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498
ROBERT LOWELL
ROBIN
Our soldiers!
FERRYMAN
ROBIN
We call them lobsterbacks.
They are the Major's privates. Wherever
they are gathered together, he
is
present.
You'll feel his grip behind their claws.
What are you going to do now:
run home to Deerfield, take a ship
for England, Boy, or chase the soldiers?
Why, I'm staying here. I like
soldiers. They make me feel at home.
They kept the Frenchmen out of Deerfield.
They'll tell me where my kinsman lives.
FERRYMAN
ROBIN
The French are finished. The British
are the only Frenchmen left.
Didn't you say your cousin's name
was Molineux?
He's Norman Irish.
Why are you leaving?
FERRYMAN
Money. The soldiers
make me pay them for the pleasure
of shuttling them across the marsh.
Run, Boy, and catch those soldiers' scarlet
coat tails while they're still around.
(The
FERRYMAN
goes off pushing his boat.
ROBIN
and the
Boy
ad–
vance towards the
SOLDIERS.)
ROBIN
I need your help, Sirs.
FIRST SOLDIER
(Smilin,g)
We are here
for service, that's our unpleasant duty.
(As
ROBIN
and the
Boy
advance, there's a shout.
Two
HOODLUMS
rush on stage.)