As he uttered these singular words, the blood gushed from his wounded
shoulder, his eyes closed, and, his head falling on the bosom of the
young girl, he fainted.




X.


THE SLIM ANIMAL.


Fleetwood was the first gun of the great campaign which culminated on
the heights of Gettysburg. A week afterward, Lee's columns were in
motion toward Pennsylvania.

Was that invasion the dictate of his own judgment? History will answer.
What is certain is, that the country, like the army, shouted "Forward!"
The people were ablaze with wild enthusiasm; the soldiers flushed with
the pride of their great victories of Fredericksburg and
Chancellorsville. The authorities at Richmond shared the excitement,
and the commissary-general, with unwonted humor, or in sober earnest,
indorsed, it is said, upon a requisition for supplies: "If General Lee
wishes rations, let him seek them in Pennsylvania."

I doubt if the great commander shared the general agitation. I think he
aimed to draw Hooker out of Virginia, leaving the rest to Providence.
So he moved toward the Potomac.