The Russian Masters: Works by Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev and More. Максим Горький

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      SAVVA

      Vassya, Vassya, you, you—

      FRIAR (crying)

      But I don't know. I don't know anything. I am afraid.

      LIPA (ecstatically)

      Antichrist! Antichrist!

      SECOND PILGRIM

      Hear! Hear!

      KONDRATY

      Ah! You are cornered. Here is your money—take it! It has burned holes in my pockets, your accursed money. Here, take it, take it, you brood of Antichrist! (Throws the money at him)

      SAVVA (raising his fist as if to deal a blow) I'll teach you—

      FIRST PILGRIM

      Boys, don't be afraid. Here boys, here!

      SAVVA (pressing his head between his hands)

      Oh, it hurts, it hurts! Darkness is closing in.

      KONDRATY

      It's beginning to get you, is it? That's right, that's right.

      LIPA

      Antichrist!

      TONY (shouting)

      Savva, Savva!

      SAVVA (sinking for a moment into profound, terrible meditation; then he straightens himself suddenly and seems to grow in stature; he cries out with a wild joy as if speaking above the heads of all to reach somebody far off) I am right! Therefore I am right! It was all necessary! All! All! (He stands as if petrified in an upward-striving posture)

      KONDRATY

      Boys, it's he who did it. That's the fellow.

      MAN IN OVERCOAT (pushing himself forward, officiously)

      What's the matter, boys? Aha! He is caught! Which one? This one? Come on with you! (Takes hold of Savva by the sleeve)

      SAVVA (shaking him off with such violence that the man falls down) Get away from me!

      VOICES

      Don't let him go!

      KONDRATY

      Hold him!

      FRIAR (crying)

      Run, Mr. Savva, run.

       [During the following scene Lipa prays. Speransky looks on with keen curiosity, while Tony stares over his shoulder. All the voices become blended into one raging, frightened, savage roar.

      CROWD

      Get at him from that side! Yes, go yourself! You have a stick! Oh, hang it, there isn't a single stone around! Hold him, hold him, he'll escape!

      MAN IN OVERCOAT (getting to his feet again and assuming the leadership) Surround him, boys, surround him! Block the way to the river! Don't let him run away! Well, now, get a move on you!

      CROWD

      Go yourself—I've tried once! Push that way! Get hold of him! Grab him! Aha!

      KONDRATY (shouting at the top of his voice)

      Beat him! Beat the Antichrist! Beat him!

      SAVVA (the danger brings him back to his senses. He looks around, takes in the path to the river with a quick glance, and gray as dust with rage, he makes for it with a single abrupt movement) Get out of the way, you monsters!

      CROWD

      He is getting away! He is getting away! Hold him! Boys, he is getting away! He is getting away!

       [As Savva advances, the crowd falls back in a semicircle, tumbling against one another. Kondraty begins to make the sign of the cross at Savva and continues to do so throughout the remaining scene.

      SAVVA (advancing)

      Get out of the way! Get out of the way! So you're scared now, you dogs? You've pulled in your tails? Get out of the way! Go on!

      CROWD

      He is getting away.

       [King Herod issues from the crowd, and plants himself in front of Savva so as to obstruct his way. There is a terrible look on his face. Savva comes up close to him and stops.

      SAVVA

      Well?

       [A brief pause. The conversation is carried on in a sort of undertone, almost calmly.

      KING HEROD

      Is that you?

      SAVVA

      Is that you? Let me go.

      KING HEROD

      A man?

      SAVVA

      Yes, let me go.

      KING HEROD

      Did you want the Saviour? Christ?

      SAVVA

      They fooled you.

      KING HEROD

      People may fool, Christ never. What's your name?

      SAVVA

      Savva. Get out of my way, I tell you.

      KING HEROD

      Surrender Thy servant Savva. Hold!

       [He strikes a heavy, swinging blow with his left fist whence Savva did not expect an attack. Savva sinks on one knee. The crowd rushes at him and tramples him down.

      CROWD

      Beat him! Aha! So! He is turning back! Beat him!

      FRIAR

      What does this mean? Oh! Oh! Oh! (He clutches his head with both hands, cries, and runs away)

      SAVVA (fighting desperately, he appears for a moment looking fierce and terrible) Let go—Ho-o-o! (He sinks back again)

      CROWD

      That's the way. One, two—Ah! Strike! Got him? Not yet! Got him? What are you waiting for? Strike! Done!

      A VOICE

      He's still moving.

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