ered to form the
enemy into columns of fours and march them to the highway beyond the
swamp. The second company took charge of the horses, of which there
proved to be forty-seven all told. Four were found to be in a pitiable
condition, and these the major ordered shot, to put them out of their
misery.

"Well, Major, we have made a fine capture truly," remarked Captain
Blenks, of the second company, after reporting that at least thirty of
the horses were thoroughbreds. "Those animals alone are worth twelve or
fifteen thousand dollars."

"Where are the three prisoners the Confederates were holding?"

"I haven't heard of them."

Without delay Deck summoned the leader of the captured crowd before him.

"I want to know something about the three prisoners you had with you,"
he said.

"They got away from us last night."

"You are telling me the truth?"

"Yes, Major. We had a traitor among us--a lad from Kentucky named
Feswell. He untied 'em, and the hull four skipped in the darkness."

Unwilling to believe the fellow, who looked the rascal in his face, Deck
waited until daylight, and then sent a detail to search the swamp from
end to end. The men were under the command of Sandy Lyon, and in less
than an hour they returned with the three prisoners, who had been tied
to trees and gagged. One of the poor fellows, the captain of an Illinois
company, was in distress from a bullet-wound in his arm, and all three
were suffering from hunger and thirst.

Deck's indignation over this discovery was great, and he at once visited
the batch of prisoners and read them a lecture on their brutality. "War
is one thing, and uncalled-for heartlessness is another," he said. "Had
these three men been left to die in the swamp, every one of you who knew
of their plight would have been guilty of murder. I had intended to send
you into the Union lines as you are; now each of you shall ride the
distance with his arms strapped behind him, and your rations shall be
hardtack and water,--nothing more."

At this there was an outburst of indignation. But Deck was obdurate, and
the Confederates were forced to submit. Men and horses were placed in
the charge of the third battalion, and by noontime Major Truman was on
his way northward with them, the three Union men accompanying the
command, and assisting in watching the prisoners.

By nightfall the first and second battalions had reached a small hamlet
known as Conners, and they encamped on the o