The Devil's Disciple

The year 1777 was the one in which the passions roused by the breaking off of the American colonies from England,

more by their own weight than their own will,

boiled up to shooting point,

the shooting being idealized in minds in England

as suppression of rebellion

and in the colonists as the defence of liberty.

Both sides being therefore convinced that the most high minded course for them to pursue

was to kill as many of one another as possible.

Come on. Back - you, gal.

Halt!

Well. We live in wonderful time, eh, chaplain?

And therefore send this to General Philips: I am obliged to remove the oxen for his cannon

because a soldier without food is of no more use than of artillery without ammunition.

We shall eat his oxen, sir, and replace them with horses.

And my compliments to Mrs. Philips. I hope, she's ... comfortable. Come on, sir.

My compliments, sir. Everything is ready.

Ready? Everything? Nothing is ready, Major Swindon, nothing at all!

- For the ... eh ... - Hanging? - Oh, the eh ...

I should be glad to have a support of your presence this morning, sir.

Not particularly ... lively business - hanging this poor devil.

No, sir, it is not.

It is making too much of these people to hang them.

Martyr themselfs is what they like.

It is the one way to achieve fame without ability.

However, as you have committed us to hanging him: the sooner he is hanged the better.

At such a time we must remember ...

we are all made of good and evil.

Each man believes himself to be in a right.

And that's man enemy has the same beliefs. But when this conflict is over we can be sure in one thing ...

justice will prevail.

God cannot be set aside.

Pastor!

What is it, Christy? It's a matter of life and death.

- Oh ... I'll wait when you finish your service. - Christy!

- What is happen? - Father has been arrested, by the army, in Springtown.

- They say he is a rebel. - What!?

They killed uncle Peter and they go to hang father!

I don't know what mother will say when she hears that I'd been interrupted the service.

- Your father is no rebel. We all know that. - They don't. And they won't beleive me!

He was with uncle Peter, and you know what uncle Peter's like.

I'll go there myself and speak with the authorities.

They'll believe me.

William Dudgeon, will you come with us?

As relatives we are deeply shocked, but what can we do? We might be in danger ourselfs.

- He's right, Mr. Anderson! - Perhaps you're right.

- My friends, I must leave. The blessing of God be with you. - Amen.

After all, our families had never been very close.

Is your mother at home? - Yes. Oh!

She could not come to church, she's not very well.

My wife will look after her. Judith, go to Mrs. Dudgeon and stay with her till I bring her husband home.

Tell her that Christy and I are gone to Springtown.

We'll be there within an hour.

Anthony!

- You take care. - Nothing will happen to me, or to Timothy Dudgeon. He is an innocent man.

Advance! Stand! Ho!

General Burgoyne, my name is Parshotter, I am the minister here.

I have always preached loyalty to the crown.

Without sufficient eloquency, I gather.

That wretched, misguided fellow not one of my flock, sir.

Not a Springtown man, he's from Websterbridge.

Ah, no, no, Springtown is loyal, sir. Non a violation to non-concord here.

In our church here we pray for king George, and of course his armed forces.

Thank you, sir. Most helpful. Swindon.

If you don't mind, minister.

Swindon, if you could now get the matter for your attention. We're good enough to do up tents for the garrison.

It may be necessary to leave troops here when we move up.

We already gave them one good example, sir. There will be now no trouble here.

- I'm glad you take that view. - Do I understand, sir, that

in your opinion there will be further breaches ... - I do not express my opinion.

I never stoop to that habit of profane language which unfortunately

coarsens our profession. If I did, sir, perhaps I should be able to express an opinion

of a war office that supplied me , with a twice as many cavalry man

than I have horses and a weight of cannon so large that

half of roads in this country are not suited to support it.

How do you feel, sir, if we had to confront a colonial army

in our present condition? Before we have made contact with General Howe.

Our dragoons are on foot, sir and our artillery not even in sight.

Count on me, General, the British soldier will give a good account of himself.

And therefore, I suppose, sir, the British officer need not know his business:

the British soldier will get him out of all his blunders with the bayonet.

In future, sir, I must ask you to be a little less generous with the blood of your men,

and a little more generous with your own brains.

Swindon.

Do you at all realize, sir, that we have nothing standing between us and destruction

but our own bluff and the ignorance of these backwards men?

They are men of the same British stock as ourselves:

six to one of us, six to one, sir,

and half our troops are Hessians, Brunswickers, German dragoons, and Indians with scalping knives.

Suppose the colonists find a leader, what shall we do then?

Eh?

Our duty, sir, I presume.

May I ask are you writing a melodrama, Major Swindon?

- No, sir. - What a pity! WHhat a pity!

Now. Go on. Way back a little. Give back there. Go on. Back.

Get them out of there!

Get your cart of the bridge! Come on! Here! Here!

Take the reins, Christy.

They killed father, too. Before we even got here.

Stay here, Christy.

- Who is the officer in charge here? - Come on man, move away from me, and

- it's all over. - I want the officer. - Go about your business.

- Officer! Sir! - Right, carry on.

- That man was from my parish. I am his minister.

- Really? - It's gross injustice. He is innocent. - He was found guilty. Simple as clear.

- In the meantime I'll clear ... - Mr. Hawkins! - What is it? - It's that minister of yours, from Websterbridge. He stirred up trouble.

Damn that man!

- Out of the question. The body remains. - I cannot believe you mean it.

Anderson, don't be a fool!

Sergeant at arms, arrest that man!

- You can't leave that body there! - Anderson.

Indeed, Lieutenant, this man does not understand military necessity.

He is a minister. A minister! The man of peace!

Is he? Parshotter, you vouch for that too, I am sure.

- Ehm ... Yes. - He's of Websterbridge, I've been there, that's a small village. We don't see much of the world.

- Timothy Dudgeon ... - The church must support any measures designed to save human life.

- Don't you agree, Mr. Parshotter? - Ehm ... Yes.

Will you leave man's body hanging there...? It's a warning - to others!

- Precisely. - You must think before you

do anything to endanger the lifes of innocent men and women.

- My flock, Mr. Anderson. - I am sure that we can vouch for the Pastor, Lieutenant.

- Very well. Get back to your posts. - Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins.

There's nothing more to be said, my friends. Let us all go about our business.

Halt! Halt! Stop him! Stop him! Halt! Halt!

Come on! Come on! There he is! Stop him!

Home at last. I thought you'll never get back from Springtown.

Mrs. Dudgeon hardly spoke all that time.

It's been a long day.

You must be tired.

Come straight to bed.

Who's there?

Good evening, minister.

- Allow me to present myself. - Richard Dudgeon!

You remember me! I thought that good people of Websterbridge found more convenient to forget me, eh?

Oh, my father - you know quite well, I believe. I found him in Springtown - at a ... loose end... In fact, he ... eh ...

- I was there. - So you were. With a musket in your hand?

Then you remember your Christian duty, eh?

Ah, poor father.

Red coats did him too much credit. He had not stomach for a rebel either.

If you cared so little for your father, why did you risk your life for his body?

To annoy the English, what ever reason?

If you've been caught they would hang you too.

You think it would be any great loss, minister?

I think a man's life is worth saving whither it belongs to.

Would you come inside? We'd given you some supper.

No.

You know, another Minister would ask you to supper and treat you to a sermon.

Bury him quickly, before the memory of his death

makes you forget that you are a man of peace.

Your father shall have a Christian burial, Mr. Dudgeon.

as you intended.

How like a parson. All you so eager to be the best of his fellow men.

Save your breath, pastor, you can't convert me!

I was fond of a good psalm singing in a little church choir,

but I saw that the world cringed before your Almighty only through fear.

And I made the devil's acquaint.

Yeh, I knew that he was my natural master, captain and friend.

And I prayed secretly to him, and he comforted me.

I promised him my soul, and swore an oath that I would stand up for him in this world

and stand by him in the next.

That promise and that oath made a man of me.

Tony.

Tony.

Tony, I saw someone, did you?

Tony, who was he?

Richard Dudgeon.

Here?

In Websterbridge?

What did he want?

Brought back his father's body.

Do you mean that ...

Gallows?

But how?

Go to bed, Judith.

I'll tell you all about in the morning.

But they said it could not be taken.

He didn't ask.

There's no need to reproach yourself.

You did everything you could ... for Mr. Dudgeon.

- Judith ... - After all the people break the law of the country ...

Judith, we don't seem to understand what that fighting means.

- We don't ... - No, we don't expect to so.

Let's hope we never will.

You so long have been there.

Did you talk to him?

What did he say?

Nothing, Judith. Nothing you want to hear.

And I to remember.

And now we commit his body to the ground.

- Amen. - Aye. - Amen.

This is the last will and testament of me, Timothy Dudgeon.

And I hereby revoke all former wills made by me

and declare ...

- Who asked you here? Good morning, mother. Keeping up appearances as usual. That's right.

- That's right. - Leave my house. - How do you know it's your house until the will is read?

My dear relatives! Sit down, sit down.

Well, all here for the feast. Even little cinder girl. Hello Essie.

Uncle William! I haven't seen you since you gave up drinking.

Uncle Titus, you old horse thief!

The minister! I should have accepted your invitation to supper the other night.