Now once more, boom! (He laughs for true to his word there is another cannon shot. The noise in the church-yard attracts three soldiers who peer into the yard. These are Spravil, Soukup and Levinsky.)
Kovar.—Come here!
Levinsky.—Have you a drop of whiskey?
Kovar.—Did you ever see a Silesian who did not ask for whiskey?
Levinsky.—Give me some—I am thirsty.
Kovar (Is moved with a spirit of wild jollity).—A joke—hey—(Turns to Kloc.) Benedek fell.
Kloc (fails to get the point).—He fell?
Kovar (Same vein).—Fell—I tell you he fell—Do you dispute it?
Kloc (Naively anxious).—He fell!
Kovar.—Yes, I am telling you and you are denying it—
Kloc.—You are denying it, not I—you are laughing about it—he did fall near the railroad depot and Kreysnem fell too—A boy from my village, my chum, he fell. You were not there, what do you know?—I hollered to him to get behind a transport van but he did not hear and there was a salvo. The Prussians, they shot him right through his eyes and forehead—that’s how he fell, my poor boy—my chum—and General Benedek was killed too, everybody says; so only you are laughing about it.
Kovar (Amid mad laughter which shakes his whole body).—Fool! all the way you clung to me like a leech and cried and worried if Benedek fell or not (With renewed jollity.) But he fell—you common infantry—even if it was not on the battlefield—he fell—In Jaromer—he fell with all the other generals on a barrel of Rhine wine while you were fighting with nothing in your bellies but broth made of frog-pond water—and today you are still fighting.
Kloc (Moved by this blasphemy—shouts).—He was defending our country.
Kovar (Changed demeanor).—Who was—?
Kloc.—We all were defending it—and Benedek with us—
Kovar.—You—common—yes—but he (His eyes shine with rage. There’s a shot; he reddens, shakes—and leaps to the ground—lying on his back he still says.) He—your country—(Silence.)
Kloc (Helpless, naively to others, to divert).—He is going to sleep. (No one answers—pause.)
Spravil (his voice is clear—calm. He is not addressing anyone.
