"No more than you are, unless the pursuit of a fixed idea for a lifetime makes a man insane."
Lee turned suddenly to his aide.
"Press that crowd back into the next street and ask him to come here under a flag of truce."
"I warn you, Colonel," Stuart protested. "He violated a flag of truce in
Kansas. He won't hesitate to shoot you on sight if he takes a notion."
Lee smiled.
"He didn't try to shoot you on sight, did he?"
"No—"
"Go back and bring him here. I must find out some things from him if I can. He may not survive the assault."
Stuart again fixed his flag of truce and returned to the Engine House. This time the Colonel called a cordon of marines and pressed the crowd into the next street.
He beckoned to a sentinel.