d Hunt for
allowing his soldiers to take forage from her barn.

"You are a gang of thieving Kentuckians," she said, hotly; "you are
afraid to go home, while our boys are surrendering decently."

"Madam!"--Renfrew the Silent spoke--spoke from the depths of his once
brilliant jacket--"you South Carolinians had a good deal to say about
getting up this war, but we Kentuckians have contracted to close it
out."

Then came the last Confederate council of war. In turn, each officer
spoke of his men and of himself and each to the same effect; the cause
was lost and there was no use in prolonging the war.

"We will give our lives to secure your safety, but we cannot urge our
men to struggle against a fate that is inevitable, and perhaps thus
forfeit all hope of a restoration to their homes and friends."

Davis was affable, dignified, calm, undaunted.

"I will hear of no plan that is concerned only with my safety. A few
brave men can prolong the war until this panic has passed, and they
will be a nucleus for thousands more."

The answer was silence, as the gaunt, beaten man looked from face to
face. He rose with an effort.

"I see all hope is gone," he said, bitterly, and though his calm
remained, his bearing was less erect, his face was deathly pale and his
step so infirm that he leaned upon General Breckinridge as he neared
the door--in the bitterest moment, perhaps, of his life.

So, the old Morgan's Men, so long separated, were united at the end. In
a broken voice General Hunt forbade the men who had followed him on
foot three hundred miles from Virginia to go farther, but to disperse
to their homes; and they wept like children.

In front of him was a big force of Federal cavalry; retreat the way he
had come was impossible, and to the left, if he escaped, was the sea;
but dauntless Hunt refused to surrender except at the order of a
superior, or unless told that all was done that could be done to assure
the escape of his President. That order came from Breckinridge.

"Surrender," was the message. "Go back to your homes, I will not have
one of these young men encounter one more hazard for my sake."

That night Richard Hunt fought out his fight with himself, pacing to
and fro under the stars. He had struggled faithfully for what he
believed, still believed, and would, perhaps, always believe, was
right. He had fought for the broadest ideal of liberty as he understood
it, for citizen, State and nation. The appeal had