GLOYD.
They are dead.
I followed them through the woods, across the meadows;
Then they all leaped into the Ipswich River,
And swam across, but could not climb the bank,
And so were drowned.
COREY.
You are to blame for this;
For you took down the bars, and let them loose.
GLOYD. That I deny. They broke the fences down. You know they were bewitched.
COREY.
Ah, my poor cattle!
The Evil Eye was on them; that is true.
Day of disaster! Most unlucky day!
Why did I leave my ploughing and my reaping
To plough and reap this Sodom and Gomorrah?
Oh, I could drown myself for sheer vexation!
[Exit.
GLOYD.
He's going for his cattle. He won't find them.
By this time they have drifted out to sea.
They will not break his fences any more,
Though they may break his heart. And what care I?
[Exit.
SCENE III. — COREY's kitchen. A table with supper. MARTHA knitting.
MARTHA.
He's come at last. I hear him in the passage. Something has gone amiss with him today; I know it by his step, and by the sound The door made as he shut it. He is angry.
Enter COREY with his riding-whip. As he speaks he takes off his hat and gloves and throws them down violently.
COREY. I say if Satan ever entered man He's in John Proctor!