But he seldom interrupted.
"And you think they have no large force at Jackson?" he said.
"I'm quite sure of it," replied Colonel Winchester.
Grant chewed his cigar a little while and then said:
"Grierson is doing well. It was an achievement for you and him to beat
off Forrest. It will raise the prestige of our cavalry, which needs it.
I believe it was you, Lieutenant Mason, who brought Grierson."
"It was chiefly, sir, a sergeant named Whitley. I rode with him and
outranked him, but he is a veteran of the plains, and it was he who did
the real work."
The general's stern features were lightened by a smile.
"I'm glad you give the sergeant credit," he said. "Not many officers
would do it."
He listened a while longer and then the three were permitted to withdraw
to their regiment, which was posted back of Grand Gulf, and which had
quickly become a part of an army flushed with victory and eager for
further action.
Before sunset Dick, Warner, and Pennington looked at Grand Gulf, a little
village standing on high cliffs overlooking the Mississippi, just below
the point where the dark stream known as the Big Black River empties into
the Father of Waters.
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