Page:Poet Lore, volume 28, 1917.djvu/562

 Tonicka (Stepping in her husband’s way).—Vojtech!

Kralenec.—What do you want?

Tonicka (Pointing to the window).—The troops!

Kralenec.—Let me go!

Tonicka.—They are going to shoot!

Kralenec.—All the more reason why I should be there!

Tonicka.—You shall not leave this room!

Kralenec.—Let me go! I must!

Tonicka.—I will not! They would kill you!

Kralenec.—And suppose they should! What if I fall today or tomorrow! (The beating of drums draws nearer and nearer.)

Shouting (Without).—Forward! Forward!

Tonicka.—You must not desert us now!

Kralenec.—I must go to our own people! I cannot tear myself away from them!

Tonicka.—Restrain them from violence! The troops you must not challenge!

Kralenec.—I must go!

Voices (Without).—The troops, the troops! (The blare of trumpets.)

Command of the officer without.—Halt!

Tonicka.—If they were to kill you, we should then lose you, I and the children!

KarlenecKralenec [sic].—For the sake of the children, and with your consent, I defied the company! For the sake of the children, this uprising took place tonight! Now I must not forsake our people, now is the supreme moment of the test,  our future depends upon this night. (Without a great shout arises, with cries, oaths, yells, and mingled orders.)

Voice behind the scene.—In the name of the law, disperse!

Tonicka.—Have mercy on me! You will lose your life! (Trumpeting and beating of drums.)

Kralenec.—And if I were to lose my life, it will not be lost in vain. If we can but conquer, I will gladly die for justice’ sake!

Voice (Behind the scene).—In the name of the law, disperse!

Shouting of People (Behind the scene).—We will not scatter! Advance! Advance!

Kralenec.—Do you hear them, how fearlessly they answer? And I should stay at home, I should be such a coward that I would forsake them? With them, possibly at their head, I must be! Now has come my great moment, for which I always longed as though in a dream! Now I shall cease to be a slavish miner,