Scene 1. Landscape. Whole stage. Gen. Halcom discovered, R, looking away with field-glass. Soldiers “en picket,” rear.

Enter Barney L. U. E., looking badly as if from a drunken debauch.

1st Soldier and Soldiers. Guardhouse! Guardhouse!

Barney. (Stopping, &c.) Close up them holes in your face; the flies may get inside and blow you.

1st Sol., &c. Pull up yer trowsers, they are wearing out your heels. (Soldiers laugh. Barney enraged.)

Barney. I will have that thafe killed that got so many idiots down here.

1st Sol. Turn off the gas or your head will collapse.

Barney. (Throwing off hat and coat, L.) Come out here with them idiots. Come out! Come out! (Spanks his hand on floor.)

1st Sol. Ah-r, Barney, get out, we were only in fun.

Barney. Go away wid you for a thafe and blackguard ye are.

1st Sol. Come, Barney, let’s have a drink and make up. (Soldier produces bottle. Barney looks incredulous, as if expecting some imposition. He approaches very slowly.)

Barney. And you have no sickness in it?

1st Sol. Ah-r, what do you take us for? (Barney takes bottle and attempts to drink. Finds it empty. Flings it out L. Spanks his hand on the floor. Soldiers laugh very loud.)

Barney. Come out! Come out, you thafe er the worruld! I’ll bat your dam head off you. Come out! (Gen. Halcom turns, looks at them a moment. Barney subsides, and as he puts on coat and hat, turns often to see if Hal. is looking at him. Enter Orderly L. U. E.)

Orderly. (To Gen. Hal.) A note, sir, from the commander-in-chief.

Halcom. One moment (reads note). Say to the commander-in-chief that the enemy are massing on our immediate front. (Orderly salutes and retires L. U. E.) The picket will report to chief of brigade guard. (Pickets retire. L. U. E. Halcom follows slowly. Soon a squad of rebel soldiers enter R. with Keele. Brightly peering cautiously. D’A. shows R. U. E. A picket fires out L. U. E. A return shot and he falls. Three other shots and rebels retire R., but soon come slowly back.)

Brightly. Some of those Yankees have learned to shoot since this fight began. (To men.) Take that body behind the hill and bury it. (Rebel soldiers drag the body out R.)

D’A. (Approaching, handing Brightly a note.) An order from the commander.

Brightly. (Reads and throws it down.) I take no orders from any one.

D’A. Are you a soldier or brigand?

Brightly. Either you please.

D’A. The laws of every nation compel allegiance to the country that gives its protection.

Brightly. Protection, did you say?

D’A. Aye, protection!

Brightly. When this confederacy finds itself able to stand alone, it may assume impudence enough to ask my allegiance on account of the protection it can give.

D’A. As did the colonies in the first insurrection, this government holds the inhabitants of its territory subject to the military conscription.

Brightly. Its object, an asylum for broken down political beats.

D’A. A separation from the free states!

Brightly. Which I oppose.

D’A. Then, sir, you are a traitor.

Brightly. Be careful, young man; you are not robust enough to use such talk with a man. I fight to repel Yankee intrusion upon our domestic affairs.

D’A. A patriotism that simply asks protection for your pocket.

Brightly. Whose reaches farther?

D’A. Who has no pride in a magnificent nationality, would simply root his way through the world like a hog, for the benefit of his stomach.

Brightly. Well, who gets, or cares for more?

D’A. He whose ambition leaps the instinct of the animal, to achieve honor, magnificence and power.

Brightly. You had that before and the north paid the bills. This is simply a domestic fight.

D’A. For the liberty and honor of the south.

Brightly. Liberty and honor? The world very properly forgot both when the crusade ended. A country hampered with slavery and the arrogance of wealth, prating of liberty and honor!

D’A. Well, you have graduated at a school that can say even more.

Brightly. Honor is a bag of gas for the mouth. A presumptuous idea manufactured for the occasion.

D’A. Well?

Brightly. While driving a sharp bargain for a soul and body in a black hide, or speculating on deceptive conclusions, did you ever feel it?

D’A. I have done neither.

Brightly. I spoke of the custom of the country you defend.

D’A. Well?

Brightly. What is liberty? An unwanted, useless thing, stamped upon in every prosperous part of the country. Even the old cradle of our fabled liberty rocks for the benefit of the capitalist, who starves his brainless neighbor for the benefit of his vanity. I do not disagree with him. From the beginning, custom, law and tradition have said, it is to him that can. In nature, the large fish eat the smaller. The same of the birds and beasts. The world is a slave pen. Statutes never made a man free. Take in the boasted freedom and civilization of New England, are her working people more free than ours? Does the working man dare assert the rights of a freeman there? The hypocrisy of this presumption is manifest everywhere. The rich demand the servile submission of the poor, and they give it or starve! Be frank. Say that you fight to control for your pocket and stomach. Unite with the slaveholders of the north and shed no more aristocratic blood. Say he that works for another is a slave, and I am with you.

D’A. Are you done?

Brightly. For the present.

D’A. For the last three years the regulators have lived a life of brigandage for your benefit. They now demand that you shall receive your orders from the department commander.

Brightly. Ah, indeed! Then they propose that the tail shall wag the dog.

D’A. The last trap to which you led cost half the command. Take your orders from the proper source, or they refuse to follow you farther.

Brightly. This is treason!

D’A. In this instance, it is to him that can.

Brightly. Then they would command?

D’A. Or be commanded for a less purposeless object.

Brightly. How long since these brainless brutes set themselves up to direct the intellectual part of this campaign?

D’A. Since they have learned that they are without a competent leader.

Brightly. Are they not thieves and drunkards by instinct?

D’A. I will convey the insult to the troops.

Brightly. And as much to yourself!

D’A. When the country has used my life to its satisfaction, I will resent that in a proper manner. For the present it shall help to make the nation.

Brightly. A nation? What are nations? The synonym of two neighbors who fight across a fence over the scratch of a hen. Their dogs assume the dangerous roles. If the leaders of this breakup were compelled to shoulder a rifle and take themselves to the front, there would be no war. Instead, that Christian concession they call the “Peace Congress,” would come to the front so quick, it would excite your admiration, and its present auxiliaries would still live to swallow insults, instead of sneaking behind the servile hounds they push to the front.

D’A. And the brave and honorable Brigand Chief, whose chivalrous ilk forbids such dishonor, would still steal on his helpless enemy at night, though it wore a petticoat, in sightless slumber, and compel the knife and torch to hide his cowardice!

Brightly. (Drawing knife.) I will not wait for the birth of a nation to settle that insult!

D’A. (Drawing.) This result is your own seeking! (As they attempt to fight, Hood dashes in L. U. E. and intercepts.)

Hood. Hold! Is there not blood enough wasted already? (Both attempt to speak.) Not a word, gentlemen! There is a chance for your sanguinary extravagance at the front. D’Arneaux, an hour since you volunteered for the enemy’s lines. Do you serve the army by quarrels with ruffians? Attend to your business, or leave it with better hands. Now, too! (Neither move.) I command here! (Both leave slowly. Brightly L., D’A. R.) So do the ruffianly elements divide my strength, and ruin the efficiency of the army. Half the pickets are drunk or asleep. I am not surprised that the federals push their advance to our very camp fires. (Hez. creeps on very cautiously at L. U. E., cocking gun at port.)

Hezekiah. How de dew? (Hood starts and turns. Both eye each other a moment in silence.)

Hood. Well?

Hezekiah. I s’pose your my meat.

Hood. Can you direct me to the federal headquarters, sir?

Hezekiah. (Looking at Hood a moment.) I’ll be darned if ye hain’t got me. Old Tecump keeps his office on top of his old white horse most of the time.

Hood. (Pointing R.) I think, sir, in this direction.

Hezekiah. Don’t you go there! Johnnies are thicker in them woods than lunatics in a crazy house. Jest popped one on ’em, less ’n half an hour ago.

Hood. I have some valuable information for the federal commander.

Hezekiah. You git out! Is old Hood got shot?

Hood. Not to my knowledge.

Hezekiah. I bin wantin’ to light on that old critter’s kerrin for over a month. If I get a bead on him, Old Secesh is goin’ ter have a fewneral.

Hood. I am very anxious, sir, and no time to lose.

Hezekiah. I bin whoopin’ on that line since daylight. I’m hungrier than a Floridy allagater.

Hood. (Turning to leave.) I must be moving. Good day, sir.

Hezekiah. Say! Ye hain’t got nothin’ in yer pocket ter scald a feller’s in’ards, have ye?

Hood. I regret, sir, that I cannot accommodate you. Good day, sir. (Attempts to leave R.)

Hezekiah. If ye stick to me, I’ll get ye there when the relief comes. When the old general sees you with me, he’ll do the square thing by ye. I know old Tecump just as well as I do you. He and I have spilt some fluid since we come down on this racket. He’s five trumps and four aces in a lone hand every time you hit him.

Hood. You observe I am in the disguise of a rebel general, to avoid their pickets.

Hezekiah. I wonder if I don’t know skim milk when I see it?

Hood. If I should be seen in the company of a Yankee, I should be shot at sight.

Hezekiah. Wal, I guess yer head is level on that.

Hood. (About to leave—R.) Good day, sir.

Hezekiah. Say, I don’t s’pose you’ve got any tobacker in yer trowsis, have ye?

Hood. (Producing it.) Certainly, sir.

Hezekiah. Jest give us a chaw. (Hood complies.) My stomach is as holler as a collapsed balloon. (Bites off a chew, and returns plug.) ’Bliged at ye.

Hood. (Turning to go.) Good day, sir.

Hezekiah. Say? You jest keep your eye peeled, or them Johnnies will get your hair. (Exit Hood—R.) That’s a darn nice old critter. But I don’t think he’s so bright as some folks, or else he wouldn’t be caterwaulin’ round here on the picket line alone. He don’t know nothin’ about war! I’ll be darned if I don’t think I’ve got stuck some myself. Down east, you can foller the tellegraff poles. They hain’t got scarcely any on ’em in this heathen country. This is about the meanest place I ever travelled in. If I hain’t eat my peck of dirt 250 times since I hit this land er snakes, you can chaw my ear. I hain’t had a good square wash for over two years. My hide would raise pertaters stouter than a down-east cut-down. (Shot from R., and his hat flies into L. wings.) Gosh all Jewpiter, if that critter hasn’t spil’t my best hat. (Chasing it out L. Other shots, and two rebel soldiers creep on R. A shot from L.; one falls, and the other retreats. Hez. comes on L.) There ain’t no two Johnnies can drive me. (Feels of the dead rebel.) Bet ye tew dollars and a half that critter won’t get well. (Exit L. slowly, looking back often. Brightly creeps on from R.)

Brightly. Those Yankee pickets will shoot the rear guard through the camp yet. (Looking out, R.) Come here. (Enter Zina, hatless and ragged.) I have spotted you. If you attempt to escape again, I will shoot you at sight! What are you skulking around here for?

Zina. I was lost; I did not know where I was going.

Brightly. You lie! Why do you follow my lieutenant’s footsteps so much like a cur? You are my property. Not a dog. What do you hope for? That he will buy you? He can never do that. Not if his house was solid gold, and he offered me all he had. White niggers are hard to manage, but I am the man that never failed on one yet. Look at me! (Zina looks at him in terror.) If you speak to him again, I will flog your hide off.

Zina. Oh, he is all the friend I have in the wide world.

Brightly. Who feeds your hungry maw and rags your lousy hide?

Zina. When my heart is almost breaking, and I beg for God to let me die, the kind words he speaks make me hope again so much—

Brightly. In love, hey? A nigger, a field hand, in love with a gentleman! At least, he passes himself off for one. Within twelve hours, I will take the pimp out of his proud strut.

Zina. Oh, I am such a miserable slave to love so good a master as he. He is too noble to do a wrong to any one.

Brightly. While he has dogged my footsteps when I leave the camp with you, and has twice incited you to escape?

Zina. Heaven is my witness, he did not do that.

Brightly. I will have an end of this! Today he volunteered to enter the enemy’s camp as a spy—ostensibly as a deserter. He will be betrayed!

Zina. Do with me as you will, and I will never complain; but he is innocent.

Brightly. When he attempts to return, he will be arrested by the enemy, with the proofs of his business on his person! A court-martial, an execution, and the end! (Zina in agony.)

Zina. My God, what shall I do?

Brightly. Nothing. (Zina drops on her knees.)

Zina. Oh, what will you ask of me, and I will never cause you trouble again?

Brightly. I make no conditions when I control!

Zina. If I have ever loved anything, it has been lost to me. (Sinking down, sobbing.)

Brightly. Of what use are you to me now? I have taken insult after insult from him, until I have reached the last. If this fails, I will kill him!

Zina. (Springing up.) Then I will tell him the infamous traitor that you are.

Brightly. (Dashing forward to strike her.) You will?

Zina. (Defending with stiletto.) Stand off, you cowardly cur!

Brightly. (Springing back and drawing bowie knife.) Ah ha, revolt?

Zina. Aye, revolt!

Brightly. Before this, I had determined to kill you. (Rolling up cuffs, &c.)

Zina. Who strikes a woman is a coward!

Brightly. You have earned your right to the knife now, and you shall have it.

Zina. I have worked for you since I could walk, and never played. You have beat and starved me in return, after I had done the best I could.

Brightly. Rant, for this shall be your last time!

Zina. Your brutal strength loves best to beat the helpless. But while I live I will defend myself!

Brightly. Before my arm—like a breath of heedless air.

Zina. This shall be the last with me. My hands have earned the right to be free, and now I will be, or you shall kill me!

Brightly. This knife shall answer that!

Zina. Aye, it shall be to the death for one. But you shall see how a puny girl shall fight a brutal coward, in defence of her life and honor!

Brightly. Your snarling lout shall not protect you this time.

Zina. (Despair.) God help me and save Master D’Arneaux!

Brightly. (Quickly.) He has already passed the guard! (Zina starts, chokes, staggers, drops her stiletto and faints. B. rushes towards her.) I will end these insults here. (A shot from the L. strikes his arm. He whirls round and dashes out at R., as Hez. rushes in at L., saying:)

Hezekiah. Gosh all hemlock! That’s twice we missed that critter in the same place. Here I been catawaulin’ round here for four days, and I hain’t took but thirteen scalps. But I wonder if we didn’t wade inter them critters yesterday. There is more cannon balls wasted down in that ar’ medder than you can stow inter our meetin’ house. Hannah Doolittle! Wan’t there some glory got loose in that fite! There was more halleluyer in four minnits than you could twist out er two hundred and fifty comeouter camp meetings. Jewlyus Jehosafat! I jest as lives died as not! When we scooted that rebel meat, I felt prouder’n Sal Screwton when she got her fust bussel. (Meantime, enter Gen. Halcom, L.)

Halcom. Well?

Hezekiah. (Turning, surprised, cocking his gun.) Gosh all Jewpiter! I thought it was Jeff Davis!

Halcom. What have you found?

Hezekiah. Guess them critters have gone a fishin’. Hain’t had a houter of a pop for half an hour, except one, as I hope ter holler. (Halcom discovers Zina.)

Halcom. What is this, Hezekiah?

Hezekiah. Wall, I’ll be darned if ye hain’t got me. Do ye s’pose they lay out round here nights?

Halcom. (Looking closely.) She sleeps. (Tries to wake her and fails.) She is unconscious. (Turns her face towards himself, starts.)

Hezekiah. Hain’t she handsome?

Halcom. She is indeed beautiful! The child is sick, and perhaps starving. Give me your canteen. (Bathes her face.) Call some of the pickets. (Bathes still. Hez. goes out L. U. E., and soon returns with Barney and a stretcher.)

Barney. Indade now. Do thim blackguards murder beautiful little girruls like that?

Halcom. The child is seriously sick. Take her to my surgeon, and say it is my desire that every effort shall be made in her behalf. Handle her carefully. (Hez. and Bar. put her on the stretcher, raise her tenderly, and bear her out at L. U. E.) Poor child! She is the victim of brutality, or the hardships of the front have nearly killed her. (Hesitates.) So much like my mother’s face! (Bows head. Enter Sherman R. U. E., in heavy military cloak.)

Sherman. Well, Halcom, have the blues got you again? (Darken stage gradually.)

Halcom. General, you must not remain here! We are within rifle range of the enemy’s pickets. It is exceedingly dangerous.

Sherman. It is growing too dark for sharpshooters to operate.

Halcom. The country cannot afford to have you exposed.

Sherman. Pray, why not?

Halcom. We are engaged in a desperate march to the sea. The army is too far from its base to exist without a competent leader. If you should fall, what next?

Sherman. Half my men, sir, are fit to command.

Halcom. General, you are too sanguine of the capabilities of others. I repeat again, you must be careful. The safety of the army demands it.

Sherman. Halcom, you are too anxious for the safety of every one but yourself. The army has a common impression that you are the most daring, reckless officer at the front.

Halcom. It matters but little if I fall.

Sherman. Why, my dear sir, your life—

Halcom. Is worth nothing for myself. If it please heaven that I live to see a full and earnest liberty here, with all the stars of the old flag still lingering there, it matters little what becomes of me.

Sherman. Halcom, I never see you smile! There is some terrible misfortune hidden behind your sad, melancholy face, you have never yet revealed. Desperate; rash; impetuous; you have won your double stars at twenty-eight. A brilliant military dash that thrills the army; and you fell back so quietly to the seclusion of your quarters, and never seem to hope or look for reward. But for this, your life has been a blank to me.

Halcom. There is nothing in the history of my family I could wish to conceal.

Sherman. I have looked in vain for its justification, while I have observed in you a seeming too sanguinary hate of our misguided countrymen.

Halcom. I have sometimes thought that I may be insane from the wrongs I have suffered from the men who lead this revolt. Not thirty leagues from here I first saw the light. My family came of the Huguenot emigrants that settled in the Carolinas. As the rush of population swept towards the west my ancestors found a home in the wilds of Tennessee. My father inherited twenty thousand acres in the Cumberland Valley. Our home was happy. My angel mother was a friend to the helpless and wronged. At twelve years of age I kissed her the last good bye (hesitating), and left to educate myself in the free schools of New England. My father was no traitor to the principles of right and justice. Accused of no overt act, he had the right to advocate his convictions, and these were so born and educated in right, infamy had no manly response. The knife and torch of the assassin met his appeal to the honor of his adversaries. One day a dispatch came to me. I hurriedly broke the seal. They had all perished by the hand of the assassin. Five weeks later I awoke from the delirium of a fever that has never left my brain. (Shows Sherman a picture.) My mother. She was so good and beautiful.

Sherman. She was, indeed, beautiful (returns it).

Halcom. Kneeling in my New England home, with her sweet face looking from that picture into my own, I swore that my hand should never stay, until it should find the life of her assassin.

Sherman. Such revenge is honorable.

Halcom. An infant sister was born during my absence—

Sherman. She still lives?

Halcom. Her ashes mingle with the others in the ruins of our old home.

Sherman. Only the class that can buy and sell human hearts and affections can produce such villains.

Halcom. Fifteen years since I have made my annual pilgrimage to the desolate spot where I was born. A tablet to their memory survives until I leave. Often in disguise I have entered the councils of my enemies. Seven of the fiends I have looked in the face, while my hands clutched their throats till the last gurgle of life had been gone an hour. The chief still survives. I have tracked him through the gambling hells and slave yards of the southern cities, till I have found him in command of a guerilla force in this department. Twice I have seemed to annihilate them, but he has never appeared among the slain.

Sherman. Be careful, Halcom. You must not peril your life for so worthless an object. Your military fame is the property of the country. You peril this for a chance at a dog. When your division assaults the works of the enemy tomorrow, I urge it as a claim of your country, that you shall not needlessly expose yourself.

Halcom. So much will I as becomes a soldier who would defend his country from such assassins. If I fall, let me sleep in my old home in the soil of Tennessee, whose honor I have tried to defend against the cowards who have dragged her into this infamous revolt.

Sherman. (Taking his hand.) Well said, my boy. You will not fall. God will protect the brave hearts that are to save the home he has made for the poor. I have gazed in wonder and surprise so many times on the brave fellows that sprang so wildly to the front, before the echoes of Sumter’s cannon had hardly died away among the free hills of the north. Half of them fit to be governors or presidents! What a people have sprung from the little squad that first planted civil liberty on old Plymouth Rock. Brave old New England! How quickly her sword leaped from the scabbard when slavery struck at this. How the offshoots of her brain throb and flash across the prairies of the great west. How her freedom and little church spires cling to the hills as her civilization marches for the western sea! It is God’s advance guard leading the way to a larger and freer home for the poor. Think, Halcom, of the glory that is coming. The star is in the west now. Fifty years hence a hundred millions of free and prosperous people will offer thanksgiving to heaven for this, your sword shall help so much to win.

Halcom. It is indeed beautiful to contemplate. But there are bitter cups for many to drain before that glory comes. I hope for nothing. My family are gone. When my heart reaches out for my kindred, it remembers only that the assassin has left nothing to love but the ashes of the old home.

Sherman. Let us pursue this painful subject no longer. Go and sleep now. Howard tells me you are watching forever.

Halcom. You will expect us to carry the left redoubts at daybreak?

Sherman. If heaven wills.

Halcom. The men will do all you may expect. Listen for my cannon at daybreak.

Sherman. At daybreak?

Halcom. At daybreak. (Hal. salutes and retires R. U. E.)

Sherman. The bravest and most honorable man I ever saw! So young to command. (Turns to leave L.U.E., meets Hez. entering.)

Hezekiah. Hold on there, you old gunpowder guzzler, you come here and give me the password or I’ll blow you out er water. I will, by jingo!

Sherman. (To rear centre slowly.) Atlanta.

Hezekiah. (Scratching head and thinking.) I’ll be darned ter Moses ef I don’t think that is the password arter all. My memory wants joggin, wuss ’n Ike Acorn’s cabbages that was planted in a sandbank coz ’twas easy hoin’.

Sherman. Are you on the regular picket tonight?

Hezekiah. I’ll be darned if ye hain’t got me. I bin catawaulin round here all day ter get a pop at some er them Johnnies, and Barney brings out the provender.

Sherman. Do you know the general-in-chief, sir?

Hezekiah. Well, I should think I ought ter. He and I have drinked over a barrel together since this rumpus come up.

Sherman. How do you like the service, sir?

Hezekiah. Now you’ve hit me where I bile over. When the fightin’ fust commenced, I thought I wan’t no great shakes er gettin’ shot for thirteen dollars a month, till one day one er them bumbshells come along and peeled the whole hind eend of my trowsers off. That made me madder than a kicked hornet. I just got a bead on my old shooter, and I let her sliver right into um. I shouldn’t wonder if I killed thirty or forty er them darn skunks. I had four fingers and a half in that gun.

Sherman. Quite a good beginning, sir.

Hezekiah. Ye see when I get my dander up something has got to come, or bust. How long do you suppose the old general is goin’ ter keep us out here killin’ them critters? I’d jest like ter give him a piece er my brains on that.

Sherman. Well, sir, what would you do to make the machine work faster?

Hezekiah. Well, I should pizen their grub. You tell him that and I shouldn’t wonder ef he’d dew it. They say he’s a dam rough old critter; but he can spile more Jersey pizen than any other critter this side er sundown. Say, how long have you been in this machine?

Sherman. About thirty years, sir.

Hezekiah. You git out! Why you must be chock full er bullets by this time. I spose you’d feel kinder lonesome if ye didn’t have two or three pounds on ’em in ye all the time. I like ter had the daylights knocked out er me yesterday. One er them bumbshells struck a tree jest over my head, when I was fodderin’ up, and it sp’ilt forty cents’ worth er vittles for me in less than two minnits. If that bumbshell had hit jest seventeen inches lower, Sal. Rideout would er bin out jest my figger exactly. I quit eatin’ then, and went inter my tent to fix up my shirt collar, so if I got shot, I would lay out handsome, and who do you s’pose I see crawlin’ under the back er the general’s tent, when the guard wan’t lookin’?

Sherman. I have not the least idea, sir.

Hezekiah. A dam sneakin’ skunk of a rebel, with a knife in his mouth. When I got in there, he tried ter hide under the general’s bunk. The way I placed that old hob-nailed cowhide under the lower eend er his jacket, would er upset a meetin’-house. I’ll be darned if that critter didn’t up and snap a pistol right in my face. I jest laid down my gun, and if I didn’t plow and harrer his anatomy, you can dig me out for a hog’s trough, and kiss me for his mother.

Sherman. What became of the man, sir?

Hezekiah. I jist wasted him all over half an acre, fore he got away. (Hez. suddenly stops and presses his hand on his belly, doubling up.)

Sherman. What is the matter, sir?

Hezekiah. It’s my old colic comin’ agin. I got ter go and git a gin sling. (Dashes his gun in Sherman’s hands, knocking him half down.) Jest hold my old shooter. (Dashes out at L.)

Sherman. Hold on, sir. Here! Halt, you scoundrel! (Recovering his feet.) Gone? Confound that idiot. I will have him court-martialed for leaving his post. (Thinking.) Then I should be shown up for allowing the fool to impose upon me. The general of the army on guard! I shall be the laughing stock of the whole army. I’ll wage my commission that he made that to get off for a drink. I’ll scare the idiot out of his senses when he returns. Here he comes. Halt, sir! Stand there till I call the officer of the guard. Move if you dare, sir, and you are a dead man! (Hez. walks up and takes the gun away, saying—)

Hezekiah. You git out. If you don’t know me, you’re the biggest puddin’ head in the country!

Sherman. You are the most impudent scoundrel I ever met.

Hezekiah. (Handing money.) Here’s a quarter for ye. Now you go home and put that knowledge box er your’n under a gardeen, or somebody’ll shoot you for a stray mule.

Sherman. You are an idiot, sir!

Hezekiah. (Throwing hat, coat and gun down, L.) I don’t take that from nobody.

Sherman. Hold on, sir! What are you going to do?

Hezekiah. Goin’ ter trample on your constitushun about four minnits. (Turns to attack, and meets Sherman’s revolver.) Lay down that shooter, I’ll give ye four dollars.

Sherman. I am a gentleman, sir, no ruffian.

Hezekiah. Glad ye told me, I shouldn’t er known it.

Sherman. You want to fight, sir, do you? You shall have all you desire, sir!

Hezekiah. Then peel and prong round here.

Sherman. I will meet you here at sunset, tomorrow, sir, for a duel. Arms, broadaxes! Then I will kill you, sir, like a dog.

Hezekiah. How much do you weigh when you’re all bloated up?

Sherman. I am known as the worst man in the west, sir!

Hezekiah. Nobody would look at ye and dispute it. If I looked as bad as you do, I’d hold my breath till I died. I chawed up twenty-seven men once, with a common axe. When I wade in with a broadaxe—wall, you get your friends to come down and hunt up the corpse in about fourteen seconds after they say time.

Sherman. Do you stop to bury your dead, sir?

Hezekiah. Now you git out. (Picking up coat.) If the old general should come along and find me talkin’ to you, he’d raise all possess about it.

Sherman. (Turning to R. to leave.) Remember, sir, tomorrow at sunset. I trust that you are no coward that will waste my time, sir.

Hezekiah. Don’t you fret. Fore I get through with ye, you’ll think a meetin’-house has fell down on ye. (Exit Sherman, R. Hez. puts on his clothes.) Spose that critter will come, or was he blowin’? I don’t think I’m healthy! I ain’t no ’count with a broadaxe! (Enter Sally, R. U. E., in male attire, face covered by a wide-rimmed hat.) Hello, there, you padded up young scallawag! What are you catawaulin’ after, out here?

Sally. (Aside.) He won’t know me.

Hezekiah. Come putty near shootin’ you for a stray calf. Bin more corpses carried off er this beat since I bin on, than a hoss can haul.

Sally. (Approaching sideways, with hat over her eyes.) Come putty near shootin’, did ye? You gaunt, hamstrung old spavin!

Hezekiah. You’d er bin a corpse now, if I hadn’t took you for a mule.

Sally. I would, hey? You old collapse, you!

Hezekiah. If you should strain hard, do you spose you could tell whose fool has broke loose?

Sally. That is an insult I won’t swallow!

Hezekiah. Who told ye too?

Sally. (Bristling up.) I will have blood for that! Blood, sir! R. R. (As Hez. turns to L. she dashes out R. and hides.)

Hezekiah. If I don’t (turns to L. to throw off hat and coat.) collapse your constertushun, I hope I may rot. (Turning, he finds she has disappeared.) There’ll be two or three fewnerals round here bime by. (Looks out L. U. E.) There comes a Johnny! (Hides, L. Brightly enters cautiously, L. U. E. As he works along towards R. U. E., Hez. creeps up behind, and pounces on him, throwing him down. They tussle all about the rear of the stage. Enter Barney, L. and dances about to get in the fight, as scene closes.)

Scene 2. Landscape and Wood. Centre.

(Enter Sherman and Halcom, at L. U. E., and go to R.)

Sherman. I am about to attempt the capture of Atlanta by a flank movement. I wish you to throw your Division forward and occupy that ridge on the right of the railway. I have ordered twelve batteries to protect you from an enfilade. The position, you see, covers the line of his communications. The successful accomplishment of this will probably compel Hood to evacuate his strong positions and fall back. I give you the position of honor because you do not fail.

Halcom. Thank you!

Sherman. Once clear of this line of entrenchments, we have them in the open country before us. (Enter Hez. L. U. E.)

Hezekiah. Say, General. We have just took the darndest, rantankerest piece er rebel meat you ever put your eyes on. He’s got more red pepper in his constertewshun than a Boston wholesale grocery store. He’s wus’n them hyennys in Barnum’s circus! Had ter tie the darn critter ter keep him from chawin’ up everybody. Don’t ye know, that critter had cheek enough ter walk right over my beat, jest as if I want there. I jest laid down my gun, and if I didn’t hop onter his kerrin, you can chaw my ear.

Sherman. Did you notice his rank, sir?

Hezekiah. Wal, I did think he was a little rank when I got through with him.

Sherman. I mean, sir, did you notice if he was an officer?

Hezekiah. I never thought ter ask him ’bout that. He tumbled so fast. I had ter hump ter keep up. Why, he’s the same feller I see trying ter crawl under Frank’s tent.

Sherman. Who is Frank, sir?

Hezekiah. Jehosafat! Don’t you know Frank?

Sherman. I think not, sir.

Hezekiah. (Pulling Halcom to the front.) There is jest the handsomest piece er furnicher this side er sundown.

Sherman. Why, you rascal, that is General Halcom.

Hezekiah. You git out! That’s our Frank.

Sherman. Look here, sir, you were on guard last night.

Hezekiah. (Looking at Sherman, and then aside.) Jewrusalem! That was the old Gineral I run into last night. Now I’ve gone and spilt the apple sass all over the best table cloth. (Turns and grasps Sherman’s hands.) How de dew? I know’d that was you last night, all the time. Ain’t I the wust blackguard you ever run into?

Sherman. Bring in that prisoner, sir. I will deal with you when there is less business on hand.

Hezekiah. (Attempting to leave.) Jess you say. I spose you boss this cahoot. (Turns back.) Say, you keep your eye peeled. He’s a darn pizen critter. He may try to get your guzzle. (Exit Hez. L.)

Sherman. Is that man insane or a fool?

Halcom. Neither. He is one of the rough diamonds of the army: the very first man I enlisted in the old Bay State. Brave as a lion, and keen as a razor.

Sherman. Why, the rascal would have thrashed me blind last night, but for my revolver.

Halcom. Indeed! His patriotism drifts only in the rudeness of its native channel. I put up with his familiarities, because he cannot understand the necessity for military etiquette. (Crosses to L. front. Enter Hez. and Barney, L. U. E., driving Brightly ahead of them, hands bound behind him.)

Hezekiah. (To Sherman.) Name it and you can have it.

Sherman. (To Hez.) Untie his hands. (Hez. unties, &c.) Sir, I hear that you have been arrested as a spy.

Brightly. I am a prisoner of war.

Sherman. Now I remember—you have once before been convicted of spying, and escaped. (Halcom crosses to R. turns, when both start from recognition.)

Halcom. The assassin of my family!

Brightly. Of whom do you speak?

Halcom. Yourself, coward!

Brightly. Then you may consider yourself a liar!

Halcom. (To Sherman.) During the last fifteen years, I have hunted this brute through the slave yards and gambling hells of the south. Now he shall answer to me. You shall meet me with the favorite weapon of your cowardice.

Brightly. I am unarmed.

Halcom. (Throwing his knife at Brightly’s feet.) So am I.

Brightly. (To Sherman.) Am I to be murdered while a helpless prisoner?

Halcom. Take the knife, coward! (Holding up his empty hands.) My mother was helpless!

Sherman. (Stepping between and taking hold of Halcom’s arm.) Not now, Halcom. The military law shall accomplish all you desire. (Brightly seizes the knife from the floor, and dashes like lightning forward to stab Sherman in the back. Hez. seizes him instantly, wrests the knife from him, and flings him to L.)

Hezekiah. You darn sneakin’ dog, you!

Halcom. Your own life!

Sherman. (To Hez.) Remove the prisoner! See to it that he is well ironed. I will deal with him tomorrow!

Hezekiah. (To Sherman.) Say, General, if it don’t make no difference to you, I’d like ter make this critter inter a stuffed pirate for Barnum’s circus.

Sherman. I said remove him, and I hold you responsible if he escapes!

Hezekiah. Jess you say. It’s your fewneral! (To Brightly.) Now you travil, or I’ll let daylight through them rotten ribs er yourn so quick, you’ll think your struck with all the litenin’ the Lord’s got the use on. Git! (Exit Brightly L. Turns at entrance to give H. and S. a look of contempt.)

Sherman. If he escapes my bullet this time, it will be from the intervention of heaven! (Enter Orderly, front, and salutes.)

Orderly. Gen. Howard orders me to report that Hood has withdrawn behind the river.

Sherman. Our opportunity is lost! There are other spies in the camp! Tell Howard to move to the bank of the river, and await orders. (To Halcom.) Cross a heavy reconnoisance at Herrick’s ford, and report as soon as possible. (Halcom salutes and retires R. Sherman L. U. E. Enter Barney R. U. E. passing along.)

Barney. Bad luck to this haythen country. I’m killed from every stone and stump in it. I don’t like rebellyions! If yer killed with nobody to get a pension for it, where’s the luck in it? (Enter Hez. behind, cautiously.)

Hezekiah. (In a stentorian voice.) Move, and I kill you! (Barney motionless.) Drop that gun! (Drops it.) Hands up! (Holds up hands.) Right about! (As Barney turns, Hez. breaks down in loud laughter.)

Barney. Don’t you do that again; I might kill you sometime.

Hezekiah. Scartest man I ever looked at!

Barney. No sir—

Hezekiah. I see the bristles risin’ up the whole length er your back!

Barney. No sir. I was playin’ wid yer.

Hezekiah. Say, Barney, wasn’t ye scart?

Barney. I might be narvous a little.

Hezekiah. (Pulling bottle.) S’pose we have a little nerve powder. (Hands bottle to Barney.)

Barney. I was always a friend to that! Here’s to George Washington and Danny O’Connell. The two boys ye can’t make afraid or ashamed of the country that giv em their first pertaties. (Drinks, and hands bottle to Hez.)

Hezekiah. Here’s tew Pardunk and the gal that’s waitin’ for me, and a chain litenin’ diet to the darn sneakin’ skunk of a rebel that would spit on the bird that’s goin’ to roost with impewnity all over North and South Ameriky. (Drinks; Barney looks about cautiously. Set guns against tree, R. U. E.)

Barney. I would like it if there was no corporals.

Hezekiah. How much guard-house do ye s’pose you’ve had Barney, since we left Pardunk?

Barney. I should guess fifteen months. And thim blackguards are the spalpeens that bother me like that.

Hezekiah. What did ye come out here for, Barney?

Barney. For a pinsion!

Hezekiah. Gittin’ rich, wasn’t ye?

Barney. To be sure I was. Wasn’t I ingaged to Biddy Maloney? Didn’t she have a peanut store on the sidewalk and a suit of rooms in Tim Sullivan’s cellar? Didn’t she fail four times in one summer and pay ten cints? Ah’r, the smart girl she is! With a gal like that, what is the need er workin’?

Hezekiah. Say, Barney, how would you like to be a Jigadier Brindle?

Barney. What, one er them fellers with brass things on ’em?

Hezekiah. Yes.

Barney. I have ambishun like that. Then I could go to the hospittle when the whiskey makes me sick, and be kapin’ out of the fight. (Trying to see something on Barney’s back, when Barney turns back to the audience. As he does, Hez. says—)

Hezekiah. Ye know how to protect yer rear. (Lifts Barney’s coat tail, and exhibits a black patch as large as a chair bottom, sewed on Barney’s seat.)

Barney. (Swelling with rage.) I do that! I’m a jintleman! No blackguard! I poke no fun to make a laugh on a jintleman! Whin a blackguard attacks me reputation, I don’t care what he says! When he puts his dirty hands on my karrackter, I will resint it like a man! I’m an Irishman, and me honor’s me own! I have no cheap words with a blackguard without the iddication of a jintleman! I am no thafe to be spit upon! Come out! Come out! (Motioning towards R. U. E.) Come out! (Hez. hands a bottle towards him. Barney catches sight of it as he says—) Come—(Breaks down in a broad grin.) What kind er wather is that?

Hezekiah. Medicine for fits. (Barney drinks.) Old Deacon Jones took about a quart er that once, by mistake. Said he thought the whole neighborhood was a jewsharp, and he was playin’ on it.

Barney. ’Pon my word!

Hezekiah. Know’d of a feller in Shadagy, that was brought up on that.

Barney. That same?

Hezekiah. Yes sir.

Barney. How long was he doin’ that?

Hezekiah. He grow’d so long they couldn’t tax him when he was twenty-one.

Barney. How was the blackguard gettin’ by that?

Hezekiah. They considered the most of him was out er the county. (Sally enters R. in male attire. Steps between them and their guns. Draws pistol.)

Sally. Cowards! (Both turn in dismay and take in situation.)

Barney. The blackguard!

Sally. Prisoners of war, only to die!

Hezekiah. (Throwing off coat.) Not if this piece er meat knows itself! (Turns and meets Sally’s revolver.)

Sally. Halt! (Hez. stops.)

Hezekiah. Darn your picter!

Sally. I prefer to take you alive, that you may have the honor to die under the majesty of the law, for connivance with the spies of the enemy!

Barney. (Looking at Hez.) The thafe!

Hezekiah. Who said that?

Sally. The angels were lookin’!

Hezekiah. You tell him he’s a liar!

Barney. (To Hez.) It’s some poor thing that’s crazy from bein’ insane.

Hezekiah. Yes, we know’ you’re a big ingin. (Offers her a bottle.) Have some firewater? (Sally takes and pockets bottle.)

Sally. So has the dignity of my mission been insulted: you shall die now! Cowards, you have two minutes to live! Take off your hats and coats. (Both comply.) It were unworthy for you to die in the Union blue! One minute more! (Holds her watch in her hand.)

Barney. Stop! Will you take two months pay?

Sally. How long shall I be insulted thus?

Hezekiah. Have you ever bin a father or mother?

Barney. Yes sir. Have you bin that?

Sally. I’ll hear no more! (Looking at watch.) Five seconds more! Now your hour has come! (Points pistol. Both duck and dodge.) Die, cowards, die! (Both dash up in L. U. E. Sally follows as if to shoot. Both put up their legs and hands as if to ward off. Sally breaks down laughing, and throws off her hat.)

Hezekiah. (Recognizing.) Jewniper hallelewyer!

Barney. The blackguard?

Hezekiah. Jerewserlim swipes! Where did you bile up from?

Barney. (Seizing his gun.) I shall bust with contimpt! (Goes out L. U. E. in a rage.)

Hezekiah. Gosh all Jewpiter! I thought you was old Hood. Come here and let me see if you hain’t a ghost! (Dashes into Hez. arms.) All here, by beeswax! (Kisses her.)

Sally. (Pulling out note book.) Look er that! I’m war correspondent of the Pordunk Cultivater.

Hezekiah. You git out! Where ye get them close?

Sally. Hez., after you went away, I couldn’t eat nor sleep for fourteen weeks.

Hezekiah. You don’t?

Sally. Fact! Then my best hen and the old cat died, and I jest thought I should go crazy. Then Bill Larkins ’listed for a sutler, and I was mad all over. After you left, that scallawag was preachin’ treason all the time, till he found he could be a sutler. He’s bin ravin’ for rebel blood ever since. A man jest told me that Bill bought a bad barrel er vinnegar for half a dollar—made it into eighteen barrels er cider, and sold it all out to the regiment for ten cents a glass!

Hezekiah. I thought I smelt vinegar awful strong when I was over there t’other day!

Sally. You jest wait for the next Pordunk Cultivater! If I don’t chaw him up!

Hezekiah. You jest wait till I get home and light on him again!

Sally. Ye see when Bill Larkins done that, I said I would get some men’s clothes and ’list myself! When it come round ter bein’ examined by the doctor, I had ter back out. Then I jest went and hired out on the Perdunk Cultivater.

Hezekiah. Sal, I never’s so proud on ye ’fore in my life. Yer jest handsum!

Sally. Now you get out, Hez. You’re soapin?

Hezekiah. On’er bright?

Sally. Oh, yer ought ter see me in my new dress, Hez. I had it made after you left. Oh, my! It’s got a tail to it more’n four feet long! Pashe Milliken made it. She got the pattern of Butrick in Boston. It’s a stunner! Got a flummux all over the hind part of it. But Pashe beat me on one thing, though.

Hezekiah. How’d she do that?

Sally. Ye see they have to put in somethin’ behind here, to make ’em swell. Pashe told me it was stuffin’. One day I heard a crumplin’, and I ripped open the linen to see what it was. Don’t yer think, that hump was swell’d up with old Pordunk Cultivators!

Hezekiah. You git out!

Sally. When I get home, I’m jest goin’ ter lay fer her.

Hezekiah. Say, Sal. I s’pose ye got that dress ter git married in, didn’t ye?

Sally. Ye don’t s’pose I’d spread like that jest for a go-ter-meetin’ dress, do ye?

Hezekiah. Cost six dollars?

Sally. Six dollars! It cost eight, beside the pattern; that was one er the best ones Butrick had.

Hezekiah. You get out!

Sally. Oh, wan’t Hannah Doolittle jealous! Such a tail draggin’ in the street. She said she wouldn’t have one if it was give to her. Her pink caliker cost ninety cents.

Hezekiah. Say, Sal. I bin lonesomer than a stray ghost, I ain’t seen you for so long. Tell us all about what’s goin’ on ter home. Has Ike Spaulding shingled his woodshed yet? What’s come of Preposterous Perkins and Mercy Ann Stubbs? S’pose they’ve got a whole family by this time.

Sally. (Covering her face.) Now, Hez., ain’t you ’shamed er yourself!

Hezekiah. Has Suke Peabody and old Inkhorn tied up yet?

Sally. Course they have.

Hezekiah. Suke don’t care any more for that old mummy, than she does for our old farrer cow. She jest wants ter get her fingers in on his money, then she’ll pizen him ter death in less’n a week. If she don’t she’s got more endurance than a mule.

Sally. Ain’t he soft on her, though?

Hezekiah. Soft? You can stab him with a cat’s tail, and not ruffle a feather. (A shot from R.) Jehosafat! Them Johnnies are comin’. Let’s get out. (Attempts to push her out, L.)

Sally. (Drawing knife and revolver.) Hold on, Hez. Let me get a lick at them fellers.

Hezekiah. (Pushing her out L.) You get out! You do no nothin’ about war. (Disappears L. Enter rebel soldiers R, and cross to L. Exit all L.)

Barney. It’s the devil will pick your bones for you in the mornin’. Shoot him at daylight, sez the gineral, and he’ll be doin’ it too. Do you mind that! (Brightly hangs his head in silence.) Now don’t be blubberin’ about it. It won’t do ye any good. They’ are goin’ ter make y’er bones inter rattles for them nagurs, and that’s the most good that could come of ye.

Brightly. Fool!

Barney. (Laying down hat and gun.) Don’t you talk back to me, or I’ll bat you! You thafe er the wurruld! (Enter Gen. Halcom, R. U. E.)

Halcom. Keele Brightly, your last hour is close at hand. I have not intruded myself to torture you with recriminations. I yield my right to the law of military necessity. I come because I have been moved to pity by that heart-broken child lying at the outer guard, begging so piteously to see the last man she ought to love or respect. I have at last obtained permission for her to see you, immediately preceding your execution. I have come to ask you to forget the brute, and give her one kind word before you die. All night long and yesterday, through the rain and cold, shelterless, and refusing food, she sat by the door, waiting for your coming. Her piteous pleadings for your worthless life, when the General returned from the front, would have melted a heart of stone. How have you repaid her life of devotion? She has never known father or mother. A generous heart must love something! Within an hour she will be out in the world, worse than an orphan. Who is she? She was not born a slave. You sought a groundless revenge. Are you not satisfied? My mother’s face lives in hers! (Breaks down.) If any one of my family live—looking God in the face—speak! Have you nothing to say?

Brightly. Nothing!

Halcom. May God have mercy on you who never had any, when it was so easy to give. (Exit Halcom, R, looking back twice, as if expecting B. to relent.)

Barney. (To Brightly.) Did you mind that talkin’? (B. silent.) Hey? Jist one hour, says the Gineral, and you will be an orfin. If you make yourself a dam fool like that, you may be two orfins! (Zina dashes in at R. U. E.)

Zina. Master D’Arneaux! (Drops on her knee.)

Brightly. (Turned away.) Sh—do not recognize me. (Giving his hand behind, as Barney paces to R.) Are there any means of escape?

Zina. (Shying key into Brightly’s hands.) This will unfasten your irons. I have removed the outer fastening on the window. It will open at your touch. When the back of the guard is turned, unlock your irons. The river runs close by. You are safe if you reach the other side. When I seize the guard, spring through the window and make for the river. (B. drops on his knees as if in meditation. Zina kneels and leans her head on his shoulder. As Barney turns to R, she springs on his back like a tiger, locking her arm across his throat, strangles him. Meantime she and Barney speak simultaneously. Brightly unlocks fetters.)

Barney. Lave hold er there, ye whilp! Lave go, or by me mother—

Zina. The river! The river! (Barney and Zina struggle, while Brightly is unfastening his fetters. During the struggle, Barney’s gun goes off, as Brightly disappears through the window. When the gun goes off, and Zina sees Brightly clear, she falls on her face sobbing, and Barney dashes out L. U. E., in pursuit. Curtain.)