SCENE. _The same. A group of ragged soldiers in conference_.
_1st Soldier_. I am flesh and blood myself, as well as the rest of you,
but there is no use in talking. What the devil would you do?--You may
talk till dooms-day, but what's to hinder us from serving our time
out?--and that's three months yet. Ay, there's the point. Show me that.
_2nd Sol_. Three months! Ha, thank Heaven mine is up to-morrow; and,
I'll tell you what, boys, before the sun goes down to-morrow night, you
will see one Jack Richards trudging home,--trudging home, Sirs! None of
your bamboozling, your logic, and your figures. A good piece of bread
and butter is the figure for me. But you should hear the Colonel,
though, as the time draws nigh. Lord! you'd think I was the General at
least. Humph, says I.
_3d Sol_. Ay, ay,--feed you on sugar-candy till they get you to sign,
and then comes the old shoes and moccasins.----
_2nd Sol_. And that's true enough, Ned. I've eaten myself, no less than
two very decent pair in the service. I'll have it out of Congress yet
though, I'll be hanged if I don't. None of your figures for me! I say,
boys, I am going home.
_1st Sol_. Well, go home, and--can't any body else breathe? Why don't
you answer me, John?--What would you have us do?--
_4th Sol_. Ask Will Wilson there.
_1st Sol_. Will?--Where is he?
_4th Sol_. There he stands, alongside of the picket there, his hands in
his pockets, whistling, and looking as wise as the dragon. Mind you,
there's always something pinching at the bottom of that same whistle,
though its such a don't-care sort of a whistle too. Ask Will, he'll tell
you.
_3d Sol_. Ay, Will has been to the new quarters to-day. See, he's coming
this way.
_5th Sol_. And he saw Striker there, fresh from the Jerseys, come up
along with that new General there, yesterday.
_3d Sol_. General Arnold?
_5th Sol_. Ay, ay, General Arnold it is.
_6th Sol_. [_Advancing_.] I say, boys----
_4th Sol_. What's the matter, Will?
_6th Sol_. Do you want to know what they say below?
_All_. Ay, ay, what's the news?
_6th Sol_. All up there, Sirs. A gone horse!--and he that turns his coat
first, is the best fellow.
_4th Sol_. No?
_6th Sol_. And shall I tell you what else they say?
_4th Sol_. Ay.
_6th Sol_. Shall I?
_All_. Ay, ay. What is it?
_6th Sol_. That we are a cowardly, sneaking, good-for-nothing pack of
poltroons, here in the north. There's for you! There's what you get for
your pains, Sirs. And for the rest, General Schuyler is to be disgraced,
and old Gates is to be set over us again, and----no matter for the rest.
See here, boys. Any body coming? See here.
_3d Sol_. What has he got there?
_2nd Sol_. The Proclamation! The Proclamation! Will you be good enough
to let me see if there is not a picture there somewhere, with an Indian
and a tomahawk?
_6th Sol_. Now, Sirs, he that wants a new coat, and a pocket full of
money--
_3d Sol_. That's me fast enough.
_2nd Sol_. If he had mentioned a shirt-sleeve now, or a rim to an old
hat--
_4th Sol_. Or a bit of a crown, or so.
_6th Sol_. He that wants a new coat--get off from my toes, you
scoundrel.
_All_. Let's see. Let's see. Read--read.
_7th Sol_. (_Spouting_.) "And he that don't want his house burned over
his head, and his wife and children, or his mother and sisters, as the
case may be, butchered or eaten alive before his eyes--"
_3d Sol_. Heavens and earth! It 'ant so though, Wilson, is it?
_7th Sol_. "Is required to present himself at the said village of
Skeensborough, on or before the 20th day of August next.
Boo--boo--boo--Who but I. Given under my hand."--If it is not _it_--it
is something very like it, I can tell you, Sirs. I say, boys, the old
rogue wants his neck wrung for insulting honest soldiers in that
fashion; and I say that you--for shame, Will Willson.
_4th Sol_. Hush!--the Colonel!--Hush!
_2nd Sol_. And who is that proud-looking fellow, by his side?
_4th Sol_. Hush! General Arnold. He's a sharp one--roll it up--roll it up.
_6th Sol_. Get out,--you are rumpling it to death.
(_Two American officers are seen close at hand, in a bend
of the ascending road; the soldiers enter the woods_.)
* * * * *