three trappers themselves.
In a st trange way they have been talking about themselves.
Here is the significance of the loose, 'hanging door' in the
stage directions (P. 1), and of DAVE'S SON'S final act,
a minute before the end of the play, when with one firm
stroke he hammers the mail on to the table; and in the light
that playsion that mail as the curtain goes down we can
already see the rats beginning to nibble at it... The
trappers have fulfilled a destiny beyond their control.
And at the end we see that perhaps FAWCETT was right---
they may have been radio-active: is DAVE'SI SON in a fall-
out suit? or are those heavy gloves and boots normal wear
for the bush?
The play should of course mystify, but it shouldn't
confuse or frustrate the understanding.
The actors should tremble violently, weep, get over-
excited rather like clowns. At times theyyshould seem to
burlesque our cosy day-to-day forms of address. They are
a clown trio caught in a terrifying situation. Hence,, my
mention of. WAITING FOR GODOT. Did you see the Berling
production of this, at the SchhossCpark Theater? That is
exactly the sort of spellbound tension, sparkling in bright
light, that I would like. I imagine iight shining into
their faces fiercely---showing eve ery tear, squint. These
three men quarrel suddenly and violently and are then easy
together in a pleasant, reminiscing conversation: here is
the reason for my mentioning THE ICEMAN COMETH. It all
plays out as C onversation, in the same sort of rhythm as
they achieved in the Arts production of that play some years
ago.
And now to its connection with our life. Everything
we see before us- -all the junkshop and ornamentation and
marvellous cosiness we "have inherited from the nineteenth
century-- -could disappear in a moment if something went
wrong; if, as the papers say, a certain trigger was pulled...
But perhaps things are going wrong now and at this moment,


àll the. time, so that we too are rat ther like clowns
play-acting the past because we are in the midst of the -
most frightful terror that gas existed on the earth. We
are surrounded---some of the cancer specialists tell us--
by cancer-causing agents all day long, in the air we breathe,
in the soil, in' the food we eat; twenty years will pass
before the results are observable in our children. Has
the erath been contaminated for generations to come? are we
contaminated? are our children born with the damage already
done to them? have we aleeady wrecked life for them and our-
selves not only with atomic explosions and missiles that cause
earthquakes and floods on a hitherto unknown scale but with
insecticides that flow under the earth and decimate wild life
and gang about in our own livers in dangerous volumes?
These
are silly and pathetic questions-- -the Englishman's word 'cranky'
covers them. But we are silly and pathetic people in the
face of problems which even the scientists themselves are
unable to answer. We can only go on asking them. For the
terror of it is tha t we have been given no guarantee that the
answer is NO. Our lives therefore hang on the finest thread
of ignorance; we live from day to day---keeping our fingers
crossed; none of us know what is being done in our name,
none of us can say with authority that the a tmmic worker Who
shot himself and his family recently on the grounds that he
was contaminated was wrong:
The matter was "hushed immediately,
as was the recent accidental explosion in Texas.
Then we
live in the midst of a terror so enormous that we cannot
recognise it, cannot verify it.
Yet of course this isn't a moral play about the Bomb .
Finally, there is the religious theme of the play, 1
represented by DOG. The name DOG, as STUBB tells us, is
God spelled the other way round. In Tudor times 'Dog' was
often used to mean God, in the religious persecutions.
DOG'S power (like all power in the end) is through the imag-
ination. He is the only one of the three with real belief:
so A and he is/far gone---'bushed'---thet he believes he's in
touch with the sky, to the extent of being able to will the
rffle shots outside; they are secret 'answers to him. And
there is a bit of political cunning in this too (as there is
in all great Churches): he to some extent plays on STUBB'S
and FAWCETT's gullibility; he is their politics, too---as
we see in the 'election' at the beginning of the play.
Imaginative people cand produce the world they want;
other people, the cosy ones like STUBHand FAWCETT, inhabit
this world as if it were the only one possible. I take
'Poets are the legislators of the world' to mean this.
In' the end (Act 11) DOG puts his and their faith to the
test by trading their pelts not for gunshot. but for rye-whisky-
and rye doesn't protect you against grizzly bears when you go
out hunting. 'That's the idea,' he says, 'for God to help
you if he wants to.'
And this is partly why they're all up here: to see what
life is really like, whether there is something behind the
silence all round us. In a way, they---through DOG-- -are so
absorbed by the question that they rush into the silence at the
end, that is, to their deaths. Only the story of the three
trappers at Gillis's Grave proves, among so many stories in
the play, to be true.
DOG'S trance at the beginning of Act 11, the Eskimo Trance,
is his personal and mystical method of reaching the truth and..
at the same time gaining power over the others. Hisstory :of


the Great White Bear eating him up and spitting him out
again is part of the Eskimo mystical discipline; you have
to wait for the Bear in a - sort of trance before you can have
healing. powers as a medicine man. It is also a sort of--
dying, as in Buddhist meditation, and of course STUBB and
FAWCETT, being ordinary men, think each time that he has act-
ually died. And just as he sees the truth in his trance,
so they begin to talk the real truth to each other while he
is 'dead'.
It is DOG who creates the aurora of power and prestige
for the other two; he is the element of 'ceremony' that fasc-
inates us through the ages. The reference to his having
been on the Gold Coast as a bodyguard (policeman) and to his
possibly having seduced a little native boy in Government
House is part of this: the man's world, Empire, the English
public school:
The king he mentions, Prempel, did actually
paint the walls. of his palace red with human blood, as DOG
says. This is all part of the lurid (now historical) world
of power that the three characters conjure up for themselves,
each in his different way. That world. was all based on men's
propwess. All gone now. At the end of the play we learn
that far from ha ving had adventurous lives the three of them
led squalid and tame lives: STUBB addressed envelopes for a
fake pelt firm, FAWCETT worked as a lavatory attendant and
drilled a hole through to the ladies' lavatory, and DOG worked
on the municipal council; as SHUBB
DOG came over to
Canada on a de luxe liner---carrying
ESKIMO TRANCE should be played urgently, at a great.speed
but without any aense of hurried nerves. An atmosphere of
tense fear and foreboding. The climax at the end, when we
see that they are no less than the three trappers we've been
hearing about all the time, and FAWCETT panicks, should be
AAr
quite terrifying..