Act IV - Scene I

CHRISTIAN, CARBON DE CASTEL-JALOUX, LE BRET, the CADETS, then CYRANO.

[Firing is heard in the distance.]

[Firing is heard again, nearer this time.]

[Those who have lifted up their heads prepare to sleep again.]

[He comes down. LE BRET advances anxiously to meet him.]

[He enters the tent and disappears.]

LE BRET:
It's terrible!
CARBON:
Not a morsel of food left.
LE BRET:
Mordious!
CARBON:
[making a sign that he should speak lower] Curse under your breath. You will awaken them. [to the CADETS] Hush! Go back to sleep. [to LE BRET] He who sleeps can dine by dreaming of food.
LE BRET:
That's not much comfort to those who cannot sleep! What starvation!
CARBON:
Oh, damn their firing! It will wake my boys. [to the CADETS, who lift up their heads] Go back to sleep!
A CADET:
[moving] Damn! Again!
CARBON:
’Tis nothing! It's just Cyrano coming back!
A SENTINEL:
[from offstage] Halt! Who goes there?
VOICE OF CYRANO:
Bergerac.
SENTINEL:
[on the embankment] Stop! Who goes there?
CYRANO:
[appearing at the top of the embankment] It's Bergerac, you idiot!
LE BRET:
Heavens!
CYRANO:
[making signs that he should not awaken the others] Hush!
LE BRET:
Are you wounded?
CYRANO:
No. You should know by now they make a habit of missing me every morning.
LE BRET:
This is too much! To risk your life every morning in order to deliver letters!
CYRANO:
[stopping before CHRISTIAN] I promised that he would write often. [He looks at CHRISTIAN.] He sleeps. How pale he is! But still handsome, despite his sufferings. If his poor lady-love knew that he is dying of hunger…
LE BRET:
Get yourself to bed, quickly.
CYRANO:
Don't scold me, Le Bret! The risk I take is smaller than you think.
I've found an easy spot to pass through the Spanish lines, where the men go to sleep drunk every night.
LE BRET:
You should try to bring us back some food next time.
CYRANO:
A man must carry no weight if he is to get by there! But there will be a surprise for us tonight. If I'm not mistaken, the French will either eat or die tonight.
LE BRET:
Oh! What's going on? Tell me!
CYRANO:
No, not yet. I'm not certain of it yet. You'll see.
CARBON:
We're the besiegers, and yet we're starving! How disgraceful!
LE BRET:
Alas, this siege is full of complications! While we're besieging, we ourselves are caught in a trap and are besieged by the Cardinal Infante of Spain.
CYRANO:
It would come full circle if he were besieged as well!
LE BRET:
This isn't funny. I'm serious.
CYRANO:
Oh! Of course!
LE BRET:
To think that you should risk your precious life everyday, for the sake of a letter. [seeing him turning to enter the tent] Where are you going?
CYRANO:
To write another one!

Footnotes

  1. The word "besiegers" refers to soldiers who surround and crowd around an area in order to capture it from an enemy.

    — Owl Eyes Reader
  2. Cardinal Infante Ferdinand (1610–1641) was the Prince of Spain, Cardinal of the Holy Catholic Church, and Governor of the Spanish Netherlands.

    — Owl Eyes Reader