with the floor sentry, a brave, strong, red-headed fellow, and they
tackled him a moment too soon. He stoutly resisted. They wrested his
musket from him. He yelled. They tried to stop his mouth. Instantly the
door began to swing open a little. The water party, too few and too
weak, paralyzed, failed to act. The foremost of us sprang from the
stairs to the door. Before we could reach it, it was slammed to, bolted
and barred against us! With several others I rushed to the windows and
tried to tear off the heavy bars. In vain. The soldiers outside began
firing through the broken panes. Ralston was shot through the body. We
assisted him up the stairs while the bullets were flying. In less than
five minutes from the moment when he and Duffie seized the sentinel, it
was all over. In about a quarter of an hour, Colonel Smith came in with
his adjutant and two or three guards, and ordered Ralston removed to
hospital. As he was carried out, one of us expressed the hope that the
wound was not serious. He answered in the language of Mercutio, "No,
'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but 'tis
enough, 'twill serve." He knew it was mortal, and expressed a
willingness to die for his country in the line of duty. He passed away
next morning. Colonel Smith expressed sorrow for him, and surprise at
the ingratitude of us who had been guilty of insurrection against his
gentle sway!

A strict search for possible weapons followed during which we were told
we must give up our United States money. I saved a ten-dollar greenback
by concealing it in my mouth "as an ape doth nuts in the corner of his
jaw," all the while munching corn bread, gnawing two holes in the bill!

FOOTNOTES:

[8] "You will doubtless recall the man-hole worked through the heavy
brick wall, made during the 'stilly nights,' opening into the attic of
an annex to the main building. We found our way down by means of a rope
ladder, and started our tunnel under the basement floor. But for the
exposure we would have emptied the prison. To find the way down we gave
them a lively hunt!--And those _epithets_!--I have a blouse with a rent
in the back made in going through that hole in the wall."--Howe's
_Letter_ of Jan. 30, 1914.

For further particulars of this attempt to tunnel out, see Major
Putnam's _A Prisoner of War in Virginia_, pp. 55-60.

[9] Putnam describes them as disused furnaces. They may have been both.

CHAPTER IX

Kind Clergymen