among themselves, fencing exercises with
wooden swords, games of cards, checkers and chess, study of
languages, military tactics, etc., and other entertainments
and pastimes, they managed somewhat to overcome the monotony
of prison life and the hardship of prison discipline.

As regards chances of escape, they were very poor. A strong
guard constantly surrounded the prison, and such attempts at
escape as were made were rarely successful. The only one
that had measurable success is that which we have to
describe, in which a body of prisoners played the r[^o]le of
rats or beavers, and got out of Libby by an underground
route.

The tunnel enterprise was the project of a few choice
spirits only. It was too perilous to confide to many. The
disused cellar was chosen as the avenue of escape. It was
never visited, and might be used with safety. But how to get
there was a difficult question to solve. And how to hide the
fact that men were absent from roll-call was another. The
latter difficulty was got over by several expedients. If
Lieutenant Jones, for instance, was at work in the tunnel,
Captain Smith would answer for him; then, when Smith was
pronounced absent, he would step forward and declare that he
had answered to his own name. His presence served as sure
proof that he had not been absent. Other and still more
ingenious methods were at times adopted, and the authorities
were completely hoodwinked in this particular.

And now as regards the difficulty of entering the cellar.
The cooking-room on the first floor contained, in its thick
brick and stone partition, a fireplace, in front of which,
partly masking it, three stoves were placed for the cooking
operations of the prisoners. The floor of this fireplace was
chosen as the initial point of excavation, from which a
sloping passage might be made, under the floor of the next
room, into the disused cellar.

Captain Hamilton, a stonemason by trade, began the
excavation, removing the first brick and stone from the
fireplace. It need scarcely be said that this work was done
only at night, and with as little noise as possible. By day
the opening was carefully closed, the bricks and stones
being so ingeniously replaced that no signs of disturbance
appeared. Thick as the wall was, a passage was quickly made
through it, presenting an easy route to the cellar below.
As for this cellar, it was dark, rarely or never opened, and
contained only some old boxes, boards, straw,