King Dick has been shown in by two members of the guard who wait, fidgeting nervously, for the Agent. The King walks the bookshelves, stopping every now and then to read a title and run his hand down its spine.
SHORTLAND (arrives, bustling, late; takes off his greatcoat): Mr Crafus! You are an educated man, I see. Tell me, what has caught your eye?
KING DICK: It all catches my eye, Captain, every single one. We have some books in Seven. But the choice is poor and I believe I have read everythin’ that takes my fancy. These, on the other hand …
SHORTLAND: Well, select one, then. I can trust you, I believe. They are underused, I’m afraid. I inherited most of them from my father. They are mainly military history, the classics, that kind of thing. I don’t get a lot of visitors who browse the shelves.
KING DICK (still looking at the books): Perhaps that’s because most of your men can’t read, Captain. When they deal with us, they seem … slow-witted. Maybe it’s them you need to lend your books to.
SHORTLAND: My men are the best I can find, Mr Crafus. While there are wars to be fought, I fear Dartmoor will never receive the finest the British Army has to offer. Added to that, my major is sick and unlikely to be replaced anytime soon. Now, about that book …
KING DICK: I’ll play along with your game, Captain. (He pulls a small book from the shelves, leafs through its pages, selecting one; looks at Shortland.) You have some poetry on your shelves, Captain Shortland.
SHORTLAND: I do?
KING DICK: William Wordsworth. His poem to Toussaint L’Ouverture, the leader of the Haiti slave revolt.
SHORTLAND: (astonished) Really? I never knew …
KING DICK: You should know your people better, Captain. It concludes (he reads):
There’s not a breathing of the common wind
That will forget thee; thou hast great allies;
Thy friends are exultations, agonies,
And love, and Man’s unconquerable mind.
SHORTLAND: I’m not quite sure what to make of that, I’m afraid. (He takes the book and reads.) He calls him ‘O miserable chieftain’. Is that you, Crafus? Is that what you’re telling me? I hope not, because I know where I am with you and with Four. I can speak directly to you, and I know you can speak directly to your men. (He throws the book on the desk.)
KING DICK: And so?
SHORTLAND: So do your men understand that, though the war is over, for them, nothing can change until the ratified treaty arrives back in England?
KING DICK: But it has changed already, Captain, you gotta feel that. You can wave papers at us, but we know we should be goin’ home. And when Congress has ratified, you’d better be gettin’ us out swiftly or you’ll have a riot so big you’ll need a whole army to deal with us.
SHORTLAND: Are you threatening me, Mr Crafus?
KING DICK: I’m jus’ tellin’ you how it is. Once there ain’t no war, we can’t be prisoners-of-war. Many of us will likely wanna jus’ walk outta those gates.
SHORTLAND: Then you will be shot.
KING DICK: Then you will have a riot.
SHORTLAND (exasperated): If there is a breakout, your men will end up arrested, impressed back into the Royal Navy or dead. If you stay here, at least you will be safe until your ships come. You have to make them see that!
KING DICK: Safe here? Where so many of us have died? Have you visited the graveyard recently, Captain?
SHORTLAND: I regret every death, Mr Crafus. Dartmoor is an unforgiving place and, when disease takes hold, I know the results can be devastating. British prisoners-of-war face similar conditions in American jails, you know that? And usually chained up with common thieves and murderers too. The food, allowance and medical treatment you have been given are the best available – but out there? That’s an awfully unforgiving part of the country, Mr Crafus, it’s one hell of a walk to civilization once you’re out those gates. How many of your men would actually make it home?
KING DICK: We fought you and your country to be free. Your guns, locks ’n’ keys tell us we are still not free. Did you know, your Navy offered freedom to the slaves of Mathews County, Virginia, if they came on over to your ships? Did you know that?
SHORTLAND: I had heard, yes …
KING DICK: Well, the war is over, Captain, the war is done. So we ain’t goin’ to ‘come on over’, but you can offer us hope. If you choose to. You better be ready for ratification, Captain. That’s all I’m sayin’. (He reclaims the book from Shortland’s desk and waves it at him.) The poem says it is possible for a powerful white man to be on the side of righteousness. If he chooses to be.