Page:Acharnians and two other plays (1909).djvu/208

190 Peis. (A bad joke as a vent for irritation ).

They footed it, you mean—

Come; it was handily done though, I confess. Mess. Indeed, I assure you, it was a sight to see them;

And trains of Dunks, there were, clambering the ladders,

With their duck legs, like bricklayer's prentices,

All dapper and handy, with their little trowels. Peis. In fact, then, it's no use engaging foreigners,

Mere folly and waste, we've all within ourselves.

Ah, well now, come! But about the woodwork? Heh!

Who were the carpenters? Answer me that! Mess. The Woodpeckers, of course: and there they were,

Labouring upon the gates, driving and banging,

With their hard hatchet beaks, and such a din,

Such a clatter as they made, hammering and hacking,

In a perpetuualperpetual [sic] peal, pelting away

Like shipwrights, hard at work in the arsenal.

And now their work is finished, gates and all,

Staples and bolts, and bars and everything;

The sentries at their posts; patrols appointed;

The watchmen in the barbican; the beacons

Ready prepared for lighting; all their signals

Arranged—But I'll step out, just for a moment,

To wash my hands. You'll settle all the rest.[Exit.

[Peisthetairus, surprised at the rapid conclusion of the work, feeling from the volubility and easy manner of the Messenger, the blow which his authority has received; seeing that nothing is left for him to superintend, nothing to direct, nothing to suggest, or to find fault with, remains in an attitude of perplexity and astonishment, with his hands clasped across his forehead.

Chorus. (tο Peisthetairus, in a sort of self-satisfied drawling tone).

Heigh-day! Why, what's the matter with ye? Sure!

Ah! well now, I calculate, you're quite astonished;