Scene 1. Night. Heavy forest. Gen. Sherman disc. looking away to R. Occasional flashes of lightning, and thunder in the distance. Occasional picket firing, R. Staff, L.

Sherman. A terrible storm! The men must be wet and hungry. Orderly! (Enter Ord. L. U. E.) Tell the commissary to hurry the hot coffee and fresh food to the front at once. (Ex. Ord. L. U. E.) I must cross the river before daylight, or my opportunity is lost. Martel! (Enter Telegraph Operator, L. U. E.) Tell Schofield and Howard they must force a passage of the river at four o’clock, at all hazards. (Op. works machine and waits.) Do they understand?

Operator. They do. (Enter Halcom, R. U. E., coatless, hair dishevelled, wounded.)

Sherman. (Rushing to grasp his hand.) In heaven’s name, Halcom, from where do you come?

Halcom. The rebel camp.

Sherman. How did you escape? (Men offer clothing.)

Halcom. Ask God, and the angel sent to my relief. (Declining clothes.) Thank you, gentlemen, I need nothing now but a coat.

Sherman. Ah! A woman at the bottom of it. (Halcom watches out R.) I sent word to Hood that if any harm came to you, I would retaliate on every rebel officer in my charge.

Halcom. Thank you, General. But your communication would, doubtless, have come too late. But for my escape, I should have been executed two hours ago.

Sherman. Your escapes are marvelous. By the way, I have orders from Washington to advance you to the first vacancy among the corps commanders.

Halcom. (Dropping his head.) I had not expected that.

Sherman. Why not? In this army, sir, the best man wins.

Halcom. I am a native and citizen of the south.

Sherman. There are no lines for loyalty in this country.

Halcom. I am indebted to you for this.

Sherman. You are indebted to your own right arm, sir.

Halcom. I have been but a simple soldier, no more entitled to advancement than the private who takes the brunt of the fight in the first line.

Sherman. Halcom, some men are born to command—to lead a forlorn hope—

Halcom. Which I never have.

Sherman. Indeed! When at Lookout Mountain the storm of rebel shot had melted the first line, and the reserves were already wavering, and you seized and dared them to follow their flag, rallying the broken ranks to that wild charge that swept the rebel army from its entrenchments among the clouds, it was a glory beside which the command of this army pales into insignificance!

Halcom. Then the soldier shares equally with his commander! (Watches out R.)

Sherman. But you have not told me of this marvelous escape.

Halcom. Ask me of something I cannot comprehend, and you have all I can give.

Sherman. It often acts like that.

Halcom. How?

Sherman. Simple as any other phase of life. A storm at night. A handsome cavalier, unjustly condemned, awaiting execution. A lovely maiden hovers near. She drugs the guard, and sets the prisoner free. Bewildered by the ecstasy of love in such a moment of excitement, both are lost in its wild delirium. They wake to an utter incomprehensibility of all that has passed.

Halcom. General, I am content if such chafing pleases you. But I am weighted with an anxiety that will drive me mad. When I can know the heroic girl is safe, who perhaps has sacrificed her life to save mine, I can forget that I am a coward, and unfit to live! (Crosses over to L.)

Sherman. Ah! I am getting interested in this case. Who is this woman? What do you fear? Where is she? I can hardly imagine a situation in this country or in either army, that can be dangerous to a woman!

Halcom. No danger to a woman? They killed my mother when she was helpless, and, with my sister, burned her in her own home.

Sherman. Such men are devils!

Halcom. And so am I! Can you trace the maniac through Nashville, Chickamauga, and over Lookout Mountain, to the banks of this river, and not guess at the origin of the hell that is so fast consuming my life?

Sherman. Treat it calmly, Halcom. It is something that can never be mended. Leave the past to take care of itself.

Halcom. There are fires that refuse to be quenched. No one has struggled more manfully than myself to forget this. When I would forget, memory conjures up the scene in the old home! My mother’s helpless struggles with the devils who crushed her innocent life! Of my sister burned alive! My God! How can I forget this?

Sherman. Tell me of your capture and escape.

Halcom. (Hesitating.) My division was overwhelmed by the whole rebel army. In the desperate struggle, I was left wounded and senseless on the field of battle. I was discovered by my old enemy and conveyed to an old hut on the banks of the Chattahoochee. After a parley with Hood and others, I was tried by a drum-head court-martial for treason to my native state, and sentenced to die fifteen minutes later. I was remanded to the hut to await the preparations for my execution. I could see no chance for escape, for Brightly had the details of my execution at his own command. The rifles were already loading that were to send me to eternity. I had sunk on my knees for the last prayer, when a tapping on the logs outside, in rear of the hut, attracted my attention. I hastened to listen. It was too dark to see. But through the crevices between the logs, I learned that the little rebel owl who had escaped your bullet, because she was not a man, had come to effect my escape.

Sherman. That child? Surely, I was only in jest.

Halcom. That heroic child had eluded your guard, swam the river at midnight in the violence of that terrible thunder-storm, dragging a log hitched to a rope that led to the friendly shore, that I might escape.

Sherman. Impossible!

Halcom. I refused to save my life at the hazard of hers. She had planned to escape with me. I heard the tramp of the soldiers detailed to take my life. I heard her clambering to the roof of the hut; the orders to drag me out to die; the sentinel try the barred door; the crack of the breaking boards as she was making an opening for my escape; the crash of the axe breaking the door; an order that sent the devils to the roof to prevent my escape; the ring of her pistol as she drove them back to the earth again. The door crashed in, and the devils were upon me; a rope fell at my feet. With almost superhuman strength, I flung them back and gained the roof. A crowd were clambering up the sides to destroy us. I sprang forward to her defence. In an instant, she pushed me clear of the hut, safely into the river.

Sherman. Did you leave her!

Halcom. The next flash of lightning revealed her on the roof, with her knife drawn, holding the traitors at bay, that I might escape. I sprang back for the shore. I heard a splash in the water. The next lightning flash revealed her battling the rapids of the river to gain the other shore. A shot from the rebel side, and all was dark again. I sprang after her. Two hours I have frantically searched this bank of the river, without avail. She has perished in the rapids of the river, or by that coward shot from the rebel rifle, and I live like a coward! (Zina staggers in at R. U. E., as if unconscious of the presence of any one; wounded in the left side of the head, often looking behind to see if she is pursued. She staggers and is about to fall, when she is discovered by Halcom, who springs forward, and catches her in his arms. Sherman tears off his military cloak, and wraps it about her.)

Halcom. She has fainted.

Sherman. And is wounded. (They revive her.)

Zina. Please let me stay on this side of the river.

Sherman. Let you stay on this side of the river! I will shoot any man who attempts to prevent it! You shall command this army if you like. (Zina faints again.)

Halcom. The poor child is dying.

Sherman. Not a bit of it. She is too smart to die! Take her to my quarters. Orderly, here! (Enter Ord. L. U. E.; with Halcom takes her out, L. U. E.) Have my surgeon attend that girl, and tell him if he lets her die, I will hang him an hour after. (Exit Ord. L.) I am the biggest ass in the service. If I ever abuse a woman again, I hope I may be shot by an idiot! (Exit L. Enter Barney and Hez. L. U. E.)

Barney. Now whin I would be arrestin’ a blackguard like that, don’t you be a botherin’ me.

Hezekiah. Now you git out. I guess it was jest about as cheap for him ter git away, as it would be for you to get a collapse in your real estate. (Set guns against tree, sit down and wipe perspiration, &c.)

Barney. Now look in these two eyes of me. Didn’t ye be kickin’ that blackguard whin I would be takin’ him?

Hezekiah. I rayther kalkerlate you was on the pint er passin’ in yer chips when I lit on that critter.

Barney. Ah ha! I’m nobody, I s’pose. Was I?

Hezekiah. I guess that feller was the most astonished piece er meat I ever traveled over. I kalkerlate that when I lit on the other eend of his corperation, he come to the conklusion that he was wrastlin’ with a first-class earthquake.

Barney. I don’t care about thim airthquakes. I want none er thim. My reputashin is spit upon.

Hezekiah. I reckon I never jumped onter anything in that line er critter that wanted ter go home so bad as he did.

Barney. Now look in me two eyes and be talkin’ honest about it, and no braggin’. Didn’t ye be makin’ that blackguard get away when I would arrest him?

Hezekiah. Now, Irish, you just spill your gas in some other line er preachin’, er else I’ll let him get your guzzle next time. (Enter Brightly and rebel soldiers, R. U. E., stealthily, seize the guns and cover both.)

Barney. Now whin I arrest a blackguard again, don’t you be botherin’ me.

Brightly. Throw up your hands! (Points gun at them.)

Bar. (Turning in surprise.) Stop that! That gun is loaded.

Hezekiah. (Throws off coat.) If I don’t make him drop that gun. (Turns and meets gun—subsides.)

Brightly. Surrender, or I’ll kill you like a dog.

Hezekiah. Don’t care ef I dew.

Brightly., (pointing R. U. E.) Step into line there. (Both comply.)

Hezekiah. Say? Got eny terbacker in yer trowsis?

Brightly. Shut your mouth and march now, or I will see what virtue there is in this gun.

Hezekiah. (March off R. U. E.) Don’t care if I dew.

Hood. Lt. D’Arneaux, when you entered the military service, I believed that you would soon wear the stars of a division commander. Instead, you have presented us with the strange anomaly of patriot and traitor. While to me you have presented a soul of honor, you have sought every opportunity to strike your country a cowardly blow in the dark!

D’A. And I deny the falsehood with my whole soul and life.

Hood. Under the circumstances, a denial is wholly unnecessary. You have had a fair trial. No one regrets more than myself the military necessity that compels me to sign the warrant for your execution. Your brilliant military record is no excuse for disloyalty, and a most flagrant treason.

D’A. As I expect to meet God before the next sunset, that accusation is doubly false, though it comes from your own lips!

Hood. There are a score of witnesses who saw you attempt the life of your superior officer. (D’A. hangs his head in silence.) If there had never occurred another offence, the articles of war meet you with the bullet. (To guards.) Remove the prisoner to the care of the guard. (Ex. D’A. and guard, L.) Orderly! (Enter rebel Orderly, L. U. E.) Take this dispatch to Gen. McGruder. (Exit Ord. with dispatch. Enter Keele Brightly, L., salutes.)

Brightly. I have the honor to report that I have captured two Yankees, found lurking within our lines as spies.

Hood. Have them brought in. (Brightly salutes and retires, L.) The camp is swarming with them! It is utterly useless to attempt to prevent it without recourse to the most severe measures! This careless indifference of the guards allows a constant betrayal of my means of defence. (Enter Brightly, L., followed by Hez. and Barney, under guard.) The guard will retire. (Exit guard, R. Brightly observes R.)

Hezekiah. (Rushing up to shake hands with Hood.) How de dew, Gineral? (Hood refuses to shake. Hez. astonished.) Don’t blame ye a Hannah Cook! Never felt so mean about anything afore in my life. You must think I’m putty darn small pertaters, to let myself get roped in by a pair er runts like them. (Looks in Hood’s face a moment.)

Hood. Well, sir, what have you to say for spying?

Hezekiah. Now you get out! Why I know you (grabs Hood’s hand) jest as well as I do Abe Linkon. (Hood tries to disengage his hand.) Why, you are that old covey that I met down there in the woods, that wanted ter know where the old man lived. (Lets go his hand.) Don’t blame ye for wantin’ ter give me the shake. Say? Got any terbacker in yer trowsis?

Hood. No, sir!

Hezekiah. (Confidentially.) Say, I never felt so disgraceful about anything afore in my life. ’Tween you and I, let me have a chance ter distribit their meat in a fair scratch, and I’ll give ye forty dollars.

Hood. (To Brightly.) Who is this fellow?

Brightly. His name is Goferum.

Hood. Goferum! What a name!

Hezekiah. (Dashing to L., and throwing off coat.) Jess you say. I want you to understand that forty dollars is scarcer than fools are in this country. (Coat off, turns.)

Hood. (To Brightly.) Seize the fool! (Barney throws off coat, &c.)

Hezekiah. You bet! (As he dashes for Brightly, he meets a pistol, and knocks it one side as it goes off. Clinches Brightly, throws him, and proceeds to punch his ribs, and struggle around.)

Hood. (Meantime.) Guards, ho! (Barney dashes about for a fight.)

Barney. (To Hood.) Don’t you say guard-house to me, you grayback thafe er the wurruld!

Hood. Guards, ho! Guards, ho!

Barney. Come out er that! Come out, you thafe er the wurruld. Come out, and I bat your dam head off you. Come out. (Dashes forward, kicks table over, clinches Hood, throws him, and proceeds to punch his ribs, as guards rush in R., and overpower them.)

Scene 3. Landscape and wood front. Enter Sally with pail, L., female attire.

Sally. (Looking about.) Now didn’t I wool that sargeant. I’ll bet he hain’t got brains enough for a mule. It takes seven hundred er them fellers to know as much as a Yankee. When he was stealin’ the chickens at that deserted house, I told him it warn’t fair to steal my chickens, when I was givin’ his men coffee. Gorry, won’t they sleep some! Now Hez. he has learned ter steal chickens since he come down here. You jest wait and see me break him er that when I get him back to Pordunk! Now I should like to see a man of mine stealin’ chickens, or runnin’ after other wimen! Now wouldn’t there be the handsomest fuss Pordunk ever looked at! (Looking about.) I guess them fellers are snorin’ by this time. (Exit R., cautiously.)

Scene 4. Room covering whole stage. Door at R. centre. Large box, R. U. E. Hezekiah and Barney disc. rear centre, chained to a ring in the floor.

Hezekiah. I’ll bet ye tew dollars that feller come to the conclewshun that he must er stole my gun from a whole regiment.

Barney. And the grayback thafe at the table, that twitted me about the guard-house.

Hezekiah. Guess he thought he was goin’ through a fullin’ mill.

Barney. The blackguard! (Very sober.)

Hezekiah. ’Drather give fifty dollars than ter had yer hit the old General.

Barney. How the divil should I know he was a general, without the two brass things on ’im?

Hezekiah. All them fellers az has ritin’ tools and tables in their tents, is generals.

Barney. Didn’t the sargeant tell me I was never to know one er thim without the two brass things on him?

Hezekiah. It don’t make no difference, now ye bin gone and done it.

Barney. Didn’t he begin it, twittin’ me about the guard-house, the thafe!

Hezekiah. He was only callin’ the guard for help.

Barney. The blackguard! Whin he was as big as I! And he called thim three spalpeens a coort, when it takes more than two dozen to make one er thim any day. (Door opens R., rebel soldier enters and reads from a paper.)

Soldier. The General commanding orders that the two union prisoners, O’Flanagan and Goferum, convicted of spying in the confederate camp, be notified that they are to be shot at daylight. Per order General commanding. (Exit soldier, R. Barney and Hez. look at each other a moment in silence.)

Barney. He will do that?

Hezekiah. That’s the kind of hairpin he is.

Barney. The blackguard!

Hezekiah. Wal, I guess I’ve airn’t the powder and shot. If my old shooter hain’t tapped a hundred and fifty er them critters, you can jest hope ter holler.

Barney. I will get some lawyer to appeal that coort.

Hezekiah. You get out!

Barney. That was no coort. The constitution of Ameriky says nothing about a coort like that.

Hezekiah. It don’t make no difference. The shootin’ will come. They don’t care for constitewshuns down here.

Barney. I’ll have that thafe tried for murder if he does that. And I’ll tell him that to his face, too. I don’t care who any man is that will do an illagal thing like that.

Hezekiah. They don’t stop for law down here.

Barney. The more the shame for ’em. He will have the contimpt er the wurruld upon ’im.

Hezekiah. It wouldn’t do no good. They’ll bury you at daylight. (Short silence.)

Barney. And there ain’t niver a praste to be had in this haythen country at all.

Hezekiah. Ye don’t need none. If I hain’t licked rebels enough ter get ter heaven without a priest, they can jest kick me out.

Barney. Havn’t I done that same meself?

Hezekiah. So ye have, Barney, and this ain’t yer own country, neither. If they don’t give ye two harps to my one, it ain’t doin’ the fair thing by ye.

Barney. Divil a bit do I care for a harp, if I can get out er this. (Door opens, and Sally appears with two carbines in her hands; hesitates a moment.)

Hezekiah. Now let me die.

Barney. ’Pon my word.

Hezekiah. Come here, and let me see if you ain’t a ghost. (Sally lays carbines behind the box and rushes to embrace Hez.)

Barney. Give us a taste er that.

Hezekiah. You git out. There ain’t enough ter go round. (Sally tries to unfasten irons.)

Barney. Oh don’t you spread yourself. I have one er thim. (Turns away.)

Sal. (hunting round for axe.) Hain’t ye got no axe, Hez.?

Hezekiah. ’Taint no use, Sal. Them irons can’t be broke.

Sally. You git out, Hez. You jest show me where they keep the axe.

Hezekiah. They don’t leave no axes round here. If ye had one, ye’d get up such a noise, old Hood and the whole coop would be down here whoopin’.

Sally. I got the whole caboodle asleep with opium.

Hezekiah. ’Taint no use, Sal. That Keele Brightly said we was spies, and we’re goin ter get shot at daylight. (Sally speechless with astonishment.)

Barney. The thafe. (Sally drops on her knees sobbing.)

Sally. Oh what shall I do?

Hezekiah. I know how’ yer heart is, Sal, but ye can’t do us no good. Jest git out as fast as ye can, and save yourself.

Barney. And tell Gineral Halcom about it, and divil a bit but he will bat that spalpeen in the mornin’.

Sally. (Springing to her feet and wiping eyes.) I have it. (Dashes for the door.) I know what I’ll do.

Hezekiah. Say, Sal. (She turns back.) Perhaps I shan’t never see ye again. (Sally falls on his breast sobbing.) Tell mother she ain’t got nothin’ to be ashamed on about me, except I’m rough, and can’t talk so fine as some folks. Now she is cheated out of her part er the farm, and the old man is so mean. I don’t know what she will do. I’ve sent her all my wages and bounty.

Sally. Keep yer upper lip solid, Hez.; cos if yer lost to yer mother, she can have a home with me as long as she lives. Good bye. I got to get ye out, and I ain’t no time to lose. (Dashes out at R. door.)

Barney. ’Pon my word, that gal will knock the hell’s blazes out er thim spalpeens, or I’m a thafe and a liar.

Hezekiah. Ain’t she a rusher?

Barney. ’Pon me word she is. Yer a lucky boy to have a gal like that.

Hezekiah. Makes me sick, cos it’s all goin’ for nothin’. (Makes a bad face, as if to cry.)

Barney. Ah-r, don’t be doin’ that. Thim blackguards will be sayin’ yer a Yankee coward.

Hezekiah. The man that can’t grind out some grief at leavin’ a gal like that, ain’t got brains enough to know what he’s losin’.

Barney. Indade! Isn’t Biddy Maloney as fine a gal as she, barrin’ the fitin’? (Door opens at R., and Keele Brightly enters, followed by D’Arneaux and guard, one of whom proceeds to iron D’A. to the same ring with Hez. and Barney.)

Brightly. (Looking about and at prisoners.) As incomprehensible as ever. The guard drugged and disarmed, and the prisoners unmolested. Corporal, place a guard of twenty men around this building, and you have my orders to shoot any person, man or woman, approaching it without authority. I have placed a barrel of powder beneath, with a fuse attached, leading out under the door. If the Yankees attack us before daybreak, fire the fuse, or kill the prisoners, and join your regiment at once. (Guard leaves with Corporal, R. Brightly lingers to see all is secure, then leaves R.)

Hezekiah. (To Barney.) Bet ye tew dollars this old machine is about gin out. They’re killin’ their own.

Barney. (To Hez.) Is he a Gineral? (D’A. hangs head.)

Hezekiah. (To D’A.) Say! Yer couldn’t tell a feller who’s gittin’ licked outside, could ye? (D’A. gives them no attention.)

Barney. (To D’A.) You don’t be talkin’?

Hezekiah. (To D’A.) Talk is cheap, and I thought I’d give ye a chance on what ye had the most on.

Barney. Shoot thim at daylight, sez he. (Makes a bad face as if about to cry.)

Hezekiah. Don’t be blubberin’, Barney.

Barney. Don’t you see the daylight is comin’ through thim cracks there?

Hezekiah. Let her come. It ain’t goin’ to last long. (A board lifts up at L. and Zina crawls up through.)

D’A. Zina!

Hezekiah. Now let me die!

Barney. ’Pon my word! (Zina motions quiet.)

Zina. The guard! Master D’Arneaux, how are you here?

D’A. A victim of the falsehood of your master.

Zina. How?

D’A. Convicted of treason by false testimony, and sentenced to die at sunrise.

Zina. Oh this is so cowardly and unjust to you, who have been so brave and kind. Oh what shall I do?

D’A. You can do nothing, Zina.

Zina. I will go to the General and say it is not true.

D’A. You are but a poor slave girl. It would avail nothing. Zina, through economy and speculations, I have become possessed of five thousand dollars in gold. It is all buried beneath the roots of the old cotton-wood that stands by the grave of our Nelly. No one but my mother knows this. If, by the fortunes of war, I should fall, it would keep my mother from want. If, when peace and independence come, and I should live, to buy your freedom, when I had determined to offer you my heart, hand, and the honor of a soldier.

Zina. Oh you would not throw yourself away on a poor slave! You do not know what you say!

D’A. This has been the nurtured ambition of my heart, since, with all your native goodness, I saw your generous devotion to my helpless old mother.

Zina. How can you love a poor, degraded slave girl, who has nothing to offer but these miserable rags, and the memory that she came of the hated race, so despised by all the world. (Falls on her knees, covers face.)

D’A. As God loves goodness in the human heart—as manhood admires the noble, unselfish woman, though her covering be undeserving rags—as the heart plays captive to the most generous impulses of nature—as the honor of a soldier reaches out to grasp its ideal, so do I offer my tribute of love. Zina, all these dreams of the future die with me when the sun rises over the eastern hills. Go out from here. Avoid the guard. Find the money, and fly with my mother, where you can be free. Save my mother from want, and I am content. Waste no time, or you too may be lost.

Zina. Oh I cannot be so cowardly as to leave you now! (Rising.)

D’A. Why did you come here, where there is nothing but danger?

Zina. (Pointing to Hez. and Barney.) To save these who have been so good and kind to me. When my master had turned me away to starve, these men gave me their own food and blankets when the storm was cold and pitiless. (Shot R. Zina goes to R. door to listen.)

D’A. (To Hez. and Bar.) My hand, good fellows. One often sees that to admire in an enemy. (Shake all, Hez. grudgingly. Zina looks around the room and discovers the carbines, places them on the box.)

Barney. When I was first lookin’ at ye, didn’t I be knowin’ ye was no blackguard.

D’A. When the other world begins to lift its shadows to light us to the other side, the animosities of this life should be forgotten.

Hezekiah. (To D’A.) Give me your hand again. I allus said I’d never shake with a rebel, but I’ll take it all back.

D’A. Zina, before I die, there is a secret in your history the excitement of the hour had well nigh caused me to forget. It came to me by accident. You were not born a slave!

Z. Then who am I?

D’A. A lost child of the Halcoms!

Zina. (Falling on her knees and covering her face.) My brave, noble brother!

D’A. While confined, previous to my trial, I overheard conversation between Brightly and one of his ruffian comrades, detailing your history and a plan for your destruction. The reason—slavery is abrogated, and you are one of the Halcoms. Seventeen years since, Brightly was the leader of a band of Regulators, raised to protect the planters from the abolitionists, who were running off their help. I was a member of that company, though a mere boy. An old political grudge had existed between Brightly and your father for many years. On a dark December night, backed by a crowd of selected desperadoes, he murdered your father when he was without means of defence, outraged and killed your mother,—then fired the house.

Zina. (Shuddering.) My poor mother! (Sobbing.)

D’A. Some of those men are now standing guard around this building. You were then a helpless infant in the cradle. Old Milly, the nurse, escaped with you to the wood. Two days after you were both kidnapped by Brightly, taken to his plantation in Alabama, where he raised you as a slave. At the time of the murder, your brother Frank, at the age of 12 years, was educating in the free schools of New England. During the last 15 years he has not ceased to search for the murderer of his family. He has no knowledge that you have been saved from the burning home. Within the last three years, Brightly has repeatedly tried to sell you to cotton planters on the coast. Only my vigilance and the color of your skin have prevented it. It was Brightly’s hand that sent the bullet after your life, on the night of your brother’s escape. If you are found here, your life is lost. Go now. Day is breaking. God bless you. Remember my mother. (Distant rapid firing.)

Zina. (Springing to her feet and listening,) Hark! My brother is coming!

D’A. Escape while you can. Quick, or you will be lost!

Zina. (Flings off turban.) I will defend you until his sword shall save us!

D’A. You cannot, you are a weak girl! (Zina bars the door and slings carbine on belt.)

Zina. So I can fight and die with you! (Rebs. attack the door furiously. Zina holds it.)

D’A. This building is mined and you will be blown to atoms. (Zina holds the door.)

Zina. I have filled the powder with water!

D’A. You will be killed. Conceal yourself beneath the floor. (Rebs. knock holes in middle of door with an axe.)

Hezekiah. Yes, go, Zina. God bless yer brave little heart.

Barney. Please go, little girl, ye can’t do us no good! (Heavy, increasing firing R. Blows on the door rapid and continuous. She holds it.)

D’A. You cannot defend us! (Zina seizes carbine and, springing back, exclaims:)

Zina. I am a Halcom! This rifle shall avenge my mother’s life. (Confederates smash the door until they knock it to pieces. Then the door breaks down and a crowd of rebels rush through, 5 rapid shots from Zina and they retreat to outside, 3 men fall. She drops the old and seizes another carbine as Brightly urges them back. Five more shots throw them into a crowding confusion at the door, when she stops firing from unloading. Brightly and six soldiers rush to left front. Zina draws knife to defend prisoners.)

Brightly. (As he and soldiers dash to L.) Kill the prisoners. (Soldiers spring forward to bayonet them and are met by Zina.)

Zina. Who strikes the helpless is a coward! (Soldiers hesitate, with bayonets at her breast.)

Brightly. You shall be food for my dogs!

Zina. Coward! Thief! Assassin of my mother!

Brightly. So you bite the hand that fed you to life!

Zina. My hands have earned your bread and mine!

Brightly. (To soldiers.) Kill her! (Halcom dashes in R. followed by soldiers, who cover rebs.)

Halcom. Throw down your arms! (Rebels drop arms and Zina rushes into her brother’s arms saying:)

Zina. My brother!

Halcom. I have long suspected this. My mother’s face lives in this girl and in my memory seventeen years since as she begged for mercy from a man who never felt it.

Brightly. I am a prisoner of war.

Halcom. We have met, sir, for the last time. You shall fight women and helpless prisoners no longer.

Brightly. Then have done with your preaching and come on! (Drops sword and draws knife.)

Halcom. I will not keep you waiting long! You shall fight for your life this time like an honorable man!

Brightly. (To reb. soldiers) The psalm of a traitor who has stabbed his country in the back!

Halcom. (To prisoners and Union soldiers.) If this man passes my hands safely he shall go free! (Taking advantage while Halcom is speaking to the Union prisoners, Brightly rushes forward to stab him in the back, treacherously. Zina catches his purpose, drops on one knee, knocks his hand up and drives her knife to the hilt in the ruffian’s heart. Brightly staggers back and falls. Zina springs up, aghast at the result, then drops knife, covering her face, says:—)

Zina. My poor mother! (Drops on her knees, then face, sobbing until curtain falls.)