Porter (to Athol): Dearest love, there is no one in the world for me but you. We have a lifetime of bliss before us. (he looks about impatiently) Where’s that old nigger hackman? He swore he’d be here on time! (shouts) Hey, there, you good-for-nothing old grandson of a bob-tailed monkey, what do you mean by being late when you know I’m trying to elope with the sweetest girl in the whole wide state of Texas?
Caesar (runs on, right): Yes, boss, here Ah is, Johnny on de spot! (makes as if to dust off the seat of a carriage) Step right in, suh; aint a speck of dust in it—jes got back from a funeral, suh. Kyar you anywhere in de town fo fifty cents. Dis de young lady? She’s a sho nuff sweet bride! Right dis way, Miss, de preacher is a-waiting! (Music: Lohengrin wedding march. The Negro offers her his arm, gallantly, and leads her off, right, as if escorting her to the coach) Dis way, ma’am, dis way to de weddin festivities!
(Porter stands gazing after them, yearningly. Gradually the white light returns; a brisk step is heard)
Dr. Walters (night physician of the prison, a young man, enters left): Well, Porter?
Porter: Good evening, doctor.
Dr. Walters: Everything all right?
Porter: A few men dying, as you know.
Dr. Walters: I hear that poor fellow, Jimmie Valentine, is laid up again. Wonder how he hangs on.
Porter: It’s a poor place for his kind of trouble.
Dr. Walters: Yes, they all ought to be out in the sunshine. But then they’d all run away. So what can you do?