第12章 Chapter 6(3)

"How long --ah,how long,good sir?Be merciful;look,it groweth darker,moment by moment.Prithee how long?""Not long.Half an hour --maybe an hour."There were a thousand pathetic protests,but I couldn't shorten up any,for I couldn't remember how long a total eclipse lasts.I was in a puzzled condition,anyway,and wanted to think.Something was wrong about that eclipse,and the fact was very unsettling.If this wasn't the one I was after,how was I to tell whether this was the sixth century,or nothing but a dream?Dear me,if I could only prove it was the latter!Here was a glad new hope.If the boy was right about the date,and this was surely the 20th,it WASN'T the sixth century.I reached for the monk's sleeve,in considerable excitement,and asked him what day of the month it was.

Hang him,he said it was the TWENTY-FIRST!It made me turn cold to hear him.I begged him not to make any mistake about it;but he was sure;he knew it was the 21st.So,that feather-headed boy had botched things again!

The time of the day was right for the eclipse;I had seen that for myself,in the beginning,by the dial that was near by.Yes,I was in King Arthur's court,and I might as well make the most out of it I could.

The darkness was steadily growing,the people becoming more and more distressed.I now said:

"I have reflected,Sir King.For a lesson,I will let this darkness proceed,and spread night in the world;but whether I blot out the sun for good,or restore it,shall rest with you.These are the terms,to wit:

You shall remain king over all your dominions,and receive all the glories and honors that belong to the kingship;but you shall appoint me your perpetual minister and executive,and give me for my services one per cent.of such actual increase of revenue over and above its present amount as I may succeed in creating for the state.If I can't live on that,I sha'n't ask anybody to give me a lift.Is it satisfactory?"There was a prodigious roar of applause,and out of the midst of it the king's voice rose,saying:

"Away with his bonds,and set him free!and do him homage,high and low,rich and poor,for he is become the king's right hand,is clothed with power and authority,and his seat is upon the highest step of the throne!Now sweep away this creeping night,and bring the light and cheer again,that all the world may bless thee."But I said:

"That a common man should be shamed before the world,is nothing;but it were dishonor to the KING if any that saw his minister naked should not also see him delivered from his shame.If I might ask that my clothes be brought again --""They are not meet,"the king broke in."Fetch raiment of another sort;clothe him like a prince!"

My idea worked.I wanted to keep things as they were till the eclipse was total,otherwise they would be trying again to get me to dismiss the darkness,and of course I couldn't do it.Sending for the clothes gained some delay,but not enough.So I had to make another excuse.I said it would be but natural if the king should change his mind and repent to some extent of what he had done under excitement;therefore I would let the darkness grow a while,and if at the end of a reasonable time the king had kept his mind the same,the darkness should be dismissed.Neither the king nor anybody else was satisfied with that arrangement,but I had to stick to my point.

It grew darker and darker and blacker and blacker,while I struggled with those awkward sixth-century clothes.It got to be pitch dark,at last,and the multitude groaned with horror to feel the cold uncanny night breezes fan through the place and see the stars come out and twinkle in the sky.

At last the eclipse was total,and I was very glad of it,but everybody else was in misery;which was quite natural.I said:

"The king,by his silence,still stands to the terms."Then I lifted up my hands --stood just so a moment --then I said,with the most awful solemnity:"Let the enchantment dissolve and pass harmless away!"There was no response,for a moment,in that deep darkness and that graveyard hush.But when the silver rim of the sun pushed itself out,a moment or two later,the assemblage broke loose with a vast shout and came pouring down like a deluge to smother me with blessings and gratitude;and Clarence was not the last of the wash,to be sure.