SHORTLAND (standing, awkward): Mr Crafus, you seem to have made quite an impact. Please sit.
King Dick also standing, at ease, his bearskin hat under his arm, looks around Shortland’s study, taking in the pictures and portraits; is silent.
SHORTLAND: The men in your block respect your … strength and your control.
King Dick continues to study the paintings; is silent.
SHORTLAND (puzzled): This isn’t a game, Crafus. I am the Agent, I am your governor, your commanding officer. I ask questions, you answer them. I respect the discipline you have instilled in your men. I appreciate the order in Four, but I need that order in all things. And that includes prisoners answering questions when asked.
KING DICK (still not looking at Shortland): You ain’t asked me any questions. You jus’ been talkin’ at me, tellin’ me things.
SHORTLAND (smiles, impatient): Quite so. Very well, then. How are your men in Block Four?
KING DICK (looks at Shortland at last): They are sick, as you well know. We lost four to the pox this month. Sick and hungry and wantin’ for home. If you want peace in your camp, if you want order in your prison, you gotta do somethin’ ’bout that. ’Bout all o’ that.
SHORTLAND: You are a prisoner-of-war. It is a Dartmoor winter. Conditions here are no worse than in all prison camps; indeed, considerably better than some. There is fresh water, the courtyards are swept and clean, you have ample food and supplies. If there is a shortage of money, that is a problem with your government (checking himself). However, I will raise the matter of sickness with Dr Magrath …
KING DICK (sharply): You will ‘raise these matters’, but my men will still die, Captain Shortland. You are in charge, but you choose to be weak. Your men, your soldiers, are stupid, and you permit the Rough Allies to disrupt your prison …
SHORTLAND (annoyed): Enough! I did not ask you here to deliver one of your speeches …
KING DICK: And from a Negro, too …
SHORTLAND: From a prisoner! It’s a miracle you Yankees have any ships sailing at all, with this insubordination.
KING DICK: It’s a miracle you Brits are still in the war …
SHORTLAND: And a war you declared for what? Washington at least fought for ‘liberty’ – you have been fighting for shadows. (controls himself) What I wanted to say was simply this. I admire the way you have taken control of Four and made it your own.
KING DICK: I am an unaccountable sovereign.
SHORTLAND (puzzled): I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that …
KING DICK: An unaccountable sovereign. He keeps chaos at bay, keeps the state of nature in check. We have order in Four, Captain. This is Othello, this is Leviathan.
There is a silence between the men.
KING DICK: Shakespeare and Hobbes. These are your great Englishmen.
SHORTLAND: Indeed. Though I confess it’s been many years since I read either. But I can be clear on this: I only wish the other blocks were as, well, efficient and, er, organized as Four.
KING DICK (laughing): I served in some of your ships that were ‘efficient’ and ‘organized’. Royal Navy words for ‘brutal’, I believe.
SHORTLAND (ignoring him): It seems amazing to me what you can achieve without those damned prisoner committees. The other prisons seem to like them. A lot of voting goes on, I believe – and constitutional talk, I hear (pronounces ‘voting’ and ‘constitutional’ with a sneer in his voice). You’ve not been … tempted?
KING DICK (angry): And how do you think that constitution has been doin’ in lookin’ after people like me, Captain? What d’you think we make of it over in Four? When we are back home, all that votin’ don’t seem to be helpin’ us much. We are not ‘tempted’, ’cos it’s a sham, a trick to let those in charge feel better ’bout themselves. Everyone’s jus’ fine with the way it is in Four. I am in charge, or it is the war of all against all. And when the Rough Allies are allowed to go ’bout attackin’ whoever they fancy, someone needs to do somethin’. I am the someone, Captain.
SHORTLAND (smiling): You are indeed the someone, Mr Crafus. I assure you I will speak to Dr Magrath shortly. And I will order the guard to be more watchful of the Rough Allies. (As if an afterthought): What do you hear of the other prisons, Mr Crafus? Are they restless?
KING DICK: Restless? You think prisoners desperate for home after a war that has ended might be restless? You got that right. But I won’t be your spy, Captain Shortland. You have enough men here – they can tell you. And case you hadn’t noticed, the white blocks are quite happy keeping themselves ’part from the likes of me. You allowed the separation. You put us in Four—
SHORTLAND: For order! If I had refused, we would have had riots. You weren’t here, but the committees were very clear that they wished to have their own with their own—
KING DICK: The natural order of things—
SHORTLAND: Something like that, I believe, yes.
KING DICK: Only atheists and Jacobins would say anythin’ else …
SHORTLAND (uncomfortable and unnerved): Those issues were raised.
KING DICK: So you listened to ’em. And you said yes.
SHORTLAND: This is an American problem, Mr Crafus.
KING DICK: And a British solution.
SHORTLAND: Tell me you’re not happier in Four. Tell me you’d rather I broke it all up and mixed you all again.
KING DICK (pauses, runs a hand over his hair. An uncomfortable time passes, then he straightens as if he has decided): We’d be happier at home, we’d be happier if we wasn’t fightin’ and we’d be happier if we wasn’t treated like we was lower than dogs. In Massachusetts, y’know, they promise all men are born free and equal. We’d be happier like that. But right now, we need each other. Right now, the men of Four need each other and need me to fight for ’em. Don’t know ’bout the other prisons, but the men of Four would want to stay men of Four.