"I hope they're safe, sir."
"They're in God's hands."
A courier handed Lee a dispatch which he read aloud.
"President Davis has been forced to flee from Danville and all communication with him has been cut."
"General Lee," Ruffin cried excitedly, "this country is now in your hands."
"What would you have me do?"
"Fight until the last city is in ashes and the last man falls in his tracks. Fools at your headquarters have been talking for two days of surrender. It can't be done. It can't be done. If you surrender do you know what will happen?"
"I've tried to think."
"I'll tell you, sir. Thaddeus Stevens, the Radical Leader of Congress, has already prepared the bill to take the ballot from the Southern white man and give it to the negro. The property of the whites he proposed to confiscate and give to their slaves. He will clothe the negro with all power and set him to rule over his former masters."
Lee answered roughly.