68 
MORTADELLO 
 
Till then I do her will, plot, plan, and execute ; 
’Twill sharpen up my skill for battle with the brute, 
When, as I guess, survival of all, she reigns alone, 
A sun that brooks no rival of stars about his throne. 
[He makes a fierce gesture of love and of ambition, 
and strides vigorously away. 
 
SCENE II.  Without the prison.  The window of THE GOV-
ERNOR’S room overlooks the quay, which is approached on 
the left by a bridge, behind which is seen the Bridge of 
Sighs. 
 
ALESSANDRO.  The clouds are charged with fire.  I think the 
time is come. 
To loose the lightning flash. 
LORENZO. 
Our lion drugged and dumb 
Stirs in his torpor ;  let him rise and shake his mane, 
Open his mouth and roar ! 
ALESSANDRO. 
Well, off with you, explain 
To the Committee !  Say we fear that the Princess 
Is murdered in her cell.  Send forty men express 
To cry the news aloud by street and by canal. 
LORENZO.  We’ll hold upon the quays a merry Carnival. 
ALESSANDRO.  So, as crowds gather, urge them here. 
LORENZO. 
 
The galleys lie 
Menacing. 
ALESSANDRO.  Have no fear ;  their powder’s none so dry. 
Had Mortadello dared, we had all been dead by now. 
But, as it is, the pigs may live to suck the sow. 
LORENZO.  I’m off, then. 
[LORENZO goes off the bridge, cunning.