up, nor ran up, but were literally lifted from our feet, and
propelled along in a solid mass up the passage, and made our entrance
through the door at the head of the stairs as though shot from a
cannon--most of us not stopping until we struck the wall on the opposite
side of the room. While this was going on, the scamps who had given the
false alarm were quietly passing out of the tunnel! The _ruse_ was soon
discovered, however, and, in a few minutes, there was as great a jam at
the entrance of the tunnel as ever. But, so eager and unthinking were
we, that within half an hour, the same trick was played on us again by
others and then followed another stampede up the stairs. It is a wonder
this affair was not stopped by the guards, but they had no suspicion
whatever of what was going on. This was probably owing to the fact that
great noises in the cook-room were common throughout the night as well
as day. It is however reported that one of the sentinels was heard to
call out jocosely to a comrade on the next beat, 'Hello, Billy! there
goes somebody's coffee-pot, sure.'

"This struggle continued until morning, when the opening in the chimney
was covered, and we went to our several quarters. Here a muster was
called to discover how many had made their escape, when it was found
that one hundred and fifteen were missing. Arrangements were at once
made to account for their absence, and certain men were designated who
were to cross the room slyly during roll-call, and be counted twice.

"For some reason the authorities were late that morning, and did not
make their appearance until about ten o'clock. On the roll being called
the men, according to arrangement, attempted to cross the room, but the
movement was discovered, and so the count showed one hundred and fifteen
short. The clerk thought he had made a mistake, and counted again, but
with the same result. The authorities also thought there must be some
error in the count, and joked little Ross, the prison clerk, who was
none of the brightest, because he could not count a thousand Yankees!

"We were now marched from one room to another, and counted one by one,
but still there were one hundred and fifteen short of the complement.
We, of course, pretended to be as much surprised as the authorities.
They next sent for Major Turner, and he counted us two or three times,
but with an equally unsatisfactory result. He demanded of us where they
had gone, and how they got out; but