SCENE 1. _Landscape or wood back._ (_Enter Barney, L. U. E., peering

cautiously._)

BARNEY. It’s to the river he would! The blackguard! ’Pon my word, I’ll bat that thafe! Now didn’t that little girrul be doing that well! The illegant little baste! And it’s so decavin where the little darlin’ found the kay! It was killed she was intirely, whin she found out it was me she was chokin’. ’Pon my word, it is a thafe of a clown that wouldn’t be proud to be choked by a pretty little girrul like that. She jist cried as if she was killed. I told her she should choke me to death, and I would find no fault. (_A sudden start as if a noise. Looking about._) Ah’r, so ye would do that. (_Looking out L. U. E._) ’Pon my word, that cow! (_Turning to look cautiously out R._) Let me see, (_cogitating_), it was meself that would surround the blackguard, when Hezekiah would bat the thafe when he would come round by them cook-houses. (_Enter Brightly, L. U. E., stealthily. Dis. Barney; halts; draws a knife from his bootleg. Creeps stealthily towards Barney, as Hez. enters behind him; throws off hat, coat, gun, seizes a stone, and follows Brightly, with the evident intention of knocking his head off. Meantime Barney is saying_)—

BARNEY. Let me say that agin, and I won’t be forgetin’ it. It is I, meself, that will surround thim cook-houses, while the blackguard will bat Hezekiah, and its to the river says he—(_Arriving close up to Barney, Brightly prepares to stab him. As he is about to do so, Hez. flings the stone at his head with all his might. It grazes the top of Brightly’s head, knocks his hat off, strikes Barney in the back, and knocks him on his knees. Brightly dashes out R. U. E. Hez. kicks at him, misses, then pursues. Barney springs up and with shut eyes, strikes wildly towards his supposed assailant with both hands. He stops, looks about and sees nothing. Supposing his assailant to be concealed very near, he drops on one knee, spanks his hand on the floor._)

BARNEY. Come out wid yer! Come out, come out! I’ll bat your dam head off you! Come out! (_Gets no response; gets gun and hat hastily, and hurrying out L. U. E., saying,_) I will hunt two years for that thafe! (_Enter Halcom, R. saying_)

HALCOM. A most marvelous escape! The poor child is excused in supposing she was saving her friend. (_Enter Zina, L, trembling with fear. Drops on her knees sobbing._) Your offence is forgotten.

ZINA. Oh, sir, I did not mean to do wrong. Please say you do not hate me for that.

HALCOM. I do not. Your heroic impulsiveness for one you believed to be your friend, excites only my admiration, though so disastrous to you, as well as myself.

ZINA. Oh, I try so hard to do right. (_Sobbing._)

HALCOM. Do not feel so bad; the past can never be helped.

ZINA. Though he is so bad, I ought to love my master. Perhaps, when the war is over, I can do something to make him a better man. Oh, you will not think bad of me, I have so little to love. (_Sobbing._)

HALCOM. Zina, why do you try to love the man who holds your life in a bondage more hateful than death? Who has returned your devotion with nothing but misery, destitution, and the most servile submission. Who would sell your soul and body to dishonor, without one pang of regret. An assassin, thief, coward, ruffian; who blights virtue and crushes the honest aspirations and civil rights of all he touches.

ZINA. Oh please, master, do not speak like that.

HALCOM. You have no master but God.

ZINA. Oh, I do not know what to do.

HALCOM. There is some dark mystery covers your early life. You are not of the race whose brain and life have been crushed in the ignorance of slavery since this Republic began. Something tells me your life was born in wrong. The brain of the Anglo-Saxon—the white skin of another nation—the quick intelligence and sublime conceptions of the northern blood, betray the lie that binds you to a life like this.

ZINA. Oh, I do not know what I am.

HALCOM. But God says through your angel face, and the heavenly music in your soul, that your life was not born for this.

ZINA. Oh, my life is so hopeless—

HALCOM. Do you remember your mother?

ZINA. I had no mother.

HALCOM. No mother?

ZINA. I grew up among the hands; I know nothing more.

HALCOM. You had but one master?

ZINA. Master Brightly is all I have ever known.

HALCOM. They have told you nothing of your origin?

ZINA. Nothing.

HALCOM. You have no little keepsake in memory of the past!

ZINA. Nothing.

HALCOM. (_Breaking down._) My God! There is a history here the earth must have. Give it to me, and I will be content. (_Drops head._)

ZINA. (_Rising and looking at him earnestly._) Mistress D’Arneaux has told me of a good God in heaven who gave us the beautiful earth and flowers, who loves even the broken hearts of the poor and helpless, whose hand leads always to happiness and truth, whose justice is as the rocks and mountain cliffs of our old home, that are never moved. But this is not for the slave, for master beats his hands so cruelly when they have tried to do the best they could.

HALCOM. It is not the fault of heaven that men are bad. As justice lives for all, so is there a counterpoise of wrong.

ZINA. Oh, my master has told me nothing of what you say.

HALCOM. Away back in the almost hidden past, there lived a man whose mission was to substitute love for brutality. He laid down his life for this. The same wrong that renders your life hopeless, crushed his. Almost 1900 years have passed since then, but the silent hand of the dead still lives in the better civilization of the north.

ZINA. Oh, I have thought so much, and looked in hope for better days to come, but it has been so hopeless. (_Halcom looks earnestly at her._)

HALCOM. How would you like to come with me?

ZINA. Oh, you have been so good to me—but—but Master D’Arneaux will buy me when the war is done. Oh, his hands are so happy—

HALCOM. You are right, my little one. Master D’Arneaux is a better man than I.

ZINA. Oh no, I did not mean that. But—but I know Master D’Arneaux so well. If it wasn’t that I know Master D’Arneaux so well, I—I would go with you.

HALCOM. Right, right.

ZINA. Did—did you have a mother?

HALCOM. A long time ago. (_Turns away._)

ZINA. Master D’Arneaux had a mother, and he is so good to his help. Do you feel bad because I said that?

HALCOM. Why, my little one?

ZINA. You always look at me so strangely. Oh, I do not know what to say to you then.

H. Your face brings back to me so many memories of the past.

ZINA. I am so sorry I made you feel so bad. Does your mother live in the north?

HALCOM. She is dead!

ZINA. Oh I am so sorry she is dead. She must have been such a good mother.

HALCOM. She was indeed good, and beautiful as yourself. (_Advances, kisses her forehead and turns away. Enter Sherman, L. U. E._)

SHERMAN. What, that little rebel owl again?

HALCOM. Prattling of the incongruous things of life, like the child she is.

SHERMAN. The jade! I suppose she would assist that scoundrel she calls her master, if she could.

HALCOM. She asks me to intercede with you, that she may go back to her old home again.

SHERMAN. And concoct some scheme of assassination with that brute who has escaped.

ZINA. Please let me go to my home. (_Drops on knee._)

SHERMAN. (_Sharply._) You will remain.

HALCOM. She is an innocent, artless child, General.

SHERMAN. Artless? She is a devil! During her master’s escape, she held the guard with the ferocity of a tiger, while he took his leisure to leave. Had she been a man, I would have had her shot at once. Orderly, here! (_Enter Orderly, L. U. E._) Take this girl to the care of the guard again. Say to the officer in charge, it shall go bad if she is allowed to stray again. (_Orderly seizes her arm roughly and leads her away, L. U. E._)

HALCOM. (_To Orderly._) Tenderly my boy.

SHERMAN. In war, women are devils, and you can’t strike back. I can confine all but their tongues. They shall rant the empty air with them.

HAL. Certainly, General, her childish years must be harmless.

SHERMAN. Do you shut your eyes to the fact that she is only here as a spy?

HALCOM. Why, she is a mere child, General.

SHERMAN. A very old child, with fifty years of a woman’s cunning in her head.

HALCOM. Certainly you jest.

SHERMAN. Female spies may remain in this camp without harm. If they leave it, I am to blame for it.

HALCOM. Why General, you see an enemy everywhere.

SHERMAN. Young man, you seem to have an unusual interest in that girl. Remember, this is war. No time for love and moonshine.

HALCOM. Why, she is scarcely fifteen.

SHERMAN. Old enough to absorb this love looney that distresses incipient womanhood so much. (_Rapid firing at R. Both bring their field glasses to bear, and look out._)

HALCOM. A sortie in front of my division. (_Springs out R. Enter man with field telegraph, L._)

SHERMAN. Order five batteries from the Chief of Artillery to the ridge on the right of the attack. Open at once. Tell Schofield to shift his reserves to Howard’s support at once. (_Firing gradually increases._) Here comes the Artillery! Halcom can never stop that charge! Tell McClernard to double-quick. They will be overpowered. My God! The whole rebel army is upon him! This is a surprise! What have the advance guard been doing? A splendid charge, McClernard, on my honor. (_Enter Orderly excitedly, R. U. E._)

ORDERLY. Gen. Halcom is wounded and a prisoner!

SHERMAN. Orderly, my horse! (_To Operator._) Order a double-quick advance all along the line. Order Kilpatrick to attack their right with all the cavalry. Tell Schofield the double stars to the first Brigadier inside the enemy’s works.

ORDERLY. (_Entering L. U. E._) Your horse, sir.

OPERATOR. Orders all right, sir.

SHERMAN. (_To Operator._) Now move to the hill on the right of the attack. (_Sherman springs into the saddle and gallops off, R. Ord. and Operator leave R. U. E. Firing recedes. Enter Barney, R. U. E., with three old muskets strapped to his back, driving three rebel prisoners ahead of him._)

BARNEY. Hip now, or I blow thim heads off ye. (_Arriving in centre._) Stop now. (_All halt._) Look at me. (_All turn their heads only._) Look round with the whole of ye or I break thim necks off ye. (_All front._) You don’t know much, do ye? I guess not. You don’t know any educashun, do ye? Hey? I have heard about that. You don’t know’ any readin’ or writin’, do you? Hey? I have heard about that. When Abe Linken tells you, go home and behave yourself, you would fight about that, would ye? You don’t know Abe Linken, I guess. He would bat the divil out of ye. He told me to shoot any blackguards lookin’ as bad as ye. Do you mind that? Have you got any bottles in your pockets? You h’aint? (_Prepares to shoot, when all rush up, and each gives him a bottle._) Don’t you stop like that again, or I bat you. You don’t know Bin Butler? I guess you don’t. You better give four dollars you don’t. He would break your damn heads off ye. (_Pointing L._) Walk that way now, or I blows the hell’s blazes out of ye. (_Exit all, L., to Yankee Doodle. Enter Sally, R. U. E., a big horse pistol in one hand, and a gigantic bowie knife in the other, her male attire covered with a water-proof cloak._)

SALLY. (_Feeling of her arms, &c._) I wonder if I’m broke anywhere. Jints all workin’! Now hain’t I got a lounder for the Pordunk Cultivater! Never got so excited in my life. Hez. is just inflated. He’s struttin’ about the picket line askin’ ’em to send along somethin’ bigger. (_A shot, R. Sally dashes to R. wings and listens._) Gorry! I thought that was another fight. (_Sings._)

Now that Zina don’t know which side she is on. But she’s a sharp sprout though. Ye never know what she’s doin’ till she does it. Tried ter interview her about her feller. She was the most surprised thing I ever looked at. She don’t know nothin’ about courtin’. I wonder where her fun comes in? She is the bluest thing out of a grave yard. By gorry, I ain’t goin’ ter die till the time comes. I went over ter see her yesterday, and she was down on the floor cryin’, and she didn’t know what for. The old General thinks she’s got the devil in her. If she has, he’s an awful mild one. Sometimes you could knock her down with a feather. The old General don’t like women. He’s the first man er that kind I ever see. Poor little Zina, she’s always in trouble. When she heard General Halcom was took, she was jist crazy. In less’n two hours she was missing, and the guard don’t know how. I’ll bet ye tew dollars that girl is off for a fuss, or else things is deceivin’. If I was going ter give any advice, I should say, that anything that weighs less than a ton, had better get off the track. (_Firing away to R._) By gorry, there’s another fight. (_Dashes off, R. U. E._)