To songs: DUEL * SPECTER*
ENEMY * TASTE OF FREEDOM
SCENE 62 - Night outside on grounds of the LOCUSTS
(LAWTON leads WELLMEYER to the stables, then calls aloud -)
LAWTON: Bring out Roanoke!
(His man appears with the steed ready for its master. LAWTON cool throwing
the bridle on the neck of the animal, takes his pistols from the holsters,
and continues -)
LAWTON: Here are weapons that have seen good service before today,
and in honorable hands, sir; used with credit in the wars with France, and
given to me to fight in battles of my country.
LAWTON sings DUELING PISTOLS:
"These are dueling pistols ... that my father possessed
.... to defend the honor ... of one in such distress ... as this child ...
Choose your weapon, sir ... I give you the first shot." (WELLMEYER:)
Blood be on the head ... of him ... who sought ... this end."
LAWTON: Amen! but hold a moment, sir. You are now free, and the passports
of Washington are in your pocket; I give you the fire; if I fall, there
is a steed that will outstrip pursuit; and I would advise you to retreat
without much delay, for even ARCHIBALD SITGREAVES would fight in such a
cause - nor will the guard above be very apt to give quarter.
WELLMEYER (enraged): Are you ready?
LAWTON: Step forward, TOM, with the lights; fire!
(WELLMEYER fires, and the bullion flies off the epaulette of the trooper.)
LAWTON: Now the turn is mine (deliberately leveling his pistol).
A VOICE (shouts) AND MINE! (As the weapon is struck from LAWTON's
hand.)
HEAD SKINNER: By all the devils in hell, 'tis the mad Virginian! Fall
on him, my boys, and take him; this is a prize not hoped for!
(Unarmed and surprised as he is, LAWTON's presence of mind does
not desert him; he feels that he is in the hands of those from whom he could
expect no mercy; and, as four of the Skinners fall upon him at once, he
uses his gigantic strength to the utmost.)
(Three of the band grasp him by the neck and arms, with an intent
to clog his efforts and pinion him with ropes. The first of these he throws
from him with a violence that sent him against the building; where he lies
stunned with the blow. The fourth seizes his legs; and, unable to contend
with such odds, the trooper comes to the earth, bringing with him all of
his assailants.)
(The struggle on the ground was short but terrific; curses and the most
dreadful imprecations are uttered by the Skinners, who in vain call on more
of their band, who are merely gazing on the combat in nerveless horror,
to assist.)
(A difficulty in breathing is heard, accompanied by the stifled moanings
of a strangled man; and directly one of the group rises to his feet, shaking
himself free from the wild grasp of the others. Both WELLMEYER and
the servant of LAWTON have fled; the former to the stables, and the latter
to give the alarm, leaving all in darkness.)
(The figure that rose erect springs into the saddle of the unheeded charger;
sparks of fire issuing from the armed feet of the horse, give a momentary
light by which the captain is seen dashing like the wind toward the highway.)
HEAD SKINNER (hoarse with rage and exhaustion): By hell he's off!
Fire! Bring him down - fire, or you'll be too late.
(The order is obeyed, and one moment of suspense follows, in the vain
hope of hearing the huge frame of LAWTON tumbling from his steed.)
2nd SKINNER: He will not fall if you have killed him. I've known these
Virginians sit their horses with two or three balls through them; ay, even
after they were dead.
(A freshening of the wind wafts the tread of a horse down the valley,
which, by its speed, gives assurance of a rider governing its motion.
3rd SKINNER: These trained horses always stop when the rider falls.
HEAD SKINNER: Then (striking his musket on the ground in rage)
the fellow is safe! to your business at once. A short half-hour will bring
down that canting Sergeant and the guard upon us. 'Twill be lucky if the
guns don't turn them out. Quick! to your posts, and fire the house in the
chambers; smoking ruins are good to cover evil deeds.
2nd SKINNER: What is to be done with this lump of earth? (pushing
the body that yet lay insensible, where it had been hurled by the arm of
LAWTON.) A little rubbing would bring him to.
HEAD SKINNER: Let him lie; had he been half a man, that dragooning
rascal would have been in my power; - enter the house, I say, and fire the
chambers. We can't go amiss here; - there is plate and money enough to make
you all gentlemen - and revenge, too.
(The idea of silver in any form was not to be resisted; and, leaving
their companion, who begins to show faint signs of life, they rush tumultuously
toward the dwelling. WELLMEYER avails himself of the opportunity,
and, stealing from the stable his own charger, he is able to gain the highway
unnoticed. For an instant he hesitates, whether to ride toward the point
where he knows the guard is stationed, and attempt to rescue the family,
or, profiting by his liberty, and the exchange that had been effected by
the divine, to seek the royal army.)
(Shame, and a consciousness of guilt, determined WELLMEYER to take
the latter course, and he rode toward New York, stung with the reflection
of his own baseness, and harassed with the apprehension of meeting with
an enraged woman, that he had married during his late visit to England,
but whose claims, as soon as his passion was sated, he had resolved never
willingly to admit.)
SCENE 63 - Night inside the WHARTON home
(The retreat of LAWTON and WELLMEYER is little noticed, with the condition
of Mr. WHARTON demanding the care and consolation of the surgeon and the
divine.)
(The report of the fire-arms first rouses the family to the sense of
a new danger, and but a moment elapses before the HEAD SKINNER, and one
more of the gang, enter the room, via the unattended front door through
which the dueling pair had exited.)
(HEAD SKINNER: Surrender! You servants of King George (presenting
his musket to the breast of Dr. SITGREAVES) or I will let a little blood
from your veins.
Dr, SITGREAVES: Gently - gently, my friend, you are doubtless more
expert in inflicting wounds than in healing them; the weapon you hold so
indiscreetly is extremely dangerous to animal life.
HEAD SKINNER: Yield or take its contents.
SITGREAVES: Why and wherefore should I yield? I am a non-combatant.
The articles of capitulation must be arranged with Capt. JOHN LAWTON; though
yielding, I believe, is not a subject on which you will find him particularly
complying.
(The fellow has by this time surveyed the group and convinced him that
little danger is to be apprehended from resistance, and, eager to seize
his share of the plunder, he drops his musket, and is soon busy, with the
assistance of his men in arranging divers articles of plate in bags.)
(The cottage now presents a singular spectacle; - the ladies are gathered
around SARAH, who yet continues insensible, in one of the rooms that has
escaped the notice of the marauders. Mr. WHARTON sits in a state of perfect
imbecility, listening to, but not profiting by, the unmeaning words of comfort
that fall from the lips of the clergyman.)
(SINGLETON is lying on a sofa, shaking with debility, and inattentive
to surrounding objects; while the surgeon is administering restoratives,
and looking at the dressings, with a coolness that mocks the tumult.)
(CAESAR, and the attendant of Capt. SINGLETON have retreated to the
wood in the rear of the cottage, and KATY HAYNES is flying about the building,
busily employed in forming a bundle of valuables, from which, with the most
scrupulous honesty, she rejects every article that is not really and truly
her own.)
SCENE 64 - Night on road outside the Inn
(At Four Corners, when the Sergeant has his men mounted and under
arms, a restless desire to join in the glory and dangers of the expedition
comes over the washerwoman. Whether it is impelled by a dread of remaining
alone, or a wish to hasten in person to the relief of her favorite, one
can only guess, but, as HOLLISTER is giving orders to wheel and march, the
voice of BETTY calls out -)
BETTY: Stop a bit, Sargeant dear, till two of the boys git out the
cart, and I'll jist ride wid yee; 'tis like there'll be wounded and it will
be might convanient to bring them home in.
HOLLISTER: Nothing but a cannon ball can take one of my lads from
his charger, and it's not likely that we shall have as fair fighting as
cannon and musketry, in a business of the evil one's inventing; so, BETTY,
you may go if you will, but the cart will not be wanting.
BETTY: Now, Sargeant dear, you lie, anyway; and wasn't Capt. SINGLETON
shot off his horse but tin days gone by? ay, and Capt. JACK himself, too;
and didn't he lie on the ground, face uppermost, and back downward, looking
grim? And didn't the boys tink him dead, and turn and lave the rig-lars
the day?
HOLLISTER: You lie back again, and so does anyone who says that we
didn't gain the day.
BETTY: For a bit or so - only I mane fore a bit or so, but Major DUNWOODIE
turned you, and so you licked the rig-lars. But the Captain it was that
fell, and I'm thinking that there's no better rider going; so, Sargeant,
it's the cart will be convanient. Here, two of you jist hitch the mare to
the tills, and it's no whisky that yee'll be wanting the morrow; and put
the piece of Jenny's hide under the pad; the baste is niver the better for
the rough ways of the county West-Chester.
(The consent of the Sergeant being obtained, the equipment of Mrs. FLANAGAN
is soon in readiness to receive its burden.)
HOLLISTER: As it is quite uncertain whether we shall be attacked in
front or in rear, five of you shall march in advance, and the remainder
shall cover our retreat toward the barrack, should we be pressed. 'Tis an
awful moment to a man of little learning, BETTY, to command in such a service;
for my part, I wish devoutly that one of the officers were here; but my
trust is in the Lord.
BETTY: Pooh! Man away wid yee, the divil a bit of an inimy is there
near. March on, hurry-scurry, and let the mare trot, or it's but little
that Capt. BEN will thank yee for the help.
HOLLISTER: Although unlearned in matters of communicating with spirits,
or laying the dead, Mrs. FLANAGAN, I have not served through the old war,
and five years in this, not to know how to guard the baggage. Does Washington
always cover the baggage? I am not to be told my duty by a camp follower.
Fall in as you are ordered.)
BETTY: Well, march anyway, the black is there already, and it's tardy
the Captain will think yee.
HOLLISTER: Are you sure that it was really a black man that brought
the order? (dropping back where he could converse with BETTY, and be at
hand to lead an emergency, either on an advance or a retreat.)
BETTY: Nay - and I'm sure of nothing, dear. But why don't the boys
prick their horses and jog a trot? The mare is mighty unasy, and it's no
warm in this cursed valley, riding as much like a funeral party as old rags
is to continental.
HOLLISTER: Fairly and softly, ay, and prudently, Mrs. FLANAGAN, it's
not rashness that makes the good officer. If we were to encounter a spirit,
it's more likely he'll make his attack by surprise; horses are not very
powerful in the dark, and I have a character to lose, good woman.
BETTY: Caractur! and isn't caractur and life too that Captain JACK
has to lose?
HOLLISTER: Halt! What is that lurking near the foot of the rock on
the left?
BETTY: Sure it's nothing unless it be a matter of Capt. JACK's sowl
that's come to haunt yee, for not being brisker on the march.
HOLLISTER: BETTY, you're levity makes you an unfit comrade for such
an expedition. Advance, one of you, and reconnoiter the spot - draw swords
- rear rank, close to the front.
BETTY: Pshaw! is it a big fool or a big coward that yee are? jist
wheel from the road, boys, and I'll shove the mare down upon it in the twinkling
of an eye - and it's no ghost that I fear.
(By this time the man has returned and declares there is nothing to prevent
their advancing, and the party continues their march, but with great deliberation
and caution.)
HOLLISTER: Courage and prudence are the jewels of a soldier, Mrs.
FLANAGAN, without the one, the other may be said to be good for nothing.
BETTY: Prudence without courage, is that what you mane? - and it's
so that I'm thinking myself, Sargeant. This baste pulls tight on the reins
anyway.
HOLLISTER: Be patient, good woman - hark - what is that? (at the sound
of WELLMEYER pistol) I'll swear that is a human pistol, and one from our
regiment. Rear rank, close to the front - Mrs. FLANAGAN, I must leave you.
(So saying, having recovered all his faculties, by hearing a sound that
he understood, he places himself at the head of his men with an air of military
pride, that the darkness prevented the washerwoman from beholding. A volley
of musketry now rattled in the night wind, and -)
HOLLISTER: March! - quick time!
(The next instant the trampling of a horse is heard coming up the road,
at a rate that announces a matter of life or death; and HOLLISTER again
halts his party, riding a short distance in front himself, to meet the rider.)
HOLLISTER (shouts): Stand!- Who goes there?
LAWTON (cries out) : Ha, HOLLISTER, is it you? ever ready, and at
your post; but where is the guard?
HOLLISTER: At hand, sir, and ready to follow you through thick and
thin ( relieved at once from responsibility, and as eager as a boy to be
led against the enemy.)
LAWTON: 'Tis well,
(Speaking a few words of encouragement, he leads the men down the valley
at a rate but little less rapid than his approach. The miserable horse of
the sulter is soon outdistanced, and BETTY, thus thrown out in the chase,
turns to the side of the road, and observes -)
BETTY: There it's no difficult to tell that Capt. JACK is wid'em,
well, I'll jist hitch the mare to this bit of a fence and walk down and
see the sport afoot - it's no rasonable to expose the baste to be hurted.
(Led on by LAWTON, the men follow. Whether it is a party of the refugees
or a detachment from the royal army, that they were to assail, they were
profoundly ignorant; but they knew that the officer in advance was distinguished
for courage and personal prowess; and these are virtues that are sure to
captivate the thoughtless soldiery.)
(On arriving near the gates of the LOCUSTS, the trooper halts his
party, and makes his arrangement for the assault. Dismounting, he orders
eight of his men to follow his example, and turning to HOLLISTER, says-)
LAWTON: Stand you here, and guard the horses; if anything attempts
to pass, stop it, or cut it down, and -
(Flames at this moment burst through the dormer-windows and cedar roof
of the cottage, and a bright light glared on the darkness of the night.)
LAWTON (shouting): On! On! give quarter when you have done justice.
(There is a startling fierceness in the voice of the trooper that reaches
to the heart, even amid the horrors of the cottage. The leader of the Skinners
drops his plunder, and, for a moment, he stands in nerveless dread; then
rushing to a window, he throws up the sash; - at this instant LAWTON enters,
saber in hand, into the apartment.)
LAWTON: Die, miscreant! (cleaving a marauder to the jaw; but the leader
springs onto the lawn, and escapes his vengeance.)
(Shrieks of the females restores LAWTON to his presence of mind, and
the earnest entreaty of the divine induces him to attend to the safety of
the family. One more of the gang fell in with the dragoons, and met his
death; but the remainder had taken the alarm in season.)
SCENE 65 - Night in SARAH's apartment
(Occupied with SARAH, neither Miss PEYTON, nor the ladies of the house,
have discovered the entrance of the Skinners, though the flames are raging
around them with a fury that threatens the building with rapid destruction.)
(The shrieks of KATY and the terrified consort of CAESAR, together with
the noise and uproar in the adjacent apartment, first rouses Miss PEYTON
and ISABELLA to a sense of their danger.)
Aunt JEANETTE: Merciful Providence! there is a dreadful confusion
in the house, and there will be bloodshed in the consequence of this affair.
ISABELLA: There are none to fight. Dr. SITGREAVES is very peaceable
in his disposition, and surely Capt. LAWTON would not forget himself so
far.
Miss PEYTON: The southern temper is quick and fiery, and your brother,
feeble and weak as he is, has looked the afternoon flushed and angry.
ISABELLA: Good heaven! He is gentle as a lamb by nature, though the
lion is not his equal when roused.
Aunt JEANETTE: We must interfere; our presence will quell the tumult,
and possibly save the life of a fellow-creature.
(Miss PEYTON, excited to attempt what she conceives a duty worthy
of her sex and nature, advances with the dignity of injured female feeling,
to the door, followed by ISABELLA. The apartment to which SARAH had been
conveyed was in one of the wings of the building, and it communicated with
the principal hall of the cottage by a long and dark passage. This is now
light, and across its termination several figures are seen rushing with
an impetuosity that prevents an examination of their employment.)
Miss JEANETTE: Let us advance; they must respect our sex.
ISABELLA: They shall (taking the lead in the enterprise).
(FRANCES is left alone with her sister. A few minutes pass in silence,
then a loud crash, in the upper apartments, is succeeded by a bright light
that glared through the open door, and made objects as distinct to the eye
as if they were placed under a noon-day sun. SARAH raises herself on her
bed and staring wildly around, presses both her hands on her forehead, endeavoring
to recollect herself -)
SARAH: This then, is heaven - and you are one of its bright spirits.
Oh, how glorious is its radiance! I had thought the happiness I have lately
experienced was too much of earth. But we shall meet again - yes - yes -
we shall meet again.
FRANCES (in terror): SARAH! SARAH! my sister - my only sister Oh!
do not smile so horribly; know me, or you will break my heart.
SARAH: Hush, (raising her hand for silence) you may disturb his rest
- surely, he will follow me to the grave. Think you there can be two wives
in the grave? No - no - no - one - one - one - only one.
(FRANCES drops her head into the lap of her sister and weeps in agony.)
SARAH: Do you shed tears, sweet angel? then heaven is not exempt from
grief. But where is HENRY? He was executed, and he must be here too; perhaps
they will come together. Oh, how joyful will be the meeting!
(FRANCES springs to her feet and paces the apartment. The eye of SARAH
follows her in childish admiration of her beauty.)
SARAH: You look like my sister; but all good and lovely spirits are
alike. Tell me, were you ever married? Did you ever let a stranger steal
you affection from father, and brother, and sister? If not, poor wretch,
I pity you, although you may be in heaven.
FRANCES (shrieking and rushing to her bed): SARAH - peace - peace
- I implore you to be silent, or you will kill me at your feet.
(Another dreadful crash shakes the building to it center. It was the
falling of the roof, and the flames throw their light abroad, so as to make
objects visible around the cottage, through the windows of the room. FRANCES
flies to one of them and sees the confused group that is collected on the
lawn.)
(Among them are her aunt and ISABELLA, pointing with distraction to
the fiery edifice, and apparently urging the dragoons to enter it. For the
first time she comprehends their danger; and uttering a wild shriek, she
flies through the passage without consideration or object. A dense and suffocating
column of smoke opposes her progress. She pauses to breathe, when a man
catches her in his arms, and carries her through the falling embers and
darkness, to the open air.)
SCENE 66 - Night outside the burning WHARTON home
(The instant that FRANCES recovers her recollection, she perceives
that she owes her life to LAWTON, and throwing herself on her knees, she
cries -)
FRANCES: SARAH! SARAH! save my sister, and may the blessing of God
await you.
(Her strength fails and she sinks on the grass, in insensibility. The
trooper points to her figure, motions to KATY for assistance, and advances
once more to the building. The fire has already communicated to the
wood-work of the piazzas and windows, and the whole exterior of the cottage
is covered with smoke.)
(The only entrance is through these dangers, and even the hardy and
impetuous LAWTON pauses to consider. It is for a moment only , when he dashes
into the heat and darkness, where, missing the entrance, he wanders for
a minute, and precipitates himself back, again, upon the lawn. Drawing a
single breath of pure air, he renews the effort, and is again unsuccessful.
On a third trial, he meets a man staggering under the load of a human body.)
(It is neither the place, nor is there time, to question, or to make
distinctions; seizing both in his arms, with gigantic strength, he bares
them through the smoke. He soon perceives, to his astonishment, that it
is the surgeon and the body of one of the Skinners, that he saved.)
LAWTON: ARCHIBALD! Why in the name of justice, did you bring this
miscreant to light again? His deeds are rank to heaven.
(The surgeon, who had been in imminent peril, is too much bewildered
to replay instantly, but wiping the moisture from his forehead, and clearing
his lungs from the vapor he had inhaled, says piteously- )
SITGREAVES: Ah! It is all over! Had I been in time to have stopped
the effusion from the jugular, he might have been saved; but the heat was
conducive to hemorrhage; life is extinct indeed. Well, are there any more
wounded?
(His question is put to air, for FRANCES has been removed to the opposite
side of the building, where her family has collected, and LAWTON once more
has disappeared in the smoke.)
(By this time the flames have dispersed much of the suffocating vapor,
so that the trooper is able to find the door, and in its very entrance he
is met by a man supporting the insensible SARAH. There is but barely time
to reach the lawn again, before the fire breaks through the windows, and
wraps the whole building in a sheet of flame. To LAWTON's astonishment,
he beholds the peddler.)
HARVEY and LAWTON sing SPECTER:
(HARVEY:) "God be praised!! It would have been a dreadful
death to die.
(LAWTON:) You! .. Who are you?.. What are you ... emerging
from this smoke? ... You cross me ... like a specter ... You make my life
a joke ... We'll hang you ... defame you ... you dromedary silhouette ...
but you warn us ... and rescue ... heroic deeds I can't forget."
"The cause of America... is dear to me as life,"
HARVEY/LAWTON duet: LAWTON:"but she can't expect us to ... ignore gratitude
... this time. HARVEY: "No one can expect me to ... ignore helping
at ... this time. LAWTON: What is your ... real purpose? ...What is your
... true goal? HARVEY: You know not ... my purpose. ... You know not ...
my goal. LAWTON: Will you die with -..out telling...what is your secret
ro-le? HARVEY: You know not the .. deception ... there must be in this ro-ole."
(HARVEY turning his head aside:) "I am a royal spy."
(LAWTON:) Then go, you wretched man ... while you are yet ... unseen ...
or it will soon ... exceed ...my power ... to save you. (HARVEY grabs his
hand, sings:) May God prosper you ... and give you victory ... o-o-ver ...
your enemy."
LAWTON sings ENEMY:
(LAWTON, gripping HARVEY's hand tightly, refusing to let it
loose :) "Can you be our ... true enemy ... all your words do not
say ... what your actions convey ... Fly, unhappy man,(LAWTON relieves
his grip) ... for either avarice or delusion ... has led a noble heart
astray. (HARVEY runs off, as LAWTON muses:) He's either a saint or
a devil ... or a crusading cancer ... maybe in the hereafter ...we will
know the answer."
(The bright light from the flames reaches a great distance around the
ruins, but the words are hardly past the lips of LAWTON, before the gaunt
form of the peddler has glided over the visible space and plunged into the
darkness beyond.)
(The eye of LAWTON rests for a moment on the spot where he last saw
this inexplicable man, and then turning to the yet insensible SARAH, he
lifts her in his arms, and carries her like a sleeping infant to the care
of her friends.)
SCENE 67 - Night on rocky ledge overlooking the valley
(HARVEY does not pause to catch his breath, racing through the woods,
until reaching the security of a familiar hiding place in the rocky hillside.
Here he observes the tragic scene below in the valley, again thankful to
have escaped capture.
HARVEY sings TASTE OF FREEDOM:
(#1) "I,.. I love the taste of freedom ... for this
land .. whose vastness is unknown ... How ... how can I show the reason
... to preserve this holiness of home ... where I lived ... as I grew ...
with the sorrow ... we came through ... in these woods ... and these hills
... where I roam."
"They ...they think I am a traitor .. but they
know ... not of the pride I seek ... When ... when will the time be ready
... for my heart ... and loyalty to speak ... that my goal ... is not wrong
... but to make this country strong ... to protect ... unprotected and the
weak."
(#2 repeat music ) "I ... I see the spark of greatness
... in the eyes ... of young men so forlorn ... Tired ... of fighting, tired
of dying ... in this war ... that's dragging on and on ... They must more
... than survive ... but keep freedom's cry alive ... to be will -.. ing
to fight ... at each dawn."
"Lord, please bless this rising nation ... that has lost
more battles than it's won ... Some too young to serve as soldiers ..barely
trained on how to use a gun ... yet they brave winter storms ...with few
clothes to keep them warm ...let them see...victory...can...be ...won."
END of PART TWO
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