Free Green shadows, white whale v5 by Ray Bradbury Page A

them, a grand playhouse laid out in the softly falling feathers of a spring night.
    "Did you bring the matches?" asked Kelly.
    "Did I bring the ... what do you think I am!"
    "Well, did you, is all I ask."
    Casey searched himself. When his pockets hung from his suit he swore and said, "I did not."
    "Ah, what the hell," said Nolan "They'll have matches inside. We'll borrow a few. Come on."
    Going up the road, Timulty tripped and fell.
    "For God's sake, Timulty," said Nolan, "where's your sense of romance? In the midst of a big Easter Rebellion we want to do everything just so. Years from now we want to go into a pub and tell about the Terrible Conflagration up at the Place, do we not? If it's all mucked up with the sight of you landing on your ass in the snow, that makes no fit picture of the Rebellion we are now in, does it?"
    Timulty, rising, focused the picture and nodded. "I'll mind me manners."
    "Hist! Here we are!" cried Riordan.
    "Jesus, stop saying things like 'that's the place' and 'here we are,' " said Casey. "We see the damned house. Now what do we do next?"
    "Destroy it?" suggested Murphy tentatively.
    "Gah, you're so dumb you're hideous," said Casey. "Of course we destroy it, but first . . . blueprints and plans."
    "It seemed simple enough back at Mickey's Pub," said Murphy. "We would just come tear the damn place down. Seeing as how my wife outweighs me, I need to tear something down."
    "It seems to me," said Timulty, drinking from the bottle, "we go rap on the door and ask permission."
    "Permission!" said Murphy. "I'd hate to have you running Hell; the lost souls would never get fried! We—"
    But the front door swung wide suddenly, cutting him off. A man peered out into the night.
    "I say," said a gentle and reasonable voice, "would you mind keeping your voices down. The lady of the house is sleeping before we drive to Dublin for the evening, and—"
    The men, revealed in the hearth-light glow of the door, blinked and stood back, lifting their caps.
    "Is that you, Lord Kilgotten?"
    "It is," said the man in the door.
    "We will keep our voices down," said Timulty, smiling, all amiability.
    "Beg pardon, Your Lordship," said Casey.
    "Kind of you," said His Lordship. And the door closed gently.
    All the men gasped.
    " 'Beg pardon, Your Lordship,"We'll keep our voices down, Your Lordship.' " Casey slapped his head. "What were we saying? Why didn't someone catch the door while he was still there?"
    "We was dumbfounded, that's why. He took us by surprise, just like them damned high and mighties. I mean, we weren't doing anything out here, were we?"
    "Our voices were a bit high," admitted Timulty.
    "Voices, hell," said Casey. "The damned lord's come and gone from our fell clutches!"
    "Shh, not so loud," said Timulty.
    Casey lowered his voice. "So let us sneak up on the door and—"
    "That strikes me as unnecessary," said Nolan. "He knows we're here now."
    "Sneak up on the door," repeated Casey, grinding his teeth, "and batter it down—"
    The door opened again.
    The lord, a shadow, peered out at them, and the soft, patient, frail old voice inquired, "I say, what are you doing out there?"
    "Well, it's this way, Your Lordship—" began Casey, and stopped, paling.
    "We come," blurted Murphy, "we come ... to burn the place!"
    His Lordship stood for a moment looking out at the men, watching the snow, his hand on the doorknob. He shut his eyes for a moment, thought, conquered a tic in both eyelids after a silent struggle, and then said, "Hmm. Well, in that case, you had best come in."
    The men said that was fine, great, good enough, and started off, when Casey cried, "Wait!" Then, to the old man in the doorway: "We'll come in when we are good and ready."
    "Very well," said the old man. "I shall leave the door ajar, and when you have decided the time, enter. I shall be in the library."
    Leaving the door a half-inch open, the old man started away, when Timulty cried out, "When we are ready! Jesus, God, when will we ever be