The lieutenant's curiosity led him to take one which had been received
from Colonel Clarence Buel, of Troy, New York. He held it near the fire,
and noticing the date, turned his eyes towards me and again to the
letter; the second glance seemed to satisfy him that I was not a rebel,
and he remarked very indignantly, 'Then you are scouting for General
Hardie, are you? I believe you are a d----d Yankee spy! and if you were
to get your deserts I should hang you to the first tree I come to,' Said
I, 'Lieutenant, do not be too hasty. I can convince you that I have been a
prisoner of war, and if you are a true soldier I shall be treated as
such.'

"Becoming a little more mild he gave us to understand that we should
start at ten o'clock the next morning for Springfield, the headquarters
of General Wheeler.

"After detailing a special guard for the prisoners, and instructing them
to be on the alert, the lieutenant laid himself down by the fire,
leaving us to reflect upon the hardness of fate, and the uncertainties
attending an effort to escape the clutches of a vigilant enemy."

Glazier did not despair, but at the first opportunity communicated to
Lemon his determination to reach the Federal lines at all risks; he
would never return to South Carolina a prisoner; the horrors of
prison-life and the privations and sufferings they had already endured,
should never be repeated in his case, but rather--welcome death! Their
enemies--albeit fellow-countrymen and _Americans_--were inhuman and
barbarous, and before putting himself in their hands again, he would
submit to be hung by bushwhackers, or torn to pieces by blood-hounds.
Their case was now desperate, and for his part he would take the first
chance that offered of getting away. Our hero thought he could count on
Lemon's concurrence and co-operation. The men of the picket told him
they had been arrested at the outpost; and it was now clear that if the
fugitives had been so fortunate as to pass this picket, they could have
reached the Federal lines in less than an hour. Only a step intervened
between captivity and freedom--the thought was very disheartening.

An instance of exceptional kindness on the part of a Confederate must
not be omitted here. James Brooks, one of the picket, came to the
prisoners and invited them to partake of some hoe-cake and bacon. He
said he had been out foraging, and would share his plunder with them.
Having been without food for forty-eight hours, sav