The person I love best in all the
world, has just given me her hand. I have before me a long life of joy,
if I only live! But I have sworn that oath, Surry! Chambliss kept his;
shall I break mine? Let us not talk further of this, friend."
And Mohun changed the conversation, refusing to listen to my
remonstrances.
Half an hour afterward I left him, with a strange sinking of the heart.
Taking my way back to the Court-House, I passed through the little
village, rode on for a mile, and then, overwhelmed by fatigue, lay down
by a camp fire in the woods, and fell asleep.
I was waked by a single gun, sending its dull roar through the gray
dawn.
Rising, I buttoned my cape around me, mounted my horse, and rode toward
the front.
As I ascended the hill, upon which stands Appomattox Court-House, a
crimson blush suddenly spread itself over the fields and woods.
I looked over my shoulder. In the east, on the summit of the forest,
the newly risen sun was poised, like a great shield bathed in blood.
Such was the spectacle which ushered in the ninth of April, 1865, at
Appomattox Court-House.
XXVIII.
THE LAST CHARGE OF THE OLD GUARD.
I rode on rapidly to the front.
It was the morning of the ninth of April, 1865. Since that time three
years, day for day, nearly hour for hour have passed; for these lines
are written on the morning of the ninth of April, 1868.
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