that it was taken?"

"Yes, Dick, and it's the truth. Of course it doesn't look like it to you
or to me or to Frank, but it's a fact. Today or tomorrow we may go there
and see it with our own eyes, and then if we don't believe the sight we
can read an account of it in the newspapers."

It was a process of saturation, but in the next hour or two they believed
it and understood it fully. On the following day they rode into the
desolate and partly burned capital, now garrisoned heavily by the North,
and looked with curiosity at the little city for which such torrents of
blood had been shed. But as at Winchester and Petersburg, they gazed
upon blind doors and windows. Nor did they expect anything else.
It was only natural, and they refrained carefully from any outward show
of exultation.

Richmond was to hold them only a few hours, as Grant and Sheridan
continued hot on the trail of Lee. They knew that he was marching along
the Appomattox, intending to concentrate at Amelia Court House, and they
were resolved that he should not escape. Sheridan's cavalry, with the
Winchester regiment in the van, advanced swiftly and began to press
hard upon the retreating army. The firing was almost continuous. Many
prisoners and five guns were taken, but at the crossing of a creek near
nightfall the men in gray, still resolute, turned and beat off their
assailants for the time.

The pursuit was resumed before the next daylight, and both Grant and
Sheridan pressed it with the utmost severity. In the next few days Dick
felt both pity and sympathy for the little army that was defending itself
so valiantly against extermination or capture. It was almost like the
chase of a fox now, and the hounds were always growing in number and
power.

The Northern cavalry spread out and formed a great net. The Southern
communications were cut off, their scouts were taken, and all the
provision trains intended for Lee were captured. The prisoners reported
that the Southern army was starving, and the condition of their own
bodies proved the truth of their words. As Dick looked upon these ragged
and famished men his feeling of pity increased, and he sincerely hoped
that the hour of Lee's surrender would be hastened.

During these days and most of the nights too Dick lived in the saddle.
Once more he and his comrades were clothed in the Virginia mud, and all
the time the Winchester regiment brought in prisoners or wagons. They
knew now that