you would," Jack said, approvingly.--"Now, captain, if you can
give me five minutes--"

The captain beckoned the guard, whispered a moment, and then said,
exultingly:

"The guard will stand in the passage until you have finished with the
prisoner. We shall await you in the porch."

"Now, Barney, I must be brief, and you must not lose a syllable I say.
Here, sit on the cot, so that I may slip this bayonet under the blanket.
You can work through this wall with that. You must do it to-night and
to-morrow. Be ready Thursday at daylight. You will be met on the outside
either by Dick or myself. We have the route all arranged, and friends in
many places to lull suspicion."

"But I won't stir a foot without Jones. Do you know who he is?" Barney
whispered, eying Jack curiously.

"No other than that he seems a very desperate devil-may-care fellow. Who
is he?"

"An agent and crony of Boone's."

"Good God!"

"It's a long story I can't tell it now, but if your plan takes him in,
I'm ready, and will be on hand."

"I have seen him, and have given him better tools than I have brought
you for the work."

"That's all right. I ask nothing better than the bayonet. The other
fellows that got out of Libby didn't have nearly so good."

"You know how I am fixed here. I have grown tired of this sort of
hostage life, and I am going North with you. So, Barney, I beg of you to
be careful, for other lives than your own are at stake. I should be
specially hateful to the authorities if I were retaken--for the whole
Southern people clamor to have an example made of the assassins of the
President, as they call you."

"Don't fear, Jack; I'll be quiet as a sucking pig in star light. I'll be
yer shadow and never open me mouth, even if a jug, big as Teddy Fin's
praty-patch, stud furninst me!"

"It isn't your tongue I'm so much afraid of as your propensity to
combat. You must resist that delight of yours--whacking stray heads and
flourishing your big fists."

"My fists, is it? Then I'll engage to keep them still as O'Connell's
legs in Phoenix Square."

"Now, I shall report that you are considering my advice. You must be
very gentle and placating to the guard, and let on that you have
something on your mind."

"Indeed, I needn't let on at all. I have as much on me mind as Biddy
McGinniss had on her back when she carried Mick home from the gallows."

"O Barney, Barney, you would joke if the halter were about your neck!"

"An' why wou