_Enter_ CHARLIE WARD _and_ SABINA SILVER.
_Charlie Ward._ They have done for him. I thought they would.
_Sabina Silver._ Oh, Paul, I never thought to find you like this! He"s not dead; he"ll come round yet.
_Charlie Ward._ [_Opens his shirt and puts in his hand on his heart._]
Paul!
_Paul Ruttledge._ Ah! Charlie, give me the soldering iron--no, bring me the lap anvil--I"m as good a tinker as any of you.
_Charlie Ward._ He thinks he"s back on the roads with us! He is done for.
_Sabina Silver._ I knew he"d have to come back to me to die after all; it"s a lonesome thing to die among strangers.
_Paul Ruttledge._ That is right, that is right, take me up in your brazen claws. But no--no--I will not go out beyond Saturn into the dark. Take me down--down to that field under the earth, under the roots of the grave.
_Sabina Silver._ I don"t know what he is saying. I never could understand his talk.
_Paul Ruttledge._ O plunge me into the wine barrel, into the wine barrel of G.o.d.
_Sabina Silver._ Won"t you speak to me, Paul? Don"t you know me? I am Sibby; don"t you remember me, Sibby, your wife?
_Charlie Ward._ He sees you now; I think he knows you.
[PAUL RUTTLEDGE _has raised himself on his elbow and is looking at_ SABINA SILVER.
_Sabina Silver._ He knows me. I was sure he would know me.
_Paul Ruttledge._ Colman, Colman, remember always where there is nothing there is G.o.d. [_He sinks down again._
_One of the Crowd._ [_Coming back with two or three others._] I knew they must be in the rocks.
_Charlie Ward._ Well, he"s gone! There"ll soon be none of us left at all. And I never knew what it was he did that brought him to us.
_Sabina Silver._ Oh, Paul, Paul!
[_Begins to keen very low, swaying herself to and fro._
_One of the Crowd._ [_To_ CHARLIE WARD.] Was he a friend of yours?
_Charlie Ward._ He was, indeed. I must do what I can for him now.
_One of the Crowd._ That"s natural, that"s natural. It"s a pity they did it. They"d best have left him alone. We"d best be going back to the town.
[SABINA SILVER _raises the keen louder. The_ Strangers _and_ CHARLIE WARD _take off their hats._