f smoke. He rose when he saw Aladdin, and he looked
paler and more worn. "Peter," said Aladdin, "from the bottom of my heart
I wish you luck."

Aladdin had never seen just such a look as came into Peter's eyes; at
once they were full of infinite pity, and at peace with the whole world.

"Peter," said Aladdin, "give me back my pipe." His voice broke in spite
of himself, for he had given up golden things. "I--" he said, "I'll wait
here a little while, but if--if all goes well, Peter, don't you bother
to come back."

They clasped hands long and in silence. Then Peter turned with a gulp,
and, his weakness a thing of the past, went striding up the driveway.
But Aladdin sat down to wait. And now a great piping of tree-frogs arose
in all that country. Aladdin waited for a long time. He waited until
the day gave way to twilight and the sun went down. He waited until the
twilight turned to dark and the stars came out. He waited until, after
all the years of waiting and longing, his heart was finally at peace.
And then he rose to go.

For Peter had not yet come.

BOOK III

"Where are the tall men that marched on the right,
That marched to the battle so handsome and tall?
They 've been left to mark the places where they saw the foemen's faces,
For the fever and the lead took them all, Jenny Orde,
The fever and the lead took them all.

"I found him in the forefront of the battle, Kenny Orde,
With the bullets spitting up the ground around him,
And the sweat was on his brow, and his lips were on his sword,
And his life was going from him when I found him.

"We lowered him to rest, Jenny Orde,
With your picture on his breast, Jenny Orde,
And the rumble of pursuit was the regiment's salute
To the man that loved you best, Jenny Orde."

XXX

As a dam breaking gives free passage to the imprisoned waters, and they
rush out victoriously, so Vicksburg, starving and crumbling in the West,
was about to open her gates and set the Father of Waters free forever.
That was where the Union hammer, grasped so firmly by strong fingers
that their knuckles turned white, was striking the heaviest blows
upon the cracking skull of the Confederacy. On the other hand,
Chancellorsville had verged upon disaster, and the powers of Europe
were waiting for one more Confederate victory in order to declare the
blockade of Southern ports at an end, and to float a Southern loan.
That a Confeder