Another apartment in the castle.
HORATIO AND A SERVANT enter .
HORATIO.—Who are the people who want to speak to me?
SERVANT.—Sailors, sir; they say they have letters for you.
HORATIO.—Bring them in. ( Exit the servant .) I know not what part of the world I can receive a message from, but from Lord Hamlet.
(The sailors enter.)
FIRST SAILOR.—God bless you, sir!
HORATIO.—Bless thee also!
FIRST SAILOR.—So he will, sir, if it please him. Here is a letter for you, sir,—it is from the ambassador who sailed for England,—if your name is Horatio, as I understand it.
HORATIO, reading .—”Horatio, when you have read this, give these men some means of reaching the king; they have letters for him. We had not been two days at sea when a pirate, well equipped for war, gave chase. Finding our sails too weak, we resorted to forced courage. The grappling hooks thrown, I boarded. At the same time they freed themselves from our ship; so I alone remained their prisoner. They treated me like merciful robbers; but they knew well what they did: I am about to give them return. Let the king have the letters I send him; and you, come to me with as much haste as if you were fleeing from death. I have words to whisper in your ear that will make you speechless; even they will be far too light for the caliber of this matter.” These good people will take you to where I am. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern continue their journey to England; I have much to tell you about them. Farewell.
“The one you know is yours,
“HAMLET.”
Come, I will give you the means to deliver your letters: do it as quickly as possible, so that you can take me to the one who sent them to you.
(They go out.)
