But it's
true all the same. Good-by, Harry."
The two hands, covered with battle grime, met again in the strong grasp
of blood kindred and friendship.
"Take care of yourself, old man!"
The words, exactly alike, were uttered by the two simultaneously.
Both were stirred deeply. Harry sprang on his horse, looked back once,
waving his hand, and rode rapidly to General Lee. Later in the night,
he received permission to hunt up the Invincibles, his heart full of fear
that they had perished utterly in the gloomy pit called the Wilderness,
lit now only by the fire of death.
He left his horse with an orderly and walked toward the point where he
had last seen them. He passed thousands of soldiers, many wounded,
but silent as usual, while the unhurt were sleeping where they had
dropped. The Invincibles were not at the point where he had seen them
last, and the colonels of several scattered regiments could not tell him
what had become of them. But he continued to seek them although the fear
was growing in his heart that the last man of the Invincibles had died
under the Northern cannon.
His search led toward the enemy's lines. Almost unconsciously he went in
that direction, however, his knowledge of the two colonels telling him
that they would take the same course.
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