us on some boughs; an' den we had to lie by, some days, all
day,--an' we trabbled putty slow, cause we'd lost our bearing an' was in
a secesh country, we knowed,--an' we had nudin but berries an' sich to
eat, an' got nigh starved.

"One night we cum onto half a dozen fellows skulkin' in de woods, an' at
fust dey made fight, but d'rectly dey know'd we was friends, fur dey was
some more Linkum sojers, an' dey'd lost dere way, or ruther, dey know'd
where dey was, but dey didn't know how to git way from dere. Dey was
'scaped pris'ners, dey told us; when I yearde where 'twas I know'd de
way to de coast, an' said I'd show 'em de way if dey'd cum long wid us,
so dey did; an' we got 'long all right till we got to de ribber up by
Mass' Rhett's place."

"Yes, I know where it is," said the Captain.

"Den what to do was de puzzle. De country was all full ob secesh
pickets, an' dere was de ribber, an' we had no boat,--so Jim, he says,
'I know what to do; fust I'll hide you yere,' an' he did all safe in de
woods; 'an' den I'll git ye suthin to eat from de niggers round,' an' he
did dat too, do he couldn't git much, for fear he'd be seen; an' den we,
he and I, made some ropes out ob de tall grass like dat we'd ofen made
fur mats, an' tied dem together wid some oder grass, an' stuck a board
in, an' den made fur de Yankee camp, an' yere we is."

"Yes," said the black man Jim, here,--breaking silence,--"we'll show you
de way back if you kin go up in a boat dey can rest in, fur dey's most
all clean done out, an' de capen's wound is awful bad yit."

"This captain,--what's his name?" inquired Coolidge.

"His name is here," said Jim, carefully drawing forth a paper from his
rags,--"he has on dis some figgers an' a map of de country he took
before he got wounded, an' some words he writ wid a bit of burnt stick
just before we cum away,--an' he giv it to me, an' tole me to bring it
to camp, fur fear something might happen to him while we was away."

"My God!" cried Coolidge when he had opened the paper, and with hasty
eyes scanned its contents, "it's Tom Russell; I know him well. This must
be sent up to head-quarters, and I'll get an order, and a boat, and some
men, to go for them at once." All of which was promptly done.

"See here! I speak to be one of the fellows what goes," Jim emphatically
announced.

"All right. I reckon we'll both go, Given, if the General will let
us,--and I think he will,"--which was a safe guess and a true o