 (A third officer joins the previous ones.)
3rd Officer:
Something new, gentlemen: the war is over. This
desperate storm has so devastated the Turks that their
plans must be halted. A respectable Venetian
ship witnessed the shipwreck and distress of the greater part of their
fleet.
Montano.
What? Is that true?
3rd Officer: The ship has indeed arrived here; a Veronese, carrying Michael Cassio, the lieutenant of that brave Moor Othello. The Moor himself is in transit and will shortly arrive here in Cyprus as supreme commander.
Montano. I’m delighted; he has all the qualities for such an important position.
3rd Officer. But this same Cassio, however comforting his account of the Turks’ loss, still looks gloomy and wishes that the Moor had escaped safely, for they had departed in the most violent storm.
Montano. Heaven grant it! I am his friend, and he is both a good soldier and a perfect general. We will go to the seaside, both to inspect the ship that has already arrived and to meet the waking Othello, until air and water mingle in our eyes.
Officer. Come, let us do that—every minute seems long to us until we are assured of his safe arrival.
