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.
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