{"product_id":"2940013275201","title":"THE TREE OF APPOMATTOX","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     I.  THE APPLE TREE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    II.  THE WOMAN AT THE HOUSE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   III.  OVER THE HILLS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    IV.  THE FIGHT AT THE CROSSWAYS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     V.  AN OLD ENEMY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    VI.  THE FISHERMEN\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   VII.  SHERIDAN'S ATTACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  VIII.  THE MESSENGER FROM RICHMOND\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    IX.  AT GRIPS WITH EARLY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     X.  AN UNBEATEN FOE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XI.  CEDAR CREEK\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   XII.  IN THE COVE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  XIII.  DICK'S GREAT EXPLOIT\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   XIV.  THE MOUNTAIN SHARPSHOOTER\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XV.  BACK WITH GRANT\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   XVI.  THE CLOSING DAYS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  XVII.  APPOMATTOX\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e XVIII.  THE FINAL RECKONING\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE APPLE TREE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough he was an officer in full uniform he was a youth in years,\u003cbr\u003eand he had the spirits of youth.  Moreover, it was one of the finest\u003cbr\u003eapple trees he had ever seen and the apples hung everywhere, round,\u003cbr\u003eripe and red, fairly asking to be taken and eaten.  Dick Mason looked up\u003cbr\u003eat them longingly.  They made him think of the orchards at home in his\u003cbr\u003eown state, and a touch of coolness in the air sharpened his appetite for\u003cbr\u003ethem all the more.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"If you want 'em so badly, Dick,\" said Warner, \"why don't you climb the\u003cbr\u003etree and get 'em?  There's plenty for you and also for Pennington and me.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I see.  You're as anxious for apples as I am, and you wish me to gather\u003cbr\u003e'em for you by making a strong appeal to my own desires.  It's your\u003cbr\u003eclever New England way.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"We're forbidden to take anything from the people, but it won't hurt\u003cbr\u003eto keep a few apples from rotting on the ground.  If you won't get 'em\u003cbr\u003ePennington will.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I understand you, George.  You're trying to play Frank against me,\u003cbr\u003ewhile you keep yourself safe.  You'll go far.  Never mind.  I'll gather\u003cbr\u003eapples for us all.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe leaped up, caught the lowest bough, swung himself lightly into the\u003cbr\u003efork, and then climbing a little higher, reached for the reddest and\u003cbr\u003eripest apples, which he flung down in a bountiful supply.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Now, gluttons,\" he said, \"satiate yourselves, but save a lot for me.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen he went up as far as the boughs would sustain him and took a look\u003cbr\u003eover the country.  Apple trees do not grow very tall, but Dick's tree\u003cbr\u003estood on the highest point in the orchard, and he had a fine view,\u003cbr\u003ea view that was in truth the most remarkable the North American continent\u003cbr\u003ehad yet afforded.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe always carried glasses over his shoulder, and lately Colonel\u003cbr\u003eWinchester had made him a gift of a splendid pair, which he now put into\u003cbr\u003euse, sweeping the whole circle of the horizon.  With their powerful aid\u003cbr\u003ehe was able to see the ancient city of Petersburg, where Lee had thrown\u003cbr\u003ehimself across Grant's path in order to block his way to Richmond,\u003cbr\u003ethe Southern capital, and had dug long lines of trenches in which his\u003cbr\u003earmy lay.  It was Lee who first used this method of defense for a smaller\u003cbr\u003eforce against a larger, and the vast trench warfare of Europe a half\u003cbr\u003ecentury later was a repetition of the mighty struggle of Lee and Grant\u003cbr\u003eon the lines of Petersburg.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDick through his glasses saw the trenches, lying like a brown bar across\u003cbr\u003ethe green country, and opposite them another brown bar, often less than\u003cbr\u003ea hundred yards away, which marked where the Northern troops also had\u003cbr\u003edug in.  The opposing lines extended a distance of nearly forty miles,\u003cbr\u003eand Richmond was only twenty miles behind them.  It was the nearest the\u003cbr\u003eArmy of the Potomac had come to the Southern capital since McClellan had\u003cbr\u003eseen the spires of its churches, and that was more than two years away.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWarner and Pennington were lying on the ground, eating big red apples\u003cbr\u003ewith much content and looking up lazily at Mason.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You're curving those glasses about a lot.  What do you see, Dick?\"\u003cbr\u003easked Pennington at length.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I see Petersburg, an old, old town, half buried in foliage, and with\u003cbr\u003emany orchards and gardens about it.  A pity that two great armies should\u003cbr\u003efocus on such a pleasant place.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"No time for sentiment, Dick.  What else do you see?\"","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47073682391280,"sku":"2940013275201","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013275201_p0.jpg?v=1763590398","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013275201","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}