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stepped into the little room and crouched by the side of the tank. The two
citizen-women were staring at him in bland fascination. He ignored them. To
Willoughby he said,  Do you have any idea where you are?
The Englishman had guessed, rightly enough, that he was in India:  I do
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believe these little brown Moorish folk are of the
Hindu sort, he said. But that was as far as his comprehension of what had
befallen him could go.
It had not occurred to him that he was no longer living in the sixteenth
century. And of course he did not begin to suspect that this strange
and somber brick city in which he found himself was a wanderer out of an era
even more remote than his own. Was there any way, Phillips wondered, of
explaining that to him?
He had been here only three days. He thought it was devils that had carried
him off.  While I slept did they come for me, he said.  Mephistophilis
Sathanas his henchmen seized me God alone can say why and swept me in a moment
out
to this torrid realm from England, where I had reposed among friends and
family. For I was between one voyage and the next, you must understand,
awaiting Drake and his ship you know Drake, the glorious Francis? God s
blood, there s a mariner for ye! We were to go to the Main again, he and I,
but instead here I be in this other place  Willoughby leaned close and said,
 I ask you, soothsayer, how can it be, that a man go to sleep in Plymouth and
wake up in India? It is passing strange, is it not?
 That it is, Phillips said.
 But he that is in the dance must needs dance on, though he do but hop, eh? So
do I believe. He gestured toward the two citizen-women.  And therefore to
console myself in this pagan land I have found me some sport among these
little
Portugal women 
 Portugal? said Phillips.
 Why, what else can they be, but Portugals? Is it not the Portugals who
control all these coasts of India? See, the people are of two sorts here, the
blackamoors and the others, the fair-skinned ones, the lords and masters
who lie here in these baths. If they be not Hindus, and I think they are
not, then Portugals is what they must be. He laughed and pulled the women
against himself and rubbed his hands over their breasts as though they were
fruits on a vine.  Is that not what you are, you little naked shameless Papist
wenches? A pair of Portugals, eh?
They giggled, but did not answer.
 No, Phillips said.  This is India, but not the India you think you know. And
these women are not Portuguese.
 Not Portuguese? Willoughby said, baffled.
 No more so than you. I m quite certain of that.
Willoughby stroked his beard.  I do admit I found them very odd, for
Portugals. I have heard not a syllable of their
Portugee speech on their lips. And it is strange also that they run naked as
Adam and Eve in these baths, and allow me free plunder of their women, which
is not the way of Portugals at home, God wot. But I thought me, this is India,
they choose to live in another fashion here 
 No, Phillips said.  I tell you, these are not Portuguese, nor any other
people of Europe who are known to you.
 Prithee, who are they, then?
Do it delicately, now, Phillips warned himself.
Delicately.
He said,  It is not far wrong to think of them as spirits of some kind demons,
even. Or sorcerers who have magicked us out of our proper places in the
world. He paused, groping for some means to share with Willoughby, in
a way that
Willoughby might grasp, this mystery that had enfolded them. He drew a deep
breath.  They ve taken us not only across the sea, he said,  but across the
years as well. We have both been hauled, you and I, far into the days that are
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to come.
Willoughby gave him a look of blank bewilderment.
 Days that are to come? Times yet unborn, d ye mean? Why, I comprehend none of
that!
 Try to understand. We re both castaways in the same boat, man! But there s no
way we can help each other if I can t make you see 
Shaking his head, Willoughby muttered,  In faith, good friend, I find your
words the merest folly. Today is today, and tomorrow is tomorrow, and how can
a man step from one to t other until tomorrow be turned into today?
 I have no idea, said Phillips. Struggle was apparent on Willoughby s face;
but plainly he could perceive no more than the haziest outline of what
Phillips was driving at, if that much.  But this I know, he went on,  that
your world and all that was in it is dead and gone. And so is mine, though I
was born four hundred years after you, in the time of the second
Elizabeth.
Willoughby snorted scornfully.  Four hundred 
 You must believe me!
 Nay! Nay!
 It s the truth. Your time is only history to me. And mine and yours are
history to them
 ancient history. They call us visitors, but what we are is captives.
Phillips felt himself quivering in the intensity of his effort. He was aware
how insane this must sound to Willoughby. It was beginning to sound
insane to him.  They ve stolen us out of our proper times seizing us
like gypsies in the night 
 Fie, man! You rave with lunacy!
Phillips shook his head. He reached out and seized Willoughby tightly
by the wrist.  I beg you, listen to me! The citizen-women were
watching closely, whispering to one another behind their hands, laughing.  Ask
them! Phillips cried.
 Make them tell you what century this is! The sixteenth, do you think? Ask
them!
 What century could it be, but the sixteenth of our Lord?
 They will tell you it is the fiftieth.
Willoughby looked at him pityingly.  Man, man, what a sorry thing thou art!
The fiftieth, indeed! He laughed.  Fellow, listen to me, now. There is but
one Elizabeth, safe upon her throne in Westminster. This is India. The year is
Anno 1591.
Come, let us you and I steal a ship from these Portugals, and make our way
back to England, and peradventure you may get from there to your America 
 There is no England.
 Ah, can you say that and not be mad?
 The cities and nations we knew are gone. These people live like magicians,
Francis. There was no use holding anything back now, Phillips thought
leadenly. He knew that he had lost.  They conjure up places of long ago, and
build them here and there to suit their fancy, and when they are bored with [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]