crumpling up before us."

Trumpets blew the next morning. All the firing ceased suddenly and the
three lads saw a Southern general with several officers of lower rank,
riding forward under a white flag. It was Bowen, who came out to meet
Grant.

Dick drew a deep, long breath. He knew that this was the end. So did his
comrades. A cheer started and swept part of the way along the lines, but
the officers quickly stopped it.

"Vicksburg is ours," said Dick.

"Looks like it," said Warner.

But Grant told Bowen that he would treat only with Pemberton, and after
delays General Pemberton came out. General Grant went forward to meet
him. The two stood alone under a tree within seventy yards of the
Confederate lines and talked.

Chance or fortune presented a startling coincidence. Almost at the very
moment that Grant and Pemberton met under the tree Pickett's men were
rising to their feet and preparing for the immortal but fatal charge at
Gettysburg. While the cannon had ceased suddenly at Vicksburg they were
thundering from many score mouths at Gettysburg. Fortune was launching
two thunderbolts upon the Confederacy at the same moment. They were to
strike upon fields a thousand miles apart, and the double blow was to be
mortal.

But Dick knew nothing of Gettysburg then, nor was he to know anything
until days afterward. He certainly had no thought of the East while he
watched the two generals under the tree. Dick's comrades were with him,
but so intense was their curiosity that none of them spoke. Thousands
of men were gazing with the same eagerness, and the Southern earthworks
were covered with the defenders.

It was one of the most dramatic scenes in Dick's life, the two men under
the tree, and the tens of thousands who watched. Nobody moved. It seemed
that they scarcely breathed. After the continuous roar of firing the
sudden silence was oppressive, and Dick felt the blood pounding in his
ears.

The heat was close and heavy. Black clouds were floating up in the west,
and lightning glimmered now and then on the horizon. Although the storm
threatened no one noticed. All eyes were still for Grant and Pemberton.
After a while each returned to his own command, and there was an
armistice until the next day, when the full surrender was made, and
Grant and his officers rode into Vicksburg. At the same time Lee was
gathering his men for the retreat into the South from the stricken field
of Gettysburg. It was the Fourth of Ju