Dick drew a deep, long breath. He knew that this was the end. So did
his comrades. A cheer started and swept part of the way along the lines,
but the officers quickly stopped it.

"Vicksburg is ours," said Dick.

"Looks like it," said Warner.

But Grant told Bowen that he would treat only with Pemberton, and after
delays General Pemberton came out. General Grant went forward to meet
him. The two stood alone under a tree within seventy yards of the
Confederate lines and talked.

Chance or fortune presented a startling coincidence. Almost at the very
moment that Grant and Pemberton met under the tree Pickett's men were
rising to their feet and preparing for the immortal but fatal charge at
Gettysburg. While the cannon had ceased suddenly at Vicksburg they were
thundering from many score mouths at Gettysburg. Fortune was launching
two thunderbolts upon the Confederacy at the same moment. They were to
strike upon fields a thousand miles apart, and the double blow was to be
mortal.

But Dick knew nothing of Gettysburg then, nor was he to know anything
until days afterward. He certainly had no thought of the East while he
watched the two generals under the tree. Dick's comrades were with him,
but so intense was their curiosity that none of them spoke. Thousands of
men were gazing with the same eagerness, and the Southern earthworks were
covered with the defenders.