and with sorrowful undertone, and Drew heard a
laugh, which could only have come from General Forrest, floating back to
him through the dawn of a new morning.

18

_Texas Spurs_

The soft wind curled languidly in through the open church window,
stirring the curly lock which Boyd now and then impatiently pushed away
from his eyes ... was a delicate fingertip touch on Drew's cheek. A
subdued shuffle of feet could be heard as the congregation arose. It was
Sunday in Gainesville, and a congregation such as could only have
gathered there on this particular May 7, 1865. Rusty gray-brown,
patched, and with ill-mended tears, which no amount of painstaking
effort could ever convert again into more than dimly respectable
uniforms, a sprinkling of civilian broadcloth and feminine bonnets. And
across the church a smaller block of once hostile blue....

As the recessional formed, prayer books were closed to be slipped into
pockets or reticules. The presiding celebrate moved down from the altar,
his surplice tugged aside by the wandering breeze revealing the worn
cavalry boots of a chaplain.

"For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies."

Men's voices, hesitant and rusty at first, then rose confidently over
the more decorous hum of the regular church-goers as old memories were
renewed.

"Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our Hymn of grateful praise."

The hymn swelled, a mighty, powerful wave of sound. Drew's hard,
calloused hands closed on the back of the pew ahead. Hearing Boyd's
voice break, Drew knew that within them both something had loosened. The
apathy which had held them through these past days was going, and they
were able to feel again.

"Drew--" Boyd's voice quavered and then steadied, "let's go home...."

They had shared the talk at camp, the discussion about slipping away to
join Kirby Smith in Texas, and some had even gone before the official
surrender of Confederate forces east of the Mississippi three days
earlier. But when General Forrest elected to accept Yankee terms, most
of the men followed his example. Back at camp they were making out the
paroles on the blanks furnished by the Union Command, but so far no
Yankee had appeared in person. The cavalry were to retain their horses
and mules, and whole companies planned to ride home together to
Tennessee and Kentucky. Drew and Boyd could join one