SCENE--About midnight--in the forest. Gigantic tree-trunks, entwined with vines in flower, are in the foreground. Festoons of Spanish moss hang clear to the ground from the branches. Through the network one sees a circular clearing, grass-grown, flooded with moonlight. There is the soft murmur of a spring which bubbles from the ground in the center of this open space. Indians are crouched in ambush among the trees, motionless, their eyes fixed on the clearing.
The stillness is broken by the whistled call of a bird. The Indians stir alertly. One of them whistles in answer to the call. An Indian creeps swiftly in from the left. The Chief comes from his place of ambush to meet him.
CHIEF--He comes?
INDIAN--He has entered the forest.
CHIEF--I will give Nano the signal when we are ready. Go. Hide. (The Indian takes a place with the others. The Chief fits an arrow to his bow and crouches in the shadow. There is a pause of silence--then the noise of someone pushing his way through the woods at the rear of the clearing. Nano appears there, followed by Juan.)
JUAN--Why do you stop?
NANO--This is the place.
JUAN--(looking around him disappointedly) This?
NANO--There is the spring.
JUAN--(stepping forward to look at it--with growing anger) It looks a common spring like any other. Beware, dog! In these past months you have shown me many springs--
NANO--(quickly) The voyage was long. There were many islands. You forced me to lead you to a spring on each. But I told you the Spring of Life was here.
JUAN--I feared your revenge might lie. (relapsed into a mood of somber preoccupation--bitterly) I drank of every one. I closed my eyes. I felt the stirring of rebirth. Fool! Always the mirror in the spring showed me the same loathsome blighted face--(He groans--then with a harsh laugh) A sacred grove, the legend says! Some of those springs bubbled from sandy water! Beautiful maidens? There were none. At one place I found an old hag filling her bowl, who drank and mumbled at me. (then in a harsh tone of command) Nano! I command you to tell me if you have lied. (distractedly) I must have certainty, be it of faith or despair!
NANO--This is the spring.
JUAN--(looking around him) But where are the trees with golden fruit, the maidens, the fountain--? (bewildered, staring--grasping at hope) And yet--this spot has singular beauty. I feel enchantment. But why do I shudder? (A low whistled signal comes from the Chief hidden on the edge of the clearing. Juan starts.) Sssh! What was that?
NANO--A bird. (insistently) It is a magic spring. Drink!
JUAN--(bending over the spring) A mirror of moonlight. The dead eyes of a corpse stare back in mine. (He kneels by the spring as if fascinated.) I dare not drink. To whom can I pray? Beatriz! Oh, to hear your voice once more, to see your face! And yet I see you everywhere. Your spirit inspires all things wherever there is beauty. I hear you call in the song of the waves, the wind is your breath, the trees reach out with your arms, the dawn and sunset promise with your lips! You are everywhere and nowhere--part of all life but mine! (He breaks off, turning distrustful, harried eyes on the impatient Nano--bitterly) I am a spectacle for laughter, eh? A grotesque old fool!
NANO--(in a fierce tone of command) Drink!
JUAN--(hectically--goading himself to action) The test. Spirit of Eternal Youth, I pray to you! Beatriz! (He bends down and drinks. As he does so Nano darts away from him to the woods in front.)
NANO--(hurriedly) Kill when he stands again! (The Indians can be seen raising their bows, taking aim.)
JUAN--(having drunk, remains kneeling by the spring--in a trembling tone of hesitating joy) New life thrills in me! Is it youth? Do I dream? Then let me never wake till the end of time! (then harshly) Coward! How often have you looked death in the face. Are you afraid of life? Open! Open and see! (He opens his eyes and stares down into the spring. A terrible groan tears from his breast.) O God! (His grief is turned immediately into a frenzy of rage.) Treacherous dog. You betrayed me. (He leaps to his feet, drawing his sword. There is a twanging of many bows, the whiz of a flight of arrows. Juan falls, clutches at the grass, is still. The Indians pour out into the clearing but keep a cautious distance from Juan.)
NANO--(With more courage than they, he bends down over the body.) He wore no shining shirt. He is dead. (He does a wild dance of savage triumph beside the body--then stops as suddenly.) Quick. To their camp. The great Spirit has made them helpless. Be brave and kill! (He runs swiftly into the woods, followed by the whole band, brandishing their weapons. There is a pause. Then the fierce yells of the savages as they fall upon the sleeping camp, the howls of terror of the Spaniards, the screams of the dying, a few futile musket-shots.)
(The Curtain Falls)