Lee called in vain for more men. The Government could not send them. He
predicted the result of failure to receive them. They did not come.
And Grant continued to move on, and Lee continued to stretch his thin
line, until it began to crack.
Such was the situation of affairs at the end of October--when Grant
aimed a heavy blow to cut the line in pieces. The blue serpent raised
its head, and sprung to strike.
XXVI.
THE HOUSE NEAR MONK'S NECK, AND ITS OWNER.
Such was the critical condition of affairs when I again set out to make
my regular tour of inspection of the cavalry.
Crossing Hatcher's Run at Burgess's Mill, I turned to the left, and
soon found myself riding on between the lofty walls of pine, through
which the roads of Dinwiddie wind like a serpent.
When near Monk's Neck, I determined to stop and feed my horse. I always
carried, strapped behind my saddle, a small bag containing about a feed
of corn for that purpose; and as I generally selected some wayside
house where I could, myself, rest while my horse was feeding, I now
looked about me to discover such.
My search was speedily rewarded. Three hundred yards from the road, in
a clump of stunted trees, I saw a small house, which I soon reached.
The surroundings of the establishment were poor and mean beyond
expression.
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