Part 90 (1/2)
The little girl handed him a bunch of violets. He stooped, kissed her and took her in his arms.
”You'd like your papa to come back home from the war and stay with you always, wouldn't you, dear?”
”Yes, sir,” she breathed.
”Maybe he will, soon.”
”You see, General,” Sweeney said, ”when my Chief fell, I threw my banjo away and got a musket.”
”If I only had Stuart here to-day!” Lee sighed.
”He'd cut his way through, sir, with a shout and a laugh,” Sweeney boasted.
A courier handed Lee a dispatch and Sweeney edged away. The Commander read the message with a frown and crumpled the paper in his hand. The wagons at Appomattox had been cut to pieces. His army had nothing to eat. They had been hungry for two days and nights.
”It's more than flesh can bear, Taylor--and yet listen to those guns!
They're still fighting this morning. Fighting like tigers. Grant's closing in with a hundred thousand men. Unless Gordon breaks through within an hour--he's got us--”
Lee gazed toward the sound of the guns on the left. His face was calm but his carriage was no longer quite erect. The agony of sleepless nights had plowed furrows in his forehead. His eyes were red. His cheeks were sunken and haggard. His face was colorless. And yet he was calmly deliberate in every movement.
An old man, flushed with excitement, staggered up to him.
Lee started.
”Ruffin--you here?”
”General Lee,” he began, ”will you hear me for just one moment?”
”Certainly.”
Lee sprang to his feet.
”But how did you get into my lines--I thought I was surrounded?”
”I came out of Richmond with General Alexander's rear guard, sir, six days ago.”
”Oh, I see.”
”Ten years ago, General Lee, in your house, I predicted this war. Last week I saw the city in flames and I hope to G.o.d every house was in ashes before that regiment of negro cavalry galloped through its streets.”
”I trust not, Ruffin. I left my wife and children there.”
”I hope they're safe, sir.”
”They're in G.o.d's hands.”
A courier handed Lee a dispatch which he read aloud.
”President Davis has been forced to flee from Danville and all communication with him has been cut.”