Page:Cyrano de Bergerac.djvu/218

'Tis now the love-song of the wandering goat-herds!…
Hark!… 'tis the valley, the wet landes, the forest,
The sunburnt shepherd-boy with scarlet béret,
The dusk of evening on the Dordogue river,—
'Tis Gascony! Hark, Gascons, to the music!

[The Cadets sit with bowed heads; their eyes have a far-off look as if dreaming, and they surreptitiously wipe away their tears with their cuffs and the corner of their cloaks.]

Carbon

[to Cyrano in a whisper].

But you make them weep!

Cyrano.

Ay, for home-sickness. A nobler pain than hunger,—'tis of the soul, not of the body! I am well pleased to see their pain change its viscera. Heart-ache is better than stomach-ache.

Carbon.

But you weaken their courage by playing thus on their heart-strings!

Cyrano

[ making a sign to a drummer to approach].

Not I. The hero that sleeps in Gascon blood is ever ready to awake in them. 'Twould suffice…

[He makes a signal; the drum beats.]

All the Cadets

[stand up and rush to take arms].

What? What is it?