Walter Miller A Canticle For Leibowitz

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spects state secrets if we happen to learn them. Lest we be accused of
espionage, we are always careful about--"
"Was he warned?" the abbot demanded again.
"Of course. Goraldi said the papal legate was lying to him; he ac-
cused the Church of fomenting dissension among the allies of the Holy
Scourge, in an attempt to promote the Pope's temporal power. The idiot even
told Hannegan about the legate's warning."
Dom Paulo winced and whistled. "So Hannegan did what?"
The messenger hesitated. "I suppose I can tell you: Monsignor
Apollo is under arrest. Hannegan ordered his diplomatic files seized.
There's talk in New Rome of placing the whole realm of Texarkana under
interdict. Of course, Hannegan has already incurred ipso facto excommuni-
cation, but that doesn't seem to bother many Texarkanans. As you surely know,
the population is about eighty per cent cultist anyhow, and the Ca-
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tholicism of the ruling class has always been a thin veneer."
why were you sent to report Hannegans plans to us? Were in the empire of
Denver, and I can't see how this region is affected."
"Ah, but I've told you only the beginning. Hannegan hopes to unite the
continent eventually. After Laredo's firmly leashed, he will have broken the
encirclement that's kept him in check. Then the next move will be against
Denver."
"But wouldn't that involve supply lines across nomad country? It seems
impossible."
"It's extremely difficult, and that's what makes the next move cer-
tain. The Plains form a natural geographical barrier. If they were depopu-
lated, Hannegan might regard his western frontier as secure as it stands.
But the nomads have made it necessary for all states adjoining the Plains to
tie up permanent military forces around the nomad territory for contain-
ment. The only way to subdue the Plains is to control both fertile strips, to
the east and to the west."
"But even so," the abbot wondered, "the nomads--"
"Hannegan's plan for them is devilish. Mad Bear's warriors can easily cope
with Laredo's cavalry, but what they can't cope with is a cattle plague. The
Plains tribes don't know it yet, but when Laredo set out to punish the nomads
for border raiding, the Laredans drove several hundred head of diseased cattle
ahead to mingle with the nomads' herds. It was
Hannegan's idea. The result will be famine, and then it will be easy to set
tribe against tribe. We don't, of course, know all the details, but the goal
is a nomad legion under a puppet chieftain, armed by Texarkana, loyal to Han-
negan, ready to sweep west to the mountains. If it comes to pass, this re-
gion will get the first breakers."
"But why? Surely Hannegan doesn't expect the barbarians to be dependable
troops, or capable of holding an empire once they finish muti-
lating it!"
"No, m'Lord. But the nomad tribes will be disrupted, Denver will be shattered.
Then Hannegan can pick up the pieces."
"To do what with them? It couldn't be a very rich empire."
thousand. This abbey was under siege three times during the Bayring in-
flux, and once again during the Vissarionist schism. We'll keep the books
safe. We've kept them that way for quite some time."
"But there is an added hazard these days, m'Lord."
"What may that be?"
"A bountiful supply of gunpowder and grapeshot."
The Feast of the Assumption had come and gone, but still there was no word of
the party from Texarkana. Private votive masses for pil-
grims and travelers were beginning to be offered by the abbey's priests.
Dom Paulo had ceased taking even a light breakfast, and it was whispered that
he was doing penance for having invited the scholar at all, in view of the
present danger on the Plains.
The watchtowers remained constantly manned. The abbot himself frequently
climbed the wall to peer eastward.
Shortly before Vespers on the Feast of Saint Bernard, a novice re-
ported seeing a thin and distant dust trail, but darkness was coming on, and
no one else had been able to make it out. Soon, Compline and the
Salve Regina were sung, but still no one appeared at the gates.
"It might have been their advance scout," suggested Prior Gault.
"It might have been Brother Watchman's imagination," countered
Dom Paulo.
"But if they've camped just ten miles or so down the way--"
"We'd see their fire from the tower. It's a clear night."
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"Still, Domne, after the moon rises, we could send a rider--"
"Oh, no. That's a good way to get shot by mistake. If it's really them,
they've probably kept their fingers on their triggers for the whole trip,
especially at night. It can wait until dawn."
It was late the following morning when the expected party of horsemen appeared
out of the east. From the top of the wall Dom Paulo blinked and squinted [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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