d Sumter. Harry, looking back,
saw the whole front of the harbor lined with people. Even at the
distance it looked like a holiday crowd. He saw hundreds of women and
girls in white and pink dresses, and there were roses of the same colors
in hats and bonnets. Great parasols of every shade threw back the
brilliant sunlight. It was still a holiday spectacle, a pageant,
and many of the light hearts along the sea wall could not realize that
it might yet be something far more.

Anderson, the commander of Sumter, appeared upon the esplanade to
meet the boat coming with the white flag. Harry watched him closely.
He saw a face worn, but set hard and firm, and a figure upright and
steady. The Southerners tied their boat to the wall and climbed upon
the esplanade.

"What do you want, gentlemen?" asked Anderson.

"We have come with our final demand for your surrender," replied the
chief Southern officer. "If you do not yield we fire upon you."

Anderson shrugged his shoulders.

"I hear that a fleet from New York is coming to my relief."

"It will never be able to force a passage into the harbor."

"That may or may not be, but in any event, gentlemen, I tell you that
the flag will not come down. If you fire, we fire back."

He spoke with no quiver in his voice, although his supply of ammunition
was low, and the fort had a food supply for only four days.

"Then it is scarcely worth while for us to talk longer."

"No, it would be a waste of time by both of us." The Southerners turned
back to their boat. Harry was the last and Anderson said to him in a
low tone:

"I am sorry to see your father's son here."

"I am where he would wish me to be," replied the boy stiffly.

"Even so, I hope you will come to no harm," said Anderson in a generous
tone.

After such a noble rejoinder Harry's heart softened instantly, and he
returned the wish. Then he followed the others into the boat, and they
pulled back to the mainland.

The crowd surmised from the quick return of the boat the nature of the
answer that it brought. It seemed to feel one gigantic throb of passion,
and perhaps of relief also, that the issue was made after so many weeks
of waiting. Yet the holiday aspect disappeared, as if a cloud had
passed suddenly before the sun.

Harry noted the shadow even before he landed. The people had become
silent, and faces that had laughed turned grave. As they set foot upon
the mainland, they told their news freel