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Franz Kafka
In the Penal Colony
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Franz Kafka
In the Penal Colony
“It’s a remarkable
apparatus,” said the Officer to the Explorer and gazed with a certain look of
admiration at the device, with which he was, of course, thoroughly familiar. It
appeared that the Traveller had responded to the invitation of the Commandant only
out of politeness, when he had been asked to attend the execution of a soldier
condemned for disobeying and insulting his superior. Interest in this execution
was not really very high even in the penal colony itself. At least, here in the
small, deep, sandy valley, closed in on all sides by barren slopes, apart from
the Officer and the Traveller there were present only the Condemned, a
vacant-looking man with a broad mouth and dilapidated hair and face, and the
Soldier, who held the heavy chain to which were connected the small chains
which bound the Condemned Man by his feet and wrist bones, as well as by his
neck, and which were also linked to each other by connecting chains. The
Condemned Man, incidentally, had an expression of such dog-like resignation
that it looked as if one could set him free to roam around the slopes and would
only have to whistle at the start of the execution for him to return.
The Traveller had little
interest in the apparatus and walked back and forth behind the Condemned Man,
almost visibly indifferent, while the Officer took care of the final
preparations. Sometimes he crawled under the apparatus, which was built deep
into the earth, and sometimes he climbed up a ladder to inspect the upper
parts. These were jobs which really could have been left to a mechanic, but the
Officer carried them out with great enthusiasm, maybe because he was
particularly fond of this apparatus or maybe because there was some other
reason why the work could not be entrusted to anyone else. “It’s all ready
now!” he finally cried and climbed back down the ladder. He was unusually
tired, breathing with his mouth wide open, and he had pushed two fine lady’s
handkerchiefs under the collar of his uniform at the back. “These uniforms are
really too heavy for the tropics,” the Traveller said, instead of asking some
questions about the apparatus, as the Officer had expected. “That’s true,” said
the Officer. He washed the oil and grease from his dirty hands in a bucket of
water standing ready, “But they mean home, and we don’t want to lose our
homeland.” “Now, have a look at this apparatus,” he
added immediately, drying his hands with a towel and at the same time pointing
to the apparatus. “Up to this point I still had to do some work by hand, but
from now on the apparatus works entirely on its own.” The Traveller nodded and
followed the Officer. The latter tried to protect himself
against all eventualities by saying, “Of course, breakdowns do happen. I really
hope none will occur today, but we must be prepared for them. The apparatus is
supposed to keep going for twelve hours without interruption. But if any
breakdowns occur, they are only very minor, and will be dealt with right away.”
“Don’t you want to sit
down?” he asked finally. He pulled out a chair from a pile of cane chairs and
offered it to the Traveller. The latter could not refuse. He was now sitting on
the edge of a pit, into which he cast a fleeting glance. It was not very deep.
On one side of the hole the piled earth was heaped up into a wall; on the other
side stood the apparatus. “I don’t know,” the Officer said, “whether the
Commandant has already explained the apparatus to you.” The Traveller made a
vague gesture with his hand. That was good enough for the Officer, for now he
could explain the apparatus himself. “This apparatus,” he said, grasping a
connecting rod and leaning against it, “is our previous Commandant’s invention.
I also worked with him on the very first tests and took part in all the work
right up to its completion. However, the credit for the invention belongs
entirely to him alone. Have you heard of our previous Commandant? No? Well, I’m
not claiming too much when I say that the organization of the entire penal
colony is his work. We, his friends, already knew at the time of his death that
the administration of the colony was so self-contained that even if his
successor had a thousand new plans in mind, he would not be able to alter
anything of the old plan, at least not for several years. And our prediction
has held. The New Commandant has had to recognize that. It’s a shame that you
didn’t know the previous Commandant!” “However,” the Officer said, interrupting
himself, “I’m chattering, and his apparatus stands here in front of us. As you
see, it consists of three parts. With the passage of time certain popular names
have been developed for each of these parts. The one underneath is called the
Bed, the upper one is called the Inscriber, and here in the middle, this moving
part is called the Harrow.” “The Harrow?” the Traveller asked. He had not been
listening with full attention. The sun was excessively strong, trapped in the shadowless valley, and one could hardly collect one’s
thoughts. So the Officer appeared to him all the more admirable in his tight
tunic weighed down with epaulettes and festooned with braid, ready to go on
parade, as he explained the matter so eagerly and, in addition, while he was
talking, still kept adjusting screws here and there with a screwdriver. The
Soldier appeared to be in a state similar to the Traveller. He had wound the
Condemned Man’s chain around both his wrists and was supporting himself with
his hand on his weapon, letting his head hang backward, not bothering about
anything. The Traveller was not surprised at that, for the Officer spoke French,
and clearly neither the Soldier nor the Condemned Man understood the language.
So it was certainly all the more striking that the Condemned Man, in spite of
that, did what he could to follow the Officer’s explanations. With a sort of
sleepy persistence he kept directing his gaze to the place where the Officer
had just pointed, and when a question from the Traveller interrupted the
Officer, the Condemned Man looked at the Traveller, too, just as the Officer
was doing.
“Yes, the Harrow,” said the
Officer. “The name fits. The needles are arranged as in a harrow, and the whole
thing is driven like a harrow, although it stays in one place and is, in
principle, much more artistic. Anyway, you’ll understand in a moment. The
condemned is laid out here on the Bed. I’ll describe the apparatus first and
only then let the procedure go to work. That way you’ll be able to follow it
better. Also a sprocket in the Inscriber is excessively worn. It really
squeaks. When it’s in motion one can hardly make oneself understood. Unfortunately
replacement parts are difficult to come by in this place. So, here is the Bed,
as I said. The whole thing is completely covered with a layer of cotton wool,
the purpose of which you’ll find out in a moment. The condemned man is laid out
on his stomach on this cotton wool—naked, of course. There are straps for the
hands here, for the feet here, and for the throat here, to tie him in securely.
At the head of the Bed here, where the man, as I have mentioned, first lies
face down, is this small protruding lump of felt, which can easily be adjusted
so that it presses right into the man’s mouth. Its purpose is to prevent him
screaming and biting his tongue to pieces. Of course, the man has to let the
felt in his mouth—otherwise the straps around his throat will break his neck.”
“That’s cotton wool?” asked the Traveller and bent down. “Yes, it is,” said the
Officer smiling, “feel it for yourself.” He took the
Traveller’s hand and led him over to the Bed. “It’s a specially prepared cotton
wool. That’s why it looks so unrecognizable. I’ll get around to mentioning its
purpose in a moment.” The Traveller was already being won over a little to the
apparatus. With his hand over his eyes to protect them from the sun, he looked
up at the height of the apparatus. It was a massive construction. The Bed and
the Inscriber were the same size and looked like two dark chests. The Inscriber
was set about two metres above the Bed, and the two
were joined together at the corners by four brass rods, which almost reflected
rays from the sun. The Harrow hung between the chests on a band of steel.
The Officer had hardly noticed
the earlier indifference of the Traveller, but he did have a sense now of how
the latter’s interest was being aroused now. So he paused in his explanation in
order to allow the Traveller time to observe the apparatus undisturbed. The
Condemned Man imitated the Traveller, but since he could not put his hand over
his eyes, he blinked upward with his eyes uncovered.
“So now the man is lying down,”
said the Traveller. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs.
“Yes,” said the Officer. He
pushed his cap back a little and ran his hand over his hot face. “Now, listen.
Both the Bed and the Inscriber have their own electric batteries. The Bed needs
them for itself, and the Inscriber for the Harrow. As soon as the man is
strapped in securely, the Bed is set in motion. It quivers with tiny, very
rapid oscillations from side to side and up and down simultaneously. You will
have seen similar devices in mental hospitals. Only with our Bed all movements
are precisely calibrated, for they must be meticulously coordinated with the
movements of the Harrow. But it’s the Harrow which has the job of actually
carrying out the sentence.”
“What is the sentence?” the
Traveller asked. “You don’t even know that?” asked the Officer in astonishment
and bit his lip. “Forgive me if my explanations are perhaps confused. I really
do beg your pardon. Previously it was the Commandant’s habit to provide such
explanations. But the New Commandant has excused himself from this honourable
duty. However, the fact that with such an eminent visitor”—the Traveller tried
to deflect the honour with both hands, but the Officer insisted on the
expression—“that with such an eminent visitor he didn’t even once make him
aware of the form of our sentencing is yet again something new, which. . . .”
He had a curse on his lips, but controlled himself and said merely: “I was not
informed about it. It’s not my fault. In any case, I am certainly the person best
able to explain our style of sentencing, for here I am carrying”—he patted his
breast pocket—“the relevant diagrams drawn by the previous Commandant.”
“Diagrams made by the
Commandant himself?” asked the Traveller. “Then was he in his own person a combination
of everything? Was he soldier, judge, engineer, chemist, and draftsman?”
“He was indeed,” said the
Officer, nodding his head with a fixed and thoughtful expression. Then he
looked at his hands, examining them. They didn’t seem to him clean enough to
handle the diagrams. So he went to the bucket and washed them again. Then he
pulled out a small leather folder and said, “Our sentence does not sound
severe. The law which a condemned man has violated is inscribed on his body
with the Harrow. This Condemned Man, for example,” and the Officer pointed to
the man, “will have inscribed on his body, ‘Honour your superiors!’”
The Traveller had a quick look
at the man. When the Officer was pointing at him, the man kept his head down
and appeared to be directing all his energy into listening in order to learn
something. But the movements of his pouting lips, which were pressed close
together, showed clearly that he was incapable of understanding anything. The
Traveller wanted to raise various questions, but after looking at the Condemned
Man he merely asked, “Does he know his sentence?” “No,” said the Officer. He
wished to get on with his explanation right away, but the Traveller interrupted
him: “He doesn’t know his own sentence?” “No,” said the Officer once more. He
then paused for a moment, as if he was requesting from the Traveller a more
detailed reason for his question, and said, “It would be useless to give him
that information. He experiences it on his own body.” The Traveller really
wanted to keep quiet at this point, but he felt how the Condemned Man was
gazing at him—he seemed to be asking whether he could approve of the process
the Officer had described. So the Traveller, who had up to this point been
leaning back, bent forward again and kept up his questions, “But does he
nonetheless have some general idea that he’s been condemned?” “Not that
either,” said the Officer, and he smiled at the Traveller, as if he was still
waiting for some strange revelations from him. “No?” said the Traveller, wiping
his forehead, “So the man does not yet know even at this point how his defence
was received?” “He has had no opportunity to defend himself,” said the Officer
and looked away, as if he was talking to himself and did not wish to embarrass
the Traveller with an explanation of matters so self-evident to him. “But he
must have had a chance to defend himself,” said the Traveller and stood up from
his chair.
The Officer recognized that he
was in danger of having his explanation of the apparatus held up for a long time.
So he went to the Traveller, took him by the arm, pointed with his hand at the
Condemned Man, who stood there stiffly now that the attention was so clearly
directed at him—the Soldier was also pulling on his chain—and said, “The matter
stands like this. Here in the penal colony I have been appointed judge. In spite of my youth. For I stood at the
side of our previous Commandant in all matters of punishment, and I also know
the most about the apparatus. The basic principle I use for my decisions
is this: Guilt is always beyond a doubt. Other courts could not follow this
principle, for they are made up of many heads and, in addition, have even
higher courts above them. But that is not the case here, or at least it was not
that way with the previous Commandant. It’s true the New Commandant has already
shown a desire to get mixed up in my court, but I’ve succeeded so far in
fending him off. And I’ll continue to be successful. You wanted this case
explained. It’s so simple—just like all of them. This morning a captain laid a
charge that this man, who is assigned to him as a servant and who sleeps before
his door, had been sleeping on duty. For his duty is to stand up every time the
clock strikes the hour and salute in front of the captain’s door. That’s certainly
not a difficult duty—and it’s necessary, since he is supposed to remain fresh
both for guarding and for service. Yesterday night the captain wanted to check
whether his servant was fulfilling his duty. He opened the door on the stroke
of two and found him curled up asleep. He got his horsewhip and hit him across
the face. Now, instead of standing up and begging for forgiveness, the man
grabbed his master by the legs, shook him, and cried out, ‘Throw away that whip
or I’ll eat you up.’ Those are the facts. The captain came to me an hour ago. I
wrote up his statement and right after that the sentence. Then I had the man
chained up. It was all very simple. If I had first summoned the man and
interrogated him, the result would have been confusion. He would have lied, and
if I had been successful in refuting his lies, he would have replaced them with
new lies, and so forth. But now I have him, and I won’t release him again. Now,
does that clarify everything? But time is passing. We should be starting the
execution already, and I haven’t finished explaining the apparatus yet.” He
urged the Traveller to sit down in his chair, moved to the apparatus again, and
started, “As you see, the shape of the Harrow corresponds to the shape of a
man. This is the harrow for the upper body, and here are the harrows for the
legs. This small cutter is the only one designated for the head. Is that clear
to you?” He leaned forward to the Traveller in a friendly way, ready to give
the most comprehensive explanation.
The Traveller looked at the
Harrow with a wrinkled frown. The information about the judicial procedures had
not satisfied him. However, he had to tell himself that here it was a matter of
a penal colony, that in this place special regulations were necessary, and that
one had to give precedence to military measures right down to the last detail.
Beyond that, however, he had some hopes in the New Commandant, who obviously,
although slowly, was intending to introduce a new procedure which the limited
understanding of this Officer could not accept. Following this train of
thought, the Traveller asked, “Will the Commandant be present at the
execution?” “That is not certain,” said the Officer, embarrassingly affected by
the sudden question, and his friendly expression made a grimace. “That is why
we need to hurry up. As much as I regret the fact, I’ll have to make my
explanation even shorter. But tomorrow, once the apparatus is clean again—the
fact that it gets so very dirty is its only fault—I could add a more detailed
explanation. So now, only the most essential things.
When the man is lying on the Bed and it starts quivering, the Harrow sinks onto
the body. It positions itself automatically in such a way that it touches the
body only lightly with the needle tips. Once the machine is set in position,
this steel cable tightens up immediately into a rod. And now the performance
begins. Someone who is not an initiate sees no external difference among the
punishments. The Harrow seems to do its work uniformly. As it quivers, it sticks
the tips of its needles into the body, which is also vibrating from the
movement of the bed. Now, to enable someone to check on how the sentence is
being carried out, the Harrow is made of glass. That gave rise to certain
technical difficulties with fastening the needles in it securely, but after
several attempts we were successful. We didn’t spare any efforts. And now, as
the inscription is made on the body, everyone can see through the glass. Don’t
you want to come closer and see the needles for yourself.”
The Traveller stood slowly,
moved up, and bent over the Harrow. “You see,” the Officer said, “two sorts of
needles in a multiple arrangement. Each long needle has a short one next to it.
The long one inscribes, and the short one squirts water out to wash away the
blood and keep the inscription always clear. The bloody water is then channeled
here into small grooves and finally flows into these main gutters, and their
outlet pipe takes it to the pit.” The Officer indicated with his finger the
exact path which the bloody water had to take. As he began formally to
demonstrate with both hands at the mouth of the outlet pipe, in order to make
his account as clear as possible, the Traveller raised his head and, feeling
behind him with his hand, wanted to return to his chair. Then he saw to his
horror that the Condemned Man had also, like him, accepted the Officer’s
invitation to inspect the arrangement of the Harrow up close. He had pulled the
sleeping Soldier holding the chain a little forward and was also bending over
the glass. One could see how with a confused gaze he also was looking for what
the two gentlemen had just observed, but how he didn’t succeed because he
lacked the explanation. He leaned forward this way and that. He kept running
his eyes over the glass again and again. The Traveller wanted to push him back,
for what he was doing was probably punishable. But the Officer held the
Traveller firmly with one hand, and with the other he took a lump of earth from
the wall and threw it at the Soldier. The latter opened his eyes with a start,
saw what the Condemned Man had dared to do, let his weapon fall, braced his
heels in the earth, and jerked the Condemned Man back, so that he immediately
collapsed. The Soldier looked down at him, as he writhed around, making his
chain clink. “Stand him up,” cried the Officer, for he noticed that the
Condemned Man was distracting the Traveller too much. The latter was even
leaning out away from the Harrow, without paying any attention to it and wanted
merely to find out what was happening to the Condemned Man. “Handle him
carefully,” the Officer yelled again. He ran around the apparatus, personally
grabbed the Condemned Man under the armpits and, with the help of the Soldier,
straightened up the man, whose feet kept slipping.
“Now I know all about it,” said
the Traveller, as the Officer turned back to him again. “Except the most
important thing,” said the latter. He grabbed the Traveller by the arm and
pointed up high. “There in the Inscriber is the mechanism which determines the
movement of the Harrow, and this mechanism is arranged according to the diagram
on which the sentence is set down. I still use the diagrams of the previous
Commandant. Here they are.” He pulled some pages out of the leather folder.
“Unfortunately I can’t hand them to you. They are the most cherished thing I
possess. Sit down, and I’ll show you them from this distance. Then you’ll be
able to see it all well.” He showed the first sheet. The Traveller would have
been happy to say something appreciative, but all he saw was a labyrinthine
series of lines, crisscrossing each other in all sorts of ways. These covered
the paper so thickly that only with difficulty could one make out the white
spaces in between. “Read it,” said the Officer. “I can’t,” said the Traveller.
“But it’s clear,” said the Officer.” “It’s very elaborate,” said the Traveller
evasively, “but I can’t decipher it.” “Yes,” said the Officer, smiling and
putting the folder back again, “it’s not calligraphy for school children. One
has to read it a long time. You, too, would finally understand it clearly. Of
course, it has to be a script that isn’t simple. You see, it’s not supposed to
kill right away, but on average over a period of
twelve hours. The turning point is set for the sixth hour. There must also be
many, many embellishments surrounding the basic script. The essential script
moves around the body only in a narrow belt. The rest of the body is reserved
for decoration. Can you now appreciate the work of the Harrow and of the whole
apparatus? Just look at it!” He jumped up the ladder, turned a wheel, and
called down, “Watch out—move to the side!” Everything started moving. If the
wheel had not squeaked, it would have been marvellous. The Officer threatened
the wheel with his fist, as if he was surprised by the disturbance it created.
Then he spread his arms out to the Traveller, apologized, and quickly clambered
down, in order to observe the operation of the apparatus from below. Something
was still not working properly, something only he noticed. He clambered up
again and reached with both hands into the inside of the Inscriber. Then, in
order to descend more quickly, instead of using the ladder, he slid down on one
of the poles and, to make himself understandable
through the noise, strained his voice to the limit as he yelled in the
Traveller’s ear, “Do you understand the process? The Harrow is starting to
write. When it’s finished with the first part of the script on the man’s back,
the layer of cotton wool rolls and turns the body slowly onto its side to give
the Harrow a new area. Meanwhile those parts lacerated by the inscription are
lying on the cotton wool which, because it has been specially treated,
immediately stops the bleeding and prepares the script for a further deepening.
Here, as the body continues to rotate, prongs on the edge of the Harrow then
pull the cotton wool from the wounds, throw it into the pit, and the Harrow
goes to work again. In this way it keeps making the inscription deeper for
twelve hours. For the first six hours the condemned man goes on living almost
as before. He suffers nothing but pain. After two hours, the felt is removed,
for at that point the man has no more energy for screaming. Here at the head of
the Bed warm rice pudding is put in this electrically heated bowl. From this
the man, if he feels like it, can help himself to what he can lap up with his
tongue. No one passes up this opportunity. I don’t know of a single one, and I
have had a lot of experience. He first loses his pleasure in eating around the
sixth hour. I usually kneel down at this point and observe the phenomenon. The
man rarely swallows the last bit. He merely turns it around in his mouth and
spits it into the pit. When he does that, I have to lean aside or else he’ll
get me in the face. But how quiet the man becomes around the sixth hour! The
most stupid of them begins to understand. It starts around the eyes and spreads
out from there. A look that could tempt one to lie down with
him under the Harrow. Nothing else happens. The man simply begins to
decipher the inscription. He purses his lips, as if he is listening. You’ve
seen that it is not easy to figure out the inscription with your eyes, but our
man deciphers it with his wounds. True, it takes a lot of work. It requires six
hours to complete. But then the Harrow spits all of him out and throws him into
the pit, where he splashes down into the bloody water and cotton wool. Then the
judgment is over, and we, the Soldier and I, quickly bury him.”
The Traveller had leaned his
ear towards the Officer and, with his hands in his coat pockets, was observing
the machine at work. The Condemned Man was also watching, but without
understanding. He bent forward a little and followed the moving needles, as the
Soldier, after a signal from the Officer, cut through the back of his shirt and
trousers with a knife, so that they fell off the Condemned Man. He wanted to
grab the falling garments to cover his bare flesh, but the Soldier held him up
high and shook the last rags from him. The Officer turned the machine off, and
in the silence which then ensued the Condemned Man was
laid out under the Harrow. The chains were taken off and the straps fastened in
their place. For the Condemned Man it seemed at first glance to signify almost
a relief. And now the Harrow sunk down a stage lower still, for he was a thin
man. As the needle tips touched him, a shudder went over his skin. While the
Soldier was busy with the right hand, the Condemned Man stretched out his left,
with no sense of its direction. But it was pointing to where the Traveller was
standing. The Officer kept looking at the Traveller from the side, without
taking his eyes off him, as if he was trying to read from his face the
impression he was getting of the execution, which he had now explained to him,
at least superficially.
The strap meant to hold the
wrist ripped off. The Soldier probably had pulled on it too hard. The Soldier
showed the Officer the torn-off piece of strap, wanting him to help. So the
Officer went over to him and said, with his face turned towards the Traveller,
“The machine is very complicated. Now and then something has to tear or break.
One shouldn’t let that detract from one’s overall opinion. Anyway, we have an
immediate replacement for the strap. I’ll use a chain—even though that will
affect the sensitivity of the oscillations for the right arm.” And while he put
the chain in place, he still kept talking, “Our resources for maintaining the
machine are very limited at the moment. Under the previous Commandant, I had
free access to a cash box specially set aside exclusively for this purpose.
There was a storeroom here in which all possible replacement parts were kept. I
admit I made almost extravagant use of it. I mean earlier, not now, as the New
Commandant claims. For him everything serves only as a pretext to fight against
the old arrangements. Now he keeps the cash box for machinery under his own
control, and if I ask him for a new strap, he demands the torn one as a piece
of evidence, the new one doesn’t arrive for ten days, and then it’s an inferior
brand, of not much use to me. But how I am supposed to get the machine to work
in the meantime without a strap—no one’s concerned about that.”
The Traveller thought about the
situation: it is always questionable to intervene decisively in strange
circumstances. He was neither a citizen of the penal colony nor a citizen of
the state to which it belonged. If he wanted to condemn this execution or even
hinder it, people could say to him: You are a foreigner—keep quiet. He would
have nothing in response to that, but could only add that he did not understand
what he was doing on this occasion, for the purpose of his traveling was merely
to observe and not to alter other people’s judicial systems in any way. True,
at this point the way things were turning out it was very tempting. The
injustice of the process and the inhumanity of the execution were beyond doubt.
No one could assume that the Traveller was acting out of any sense of his own
self-interest, for the Condemned Man was a stranger to him, not a countryman
and not someone who invited sympathy in any way. The Traveller himself had
letters of reference from high officials and had been welcomed here with great
courtesy. The fact that he had been invited to this execution even seemed to
indicate that people were asking for his judgment of this court. This was all
the more likely since the Commandant, as he had now had heard only too clearly,
was no supporter of this process and maintained an almost hostile relationship
with the Officer.
Then the Traveller heard a cry
of rage from the Officer. He had just shoved the stub of felt in the Condemned
Man’s mouth, not without difficulty, when the Condemned Man, overcome by an
irresistible nausea, shut his eyes and threw up. The Officer quickly yanked him
up off the stump and wanted to turn his head aside toward the pit. But it was
too late. The vomit was already flowing down onto the machine. “This is all the Commandant’s fault!” cried the Officer and
mindlessly rattled the brass rods at the front. “My machine’s as filthy as a
pigsty.” With trembling hands he indicated to the Traveller what had happened.
“Haven’t I spent hours trying to make the Commandant understand that a day
before the execution there should be no more food served? But the new, lenient
administration has a different opinion. Before the man is led away, the
Commandant’s women cram sugary things down his throat. His whole life he’s fed
himself on stinking fish, and now he has to eat sweets! But that would be all
right—I’d have no objections—but why don’t they get a new felt, the way I’ve
been asking him for three months now? How can anyone take this felt into his
mouth without feeling disgusted—something that more than a hundred men have
sucked and bitten on it as they were dying?”
The Condemned Man had laid his
head down and appeared peaceful. The Soldier was busy cleaning up the machine
with the Condemned Man’s shirt. The Officer went up to the Traveller, who, feeling
some premonition, took a step backwards. But the Officer grasped him by the
hand and pulled him aside. “I want to speak a few words to you in confidence,”
he said. “May I do that?” “Of course,” said the Traveller and listened with his
eyes lowered.
“This process and this
execution, which you now have an opportunity to admire, have at present no more
open supporters in our colony. I am its single defender and
at the same time the single advocate for the legacy of the Old Commandant. I
can no longer think about a more extensive organization of the process—I’m
using all my powers to maintain what there is at present. When the Old
Commandant was alive, the colony was full of his supporters. I have something
of the Old Commandant’s persuasiveness, but I completely lack his power, and as
a result the supporters have gone into hiding. There are still a lot of them,
but no one admits to it. If you go into a tea house today—that is to say, on a
day of execution—and keep your ears open, perhaps you’ll hear nothing but
ambiguous remarks. They are all supporters, but under the present Commandant,
considering his present views, they are totally useless to me. And now I’m
asking you: Should such a life’s work,” he pointed to the machine, “come to
nothing because of this Commandant and the women influencing him? Should people
let that happen? Even if one is only a foreigner on our island for a couple of
days? But there is no time to lose. People are already preparing something
against my judicial proceedings. Discussions are already taking place in the
Commandant’s headquarters, to which I am not invited. Even your visit today
seems to me typical of the whole situation. People are cowards and send you
out—a foreigner. You should have seen the executions in earlier days! The
entire valley was overflowing with people, even a day before the execution.
They all came merely to watch. Early in the morning the Commandant appeared
with his women. Fanfares woke up the entire campsite. I delivered the news that
everything was ready. The whole society—and every high official had to
attend—arranged itself around the machine. This pile of cane chairs is a sorry
left over from that time. The machine was freshly cleaned and glowed. For
almost every execution I had new replacement parts. In front of hundreds of
eyes—all the spectators stood on tip toe right up to the hills there—the
condemned man was laid down under the Harrow by the Commandant himself. What
nowadays has to be done by a common soldier was then my work as the senior judge,
and it was an honour for me. And then the execution began! No discordant note
disturbed the work of the machine. Many people did not look any more at all,
but lay down with closed eyes in the sand. They all knew: now justice was being
carried out. In the silence people heard nothing but the groans of the
condemned man, muffled by the felt. These days the machine no longer manages to
squeeze out of the condemned man a groan stronger than the felt is capable of
smothering. But back then the needles which made the inscription dripped a
caustic liquid which today we are not permitted to use any more. Well, then
came the sixth hour! It was impossible to grant all the requests people made to
be allowed to watch from up close. The Commandant, in his wisdom, arranged that
the children should be taken care of before all the rest. Naturally, I was
always allowed to stand close by, because of my official position. Often I
crouched down there with two small children in my arms, on my right and left.
How we all took in the expression of transfiguration on the martyred face! How
we held our cheeks in the glow of this justice, finally attained and already
passing away! What times we had, my friend!” The Officer had obviously
forgotten who was standing in front of him. He had put his arm around the
Traveller and laid his head on his shoulder. The Traveller was extremely
embarrassed. Impatiently he looked away over the Officer’s head. The Soldier
had ended his task of cleaning and had just shaken some rice pudding into the bowl
from a tin. No sooner had the Condemned Man, who seemed to have fully recovered
already, noticed this than his tongue began to lick at the pudding. The Soldier
kept pushing him away, for the pudding was probably meant for a later time, but
in any case it was not proper for the Soldier to reach in and grab some food
with his dirty hands and eat it in front of the famished Condemned Man.
The Officer quickly collected
himself. “I didn’t want to upset you in any way,” he said. “I know it is
impossible to make someone understand those days now. Besides, the machine
still works and operates on its own. It operates on its own even when it is
standing alone in this valley. And at the end, the body still keeps falling in
that incredibly soft flight into the pit, even if hundreds of people are not
gathered like flies around the hole the way they used
to be. Back then we had to erect a strong railing around the pit. It was pulled
out long ago.”
The Traveller wanted to turn his
face away from the Officer and looked aimlessly around him. The Officer thought
he was looking at the wasteland of the valley. So he grabbed his hands, turned
him around in order to catch his gaze, and asked, “Do you see the shame of it?”
But the Traveller said nothing.
The Officer left him alone for a while. With his legs apart and his hands on
his hips, the Officer stood still and looked at the ground. Then he smiled at
the Traveller cheerfully and said, “Yesterday I was nearby when the Commandant invited
you. I heard the invitation. I know the Commandant. I understood right away
what he intended with his invitation. Although his power might be sufficiently
great to take action against me, he doesn’t yet dare to. But my guess is that
with you he is exposing me to the judgment of a respected foreigner. He
calculates things with care. You are now in your second day on the island. You
didn’t know the Old Commandant and his way of thinking. You are biased in your
European way of seeing things. Perhaps you are fundamentally opposed to the
death penalty in general and to this kind of mechanical style of execution in
particular. Moreover, you see how the execution is a sad procedure, without any
public participation, using a machine which is already somewhat damaged. Now,
if we take all this together (so the Commandant thinks) surely one could easily
imagine that that you would not consider my procedure appropriate? And if you
didn’t consider it right, you wouldn’t keep quiet about it—I’m still speaking
the mind of the Commandant—for you no doubt have faith that your tried-and-true
convictions are correct. It’s true that you have seen many peculiar things
among many peoples and have learned to respect them. Thus, you will probably
not speak out against the procedure with your full power, as you would perhaps
in your own homeland. But the Commandant doesn’t really need that. A casual
word, merely a careless remark, is enough. It doesn’t have to match your
convictions at all, so long as it apparently corresponds to his wishes. I’m
certain he will use all his shrewdness to interrogate you. And his women will
sit around in a circle and perk up their ears. You will say something like,
‘Among us the judicial procedures are different,’ or ‘With us the accused is
questioned before the verdict,’ or ‘With us the accused hears the judgment’ or
‘With us there are punishments other than the death penalty’ or ‘With us there
was torture only in the Middle Ages.’ For you all these observations appear as
correct as they are self-evident—innocent remarks which do not impugn my
procedure. But how will the Commandant take them? I see him, our excellent
Commandant—the way he immediately pushes his stool aside and hurries out onto
the balcony—I see his women, how they stream after him. I hear his voice—the
women call it a thunder voice. And now he’s speaking: ‘A great Western explorer
who has been commissioned to inspect judicial procedures in all countries has
just said that our process based on old customs is inhuman. After this verdict
of such a personality it is, of course, no longer possible for me to tolerate
this procedure. So from this day on I am ordering . . . and so forth.’ You want
to intervene—you didn’t say what he is reporting—you didn’t call my procedure
inhuman; by contrast, in keeping with your deep insight, you consider it the
most humane and most worthy of human beings. You also admire this machinery.
But it is too late. You don’t even go onto the balcony, which is already filled
with women. You want to attract attention. You want to cry out. But a lady’s
hand is covering your mouth, and I and the Old Commandant’s work are lost.”
The Traveller had to suppress a
smile. So the work which he had considered so difficult was easy. He said
evasively, “You’re exaggerating my influence. The Commandant has read my
letters of recommendation. He knows that I am no expert in judicial processes.
If I were to express an opinion, it would be that of a lay person, no more
significant than the opinion of anyone else, and in any case far less
significant than the opinion of the Commandant, who, as I understand it, has
very extensive powers in this penal colony. If his views of this procedure are
as definite as you think they are, then I’m afraid the time has surely come for
this procedure to end, without any need for my humble assistance.”
Did the Officer understand by
now? No, he did not yet grasp it. He shook his head vigorously, briefly looked
back at the Condemned Man and the Soldier, who both flinched
and stopped eating the rice, went up really close up to the Traveller, without
looking into his face, but gazing at parts of his jacket, and said more gently
than before: “You don’t know the Commandant. Where he and all of us are
concerned you are—forgive the expression—to a certain extent innocent. Your
influence, believe me, cannot be overestimated. In fact, I was blissfully happy
when I heard that you were to be present at the execution by yourself. This
arrangement of the Commandant was aimed at me, but now I’m turning it to my
advantage. Without being distracted by false insinuations and disparaging
looks—which could not have been avoided with a greater number of participants
at the execution—you have listened to my explanation, looked at the machine,
and are now about to view the execution. Your verdict is no doubt already
fixed. If some small uncertainties still remain, witnessing the execution will
remove them. And now I’m asking you—help me against the Commandant!”
The Traveller did not let him
go on talking. “How can I do that?” he cried. “It’s totally impossible. I can
help you as little as I can harm you.”
“You could do it,” said the
Officer. With some apprehension the Traveller observed that the Officer was
clenching his fists. “You could do it,” repeated the Officer, even more emphatically.
“I have a plan which must succeed. You think your influence is insufficient. I
know it will be enough. But assuming you’re right, doesn’t saving this
procedure require one to try everything, even those methods which may possibly
be inadequate? So listen to my plan. To carry it out, it’s necessary, above
all, for you to keep as quiet as possible today in the colony about your
verdict on this procedure. Unless someone asks you directly, you should not
express any view whatsoever. But what you do say must be short and vague.
People should notice that it has become difficult for you to speak about the
subject, that you feel bitter, that, if you were to speak openly, you’d have to
burst out cursing on the spot. I’m not asking you to lie, not at all. You
should give only brief answers—something like, ‘Yes, I’ve seen the execution’
or ‘Yes, I’ve heard the full explanation.’ That’s all—nothing further. For that
will be enough of an indication for people to observe in you a
certain bitterness, even if that’s not what the Commandant will think.
Naturally, he will completely misunderstand the issue and interpret it in his
own way. My plan is based on that. Tomorrow a large meeting of all the higher
administrative officials takes place at headquarters under the chairmanship of
the Commandant. He, of course, understands how to turn such meetings into a
spectacle. A gallery has been built, which is always full of spectators. I’m
compelled to take part in the discussions, though they make me shiver with
disgust. In any case, you will certainly be invited to the meeting. If you
follow my plan today and behave accordingly, the invitation will become an
emphatic request. But should you for some inexplicable reason still not be
invited, you must make sure you request an invitation. Then you’ll receive one
without question. Now, tomorrow you are sitting with the women in the
Commandant’s box. With frequent upward glances he reassures himself that you
are there. After various trivial and ridiculous agenda items designed only for
the spectators—mostly harbour construction, always harbour construction!—the
judicial process also comes up for discussion. If it’s not raised by the
Commandant himself or does not occur soon enough, I’ll make sure that it comes
up. I’ll stand up and report the news of today’s execution. Really
briefly—just this announcement. True, such a report is not customary
there; however, I’ll do it, nonetheless. The Commandant thanks me, as always,
with a friendly smile. And now he cannot restrain himself. He seizes this
excellent opportunity. ‘The report of the execution,’ he’ll say, or something
like that, ‘has just been given. I would like to add to this report only the
fact that this particular execution was attended by the great explorer whose
visit confers such extraordinary honour on our colony, as you all know. Even
the significance of our meeting today has been increased by his presence. Do we
not now wish to ask this great explorer for his appraisal of the execution
based on old customs and of the process which preceded it?’ Of course, there is
the noise of applause everywhere, universal agreement. And I’m louder than
anyone. The Commandant bows before you and says, ‘Then in everyone’s name, I’m
putting the question to you.’ And now you step up to the railing. Place your
hands where everyone can see them. Otherwise the ladies will grab them and play
with your fingers. And now finally come your remarks.
I don’t know how I’ll bear the tense moments up to that point. In your speech
you mustn’t hold back. Let truth resound. Lean over the railing and shout it
out—yes, yes, roar your opinion at the Commandant, your unshakeable opinion.
But perhaps you don’t want to do that. It doesn’t suit your character. Perhaps
in your homeland people behave differently in such situations. That’s all
right. That’s perfectly satisfactory. Don’t stand up at all. Just say a couple
of words. Whisper them so that only the officials underneath you can hear them.
That’s enough. You don’t even have to say anything at all about the lack of
attendance at the execution or about the squeaky wheel, the torn strap, the
disgusting felt. No. I’ll take over all further details, and, believe me, if my
speech doesn’t chase him out of the room, it will force him to his knees, so
he’ll have to admit it: ‘Old Commandant, I bow down before you.’ That’s my
plan. Do you want to help me carry it out? But, of course, you want to. More
than that—you have to.” And the Officer gripped the Traveller by both arms and
looked at him, breathing heavily into his face. He had yelled the last
sentences so loudly that even the Soldier and the Condemned Man were paying
attention. Although they couldn’t understand a thing, they stopped eating and
looked over at the Traveller, still chewing.
From the very start the Traveller
had had no doubts about the answer he must give. He had experienced too much in
his life to be able to waver here. Basically he was honest and unafraid. Still,
with the Soldier and the Condemned Man looking at him, he hesitated a moment.
But finally he said, as he had to, “No.” The Officer’s eyes blinked several
times, but he did not take his eyes off the Traveller. “Would you like an
explanation,” asked the Traveller. The Officer nodded dumbly. “I am opposed to
this procedure,” said the Traveller. “Even before you took me into your
confidence—and, of course, I will never abuse your confidence under any
circumstances—I was already thinking about whether I was entitled to intervene
against this procedure and whether my intervention could have even a small
chance of success. And if that was the case, it was clear to me whom I had to
turn to first of all—naturally, to the Commandant. You have clarified the issue
for me even more, but without reinforcing my decision in any way—quite the
reverse. I find your conviction genuinely moving, even if it cannot deter me.”
The Officer remained silent,
turned towards the machine, grabbed one of the brass rods, and then, leaning
back a little, looked up at the Inscriber, as if he was checking that
everything was in order. The Soldier and the Condemned Man seemed to have made
friends with each other. The Condemned Man was making signs to the Soldier,
although, given the tight straps on him, this was difficult for him to do. The
Soldier was leaning into him. The Condemned Man whispered something to him, and
the Soldier nodded.
The Traveller went over to the
Officer and said, “You don’t yet know what I’ll do. Yes, I will tell the
Commandant my opinion of the procedure—not in a meeting, but in private. In
addition, I won’t stay here long enough to be able to get called in to some
meeting or other. Early tomorrow morning I leave, or at least I go on board
ship.”
It did not look as if the
Officer had been listening. “So the process has not convinced you,” he said to
himself and smiled the way an old man smiles over the silliness of a child,
concealing his own true thoughts behind that smile.
“Well then, it’s time,” he said
finally and suddenly looked at the Traveller with bright eyes which contained
some sort of demand, some appeal for participation. “Time for what?” asked the
Traveller uneasily. But there was no answer.
“You are free,” the Officer
told the Condemned Man in his own language. At first the man did not believe
him. “You are free now,” said the Officer. For the first time the face of the
Condemned Man showed signs of real life. Was it the truth? Was it only the
Officer’s mood, which could change? Had the foreign Traveller brought him a
reprieve? What was it? That is what the man’s face seemed to be asking. But not for long. Whatever the case might be, if he could he
wanted to be truly free, and he began to shake back and forth, as much as the
Harrow permitted.
“You’re tearing my straps,”
cried the Officer. “Be still! We’ll undo them right away.” And, giving a signal
to the Soldier, he set to work with him. The Condemned Man said nothing and
smiled slightly to himself. At times he turned his face to the Officer on the
left and at times to the Soldier on the right, without ignoring the Traveller.
“Pull him out,” the Officer
ordered the Soldier. This process required a certain amount of care because of
the Harrow. The Condemned Man already had a few small wounds on his back,
thanks to his own impatience.
From this point on, however,
the Officer paid no more attention to him. He went up to the Traveller, pulled
out the small leather folder once more, leafed through it, finally found the
sheet he was looking for, and showed it to the Traveller. “Read that,” he said.
“I can’t,” said the Traveller. “I’ve already told you I can’t read these
pages.” “But take a close look at the page,” said the
Officer and moved up right next to the Traveller in order to read with him.
When that didn’t help, he raised his little finger high up over the paper, as
if the page must not be touched under any circumstances, so that using this he
might make the task of reading easier for the Traveller. The Traveller also
made an effort so that at least he could satisfy the Officer, but it was
impossible for him. At that point the Officer began to spell out the
inscription, and then he read out once again the joined up letters. “‘Be just!’
it states,” he said. “Now you can read it.” The Traveller bent so low over the
paper that the Officer, afraid that he might touch it, moved it further away. The
Traveller didn’t say anything more, but it was clear that he was still unable
to read anything. “‘Be just!’ it says,” the Officer remarked once again. “That
could be,” said the Traveller. “I do believe that’s written there.” “Good,”
said the Officer, at least partially satisfied. He climbed up the ladder,
holding the paper. With great care he set the page in the Inscriber and
appeared to rotate the gear mechanism completely around. This was very tiring
work. It must have required him to deal with extremely small wheels. He had to
inspect the gears so closely that sometimes the Officer’s head disappeared
completely into the Inscriber.
The Traveller followed this
work from below without looking away. His neck grew stiff, and his eyes found
the sunlight pouring down from the sky painful. The Soldier and the Condemned
Man were keeping each other busy. With the tip of his bayonet the Soldier
pulled out the Condemned Man’s shirt and trousers which were lying in the hole.
The shirt was horribly dirty, and the Condemned Man washed it in the bucket of
water. When he was putting on his shirt and trousers, the Soldier and the
Condemned Man had to laugh out loud, for the pieces of clothing were cut in two
up the back. Perhaps the Condemned Man thought that it was his duty to amuse
the Soldier. In his ripped-up clothes he circled in front of the Soldier, who
crouched down on the ground, laughed, and slapped his knees. But they still
restrained themselves out of consideration for the two gentlemen present.
When the Officer was finally
finished up on the machine, with a smile he looked over the whole thing and all
its parts once more, and this time closed the cover of the Inscriber, which had
been open up to this point. He climbed down, looked into the hole and then at
the Condemned Man, observed with satisfaction that his clothes had been hauled
out, then went to the bucket of water to wash his hands, recognized too late
that it was disgustingly dirty, and was upset that now he could not wash his
hands. Finally he pushed them into the sand. This option did not satisfy him,
but he had to do what he could in the circumstances. Then he stood up and began
to unbutton the coat of his uniform. As he did this, the two lady’s
handkerchiefs, which he had pushed into the back of his collar, fell into his
hands. “Here you have your handkerchiefs,” he said and threw them over to the
Condemned Man. And to the Traveller he said by way of an explanation, “Presents
from the ladies.”
In spite of the obvious speed
with which he took off the coat of his uniform and then undressed himself
completely, he handled each piece of clothing very carefully, even running his
fingers over the silver braids on his tunic with special care and shaking a
tassel into place. But in great contrast to this care, as soon he was finished
handling an article of clothing, he immediately flung it angrily into the hole.
The last items he had left were his short sword and its harness. He pulled the
sword out of its scabbard, broke it in pieces, then gathered up everything—the
pieces of the sword, the scabbard, and the harness—and threw them away so
forcefully that they rattled against each other down in the pit.
Now he stood there naked. The
Traveller bit his lip and said nothing. For he was aware what
would happen, but he had no right to hinder the Officer in any way. If
the judicial process to which the Officer clung was really so close to the
point of being cancelled—possibly as a result of the intervention of the
Traveller, something to which he for his part felt duty-bound—then the Officer
was now acting in a completely correct manner. In his place, the Traveller
would not have acted any differently.
The Soldier and the Condemned
Man at first did not understand a thing. To begin with they did not look, not
even once. The Condemned Man was extremely happy to get the handkerchiefs back,
but he was not permitted to enjoy them very long, because the Soldier snatched
them from him with a quick grab, which he had not anticipated. The Condemned
Man then tried to pull the handkerchiefs out from the Soldier’s belt, where he
had put them for safe keeping, but the Soldier was watching carefully. So they
were fighting, half in jest. Only when the Officer was fully naked did they
start to pay attention. The Condemned Man especially seemed to be struck by a
premonition of some sort of significant transformation. What had happened to
him was now taking place with the Officer. Perhaps this time the procedure
would play itself out to its conclusion. The foreign Traveller had probably given
the order for it. So that was revenge. Without having suffered all the way to
the end himself, nonetheless he would be completely avenged. A wide, silent
laugh now appeared on his face and never went away.
The Officer, however, had
turned towards the machine. If earlier on it had already become clear that he
understood the machine thoroughly, one could well get alarmed now at the way he
handled it and how it obeyed. He only had to bring his hand near the Harrow for
it to rise and sink several times, until it had reached the correct position to
make room for him. He only had to grasp the Bed by the edges, and it already
began to quiver. The stump of felt moved up to his mouth. One could see how the
Officer really did not want to accept it, but his hesitation was only
momentary—he immediately submitted and took it in. Everything was ready, except
that the straps still hung down on the sides. But they were clearly
unnecessary. The Officer did not have to be strapped down. When the Condemned
Man saw the loose straps, he thought the execution would be incomplete unless
they were fastened. He waved eagerly to the Soldier, and they ran over to strap
in the Officer. The latter had already stuck out his foot to kick the crank
designed to set the Inscriber in motion. Then he saw the two men coming. So he
pulled his foot back and let himself be strapped in. But now he could no longer
reach the crank. Neither the Soldier nor the Condemned Man would find it, and
the Traveller was determined not to touch it. But that was unnecessary. Hardly
were the straps attached when the machine already started working: the Bed
quivered, the needles danced on his skin, and the Harrow swung up and down. The
Traveller had already been staring for some time before he remembered that a wheel
in the Inscriber was supposed to squeak. But everything was quiet, without the
slightest audible hum.
Because of its silent working,
the machine did not really attract attention. The Traveller looked over at the
Soldier and the Condemned Man. The Condemned Man was the livelier of the two.
Everything in the machine interested him. At times he bent down; at other times
he stretched up, always pointing with his forefinger in order to show something
to the Soldier. For the Traveller it was embarrassing. He was determined to
remain here until the end, but he could no longer endure the sight of the two
men. “Go home,” he said. The Soldier might perhaps have been ready to do that,
but the Condemned Man took the order as a direct punishment. With his hands folded
he pleaded to be allowed to stay there. And when the Traveller shook his head
and was unwilling to give in, he even knelt down. Seeing that orders were of no
help here, the Traveller wanted to go over and chase the two away. Then he
heard a noise from up in the Inscriber. He looked up. So was the gear wheel
going out of alignment? But it was something else. The lid on the Inscriber was
lifting up slowly. Then it fell completely open. The teeth of a cog wheel were
exposed and lifted up. Soon the entire wheel appeared. It was as if some huge
force was compressing the Inscriber, so that there was no longer sufficient
room left for this wheel. The wheel rolled all the way to the edge of the
Inscriber, fell down, rolled upright a bit in the sand, and then fell over and
lay still. But already up on the Inscriber another gear wheel was moving
upwards. Several others followed—large ones, small ones, ones hard to
distinguish. With each of them the same thing happened. One kept thinking that
now the Inscriber must surely be already empty, but then a new cluster with
lots of parts would move up, fall down, roll in the sand, and lie still. With
all this going on, the Condemned Man totally forgot the Traveller’s order. The
gear wheels completely delighted him. He kept wanting
to grab one, and at the same time he was urging the Soldier to help him. But he
kept pulling his hand back startled, for immediately another wheel followed,
which, at least in its initial rolling, surprised him.
The Traveller, by contrast, was
very upset. Obviously the machine was breaking up. Its quiet operation had been
an illusion. He felt as if he had to look after the Officer, now that the
latter could no longer look after himself. But while
the falling gear wheels were claiming all his attention, he had neglected to
look at the rest of the machine. However, when he now bent over the Harrow,
once the last gear wheel had left the Inscriber, he had a new, even more
unpleasant surprise. The Harrow was not writing but only stabbing, and the Bed
was not rolling the body, but lifting it, quivering, up into the needles. The
Traveller wanted to reach in to stop the whole thing, if possible. This was not
the torture the Officer wished to attain; it was murder, pure and simple. He
stretched out his hands. But at that point the Harrow was already moving
upwards and to the side, with the skewered body—just as it did in other cases,
but only in the twelfth hour. Blood flowed out in hundreds of streams, not
mixed with water—the water tubes had failed to work this time, as well. Then
one last thing went wrong: the body would not come loose from the long needles.
Its blood streamed out, but it hung over the pit without falling. The Harrow
wanted to move back to its original position, but, as if realizing that it could
not free itself of its load, it remained over the hole. “Help,” the Traveller
yelled out to the Soldier and the Condemned Man, and he himself grabbed the
Officer’s feet. He wanted to push against the feet himself and have the two
others grab the Officer’s head from the other side, so he could be slowly
lifted off the needles. But now the two men could not make up their mind
whether to come or not. The Condemned Man turned away at once. The Traveller
had to go over to him and drag him to the Officer’s head by force. At this
point, almost against his will, he looked at the face of the corpse. It was as
it had been in life. He could discover no sign of the promised transfiguration.
What all the others had found in the machine, the Officer had not. His lips
were pressed firmly together, his eyes were open and looked as they had when he
was alive, his gaze was calm and convinced. The tip of
a large iron needle had gone through his forehead.
* * *
As the Traveller, with the
Soldier and the Condemned Man behind him, came to the first houses in the
colony, the Soldier pointed to one and said, “That’s the tea house.”
On the ground floor of the
house was a deep, low room, like a cave, with smoke-covered walls and ceiling. On
the street side it was open along its full width. Although there was little
difference between the tea house and the rest of the houses in the colony,
which were all very dilapidated, except for the Commandant’s palatial
structure, the Traveller was nonetheless struck by the impression of historical
memory, and he felt the power of earlier times. Followed by his companions, he
walked closer inside, going between the unoccupied tables, which stood in the
street in front of the tea house, and took a breath of the cool, musty air
which came from inside. “The old man is buried here,” said the Soldier; “a
place in the cemetery was denied him by the chaplain. For a while people were
undecided where they should bury him. Finally they buried him here. Of course, the
Officer explained none of that to you, for naturally he was the one most
ashamed about it. A few times he even tried to dig up the old man at night, but
he was always chased off.” “Where is the grave?” asked the Traveller, who could
not believe the Soldier. Instantly both men, the Soldier and the Condemned Man,
ran in front of him and with hands outstretched pointed to the place where the
grave was located. They led the Traveller to the back wall, where guests were
sitting at a few tables. They were presumably dock workers, strong men with
short, shiny, black beards. None of them wore coats, and their shirts were
torn. They were poor, humiliated people. As the Traveller came closer, a few
got up, leaned against the wall, and looked at him. A whisper went up around
the Traveller—“It’s a foreigner. He wants to look at the grave.” They pushed
one of the tables aside, under which there was a real grave stone. It was a
simple stone, low enough for it to remain hidden under a table. It bore an
inscription in very small letters. In order to read it the Traveller had to
kneel down. It read, “Here rests the Old Commandant. His followers, who are now
not permitted to have a name, buried him in this grave and erected this stone. There exists a prophecy that the Commandant will rise
again after a certain number of years and from this house will lead his
followers to a re-conquest of the colony. Have faith and wait!” When the
Traveller had read it and got up, he saw the men standing around him and
smiling, as if they had read the inscription with him, found it ridiculous, and
were asking him to share their opinion. The Traveller acted as if he had not
noticed, distributed some coins among them, waited until the table was pushed
back over the grave, left the tea house, and went to the harbour.
In the tea house the Soldier
and the Condemned Man had come across some people they knew who detained them.
However, they must have broken free of them soon, because by the time the
Traveller found himself in the middle of a long staircase which led to the
boats, they were already running after him. They probably wanted to force the
Traveller at the last minute to take them with him. While the Traveller was
haggling at the bottom of the stairs with a sailor about his passage out to the
steamer, the two men were racing down the steps in silence, for they did not
dare cry out. But as they reached the bottom, the Traveller was already in the
boat, and the sailor at once cast off from shore. They could still have jumped
into the boat, but the Traveller picked up a heavy knotted rope from the boat
bottom, threatened them with it, and thus prevented them from jumping in.
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