The Tree of Appomattox | Page 5

step aroused him and a large man sat down on the bench beside
him. Dick often wondered at the swift and almost noiseless tread of
Shepard, with whom he was becoming well acquainted. He was tall,
built powerfully and must have weighed two hundred pounds, yet he
moved with the ease and grace of a boy of sixteen. Dick thought it must
come from his trade.
"I don't want to intrude, Mr. Mason," said Shepard, "but I saw you
sitting here, looking perhaps too grave and thoughtful for one of your
years."
"You're most welcome, Mr. Shepard, and I was thinking, that is in a
vague sort of way."
"I saw your face and you were wondering what was to become of
Virginia and the Virginians."
"So I was, but how did you know it?"

"I didn't know it. It was just a guess, and the guess was due to the fact
that I was having the same thoughts myself."
"So you regard the war as won?" asked Dick, who had a great respect
for Shepard's opinion.
"If the President keeps General Grant in command, as he will, it's a
certainty, but it will take a long time yet. We can't force those trenches
down there. Remember what Cold Harbor cost us."
Dick shuddered.
"I remember it," he said.
"It would be worse if we tried to storm Lee's lines. After Cold Harbor
the general won't attempt it, and I see a long wait here. But we can
afford it. The South grows steadily weaker. Our blockade clamps like a
steel band, and presses tighter and tighter all the time. Food is scarce in
the Confederacy. So is ammunition. They receive no recruits, and every
day the army of Lee is smaller in numbers than it was the day before."
"You go into Richmond, Mr. Shepard. I've heard from high officers
that you do. How do they feel there with our army only about twenty
miles away?"
"They're quiet and seem to be confident, but I believe they know their
danger."
"Have you by any chance seen or heard of my cousin, Harry Kenton,
who is a lieutenant on the staff of the Southern commander-in-chief?"
Shepard smiled, as if the question brought memories that pleased him.
"A fine youth," he said. "Yes, I've seen him more than once. I'm free to
tell you, Lieutenant Mason, that I know a lot about this rebel cousin of
yours. He and I have come into conflict on several occasions, and I did
not win every time."
"Nobody could beat Harry always," exclaimed Dick with youthful

loyalty. "He was always the strongest and most active among us, and
the best in forest and water. He could hunt and fish and trail like the
scouts of our border days."
"I found him in full possession of all these qualities and he used them
against me. I should grieve if that cousin of yours were to fall, Mr.
Mason. I want to know him still better after the war."
Dick would have asked further questions about the encounters between
Harry and the spy, but he judged that Shepard did not care to answer
them, and he forbore. Yet the man aroused the most intense curiosity in
him. There were spies and spies, and Shepard was one of them, but he
was not like the others. He was unquestionably a man of great mental
power. His calm, steady gaze and his words to the point showed it. No
one patronized Shepard.
"I should like to go into Richmond with you some dark night," said
Dick, who hid a strong spirit of adventure under his quiet exterior.
"You're not serious, Lieutenant Mason?"
"I wasn't, maybe, when I began to say it, but I believe I am now. Why
shouldn't I be curious about Richmond, a place that great armies have
been trying to take for three years? Just at present it's the center of the
world to me in interest."
"You must not think of such a thing, Mr. Mason. Detection means
certain death."
"No more for me than for you."
"But I have had a long experience and I have resources of which you
can't know. Don't think of it again, Mr. Mason."
"I was merely jesting. I won't," said Dick.
He involuntarily looked toward the point beyond the horizon where
Richmond lay, and Shepard meanwhile studied him closely. Young

Mason had not come much under his notice until lately, but now he
began to interest the spy greatly. Shepard observed what a strong,
well-built young fellow he was, tall and slender but extremely muscular.
He also bore a marked resemblance to his cousin, Harry Kenton, and
such was the quality of Shepard that the likeness strongly
recommended Dick to him. Moreover, he read the lurking thought that
persisted in