Zina: the Slave Girl; or, Which the Traitor?: A Drama in Four ActsThompson, A. (Augustin)
General
Zina: the Slave Girl; or, Which the Traitor?: A Drama in Four Acts
Thompson, A. (Augustin)
Slavery -- United States -- Drama
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._)
SCENE 2. _Night._ Thunder storm rising. Flashes of lightning in the
distance. Heavy forest back. A river running through at rear, half
hidden among the trees. A flat-roofed log hut in rear centre. A hole cut
in the roof 2½ feet square, near front, and covered with short boards
nailed at one end, and so weakened by hewing that a woman’s strength
might be able to break them. A rope fastened overhead, where it would
dangle over rear of hut, then guyed to hang over the hole, and drawn up
out of sight. A door at R. end of hut, and bar behind it. (_Gen. Halcom
disc. asleep on the floor of the hut, wounded in the head. A rebel
sentry pacing outside the door._)
(_Enter Gen. Hood, Keele Brightly, D’Arneaux, and others, R._)
BRIGHTLY. General, I have called your attention to this matter at
midnight, because the circumstances admit of no delay. In yonder cabin a
Major General of the union army is confined as a prisoner of war. He
owes allegiance, and is a native of the state of Tennessee. As a traitor
to his native state, I would suggest that he be tried at once by a
drum-head court-martial, and shot as he deserves.
HOOD. Why so urgent?
BRIGHTLY. The federals are rapidly forcing our positions. He might be
recaptured. It would be a direful calamity if he should escape.
HOOD. He is but one man against us.
BRIGHTLY. A hundred men, sir. A devil, without restraint. It was his
division that first broke our lines at Lookout Mountain. That robbed us
of our victory at Chickamauga. His men are goaded to fight like devils,
while he plunges into the thickest of the fight, hewing his way through
the men as if they were dummies.
D’A. Such bravery merits our consideration.
HOOD. For a traitor?
D’A. Yes, sir, for a traitor. Though he wears the traitor’s garb, he is
still one of the iron hearts of Tennessee.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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