ght hundred thousand of our noblest sons are dead
and mangled. A million more will die of poverty and disease. Every issue
could have been settled and better settled without the loss of a drop
of blood. The slaves are freed by an accident. An accident of war's
necessity--not on principle. The manner of their sudden emancipation,
unless they are removed, will bring a calamity more appalling than the
war itself. It must create a Race Problem destined to grow each day more
threatening and insoluble. Yet if I had to live it all over again I
could only do exactly what I have done--"

He paused.

"And now I'll go at once to General Grant."

He took two steps to cross the stile over the fence, and turned as a cry
of pain burst from Alexander's lips. He sank to a seat, bowed his face
in his hands and groaned:

"Oh, my God, I can't believe it! I can't believe it. After all these
years of blood. I can't believe it--my God--to think that this is the
end!"

"I know, General Alexander," Lee spoke gently, "that my surrender means
the end. It has come and we must face it. We must accept the results
in good faith and turn our faces toward the east. Yesterday is dead.
To-morrow is ours--"

His voice softened.

"I don't mind telling you now, that I had rather die a thousand deaths
than go to General Grant. Dying is the easiest thing that I could do at
this moment. I could ride out front along the lines for five minutes and
it would be all over. But the men who know how to die must do harder
things. I call you, sir, to this battle grimmer than death--to this
nobler task--we've got to live now!"

Alexander slowly rose with Gordon and both men saluted.

Within an hour he was returning from the meeting with his brave and
generous conqueror. A loud cheer rang over the Confederate lines.

"It's Lee returning along the road crowded with his men," Gordon
explained.

Another cheer echoed through the forests.

Gordon smiled.

"Alexander the Great, when he conquered a world, never got the tribute
which Lee is receiving from those men. There's not one in their ranks
who wouldn't die for him."

Louder and louder rolled the cheers mingled now with the pet name his
soldiers loved.

"Marse Robert! Marse Robert!"

Alexander's eyes flashed.

"The hour of his surrender, the supreme triumph of his life."

Lee rode slowly into view on Traveler's gray back. The men were crowding
close. They cried softly. They touched his saddle, his h