NAT--[_Following her toward the door--confusedly._] But Sue--I saw them---- [_From above in the night comes the muffled hail in_ BARTLETT’S _voice_.] Sarah Allen, ahoy! [NAT _stops, tortured, his hands instinctively raised up to cover his ears_. SUE _gives a startled cry. The door above is slammed and_ BARTLETT _comes down the stairs, his face revealing that the delusion has again full possession of his mind_.] BARTLETT--[_Pointing his finger at his son and fixing him with his eyes--in ringing, triumphant tones._] The Sarah Allen, boy--in the harbor below--a red and a green plain afore my eyes! What did I tell ye, boy? Come back from the Southern Seas as I swore she must! Loaded with gold as I swore she would be! [NAT _again seems to crumble--to give way to the stronger will. He takes a step toward his father, his eyes lighting up._ SUE _looks at his face--then rushes to her father_.] SUE--[_Putting her hands to her father’s head and forcing him to look down into her face--intensely._] Pa! Stop, do you hear me! It’s all mad! You’re driving Nat mad, too! [_As she sees her father hesitate, the wild light dying out of his eyes, she summons all her power to a fierce pleading._] For my sake, Pa! For Ma’s sake! Think of how she would feel if she were alive and saw you acting this way with Nat! Tell him! Tell him now--before me--tell him it’s all a lie! BARTLETT--[_Trying in an agony of conflict to get hold of his reason--incoherently._] Yes, Sue--I hear ye--confess--aye, Sarah, your dyin’ words--keep Nat clear o’ this--but--red and green--I seen ’em plain---- [_Then suddenly after a tremendous struggle, lifting his tortured face to_ NAT’S--_in tones of despair_.] Nothin’ there, boy! Don’t ye believe! No red and green! She’ll never come! Derelict and lost, boy, the Sarah Allen. [_After another struggle with himself._] And I lied to ye, boy. I gave the word--in my mind--to kill them two. I murdered ’em in cold blood. SUE--[_Shrinking from him in horror._] Pa! You don’t know what you’re saying. BARTLETT--The truth, girl. Ye said--confess---- NAT--[_Bewilderedly._] But--it was right. They were trying to steal---- BARTLETT--[_Overcome by the old obsession for a moment--savagely._] Aye, that’s it! The thievin’ scum! They was tryin’---- [_He stays short, throwing his head back, his whole body tense and quivering with the effort he makes to force this sustaining lie out of his brain--then, broken but self-conquering, he looks again at_ NAT--_gently_.] No, Nat. That be the lie I been tellin’ myself ever since. That cook--he said ’twas brass---- But I’d been lookin’ for ambergris--gold--the whole o’ my life--and when we found that chest--I _had_ to believe, I tell ye! I’d been dreamin’ o’ it all my days! But he said brass and junk, and told the boy--and I give the word to murder ’em both and cover ’em up with sand. NAT--[_Very pale--despairingly._] But he lied, didn’t he? It is gold--real gold--isn’t it?