anal, and signaled the party that
all was clear. Stepping out on the sidewalk as soon as the nearest
sentinel's back was turned, he walked briskly down the street to the
east, and a square below was joined by Hamilton. The others followed at
intervals of a few minutes, and disappeared in various directions in
groups usually of three.

The plan agreed upon between Colonels Rose and Hobart was frustrated by
information of the party's departure leaking out; and before nine
o'clock the knowledge of the existence of the tunnel and of the
departure of the first party was flashed over the crowded prison, which
was soon a convention of excited and whispering men. Colonel Hobart made
a brave effort to restore order, but the frenzied crowd that now
fiercely struggled for precedence at the fireplace was beyond human
control.

Some of them had opened the fireplace and were jumping down like sheep
into the cellar one after another. The colonel implored the maddened men
at least to be quiet, and put the rope-ladder in position and escaped
himself.

My companion, Sprague, was already asleep when I lay down that night;
but my other companion, Duenkel, who had been hunting for me, was very
much awake, and, seizing me by the collar, he whispered excitedly the
fact that Colonel Rose had gone out at the head of a party through a
tunnel. For a brief moment the appalling suspicion, that my friend's
reason had been dethroned by illness and captivity swept over my mind;
but a glance toward the window at the east end showed a quiet but
apparently excited group of men from other rooms, and I now observed
that several of them were bundled up for a march. The hope of regaining
liberty thrilled me like a current of electricity. Looking through the
window, I could see the escaping men appear one by one on the sidewalk
below, opposite the exit yard, and silently disappear, without hindrance
or challenge by the prison sentinels. While I was eagerly surveying this
scene, I lost track of Duenkel, who had gone in search of further
information, but ran against Lieutenant Harry Wilcox, of the 1st New
York, whom I knew, and who appeared to have the "tip" regarding the
tunnel. Wilcox and I agreed to unite our fortunes in the escape. My
shoes were nearly worn out, and my clothes were thin and ragged. I was
ill prepared for a journey in midwinter through the enemy's country:
happily I had my old overcoat, and this I put on. I had not a crumb of
food saved