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.