"De train go out at seven o'clock, sah. I don't expect they find that
you have got away before dat."

"No, Dan. We all turn out at seven, and I shall be missed then; but it
will be some little time before the alarm is given, and they find out
how we got away, and send out search-parties. If the train is anything
like punctual we shall be off long before they get to the station."

"Besides, sah, dar are not many people knows your face, and it not
likely de bery man dat know you come to the station. Lots of oder places
to search, and dey most sure to tink you go right away--not tink you
venture to stop in town 'til the morning."

"That is so, Dan, and I think your plan is a capital one."

Dan's suggestion was carried out, and at seven o'clock next morning they
were standing on the platform among a number of other persons waiting
for the train. Just as the locomotive's whistle was heard the sound of a
cannon boomed out from the direction of the prison.

"That means some of the prisoners have escaped," one of the porters on
the platform said. "There have been five or six of them got away in the
last two months, but most of them have been caught again before they
have gone far. You see, to have a chance at all, they have got to get
rid of their uniforms, and as we are all Unionists about here that aint
an easy job for 'em to manage."

Everyone on the platform joined in the conversation, asking which way
the fugitive would be likely to go, whether there were any cavalry to
send after him, what would be done to him if he were captured, and other
questions of the same kind, Vincent joining in the talk. It was a relief
to him when the train drew up, and he and Dan took their place in it,
traveling, however, in different cars. Once fairly away, Vincent had no
fear whatever of being detected, and could travel where he liked, for
outside the prison there were not ten people who knew his face
throughout the Northern States. It would be difficult for him to make
his way down into Virginia from the North, as the whole line of frontier
there was occupied by troops, and patrols were on the watch night and
day to prevent persons from going through the lines. He therefore
determined to go west to St. Louis, and from there work his way down
through Missouri. After two days' railway traveling they reached St.
Louis, a city having a large trade with the South, and containing many
sympathizers with the Confederate cause. Vincent, havin